British Cycling Mapping Tool

dee4life2005
dee4life2005 Posts: 773
edited July 2012 in The cake stop
The used the British Cycling Mapping Tool to plan a route for today, and it said that the route was 84 miles with 1700ft of climbing - i.e. a pretty easy ride other than distance. I exported the .GPX file, converted it to a .FIT file using an online tool (gpsies.com) and uploaded it to my Garmin Edge 500.

I started the course and followed it, but when I returned home the Garmin was saying that I'd only covered 78.3 miles and that I'd done 2500ft of climbing - a pretty big difference. I was sure that I'd followed the route exactly, but I double checked after uploading to runkeeper, strava, endomondo etc. and the maps given were all exactly the same as the British Cycling Map I'd created.

Does anyone else use this mapping tool ? Have you had similar experiences with the mileage and elevation being so far out?

Any better alternatives out there ?

Ta.
Steve

Comments

  • dw300
    dw300 Posts: 1,642
    Mileage, im not sure, but elevations are generally an underestimate on mapping software, as the extrapolate elevations taken from topographical mapping generally smooth the route .. a few tens of feet here and there and you get an error.

    Would I be right in saying the Garmin provide elevation via barometric pressure? If so and you do a ride that lasts several hours a decrease in pressure can fool it into thinking you are higher than you are. I've seen Strava rides where the rider does a loop but finishes the ride at a higher elevation that he started. This should probably be corrected somewhere across the line via software, but if not that could add to the error.
    All the above is just advice .. you can do whatever the f*ck you wana do!
    Bike Radar Strava Club
    The Northern Ireland Thread
  • StillGoing
    StillGoing Posts: 5,211
    Garmin elevations are usually way out. I invariably adjust the readings on mine using the elevation correction on Strava.
    I ride a bike. Doesn't make me green or a tree hugger. I drive a car too.
  • dw300
    dw300 Posts: 1,642
    philthy3 wrote:
    Garmin elevations are usually way out. I invariably adjust the readings on mine using the elevation correction on Strava.

    How do you use elevation correction please?

    Case in point - Laps of Kirkiston Race Circuit for 1:10:00 .. finished 25m lower due to rising atmospheric pressure. (Not my times unfortunately!)
    All the above is just advice .. you can do whatever the f*ck you wana do!
    Bike Radar Strava Club
    The Northern Ireland Thread
  • StillGoing
    StillGoing Posts: 5,211
    When you open your route on Strava, if I remember rightly, just under the elevation reading is a little question mark. Click that and it will recalculate the elevation for you. It isn't instantaneous so give it a few minutes.
    I ride a bike. Doesn't make me green or a tree hugger. I drive a car too.
  • dw300
    dw300 Posts: 1,642
    Thx. I don't have it though. It's probably because I don't upload from a device that measure elevation (Android app).
    All the above is just advice .. you can do whatever the f*ck you wana do!
    Bike Radar Strava Club
    The Northern Ireland Thread
  • StillGoing
    StillGoing Posts: 5,211
    It's designed for correcting the elevation readings from other devices so if you're only using Strava there's no point.
    I ride a bike. Doesn't make me green or a tree hugger. I drive a car too.