Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
Witterings
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Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by Witterings »

I've had a look at Strava and Cycle.Travel recently as apps for finding new routes, I googled how to for Strava and it says go into the drop down tab Explore and then click on Activity search whish isn't there in my browser .... is this a function that's only available for premium members????
If not then how else can I find routes for a given area.

Cycle.Travel I've also looked at which is great for suggesting routes .... is there any way to then get those routes onto your phone so you can follow them whilst riding and can't seem to find any iphone app for it s guessing there isn't one??
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Paulatic
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by Paulatic »

Moving a route from cycle travel to MapOut on an iPhone is easy. Choose or make your route. Download the gpx then choose 'open with' MapOut.
This doesn’t give you TbT but a red line on a map which, whenever you’re a bit lost, instantly gives you your position on or off Route.
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Witterings
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by Witterings »

Paulatic wrote:Moving a route from cycle travel to MapOut on an iPhone is easy. Choose or make your route. Download the gpx then choose 'open with' MapOut.
This doesn’t give you TbT but a red line on a map which, whenever you’re a bit lost, instantly gives you your position on or off Route.


I'm sure this is me being a complete numpty ..... but

If I'm on a PC on cycletravel I can go in, type starting point and circular route and it produces 3 different options .... on the PC there's no option anywhere to move it / export anywhere.

If I go through the same process in a browser on my iphone I type Chichester for the town, circular route and find now and it throws up a map over the Oxford / Reading area's with no suggested routes at all????

I haven't got the Mapout App on my phone, it's £4.99 which I don't mind paying but do I need this in order for cycletravel to work on it?

A bit confused at the moment :?
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Paulatic
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by Paulatic »

CT Using a PC I make a route and save it into my account there. The PC is easier especially for longer routes.
Opening up Ct on phone browser I can select that route it opens in Route Planner from there select GPS / GPX/ download
91B91E5C-CAD3-4688-A934-052EAE84C857.jpeg

Opened in MapOut
65834D48-192C-4505-A1B9-F7B291475AD5.png


You could also save it from the PC into your ICloud Drive and open it from there?
If you splash out the £4.99 for a MapOut I doubt you’ll regret it. Making routes with that alone is so easy just running your finger along desired roads.
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Witterings
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by Witterings »

It was me being a numpty ... I'd never actually registered but have now and all of a sudden there's a load more info and options available ... I'll have a play around and see what I can work out from here.
I'm guessing as well I can probably export the file and import it into google maps or map my ride as well .... don't know if you've used any of those but if not will probably get Map Out as you've suggested.

Tank you for your help ... much appreciated :)
thelawnet
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by thelawnet »

Witterings wrote:I've had a look at Strava and Cycle.Travel recently as apps for finding new routes, I googled how to for Strava and it says go into the drop down tab Explore and then click on Activity search whish isn't there in my browser .... is this a function that's only available for premium members????
If not then how else can I find routes for a given area.


Activity Search has been deleted due to idiot armed service members uploading their activities in Afghanistan and such places, allowing enemies to attack.

Strava has:

* Segments - these are routes but often very short ones. You can search by town name, so, e,g. 'woking' will come up with various routes, e.g., 'Ride-it Sportive, Woking'. https://www.strava.com/segments/1135372

This is 139.63 km, and what you CAN'T do, is directly convert a segment into a route.

What you CAN do, is click on the leaderboard for the segment, and click through to a ride.

In this case since the rider was on a sportive, their ride (aka activity) is the same as the segment: https://www.strava.com/activities/5700971

From here, click the spanner icon at left and create route, and this will create a route in the 'Route Builder' that you can modify.

(in other cases a segment may be only 1km or 2km or whatever, and it's likely that the 'activity' of the rider is much longer.

* Route Builder - You can enter via an activity (so if you are connected to people in Strava, you can view their activities, and 'create route' from those, or via the leaderboard in a segment), or you can just go to https://www.strava.com/routes and create from scratch. If you just enter two waypoints, say, Woking & Brighton, it will calculate a route between them based on 'Popularity', if that's the toggle you have enabled.

The route it offers is Woking - Brookwood via the Basingstoke Canal, then Godalming, Dunsfold down to Shoreham via various B-roads.

Which is reasonable I think. The length is 87km/676m elevation, or if you turn off 'Popularity', it goes to 73km, 994m elevation and a more direct route via Horsham. Going for 'min elevation', it's 83km/253m without using 'popularity', or 96km/527m using popularity.

I suspect you might not want to go via the Basingstoke Canal, so if you for example drag the route to go via your preferred on-road route, then it will recalculate based on that.

Once you have edited a route (if you wish), you can export it your device or follow it directly from the Strava app.

* Local - this is curated routes for bike/jogging. The UK is limited to 10 routes in the general London/Home Counties region https://www.strava.com/local/paths?pare ... pe=cycling
Richard Fairhurst
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by Richard Fairhurst »

Witterings wrote:It was me being a numpty ... I'd never actually registered but have now and all of a sudden there's a load more info and options available ... I'll have a play around and see what I can work out from here.
I'm guessing as well I can probably export the file and import it into google maps or map my ride as well .... don't know if you've used any of those but if not will probably get Map Out as you've suggested.

Tank you for your help ... much appreciated :)


It should work fine in Google Maps or MapMyRide - you can download in whatever format your app likes best.

I've just added an option to download your saved cycle.travel routes from your profile page, so from the homepage you can click 'My bike' and 'Journeys', then there's a little download icon by each route. That'll open up the download box which works just as Paulatic has described.
cycle.travel - maps, journey-planner, route guides and city guides
Witterings
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by Witterings »

Finally found some time over the Xmas break so spend some time working out how to use, I also downloaded Mapout yesterday which is a really useful app so cheers Paulatic for the recommendation.

Richard Fairhurst wrote:It should work fine in Google Maps or MapMyRide - you can download in whatever format your app likes best.

I've just added an option to download your saved cycle.travel routes from your profile page, so from the homepage you can click 'My bike' and 'Journeys', then there's a little download icon by each route. That'll open up the download box which works just as Paulatic has described.


Richard ... the way you wrote that I'm guessing you're something to do with cycletravel ????

When I've created a route occasionally the save function works and put's it in my journeys but more often than not it doesn't, the only way I can seem to make sure it does is to click on GPS and download and save it and then in the journey's page click on upload and then select the file and upload it .... is there a gremlin in there somewhere or is it me??

Also are there any tutorials anywhere on using cycletravel that you're aware of??
francovendee
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by francovendee »

I use Osmand (free) and then plan the ride on laptop using cycle travel. In route tools select gps button and download file. Transfer file into 'track' in osmand and you're done. Seems a lot of steps but in reality it takes a couple of minutes. The mix of Osmand and Cycle Travel is the best combination I've found. Richard deserves all our thanks for creating this.
Witterings
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by Witterings »

francovendee wrote:I use Osmand (free) and then plan the ride on laptop using cycle travel. In route tools select gps button and download file. Transfer file into 'track' in osmand and you're done. Seems a lot of steps but in reality it takes a couple of minutes. The mix of Osmand and Cycle Travel is the best combination I've found. Richard deserves all our thanks for creating this.


This pretty much what I am doing but just Mapout at the moment but will take a look at Osmand as well.

I've been trying to draw maps with waypoints in cycletravel and sometimes it won't let you go over certain areas .... I'm wondering if it sees some of them as footpaths despite the fact they're cycling allowed.
There's also a private road locally that it won't allow me to plot a route down, is there any way to over ride this so I can force it to take the route I'm trying to plot??
francovendee
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by francovendee »

Witterings wrote:
francovendee wrote:I use Osmand (free) and then plan the ride on laptop using cycle travel. In route tools select gps button and download file. Transfer file into 'track' in osmand and you're done. Seems a lot of steps but in reality it takes a couple of minutes. The mix of Osmand and Cycle Travel is the best combination I've found. Richard deserves all our thanks for creating this.


This pretty much what I am doing but just Mapout at the moment but will take a look at Osmand as well.

I've been trying to draw maps with waypoints in cycletravel and sometimes it won't let you go over certain areas .... I'm wondering if it sees some of them as footpaths despite the fact they're cycling allowed.
There's also a private road locally that it won't allow me to plot a route down, is there any way to over ride this so I can force it to take the route I'm trying to plot??


I have the same problem, it's actually a cycle track but if I try to get the route to follow it, in any of the route planners, non will let me drag the route this way. It does involve a bridge over a river and I think all the maps haven't caught up as it's only been there for 10 years :shock:
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andrew_s
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by andrew_s »

If any of the OpenStreetMap-based applications or websites won't let you route across a bit of road that you know is OK, it's very likely to be a problem with the OSM data rather than the application itself.
That could be that there's a very small gap that the route won't jump across, a section of road or track that's marked (or not marked) as cycles (not) allowed, or something else.
You should be able to find exact problem locations by (failing) to create very short routes. It's easy in cycle.travel as you can drag the start and end of the route closer, and see at which point it stops taking the roundabout route and goes direct.

If you go to the main OSM site (https://www.openstreetmap.org), and look at the map there, there's a "query features" tool (bottom. rhs) that will allow you to see that the settings are, and whether adjacent sections of road have a common node.
If you find the problem, you can either edit it yourself (registration required), or add a note (2nd button from bottom, rhs) in the hope that someone else will see the note and edit it for you.

Note that OSM should reflect the legal situation - if something's a footpath where cycles aren't really allowed, don't mark it as cycles allowed just because you know there's rarely anyone else around and feel happy riding along it.
The effect of "no cycles" will vary; some applications won't use it, cycle.travel will, but would flag it as "get off and push" in the instructions and will route around it by preference.

Once a problem is fixed in the OSM, it will come right the next time the application refreshes its routing data (cycle.travel updates monthly, I think).
Last edited by andrew_s on 3 Jan 2019, 9:59am, edited 1 time in total.
Witterings
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by Witterings »

francovendee wrote:
I have the same problem, it's actually a cycle track but if I try to get the route to follow it, in any of the route planners, non will let me drag the route this way. It does involve a bridge over a river and I think all the maps haven't caught up as it's only been there for 10 years :shock:


I've just tried it in Mapout to see if it works and it's fine on there and picks up the parts that cycletravel doesn't ... be interesting to know which ones are more "adaptable".
Richard Fairhurst
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by Richard Fairhurst »

Always happy to take a look at any particular examples if you'd like to say where they are!

cycle.travel is slightly conservative about what it considers cyclable - it errs on the side of caution to avoid sending you up private or unrideable tracks. In particular, it won't allow something just marked as a "track" or a "driveway" in OSM unless it's expressly stated that bikes are allowed. (In the UK at least - its logic is a bit different in Europe and the US.)

You can actually tell cycle.travel to "skip over" a bit where it doesn't want to go. Put via points at the start and end of the section, then click the first one, and choose "Go direct" in the little popup that appears. The round-the-houses route will be replaced by a straight line.
cycle.travel - maps, journey-planner, route guides and city guides
Witterings
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Re: Using Cycle.Travel and Strava Help Please

Post by Witterings »

Richard Fairhurst wrote:Always happy to take a look at any particular examples if you'd like to say where they are!

cycle.travel is slightly conservative about what it considers cyclable - it errs on the side of caution to avoid sending you up private or unrideable tracks. In particular, it won't allow something just marked as a "track" or a "driveway" in OSM unless it's expressly stated that bikes are allowed. (In the UK at least - its logic is a bit different in Europe and the US.)

You can actually tell cycle.travel to "skip over" a bit where it doesn't want to go. Put via points at the start and end of the section, then click the first one, and choose "Go direct" in the little popup that appears. The round-the-houses route will be replaced by a straight line.


Hi, more than happy to ping sections over if you#d like to have a look .... if so what info etc do you want / need and how do you want them sent.

Is there an instruction manual anywhere as well, it may be partially because I'm new to using any software like this but I'm struggling with start / end points and correcting it when it goes off in a different direction ......... I kind of managed what you suggested above to skip a part but it was hesitant to add the 2nd way point at all and missed a lot of the route.
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