GPS routeplanner that avoids A Roads!?

[Dave855]

I've tried planning routes on a few different software packages now-all of which offer an 'avoid highways' preference or 'prefer minor roads', however they will still happily take you along plenty of A-roads when they calculate a route! I don't suppose anybody knows of a system that will automatically avoid all A-roads when creating a route or maybe one that is just a bit more inclined to follow minor roads?? Thanks

[NUKe]

Have you tried Bike oute toaster with the preference set to bike
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx

[andrew_s]

I suggest trying Velomap

Garmin City Navigator does allow you to avoid major roads, but the trouble with trying to do so is that it will send you on a 10 mile detour to avoid 20 yards of main road at a staggered crossroads

[ossie]

Have you tried Bike oute toaster with the preference set to bike
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx

Not good advice im afraid.

That will take you over MTB routes and some of the roughest semi non existent tracks there are. Tried it for the Pyrenees and it will take you up paths you would struggle to walk up.

[Dave855]

Thanks all for the replies. I've had a play around with bikeroutetoaster-it looks pretty promising (seems to favour minor roads much more than Mapsource with City Navigator). It's hard to say if it's taking me down any really rough trails but initially it seems OK......should I be very wary of it Ossie? Andrew I've had a quick look at Velomap-it seems a lot more complicated (maybe thats a good thing)! I'll see if I can get my head around it...

[sjs]

Why not just look at a map (perhaps an online one, maybe even paper) and plan your own route? Surely that's part of the fun.

[ossie]

Thanks all for the replies. I've had a play around with bikeroutetoaster-it looks pretty promising (seems to favour minor roads much more than Mapsource with City Navigator). It's hard to say if it's taking me down any really rough trails but initially it seems OK......should I be very wary of it Ossie? Andrew I've had a quick look at Velomap-it seems a lot more complicated (maybe thats a good thing)! I'll see if I can get my head around it...

It depends on your route, you need to quick scan the route it has chosen and make a visual check rather than take it as gospel. Now the link below is a bikeroutoaster route set to autorouting (bike) from Olot over the Pyrenees to the DII5 in France. If you click on it and put the view onto satellite you will see it follows nothing more than a track through the high mountains. The only two routes over these mountains on a touring bike are the C38 to the West and a minor road 20 miles east.

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=406597

I love bikeroutetoaster for its simplicity and always use it but at times it needs some attention.



.

[snibgo]

I like Toaster, but it does suggest routes not suitable for road bikes, and that's in Cambridgeshire never mind the Pyrenees.

I don't know of an autorouter that is flexible enough for my requirements, or even one that has the data.

[Dave855]

Thanks all for the replies. I've had a play around with bikeroutetoaster-it looks pretty promising (seems to favour minor roads much more than Mapsource with City Navigator). It's hard to say if it's taking me down any really rough trails but initially it seems OK......should I be very wary of it Ossie? Andrew I've had a quick look at Velomap-it seems a lot more complicated (maybe thats a good thing)! I'll see if I can get my head around it...

It depends on your route, you need to quick scan the route it has chosen and make a visual check rather than take it as gospel. Now the link below is a bikeroutoaster route set to autorouting (bike) from Olot over the Pyrenees to the DII5 in France. If you click on it and put the view onto satellite you will see it follows nothing more than a track through the high mountains. The only two routes over these mountains on a touring bike are the C38 to the West and a minor road 20 miles east.

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=406597

I love bikeroutetoaster for its simplicity and always use it but at times it needs some attention.



.

Ah yeah I see what you mean. I've played about with a few routes and am still impressed with the majority of route choices it makes. I am struggling with editing the route though-I assume there is some way of moving a route line between points......other programs allow you to just drag and drop the route line creating a new waypoint and then they automatically recalculate the route to take in that point. I thought it may be possible using the 'insert before' and 'insert after' options but I just get a time-out error every time I try to use them. Am I missing something?

[stewartpratt]

I just use Google Maps and drag the route where I want it. Any auto-generated route will always need a bit of manual tweaking anyway, IME.

[ossie]

Re drag and drop try using Course point instead of track point on top right under controls.

[puncturedtyre]

Choose paved or unpaved cycle paths

If your in a rush there is aways the quickest route

http://www.routeyou.com/home.en

[Dave855]

Choose paved or unpaved cycle paths

If your in a rush there is aways the quickest route

http://www.routeyou.com/home.en

Excellent! First impressions are that this is exactly what I'm after. I'm wondering whether to plan a route or a track for a longish tour. I've heard that tracks help conserve battery life-does anybody know if it is a significant saving? Any general advice on track vs route?

Also by the time I create a route on routeyou and download the gpx file-it seems to have turned into a track when I open it into Mapsource-I'm not sure if there is any way of changing it back to a route if need be anyway?

[NUKe]

Have you tried Bike oute toaster with the preference set to bike
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx

Not good advice im afraid.

That will take you over MTB routes and some of the roughest semi non existent tracks there are. Tried it for the Pyrenees and it will take you up paths you would struggle to walk up.

well it works quite well for the UK. I used it to plan several routes. including Felixstowe to Leeds It will use bridle ways. but if you check the route you can route round these, however it never been on anything that you couldn't ride on a normal bike. On another route from Felixstowe to Liverpool it was all on tarmac some of it was cycle tracks but they were all metalled.

I tend to work by getting toaster to do an end to end of the route work thorough it, check for bits I don't like the re route around anything I do not want to do ( or to find lunch stops etc. Its not perfect. but it generally its routes are fairly reasonable

[magical_mouse]

I downloaded Velomap for the UK and use it with garmin basecamp set to touring bike, it works out routes based upon road preferences and can be adapted by entering new waypoints, very impressive routing if you want peaceful country lanes.

However if you want to string together ncn routes, biketoaster is very effective and the best i have found in this respect.

david