bikehike to gps with fewer waypoints?

[revrob]

Apologies if this is covered elsewhere, but I can't seem to find the answer.

I plotted a route on bikehike (109K), using very few waypoints (only set just before road junctions), and downloaded it to my computer to put onto my HCx.

When I came to navigate, I found that the route now had an enormous number of points, some only 50m apart! And the unit was beeping at me constantly - so much that I had to stop the navigation!

What did I do wrong? And I would like to use my unit with routes for navigation, rather than just follow a track, esp at the Plains 400 audax in a couple of weeks time!

Many thanks

[delthebike]

I always save my bikehike routes as a GPX track. It cuts the waypoints out and you still get warning beeps at turns etc. (Used on Edge 605)

[Jord]

In Bikehike go to the bottom left hand corner and click options and then type in the amount of track points you want - and then down load it. If you have already downloaded it just upload it again.

The Edge and HCx work differently in navigation.

[revrob]

But when I reduce the trackpoint number, the track no longer follows the road, which means that I lose the distance measurement!

I'm a Mac user, so I can also use Garmin RoadTrip with the OSM maps installed. When I plot the same route on this, it follows the roads OK, only downloads the waypoints I set, but doesn't measure the distance!

Am I wanting to have my cake and eat it?

[frankly frankie]

Could you turn off the 'follow road' in Bikehike when plotting the route?  Then it should only give you the points you plotted.
You can always turn off the beeps in the GPS of course, but lots of routepoints isn't good - especially if you use the 'distance to next' countdown, the fewer the points the better this works.

[edit - sorry cross-posted your latest]
I only use direct routing and I just mentally add about 10% to any distances indicated if I want a true distance - it doesn't often amount to any more than that.

[Jord]

Hi

Yes it will no longer follow the route exactly as the GPS will navigate between the points.

This is what i do using the Oregon.

Download one full track as a GPX track and set this on the GPS to show. (you may need to limit this to 500 trackpoints on an Etrex)
Download the simplified version as a GPX route and set the GPS to navigate the route this way you have a full track with full navigation and you can see if the unit tries to take you of course (it may choose a different road between points) I have to simplify the route to 50 points.

Now one thing Bikehike does not use waypoints they are route points. If you want to add waypoints to your track you need to use something else... I use EasyGPS - free download but no maps.

[dasmoth]

If you create trackpoints in bikehike then download a GPX route, you'll get waypoints.  I use this (with my Oregon) for audax controls.

[saturn]

The limits of my Garmin are 250 waypoints / 500 track points per route.

For a normal ride I leave follow road on in bikehike, reduce to <250 and download a gpx route. I put up with the 250 points on my route because I find it useful for the garmin to light up when I need to take a turn and sometimes when I don't for comfort - I have the sound muted so it's not annoying though.

For an audax I leave bikehikes follow road on so I get the correct distances when plotting the route. Using bikehike I insert coursepoints coinciding with routesheet instructions eg "123.3 R@RT" then I download a gpx track. I then open the gpx file in mapsource (sorry I'm on a PC) giving me waypoints for routesheet instructions and the track. I mark all the waypoints and ask mapsource to create the route in direct mode (not autorouting). Next I transfer both the route and track (having reduced it to <500 points) to the Garmin - I do this separately for each section of the audax. I tell the Garmin to follow the route in off-road mode. This means I can see the track which pretty much follows the road and when I approach a routesheet instruction it beeps and tells me what to do (I turn the sound back on for this).

As far as I can see, if you just use a track you don't get waypoint instructions when you want them and you have to press a button to light the display.

[JT]

I'm a Mac user and own a Garmin Edge 205.

For plotting on-road rides that just need turns/waypoints I use Marengo maps (cost £4.99 per year).  This allows you to name your waypoints and will upload the route directly to the Garmin via USB and Garmin's free browser plugin. On the Garmin, I use the Navigate -> Route option.

This is a really simple and effective solution.

For off-road mapping, I use bikehike and LoadMyTracks. In bikehike I save as a track, load to the Garmin using LoadMyTracks. On the Garmin I use the Workout  -> Course option which shows a map and warns me when I've gone off course.

[Jord]

trackpoints in bikehike then download a GPX route, you'll get waypoints.  I use this (with my Oregon) for audax controls.

That's Handy  I've been adding them later for controls!

[alanmc]

I have a Legend HCx, and I use a slight variation on what saturn has said above (although I am now going to try what he suggests, I suspect it may cut out my GPX modification step).

In bikehike, plot the route using follow roads (occasionally turn this off for sections when google won't follow the route as described (eg off-road path sections etc).
Add coursepoints (using Generic type, named to describe the turn, similar to saturn eg 01-L 02-R) etc) for each routesheet instruction.
Dowload to PC as a GPX TRACK from bikehike - This GPX contains a track and a set of named WAYPOINTs.
I manually edit the gpx file in a text editor to change the waypoints into a route of ROUTEPOINTS. (mainly a find-replace on <wpt  </wpt to <rtept </rtpt, and wrapping them inside  <rte>  </rte> tags
If a route involves loops or recrosses itself, split the route into more than one, avioding crossing.
Open the modified GPX file in Mapsource.
For the track, modify the properties to set the colour to a nice visible green, and limit the trackpoints to 500.
transfer both route(s) and track into the GPS from Mapsource in one step.

On the GPS, set the track to be visible.
Select the route (or sub-route if split) and navigate (off-road)
You get a nice highlighted green track, beeps and pop-up instruction prompts just before each route instruction, plus you get the 'distance to next' feature giving you the "as-the-crow-flies" distance to that next instruction.

[saturn]

Works for me with an Etrex Vista HCx so I guess it should work for you. Key point is to keep the waypoints sequential because that's the order mapsource sees them and joins them - that's why I use the routesheet instruction distance (if I used simple numerical sequence I'd keep forgetting where I'd got to). It would also provide a quick check against the bike computer if necessary.