Major TomTom to Ground Control

[Alouicious]

Just bought a TomTom Urban RIDER, UK & Ire.

Large, Heavy ( 500g about the weight of a bottle of drink ), 8 hour battery life ( OK for a Brevet Pop - My favourite, but more with the door removed and a PowerChimp attached [ The TomTom guy said don't do this until the warranty has expired, or you are prepared to foresake £220 ] );

But wow, it calcs the shortest route, has 'by bicycle' routing, calcs ETA based on 20kmh, 3D graphics, talks via a Bluetooth earpiece, knows the speed limits, knows where the GATSOs are, regular map updates, user can inform TomTom of cycle lanes for inclusion on maps, obeys me when I tell it roads to avoid like Garmin NEVER did properly; and most important of all....

I can build a route ON the unit. I don't have to use Mapsource and download it, test it and revise on Mapsource because the Garmin unit doesn't follow the mapsource route exactly..

I shall use my Edge 605 as a trip logger only in my back pocket.  


You won't be hearing me ask for 'routing advice' for this TomTom. Its such api sapis, its unreal  

[rafletcher]

Just bought a TomTom Urban RIDER, UK & Ire.

Large, Heavy ( 500g about the weight of a bottle of drink ), 8 hour battery life ( OK for a Brevet Pop - My favourite, but more with the door removed and a PowerChimp attached [ The TomTom guy said don't do this until the warranty has expired, or you are prepared to foresake £220 ] );

But wow, it calcs the shortest route, has 'by bicycle' routing, calcs ETA based on 20kmh, 3D graphics, talks via a Bluetooth earpiece, knows the speed limits, knows where the GATSOs are, regular map updates, user can inform TomTom of cycle lanes for inclusion on maps, obeys me when I tell it roads to avoid like Garmin NEVER did properly; and most important of all....

I can build a route ON the unit. I don't have to use Mapsource and download it, test it and revise on Mapsource because the Garmin unit doesn't follow the mapsource route exactly..

I shall use my Edge 605 as a trip logger only in my back pocket.  


You won't be hearing me ask for 'routing advice' for this TomTom. Its such api sapis, its unreal  

knows where static speed cameras are.  If you want more - like tempoarary, vans etc, then you'll need to add POI's from somewhere (I use Pocket GPS World) that include them. Then you can add warnings as well.

As for speed limits - some are inaccurate, not to be relied upon. Likewise one way streets. Not perfect, but usable, like the Garmin - and of cousre if you bought the Garmin maps (as you have with the TT) perhaps routing would be easier?

[Alouicious]

I've got Topo GB and Metroguide on Mapsource; and routing with Garmin HAS ALWAYS been a bag of shit.

I've just received the routesheet and .gpx for the Towering Trees Tamworth CC 150.
Sus where the controls and Infos are and make them 'Favourites' in the TT.

Put them on Mapsource and I always have to put in intermediatry Viapoints to force the handset to follow the same route as mapsource ( different algorithyms, you see ).
A few re-iterations later and the handset plots the route like Mapsource. And of course, Topo GB and Metroguide have loads of roads missing.. mostly narrow lanes they thought no-one would worry about.

For instance:-

Pretty Pigs to INFO_1. Organiser's distance,,, 32 km. TT distance,,, 27.5 km. ViaMichelin,,, 28 km ( same roads as TT ).
INFO_1 to Rambler's Rest. Organiser's distance,,, 30 km. TT distance 27.5km.

And it goes on until the TT gets the total distance to 144 km for a 155 km B Pop.

Now do you think I'm stupid enough to ride 155 km when I can ride 144???

[Greenbank]

I don't give my 705 a chance of routing for me on Audaxes. I give it a route with points ~100m apart so that it doesn't have any choice. I'm always looking at the map page (with a track of the route I want to follow) on it to guarantee this (just in case the track uses some unroutable roads/cyclepaths/cut-throughs, etc).

I've never used my GPS to create a route for me on the fly, I've always been following what I've told it to tell me, but then that's  because that's what I bought it for, nothing more.

[Jaded]

The first time I let a gps route for me on an Audax was also the last time. It was luck I passed somewhere I knew I shouldn't be that told me I should no longer be riding the purple line.

The way I plan the routes has none of the odd loss of kms that you speak of Ally, so I'll stick to that. Thanks all the same.

[harvey]

I give it a route with points ~100m apart...

Is there a setting in mapsource for this?

[Manotea]

I give it a route with points ~100m apart...

Is there a setting in mapsource for this?

I dont think GB uses Mapsource. He has an Edge 705 which effectively does not have max route/trackpoint limits. Mapsource comes from the era of pre-Edge products such as the eTrex which do have limits, most noticeably, 50 points for 'follow road' routes and 500 points for tracks.

In Mapsource you can filter tracks to specify a minimum inter-track point distance for example. See Track/Properties.

As it happens, I recently processed the K&SW 600 track to make it eTrex friendly (Ian provides a single 6000 point track). My objective was a set of routes with 50 waypoints for follow road navigation, and static tracks with 500 points.

Steps were:
1) Use WINGDB3 to Split & Filter the track and convert it into Routes with Waypoints (Opt21, Split after 150km, Filter to 50 points per Route), save output GDB
2) Use WINGDB3 to Split & Filter the track into manageable lumps (Opt24, Split after 150km, then Filter to 500 points per track), write/copy tracks into Stage1 output GDB
3) In Mapsource, select waypoints, change from default markers to nice Blue Flags (I use Red flags for main controls, Green for Infos).

However track/route points are not evenly distributed though the track/route. It looks like WINGDB3 selects which track points to process based on change of direction. The consequence is that there can be large gaps between track/waypoints and track/waypoints tend to cluster around towns. Still, it looks 'good enough'.

As usual, YPYPATYC. HTH

[harvey]

Many thanks, Manotea.   

I'm running an etrex.  I've not used WINGDB3 so will give it a try - I may be back with a few questions.

[Alouicious]

IIRC, the eTrex Legend could handle 50 routes, 500 Waypoints and ViaPoints to bring the total to 16,383.

Edge handles 50 routes, 100 Waypoints and Viapoints to bring the total to 16,383.


I had a eTrex Legend wit 24mbyte internal with no card slot.
I used Metroguide and joined junctions with straight lines.

Then I got an Edge 605 and found the Waypoint count was much less, but it could take Topo GB so 'Auto routing' lessened the work involved constructing a route.

The added bonus with Topo Gb and 'Auto recalculation' was I could take a detour to a place of refreshment, and the auto recalculation would guide me to the next Viapoint.


My biggest gripe with Garmin is the difference in route calc between Mapsource and the unit.
With just start and finish points 25km apart, it was 'hit or miss' whether the unit would calc the shortest route,,,

Fred Williams Cycles in Wolverhampton is about 30 km away from home and the Edge 605 picks some really weird routes around Birmingham.

TBH, I'm glad I've got something better now.

[Alouicious]

Here's what the TT looks like on the bike. A tad bigger than Garmin but I'm getting used to it now. Like an old fashioned map holder, but this map is 3D and moves 

Went to IKEA on the shopping bike with Garmin and its screen is sooooo tiny. Noticed I have to look longer at the 2D view...    

[mattc]

Now do you think I'm stupid enough to ride 155 km when I can ride 144???

Dunno - are you stupid enough to go for a bike ride when you could sit on the sofa instead?

144km vs 0km. Your choice.

[Alouicious]

Now do you think I'm stupid enough to ride 155 km when I can ride 144???

Dunno - are you stupid enough to go for a bike ride when you could sit on the sofa instead?

144km vs 0km. Your choice.

We ALL must be stupid.

I'm minimally stupid going on 100 and 150s.

Then there are those who are moderately stupid riding exclusively 200s.

Then there are the proper stupid ones who ride 300s and 400s,

then there are the barking mad stupid ones who ride a bike for 600 km between getting up and going back to bed.

Then, there are the unclassifiable stupid ones who ride for four days and sleep in bus shelters.

[harvey]

moderately stupid, me

hope that Tom Tom is well mounted... used to ride with a biggish 60csx and broke a bracket every 3-4 months.

[saturn]

Does it speak?

"You have reached your AUK Control"
"Information control ahead!".....

[inc]

Does it speak?

Doubt it can get a word in with Al 

[frankly frankie]

2) Use WINGDB3 to Split & Filter the track ... etc

... However track/route points are not evenly distributed though the track/route. It looks like WINGDB3 selects which track points to process based on change of direction.  The consequence is that there can be large gaps between track/waypoints and track/waypoints tend to cluster around towns.

That's better though, surely?  You only need guidance where there are choices.
(and WinGDB has configuration options, for 'Filtering method' - in Preferences - 'direction change' is one of 3 options - you can set the default waypoint to 'blue flag' in there as well - code 141)

Remind me someone, what's the track downsample algorithm called?  Something double-barrelled.
It basically simplifies a track by rejecting the point that lies closest to a path between its two neighbours (and repeat ...).

[Greenbank]

Remind me someone, what's the track downsample algorithm called?  Something double-barrelled.
It basically simplifies a track by rejecting the point that lies closest to a path between its two neighbours (and repeat ...).

Douglas-Peucker?

[Alouicious]

Does it speak?

"You have reached your AUK Control"
"Information control ahead!".....

Bluetooth earpiece.

'Jane', the English Lady....

[Quint]

How waterproof is it (sorry if it has been asked before, blame a 10 hr straight shift) 

[Hot Flatus]

[Somnolent]

Oooh ! - last time I had one of those I wrote off the bike....  desperately watching the little needle for a new speed record, and failed to spot parked car..

[Hot Flatus]

You've only yourself to blame if you exceed 17.5 mph 

[border-rider]

That damn 50 tooth ring really is enough to drive a man to extremes of speed, isn't it ?

[Hot Flatus]

50t is suitable for girls only.

I use these:

[border-rider]

I hope you've polished it, and downloaded & read the manufacturer's instructions before use.