Mapping Software

[Cherwell]

I’m a big fan of Bikehike.co.uk which I use all the time to plan my rides and download onto my Garmin. In a couple of weeks time I’m going to Derbyshire for a few days and won’t have access to the Internet.

Is there anything I can put on the laptop that would work like bikehike without the need to connect to the internet? I’m aware of ‘mapsource’ and ‘memory map’ but I don’t know if these will do what I want.

Help wanted!!

[Paul-S]

Garmin Base Camp may well do the job for you. it's also free.

Which mapping do you have on your GPS?

Cheers,

Paul.

[Cherwell]

I only know what it says on the box.

European road maps on plug in Micro SD card.
NAVTEQ on board.

[Paul-S]

I only know what it says on the box.

European road maps on plug in Micro SD card.
NAVTEQ on board.

Sounds like City Nav, I would download base camp from the support / software section of the garmin site. it should read the mapping from your unit and let you do what you want

Cheers,

Paul.

[Richard]

I use a software product called tracklogs (www.tracklogs.co.uk) This will allow me to plot a route and download to my Etrex. I can also upload the track and see where I've been.

[Cherwell]

Yes!!! Thanks Paul. Exactly what I wanted - once I worked out how to get it to show the right level of detail.

Richard - thanks for the reply. I downloaded the Tracklogs evaluation. It didn't seem to follow the road and Garmin Base Camp is free.

Thanks again. Great site this.

[Ayesha]

BikeHike is fairly versatile and has nice pretty pictures, but it still has the two faults that all the rest have.
1/ It doesn't always select the safest route.
2/ It doesn't select the most efficient route.

When it selects a route, if its not blindingly obvious, there will be a more efficient ( less calories ) route available.

The most efficient route is the one which requires the least calorie demand. It may be longer than the shortest, but avoids hills.

I have seen BikeHike select a longer route with more climbing !! Its true.......

"pretty good bike route planner, that is... NOT!"

[Mick F]

I think that is a little unkind.

BikeHike, and the rest, seem to select strange routes I agree, but it's up to YOU to look at what it's doing, and perhaps take smaller/shorter clicks to do so.

[Ayesha]

I use BikeHike after the event with the interest of seeing the climbing I've just done.

Audax organisers tend to put Info controls at the top of hills, so I decided to fit my bike with low gears.

With low gears fitted, I just ride whatever the terrian throws at me, rather than sit infront of a mapping sofware package for hours painstakingly arranging a 'hill-dodger' route.

Another tip for routing is...

Major roads CUT through hills while country lanes climb all the way to the top.

[AndyK]

With low gears fitted, I just ride whatever the terrian throws at me, rather than sit infront of a mapping software package for hours painstakingly arranging a 'hill-dodger' route.

Me, I spend hours in front of a mapping software package painstakingly arranging 'A-road-dodger' routes. It generally pays off. I use Tracklogs - the lack of a facility to automatically snap routes to roads is a drawback, but not a major one, and far outweighed by the ability to draw multiple alternative route segments then flip the "primary path" between them, so you can compare options easily. ('If I go north of Andover, the total ride distance will be 45 miles, whereas if I go south, it'll be 35...")

For those considering mapping on smartphones, it's worth noting that Viewranger now provides online mapping for its customers: whatever maps you've bought for your phone, you can use the same maps in the online routeplanner on the My Viewranger website. (e.g. if you've bought OS 1:50K Viewranger mapping for the phone, you can also see it on the website.) The route-planning tool on the website is crude but does include the ability to snap to roads or bikepaths/bridleways, which can make route-drawing quicker. Sadly it occasionally goes haywire, and it sometimes tries to route me along 3 miles of South Downs Way just to avoid half a mile of B road.

[Mick F]

Me, I spend hours in front of a mapping software package painstaklingly arranging 'A-road-dodger' routes. It generally pays off.

I spend ages trying to find roads in Cornwall that I've not ridden on yet!

By using BikeHike and a painting program to mark off some maps of Cornwall, I can ride out to the "un-covered" roads recording my ride on my Garmin 705, check off where I've been and transfer this info to my maps.

Here's a couple of snapshots of the Cornish roads I've done.
Locally, I've done them all, and only recorded on here the "major" routes. Given this fact, Cornwall would be totally covered in black ink at a radius of 50odd miles from here.

As you can see, West Cornwall needs more attention from me, but it needs a train ride down there for a day's ride, then the train home again - that, or an overnight stay.

[johnb]

I use BikeHike after the event with the interest of seeing the climbing I've just done.

Does Tom Tom not show you your climbing/elevation data? Garmin does

[PhilWhitehurst]

Me, I spend hours in front of a mapping software package painstaklingly arranging 'A-road-dodger' routes. It generally pays off.

I also use online mapping to avoid A roads. However I use the sort that automatically snap to the road. So I don't spend ages painstakingly avoiding. I then download a GPX export and either put it direct on gps or load it into Outdoor Map Navigator (Anquet) to do some final tweaking on OS mapping. Anquet synchronises onto my phone as well so I can use the routes and os mapping on my phone when away from Internet.

[Mick F]

........... and don't forget that online mapping underestimates the total ascent.

[AndyK]

........... and don't forget that online mapping underestimates the total ascent.

Or at least, we'd like to think it does.