Cycle route mapping - recommendations?

[teuchter]

What do you use to plan cycle routes?

My current method: use bikemap.net website to plan the route, then download the .gpx file, send it to my phone, and use it within Osmand (open street map app for android) to follow the route on the bike. Advantages are that it's free, and everything is fully downloaded to the phone so no worry about data connections etc. Also I like using open street map as it's pretty good for things like cycle paths and so on. Bikemap.net is quite good at routing you on quiet roads, but it does occasionally send you down a bramble-covered bridleway, which can be hard to spot when you check the route over. It's also a bit clunky, and my current system doesn't really allow for editing/changing the route on the move.

Any recommendations for apps/websites/other methods?

 

[stavros]

I tend to look at a map, memorise it and then go.

One site I have used for quite a while is Bike Hike.

 

[ferrelhadley]

One site I have used for quite a while is Bike Hike.

Bike hike shows the gradients, you really really dont want a 20% beastie on that short cut you spotted.

If the route is a bit complex I will write notes I can stick in my back pocket but almost always take a A4 national road atlas because you sometimes have to have a plan b all of a sudden. Whenever I can I try to follow mainline rail so I am never more than 10 miles from bail out plan, but places like the Moors and Lakes that can be a bit difficult. Scotland, well outside the central belt and its all a bit pack for all eventualities.

 

[kropotkin]

I splashed out on a wahoo elemnt bolt ( GPS unit with bluetooth link to phone).
I plan the routes on either strava route builder or komoot, and then they sync to the unit. It gives me turn by turn directions which stops me getting lost.
Really helpful for me as I've got no sense of direction whatsoever. It can route on-the-fly as well if I decide to change the route while cycling. It's been a brilliant buy. Not cheap, but worth it for me- cost about £180

 

[teuchter]

One site I have used for quite a while is Bike Hike.

Was just having a look at this, thanks.

Looks quite handy. I like the dual window so you can see an overview and zoomed-in section. Although on this occasion I'm trying to plan a route in France and the elevation/gradient bit doesn't seem to work (it does if I try a route in the UK).

 

[teuchter]

I plan the routes on either strava route builder or komoot,

going to have a look at these too.

 

[Winot]

Probably not quite what you're looking for, but I have just taken delivery of one of these (I backed it on Kickstarter):

The Bicycle Bell That Leads The Way • Blubel

It's a cycle navigation device that links by Bluetooth to a GPS app on your smartphone. You tell the app where to want to go, it works out a route and then the device gives the rider directions via a series of LEDs. It also double as a (not very loud) bell but the clever bit is that when you ring the bell it stores the location on the app and after the trip you can report e.g. a pothole at that location. The idea is that enough users will act as a crowdsource to build up a picture of routes, hazards etc.

The Bluetooth link works very well but I am not yet convinced by the navigation. It doesn't help that I mounted it upside down on one trip . You can't vary the route either. I suspect that I won't get much use out of it as most of my journeys (commuting in London) are on routes I know extremely well. However it might be good for the odd trip somewhere unusual.

 

[teuchter]

Probably not quite what you're looking for, but I have just taken delivery of one of these (I backed it on Kickstarter):

The Bicycle Bell That Leads The Way • Blubel

It's a cycle navigation device that links by Bluetooth to a GPS app on your smartphone. You tell the app where to want to go, it works out a route and then the device gives the rider directions via a series of LEDs. It also double as a (not very loud) bell but the clever bit is that when you ring the bell it stores the location on the app and after the trip you can report e.g. a pothole at that location. The idea is that enough users will act as a crowdsource to build up a picture of routes, hazards etc.

The Bluetooth link works very well but I am not yet convinced by the navigation. It doesn't help that I mounted it upside down on one trip . You can't vary the route either. I suspect that I won't get much use out of it as most of my journeys (commuting in London) are on routes I know extremely well. However it might be good for the odd trip somewhere unusual.

It's sort of an interesting idea, but it gives you a lot less information (obviously) than a map on a smartphone screen - I can imagine it being not very unambiguous if you come to a junction with several roads going off at different angles for example. Also, I find that sometimes the GPS is not quite up to date with where you actually are, so it is late in telling you to make a turn, but if you are looking at a line on a map you have a good chance of noticing. Once I tried using the navigation on my phone with the screen set to only come on when a turn was approaching, but each time it was late in telling me, I'd completely miss the turn. This resulted in a lot of swearing and the screen going back on again. Now I take 3 batteries for a day's cycling.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I splashed out on a wahoo elemnt bolt

I've been tempted by one of those, they seem like a really good bit of kit.

 

[souljacker]

I use Strava route planner on the web the night before but, if I'm honest, I don't often plan. Just head out in the rough direction of where I want to end up. It's not backfired, yet!

I also use the sustrans maps that have been printed for my area but I usually veer of course if I like the look of a lane or if a hill looks a bit nasty.

 

[Winot]

Another option here:

Beeline Review - Cycling directions with a difference

 

[teuchter]

I don't really get why these things are devices rather than apps. Everyone has a smartphone now... Surely just buying a handlebar mount would be cheaper.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I don't really get why these things are devices rather than apps. Everyone has a smartphone now... Surely just buying a handlebar mount would be cheaper.

Because phone batteries are shit.

 

[teuchter]

By the way on my recent cycling trip in france... I found Komoot to be the most useful. Unlike, as far as I can tell, pretty much anything else it does allow you to plan and edit a route on a smartphone which is important if you're on the road for a few days.

Tried the Komoot app for a bit as my on-bike directions - it's ok but not really better than Osm which is free and what I normally use.

So, ended up using Komoot to plan routes, then export GPX track into OSM and use that for navigation on the bike.

 

[teuchter]

Because phone batteries are shit.

Would it not be possible to design an app that was very low on battery use? ie. For the equivalent of the thing posted above, just run it with a black screen save for the little arrow.

For longer rides I take spare batteries or have also used one of those power banks which fits into the handlebar mount along with the phone.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

I use plotaroute.com - Walking, Running, Cycle Route Planner

There are loads of sites for plotting but this seems the best and crucially the edit route seem to work.

I download and put onto maps.me

 

[Dogsauce]

For my summer tours a few years ago I used to buy last year's AA road atlas from the cheap bookshop for a quid or something, chop up the pages and mark my route in highlighter.

 

[A380]

Would it not be possible to design an app that was very low on battery use? ie. For the equivalent of the thing posted above, just run it with a black screen save for the little arrow.

For longer rides I take spare batteries or have also used one of those power banks which fits into the handlebar mount along with the phone.

It's the GPS chip set that eats the battery.

 

[Winot]

CycleMaps

CycleMaps is the loveliest Cycling App. Find a route. Mount it on your bike. Ride Safely. Available on iPhone, Apple Watch and iPad

cyclema.ps

I’ve been playing with this which links to my Apple Watch and gives pretty good spoken directions for a pre-programmed cycle route.

Today we used it to cycle from Burgess Park to Southwark Ecological Park and it took us a long quiet one which I didn’t know about. Lovely route until it stops and you get decanted onto the A2.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I've been tempted by one of those, they seem like a really good bit of kit.

I got one in the end, have had it a couple of years now, it’s superb.

 

[Winot]

There is a problem though with the way in which cycle routes are mapped. Essentially, Google etc. records “Quietway 1” (for example) at a single point, for example the start of the route.

What would be more useful is if the entirety of the route could be saved, so that you could search for “Quietway 1” and find the quickest route to the closest bit of the route.

 

[kropotkin]

I got one in the end, have had it a couple of years now, it’s superb.

Yeah, I use it every day and it is brilliant. One of the best things I have bought (certainly for bikes, also in its own right as a wonderfully designed piece of tech that does it's job superbly)

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Yeah, I use it every day and it is brilliant. One of the best things I have bought (certainly for bikes, also in its own right as a wonderfully designed piece of tech that does it's job superbly)

Yeah, it just... works. Didn’t even need to read a manual, everything is obvious. Why can’t all tech be like this?

 

[kropotkin]

The only other tech as good in my opinion is the amazon kindle

 

[teuchter]

Yeah, I use it every day and it is brilliant. One of the best things I have bought (certainly for bikes, also in its own right as a wonderfully designed piece of tech that does it's job superbly)

I don't like not being able to see a map.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I don't like not being able to see a map.

 

[teuchter]

Ah, all the images i saw seemed just to show B&W text display. Can you zoom in and out of the map easily?

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Ah, all the images i saw seemed just to show B&W text display. Can you zoom in and out of the map easily?

The older version is B&W but still has maps. Thats the new colour version. And yes, you can zoom in and out.

FWIW I think the B&W screen is better - less clutter somehow and it's easier to make things out with a quick glance at speed.

 

[kropotkin]

I've got the b+w one, and have never had any problems following the map

 

[Cid]

Just noticed you can get £25 cashback if you buy a Bolt before the end of the month, I think £40 for the roam. Might get one when I've stared at my bank account long enough for the numbers to lose any meaning.