What is it?
My current practice is to combine Strava (USP: heatmaps to see where others have gone), ridewithgps (USP switching between opencyclemaps, and google maps including in-site street view which is great for checking just how hostile a road is and/or how rideable a trail looks from the road) and finally the OSmaps site for the trusty Landranger/explorer maps which do add some useful context sometimes.
Is there anything that combines all three of these?
Open Street Map has the odd shortcut or path missed by Google (& others?) to get onto cycle routes.
Google pedestrian directions - sometimes dead end streets aren't dead end to pedestrians or pedestrian route is actually a mixed use cycle path that doesn't show up in cycling directions.
Never found anything that aggregates it all though.
> Open Street Map has the odd shortcut or path missed by Google (& others?) to get onto cycle routes.
I think OpenCycleMap within ridewithgps covers that.
Not sure if this covers everything you're after, but I came across this website recently when trying to suss out a suitable cycle route to our new office and google maps kept trying to send me down the A90
Find bicycle tracks and map rides, Cycle route planner, GPS | Bikemap - Your bike routes
It has a heatmap, cycle paths, and allows you to switch map types. Not sure you can easily check out google streetview though, maybe a premium feature?
Edit: how do I post a link to a url?? Type in bikemap.net to get the link
I usually use plotmyroute.com.
The only other tool you've missed - for going off-tarmac at least - is geograph.org. Clunky interface, but provides a sort of 'street-view' for everything beyond 'streets'. Particularly useful in Scotland when you're trying to figure out if some obscure mountain track is going to be plausible on an MTB or gravel bike.
Personally for on-road I ignore heatmaps (e.g., Strava) since they typically confuse where 'everyone else has gone' with 'best ways to go' (at least in my neck of the woods). Once too many people start using heatmaps they become somewhat self-defeating. Off-road they're much more useful.
I've generally found the Komoot routing to be pretty reliable as long as you double check some of their more 'interesting' choices (particularly for touring) against an OS map (via Bing). Been sent down unridable footpaths a few times. Pity their Android navigation app is buggy as hell (aka unusable).
For unavoidable urban areas, it's also worth looking to see if there's a published 'cycle map' (typically a PDF) of the area which shows low-traffic or even zero-traffic cycles routes through town centers. Many of them tend to not be PRoW in the strict legal sense, so OS maps aren't much help.
As for combining them into one? Cure for the common cold will come first.
> The only other tool you've missed - for going off-tarmac at least - is geograph.org.
Thanks will have a look at that
> Personally for on-road I ignore heatmaps (e.g., Strava)
Agreed. I also find it tends to get swamped on-road with commuter traffic when you're near a town, so can tend to lead you through the center when you'd rather go round the edges. I find it really useful for trying to figure out if some track on OS maps has a locked gate or is cycle accessible. Not infallible though: sometimes find things locked pass-holder only zones (think docks) where workers have commuted through on bike and so show up on the heat map.
> Edit: how do I post a link to a url?? Type in bikemap.net to get the link
Just copy and paste the url: https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/biking/perfect_cycle_route_planning_websi...
I tried that, but it didn't work. Oh well.
Great site with clear mapping that uses traffic data to choose quiet routes. If you pay £2 per month to the developers patron you get OS mapping. Phone app on the way as well.
As the reply above me has suggested, try:
This has:
> As the reply above me has suggested, try:
> This has:
I do like the native rendering, but does anyone know of a cycling specific routing resource that actually understands the distinction between a 'footpath' and a 'bridleway'? I seem to have to always double check that any traffic-free section of a 'touring' route is not down a footpath. I know you can restrict this one to just roads, but I like to have the the option of using bridleways, BOATs and restricted byways. But not footpaths!
Have you tried BRouter ? I've been using it for a few years and have written my own rules to give it a better cycle touring profile. I particularly wanted to avoid too many turns, A roads, tracks and footpaths. It takes a bit of effort to understand the way to penalise undesirable choices but i'm pretty pleased with the results.
Yes, I've used BRouter, but I haven't tried to tweek the rules. I'm guessing the underlying problems is simply that the OSM data is somewhat 'sloppy' (compared to the OS) about how various tracks and paths are characterised with respect to legal RoWs.
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