I’d like to be able to plan a route for a ride with explicitly selected roads. Preferably on the computer, and then export it/sync it to my samsung phone. I normally use googlemaps for my satnav needs, which is great to get from A to B, but for specific planned routes it’s giving me a real headache.
For some reason there are two separate entities - googlemaps “my maps” and googlemaps “directions”. The route I’ve drawn in “my maps” cannot be easily moved to “directions”, and, from what I read on other forums, even when you manage to do that, it will still only navigate you from A to B. To get to C(d,e,f,g,h…), you would need to faff about with the phone, and select the next destination point on your map every time.
Am I missing something? Can something be done with googlemaps to make the turn-by-turn directions smooth and hands-free? Or, is there another satnav app that would be more appropriate?
I am not looking to buy a dedicated satnav device.
I use Tyre to plan my routes. It uses googlemaps but makes the routeplanning easy. However i transfer into a Garmin so not sure how it would work with a androids satnav
You can add more than one point on google maps app to make a route you want
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You need ITN Convertor
I had a quick play with Tyre, got a free Tyre pro with the TomTom rider, didn’t like it.
My route planner of choice is ITN Converter. Its proper easy to use, compatible with all types of GPS device and will even convert files from one type to another. The big plus for me with ITN Converter is the choice of maps you can use it with. My map preference here is ‘OpenStreetMap’ because it colour codes the roads into four colour groups just like a proper paper map making them easier to identify (make sure to select ‘MapOpenStreetMap’ which is different to ‘TerrainOpenStreetMap’). Also when zooming in on OpenStreetMap the detail is very good, some areas even show house numbers along the streets!
Tyre, using the Google Map, doesn’t get anywhere near.
download link http://www.benichou-software.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4%3Aitn-converter&catid=1%3Adescription&Itemid=2&lang=en
ITN OpenStreetMap detail for comparison
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ITN OpenStreetMap at full zoom
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Google maps is terrible generally, you just need to use something else. Almost everything else deals with satnav better than Google Maps does. I think this is the last time satnavs came up here is this, if you’re wondering about alternatives:
https://londonbikers.com/forums/posts/1121409/phone-satnavs
Annoyingly, though. most satnavs only import a list of waypoints, rather than an actual route; it’s quite possible to create a route and export it, then import it into a satnav and find it’s actually different.
The difference can occur when the map you plan the route on and the map your Sat Nav uses are incompatible. OpenStreetMap appears to be compatible with most GPS devices. The other reason for experiencing differing routes is down to the GPS device, a dedicated Sat Nav will tend to deal with this better than an app running on a mobile device. Also some devices are limited by their software, some being restricted on how many way points they can handle.
I now save my ITNConv routes as GPS eXchange 1.0 (*.gpx) files and have never experienced the ‘that’s not the route I planned’ problem.
Tyre is migrating over to myroutapp.com which is platform neutral, saves in various formats, and provides several mapping options including Google, Openstreetmap, and in the paid version (which I was able to get cheap using my free Tyre Pro license) native TomTom mapping and routing.
You can add more than one point on google maps app to make a route you want
Curtis
Can this be done on the computer and then saved to the mobile phone? Will the chosen roads remain the same, or will they be recalculated for the fastest way screwing up the preplanned route?
The difference can occur when the map you plan the route on and the map your Sat Nav uses are incompatible. OpenStreetMap appears to be compatible with most GPS devices. The other reason for experiencing differing routes is down to the GPS device, a dedicated Sat Nav will tend to deal with this better than an app running on a mobile device. Also some devices are limited by their software, some being restricted on how many way points they can handle.
I now save my ITNConv routes as GPS eXchange 1.0 (*.gpx) files and have never experienced the 'that's not the route I planned' problem.
National Treasure
That looks good. I’ll try this and the Tyre/myrouteapp planner for comparison. I wish itnconverter had a mac version, though. But I still need to choose an app on my mobile that would accept these type of route file.
Google maps is terrible generally, you just need to use something else. Almost everything else deals with satnav better than Google Maps does. I think this is the last time satnavs came up here is this, if you're wondering about alternatives:
https://londonbikers.com/forums/posts/1121409/phone-satnavs
Annoyingly, though. most satnavs only import a list of waypoints, rather than an actual *route*; it's quite possible to create a route and export it, then import it into a satnav and find it's actually different.
Big Red S
Thanks. I thought I remembered a thread like that, but the search function has failed me. I am quite happy to use any other app other than googlemaps - whatever is more suitable to the task really.
[quote]
You can add more than one point on google maps app to make a route you want
Curtis
Can this be done on the computer and then saved to the mobile phone? Will the chosen roads remain the same, or will they be recalculated for the fastest way screwing up the preplanned route?
I’ve only ever done it on my phone app
The difference can occur when the map you plan the route on and the map your Sat Nav uses are incompatible. OpenStreetMap appears to be compatible with most GPS devices.
No, that's not how it works. With *very* few exceptions (I think an old Garmin tool did actually save routes), your route is saved as an ordered list of co-ordinates. There's no routing or map data at all in an exported route.
Very few GPS devices use OSM at all, because they still believe that mapping is part of the product being sold. Most phone apps and several online tools use OSM (obviously Google doesn’t).
The other reason for experiencing differing routes is down to the GPS device, a dedicated Sat Nav will tend to deal with this better than an app running on a mobile device.
Also, no. The difference is in how the devices prioritise the roads - 'dedicated' satnavs aren't necessarily better or worse than not-dedicated ones and the TomTom app creates the same route as a dedicated TomTom device, given the same settings, for example. The difference is down to algorithm, not what sort of box the computer running it is in.
The problem is that it’s very rare to plan a route on something that’s using the same routing algorithm as the thing that goes on to read it, and even if you were to, you’d need to keep the various priorities in sync. And sometimes you want it to be different when you turn on the traffic service or something.
Also some devices are limited by their software, some being restricted on how many way points they can handle.
This, yes, is the problem. As you add more waypoints per unit distance you reduce the probability of one thing or the other mis-plotting, shitter satnavs can cope with fewer waypoints and so mis-direct more often (but even for the better ones, you still need to have *exported* at an appropriate density).
I now save my ITNConv routes as GPS eXchange 1.0 (*.gpx) files and have never experienced the 'that's not the route I planned' problem.
National Treasure
The file format's not really important at all; they're all just different ways of storing exactly the same data (hooray for standards) which is still always just a list of waypoints. The "that's not the route I planned" problem is, generally, pretty unique to interesting routes (like ones involving rights of way that aren't in your satnav) or having mad road priorities set in the satnav (which I also do...)
That looks good. I'll try this and the Tyre/myrouteapp planner for comparison. I wish itnconverter had a mac version, though. But I still need to choose an app on my mobile that would accept these type of route file.
Slacker
http://furkot.com (mentioned in that other thread) is web-based and exports routes in most formats. I find it excellent for planning multi-day trips, and perfectly adequate for day ones. It’s really obviously aimed at trips (they make their money out of hotel affiliate codes) but if you just set the start end end day/times to what you want it doesn’t care.
Does that mean there is no foolproof way to export the whole route, including all the chosen roads, to a mobile phone app without a copious amount of waypoints?
The foolproof way is to have it use loads of waypoints, yeah. There’s no real downside to having a shitton of waypoints, though.
