Best gadget for cycling route mapping

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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    Nasqueron wrote: »
    The better versions of the GPS will happily track you and then plot you a route to a way point or home on the fly without needing to stop and look at the map at each junction even if you don't want to follow a fixed route

    But how does the GPS know where I want to go? If I only give it a destination it's going to send me the quickest/shortest way, which isn't necessarily where I intend.
  • Nasqueron
    Nasqueron Posts: 8,825 Forumite
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    jack_pott wrote: »
    But how does the GPS know where I want to go? If I only give it a destination it's going to send me the quickest/shortest way, which isn't necessarily where I intend.

    No but that's not the point of GPS, if you go out with one you can see on the screen where you are with more accuracy than a map and plan a route to where you want to go or find a route back in an emergency. If you get out of range of your map then you're stuffed or you start having to carry multiple maps if your route is going to cover areas that cross over map areas.

    OP wanted something to allow her to plan a route to follow which a GPS will do. What you want to do is irrelevant as she doesn't want to do that
  • esuhl
    esuhl Posts: 9,409 Forumite
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    jack_pott wrote: »
    But how does the GPS know where I want to go? If I only give it a destination it's going to send me the quickest/shortest way, which isn't necessarily where I intend.

    GPS stands for "global positioning system". All it does it determine where you are.

    Route planning is a totally separate feature. If you intend to follow a route, simply tell the route planning software what that route is. Then you'll be going exactly where you want.
  • [Deleted User]
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    Nasqueron wrote: »
    If you get out of range of your map then you're stuffed or you start having to carry multiple maps if your route is going to cover areas that cross over map areas.

    I carry a road atlas, it covers the whole country and occupies about the same space as two OS maps.
    esuhl wrote: »
    If you intend to follow a route, simply tell the route planning software what that route is. Then you'll be going exactly where you want.

    Yes, but as I said above I don't stick rigidly to a pre-planned route.
  • esuhl
    esuhl Posts: 9,409 Forumite
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    jack_pott wrote: »
    Yes, but as I said above I don't stick rigidly to a pre-planned route.

    Then don't use a route planner! It's still useful to have a GPS so you can see where you are.

    When I started cycling again, I'd spend half my time completely lost, with not even the vaguest idea which direction I wanted to be heading. A smartphone with GPS and mapping would have come in really handy.
  • [Deleted User]
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    esuhl wrote: »
    It's still useful to have a GPS so you can see where you are.

    I have a walker's GPS for when I'm walking but it's of dubious benefit most of the time. It'll find you if you're in serious trouble, but the rest of the time it just makes you a lazy navigator. There's also a lot of time when I walk along faffing with it for no reason when I would otherwise have been enjoying the view. I've thought of taking it cycle touring, but the atlas I use doesn't have the gridlines numbered so it's a bit of a pain locating position anyway, and it'd be another charger to carry.
  • elverson
    elverson Posts: 808 Forumite
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    YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »
    Thanks all. My teenage son keeps saying to me that I may as well get a new smart phone - mine is a Moto G which is 3 years old OR buy a second hand smart phone and use that just for cycling.

    Have not heard of Viewranger so will look into that. I am still a bit undecided. We tend to map out a route before hand and follow that but quite often like to explore new places so dont want to worry about getting seriously lost and having to make a massive detour!

    I use a Moto G with the Strava app for tracking and it works very well.

    For navigating, you can also set up a route in Strava in advance and then 'follow' it if you mount the phone on your handlebars.

    Also, in the Google Maps app you can download maps for an area which you can then see even if you have no signal.
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