Cycle Travel Question

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
Pendodave
Posts: 527
Joined: 3 Jun 2020, 8:27am

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Pendodave »

Richard Fairhurst wrote: 15 Jun 2021, 3:11pm Ah, I see the issue - a little edge case in the code. Should be fixed now.
Thanks Richard.
Richard Fairhurst
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Joined: 2 Mar 2008, 4:57pm
Location: Charlbury, Oxfordshire

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Richard Fairhurst »

Just updated the routing data and there's a couple of things worth noting this time...

First, I've fed lots more traffic data into the black box* that works out the best routes - much of it in mainland Europe (eight more French départements, a few Italian provinces, and so on), but also many more B roads in Britain. So cycle.travel should now be more willing to route you along a quiet B road, and conversely, less eager to send you along a busy one.

Second, and bearing in mind a few comments upthread, I've tweaked it so it's a little more tolerant of busier 30mph roads in urban areas. To take RickH's example, it'll now follow the A578 through Westleigh more easily, though it still doesn't like the A573 through Platt Bridge. Or taking matt_twam_asi's example of Horsham, although it won't choose the A281 (Brighton Road) out of Horsham by default, you can now drag it there using just one via point rather than six. Hopefully this should be a workable balance between still choosing quiet roads but making it a little easier to follow an urban A road if you want to.

(* It is literally a black box - a big HP server with six disks and 144GB RAM!)
cycle.travel - maps, journey-planner, route guides and city guides
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andrew_s
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Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 9:29pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by andrew_s »

Since some time on Sunday, cycle.travel has been showing standard OpenStreetMap, rather than the previous cycle.travel style.
Can we have the old style back please?

The layers button gives cycle.travel as one of the options, but what you get when you reselect it is standard OSM.

(Android phone)

[update]
Back to normal this morning (Monday).
I'll guess I caught it mid-update.
Last edited by andrew_s on 12 Jul 2021, 11:56am, edited 2 times in total.
Bmblbzzz
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Joined: 18 May 2012, 7:56pm
Location: From here to there.

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Bmblbzzz »

It's still showing c.t style for me; might be a device issue?

Two routing questions: Entering Swindon from the west, through Lydiard Millicent, and leaving via Wanborough, ct ignores route 45, which is largely traffic free, in favour of a route combining shared use pavement and back street mazes. Why doesn't it use route 45?

And between Wantage and Harwell, there has been a lot of upgrading of what were previously muddy byways and are now gravelled cycleways. This looks pretty new (signs say "temporary surface till autumn 2021") so I presume it just needs to updated in OSM?
Duradulo
Posts: 31
Joined: 1 Mar 2019, 10:58pm

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Duradulo »

There's a crossing over the Thames which is widely used at Hambleden Lock which cycle.travel refuses to use - it seems the OSM tagging is preventing it from using a stretch of path on the south of the Thames. This in turn pushes a lot of journeys to use the busier roads at Henley or Marlow.

I did have a look at changing this but realised that (a) I don't really know what I'm doing, and (b) I'm not certain about access rights, but as far as I can see from the OS map this stretch of path is a bridleway so cycling should be permitted (it's certainly allowed in practice and there are notices asking cyclists to wheel their bikes over the lock).

Missing route and detour shown here: https://cycle.travel/map/journey/239883
DaveReading
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Joined: 24 Feb 2019, 5:37pm

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by DaveReading »

Duradulo wrote: 12 Jul 2021, 11:44am There's a crossing over the Thames which is widely used at Hambleden Lock which cycle.travel refuses to use - it seems the OSM tagging is preventing it from using a stretch of path on the south of the Thames. This in turn pushes a lot of journeys to use the busier roads at Henley or Marlow.

I did have a look at changing this but realised that (a) I don't really know what I'm doing, and (b) I'm not certain about access rights, but as far as I can see from the OS map this stretch of path is a bridleway so cycling should be permitted (it's certainly allowed in practice and there are notices asking cyclists to wheel their bikes over the lock).
If you mean the paved track accessed via a kissing gate from Aston, it's definitely a footpath rather than a bridleway, though I've never had any problems when cycling sensibly along it.

Re the bridge over the lock and weir, I've often wondered about the advice on wheeling rather than riding your bike - it's easier for a pedestrian coming the other way to get past you if you're sitting on the bike rather than walking alongside it!
Richard Fairhurst
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Joined: 2 Mar 2008, 4:57pm
Location: Charlbury, Oxfordshire

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Richard Fairhurst »

andrew_s wrote: 12 Jul 2021, 12:44am Since some time on Sunday, cycle.travel has been showing standard OpenStreetMap, rather than the previous cycle.travel style.
Can we have the old style back please?

The layers button gives cycle.travel as one of the options, but what you get when you reselect it is standard OSM.

(Android phone)

[update]
Back to normal this morning (Monday).
I'll guess I caught it mid-update.
Yep, I have to turn the rendering and the mainland Europe routing off when I'm running an update, otherwise the server runs out of memory. It happens once a month (or so) overnight.

OSM data is having a bit of a growth spurt at the moment, "thanks" not least to Amazon Logistics adding gazillions of private driveways to the map. I do have a bigger server lined up but I'd like to figure out some way of filtering out the useless driveways too, which is not quite as easy as it sounds!
Bmblbzzz wrote: 12 Jul 2021, 10:17am Two routing questions: Entering Swindon from the west, through Lydiard Millicent, and leaving via Wanborough, ct ignores route 45, which is largely traffic free, in favour of a route combining shared use pavement and back street mazes. Why doesn't it use route 45?
Interesting one. c.t is choosing the old NCN 45 northern route past the station, which is a fiddlier route but also involves less climbing. This isn't NCN 45 any more, but some rather misleading tagging in OSM was making c.t think it was. I've just fixed OSM (though exasperatingly it'll miss this month's routing update).
Bmblbzzz wrote: 12 Jul 2021, 10:17amAnd between Wantage and Harwell, there has been a lot of upgrading of what were previously muddy byways and are now gravelled cycleways. This looks pretty new (signs say "temporary surface till autumn 2021") so I presume it just needs to updated in OSM?
Indeed! https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/512942952 (for example) is still showing it as a very poor quality surface, so that'll need fixing.
DaveReading wrote: 12 Jul 2021, 12:04pm
Duradulo wrote: 12 Jul 2021, 11:44am There's a crossing over the Thames which is widely used at Hambleden Lock which cycle.travel refuses to use - it seems the OSM tagging is preventing it from using a stretch of path on the south of the Thames. This in turn pushes a lot of journeys to use the busier roads at Henley or Marlow.

I did have a look at changing this but realised that (a) I don't really know what I'm doing, and (b) I'm not certain about access rights, but as far as I can see from the OS map this stretch of path is a bridleway so cycling should be permitted (it's certainly allowed in practice and there are notices asking cyclists to wheel their bikes over the lock).
If you mean the paved track accessed via a kissing gate from Aston, it's definitely a footpath rather than a bridleway, though I've never had any problems when cycling sensibly along it.

Re the bridge over the lock and weir, I've often wondered about the advice on wheeling rather than riding your bike - it's easier for a pedestrian coming the other way to get past you if you're sitting on the bike rather than walking alongside it!
If cycling is widely tolerated on a public footpath like this, then you could tag it in OSM with bicycle=tolerated - or bicycle=permissive if the landowner has given permission even though it's formally a public footpath. c.t will pick up either of those.
cycle.travel - maps, journey-planner, route guides and city guides
Duradulo
Posts: 31
Joined: 1 Mar 2019, 10:58pm

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Duradulo »

DaveReading wrote: 12 Jul 2021, 12:04pm If you mean the paved track accessed via a kissing gate from Aston, it's definitely a footpath rather than a bridleway, though I've never had any problems when cycling sensibly along it.
I have changed that part to 'tolerated' (thanks Richard) as like you I've never had a problem and I'm sure the landowner would be quick to put up signs if they had an issue. There was also part of this track which I think is included in the Thames Path (just south of the weir) which should be bridleway but was also marked as 'bicycles:no', such that cycle.travel wouldn't allow you to go down Aston Ferry Road and along the river, which should certainly be allowed from the OS map.
DaveReading
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Joined: 24 Feb 2019, 5:37pm

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by DaveReading »

Duradulo wrote: 12 Jul 2021, 1:20pm
DaveReading wrote: 12 Jul 2021, 12:04pm If you mean the paved track accessed via a kissing gate from Aston, it's definitely a footpath rather than a bridleway, though I've never had any problems when cycling sensibly along it.
I have changed that part to 'tolerated' (thanks Richard) as like you I've never had a problem and I'm sure the landowner would be quick to put up signs if they had an issue. There was also part of this track which I think is included in the Thames Path (just south of the weir) which should be bridleway but was also marked as 'bicycles:no', such that cycle.travel wouldn't allow you to go down Aston Ferry Road and along the river, which should certainly be allowed from the OS map.
Slightly OT, but I'm not aware of any significant parts of the Thames Path that are bridleway.
wirral_cyclist
Posts: 1024
Joined: 17 May 2010, 9:25pm
Location: Wirral Merseyside

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by wirral_cyclist »

I can no longer upload a gpx into cycle.travel and get the message:-

Sorry

Couldn't find any likely roads or trails: Invalid
coordinates

The thing is I've tried know previously uploaded gpx, several downloads taken from c.t itself (new and old), and new gpx from numerous sources (RWGPS/Garmin etc) with no joy, so I don't think it's a corrupt file(s). Oh ans same outcome in different browsers FF and Edge, Win10 if it matters.

Anyone any ideas?
Jdsk
Posts: 24478
Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Jdsk »

Can you try opening that file in another program?

Jonathan
wirral_cyclist
Posts: 1024
Joined: 17 May 2010, 9:25pm
Location: Wirral Merseyside

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by wirral_cyclist »

Jdsk wrote: 3 Aug 2021, 4:31pm Can you try opening that file in another program?

Jonathan
All the files I've tried will import into garmin (though that often/always needs the time stamps altering) and they will convert on tcx converter, gpsprune accepts them, they look all the same in notepad++
Richard Fairhurst
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Joined: 2 Mar 2008, 4:57pm
Location: Charlbury, Oxfordshire

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Richard Fairhurst »

Could you email me the file? (info@cycle.travel)
cycle.travel - maps, journey-planner, route guides and city guides
ChrisF
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Joined: 22 Mar 2014, 7:34pm

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by ChrisF »

Richard Fairhurst wrote: 4 Aug 2021, 12:49am Could you email me the file? (info@cycle.travel)
Richard, I tried a GPX file 2 days ago and had the same error that that wiral_cyclist had. But today the same file works fine.
Chris F, Cornwall
wirral_cyclist
Posts: 1024
Joined: 17 May 2010, 9:25pm
Location: Wirral Merseyside

Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by wirral_cyclist »

It's fixed! Thanks
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