UKC

Hi all, after some collective wisdom.

Our pub is organising a 4 day ride from the pub to Paris in a couple of months time and, not trusting some of the route suggestions coming from the 'team', I've volunteered to do a detailed route plan.

What I ultimately will need to do is to provide a Google style route description to each person, the possibility of downloading a Google style map to each person AND the possibility of a Garmin course download to each person.

What I normally do just for myself is use Streetview (which has the OS maps) to make sure the road and terrain look OK and then plot courses directly into Garmin (Google Map option) for download.

Unfortunately, if I do this I don't then have a description of the route (for anyone without a Garmin) and I don't know how to make the route available to other Garmin users or how they would download if I emailed them files.

Anyone got any suggestions for applications that make this process a bit less labour intensive than its currently looking ? thanks

In reply to GrahamD:

www.bikehike.co.uk

Use this to create a course, create GPX files for Garmin upload, or print for paper use I guess/allow others to view the route online (via GPX file)

In reply to balmybaldwin:

Thanks, I'll give that a try. In the past I've had no joy in uploading supposedly Garmin compatible files to Garmin, or getting them onto my Garmin Touring.

In reply to GrahamD:
Garmin units accept two types of file: GPX & TCX. The latter is a superset of the first and can contain "turn by turn" instructions. It's possible to create a TCX file from a GPX file.

Create the GPX file in whatever app or web page you prefer.
Export the GPX as a file
Go to bikeroutetoaster.com
Import the GPX file and convert to TCX, fill in the details of how far ahead you want the prompts to appear: "Turn left in 50 metres" type of thing.
Save the TCX file

Send the file to whoever. In order for them to load it in to a Garmin:

I'll assume that the user has saved the file somewhere in a folder named like bike-routes and that their unit appears as a USB drive on their computer.

Plug in the Garmin.
Drag the file from "bike-routes" to the "new files" folder on the Garmin.
Unplug the Garmin
Reboot the Garmin.

The route should now appear within the list of "Courses" on the Garmin.

Edit: there's one of the online apps that creates GPX files that Garmin units don't like but I can't remember which one it is.

In reply to Bob:

Why not just create TCX files in the first place? (saves the faffing going in and out of bikeroutetoaster) it's an option on bikehike

In reply to balmybaldwin:

Not used bikehike so didn't know it did that.

In reply to Bob:

I'm obviously doing something wrong here ! My Edge Touring seems to store courses in a file format called .FIT , not .TCX. Drag and drop of TCX files to 'Courses' doesn't appear in the route options

In reply to GrahamD:
FIT file format is Garmin's internal format.

You don't put the files in to "Courses", you put them in to "New Files" and the unit does the conversion and copies them to "Courses". It's not intuitive.

You do the drag and drop in Windows Explorer or Mac Finder BTW. Some of the Garmins will only do one file at a time.

In reply to Bob:

Just got it - thanks. Time for some experimenting 1

In reply to balmybaldwin:

mapmyride.com will also let you plot routes on line. You can edit the cue sheets and download in a variety of formats including tcx. Not sure how it compares with bikeroutetoaster, as I haven't used that site.

In reply to wilkesley:

mapmyride did my head in with its preference for any bike path over road. Bikehike is better, but it would seem that there is some sort of cap on the number of turn instructions that a tcx file can hold, and bikehike generates them at a frantic rate. There's probably a way around this (or more likely an operator error) but the helpful instruction/limiter that they provide doesn't seem to help). I might try bikeroutetoaster on bikehike gpx files next.

In reply to nniff:


There is a check box under options that reads something like "reduce data points" that does this in bike hike.

In reply to balmybaldwin:

I'm currently tempted to generate the course in the Garmin ap for people with Garmin and grab a gpx export from there. Hopefully the Garmin course will be sorted in respect to data points.

The next challenge is to generate a direction list (as you get from a google route plan) from the gpx for those that want to work that way.