Routes in Bikely.com

[AlanW]

Ok, the Vista HCx has finally arrived and we are now good to go.

Prior to it arriving I had already mapped out the route for the pending Shropshire Highland Challenge, see here - http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/20 ... -Challenge

So I thought that it was just a case of getting it from there onto the unit, how hard could that be?

Downloaded it as a .gpx file using EasyGPS

Connected unit to laptop, opened up EasyGPS, click to send to device.....nothing? I know that it is something I am doing or have done wrong, because I have the Hell of the North route in EasyGPS that downloaded onto the Vista without a problem??

So, then copied the route over to Mapsource and saved it there.

Tried again, this time I got a message on the unit that the route was "truncated"? Then when I looked at what had actually been transferred over I had only got 28 miles of a 70 odd mile route?

Then I did the whole route again, but this time in Mapsource. Looking at the completed overlay on the laptop it all looked fine, however when I looked at the route on Vista screen, it was just a series of straight lines?It was only connecting the points where I had clicked on when making the route. If that makes sense??

Could it be that the mistake I made (I think) was not clicking on each and every junction or turn? I just detailed the 4 important waypoints, then relied on the auto route facility of Mapsource when plotting the route to join the dots as long as it follows the route I require?

But the bit I really don't get is when looking at the laptop screen it details it ok. The route follows all the roads, no straight lines anywhere? But on the Vista screen it only joins where I clicked on when drafting the route out on the laptop???

Oh dear.....my head hurts?

Can anyone guide me please.....????????

[meic]

Two things.
Difference between route and track.
Trackpoints capacity

Route truncated (should really be TRACK truncated).
This is because you only have 500trackpoints per track on the Vista.
If you get your track in the Mapsource and use an edit or filter you can reduce the number of trackpoints to 500. If you dont do that then you only get the first 500 points of your track.
If you want precision then you can chop your track into many 500 point lengths. Each loaded seperately with a different name.
Such precision isnt normally reqd.

When you got the series of straight lines you had somehow changed your track into a route.
Probably when you transfered the track from one place to another you failed to transfer it as a track and changed it into a route.

[AlanW]

Lets see if I have this right then?

A 'route' is what I am constructing in Mapsource on my laptop, ie the 2009 Shropshire Highland Challenge route.

A 'track' is the breadcrumb trail after I have done the above event?

Once constructed I then save that 'route' in a folder on my laptop as a .gdb file. Then, and as I do with my Garmin car SatNav, I simply click 'send to device'.

The route is detailed turn by turn on the laptop. However, and as I said in my first post, once on the Vista is just series of straight lines, with a lot of the turn detail missing?

I dont have the same problem with my Garmin car unit, which confuses me?

So what do I have to save my route as before I can download it to the Vista then, a 'route' or a 'track'???

And in what format, .gdb or .gpx

Sorry, if these are stupid questions to some, but I'm sure that I'll crack it sooner or later.

[meic]

I cant answer all your questions as I normally dont bother with routes at all. I much prefer to use tracks.

A tracklogs is either the breadcrumb trail you make on the GPS
or
A breadcrumb trail that you or the mapping software draws in the computer.
In Anquet you would draw the track point by point with your mouse along an OS map. Anquet very annoyingly call a collection of tracks a route which is not what anyone else means by route.
Bikehike.co.uk can draw the tracklog automatically for you between points that you choose. They do however put in many more points about 2000 for 100 miles.
So those tracks nearly always need filtering down or cutting up to get in the GPS.

A route is just collecting a list of places you want to pass through.
A collection of waypoints
This is probably what showed up on the computer screen as the straight lines.
However a clever GPS like a Vista WITH Navigator installed on it can be asked to "navigate" the route and it will then make up its own almost limitless tracklog for you to follow complete with little diagrams, 3d views etc.
I never use that as it never picks roads that I would choose to use.
On the other hand it could cover much much greater distances.

[meic]

I always use tracklogs as .gpx files
I dont know what a .gdb is.

I always save as a track.

If you save a tracklog as a route it will fill your GPS with up to 500 waypoints which are a pain to clear out.

If you save a route as a tracklog you will get long straight lines between each of the waypoints which are quite far apart.
and your clever GPS will not be able to "navigate" it because it is a track.

[meic]

By the sounds of it the route on your GPS may well work.
Only if you have installed some Garmin mapping without that or a similar dodge it will not have the navigate route facility and will not navigate any route other than by direct straight lines

Go to the route and click on it then choose navigate route.

What you get may be weird if you are not at the start point, I cant remember if it refuses or if it will navigate you to the start point first before doing the route itself.

A word of caution.

When autorouters navigate between two waypoints, they will not always give the same roads.
You could easily end up with the GPS sending you a different way to that which is drawn on your computer screen by bikely.com
The GPS itself will offer different roads between different waypoints as you change its settings or ask it to replot.

[yakdiver]

Am I missing something I down loaded the route from bikey opened up mapsource and then up loaded it to mapsource without using a third party "click on the photo to make it bigger"

[meic]

I followed numbnuts instructions and all was fine.
Then on transfering to device (Vista HCx) I got a truncated tracklog.
about 28 miles.

So before transfering get track properties and use filter down to 500 points. It actually said 422 when done.

Transfer to device and you get the full tracklog.

This is all done with tracks not routes.

However you do get the waypoints along the track.

Which you could easily string together into a route, which the GPS could navigate. I would not do it myself though as it picks stupid roads.

[dima]

As others have said, a route that is sent to your Vista is only a collection of waypoints (in extreme case, just two points - start and end), connected by straight lines. It becomes a "real" route when the GPS unit "calculates" it. The unit can only do that when it has maps (such as City Navigator) loaded into it. So when you select the route you want to take on your GPS (from the "routes" menu), and click "navigate", it starts with "calculating" it - that's when the straight lines become "curvy", following the roads that are on the map. After that, the unit can guide you through the route, telling you when to make a turn to what street etc. In my experience it works quite well as long as you give the unit enough waypoints to make its task easier. One of the things I like about routes is that you can make a detour and the GPS will automatically recalculate the route as needed to take you to your next waypoint. I have not used tracks for routing so am not sure whether this is possible with them.

[AlanW]

As others have said, a route that is sent to your Vista is only a collection of waypoints (in extreme case, just two points - start and end), connected by straight lines. It becomes a "real" route when the GPS unit "calculates" it. The unit can only do that when it has maps (such as City Navigator) loaded into it. So when you select the route you want to take on your GPS (from the "routes" menu), and click "navigate", it starts with "calculating" it - that's when the straight lines become "curvy", following the roads that are on the map. After that, the unit can guide you through the route, telling you when to make a turn to what street etc. In my experience it works quite well as long as you give the unit enough waypoints to make its task easier. One of the things I like about routes is that you can make a detour and the GPS will automatically recalculate the route as needed to take you to your next waypoint. I have not used tracks for routing so am not sure whether this is possible with them.

By gum......I think that's it, that's the key to it. As soon as you select the route required from the 'routes menu' and then click 'navigate', it calculates and joins all the dots as if by magic, as you say.

However, in saying that it also calculates how to get to the starting point as well? So its just mapped out how to get to Ludlow from Redditch, plus the Shropshire Highland Challenge route!

So it would seem best that when you get to the event, you select the route and then 'navigate' when you are about to leave, makes sense really I suppose?

Thanks for all the other replies, help and tips, really appreciated gents.

[climo]

Welcome to the wonderful world of GPS.

In mapsource you must be careful to place the waypoints with the route tool exactly on the road you want to be on. A small error means that when you get to that point (lets say its a junction) the unit will direct you in the wrong direction then bring up a U turn in a few yards.
They will also not always send you the correct way when a road splits with no obvious right or left turn. In this case they just say 'straight on". You can put in a waypoint to direct you but it's still not infallible. Mapsource is not very precise and even shows some railways running the wrong side of the road.

For me it's still a good idea to have sections of a map printed out to avoid confusion in complicated areas in case of "operator error". Maps do give you a sense of the landscape you are passing through but a GPS does make navigation quicker.

YMMV of course. Sorry about the dreadful pun.