Author Topic: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square  (Read 337012 times)

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #250 on: 11 October, 2018, 12:25:51 pm »

I think a couple of those tiles he could get by just clicking on the rides, I think he's gone through them, but veloviewer hasn't registered it properly.
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
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Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #251 on: 11 October, 2018, 04:17:07 pm »
Wow.

On my little efforts, I discovered that it isn't enough to just set Veloviewer to includ hikes, you have to update your data. In fact you have to do an update to get new activities through from Strava to VV. However the result is that I got two Pentland squares that I have not run through but have hiked through. I also found that there's an OS map overlay. That's a real time sink really useful and interesting.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #252 on: 11 October, 2018, 04:30:08 pm »
I also found that there's an OS map overlay. That's a real time sink really useful and interesting.

It is indeed!

I was given as a Wild Running book as a gift a while ago and it has links to GPX downloads of the routes. I've been looking through them and there are a couple that will be useful for ticking off some missing squares. Good excuse to actually put the book to use rather than have it gathering dust on my bookshelf.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

pdm

  • Sheffield hills? Nah... Just potholes.
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #253 on: 12 October, 2018, 11:12:12 am »
96x96 is awesome....
I did an 85km ride yesterday and picked up 14 squares to make my total max 10x10 (from 5x5 previously)  :P
Being all in the Peak District, that involved 1750m, off road tracks and paths and a few 15-20% inclines.....
Stats now:
1887 tiles, average of 26.223 km per tile
Max square 10x10
Max Cluster: 191

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #254 on: 15 October, 2018, 03:20:39 pm »
55km bimble today to add 34 to my max cluster (up to 269 now). I hadn't prepared properly and my routes were all on a different computer, in my rush this morning I found one on my laptop which seemed to cover the right area but it managed to miss 2 tiles (mean 6 missed from the cluster) but I can rejig a different route to cover them so no huge loss.

Max square still 11x11 but if I fill in 9 more tiles then it'll be 12 overlapping 11x11 squares (or a single 22x11 rectangle). I'll then work on the 22x11 rectangle below this one (where I need probably 150/242 tiles) and I'll hopefully try and design it to jump from 11x11 to 22x22 in the final ride filling in one key square near the middle.

I like having ~6h to myself on a Monday to do this although I'm not fit enough to be riding for all 6 hours yet. New roads are much easier to ride (motivationally) than riding round Richmond Park for 3+ hours (no matter how lovely that is).
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #255 on: 15 October, 2018, 03:44:17 pm »
I went out on a tile grabbing ride on Saturday and nabbed 21 tiles just outside the south west corner of my max square upping my new max square by 2 to 34x34.



The previously unchartered squares contained some great little country lanes,  but a few farm track dead ends and a bridleway were needed to get a handful of the squares.  I got quite muddy, but was good fun.   

It's getting harder and harder to get new squares - that was a 170km ride. though I live towards the east of my cluster, it's the west that's more rural and has better riding.


Eddington: 114 Miles

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #256 on: 15 October, 2018, 04:52:19 pm »
It's getting harder and harder to get new squares - that was a 170km ride. though I live towards the east of my cluster, it's the west that's more rural and has better riding.

I just use the trains to bypass the suburban cycling that isn't hugely inspiring (although I'll probably use them less as I get my cycling fitness back).

Here was todays: https://www.strava.com/activities/1906332667 (Train from Putney to Wraysbury, ride, Train from Eton & Windsor Riverside to Putney).

It helps living somewhere where trains are plentiful and mostly reliable.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #257 on: 15 October, 2018, 06:51:51 pm »
Trains are also my choice to expand my riding territory (both before and after tyle hunting). I quite often set out from home and take a train back (or start with a train out into the wind).

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #258 on: 16 October, 2018, 08:13:34 am »


It's getting harder and harder to get new squares - that was a 170km ride. though I live towards the east of my cluster, it's the west that's more rural and has better riding.

I just use the trains to bypass the suburban cycling that isn't hugely inspiring (although I'll probably use them less as I get my cycling fitness back).


For me, it's that the squares I need to the east are the urban ones. 
I've got Nottingham and the North Nottinghamshire ex mining towns to the east of me and the rolling Derbyshire countryside and the Peak District to the west.   Which is why my Square is skewed to the west of me. 
Eddington: 114 Miles

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #259 on: 16 October, 2018, 08:32:27 am »
Now that we're getting towards the end of the year, I'm starting to look at the gaps in my 2018 squares. 
My max square for this year is currently 9x9, but a few stratigic local rides should increase that.
Eddington: 114 Miles

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #260 on: 16 October, 2018, 12:50:06 pm »
Today's long boring conference call I will be mostly writing something to take the VV 'missing tiles' KML file and converting it to GPX[1] whilst also removing all of the 'sub boxes' it generates, i.e. for each clump of missing tiles I just want one 'track' showing the outline of this area, not every tile contained within it. That should make the subsequent gpx file a lot smaller and less of a burden for the various sites I use to plot routes.

1. I know there are sites to do this but it's the second part that is the most important, and it's easy to do this step at the same time.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #261 on: 19 October, 2018, 09:20:35 pm »
Took a few dull conference calls but I'm mostly there with the prototype.

Input is the explorer.kml file you get from VeloView containing the unvisited tiles around your max cluster.

Importing this through kml2gpx.com and into gpxeditor.co.uk made my browser slow down horribly, probably because it contained 832 separate tracks (one track per unvisited tile). It looked like this:-



My script parses the kml file and works out individual 'blocks' of adjacent tiles:-



The rough algorithm is that it converts the lat/lon co-ordinates to a grid (by determining the minimum value of lat and lon seen in the all of the points, then working out the average length of a tile boundary, bearing in mind a tiles NS length is different to its EW length) so I can work with simple integer cartesian co-ordinates:-

It finds 34 blocks in my file (which is slightly more up to date than the one original image up top) and assigns them a unique letter/number (just for the ASCII visualisation).

I then find the outline of each block by removing unnecessary edges (I remove every edge where there is a tile either side of the same 'block'). This gives:-



And then I pick a random point that hasn't been processed yet and trace round the border outputting a GPX file of the track(s), it removes the edges it travels along as it works so that it doesn't try and do anything twice.

Uploading that gpx file gives:-



This only contains 31 tracks (3 down on before as it can draw the blocks that connect diagonally by a single vertex in the same gpx tracks as the blocks they touch).

The browser is much more responsive and it should be much easier for me to plot my routes.

I may need to add in some extra lines in each block so i know where the inner tile boundaries are, but that should be relatively simple now I've got the outline of each block (which was the tricky bit). The point is the number of tracks will be much lower (31 down from 832 in my case) and it seems to be the sheer number of distinct tracks that causes the browser to slow down.

Once I clean up the code I might see about rewriting it in Python or Go and sticking it on a Heroku Dyno for anyone to use.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Chris S

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #262 on: 20 October, 2018, 01:55:53 pm »
That, is total geeky awesomeness. Love it!

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #263 on: 21 October, 2018, 05:17:50 pm »
50km bimble around hilly bits of Surrey to get some more tiles.

Explorer score up 21 to 5598
Square remains the same at 11x11
Cluster up 53 to 322.

Things I learned:-
* I'm still too unfit/heavy for the hills.
* Deciding to ride the route in reverse at the last minute is not clever when it means I encounter a steep hill (Castle Road just south of Chipstead) that's now one-way against me (and single width with no passing places), but I had to do it to get a tile.

Not many tiles to go to get all tiles inside the M25 in the S/W quadrant.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Chris S

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #264 on: 21 October, 2018, 05:37:41 pm »
Bagged Round Hill today, highest point on the North York Moors (452m). Bit of a slog up from Clay Bank, but that's me up to 15x15.

Chris N

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #265 on: 21 October, 2018, 09:32:41 pm »
Picked up a few more tiles around Castle Combe on yesterday's ride, taking me up to three overlapping 15x15 squares.  16x16 should be fairly straightforward, but 17x17 will be a bit more tricky as I need to start filling in squares of suburban SE Bristol and some hilly stuff north of Corsham.

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #266 on: 21 October, 2018, 09:55:17 pm »
Finally bagged a couple of squares up Apedale in the Dales to get my square to 37x37. I should get my cluster above 3000 before the end of the year, too.

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #267 on: 22 October, 2018, 07:11:41 am »
Finally bagged a couple of squares up Apedale in the Dales to get my square to 37x37. I should get my cluster above 3000 before the end of the year, too.

That's my aim as well. I'm at 2743 at the moment but a couple of large patches which are 1-2 rides away from being connected to my cluster. Enough for 3500 to be an aim for the end of the winter/start of spring.

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #268 on: 22 October, 2018, 10:34:12 am »
I'm starting to consider recommencing my explorer tiling again now it's autumn.

I got a bit disillusioned with it last winter as my max square has been up against shoreline on two sides for a year or more and the effort to move the whole thing out of the Isle of Purbeck and into Bournemouth was getting me down. However, I think a couple of well-planned hundred milers to the North of home could finally see me break into the 30's, so game on.

Current max square: 29x29
Current max cluster: 1444
Current total tiles: 11517

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #269 on: 23 October, 2018, 11:50:15 am »
Really started targeting this in early October  Since then
  • my max square has increased from 9x9 to 11x11
  • my Max cluster has increased from 380 to 514

Before EOY, will need to get hiking boots on to increase square to 12x12.  Will take more work to expand this as I am bounded by the Forth in the South and Loch Leven and the Ochils in the North.  The max cluster is more of a target now - should take beyond 600 before EOY.  A few longer rides to add tiles further away from home also required, but will take more time to fill the new gaps created by this.

Graeme

  • @fatherhilarious.blog 🦋
    • Graeme's Blog
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #270 on: 23 October, 2018, 12:12:14 pm »
Just started! 9*9 and ~180 cluster. I've found it really interesting seeing the places I've been through, shown in this way. I'm looking forward to filling in some gaps and I'm fairly sure that my stats will grow quickly once everything gains a little intentionality to it.

At last, a reason to record the rides I've done. I was starting to wonder why I recorded my rides at all, but seeing that data since I started using GPS has been a lot of fun.

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #271 on: 24 October, 2018, 01:53:53 pm »
Explorer score up 21 to 5598
Square remains the same at 11x11
Cluster up 53 to 322.

Not many tiles to go to get all tiles inside the M25 in the S/W quadrant.

1 more 50km ride next Monday to get the 9 tiles to get 12x12 plus another 17 tiles.
3 more ~50km rides to get to 17x17 (I think) and that'll be all of the tiles inside the M25 in the S/W quadrant. That should be done by late November.

Then I might start to pick off the SE quadrant of the tiles inside the M25.

I'm also tempted by a couple of careful route choices on rides up to Henham which would increase my cluster hugely (although there are some interesting squares such as the one just North of Wicken Bonhunt which don't have any 'normal' roads in them, just the M11 and some tracks. Nothing a bit of bike-run-bike duathalon wouldn't solve.)
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Graeme

  • @fatherhilarious.blog 🦋
    • Graeme's Blog
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #272 on: 24 October, 2018, 09:24:58 pm »
Just finished reading back through this thread to help me get the OSMAnd overlay working... tick... And thinking about trying out the kml export next. What struck me about this thread was that a lot of our activity seems to be non-cycling in order to bag squares. I love dales' low tide paddling to bag the coast. I'm not sure that swimming or kayaking the Humber is a good idea, but there was the one chap who waded across at low tide. The trouble with that (other than the act itself) is that the squares he crossed were covered by riding over the Humber Bridge anyway. None of this is hugely important yet because I've got plenty of cycling opportunities to explore first.

:)

Chris S

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #273 on: 24 October, 2018, 09:40:04 pm »
Some of us walk. Y'know, us Sapiens have been doing it a while now.

Graeme

  • @fatherhilarious.blog 🦋
    • Graeme's Blog
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #274 on: 24 October, 2018, 09:52:32 pm »
Walking on water. Genius!