Cycle Route Planner

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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BigTrev
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Joined: 5 Nov 2017, 7:43pm

Cycle Route Planner

Post by BigTrev »

Can anyone recommend a cycle route planner that will show gradient as well as distance. I'm sure there are loads but I'm new to this......
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Paulatic
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Re: Cycle Route Planner

Post by Paulatic »

http://cycle.travel/ Will show you elevation. Click on the picture of mountains after getting your route. As do many other sites. As for gradient you’ll have to guess at that ( steep and not so steep) by looking at the image.
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RickH
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Re: Cycle Route Planner

Post by RickH »

Paulatic wrote:http://cycle.travel/ Will show you elevation. Click on the picture of mountains after getting your route. As do many other sites. As for gradient you’ll have to guess at that ( steep and not so steep) by looking at the image.

When you open the elevation profile there are 2 options 2D which just gives you the plain profile & is the default. If you choose 3D (the links are next to the ascent/descent totals, top right of the elevation section) you get a zoomable 3D profile with different colours for different gradients. I'm not sure what gradients the colours correspond to but red is steep! :D
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iandriver
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Re: Cycle Route Planner

Post by iandriver »

As above, just bear in mind that those gradient profiling tools can make anything look terrifying when it is so condensed. Worth a look though.
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Cunobelin
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Re: Cycle Route Planner

Post by Cunobelin »

I like Cycle Streets

It gives you three alternative routes, Fastest, Quietest, and Balanced.

Between the three there is usually a useable route

The elevation profile is not large, but as a guide it works
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Sweep
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Re: Cycle Route Planner

Post by Sweep »

yes it is good but often seems very slow of late.

I use it in London to quickly note key points on a route.

But for cross country I much prefer cycle.travel

though I'm sure it's got some hidden algorithm which keeps me away from pubs :)
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Psamathe
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Re: Cycle Route Planner

Post by Psamathe »

Just done another test and quite horrified.

Tried RideWithGPS and despite being a dedicated cycle routing system it is the worst "certain death" route I've seen. for those that know East Anglia, would you ride down the southern end of the A140, or along the A14 between Stowmarket & Ipswich!
Screen Shot 2018-06-04 at 17.20.50.png


Compared to cycle.travel which gives a more than sensible looking route (given the identical start and end points)
Screen Shot 2018-06-04 at 17.23.24 copy.jpg


(For info the "test" route is from Diss to Colchester - a reasonable journey)

Ian
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MrsHJ
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Re: Cycle Route Planner

Post by MrsHJ »

Paulatic wrote:http://cycle.travel/ Will show you elevation. Click on the picture of mountains after getting your route. As do many other sites. As for gradient you’ll have to guess at that ( steep and not so steep) by looking at the image.


If you limit your route to just the climb you can then get the average gradient for that hill/mountain/pass/lumpy bit by using your calculator as the numbers are on the screen. In the top left of the elevation outline which covers the bottom 2/5 of the screen it shows total ascent and descent.

Note to the developer-it would be nice to have this information as part of the ride summary. I'm having lots of fun investigating my personal transam though.

Personally I've always liked the traditional Michelin map strategy for steep bits- 1 arrow for hard 5-9%, 2 arrows for seriously tough 9-13% and 3 arrows for more than 13% i.e. totally avoid. I have done some triple arrows on loaded touring bikes and really-no. Having said that many of the roads round here would be triple arrows.
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RickH
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Location: Horwich, Lancs.

Re: Cycle Route Planner

Post by RickH »

Psamathe wrote:Just done another test and quite horrified.

Tried RideWithGPS and despite being a dedicated cycle routing system it is the worst "certain death" route I've seen. for those that know East Anglia, would you ride down the southern end of the A140, or along the A14 between Stowmarket & Ipswich!
Screen Shot 2018-06-04 at 17.20.50.png

Compared to cycle.travel which gives a more than sensible looking route (given the identical start and end points)
Screen Shot 2018-06-04 at 17.23.24 copy.jpg

(For info the "test" route is from Diss to Colchester - a reasonable journey)

Ian

I wouldn't use RwGPS like that just to calculate a route between 2 relatively distant points. I use it to plan routes where I want to go (I use BikeHike in a similar manner as I like the parallel Google/OSM & OS map - just dont try to use the OSM routing as it doesn't work). If I click & it chooses a route on that bit that I don't want then I hit the "undo" button & click on the way I want it to route. I think the cycling routing in RwGPS is just not letting you go where you're not allowed to ride, such as motorways & footpaths, rather than giving you a cycling friendly route.

In cycle.travel at the moment you can't bypass the routing (although it is supposed to be coming) - if there is a link missing in the underlying mapping (access between a road & a canal towpath is one I sometimes encounter) it is impossible to route that way, even if you know the link is there. At times I'll ise cycle.travel to plan the "bones" of a route then replot it by hand in BikeHike or, more recently, RwGPS to get rid of some of the extraneous squiggles added by the mapping deficiencies. With both of those there is an option to plot a simple line for short distances so you can make the route go anywhere.

Of course I should edit the OSM mapping so it will work in future (I've done a few minor bits before now & simple stuff isn't hard), but I must admit I often don't get round to it.
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MrsHJ
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Joined: 19 Aug 2010, 1:03pm
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Re: Cycle Route Planner

Post by MrsHJ »

RickH wrote:
Psamathe wrote:Just done another test and quite horrified.

Tried RideWithGPS and despite being a dedicated cycle routing system it is the worst "certain death" route I've seen. for those that know East Anglia, would you ride down the southern end of the A140, or along the A14 between Stowmarket & Ipswich!
Screen Shot 2018-06-04 at 17.20.50.png

Compared to cycle.travel which gives a more than sensible looking route (given the identical start and end points)
Screen Shot 2018-06-04 at 17.23.24 copy.jpg

(For info the "test" route is from Diss to Colchester - a reasonable journey)

Ian

I wouldn't use RwGPS like that just to calculate a route between 2 relatively distant points. I use it to plan routes where I want to go (I use BikeHike in a similar manner as I like the parallel Google/OSM & OS map - just dont try to use the OSM routing as it doesn't work). If I click & it chooses a route on that bit that I don't want then I hit the "undo" button & click on the way I want it to route. I think the cycling routing in RwGPS is just not letting you go where you're not allowed to ride, such as motorways & footpaths, rather than giving you a cycling friendly route.

In cycle.travel at the moment you can't bypass the routing (although it is supposed to be coming) - if there is a link missing in the underlying mapping (access between a road & a canal towpath is one I sometimes encounter) it is impossible to route that way, even if you know the link is there. At times I'll ise cycle.travel to plan the "bones" of a route then replot it by hand in BikeHike or, more recently, RwGPS to get rid of some of the extraneous squiggles added by the mapping deficiencies. With both of those there is an option to plot a simple line for short distances so you can make the route go anywhere.

Of course I should edit the OSM mapping so it will work in future (I've done a few minor bits before now & simple stuff isn't hard), but I must admit I often don't get round to it.


That bypass should be useful.
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