Cycle Travel Question

[yutkoxpo]

There's a bit of weirdness going on with my etrex 30x and cycle.travel that I hope someone else has had and fixed.
I'll give a detailed list of what I do so my issue is clear below.

Plot cycle.travel route on pc/chromebook.
Download to pc/chromebook as a gpx route.
Upload gpx route to the gpx file directory in the etrex.
Turn on the etrex and choose the "cycle.travel" route from the 'track manager' .
Click on it and then click 'View Map' which sometimes causes it to freeze.
When the freeze ends, I'll get a 'Loading track with elevation data from the map' message. This message sits on the screen a very long time, I times it the other day and it lasted 4.30 mins!
After that it'll play nice and I can get on with riding my route.

It only does this with a cycle.travel file as I've tried others like GPSies, bike hike etc.
If I load the cycle.travel gpx file into a gpsies/bike hike site, save it and then download, it works OK.

Any help here would be very much appreciated.

Perhaps I'm stating the obvious, but there are two gpx formats to download. Have you tried both?

[Vantage]

Nope Mr Hobbes.
I don't use gpx tracks due to the etrex's unwillingness to work well with them.

[SA_SA_SA]

Some suggestions:

Could the version of router software be stored with a saved route and used until the owner chooses to update to the latest?...This would avoid routes mysteriously changing when they modify another bit on?

A backup all routes to Gpx option in case of cycle.travel going offline (hopefully not )


Thanks for the maps and routes

[mjr]

A backup all routes to Gpx option in case of cycle.travel going offline (hopefully not )

Backup folder to GPX would also enable quick loading of a GPS device when going on tour.

[PH]

When the freeze ends, I'll get a 'Loading track with elevation data from the map' message.

Is there something about elevation data where it's saved/loaded if you had it showing at the time, but not otherwise? I'm guessing, I no longer have an Etrex but remember something similar, though it might not have been identical.

[JMaude]

I use CT gpx routes on an Etrex 30x. I get the Loading track message. After a while I usually get bored with it and click the backup button and it reverts to the map.

[Richard Fairhurst]

A backup all routes to Gpx option in case of cycle.travel going offline (hopefully not )

Backup folder to GPX would also enable quick loading of a GPS device when going on tour.

That's a great idea. Ok: I've added the facility to download an entire folder as GPX tracks in one .zip file. If you go to your journeys page (https://cycle.travel/user/journeys), and look at the folders list on the right, each one now has a download icon by it. Clicking that will download a .zip of all the routes in it. It's limited to 50 routes maximum (to avoid boggling the server too much).

Could the version of router software be stored with a saved route and used until the owner chooses to update to the latest?...This would avoid routes mysteriously changing when they modify another bit on?

Unfortunately not! Keeping old versions of the router running would mean buying a new server each time to run them on... so I'd be buying a new server every month. That could get very expensive very quickly.

There's a bit of weirdness going on with my etrex 30x and cycle.travel that I hope someone else has had and fixed.
I'll give a detailed list of what I do so my issue is clear below.

It only does this with a cycle.travel file as I've tried others like GPSies, bike hike etc.
If I load the cycle.travel gpx file into a gpsies/bike hike site, save it and then download, it works OK.

That's weird. I found a couple of threads over on YACF that seem to suggest (as PH also thinks) it might have something to do with elevation data: https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=91878.0 , https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=91916.0 . If you could email me (info@cycle.travel) the c.t track that freezes and the GPSies version that doesn't, then I can compare the two and see if I can figure out what's going on.

[Vantage]

Thanks to Richard, problem fixed.
Having the elevation data on screen when downloading the gpx file solved it. It seems the elevation data is missing otherwise and so the etrex was trying to use its own data.

[JMaude]

Hi Vantage - thanks for posting a solution. Just to clarify do you click on the elevation profile (mountain button) and then when you have the split screen showing then download the gpx prior to uploading it to the Etrex?

[Vantage]

Yup

[SA_SA_SA]

.....I've added the facility to download an entire folder as GPX tracks in one .zip file.....

Unfortunately not! Keeping old versions of the router running would mean buying a new server each time to run them on... so I'd be buying a new server every month.....

1) Thanks.

2) Ahh.... what about applying router to whole route the 1st time a route is made (ie created between start and finish flag), but after that have a check box to select between router runs betwen start and finish flags (Reroute All) vs router run between selected points/vias (Reroute Subsection) ? That way an onscreen section can be tweeked without unexpected changes 'off screen'?

[rfryer]

I see that Garmin have enabled a new API to get routes onto their devices more easily. See DC Rainmaker's report.

Are there any plans to integrate Cycle.travel with this?

[Richard Fairhurst]

I see that Garmin have enabled a new API to get routes onto their devices more easily. See DC Rainmaker's report.

Are there any plans to integrate Cycle.travel with this?

Yes, definitely - in fact I was on the Garmin forums yesterday asking what's happening. It appears that Garmin are going to make the API available to anyone with a reasonable case - which is definitely an improvement over their previous API, which was only available if you paid them $5000 a year. But the API isn't available yet other than to Strava and Komoot, so I think it's a case of "watch this space" for a few weeks.

2) Ahh.... what about applying router to whole route the 1st time a route is made (ie created between start and finish flag), but after that have a check box to select between router runs betwen start and finish flags (Reroute All) vs router run between selected points/vias (Reroute Subsection) ? That way an onscreen section can be tweeked without unexpected changes 'off screen'?

I've actually wondered about doing that by default anyway, because if you have a long route with lots of waypoints, it'd be more efficient to just recalculate the bits that need changing on every drag. But it'll require quite a lot of code changes, so don't expect it particularly soon I'm afraid!

[SA_SA_SA]

.....I've actually wondered about doing that by default anyway, because if you have a long route with lots of waypoints, it'd be more efficient to just recalculate the bits that need changing on every drag. But it'll require quite a lot of code changes, so don't expect it particularly soon I'm afraid!

Thanks.

[rfryer]

I see that Garmin have enabled a new API to get routes onto their devices more easily. See DC Rainmaker's report.

Are there any plans to integrate Cycle.travel with this?

Yes, definitely - in fact I was on the Garmin forums yesterday asking what's happening. It appears that Garmin are going to make the API available to anyone with a reasonable case - which is definitely an improvement over their previous API, which was only available if you paid them $5000 a year. But the API isn't available yet other than to Strava and Komoot, so I think it's a case of "watch this space" for a few weeks.

Sounds great, thanks!