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Apps for Bicycle Directions

jakecoppinger.blog

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Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#11

Post by throw7 »

Citymapper is a limited amount of cities. What do "real" cyclists use? I get the feeling they use a garmin-like gps devices made for cycling?

In the past, I've tried to plan a route in google maps (for just driving), but once you import and try to use it, it recalculates your route.

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#13

Post by quicklime »

I know the company has had some difficulties as of late, but I’ve found Strava to be quite effective for route planning. Mostly because it can route you according to “popularity”, so it’ll put you on roads that other Strava users regularly ride on.

This is great for a lot of cases, although sometimes it’ll pick a road that’s great for road biking on the weekend but not so great for commuting on weekdays.

I wonder if Strava could create two heat maps based on what I imagine are the two big clusters on their user base: road bikes and casual commuter cyclists.

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#14

Post by abrowne »

throw7 wrote: post #11

Citymapper is a limited amount of cities. What do "real" cyclists use? I get the feeling they use a garmin-like gps devices made for cycling? In the past, I've tried to plan a route in google maps (for just driving), but once you import and try to use it, it recalculates your route.

What's a "real" cyclist? Someone who rides for sport in full kit and trains for races? Someone who commutes to work and runs errands in street clothes, even in bad weather, maybe because they don't have another option? A casual weekend family rider on rails-to-trails? Someone on a cross-country tour?

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#15

Post by analog31 »

throw7 wrote: post #11

Citymapper is a limited amount of cities. What do "real" cyclists use? I get the feeling they use a garmin-like gps devices made for cycling? In the past, I've tried to plan a route in google maps (for just driving), but once you import and try to use it, it recalculates your route.

That's a hassle. I get a nice route all worked out in Google Maps on my desktop, then try sending it to my phone. It seems like the only data transferred are the start and end points. Thankfully I live in a mid sized city, and don't really need super precise directions. When I'm out in the country, I find it helps a lot to have a compass. You can get a bell with built in compass, made for kids bikes, and it's really handy

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#16

Post by SmellTheGlove »

Since moving to SF, I've _really_ wanted to take the plunge and start biking to work (COVID notwithstanding). I haven't done it yet, though, because I'm not super confident on routes that prefer protected lanes and minimize hills.

This post was super helpful. Citymapper wasn't even on my radar, but now I want to go grab a bike rental and give it a shot.

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#17

Post by 762236 »

I plan with Strava using it's popularity heat map (I road 9000 miles in 2019). I then cycle using my Garmin 520 bike computer, which is painful to use for directions, but up to the abuse particularly on single track, and I try to use memory based on previewing with street view and satellite photos while planning. I often have to backtrack, typically uphill. But most of the time I'm repeating rides, at which point I'm going off memory.

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#18

Post by petre »

throw7 wrote: post #11

Citymapper is a limited amount of cities. What do "real" cyclists use? I get the feeling they use a garmin-like gps devices made for cycling? In the past, I've tried to plan a route in google maps (for just driving), but once you import and try to use it, it recalculates your route.

Komoot, Wahoo Elemnt Roam and communities dedicated to route planning such as OMTM. Most of it gets contributed to OSM.

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#19

Post by petre »

analog31 wrote: post #15
throw7 wrote: post #11

Citymapper is a limited amount of cities. What do "real" cyclists use? I get the feeling they use a garmin-like gps devices made for cycling? In the past, I've tried to plan a route in google maps (for just driving), but once you import and try to use it, it recalculates your route.

That's a hassle. I get a nice route all worked out in Google Maps on my desktop, then try sending it to my phone. It seems like the only data transferred are the start and end points. Thankfully I live in a mid sized city, and don't really need super precise directions. When I'm out in the country, I find it helps a lot to have a compass. You can get a bell with built in compass, made for kids bikes, and it's really…

Try Graphhopper. You can download the GPX track. It has three bike profiles, the default for touring which avoids hills, one for MTB which uses single/double track and one for road bikes. There are three options, the middle one gets you the track. Test with geojson.io which can save to github gists.

Ah, the bell with compass, it's cute. Looks a bit like sailboat nav gear.

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