How do you plan your rides?

Doctor Chopper said:
I use Google Maps. I separate the trip into pieces with each stop as a separate route. I do this because if you have the entire trip on one map, it will try to reroute you at some point and getting it back on track is difficult. I never have that problem if each leg of the trip is separate.

I use Excel spreadsheet to keep each part of the trip in order. I made a basic template with the route, name, miles, distance, type of stop all plotted out, and it automatically adds them all together for a total miles and distance. Save the template and every time that you want to make a new trip you can right click on the document and 'Open a copy'. You rename the copy at the top and then the original template does not change and can be used for all your trips.

Once I make the complete route on Google Maps, I break it down into each stop. I then tap 'Details' on the route and this brings you to a detailed menu. On the right it has 3 icons allowing you to download to your phone, share, or print the route. I tap the 3 dots with lines which is 'Share'. From here i can 'Copy Link' and past it into my Excel spreadsheet and enter the other information I want to see while traveling including any notes to myself. In Excel I designate it as a link (the template has this already done in the column I place the links) and I am set to go! On the road I open the Excel document which now has all the links, mileages, distances, and notes. I tap the link and it brings up the map for that part of the trip. After I stop for fuel or a destination, I tap the next link which gets me the next map. Quick and easy on the road. I use Apple Carplay or have my phone mounted on the handlebars (usually both). I can also enter different options which I can choose while traveling by entering different routes into the Excel to choose from.

It may seem like a lot of work, but it is fairly easy after making the template and getting used to entering the information. I learned a few shortcuts by playing with the programs that make it easy.

Sorry for the length, but wanted to include enough details for anyone interested.

-Doc
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This is largely what I do. I also use Google MyMaps so I can have tables of checkpoints/poi/fuel, and multiple variants of routes to compare.

Often navigating with Google Maps but with multiple stops - perhaps one map per day. However, a huge frustration with this is what you first mention. It will often stop at a checkpoint, and when re-started, wants to route you back to the first checkpoint. I've learned how to edit the map on the fly to remove pois already visited.
 
Still using MapSource. Dedicated route planner for vehicles. Very intuitive.

Garmin still supply it as a download.
 

Garmin: MapSource Updates & Downloads

MapSource Updates & Downloads
www8.garmin.com www8.garmin.com

It's labelled as a patch. You need a garmin product installed already, BaseCamp will suffice. It does run with NT and NTU maps.

I create the routes in MapSource and save the individual files. They can then be imported into Basecamp to install on more modern garmin SatNavs.
 
I use Google maps for the initial planning bit as it's just so easy to drag a route via a different town, road or whatever and see what difference it makes in terms of mileage & estimated time. I'm aware that google uses live traffic information so what's offered may not be the best round on another day, but if I drag the route to where logic says it should go and it add 2hrs to the time, well, it's pretty obvious something up.

For the actual creation of the GPX route I use MRA sent via Drive to my Garmin XT, but I always plot quite a few extra via points to stop my Garmin XT thinking it knows best.
 
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Interesting and amusing thread.

Being a child of the 80's, I have always been in the era of GPS devices.

My first experience was a PDA (Ipaq specifically) with a connected GPS antenna with TomTom software. Not perfect, but considering the tech and how early it was, rather amazing.

I tip my hat to those endurance riders who had to plan with just maps, calculating distances etc and slapping hand written notes to their fuel tank as a guide, for me, that is like a dark art. Sure, I use maps when hiking (something about a paper map and compass I enjoy) but I am slowly being left behind on that front as people are addicted to their phones for EVERYTHING.

For my planning (only done a single ride thus far which was an RBLR so that planning was done for me) I am using TomTom Planner using Google Maps as a parity check or checking streetview for specifics.

I plan the start to finish, then add all my stops in-between as separate stops along the route.

I then synch the route with the TomTom GO app which I use to ride with. I then see ETA to next stop and my final destination and does give me flexibility during the ride.

Personally, I find standalone motorbike specific GPS devices to be extremely overpriced, cumbersome and lacking features compared to contemporary apps. TomTomGO is a TomTom with all the bells and whistles but on your phone. I understand the lack of redundancy is a concern, if my phone dies, I am stuffed but I could carry a second phone I suppose.
 
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I've just developed a tool that runs on Python. Give it a start, and end and all the locations you wish to visit (works reliably up to 50) and it spits out the most efficient route in a GPX format and provides a Google maps itinerary.

For 20+ locations it breaks the Google maps itinerary down to 20 locations at a time due to limitations.
 
Here's why I use a "Real" GPS and a "Real" GPS tracker.

Real GPS - I was on vacation, traveling back to my campsite from visiting an attraction. I knew the way and didn't need/use any form of navigation device when I passed a car stopped on the other side of the road with a woman leaning across the trunk lid of her car looking lost. I usually carry a small can of fuel in one of my saddlebags so I stopped to see if she needed fuel. She said that she didn't but was lost and asked me if I knew where some town was. I didn't, but I informed her that I had a GPS. She informed me that she did too but she didn't have any cell signal. That is when I informed her that I had a "Real" GPS and was able to give her directions to her destination. My phone based "GPS" was useless for the same reason as hers, no cell signal, no navigation. I now always use a "Real" GPS, even if it is just for a backup.

Real GPS tracker - I got caught in the snow, at night, in the mountains on a non-plowed highway that cell service is spotty at best, etc. My bike decided to lie down and take a nap just before the summit and surprise, surprise, there wasn't any cell signal. It got down to 8F degrees. I was able to get the bike up and fortunately, unbeknownst to me, the radio waves of my cell phone managed to reflect off the snow coming down and managed to get off a Help message from my cellphone based tracker. So, I acquired and carry a "Real" GPS that communicates to the world using satellites and not the phone systems.

Just saying... You never know...
 
Russ Black said:
Here's why I use a "Real" GPS and a "Real" GPS tracker.
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Hi Russ,

I've had this discussion a couple of times with a friend. My understanding/belief is that pretty much every modern phone has 'real' GPS - circuitry that can receive signals from GPS satellites and use those to triangulate a pretty exact location. That's a significant step up from past times, when phones would either rely entirely on phone signals to work out where they were, or 'assisted GPS' where the GPS circuitry was pretty inaccurate and used phone signals to refine location.

Now, knowing the lat/long of your current location is of little use if you don't have a map, which is when the lack of phone signal can be an issue - unless you have offline maps. I use OsmAnd+, where Osm is Open Source Mapping, And is Android - there's an iOS version as well. There's a nominal subscription for the app (think I pay £7/year) and then you can download as many maps as your phone's storage can hold. And, let's face it, storage is cheap. I've got maps covering various bits of Europe and some North African countries, and they use under 19 GB.

The combination of 'real' GPS, OsmAnd+ and offline/downloaded maps means I should always be able to figure out where I am and how to get to where I want to be. I can't swear to that, since I use a 'real' GPS device, a TomTom Rider 550, with full European and African maps. OsmAnd+ is the backup...

Regards,
Martin
 
The Rider 550 has finally been discontinued I believe, is 7 years old and I have refused to buy one, just a lazy cash grab by TomTom.

Their TomTomGO app however has all the features of their latest standalone units and I download the maps to my device so even with no cellular connection, routing works regardless.
 
owl* said:
As Ox put it, planning the route on the evening before the rally is an integral part of the BBR and will not be changing.
We do market the BBR as the toughest rally in the UK, and we see that as part of the challenge,
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this is a misguided concept it is only a challange in the tec sense i.e. how fast you can process the data onto the map, with a very limited time this can impact on the actual route planned. if you spend most of the night colouring the map your not actually planning anything which means what ever you do isnt planned in the sense of the word. I've tried to explain this in other posts but its hard without face to face interaction. issuing the rally book a couple of days in advance will not significantly alter someones route but would allow time for booking hotels loading data etc in advance, which would aliviate a certain amount of stress and expense booking rooms, last minute rooms have become extremly expensive in the uk.
there are well documented examples were individuals and teams just cant see the best solutiton to a problem yet more experienced people see it straight away. some people are always going to plan a better route

i started using the metal maps they use to put outside petrol staions covered the hole uk then we got an a3 map of europe, over the years my planning has become better and tec aids such as base camp, google and excel are the only ones i use now just learning the different things your gps can do really helps when the plan goes wrong
 
As motorcyclists (or, even, simply travelers) don't we tend to be proud of the result of figuring out where that obscure diner or B&B is while traveling?

Maybe that's a part of the overall issue. Those of us that are using 21st century tools to map out our adventures (either in the U.K., here in N. America, or elsewhere...) might be able to find those types of places quicker than someone using a 30+ year old map on the wall of the petrol station.

Tied in with the other current thread about mapping for rallies, it's simply a pastime that some have proficiency and some need to develop it.
 
I'd rather have the tec we have today than go back to how it was when I took part in my first BBR.
We were all sticking coloured sticky dots over a giant map and then trying to figure out a route.
It was not unusual to be still at it at 0200.
These days, just about everyone has their route sorted out by 2200 to 2300.
 
owl* said:
...The map I will provide will be A4 (sorry, A3 was a typo - my printer would not be capable of producing that)
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An A4 map will be about as useful as *add your own simile here*

A UK map could be printed off as two halves on A4 to achieve an A3 map or better as 4 quarters on A4 to achieve an A2 map!
 
dobbyhdm said:
I've just developed a tool that runs on Python. Give it a start, and end and all the locations you wish to visit (works reliably up to 50) and it spits out the most efficient route in a GPX format and provides a Google maps itinerary.

For 20+ locations it breaks the Google maps itinerary down to 20 locations at a time due to limitations.
Click to expand...
Care to share that as a .py file I can compile, or the app itself as an apk? Sounds very useful and a brilliant bit of coding there. Cheers
 
Paper maps and guide books back in the day, navigated round Morocco in the early nineties using the map in the "Rough Guide" book . Later used
Autoroute, using itnconverter to transfer routes to a TomTom rider.

Nowadays, MRA for the planning, (different maps in the gold version are useful eg Michelin for the green scenic routes) and basecamp to check shortest route mileage for verification purposes. Basecamp also useful for checking arrival times/set off times to catch a ferry etc. Save route as GPX 1.0 in MRA and copy to Garmin.
 
Thank you everyone for your input. It will definitely help new riders who want to perfect their route planning by picking the bones out of the posts and find what suits them best.:):):cool:
 
CammaC said:
Care to share that as a .py file I can compile, or the app itself as an apk? Sounds very useful and a brilliant bit of coding there. Cheers
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There's a few changes i want to make, but once i have it ready to go and as intuitive as possible i'll be happy to provide to anyone who wants a copy. :) the issue for me right now is that it works, and i know how to navigate it's 'problems', so the motivation has dwindled, but i dont see it taking too long.
 
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