Route Planning - Strava, Garmin Connect, other???

Bullet1

I’m about to plan a few of 100+ mile rides from point to point in Northern Europe.

Any pros or cons using Strava over Garmin Connect or vice versa?

Just need to ensure I avoid cart tracks and stick to tarmac roads.

Current thinking is using Google maps ‘walking’ route to identify shortest route and then dropping a way point every 5 miles or so on Strava to build up the route. Thoughts? Thanks

cougie

I've only ever used garmin connect. It works but it will try to send you down paths you can't ride. Basically use Google Street view to check anything that looks like it might not be a proper road and you should be ok. It'll also tell you if you're riding on scary ass roads.

fat daddy

ridewithgps

I have always found this site the easiest to plan routes ... and it does notes as well for turn by turn if you need it

Sutton_Rider

Bikehike for the route and Google maps to check for cart tracks.

PhilipPirrip

I'd second ridewithgps.

As you plan your route you can choose between cycling and driving modes so it will automatically switch between offering all available trails/routes for cycling or just sticking to the roads, which is what you want.

Also, I like that the map auto-centres to the latest way point you create speeding up route planning.

ugo.santalucia

They've all got good and bad. Strava is easy to use and relatively easy to amend a route. On the other hand, the altitude is exaggerated and on occasions it is difficult to convince the software you want to go this way rather than the way it seems to prefer. Also, I would like to see the elevation profile develop as I map, whereas with Strava you only see it once you save the file.

Ridewith GPS is spot on with altitude, but a bit less user friendly... lots of options. Same problem with elevation profile as above.

AFAIK neither of them allows you to reduce the number of data points in the file.

Bikehike is very good for UK mapping and it allows you to reduce the number of data points... bear in mind for 200 km on the road you only really need 600 points, not 6000 as you typically get. I suppose it's not an issue for the latest generation of GPS readers, but mine doesn't like large files. The elevation profile builds up as you map, so very handy. It also gives you more options when you save the file.
Bikehike used to be limited to UK mapping, but it might no longer be the case.

Dave L

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Ride with GPS is spot on with altitude, but a bit less user friendly... lots of options. Same problem with elevation profile as above.

FYI Ride with GPS does show the profile as you are building the route.

grenw

Ride with GPS here too mainly because it provides turn by turn instructions for my Wahoo. A lot better than Garmin Connect which I used to use.

cgfw201

cougie wrote:

I've only ever used garmin connect. It works but it will try to send you down paths you can't ride. Basically use Google Street view to check anything that looks like it might not be a proper road and you should be ok. It'll also tell you if you're riding on scary ass roads.

"I've only ever used Garmin Connect. It works apart from when it doesn't work, quite a lot."

Strava when you've got Heatmaps turned on is the best for me.

RWGPS also works, but prefer the interface of Strava.

StillGoing

fat daddy wrote:

ridewithgps

I have always found this site the easiest to plan routes ... and it does notes as well for turn by turn if you need it

Another for Ridewithgps, especially if you're using a Wahoo Elemnt device.

vpnikolov

philthy3 wrote:

fat daddy wrote:

ridewithgps

I have always found this site the easiest to plan routes ... and it does notes as well for turn by turn if you need it

Another for Ridewithgps, especially if you're using a Wahoo Elemnt device.

+1, ridewithgps for Wahoo!

And if I am exploring a not so familiar place for a route - Strava Heatmap in conjunction with above. Never lies.

cgfw201

philthy3 wrote:

fat daddy wrote:

ridewithgps

I have always found this site the easiest to plan routes ... and it does notes as well for turn by turn if you need it

Another for Ridewithgps, especially if you're using a Wahoo Elemnt device.

i find the turn-by-turn feature a bit hit and miss, prefer just following the line that strava churns out. particularly seems to get confused at junctions/roundabouts saying "turn left" when it's actually straight on or 2nd/3rd exit.

thomasmorris

If you're creating courses (TCX), but then using them for navigation RideWithGPS is good as it will auto generate turn instructions as notes. Strava will just create a course which shows up as a line on a map (or no map if you're using a 500). It is worth saying here as well, that in my experiance RideWithGPS courses with route notes become unstable on my Garmin over 50 miles, so you'll have to split days if this is the option you're taking.

If you're using GPX routes and uploading to a device which creates it's own turn by turn instructions then the above isn't a consideration.

As for the routes they generate, I like the heatmaps on strava, it gives you a realistic impression of which roads are cycle-able, especially useful if you're going somewhere new (which if you're creating route, you most probably are). I feel it also has the most data to work with, so when you route from A to B using 'most popular' is seems to create the best route compared to the alternatives which sometimes use a random mix of crap cyclepaths and busy roads.

The only thing I am finding now with Strava Heatmaps, is that with more people using the app when commuting it highlights some more urban routes when you're actually trying to find pleasant traffic free alternatives. I wish strava heatmaps could filter out 'commutes', although perhaps not enough people actually tag their rides for this to work? Or they could just filter out weekday rides?

The final thing is getting the routes to your device. This was previously where Garmin Connect had an advantage. As you could create a route, and sync it cable free with your device without the need to download and move about files. However, recently with IQ apps (i only noticed today) you can now do this with Strava routes which is really neat. It's not a biggy, but is helpful when I'm away without a laptop and want to get a route to my garmin from the web.

buckmulligan

Garmin Connect have just revamped their "Courses" functionality, so it's worth a look if you haven't used it in a while.

They just launched "Popularity Routing", which is basically the same as Strava Heatmap; you can view it as an overlay on the map and also use it to automatically plot a route using the roads that are preferential for cycling.

Another bonus is that you can add course points (e.g. mark the position of summits, food stops, significant waypoints) along the route and when you follow that course on a Garmin head unit then you have the option of a page listing all the waypoints and distance/time remaining to each one. Only discovered this recently, but thought it was pretty neat.

And finally, again if you're using a (recent) Garmin device, there's the added bonus of being able to sync the routes wirelessly rather than Strava or RWGPS, which I believe both require plugging your device in to a computer and copying over files; although now that I think about it, I think I heard some rumblings about Strava implementing something like this with a CIQ app.

I've always used RideWithGPS historically, but Garmin Connect seem to have closed most of the ground on them recently, so if you're using a Garmin head unit they're definitely worth a look.

Vslowpace

cgfw201 wrote:

philthy3 wrote:

fat daddy wrote:

ridewithgps

I have always found this site the easiest to plan routes ... and it does notes as well for turn by turn if you need it

Another for Ridewithgps, especially if you're using a Wahoo Elemnt device.

i find the turn-by-turn feature a bit hit and miss, prefer just following the line that strava churns out. particularly seems to get confused at junctions/roundabouts saying "turn left" when it's actually straight on or 2nd/3rd exit.

RWGPS doesn't do roundabouts well at all, I think the default setting is straight on. You can edit these points to show turn either left or right.

Bullet1

Great feedback chaps - a number of us have Garmin 520s and 820s and one uses a Wahoo Element?

Tonight’s job!!!

jmccabe

www.plotaroute.com is worth a look. You can ask it to create a route for you, although you have to subscribe if you want to use advanced options (like avoiding big hills and that).

jimmocrates

BuckMulligan wrote:

Garmin Connect have just revamped their "Courses" functionality, so it's worth a look if you haven't used it in a while.

They just launched "Popularity Routing", which is basically the same as Strava Heatmap; you can view it as an overlay on the map and also use it to automatically plot a route using the roads that are preferential for cycling.

Another bonus is that you can add course points (e.g. mark the position of summits, food stops, significant waypoints) along the route and when you follow that course on a Garmin head unit then you have the option of a page listing all the waypoints and distance/time remaining to each one. Only discovered this recently, but thought it was pretty neat.

And finally, again if you're using a (recent) Garmin device, there's the added bonus of being able to sync the routes wirelessly rather than Strava or RWGPS, which I believe both require plugging your device in to a computer and copying over files; although now that I think about it, I think I heard some rumblings about Strava implementing something like this with a CIQ app.

I've always used RideWithGPS historically, but Garmin Connect seem to have closed most of the ground on them recently, so if you're using a Garmin head unit they're definitely worth a look.

Garmin seem to make it worse with each update. The oute planner is now much more clunky and I editted a route and sent to my Garmin 800 and it saved the name but no other changes - I was able to send it so it looked like it was there but I re-routed the course via a different cafe stop/more bike friendly roads and it didn't include any of the edits.

buckmulligan

Has it saved those edits in the online version? And did you change the name of the course? It could be a problem with Garmin Express (if you used it) and/or the Garmin itself with thinking that the route is already on the device and not overwriting it.

I'm no apologist for Garmin, they do a lot of things that annoy me as a user (far too many to list here ) but I think the update to the "Courses" functionality was really good, which is why I mentioned it.

jimmocrates

It has saved changes for viewing on the website, but the only change it saved when sending to my device was the change in course name. I've plotted the route again from scratch now, which isn't a major hassle, but wish I'd known it didn't send properly before setting off and then trying to wing it when out.

Aside from the clunky route planner and interface with my Garmin 800, I do love my Garmin. Compared to the posts on here about the newer models, it seems much more reliable. It just needs a few work-arounds to keep it working with the software.

Joaaso

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Also, I would like to see the elevation profile develop as I map, whereas with Strava you only see it once you save the file.

Never tried clicking the button in the lower right corner that says "elevation off"..?

redbikejohn

I use www.plotaroute.com for local routes, I suppose it could be used for longer rides.

Myhooose

It's not perfect but Komoot is worth a look.