Best Satnav for commuting in London

jlammy
jlammy Posts: 43
edited July 2016 in Commuting general
I'm going to start commuting in London in the next week or so, so I'm currently trying to find the best app to use as a Satnav for commuting in London.

Could someone recommend me some apps to try?

Comments

  • jfparis
    jfparis Posts: 22
    Option 1: Ride with GPS if you really want an app. You can design the perfect routes on the computer and they follow with turn by turn navigation
    Option 2: Google maps could do the trick as well (if you follow their computed routes which are not always good)
    Option 3 (my preferred): Trash options 1 and 2. Look at the map on Openstreetap (they have a really good bike layer with all the cycling lanes - https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/5 ... 7&layers=C ). Figure more or less the route you want to follow. Try it out the next day. Don't worry too much about getting lost, you might end up finding a nice route. Adjust the next day if for example you end up having to make a turn that you found particularly dangerous

    Enjoy the commute
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    Are you doing a point to point that's going to be the same every day?
  • jlammy
    jlammy Posts: 43
    jfparis wrote:
    Option 1: Ride with GPS if you really want an app. You can design the perfect routes on the computer and they follow with turn by turn navigation
    Option 2: Google maps could do the trick as well (if you follow their computed routes which are not always good)
    Option 3 (my preferred): Trash options 1 and 2. Look at the map on Openstreetap (they have a really good bike layer with all the cycling lanes - https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/5 ... 7&layers=C ). Figure more or less the route you want to follow. Try it out the next day. Don't worry too much about getting lost, you might end up finding a nice route. Adjust the next day if for example you end up having to make a turn that you found particularly dangerous

    Enjoy the commute

    Thanks for this. I'll look into Option 3, but Option 2 sounds like the easiest.
    iPete wrote:
    Are you doing a point to point that's going to be the same every day?

    Yep, point to point, same route every day.
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    Dare I ask why you need a Sat Nav then?

    Post up your route (in commuting chat) and a bunch of people here will know what the best roads are..
  • jlammy
    jlammy Posts: 43
    iPete wrote:
    Dare I ask why you need a Sat Nav then?

    Post up your route (in commuting chat) and a bunch of people here will know what the best roads are..

    I'll need it at least for the first time as I don't actually know the route, let alone the best route... :oops:

    But I'll post something in the commuting chat. :D
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    Without knowing if it's complex I think most people just stop/start and check their smart phone but leave lots of time!
  • jfparis
    jfparis Posts: 22
    Might as well look at http://routes.lcc.org.uk/

    They have pretty good suggestions which might be better than google maps
  • marcusjb
    marcusjb Posts: 2,412
    In general, sat navs are not very good in cities. Too much going on in quick succession to be useful, all whilst you are busy trying to keep up with traffic flow and staying safe! All coupled with sub optimal GPS resolution due to the urban canyons.

    A new commute takes a few goes to learn, and to spot better routes.

    As above, make sure you have plenty of time available for the first few rides, with a smart phone for help. You will learn the way better by not having a box telling you which way to go. Yes, you might go the wrong way, but wrong turns often lead to the best adventures in life.
    Stuff about riding a bike a long way
  • KerSplosh
    KerSplosh Posts: 30
    I'd say just get a map from here:
    https://tfl.gov.uk/forms/12419.aspx

    ..and do the ride in the weekend into work to work out the best way for you. By all means use a tracking app such as sports-tracker, strava or mapmyride (its quite helpful in finding new routes after the fact too). I've found that its just too hard to use an app for navigating while you're riding in traffic. But thats just me.
  • imatfaal
    imatfaal Posts: 2,716
    I would agree with the poster above recommending not really using a satnav in weekday rushhour traffic - you need your wits about you; pull off road and check your phone or learn the route at the weekend.

    And You can always try following random strangers who looks as if they know where they are going - this is not as much as a joke as it might sound; if you know roughly where you want to go / direction to head then following a random can be a laugh. I still follow the route I found using this method
  • redhanded
    redhanded Posts: 139
    And another +1 for doing some practice rides at the weekend when you can stop at the side of the road and check your location without worrying if you are going to be late.

    Once you are confident on one route, you can start to try some variations to see if they are better/worse or just different.
  • surrey_commuter
    surrey_commuter Posts: 18,866
    imatfaal wrote:
    I would agree with the poster above recommending not really using a satnav in weekday rushhour traffic - you need your wits about you; pull off road and check your phone or learn the route at the weekend.

    And You can always try following random strangers who looks as if they know where they are going - this is not as much as a joke as it might sound; if you know roughly where you want to go / direction to head then following a random can be a laugh. I still follow the route I found using this method

    My boss taught me to follow somebody who looks confident - it got us to our hotel in Glasgow.

    Definitely post up the route and you will get some great advice.

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