Route planning in the Alps

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 jezzah 12 May 2015
Hi,
Does anyone have a link or suggestion for electronic mechanism of route planning in the French and Swiss Alps- I know I can get a map and ruler out to measure it- I was wondering if there was an electronic method for those areas in a similar way to the ones we have here in the UK which will enable me to create a .GPX file.

cheers
Jez
 nutme 12 May 2015
In reply to jezzah:

Lately I have been using gpsies. It has good selection of maps and aerial photos for planning.

http://www.gpsies.com

Big difference with planing in Alps to British hills is altitude and steepness. Pay a lot of attention to counters and altitude readings.
 JLS 12 May 2015
In reply to jezzah:

For anyone to answer I think you'd need to be clearer about what type of Alpine terrain you are considering.

I'm happy to be corrected but would say that if we are talking about high mountains then the terrain, snow conditions and altitude effects doesn't lend itself to that type of planning and it is more normal to rely on guide book times.
 yorkshireman 12 May 2015
In reply to jezzah:

I use http://tracedetrail.fr to plot out new ideas for running routes, here in the French Alps. You can plot out your route over a standard IGN map on screen, add POIs and notes and then generate a roadbook to take with you as well as a map printout. Here's an example (you have to switch the map layers to French IGN - it annoyingly defaults to satellite view).

http://tracedetrail.fr/fr/trace/trace/5176

It then creates an elevation profile, and allows you to export GPX and KML files. All free as well - the tools are a bit clunky but stick with it and they soon become more intuitive.

That said - I would echo what JLS says - don't neglect local conditions and other stuff that's not clear on a map and of course the time of year - but guessing you know that already
OP jezzah 13 May 2015
In reply to yorkshireman:

Yup- I know about checking out conditions on the day! I also know about looking in the book for guidebook times. I was more interested in getting an overview for some routes and also running in the evenings- planning a couple of circuits whilst I'm out there.

cheers for the links. much appreciated
 Pete Houghton 13 May 2015
In reply to jezzah:

I'm on my phone at the moment so i can't check the two suggestions above, to see if they are better than my contribution, but I use a combination of camptocamp.org and mapmyrun.com


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