Cycle Travel Question

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
Richard Fairhurst
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Richard Fairhurst »

Sweep wrote: 8 Jun 2021, 6:16pm why if you ask for a route from carlisle to inverness,
and then ask for a round trip,
does the route divert to and then come straight back from the doubtless charming town/hamlet of Claonaig?
It's what's technically known as "one of those things"! The routing algorithm is geared to finding the best route between A and B; finding an alternate, second-best route (which is what forms the return leg) isn't something it's ideally suited for. So sometimes you get little artefacts like this.
BeardyWeirdy wrote: 8 Jun 2021, 4:11pmUnfortunately on my Etrex, I can only see about 12 (?) characters of the name or so. I downloaded them and renamed the GPX files to some thing short and in order, but the etrex obviously uses an internal name, as they showed up as *Long nam...." so I could not tell them apart.

Would it be possible to split the files into "Day 1 + name" rather than "Name + day 1" so I can tell them apart!
Ah, Garmins are full of pleasant surprises like that. I've just tweaked it so that if you have a route called (say) "LEJOG day 1", it will set the internal name in the GPX file to "1: LEJOG".
Sweep wrote: 15 May 2021, 1:48pm On a recent up and down up and down ride in the chilterns I peered at my etrex more closely than usual and noticed that it was successively counting down to High Point Low Point High Point etc.
Very useful, and particularly encouraging as I laboured up a great big hill out of High Wycombe.
Is this a function of cycle travel or is it something to do with my garmin, or even the maps?
If cycletravel, can I ask how it is done? ie what the "window" is for deciding on the point of the "high point", "low point" ?
I ask as there were clearly times where climbing towards a "high point" there were clearly some points where the road dropped but the garmin continued to count to a higher point some distance ahead.
"High Point" and "Low Point" are Garmin things, I believe - certainly there's nothing in cycle.travel that adds them. Nice feature though!
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BeardyWeirdy
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by BeardyWeirdy »

Thanks Richard - that is what I call a fast service!
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chris_suffolk
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by chris_suffolk »

When I create a track / route, and download to my PC and then to my Garmin eTrex20, it will NEVER open on the eTrex ( I save as a .GPX file). I end up having to create a new track, and tracing over the one from cycle.travel, which I then save as a .GPX file, and this always works. Any ideas?
BeardyWeirdy
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by BeardyWeirdy »

it works ok on my etrex 30 - which folder are you using? I use the GPS folder
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chris_suffolk
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by chris_suffolk »

BeardyWeirdy wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 2:49pm it works ok on my etrex 30 - which folder are you using? I use the GPS folder
Yes, so do I.

The only difference, that I can see, is that the one I create always has fewer track points in it. Not sure if that's anything to do with it or a red-herring.
richardfm
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by richardfm »

chris_suffolk wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 2:31pm When I create a track / route, and download to my PC and then to my Garmin eTrex20, it will NEVER open on the eTrex ( I save as a .GPX file). I end up having to create a new track, and tracing over the one from cycle.travel, which I then save as a .GPX file, and this always works. Any ideas?
If your eTrex works with Garmin Connect on your phone then you can export straight from Cycle.travel to the Garmin Connect and sync from there to your eTrex
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chris_suffolk
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by chris_suffolk »

richardfm wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 6:56pm
chris_suffolk wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 2:31pm When I create a track / route, and download to my PC and then to my Garmin eTrex20, it will NEVER open on the eTrex ( I save as a .GPX file). I end up having to create a new track, and tracing over the one from cycle.travel, which I then save as a .GPX file, and this always works. Any ideas?
If your eTrex works with Garmin Connect on your phone then you can export straight from Cycle.travel to the Garmin Connect and sync from there to your eTrex
I don't use Garmin Connect - though I guess I could install it. I also don't have a cable to connect the phone (USB 3) to the eTrex - though I guess I could get one.

I just download the GPX file (have tried other formats like TCX too to no avail) from cycle.travel to my PC, edit them (name etc) in Mapsource (yes I know it's old, but it works) and then load to the eTrex over a USB lead. Never have any issues with files, from whatever source, except those that originate from cycle.travel. So, can't believe it's something I'm doing, nor the technology / components I'm using, else other methods would break too.
richardfm
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by richardfm »

chris_suffolk wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 7:21pm
richardfm wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 6:56pm
chris_suffolk wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 2:31pm When I create a track / route, and download to my PC and then to my Garmin eTrex20, it will NEVER open on the eTrex ( I save as a .GPX file). I end up having to create a new track, and tracing over the one from cycle.travel, which I then save as a .GPX file, and this always works. Any ideas?
If your eTrex works with Garmin Connect on your phone then you can export straight from Cycle.travel to the Garmin Connect and sync from there to your eTrex
I don't use Garmin Connect - though I guess I could install it. I also don't have a cable to connect the phone (USB 3) to the eTrex - though I guess I could get one.

I just download the GPX file (have tried other formats like TCX too to no avail) from cycle.travel to my PC, edit them (name etc) in Mapsource (yes I know it's old, but it works) and then load to the eTrex over a USB lead. Never have any issues with files, from whatever source, except those that originate from cycle.travel. So, can't believe it's something I'm doing, nor the technology / components I'm using, else other methods would break too.
I'm not familiar with eTrex but if it has bluetooth you can sync with Garmin Connect without a cable.
Richard M
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chris_suffolk
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by chris_suffolk »

richardfm wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 7:26pm
chris_suffolk wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 7:21pm
richardfm wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 6:56pm

If your eTrex works with Garmin Connect on your phone then you can export straight from Cycle.travel to the Garmin Connect and sync from there to your eTrex
I don't use Garmin Connect - though I guess I could install it. I also don't have a cable to connect the phone (USB 3) to the eTrex - though I guess I could get one.

I just download the GPX file (have tried other formats like TCX too to no avail) from cycle.travel to my PC, edit them (name etc) in Mapsource (yes I know it's old, but it works) and then load to the eTrex over a USB lead. Never have any issues with files, from whatever source, except those that originate from cycle.travel. So, can't believe it's something I'm doing, nor the technology / components I'm using, else other methods would break too.
I'm not familiar with eTrex but if it has bluetooth you can sync with Garmin Connect without a cable.
The eTrex is a basic Garmin GPS device, that basically provides a track to follow as a line on a map, and an arrow giving current location. It's not blue tooth compatible. Whilst not advanced, it's reliable (once the track is loaded) and takes AA batteries, which avoids the need to have access to a charging point when away for more than a day or so.

Looks like I need to stick with tracing the cycle.travel track, as there's obviously something that the eTrex doesn't like, but I don't know what.
Richard Fairhurst
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Richard Fairhurst »

Chris - if you could post one of your GPX files (or a link to the route on cycle.travel) I can have a look. In theory there shouldn't be an issue but the eTrexes sometimes have limits to the number of trackpoints they'll accept.
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monxton
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by monxton »

chris_suffolk wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 2:31pm When I create a track / route, and download to my PC and then to my Garmin eTrex20, it will NEVER open on the eTrex ( I save as a .GPX file). I end up having to create a new track, and tracing over the one from cycle.travel, which I then save as a .GPX file, and this always works. Any ideas?
When you say a track / route, which do you mean? Are you using cycle.travel's format GPX track (for all devices and phones) or GPX route (small file, marks turns)? Both of them have a .gpx file extension.
chris_suffolk wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 3:24pm The only difference, that I can see, is that the one I create always has fewer track points in it. Not sure if that's anything to do with it or a red-herring.
Possibly. If you are using a Route, then the number of points becomes significant. What does the Garmin tell you when it fails to open the file?
BeardyWeirdy
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by BeardyWeirdy »

Hi Chris

Try copying one from cycle travel without editing it - if that works then it may be some part of your editing process causing the problem.

I copy track across all the time - (downlead from CT, attach my etrex to my computer, copy to GPS folder). I dont open the files in anything else between.

Richard
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chris_suffolk
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by chris_suffolk »

BeardyWeirdy wrote: 10 Jun 2021, 9:32am Hi Chris

Try copying one from cycle travel without editing it - if that works then it may be some part of your editing process causing the problem.

I copy track across all the time - (downlead from CT, attach my etrex to my computer, copy to GPS folder). I dont open the files in anything else between.

Richard
Yes, tried that too, always fails.

I can save as a different type, i.e GPX or GPS or take as raw from CT, never works for me. But tracks I create, or download from any other site I've found, all work.
SA_SA_SA
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by SA_SA_SA »

To continue the avoiding small deviations in dense urban areas like towns subthread:

Could the database be set up with less turns for short sections of quieter route, in urban areas etc?

I suppose the alternative is to separate tour routes into non urban and urban sections, and use cycle travel for the non urban. But if ever rewritten from scratch I request a plain manual plotter mode :) .

Thanks for all the Maps. :D :D
------------You may not use this post in Cycle or other magazine ------ 8)
Richard Fairhurst
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Richard Fairhurst »

It tries to minimise turns at the same time as picking quieter routes - obviously it doesn't always get it right, but much of this is because there isn't much data on what's a quiet route and what isn't in urban areas. If you have a particular example in mind let me know.
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