Cycle Travel Question

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

Post by MrsHJ »

Can anyone point me towards the place where it recommends apps to import your gps route too that works well with cycle.travel. I know I’ve seen some recommendations somewhere. Or if you have a good one that’s great too. Ideally one that won’t totally kill my phone battery on a day trip but I do carry a power monkey with me and I’m b and bing this time so I can charge everything at night.

Me and the garmin are coming to a parting of the ways. I tried downloading the ordnance survey app but the reality is I spend more of my time cycling in Europe than in the UK so I need one that works well in Europe. Next trip is Italy so main focus is getting that route downloaded,
Psamathe
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Psamathe »

MrsHJ wrote: 20 Mar 2022, 11:20am Can anyone point me towards the place where it recommends apps to import your gps route too that works well with cycle.travel. I know I’ve seen some recommendations somewhere. Or if you have a good one that’s great too.

Me and the garmin are coming to a parting of the ways. I tried downloading the ordnance survey app but the reality is I spend more of my time cycling in Europe than in the UK so I need one that works well in Europe. Next trip is Italy so main focus is getting that route downloaded,
What do you want from the app? Do you want turn by turn instructions? or just a track line over a map?

I regularly import cycle.travel routes into MapOut (iPhone/iPad only) to get line on map and all the altitude profile plots, ascent/descent, etc. (generated by MapOut not from the route). If you are iPhone/iPad based and just after route line on map then MapOut https://mapout.app has the clearest map rendering I've seen. App is a one time low cost purchase which includes all maps and ongoing updates (based on OSM) incl contours and cycle paths overlay (and others). It is particularly oriented to hiking & cycling and gives excellent altitude profiles (either between two points or over a route/track), records tracks itself and allows you to draw your own routes on the map (with various options for locking to roads/paths).

Ian
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MrsHJ
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by MrsHJ »

Interesting point. I really want it to shout at me when I go off course and leave me alone the rest of the time. Obviously if I’m doing a fiddly bit in a town I’ll be hopefully paying it more attention but mostly I’m planning on doing fairly straight forward routes that don’t need lots of interference and will often be marked.

Thank you for the suggestion- given it is OSM based how is it in Europe?
Jdsk
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Jdsk »

MrsHJ wrote: 20 Mar 2022, 11:20amMe and the garmin are coming to a parting of the ways. I tried downloading the ordnance survey app but the reality is I spend more of my time cycling in Europe than in the UK so I need one that works well in Europe. Next trip is Italy so main focus is getting that route downloaded,
That sounds like two issues:

1 Maps and routes before changing to the new device.

2 What the new device will be.

Have you got all that you need on 1?

Jonathan
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MrsHJ
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by MrsHJ »

I have cycle.travel the complete package!

I just want something to download my gps routes from there onto.

There is a page somewhere on cycle.travel I think recommending which apps to use but I’ve forgotten where it was. Getting ready for my Italy trip now with all my daily routes planned on cycle.travel so just need to download to something useful.
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mjr
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by mjr »

Iphone or Android? OsmAnd is the all-singing (well, shouting turns, at least) app for android but it's big and hungry for memory.

I use AAT but that gives only a "snail trail" display, not audio prompts.
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MrsHJ
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by MrsHJ »

iPhone and mostly for use in Europe not the UK.

Italy is my first port of call.
Psamathe
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Psamathe »

MrsHJ wrote: 23 Mar 2022, 9:11am I have cycle.travel the complete package!

I just want something to download my gps routes from there onto.

There is a page somewhere on cycle.travel I think recommending which apps to use but I’ve forgotten where it was. Getting ready for my Italy trip now with all my daily routes planned on cycle.travel so just need to download to something useful.
I\d suggest you add your requirements for what you want to do with the route once downloaded. Same as in the othe rthread? (onto a smartphone app which announced turn by turn directions)? of just pop-up turn-by-turn directions or just a line on a map. What type of smartphone (iPhone or Android - available apps vary and not all available on all platforms).

I tested a phone for navigation in UK before 1st tour (had a new battery fitted before testing) and after two attempts went out and purchased myself a GPS cycle Navigator thing (OK, I purchased a bad one which let me down and had to buy a better one mid-tour but point is I found the phone useless - but others seem to get on fine so do you know which of those two groups you are in?).

Ian
Paulc
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by Paulc »

MrsHJ wrote: 23 Mar 2022, 9:11am I have cycle.travel the complete package!

I just want something to download my gps routes from there onto.

There is a page somewhere on cycle.travel I think recommending which apps to use but I’ve forgotten where it was. Getting ready for my Italy trip now with all my daily routes planned on cycle.travel so just need to download to something useful.
Tasty. Where in Italy are you going out interest?!

Paul
st599_uk
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by st599_uk »

If the issue with the Garmin was the mapping or interface, you can download the entire OpenFietsMap of Europe and use that instead of the built in Garmin maps. You can also use a tool to change the included stylesheet - so you can make verious types of route a different colour, change the font and size of text etc.
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RickH
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by RickH »

st599_uk wrote: 24 Mar 2022, 10:13am If the issue with the Garmin was the mapping or interface, you can download the entire OpenFietsMap of Europe and use that instead of the built in Garmin maps. You can also use a tool to change the included stylesheet - so you can make verious types of route a different colour, change the font and size of text etc.
The newer Garmin Edge units (I'm not sure how long since) use OSM based mapping (with free updates twice a year) rather than anything proprietary.

The stylesheet thing with OpenFietsMaps could be useful if you have trouble reading Garmin's notoriously small text on maps. :)
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st599_uk
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by st599_uk »

RickH wrote: 24 Mar 2022, 10:31am
st599_uk wrote: 24 Mar 2022, 10:13am If the issue with the Garmin was the mapping or interface, you can download the entire OpenFietsMap of Europe and use that instead of the built in Garmin maps. You can also use a tool to change the included stylesheet - so you can make verious types of route a different colour, change the font and size of text etc.
The newer Garmin Edge units (I'm not sure how long since) use OSM based mapping (with free updates twice a year) rather than anything proprietary.

The stylesheet thing with OpenFietsMaps could be useful if you have trouble reading Garmin's notoriously small text on maps. :)
They even have one specifically for Edge units. May work with the installed maps too.
https://sites.google.com/site/openfiets ... authuser=0
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pal
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by pal »

Hello Richard (and/or other OSM experts!)

Today I had a very nice, cycle.travel planned, ride through Co. Durham -- in the course of which I discovered that Whorlton Bridge (which crosses the Tees just east of Barnard Castle) is still closed to all traffic, incl. pedestrians and cyclists. I've had a look at OSM, where this closure is noted (https://www.openstreetmap.org/edit?edit ... 8/-1.83704), but cycle.travel still generated a route which sent me (or wanted to send me, rather!) across the closed bridge. Presumably this means that some vital tag is still missing from OSM -- do you have thoughts on what it might be?

(It's on NCN 165, so there's perhaps some wider benefit in getting this fixed. Esp. since Durham County Council, to judge from their website, seem to be in no particular rush to get the actual bridge fixed -- 2023 seems to be their latest, and I suspect still optimistic, estimate...)
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andrew_s
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by andrew_s »

Cycle.Travel doesn't use OSM for routing directly, but instead uses a pre-prepared digest of all possible routes, which is how it comes up with a route so quickly, and how it does drag & drop re-routing.
The downside is that preparing the digest takes a fair while, so the routing is only updated about once a month, so a bridge closure can take that long to show up after the closure is added to the OSM data (and the same to come off again).

If you want to compare OSM tags, our local long term closure (B4634/M5 bridge, Staverton, between N.Cheltenham & Gloucester) doesn't allow Cycle.Travel routing.
Originally closed July 2020, with a scheduled reopening in August 2021, still shut, and showing no sign of imminent reopening :(
pal
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Re: Cycle Travel Question

Post by pal »

Thanks! The bridge has been closed for quite a while now (since Dec. 2020), so it must be a tags issue: I'll have a squint at your comparandum...

(edited to add: I might have cracked it -- someone had added a block by the bridge, but hadn't changed the tags to specify that this makes the road inaccessible to all users. Let's see...!)
Last edited by pal on 18 Apr 2022, 12:33pm, edited 1 time in total.
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