Yet Another Cycling Forum

General Category => Freewheeling => Topic started by: D.A.L.E. on 12 June, 2018, 08:30:31 pm

Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 12 June, 2018, 08:30:31 pm
Who else is playing?

I signed up to Veloviewer yesterday, it seems like it could be a bit addictive...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 12 June, 2018, 08:51:05 pm
It is, I blame Mr Smith for inflecting me over Xmas. I've since passed on the addiction to a few down here... It's spreading!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Si S on 13 June, 2018, 09:57:41 am
I'm playing, it's making for some long Friday commutes.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 13 June, 2018, 11:12:11 am
We picked up this addiction from Deano, I think. Fboab is much more committed to it than me.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris N on 13 June, 2018, 11:27:42 am
Currently on 13x13.  A couple of extended Friday afternoon commutes should get me up to 15x15, then I'll need to make a bit more of an effort to increase my score.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 13 June, 2018, 11:44:18 am
Yes - love it. Well worth the £10/year. In fact I've planned a ride around scenic Redbridge to fill in a few gaps in the tile board this weekend...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 13 June, 2018, 11:45:04 am
We picked up this addiction from Deano, I think. Fboab is much more committed to it than me.

So he's YACF patient zero ?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 13 June, 2018, 11:57:08 am
I thought Deano caught it from Salvatore?

I think of it as an encouragement to trespass :facepalm:

I'm on 14 x 14 but getting bigger needs Moors or, erm, rowing (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kLNjIi98Z9bLESuUXBmJSCInOnBynRz7/view?usp=sharing)?

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 13 June, 2018, 12:33:52 pm

It's rather addictive. I've got multiple 8x8 squares, I think if I can plan the route right tho, I'm about 1 or 2 rides away from jumping to about 15x15.

I'm gonna hit a limit soon due to the sea... and a lake...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 13 June, 2018, 02:58:17 pm
Not seen this before. I have three overlapping 11x11s centred on north London. A visit to Redbridge and Golders Green would boost that to 13x13, and not many more to get something like 18x18 covering Eltham to South Mimms. Looks tricky after that.

*must not get sucked in*
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 13 June, 2018, 03:31:42 pm
It can lead to some silly scenic route diversions to clip the corner of new squares :)

I've just noticed the Holkham Parkrun (http://www.parkrun.org.uk/holkham/) course picks up three squares (roughly 1.5km across each) which isn't bad for a 5km loop.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 13 June, 2018, 04:17:33 pm
It was Dean what got me into it (and seeing fboab and Chris S post about it too).

I'm digging it, but only on 9x9! I can get 10x10 by going down a dead end or I can get something daft like 14x14 rather easily if I could get security clearance to get into the port. You can see my attempt to bag the square yesterday, but was stymied by a rather large man and an even larger fence.

(http://i65.tinypic.com/344zkty.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 13 June, 2018, 04:23:19 pm
Just spotted this -

5270 tiles, average of 4.753 km per tile
Max square 9x9
Max Cluster: 247
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Si S on 13 June, 2018, 04:37:42 pm
I discovered it from the other place.

3367 tiles, average of 11.874 km per tile
Max square 22x22
Max Cluster: 753

3 neighbouring tiles required to get to 24x24 but I'm struggling for mo-jo to ride in that direction, I'll pick them up at some point, in the meantime I'm enjoying discovering lots of tracks, with the side effect of regaining confidence in my off-road skills after last years MTB disasters.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 13 June, 2018, 04:52:50 pm
I can get something daft like 14x14 rather easily if I could get security clearance to get into the port. You can see my attempt to bag the square yesterday, but was stymied by a rather large man and an even larger fence.
You need to join Whitburn Coastal Rowers (https://scottishcoastalrowing.org/2015/07/14/latimer-ledja-skiff-100-official-launch/) :D





16551 tiles, average of 3.027 km per tile
Max square 14x14
Max Cluster: 373

My max cluster is in East Angular, where I only Strava'd audaii, meaning the masses of little rides don't show. I haven't even got some squares from my commute down there :facepalm:

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 13 June, 2018, 05:12:18 pm
Explorer score:
    5477 tiles, average of 4.025 km per tile
    Max square 5x5
    Max Cluster: 48

But just a single 30km ride can push that up to 8x8 and then it won't take much to build on that. I just need to use my long ride on a Monday to vary things rather than going round and round Richmond Park (lovely as that is).

For example, there's a square 1 East and 2 South of me that is not taken (I've definitely ridden there but obviously never bothered to Strava it).

I do have one square that was bagged by an open water swim at Shepperton Lake:

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vvswim.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 13 June, 2018, 07:17:46 pm

I'm digging it, but only on 9x9! I can get 10x10 by going down a dead end or I can get something daft like 14x14 rather easily if I could get security clearance to get into the port. You can see my attempt to bag the square yesterday, but was stymied by a rather large man and an even larger fence.

I had similar issues with Schiphol airport. Fortunately I managed to find routes that didn't get me arrested to get the squares I needed. Made for a rather erratic ride... A couple of squares I clip just the corner of...

J

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 13 June, 2018, 07:21:17 pm
We thought we were going to have to break into Wilton Works at Redcar, but turns out there's a bridleway that juuuuust nicks the corner of that square. Teesport is more problematical; it's probably more realistic for us to extend South and West, and do lots of walking over the NYMs.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 13 June, 2018, 07:26:26 pm
I spent a few winter rides building up my max square to 22x22. Been riding mostly out of area for the last few months, but intend to return to building up the square again in the autumn.

I've got one blocking square where a large security gate dissuaded me from nipping 100m down a farm track. At least there's a footpath at the other side of the square, so I just need an excuse to go back to that area.

Jiberjaber is at 29x29. He's a bit of a pro at this!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 13 June, 2018, 07:28:10 pm
C'mon Deano - fess up, tell 'em yours  :D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 13 June, 2018, 09:01:06 pm
34x34 - I've just spotted the thread (I have the GPS board on ignore).

I've been poking at this for just over a year, but I only took it moderately seriously after Si S mentioned he was trying to chase me down ;D

I've been more opportunistic than systematic in my square-bagging, as I like to make it a decent ride. So my cluster's up to a healthy 2503, and snakes about all over the place. All the squares at the edges of my square are going to be tricky to get - trackless moors, Hartlepool Bay (though I'm convinced I can wait until low tide and walk out across the rocks to get that one), and an annoying square between Thirsk and Topcliffe - it looks like the only way to get it is hacking along the A168, which looks like a 2 am job to me.

I've loads of easy squares with lots of roads around East Durham, but see the point above about wanting to have a decent ride.

I can't remember where I heard about it - I think I just spotted it as a metric on Veloviewer, and followed it on from there. The most satisfying squares have been the ones in some of the many military ranges around Catterick - it took me three or four goes before I managed to cross Feldom Ranges, as the flags were alway up. I've lost count of the number of abandoned (or active) airfields I've snuck into, and I even stumped up cash to get into Raby Castle grounds to bag the three squares at the back of there - where you're not meant to go.

It's at least a 50-mile round trip to get any more now, though, and that probably means overnight bivvies or something equally daft. And then, if I keep going, in a year or so, I'll hit Warcop Ranges. Which is fucking enormous.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: wajcgac on 13 June, 2018, 09:45:25 pm
I've done a bit of this max square thingy as well.

The best thing about it is discovering countless new roads that I wouldn't have otherwise ridden.

Currently on 37 x 37
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 13 June, 2018, 10:23:46 pm

Just done the maths. Looks like the largest square I can get locally without swimming is going to be about 23x23.

Getting anything bigger would mean starting again further south. Doh.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Si S on 14 June, 2018, 08:32:57 am
I've been poking at this for just over a year, but I only took it moderately seriously after Si S mentioned he was trying to chase me down ;D

I'm not convinced it's my fault you know...but thick skin and sloping shoulders and all that.

I've got a few more columns I can go West before I run into the mudbanks on the Mersey, East is going to get really challenging as I'm beginning to edge up against Bleaklow Head and Saddleworth Moor and there's miles and miles of bugger all up there
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 14 June, 2018, 08:54:42 am
I've heard about it on a Dutch forum and was rapidly hooked. Since april I do some tile hunting when I'm not on an audax ride.
So far I've. Some military shooting and bombarding ranges to the north west limit my options a bit. I still have to check if I can bag all the squares around the Awacs base to the north east (it all depends on where they put the fences). Further away to the east there are some massive coalpits which would limit my efforts. So I'm mainly concentrating in the south-western direction. I managed to cover nearly the full city of Liège now, luckily Liège airport has enough roads around it to cover all squares.

Current standings:

max square 23x23
cluster 1773
total tiles 26960
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 15 June, 2018, 08:41:15 pm
I do have one square that was bagged by an open water swim at Shepperton Lake:


Wait, veloviewer tile game accepts open water swims as valid for bagging tiles?

Cos this tile is causing me issues:

https://goo.gl/maps/kaR7HfBz3E92

J

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 15 June, 2018, 09:31:21 pm
I do have one square that was bagged by an open water swim at Shepperton Lake:


Wait, veloviewer tile game accepts open water swims as valid for bagging tiles?

Cos this tile is causing me issues:

https://goo.gl/maps/kaR7HfBz3E92

J

There are no official rules but in general all human powered activities are accepted. You can log them as a swim with Strava. Just like a few of those tiles in your area have been done on skates in the past winter. A kayak would for example also be acceptable. A sailing vessel is stretching the limits of the rules.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 15 June, 2018, 09:33:01 pm
I forgot the add a screenshot of my current square (and part of the cluster) in my first post in this thread:

(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/veloviewer+tiles+120618.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 15 June, 2018, 09:40:42 pm

That certainly puts my map in the shade...

(http://photos.quixotic.eu/misc/tiles.png)

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanN on 15 June, 2018, 10:11:09 pm
I wondered when a thread on this would pop up. I heard about this following Graeme's write up about his ride with Deano. It's great because I already try to find new roads when planning DIYs by GPS.
I'm just on 9x9 so far. I think 27x27 is possible eventually (with some walking), but then I'm stuck between the Severn and Salisbury plain.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 15 June, 2018, 10:39:40 pm
I do have one square that was bagged by an open water swim at Shepperton Lake:


Wait, veloviewer tile game accepts open water swims as valid for bagging tiles?

Cos this tile is causing me issues:

https://goo.gl/maps/kaR7HfBz3E92

J

There are no official rules but in general all human powered activities are accepted. You can log them as a swim with Strava. Just like a few of those tiles in your area have been done on skates in the past winter. A kayak would for example also be acceptable. A sailing vessel is stretching the limits of the rules.

A "run", which you can do at walking pace, will also suffice. No need to get wet unless the entire square is water.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 16 June, 2018, 08:06:55 am

That certainly puts my map in the shade...

(http://photos.quixotic.eu/misc/tiles.png)

J

You've done your map in one year, mine is the result of 10 years of cycling with a GPS.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 16 June, 2018, 02:45:54 pm

You've done your map in one year, mine is the result of 10 years of cycling with a GPS.

Fair point.

My version of the same area as yours has a surprising number of tiles, but no actual squares:

(http://photos.quixotic.eu/misc/tiles02.png)

Can we change the first/last 10k of some of the Maastricht BRM's to get some different tiles next year? :p

I can see it at the stay-Okay post ride:

"That was a nice ride, all of it apart from why the hell did we go down that one way road at the 165km mark?"

"I was missing a tile..."


J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 16 June, 2018, 03:10:22 pm
I forgot the add a screenshot of my current square (and part of the cluster) in my first post in this thread:

(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/veloviewer+tiles+120618.jpg)
That’s beautiful
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 16 June, 2018, 09:07:47 pm
I have been trying to ignore this because I know what will happen.

Anyway  -  paid my £10 this morning and been out on the MTB this afternoon to bump the square up from 11*11 to 14*14.  I was brambled and nettled but loved it.  Got another key square planned into tomorrow's ride.  It is only a little detour...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 16 June, 2018, 09:11:58 pm
I have been trying to ignore this because I know what will happen.

Anyway  -  paid my £10 this morning and been out on the MTB this afternoon to bump the square up from 11*11 to 14*14.  I was brambled and nettled but loved it.  Got another key square planned into tomorrow's ride.  It is only a little detour...

It's addictive. I just did a 77km jaunt North of the canal, to get me upto 2 different 9x9 squares. One tile is likely to prove very hard to get as it turns out its on a nature reserve closed to humans. Couple more tiles should give me a big bump in square size.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 18 June, 2018, 09:33:42 am
Many things become a programming problem for me, I'm now wondering about a few different algorithms:-

* one algorithm that would give me the a route of the least number of contiguous squares (starting and ending at my home square) to extend my max square to n*n.

* a similar version that would start at home but end at any number of designated finish squares which correspond to train stations that could get me home easily.

* another that given a maximum number of contiguous squares would cover the most new squares possible (with those closer to home worth more than those further away).

(They would just be very coarse route suggestions as a set of squares to go through, certain connections may not even be possible given the various rivers, hills and lack of roads in places.)

Probably something similar for cluster, although my max cluster is currently 60km North of where I live as I've done lots of different Audaxes up there. Today's ride to get my max square up to 8x8 should bring it back home.

Algorithms don't give me any kind of advantage as it's simple enough to do the above manually by eye, it's just piqued my interest from a programming point of view.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris N on 18 June, 2018, 09:54:21 am
Max square:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1735/41061959230_225afef897_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/25yvgUj)

Max cluster, 367 squares:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1763/41061958420_05d4556421_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/25yvgEm)
Unlikely to beat this for a while as I don't live there any more.  Max cluster for the new house is not much different to the max square above.

Total tiles: 3053

Unfortunately, I've only got Strava data going back to mid-2013 - although if I did it probably wouldn't do much for my square and cluster scores it would increase my total tiles by a fair amount.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Si S on 18 June, 2018, 10:17:00 am
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1736/28003755007_6dba1ee300_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/JEAyJc)

Friday's extended commute makes 23 x 23
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 18 June, 2018, 02:34:15 pm
Oh. A reason to use strava :facepalm:

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 18 June, 2018, 05:11:27 pm
Explorer score:
    5477 tiles, average of 4.025 km per tile
    Max square 5x5
    Max Cluster: 48

A 50km bimble today gives me a max square of 8x8 and max cluster of 80 (which is now based around my home rather than 60km away in Henham). 5495 tiles, average of 4.025 km per tile

One tile required for 9x9 and 5 more for 10x10, but then progress will be a bit slower. Lots of scope for extension via different commuting routes too.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 18 June, 2018, 06:41:43 pm
Max square:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1735/41061959230_225afef897_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/25yvgUj)

Max cluster, 367 squares:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1763/41061958420_05d4556421_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/25yvgEm)
Unlikely to beat this for a while as I don't live there any more.  Max cluster for the new house is not much different to the max square above.

Total tiles: 3053

Unfortunately, I've only got Strava data going back to mid-2013 - although if I did it probably wouldn't do much for my square and cluster scores it would increase my total tiles by a fair amount.

A couple of rides between both homes and you'll have a massive leap in max cluster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Whitestone on 18 June, 2018, 09:10:13 pm
I started with VeloViewer a couple of years ago. Current stats are:

Quote
Explorer score:
6913 tiles, average of 7.637 km per tile
Max square 16x16
Max Cluster: 989

But that 16x16 isn't quite the whole story as I've 12 of the blighters in a 27x16 rectangle ::-) Some of the blockers to let me increase the Max square are quite awkward. The max cluster is similarly held back by one or two squares
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 19 June, 2018, 07:42:05 am


Quote from: chris n

Unlikely to beat this for a while as I don't live there any more.  Max cluster for the new house is not much different to the max square above.
Same here. To increase the cluster and link there and here, would mean rides through... Lincolnshire. *shudder*.

It really highlights what I'd known, in that there's a highway network of cycling roads that go places, and audaxes tend to use the same ones.
I started Strava-ing in 2011, but until about April last year I only Strava'd rides of 'significance'. So all the pub runs, training rides and utility rides didn't feature. Part of me is tempted by a data dump. But probably not.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 19 June, 2018, 09:27:46 am
The roads covered by pub runs and most utility rides have all been covered by 'significant' rides for me anyway, so adding them wouldn't make much difference.

Saying that, I've got almost nothing in North London. What I do have is either covered by rides up to Cambridge (which go East of Liverpool St) or the London Sightseer in 2007. Despite cycling to/from Paddington, Kings Cross, Marylebone, Edgware Road, etc for lots of Audaxes I've not Strava'd a single one of those rides so those tiles remain unclaimed.

Tiles within 10km or so are relatively simple to add, although yesterday's 50km bimble planned purely to cover tiles did send me down a wide variety of roads/paths/subways given that I didn't pay any attention to route planning other than 'that road goes where I want to go'. Makes a change from blatting around the park on roads I've seen hundreds of times though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 19 June, 2018, 12:03:15 pm
Found a couple of old GPX files from rides out to drop off OU assignments right on the deadlines (any excuse for a ride!). One to Wanstead and back and one a 50km blat from work out to Sunningdale. Neither add to my scores though, but the Wanstead one did fill in a bit out in East London.

SIZE 9 requires 1 (might nip out to do this tomorrow, it's a simple 20km ride through Richmond Park, Ham and to Teddington and then back)
SIZE 10 requires 6
SIZE 11 requires 13
SIZE 12 requires 24
SIZE 13 requires 37
SIZE 14 requires 52
SIZE 15 requires 70
SIZE 16 requires 88
SIZE 17 requires 110
SIZE 18 requires 135
SIZE 19 requires 162
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Si S on 19 June, 2018, 01:32:38 pm
Blast! Just clicked a ride, gained a tile and lost a tile, down to 21x21, back to sneaking around the gas storage site at Lach Dennis this weekend then
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 19 June, 2018, 04:52:14 pm
SIZE 9 requires 1 (might nip out to do this tomorrow, it's a simple 20km ride through Richmond Park, Ham and to Teddington and then back)
SIZE 10 requires 6
SIZE 11 requires 13
SIZE 12 requires 24
SIZE 13 requires 37
SIZE 14 requires 52
SIZE 15 requires 70
SIZE 16 requires 88
SIZE 17 requires 110
SIZE 18 requires 135
SIZE 19 requires 162
IS there a quick way to see this?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 19 June, 2018, 05:57:29 pm
SIZE 9 requires 1 (might nip out to do this tomorrow, it's a simple 20km ride through Richmond Park, Ham and to Teddington and then back)
SIZE 10 requires 6
...
IS there a quick way to see this?

Nope. I've got some scripts to do it but they require me entering my squares as either . or * in a text file which takes a long time and is prone to error.

Before that I took a screenshot of my current map (with tile boundaries enabled) and then added dots in MS Paint to find the numbers.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 19 June, 2018, 08:13:27 pm
Greenbank and "I've got some scripts" go together like "Peas and Carrots" or "Bacon and Eggs"  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Whitestone on 19 June, 2018, 09:08:17 pm
My incremental squares are easy to calculate:

1 square will take me from 16 to 19
4 squares will take me from 19 to 20
4 squares will take me from 20 to 21
5 squares will take me from 21 to 22
7 squares will take me from 22 to 23

After that I need to do some big blocks.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 19 June, 2018, 09:31:33 pm
50k on the MTB this evening to pick off four squares.  With hindsight I could have got them all on the road bike but where's the fun in that ?

Max square increased by 1 to 15 and max cluster now 1100.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 19 June, 2018, 11:45:04 pm
Greenbank and "I've got some scripts" go together like "Peas and Carrots" or "Bacon and Eggs"  :thumbsup:

Go away before I replace you with a small shell script.

./random_smiley.sh
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 21 June, 2018, 11:00:35 am
Slightly extended commute this morning to bag two extra tiles over in Bermondsey. That added 17 to my max cluster.

Sunday morning might be a quick 20km jaunt out to get one tile to increase square to 9x9 and add another 5 to max cluster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 21 June, 2018, 10:53:04 pm


Just added 6 tiles to my tile count, without leaving the sofa. On long straight roads, veloviewer often only counts the end, and even tho there is a line drawn, you don't get the tiles in the middle. This is because as default, veloviewer only loads the overview version of the ride. Doing a detailed view of a couple of ride added some more tiles as it added a more complete version of the rides.

Might be something others need to do something about.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 22 June, 2018, 04:25:52 pm
An 80k loop on the road bike to fill a few holes.  The one bridleway was pretty jiggle-tastic.  Max square bumped up by another 4 to 19.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 22 June, 2018, 11:13:33 pm
#hooked
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 24 June, 2018, 11:42:31 am
Anyone else use the Explorer Helper app on Android? If so, are you having trouble syncing it with your VV data? Ours both seem to have stopped updating  ???
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 24 June, 2018, 01:54:29 pm
Didn't know there was an app.

Nice ride out yesterday combining a DIY with a jump in max squares as well... It's getting a bit harder now to pick off squares
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 24 June, 2018, 02:10:46 pm
Just tried app, it runs vv update and show activity but nothing shows on the map.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 24 June, 2018, 02:23:33 pm
I've emailed the developer - it was a really useful app.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 24 June, 2018, 07:15:18 pm
#hooked

Yep.

Another 60k on the MTB today picking up 6 key tiles but...

...the GPS only recorded the first 2k :(

Looks like a good excuse for another bike ride :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 24 June, 2018, 10:24:38 pm
#hooked

Yep.

Another 60k on the MTB today picking up 6 key tiles but...

...the GPS only recorded the first 2k :(

Looks like a good excuse for another bike ride :)

Rookie mistake! Run Strava or something on your phone alongside your GPS. DNAMHIKT.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 24 June, 2018, 10:26:38 pm
I've been poking at this for just over a year, but I only took it moderately seriously after Si S mentioned he was trying to chase me down ;D

I'm not convinced it's my fault you know...but thick skin and sloping shoulders and all that.


You jabbed my competitive urge, just a little bit :)

I'd have probably done it anyway, but probably not as swiftly.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 25 June, 2018, 02:54:15 pm
Slightly extended commute this morning to bag two extra tiles over in Bermondsey. That added 17 to my max cluster.

That was 8x8 and 107 max cluster.

This afternoon's 40km ride moved me to 10x10 and 117.

A few carefully routed 100km rides could add significant chunks to my max cluster as I could connect up with areas to the West and North of me where I've done quite a few Audaxes.

A picture will explain it better than I can:-

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vv_20180625.png)

[EDIT] Just plotted a 75km route from home that fills in most of the gaps in the slice between 9pm and 10pm from London (South of Ruislip, North of Eton) finishing at Datchet station (where I can get a quick train back home). Should be a nice boost to max cluster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 25 June, 2018, 03:16:26 pm
This is quite a good resource, saves having to search each authorities PROW map

http://www.rowmaps.com/

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Phil W on 25 June, 2018, 03:42:24 pm
Or you can bring up Ordnance Survey maps on Bing to get rights of way https://www.bing.com/maps?FORM=Z9LH3
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 25 June, 2018, 04:27:55 pm
Or you can bring up Ordnance Survey maps on Bing to get rights of way https://www.bing.com/maps?FORM=Z9LH3

TBF, you can do that on VV already as well... what we could do with is a way of exporting the squares to a planning tool that also shows OS / PROW  Closest I've got so far is with OSM maps in Basecamp and a KML export of 'squares not yet got' from VV. 

Alternative is to use the Strava plug in and plan the route in Strava (with global heatmap and OSM), but I am no lover of Strava planning.... (my prefered weapon of choice being RWGPS)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 25 June, 2018, 04:37:21 pm
OSM =/= OS, though.

I flip between VV and RWGPS when I'm planning.

Mr Smith is more patient than me and plans on the OS website- but it's utter pants so I don't.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Si S on 25 June, 2018, 04:48:30 pm
OSM =/= OS, though.

I flip between VV and RWGPS when I'm planning.

Mr Smith is more patient than me and plans on the OS website- but it's utter pants so I don't.

my bold.

There is a chrome plug-in (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/veloviewer-strava-plugin/kdgpnlmocdpeckamipkkdblnfcpkgbno?hl=en) for the strava route planner that overlays your completed squares on the map, it does mean you have to put with strava's glitchy route planner though, no good if you don't use chrome either.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 25 June, 2018, 05:19:11 pm
yebbut the strava route planner is shite. And I like the ordnance survey.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 25 June, 2018, 06:10:53 pm
I have VV on one screen and gpxeditor.co.uk on the other and I just make sure I'm clipping the appropriate tiles by hand.

Having a route planner (that isn't crap) that would show my existing visited tiles and colour new tiles visited on the route a new colour would be great, but it's not really necessary.

I'm sure I'll slip up one day and miss a square I was aiming to visit but it'll just be an excuse for a future ride. If it's close it'll be easy to revisit, if it's far away it's unlikely to matter for a long while (whilst my max square is only 10x10).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 25 June, 2018, 06:53:48 pm

If you have chrome, or chromium as your browser, install the veloviewer plugin. It allows you to superimpose the veloviewer tiles over the strava route planner. Very useful for plotting routes.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 25 June, 2018, 07:26:27 pm
The Strava route planner is awful.

Having to use it is more of a backwards step than having VV tiles overlaid is a forward step.

[EDIT] Latest planned route also ticks off the Cranford Cross, Harlington and Sipson tiles. These may be a bit trickier in future years depending on the vagaries of Government.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Phil W on 25 June, 2018, 08:16:46 pm
You might be able to generate a kml grid matching the Veloviewer squares using this tool.

https://www.binaryearth.net/KMLMultitool/

You could then overlay in your favourite mapping software including those that show OS mapping.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ashaman42 on 25 June, 2018, 08:52:17 pm
Do I just need the £10pa VeloViewer memership to get involved in this or do I need Strava Premium as well? Please and thank you.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 25 June, 2018, 08:57:55 pm
The Strava route planner is awful.

It is? How so?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 25 June, 2018, 09:09:07 pm
You might be able to generate a kml grid matching the Veloviewer squares using this tool.

https://www.binaryearth.net/KMLMultitool/

You could then overlay in your favourite mapping software including those that show OS mapping.
Perhaps it was missed further up?  vv can already output a Kml of the squares not got yet. Here's an example in Basecamp.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180625/b195fe09765a128bd763c202d3485f23.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 25 June, 2018, 09:17:08 pm
It works with the free Strava, Premium not requiered.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ashaman42 on 25 June, 2018, 09:18:08 pm
Super. Quite tempted to get involved then.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 25 June, 2018, 09:20:28 pm
If you have a large archive the 10,- is well spent, if you're completely new to Strava it's not needed.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 25 June, 2018, 10:31:14 pm

Been playing around with the planner, and have worked out that the max square I can get to before I have to get very creative with either substantial (2-3km) swims, is a 50x50. There is one square near here that I'm either gonna need a canoe, or a 1.5km swim, but it at least is officially listed as a swimming location, unlike the 3 tiles creating the 50 limit above, which are the main channel Separating Flevoland from the mainswamp^Wmainland. Would it be extravagant to get a sea kayak just to help collect tiles?

The downside of this is I'm gonna have to discard most of the square I have already built up. The Ijmeer gets in the way, sure it's only about 3x3 tiles, that are blocking things, but there's no way I can get there with a kayak, or swimming, it's too big a shipping area.

Apparently the record is 85x85 tiles.

Challenge accepted...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 25 June, 2018, 11:19:07 pm
I have saved the kml of uncompleted tiles from Veloviewer, converted it to a gpx using kml2gpx.com, sucked it into http://www.gpxeditor.co.uk/ and set the map type to OS resulting in:

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1799/42106829035_2fe48a5906_z.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 26 June, 2018, 03:16:56 pm
Bumped mine up to this today -

Explorer score:
5326 tiles, average of 4.773 km per tile
Max square 11x11
Max Cluster: 299 KML

(http://i64.tinypic.com/11rdsub.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 26 June, 2018, 09:23:20 pm
OK, this feels like a nice way to log rides. I’ve only put a handful of runs and rides on Strava as it wasn’t exciting me in its own right. So I’m more or less starting from scratch, 3*3 is my max square.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DgpMKr3WAAAQIVI?format=jpg&name=small)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 26 June, 2018, 11:21:01 pm
Bumped mine up to this today -

Explorer score:
5326 tiles, average of 4.773 km per tile
Max square 11x11
Max Cluster: 299 KML

(http://i64.tinypic.com/11rdsub.png)

Damn, we should do a Squareswap.

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1769/29158441078_db5844827d_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/LqCCEJ)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 26 June, 2018, 11:22:14 pm
'Kin 'ell Deano, anyone would think you live near Darlo!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 26 June, 2018, 11:24:47 pm
Bumped mine up to this today -

Explorer score:
5326 tiles, average of 4.773 km per tile
Max square 11x11
Max Cluster: 299 KML

(http://i64.tinypic.com/11rdsub.png)

Dammn, we should do a Squareswap.

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1769/29158441078_db5844827d_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/LqCCEJ)

I can fully understand the lack of squares around Mackemland  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 26 June, 2018, 11:30:33 pm
'Kin 'ell Deano, anyone would think you live near Darlo!

It's the best cycling in the country.

...Apart from East Durham.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 26 June, 2018, 11:33:39 pm
'Kin 'ell Deano, anyone would think you live near Darlo!

It's the best cycling in the country.

...Apart from East Durham.

(https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/27309111/whats-that-shadowy-place-thats-sunderland-simba-you-must-never-go-there.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 27 June, 2018, 10:19:06 am
The Strava route planner is awful.

It is? How so?

J
It maybe isn't as bad for you in FORRIN, but for us in the UK

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 27 June, 2018, 10:26:30 am
As far as planing goes, I'm using VeloViewer to see which squares I need > OS online to see if there's anything interesting in that square; a track, trail, anything > RideWithGPS to plot a ride (although I don't often do this, only when I'm going somewhere I don't know at all).

Then use the OS app on my phone when out and about to double check things or my Garmin 810 has squares on the map.

As an aside, I reckon my subscription to OS is the best £20 I spend every year.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 27 June, 2018, 10:42:51 am
^^ All of that.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 27 June, 2018, 10:45:10 am
It maybe isn't as bad for you in FORRIN, but for us in the UK

  • the mapping is shite when compared to Awesome Ordnance Survey
  • it prioritises routes by strava transit density
  • it doesn't distinguish much between different grades of ROW
  • it has a shoddy refresh rate
  • the export function is pants

Ah yes. The No mapping comes close to being as good as OS maps. There is no OS mapping available for the places I ride, so the lack of it for planning purposes is entirely not a blame of the strava route engine.

ROW's. How British... Yeah, it doesn't seem to know the difference between road types other than motorways. and everything else. But then this is inherent with all route planners. Google maps directions almost got me shot in London, cycle streets directions almost got me arrested in France, Strava resulted in me arriving at a security check point from the wrong side in .nl, and ride with GPS sent me over a stair case in Belgium...

They all have their flaws. But ultimately a lot of it comes down to how good the underlying Openstreet map data is.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Whitestone on 27 June, 2018, 01:51:34 pm
Remember that the VV Explorer squares aren't the same as OS grid squares, they are the map tiles used when zoomed in to a particular level (level 10 I think) on OSM.

If you use the free version of VV then you are limited to your last 25 strava activities.

Anyway: 180km for a grand total of just two new squares last weekend - they are starting to get harder to pick off ::-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: frankly frankie on 27 June, 2018, 02:33:58 pm
I have to say that this topic, though very interesting in its own way, is really fouling up the GPS sub-board by remaining stuck at the top of the recent postings list.
Oh damn - there I've done it again ...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 27 June, 2018, 03:05:23 pm
That explorer helper app now works and is quite good, looking forward to using it in the wild!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris N on 27 June, 2018, 03:47:19 pm
I have to say that this topic, though very interesting in its own way, is really fouling up the GPS sub-board by remaining stuck at the top of the recent postings list.
Oh damn - there I've done it again ...

Fouling up?  On a board that gets one or two new posts a day otherwise? ::-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 27 June, 2018, 04:22:01 pm
Wouldn't a better place for this be in freewheeling?

Anyway, I've only recently seen this thread as I don't look on the GPS board much.  I've been square bagging for about a year or so.   Before square bagging, I was going out and filling in gaps in my heatmap, so when I started, I'd already got a healthy 17x17 max square.  Since then I've upped it to 29x29 and a max cluster of 1348 covering large chunks of Derbyshire & Peak District.  A rule I have for myself is that all counting rides start from home, no car or train journeys to get out to the edge of my cluster. 
Loving it, I've found some great lanes and areas that I probably wouldn't have visited otherwise.

Here are my squares...  (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180627/aaea49f9de74e860e18d53101754329f.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 27 June, 2018, 04:25:07 pm
Oh, & thanks for the heads up on the Explorer Helper app, looks great.  Up till now I've been exporting my squares kml to the maps.me app to refer to while out and about.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 27 June, 2018, 06:50:06 pm
Oh, & thanks for the heads up on the Explorer Helper app, looks great.  Up till now I've been exporting my squares kml to the maps.me app to refer to while out and about.

Can't seem to get the app to work properly. Shame, would have proved useful. Thanks for the heads up it exists, maybe a future update will fix it.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 28 June, 2018, 12:32:33 am
Its working for me  ???

Did you make sure you have OsmAnd installed as well?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 28 June, 2018, 01:21:31 am
Its working for me  ???

Did you make sure you have OsmAnd installed as well?

I thought I had, it must have failed silently. Have installed it now, all works!

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 30 June, 2018, 07:13:47 pm

Been out on a DIY 100k audax. Route handily picked off a couple of extra tiles north of the river that were missing. One tile I've got by about 10m, turns out the rest of the road is a 70kph road with no cycling allowed.

I now have 4 over lapping 10x10 squares, tho not a 10x14 rectangle...

Time to start doing more southern stuff, else I'm gonna be hitting up against the sea...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 30 June, 2018, 08:54:13 pm
I have saved the kml of uncompleted tiles from Veloviewer, converted it to a gpx using kml2gpx.com, sucked it into http://www.gpxeditor.co.uk/ and set the map type to OS resulting in:

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1799/42106829035_2fe48a5906_z.jpg)


Today I ignored this and as a result didn't cycle quite far enough along the A47 between Bushby and Houghton before turning round.  So I missed the bottom right hand square   :facepalm:

I picked up a few others though and max square is now 21   :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 02 July, 2018, 09:42:13 am
Lurgy at the back end of last week so didn't get to extend my square with extended commutes.

Hoping to add a big chunk to the cluster today (currently just 115). We'll see if I've plotted the route properly and whether I can follow it!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 02 July, 2018, 10:00:37 am
Ticked off two fiddly squares in suburban Croydon on Saturday.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 02 July, 2018, 03:31:45 pm

Today I ignored this and as a result didn't cycle quite far enough along the A47 between Bushby and Houghton before turning round.  So I missed the bottom right hand square   :facepalm:

I picked up a few others though and max square is now 21   :)

This is the kind of thing the app is really useful for- "have I trespassed enough gone far enough up this track to get the square"
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 02 July, 2018, 09:37:58 pm
Hoping to add a big chunk to the cluster today (currently just 115). We'll see if I've plotted the route properly and whether I can follow it!

Hard work in the heat (and when too heavy). 80km took far too long including about half a mile of nettle bashing nonsense to get along NCN61 just north of Iver. 21 minutes to do 1km (taking the wrong turn along the Bridleway first didn't help).

Max Square unchanged but now have two overlapping 10x10s. Easily boosted up to 11x11 with a slight detour to get two tiles on my commute on Thursday.

Max cluster (which was my main purpose for this ride) up from 115 to 203 with 45 new tiles today.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 02 July, 2018, 09:43:26 pm

Been playing around with the planner, and have worked out that the max square I can get to before I have to get very creative with either substantial (2-3km) swims, is a 50x50. There is one square near here that I'm either gonna need a canoe, or a 1.5km swim, but it at least is officially listed as a swimming location, unlike the 3 tiles creating the 50 limit above, which are the main channel Separating Flevoland from the mainswamp^Wmainland. Would it be extravagant to get a sea kayak just to help collect tiles?

So I spoke to some locals about the swim necessary to bag the 1 tile that is limiting things the most. And was informed that swimming it would be suicide. Too much boat traffic. Ah well, shall concentrate on all the low hanging fruit first.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 03 July, 2018, 06:11:33 am

Today I ignored this and as a result didn't cycle quite far enough along the A47 between Bushby and Houghton before turning round.  So I missed the bottom right hand square   :facepalm:

I picked up a few others though and max square is now 21   :)

This is the kind of thing the app is really useful for- "have I trespassed enough gone far enough up this track to get the square"

Struggling to get the app to work as an overlay in Osmand but it looks like it is usable by itself albeit with online maps.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 03 July, 2018, 06:32:12 am
Went out last night and did the A47 from Houghton to Bushby to pick up that tile on the third attempt.  Max square increased by one to 22 and max cluster now 1161.

There is a segment along this stretch of the A47 and a moderate tailwind which seemed like too good an oportunity to miss so I gave it my all.  This had the additional benefit of minimising the time spent on the A47.  Anyway - Strava decided that I had 'deviated from the segment' so wouldn't match it.  Some people are never happy!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 03 July, 2018, 09:15:21 am
Devising routes to cover as many tiles as possible is quite fun, just clipping the edges of some. Out on the road it doesn't feel like I'm twisting and turning that much, just feels like an average Audax in unfamiliar territory. Just follow the blue line on the GPS map page.

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vv_wiggle.png)

The light blue line was yesterday's ride, quite convoluted. Only a couple of times I had to double back on myself in order to cover a tile, usually I'd try and pick a route that avoids this but I lost interest in trying to find the optimal route. One was a foray into a country park that had a Go Ape and a nice cafe to stop at. The other E/W backtrack was supposed to be a jaunt through Langley Park but it seemed to be closed to anything but construction traffic. Riding along the A412 wasn't the nicest but it was quite speedy.

I guess it makes more sense to aim for rides to increase the max cluster in big chunks by doing similar rides. Aiming for max square improvements now will just lead to smaller improvements and lots of repeated roads/tiles down the line. Don't really care TBH, it's just an excuse to go out and do a 50-100km ride that isn't going round in circles in Richmond Park (much as I enjoy that) - less likely to give up part way.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 03 July, 2018, 09:27:49 am
It was Dean what got me into it (and seeing fboab and Chris S post about it too).

I'm digging it, but only on 9x9! I can get 10x10 by going down a dead end or I can get something daft like 14x14 rather easily if I could get security clearance to get into the port. You can see my attempt to bag the square yesterday, but was stymied by a rather large man and an even larger fence.

(http://i65.tinypic.com/344zkty.png)
Sunderland is hosting the Tall Ships race thing in a couple of weeks and they're opening up the Port as a fan zone or something. Bingo.  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 03 July, 2018, 12:47:09 pm
Struggling to get the app to work as an overlay in Osmand but it looks like it is usable by itself albeit with online maps.

I now discover that the tile overlay is displayed in Osmand provided I am zoomed well in so that the display is about two tiles high by a tile and a bit wide.

My Google-fu has failed me - is there any way of getting the tiles to show when zoomed out a bit ?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ashaman42 on 03 July, 2018, 01:51:56 pm
Went out last night with three squares targeted. A singleton and a pair. Only managed the singleton.

The first farm track was a bit overgrown and the second had a gate that the farmer had just closed. The third track had a closed and I think locked gate next to a house.

So I headed off to the single square which I knew was on a bridleway.

I've had a look at the East Sussex rights of way map and I'm pretty sure all the farm tracks are in fact byways rather than private so will have another go later in the week. With a printout in case any farmers argue.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 03 July, 2018, 02:38:59 pm
I've got a loose plan to get through all the squares in Kent by 2020, but some might be a bit tricky e.g. the Isle of Sheppey and Dungeness power station!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 03 July, 2018, 02:57:46 pm
.....................
Sunderland is hosting the Tall Ships race thing in a couple of weeks and they're opening up the Port as a fan zone or something. Bingo.  ;D

Don't forget your camera - that could be quite a good vantage point  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 03 July, 2018, 05:38:04 pm
I've got a loose plan to get through all the squares in Kent by 2020, but some might be a bit tricky e.g. the Isle of Sheppey and Dungeness power station!

Nice goal!

Dungeness itself doesn't look to be a problem. You can get the square containing the bulk of the power station on a public road (up to whatever that mound is just North of it). It's the stuff to the West of the power station (in the 'Danger Area' on the OS maps) that might be a problem, that and the bit North of Camber Sands.

I haven't worked out where my nearest tricky square is, there's a few within 20 of me that will require some tracing out and back on a dead end roads but I haven't found anything S,W or N of me within 40 or so tiles that presents a real problem. The tile just North of Arbinger Hammer is an example of something sparsely populated by roads but doable with an annoying out/back route (or a MTB if I check the rights of way).

East is a little different as I run in to problems about 20 tiles East of where I've covered so far at Gravesend/Tilbury and the Thames Estuary. That might be solved by a bike/run/bike brick session though.

A goal of a max cluster > 1000 by the end of 2018 is certainly possible for me (currently 203). About 10 more 80km rides should do it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 03 July, 2018, 09:34:50 pm
Kent is a lot easier than Yorkshire!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 03 July, 2018, 09:46:59 pm
Another 68k including towpaths, gravel tracks etc this evening to pick up 6 tiles and bump up the max square by one more to 23.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 04 July, 2018, 11:29:52 am
Had some spare time so did some route planning.

(http://greenbank.org/misc/vv_plan_20180704.png)

White is a slightly extended commute to pick off two squares near work, will do that Thursday.

The rest are plans for Monday (day off) or weekend rides. Most are ~60km rides although there's always an option of extending to 80/100km if I feel like it.

Green would be next, starting at Whitton station and finishing at Hampton station. (Shorter route as I've got a funeral to go to on Monday). Hampton station has a slow service so will probably just cycle home, it's only another 15km.

Yellow is 60km starting and finishing at home. There's a bit of silliness to get a tile East of Claygate, plus a short bit of public footpath to get between Claygate and Chessington.

Blue is another 60km ride, starting at Ashtead and finishing at Stoneleigh. Wiggly route with a couple of turns just to cover tiles, I should probably just leave the 3 most Westerly ones for a better route that takes in some isolated tiles near White Down that I need. If I cut off ~10km of that nonsense I'd have time to ride all the way home.

Purple is a 45km ride (so I'll probably ride to the start at Epsom to bring it up to 65km). Lots of nonsense around Mogador to bag a relatively isolated tile (although I can drop in on The Sportsman pub for a drinks top up).

That would bring me up to 14x14 (the black square) with some SE London riding to move to 20x20 relatively easily.

For the SE I just need a Hilbert Curve route planner...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 04 July, 2018, 01:54:53 pm
Purple is a 45km ride (so I'll probably ride to the start at Epsom to bring it up to 65km). Lots of nonsense around Mogador to bag a relatively isolated tile (although I can drop in on The Sportsman pub for a drinks top up).

That would bring me up to 14x14 (the black square) with some SE London riding to move to 20x20 relatively easily.

On the purple one, could you not move the big north/south leg (sorry I can't work out wihch direction you are doing the ride in) 2 squares east, to get the two just to the right of the black square, thus increasing your square by 1?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 04 July, 2018, 02:42:14 pm
On the purple one, could you not move the big north/south leg (sorry I can't work out wihch direction you are doing the ride in) 2 squares east, to get the two just to the right of the black square, thus increasing your square by 1?

I'd need to pick off two tiles in the SW corner for that to happen (and they're annoying given the way the M25 runs). Also if I moved the N/S stretch of the purple line east it would no longer pick up a tile inside the black square.

My goal is increasing maximum cluster over maximum square, when I've done the white, green and yellow rides I'll have 4 overlapping 11x11 squares, it's the subsequent rides that help extend out the maximum square but that's more a consequence of filling in the various chunks/sectors left by previous long rides out of London.

I'll do another ride to do the SE parts covering Purley, Coulsdon, Caterham, etc. The roads/tiles around there look quite well connected so I can hopefully put in one longer ride to grab them all covering all the way out until outside the M25. I may even see about doing a 100+km DIYxGPS Audax for it if I can come up with a route that doesn't have any backtracking and minimal/no overlapping.

Ah, that may be a suitable first major goal: cover all tiles within the M25.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 04 July, 2018, 03:03:16 pm
Living on the coast suckkkkks, you can only build one way.

And pedalos aren't cheap. (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Duck-Pedalo-Pedal-Boat-4-5-Seater/183048829027?hash=item2a9e8f7863:g:OJQAAOSwBRVacv3O)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 04 July, 2018, 04:08:04 pm
Living on the coast suckkkkks, you can only build one way.

Living in or on the edge of a big city sucks as it is a slog to get across it to get to other squares.

Both have their benefits (not connected to vv tile bagging) though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 04 July, 2018, 08:04:37 pm
I have saved the kml of uncompleted tiles from Veloviewer, converted it to a gpx using kml2gpx.com, sucked it into http://www.gpxeditor.co.uk/ and set the map type to OS resulting in:

Thanks, this works brilliantly although I had to trim my converted gpx file down as the huge number of tracks (833) in my gpx file was causing gpxeditor to slow down horrendously on my browser.

I used it to plan another 60km ride to fill in a load of tiles South of me although VV doesn't quite extend the kml file as far as I would have liked, but I can cope:-

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vv_kml.png)

(Yes, I know about the missed tile in Caterham itself, fixed that since doing the screen grab.)

I purposely ended the ride with a trip along the top of Farthing Downs as I inadvertently drove this way last year coming back from a party and the views looked amazing.

(Yes, I also realise I'm going back and forth across the ridge. 1074m climbing in 61km. It'll help me get slimmer.)

Anyway, that's enough rides planned to keep me occupied for at least a month or so. Very easy to create plans, bit tougher to actually get out on the bike and ride them.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 16 July, 2018, 11:35:09 am
It was Dean what got me into it (and seeing fboab and Chris S post about it too).

I'm digging it, but only on 9x9! I can get 10x10 by going down a dead end or I can get something daft like 14x14 rather easily if I could get security clearance to get into the port. You can see my attempt to bag the square yesterday, but was stymied by a rather large man and an even larger fence.

(http://i65.tinypic.com/344zkty.png)
Sunderland is hosting the Tall Ships race thing in a couple of weeks and they're opening up the Port as a fan zone or something. Bingo.  ;D

Got it.  ;D

(http://i65.tinypic.com/dp9ulz.png)

Bumped into Socks from here while I was down there too. Alerted to his presence via a bright orange Moulton.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 16 July, 2018, 11:40:36 am
Anyone else checking tide tables for this? FML.

UPDATE - Super low tide so I went for a wade. Refreshing.

(http://i68.tinypic.com/2e38t36.png)

https://www.strava.com/activities/1706270128
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 16 July, 2018, 04:22:08 pm
There's a single tile in the middle of Lac d'Annecy that's entirely water.

My guess is that it would a 1200m out and back swim from Sevrier public beach or maybe a bit shorter (800m or so) from a beach South of Veyrier-du-Lac on the Eastern side. Next time I'll go I'll take a swim buoy as I'll need to venture into the open water where there are ferries and other boats (luckily nothing too fast is allowed on the lake).

I'm not tile bagging in that area at all but it'd be fun to tick that one off.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 01 August, 2018, 08:14:55 pm
This is getting a bit silly - I've modified my routesheet for Saturday's Essex R&R to pick up a few new squares...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 02 August, 2018, 09:39:40 am
This is getting a bit silly - I've modified my routesheet for Saturday's Essex R&R to pick up a few new squares...

Hahaha  -you are not the only one... I have 3 to tick off near Sudbury for a max square increase  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 02 August, 2018, 10:30:33 am
Had to go to Livingston Outlet store at the weekend and Ikea yesterday, which are possibly my two least favourite places in the world, but softened the blow by managing to get 3 new squares walking through the car parks.

Is anyone sadder than that?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 02 August, 2018, 11:35:44 am
I think the ones where you have to go into an industrial estate cul-de-sac for half a mile then reverse are a bit more soul-destroying :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 August, 2018, 06:11:10 pm


Fnnngh. Just did a 61km ride to pick up a load of tiles thinking it would be a big boost in my max square. Alas I just went from a load of 11x11's that overlapped, to a trio of overlapping 12x12's...

Now to work out what tiles I need to get next time...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bolt on 08 August, 2018, 11:39:39 pm


Fnnngh. Just did a 61km ride to pick up a load of tiles thinking it would be a big boost in my max square. Alas I just went from a load of 11x11's that overlapped, to a trio of overlapping 12x12's...

Now to work out what tiles I need to get next time...

J

Although I'm only just beginning to "get" this, I have discovered that you can download a kml file of missing explorer tiles and load them as a map overlay, in Orux Maps (for android).  This should make picking off missing tiles to grow your max square easier in real time navigation, assuming you're using your phone to navigate.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 08 August, 2018, 11:44:02 pm


Fnnngh. Just did a 61km ride to pick up a load of tiles thinking it would be a big boost in my max square. Alas I just went from a load of 11x11's that overlapped, to a trio of overlapping 12x12's...

Now to work out what tiles I need to get next time...

J

Although I'm only just beginning to "get" this, I have discovered that you can download a kml file of missing explorer tiles and load them as a map overlay, in Orux Maps (for android).  This should make picking off missing tiles to grow your max square easier in real time navigation, assuming you're using your phone to navigate.

Yup. Tho I find the veloviewer chrome extension ballows me to over lay the grid on the Strava route planner. Much more useful.

What I meant tho was decide which batch of tiles to target next to increase my max square. I've about 5 clumps i could target. But not sure which to go for first.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 09 August, 2018, 07:13:57 am


Fnnngh. Just did a 61km ride to pick up a load of tiles thinking it would be a big boost in my max square. Alas I just went from a load of 11x11's that overlapped, to a trio of overlapping 12x12's...

Now to work out what tiles I need to get next time...

J

I have a number of rides already loaded in my GPS marked as 'VV'. I can just take any of them when I fancy a ride depending on direction and amount of hills, knowing that they'll add to my veloviewer score.

Although I'm only just beginning to "get" this, I have discovered that you can download a kml file of missing explorer tiles and load them as a map overlay, in Orux Maps (for android).  This should make picking off missing tiles to grow your max square easier in real time navigation, assuming you're using your phone to navigate.

Yup. Tho I find the veloviewer chrome extension ballows me to over lay the grid on the Strava route planner. Much more useful.

What I meant tho was decide which batch of tiles to target next to increase my max square. I've about 5 clumps i could target. But not sure which to go for first.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 11 August, 2018, 05:13:31 pm
Grabbed a couple of missing tiles by doing my own thing on the way back from the club run coffee stop.  One involved a fair amount of bridleway including a foot wide track through a field of oats.  Had to be careful that I didn't put my front wheel into one of the large cracks that were everywhere as a result of the recent hot dry weather.  The summer bike was less than ideal.  Max square now up to 24*24 and max cluster now 1200.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 11 August, 2018, 09:55:47 pm

Todays 200k BRM allowed me to pick up some tiles that were on my todo list. The result is rather than having 3x(12x12) overlapping squares, I now have one big 13x13. And I think this is where I am going to be stuck until I can either get a kayak, or brave swimming a lake.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 14 August, 2018, 08:50:31 am
Went from 15x15 to 16x16 thanks to a long commute home yesterday  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jiberjaber on 14 August, 2018, 10:03:46 am
I've been picking off clumps of squares adjacent to my max square which one day will be connected - it seems to be easier to use this approach at the moment as having to do a 100 to 150km round trip to get just one square is losing it's appeal (although it will boost my max square by 1) however, picking up 1 square that links another cluster and potentially a bigger jump is more rewarding  :thumbsup: .
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 22 August, 2018, 10:57:12 pm

Anyone got any experience of how this all works with activities that aren't a bike ride. I've logged a couple of Swims on Strava, but I can't see them in veloviewer. Do I need to do something special to make them show up?

Tomorrow I've booked a Kayak to see if I can bag the tile in the middle of a lake...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fuaran on 22 August, 2018, 11:08:28 pm
On the Veloviewer update page, click show options. Then you can tick the activity types you want to copy.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 22 August, 2018, 11:11:51 pm
On the Veloviewer update page, click show options. Then you can tick the activity types you want to copy.

Bingo! that did it.

I have a canoe/kayak booked. I have a map of the lake, with the points of the tile I want to bag drawn on, I have my gps programmed with the lat/long of the square boundaries. I have veloviewer helper app thingy. Now I just need to paddle 800m into the middle of a lake, and get back to shore, safely...

I'm not addicted to this game, honestly, I'm not...
J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 23 August, 2018, 10:12:02 am
I think the ones where you have to go into an industrial estate cul-de-sac for half a mile then reverse are a bit more soul-destroying :)

Don't know what you're talking about... (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.5966339,-1.1958428,3a,75y,94.41h,73.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1smhOtO4pfZNJEar42OA7aDA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 23 August, 2018, 01:50:02 pm
Got it!


(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlSQy0xXsAA97Ac.jpg)

Kayaking into a force 4 wind with occasional stronger gusts is interesting. 0.3-0.5m waves made my route not the one i was intending.

Now need to workout how to get back without having to padel across the wind.

This tile had been blocking any further expansion. I logged the kayak trip here. Then also logged a walk round the island, just to be double certain I had it.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 23 August, 2018, 07:36:23 pm
A lot of Dutch riders have their expansion limited by this tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 23 August, 2018, 07:45:48 pm
A lot of Dutch riders have their expansion limited by this tile.

I can see why.

My next headache is the northern most of these 2 tiles.

(http://photos.quixotic.eu/misc/missingtile01.jpg)

The bottom one has a road just clipping the corner, but the upper one has no roads, or paths. My options are either borrow a canoe/kayak (no where to hire nearby), or adventures in creative trespass... As I'm going to hit limits with the Ijmeer soon anyway, I'm starting to move my focus onto a square based southeast of Amsterdam.

But even here, there is one tile in Gooimeer that is 100% water, then as I get past Utrecht, there's the military bases. The 100% water tile I think I may be able to get with a swim from a friends boat, if I can persuade them with enough beer... Else I'll just have to buy a Kayak...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 23 August, 2018, 10:58:51 pm
The ultimate in Tilehunting in your part of the Netherlands would be towing a Kayak behind your bike, offloading it when you're at the shore, adding the wet tiles and hunt a few extra tiles while cycling back.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fuaran on 23 August, 2018, 11:04:43 pm
A packraft would be easier to carry on a bike. And you could carry the bike on the packraft.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 23 August, 2018, 11:09:53 pm
The ultimate in Tilehunting in your part of the Netherlands would be towing a Kayak behind your bike, offloading it when you're at the shore, adding the wet tiles and hunt a few extra tiles while cycling back.

I have a Brompton. I've been considering an Alli folding canoe, a carry freedom trailer, and basically what you suggest...

I also have my eye on an Oru kayak... But that's less practical for fitting the Brompton...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 23 August, 2018, 11:10:27 pm
A packraft would be easier to carry on a bike. And you could carry the bike on the packraft.

Paging Alistair Humpreys...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 24 August, 2018, 06:58:53 am
The Port of Tees has all rights here. The Gits. No unauthorised watercraft, and no access on foot or bike. The Gits.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180824/ca93a72ca88abf4ce2dff2eea994f727.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: tom_e on 24 August, 2018, 07:23:17 am
Would a foot passenger on a ferry be considered within the spirit?  You could maybe get the bottom square before you were motorised?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 24 August, 2018, 07:34:46 am
That's no ferry - it's a freight route. Haven't been ferries from the Tees for a while. I can get the North side of the Tees - I'm waiting for the completion of the North Coast Path before I brave it, but the South side is out of bounds without some cunning trespass.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 24 August, 2018, 07:46:32 am
I've got that bottom right square ;D

It wasn't exactly cunning - I just rode past the security desk one Sunday and they must have been on their tea break.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 24 August, 2018, 08:49:42 am
It wasn't exactly cunning - I just rode past the security desk one Sunday and they must have been on their tea break.
I think that's the very definition of casual cunning. :D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: tom_e on 24 August, 2018, 09:00:29 am
Did you throw a stone at something noisy behind them first, as if in a cunning children's adventure story? 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 24 August, 2018, 09:23:42 am
Or you apply for work at the port.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 24 August, 2018, 09:40:41 am
I wonder if you can hire submarines?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 24 August, 2018, 09:54:05 am
It needs to be pedal powered. GPS reception might be a problem.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 24 August, 2018, 03:16:44 pm
A packraft would be easier to carry on a bike. And you could carry the bike on the packraft.

Or a paddleboard (of the inflatable type). Most pack down into a large rucksack so easily carried on a bike or in a trailer.

School holidays need to be over for me to get back out on the bike properly to continue tile bagging.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 25 August, 2018, 08:39:01 pm
It wasn't exactly cunning - I just rode past the security desk one Sunday and they must have been on their tea break.
I think that's the very definition of casual cunning. :D

The trick is to act like you belong.

(I wore my PBP jersey).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 27 August, 2018, 01:50:52 pm
Boom--max cluster has now moved to the NORTH (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180827/cda3f08844988fa2083cd6bf2d11b1c8.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 27 August, 2018, 10:24:13 pm
Boom--max cluster has now moved to the NORTH (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180827/cda3f08844988fa2083cd6bf2d11b1c8.jpg)

 :thumbsup:

What will your score be when you link them up?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 27 August, 2018, 10:33:51 pm
I knocked off a few squares at my south west corner, including two absolute bastards where there was no way in except trudging across heather and peat bogs and through thick bracken, trying to find a path. And then back down. Lucky it's been a dry summer. And the views off Braithwaite Moor, down to the rippling landscape where the Cover and Yore roll down to meet, were awesome.

The square is still sat on 34x34, but there are three overlapping now. Just a few squares behind Hamsterley to get to push it up.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Salvatore on 08 September, 2018, 10:04:57 am
My max square has been stuck on 29x29 for over a year, mainly due to (a) injury and (b) pushing my total explorer score beyond 33,000.
(https://i.imgur.com/Cr6pRj8.jpg)

Yesterday I went out and bagged 20 tiles east and south of Andover, taking my max square to 30x30
(https://i.imgur.com/G21srPw.png)

I live near the eastern edge of the square. I suppose that show my preference for rides to the west. To increase my max square, I'll have to go north and/or south.
 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Salvatore on 08 September, 2018, 11:10:49 am
My most tricky tile so far is one which has a road running through it, but it's the A303 just after it joins/leaves to M3. It's motorway in all but name, and not a road I'd want to cycle on. But I noticed while perusing various online maps that in a neighbouring tile was Basingstoke Crematorium, of which the garden of remembrance had an extension which looked as if it might impinge on the troublesome tile at its westernmost point.
(https://i.imgur.com/P52hHHA.jpg)

So, armed with a just-in-case cover story about a long-lost aunt last known in the Basingstoke area, I left my bike near the gate and, giving a wide berth to the mourning party assembling in the car park, wandered, Garmin in hand, to what I reckoned was the furthest point before retracing and riding home. Job done. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 08 September, 2018, 12:20:46 pm
My max square has been stuck on 29x29 for over a year, mainly due to (a) injury and (b) pushing my total explorer score beyond 33,000.
(https://i.imgur.com/Cr6pRj8.jpg)

Yesterday I went out and bagged 20 tiles east and south of Andover, taking my max square to 30x30
(https://i.imgur.com/G21srPw.png)

I live near the eastern edge of the square. I suppose that show my preference for rides to the west. To increase my max square, I'll have to go north and/or south.

Your total explorer score is way off scale so you're exused for have in a not too impressive square ;).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Salvatore on 08 September, 2018, 12:56:39 pm
While it's mildly irksome that you don't get anything for riding through the many tunnels in northern Norway (especially the 7km Nordkapptunnel), tiles that far north are about half the width of those in UK, so if you travel E-W you can bag twice as many for riding the same distance.

(https://i.imgur.com/YK8X7Ji.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 08 September, 2018, 02:28:46 pm
Ticked off some awkward squares around Dartford and Gravesend today which involved some comedy off-roading along the Thames Path. The conquest of Kent continues.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 08 September, 2018, 10:03:05 pm
While it's mildly irksome that you don't get anything for riding through the many tunnels in northern Norway (especially the 7km Nordkapptunnel), tiles that far north are about half the width of those in UK, so if you travel E-W you can bag twice as many for riding the same distance.

(https://i.imgur.com/YK8X7Ji.jpg)

Have you tried clicking on the track and opening the route completely? That helped for a couple of tiles which weren't accepted near Veliko Novgorod.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peat on 11 September, 2018, 07:33:47 am
This is a fun game.

While my max square is only 19x19 (soon to expand), I am something like 200th ish on the all time Explorer score (of 22,000,000). Thus, it strikes me that the vast majority of people on the service must just ride the same old loops from the door - not that there's anything wrong with that.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 11 September, 2018, 08:36:23 am
Salvatore, I see some red specks in the upper red corner, did you ride around Kem and the Solovki Islands?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 11 September, 2018, 10:20:37 am
Just signed up for this. Might motivate me to get out on the bike a bit more...

Current max square is a piffling 7x7, covering central London:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1848/30741561908_56083bac68.jpg)

Max cluster is 225:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1859/29674227497_8fa17d9a06.jpg)

Quite a few gaps in the cluster that should be easy to fill to increase my max square size significantly (looks like 18x18 should be achievable with judicious use of a "gravel" bike). Annoyingly, there's one local tile that is all privately owned marshland, although the top right corner is clipped by a caravan park, so I might have to "visit a friend" there later...
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1877/29674291967_0775a3968c.jpg)

I could "accidentally" leave the Garmin switched on next time I take the train that goes across the marsh, but that wouldn't be in the spirit!

ETA: just had a closer look at some of the missing tiles in my area - there are quite a few that could be easily ticked off by riding along busy main roads that I normally avoid - probably best saved for an early Sunday morning ride...  :-\
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 11 September, 2018, 08:31:13 pm
I've got a loose plan to get through all the squares in Kent by 2020, but some might be a bit tricky e.g. the Isle of Sheppey and Dungeness power station!

Nice goal!

Dungeness itself doesn't look to be a problem. You can get the square containing the bulk of the power station on a public road (up to whatever that mound is just North of it). It's the stuff to the West of the power station (in the 'Danger Area' on the OS maps) that might be a problem, that and the bit North of Camber Sands.

The mound is the bird observatory. That road is accessible.
http://www.dungenessbirdobs.org.uk/

From Lydd, you can go down Dengemarsh Road which takes you to the tile west of the power station.

*adds these to to-do list*

Some of the bits north of Camber Sands do look a bit trickier though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 11 September, 2018, 09:31:50 pm
I have lots of 9x9 squares, both North and South of the Forth.

Need 5 squares for a 12x12 to the North (1 hillwalk and 2 rides should do it), but Loch Leven will stop me from getting more than that to the North, Pentlands will be a challenge to the South, not insurmountable, but the A702 is not a road I ever want to cycle.

Cluster of 388 containing Edinburgh, Kincardine, Kinross and Kirkcaldy.  Should be able to add Stirling, Dollar and Glenrothes to my cluster quite soon and that should bring it well over 500. Then Livingston and North Berwick are goals to the South.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Salvatore on 12 September, 2018, 01:09:03 pm
Salvatore, I see some red specks in the upper red corner, did you ride around Kem and the Solovki Islands?

Not Kem, but on Bolshoi Solovetski, from our hotel to a village (Rebolda) on the north of the island on hired mountain bikes.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7293/9275373237_5f5541f2f8_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/f8CHje)A bridge on the old road to Rebolda (https://flic.kr/p/f8CHje)

And hired a rowing boat on the lake/canal system built by the monks.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 12 September, 2018, 01:40:29 pm
Meet the Explorers
https://blog.veloviewer.com/meet-the-explorers/
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 12 September, 2018, 09:24:35 pm
Salvatore, I see some red specks in the upper red corner, did you ride around Kem and the Solovki Islands?

Not Kem, but on Bolshoi Solovetski, from our hotel to a village (Rebolda) on the north of the island on hired mountain bikes.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7293/9275373237_5f5541f2f8_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/f8CHje)A bridge on the old road to Rebolda (https://flic.kr/p/f8CHje)

And hired a rowing boat on the lake/canal system built by the monks.

I did cycle from the railwaystation to Kem but that was before using a GPS. On Bolshoi Solovetski the weather was that bad that I only walked around the village.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 12 September, 2018, 09:38:12 pm
Today I finally managed to bag a few tiles near Verviers so my max square jumped from 29x29 to 32x32. It'll take quite a few rides to increase that again since the needed tiles are quite far apart (and some are in very lumpy area's). My new square now spans 3 countries though.

(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/veloviewer+12092018.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 14 September, 2018, 06:19:34 pm
Current max square is a piffling 7x7...
Max cluster is 225...

Did a 24km road ride yesterday evening and a 38km MTB ride this afternoon, both on routes designed to target a couple of missing local squares (including the aforementioned caravan park), and I've leapt up to 10x10 and a cluster of 251. I can see this is going to prove excellent motivation to get me out on the bike more.

Discovered some interesting new roads as well. Some of them are dead ends but it's been fun having an excuse to explore them. Some potential for linking up other routes as well. The one yesterday evening could have led to further adventure and tiles bagged if I'd been on a suitable bike.

Just four more tiles to make it 12x12. And if I ride strategically, I should be up to 14x14 pretty soon...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 17 September, 2018, 11:18:25 pm
And you may say to yourself, "My god, what have I done?".
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 18 September, 2018, 09:39:40 pm
After uploading all my GPXs to Strava, here's my start point:

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1865/44768257201_4fa4de8510.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2bd22at)
vv_tiles (https://flic.kr/p/2bd22at) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr

Looking into the crystal ball I foresee many trips to the Northron wastes.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 19 September, 2018, 09:00:01 pm
And so it begins. I took a diversion home from work to bag a square. I've ridden it many times before, but today was the first time with a GPS device.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 20 September, 2018, 08:59:51 am
So I paid my £10 and would post an image of my squares if I could work out how to... If the answer is "re-read the whole thread" then tell me!

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 20 September, 2018, 09:33:22 am
So I paid my £10 and would post an image of my squares if I could work out how to... If the answer is "re-read the whole thread" then tell me!

1) Click on activities and full screen. Change the colour settings with the map settings to your taste.
2) Make a screenshot
3) Upload the screenshot on some sort of imagehoster
4) post the link to the screenshot here
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 20 September, 2018, 09:34:20 am
I used Windows Snipping Tool to create a jpg image.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 20 September, 2018, 10:06:49 am
You might also be able to link to your veloviewer.com/athlete/12345/activities page depending on your privacy settings.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 20 September, 2018, 10:20:55 am
Thank you. I understand the instructions.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 20 September, 2018, 04:12:49 pm
[tapatalk allows you post images direct]
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Feanor on 20 September, 2018, 06:26:05 pm
Oh well, if we're playing this game, I get a VeloViewer Score of 98.980 ( whatever that means ), and a miserable 6x6:

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1859/42995717680_d4d556028b_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/28vohVf)
vv_Sept_2018 (https://flic.kr/p/28vohVf) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1896/44807178701_be7c5c863e_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2bgsvaP)
vv_All_UK_Sept_2018 (https://flic.kr/p/2bgsvaP) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 20 September, 2018, 06:55:48 pm
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1846/44087611654_be7de612b5_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2aaSwXq)Veloviewer1 (https://flic.kr/p/2aaSwXq) by ff mm (https://www.flickr.com/photos/160874601@N05/), on Flickr

There we go. Two 9x9 squares and a maximum cluster of 194. That gap where it says A8 is a thing to aim for - the A8 actually has an adequate-for-Britain cyclepath next to it so that's "easy" (I have cycled along that cycle path but it must have been before I routinely recorded transport cycling.) It is actually the two squares above that that might be more of a problem but there seems to be a golf course in there which I should be able to exercise my Right Of Responsible Access through in some way. Then the gaps south of there can be filled in by some creative Pentlands running...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 20 September, 2018, 08:08:36 pm
...and a miserable 6x6...

Me too.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 20 September, 2018, 08:37:02 pm
@fimm, 
One of the 2 squares to the N of the A8 can be accessed by taking the eastern road at the Kirkliston Crossroads an taking the right fork about 2-300 yds further on.
The other can easily be accessed taking the Turnhouse road from Maybury Casino or Cammo.

Highly recommend the Veloviewer Explorer helper app for checking that you have actually visited the square while on the road.

Tried posting my map (https://flic.kr/p/MvHqbg), but can't find a way to upload/embed photos.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Feanor on 20 September, 2018, 09:31:09 pm
...and a miserable 6x6...

Me too.

Yes, well looking at our maps, they cover much of the same roads.

The simple fact is that in rural areas with a sparse road network which go around mountains, it's never going to be as easy to get a big grid as it is in a more urban environment where roads criss-cross every square.

And I CBA walking around dull mounds of Aberdeenshire just for this.

Hmph.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 20 September, 2018, 09:48:13 pm
Another VV feature I love is the Eddington on the summary page- my graph tells me I have done >30 mins exercise (walk/run or cycle) on 199 days this year and >60 mins on 149 days.  So tomorrow will be an auspicious day...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 20 September, 2018, 09:48:58 pm
...and a miserable 6x6...

Me too.

Yes, well looking at our maps, they cover much of the same roads.

The simple fact is that in rural areas with a sparse road network which go around mountains, it's never going to be as easy to get a big grid as it is in a more urban environment where roads criss-cross every square.

And I CBA walking around dull mounds of Aberdeenshire just for this.

Hmph.

Indeed.
 
I had a vague idea of trying to cycle all of the roads in our area as something to do to break up the monotony of doing the same old, same old. This tile bagging thang is a much better idea, I think. Purely for my own 'enjoyment', of course.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Feanor on 21 September, 2018, 09:25:16 pm
Tried posting my map (https://flic.kr/p/MvHqbg), but can't find a way to upload/embed photos.

You are 90% of the way there.
You have already got the image on Flickr.

Visit the image in flickr.
At the bottom right of the flickr web-page, there are 4 icons, Edit, Share, Download and Fullscreen.
Click the 'share' option.
Select 'BBCode'.
In the drop-down, select "Medium 640 x whatever"
The necessary code should appear already highlighted in blue in the box above.
Hit Ctrl-C to copy this.

Paste it into your YACF message using Ctrl-V.

This will paste something like this into your post:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/MvHqbg][img]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1956/29872313867_b9bcdeb5a7_z.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/MvHqbg]Capture[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/paddyirish/]alasdair_alexander[/url], on Flickr

I tend to stick a New Line between the image and the description, so I click between the first [/url] tag and second [url…] tag, and hit the 'return' key, to give this:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/MvHqbg][img]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1956/29872313867_b9bcdeb5a7_z.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/MvHqbg]Capture[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/paddyirish/]alasdair_alexander[/url], on Flickr

I've done some fancy stuff to prevent the forum software from interpreting the tutorial code above and actually posting the image.
But if I remove the fancy stuff, then this is the result:

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1956/29872313867_b9bcdeb5a7_z.jpg)
 (https://flic.kr/p/MvHqbg)Capture (https://flic.kr/p/MvHqbg) by alasdair_alexander (https://www.flickr.com/photos/paddyirish/), on Flickr



Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 21 September, 2018, 09:32:56 pm
...and a miserable 6x6...

Me too.

Yes, well looking at our maps, they cover much of the same roads.

The simple fact is that in rural areas with a sparse road network which go around mountains, it's never going to be as easy to get a big grid as it is in a more urban environment where roads criss-cross every square.

And I CBA walking around dull mounds of Aberdeenshire just for this.

Hmph.

Go offroading. Finding offroad tracks is part of the fun. There are loads of estate tracks and stuff that hardly anyone will have ridden.

Mind you, i'm sure that, like the North Pennines (which is the western edge of my max squares*), there are loads of tiles with nothing in them. And dragging your bike through shoulder-high bracken or across peat bogs can get you down.

*I'm on 35x35 with 4 overlapping squares. The squares I need are actually quite doable, but I haven't had the gumption to deal with the endless s/werly gales this week. And i've ridden them before, but pre-Strabane,  which just makes it.more annoying.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 22 September, 2018, 01:02:00 pm
@feanor - many thanks for the explanation.  Need to get a few more tiles and I'll post my update
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: markcjagar on 22 September, 2018, 01:48:31 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/9l2IJ62.jpg)

Max square: 9x9
Max Cluster: 284

not many squares to go to get it up to 11 or 12 but it looks like I might need to pull out the mountain bike or some walking boots to get them.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 23 September, 2018, 11:09:04 am
Is there any mechanism to highlight newly acquired squares?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 23 September, 2018, 05:12:31 pm
...and a miserable 6x6...

Me too.

Yes, well looking at our maps, they cover much of the same roads.

The simple fact is that in rural areas with a sparse road network which go around mountains, it's never going to be as easy to get a big grid as it is in a more urban environment where roads criss-cross every square.

And I CBA walking around dull mounds of Aberdeenshire just for this.

Hmph.

Go offroading. Finding offroad tracks is part of the fun. There are loads of estate tracks and stuff that hardly anyone will have ridden...

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1879/44143967664_d7f2e561f7_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2afRnCL)
IMG_1918_01 (https://flic.kr/p/2afRnCL) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr

 :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 23 September, 2018, 10:34:32 pm
:)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 24 September, 2018, 08:51:22 pm
Is there any mechanism to highlight newly acquired squares?

Not that I know of, but clicking on the track of a specific ride will highlight that individual route in a bluey/grey colour, if this line goes through any squares with no other red lines in them then it was a newly acquired square.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 25 September, 2018, 03:55:05 pm
Someone upthread suggested exporting the KML of unvisited tiles from Veloviewer then converting it to GPX and importing into GPX Editor, which I have done.  :thumbsup:

From that, I put together this 150km route that bags 23 unvisited tiles and should increase my max cluster by >50 - was planning to ride it at the weekend, but didn't fancy going out in the biblical rain...
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1931/44189051704_c40af922c4_c.jpg)

Hopefully will get the opportunity to ride it this weekend instead. It involves taking a few detours down dead ends but I'm looking forward to that - it's a good excuse to explore some interesting looking lanes that I would never ride down otherwise. Excellent coffee stop at halfway as well.

There's one annoying tile that's just a few metres off route - to get it, I would need to go at low tide and climb over some rocks...
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1928/43996554715_9a75e518a7.jpg)

These two clusters are all offroad so will need a separate visit on a different bike, or on foot...
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1911/31036454778_7f35ea1581.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 25 September, 2018, 04:11:01 pm
There's one annoying tile that's just a few metres off route - to get it, I would need to go at low tide and climb over some rocks...
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1928/43996554715_9a75e518a7.jpg)

Take your swim stuff and take a short dip? This is where the veloviewer explorer app on your phone can be really useful, allows you to verify you are definitely in the square.

Quote

These two clusters are all offroad so will need a separate visit on a different bike, or on foot...
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1911/31036454778_7f35ea1581.jpg)

You may find that for the 6 squares, 5 of them can be got by hiring a canoe. (Or swimming if you're brave). In theory there is a path down along the Stour here, but it's not perfect, it tends to get full of angry cows at some point, and it can be a muddy mess. I'd do it from the water...

Welcome to the addiction that is The Tile Game.

I haven't just changed the route of a 200k diy to move everything one road parallel to the original intention just so I got a load of different tiles... no... not me...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 25 September, 2018, 04:34:47 pm
You may find that for the 6 squares, 5 of them can be got by hiring a canoe. (Or swimming if you're brave). In theory there is a path down along the Stour here, but it's not perfect, it tends to get full of angry cows at some point, and it can be a muddy mess. I'd do it from the water...

I've done Plucks Gutter to Richborough on foot before but not with GPS, and not for some years so I can't remember what the terrain is like. I was thinking it might be MTB-able but maybe that's optimistic. Hadn't thought of boating it. Interesting idea.

One tile in that cluster is only accessible by private farm tracks, so might need a bit of creative trespassing.

Quote
Welcome to the addiction that is The Tile Game.

I'm hoping this will motivate me to get out on the bike more. I'm tired of doing the same old routes and find it demotivating...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 25 September, 2018, 04:53:34 pm
I've done Plucks Gutter to Richborough on foot before but not with GPS, and not for some years so I can't remember what the terrain is like. I was thinking it might be MTB-able but maybe that's optimistic. Hadn't thought of boating it. Interesting idea.

One tile in that cluster is only accessible by private farm tracks, so might need a bit of creative trespassing.

This is where it can be helpful to be a foreigner. "Oh that says no entry, I'm so sorry, I was following google maps!" You'd be amazed what you can blame on google maps :p

Quote

Quote
Welcome to the addiction that is The Tile Game.

I'm hoping this will motivate me to get out on the bike more. I'm tired of doing the same old routes and find it demotivating...

Yeah, it's done that for me. Tho you may find it a bit infuriating once your square is bigger "I rode 80km and got just 2 extra tiles, and no change in my square?!"

It can be a bit sole destroying to go out on a grey day and basically be riding round light industrial units seeing how far you need to trespass to get that extra tile.

And then you get routes like this one:

https://www.strava.com/routes/15115059

I have no idea what I'm going to set as the controls of this one when I try it as a DIY...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 25 September, 2018, 05:10:25 pm
Note that if you do stuff on foot, you need to record it as a Run (a slow one!) rather than a Walk or Hike for it to show up in VV.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 25 September, 2018, 05:11:06 pm

And then you get routes like this one:

https://www.strava.com/routes/15115059

I have no idea what I'm going to set as the controls of this one when I try it as a DIY...

J

That sounds like a job for a mandatory route DIY  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 25 September, 2018, 05:15:17 pm
Note that if you do stuff on foot, you need to record it as a Run (a slow one!) rather than a Walk or Hike for it to show up in VV.

Not true. I have a walk recorded and it shows up in VV. Ditto Kayaking.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 25 September, 2018, 05:32:55 pm
Note that if you do stuff on foot, you need to record it as a Run (a slow one!) rather than a Walk or Hike for it to show up in VV.

On the activities page, select 'show filters', make sure the 'walk' box is checked under 'activity type' and voila...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 25 September, 2018, 07:12:38 pm
Ah thanks!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peat on 26 September, 2018, 07:44:07 am

Go offroading. Finding offroad tracks is part of the fun. There are loads of estate tracks and stuff that hardly anyone will have ridden.


I was scolded by Lady Carnarvon of Highclere Estate for trespassing last month. She didn't accept my excuse. "B..b..but, my Explorer Score depends on it!"
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 26 September, 2018, 11:21:43 am
I'm continuing to chip away,  most weekend rides include a square or two. 

Often including some off road excursions
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180926/e81083582af69d30d03a7cce72d06adf.jpg)

Or the occasional hike-a-bike down a footpath to bag a square
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180926/3fce32b73aa43bdcb8ea473e00225080.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 26 September, 2018, 11:24:38 am
Or the occasional hike-a-bike down a footpath to bag a square

I was out on the MTB last week to bag a few hard-to-reach tiles, but much of the route to get to them was on the road, so it was a bit of a slog at times.

I can see that I'm going to have to get myself one of these newfangled so-called "gravel" bikes...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 26 September, 2018, 11:25:03 am
Current stats are
9207 squares
Max square 32x32
Max cluster 1580

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180926/34f90ae6a02dc34276448a3901668314.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 26 September, 2018, 11:28:23 am


I can see that I'm going to have to get myself one of these newfangled so-called "gravel" bikes...

Have to say that the gr*vel bike is my chosen weapon for square bagging
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 26 September, 2018, 11:32:12 am
Max square 32x32

Impressive.

Someone upthread (fboab?) mentioned that "Kent is easier than Yorkshire" because it has a more extensive road network, which is true enough, but while there's scope for increasing my current square to 18x18, chances of increasing it beyond that are largely hampered by the fact that it would have sea on three sides. I imagine the West Midlands would be the best area of the UK for big squares. Judging by your square, Derbyshire also seems to be fertile hunting ground.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 26 September, 2018, 12:05:01 pm
Max square 32x32

Impressive.

Someone upthread (fboab?) mentioned that "Kent is easier than Yorkshire" because it has a more extensive road network, which is true enough, but while there's scope for increasing my current square to 18x18, chances of increasing it beyond that are largely hampered by the fact that it would have sea on three sides. I imagine the West Midlands would be the best area of the UK for big squares. Judging by your square, Derbyshire also seems to be fertile hunting ground.
Yeah, Derbyshire's probably pretty good in that respect - a good network of lanes and no large bodies of water. There's a large area of open moorland at the north of the county which becomes more tricky for cycling.  Many squares with no cyclable routes or even footpaths, though much of it is open access land so not insurmountable. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 26 September, 2018, 01:29:42 pm
40x40 is pretty simple covering Greater London (enclosing the M25 in a square). From that point you're blocked from adding much Eastwards due to access to Tilbury docks (I think).

(I say 'pretty simple' I still have to get out there and ride most of it. Only at 11x11 at the moment but 5 or 6 60-80km rides and it'll be up to 20x20).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 26 September, 2018, 02:32:04 pm
Max square 32x32

Impressive.

Someone upthread (fboab?) mentioned that "Kent is easier than Yorkshire" because it has a more extensive road network, which is true enough, but while there's scope for increasing my current square to 18x18, chances of increasing it beyond that are largely hampered by the fact that it would have sea on three sides. I imagine the West Midlands would be the best area of the UK for big squares. Judging by your square, Derbyshire also seems to be fertile hunting ground.

Yes. Due the North Sea, the Moray Firth and the Cairngorms, I think increasing the maximum cluster may be a better challenge than Max Square.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 26 September, 2018, 11:03:39 pm

Every area has it's faults. You either end up hitting against a big body of water, or a military base. Or in some cases, both.

Do London, and you will eventually find things like Heathrow and Gatwick are a problem. Solve these and you're gonna hit the military bases further out.

Its a similar issue for me here. I can get a 23x23 pretty easy,but I then get stuck between the Ijselmeer and the North sea. At which point I have to give up on what I've done north of Amsterdam Zuid, and start working down, but even then as I go east I'm going to hit various military camps. There comes a point where you basically hit the limit of max square, and have to aim for max cluster instead. Unfortunately.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 26 September, 2018, 11:42:44 pm
Do London, and you will eventually find things like Heathrow and Gatwick are a problem. Solve these and you're gonna hit the military bases further out.

Neither airport is a problem as they have public perimeter roads and there's no single square that is just airport (you could probably just do a short run in the public part of a terminal even if they were).

For Heathrow the A4 to the North is easy and nowhere near as scary as one would think. I've done all but the two squares to the West which are simple enough although they will involve a relatively busy stretch of road (that doesn't bother me).

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vv_heathrow.png)

Not considered Gatwick but having a quick look...nope, not a problem. Perimeter road is public and there's no single square that is just airport.

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vv_gatwick.png)

One square in Great Windsor Park might be my nearest tricky one but that's almost certainly runable. There's a square that's entirely private estate in Wentworth but Strava shows lots of people cycling through there.

Even doing all of the squares near Dungeness Nuclear Power Station looks doable. (I've got a few down there already thanks to Kentish Audaxes.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 27 September, 2018, 07:16:37 am
In one corner of my square I've already hit my limit, a shooting ground of the Belgian Airforce. That's 3-4 tiles which can't be ridden. Completely off-limits.

(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/veloviewer+12092018.jpg)
(The area in the northwest of my square.)
I could shift my square more westwards but then I'd soon hit RAF Brüggen in the north-eastern corner of the map and a few of the open pit browncoal mines. So I have to continue south-west. I know that I can get quite far in that direction since I'm soon I'll start doing tiles which are also in the square of some of the 80x80 guys.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 27 September, 2018, 10:59:18 am
In one corner of my square I've already hit my limit, a shooting ground of the Belgian Airforce. That's 3-4 tiles which can't be ridden. Completely off-limits.
Anything is a dildo rideable if you're brave enough.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: amir on 27 September, 2018, 01:10:12 pm
My desperately sought squares as of today from space (yes, Edinburgh loves you)

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1948/43134767770_9587cf5699_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/28HEXEA)
kml270918 (https://flic.kr/p/28HEXEA) by Adrian (https://www.flickr.com/photos/amir_on_wheels/), on Flickr

I may now start recording walks and paddling to break the impasse on my current 11 x 11 square
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 27 September, 2018, 02:58:23 pm
@amir

I may now start recording walks and paddling to break the impasse on my current 11 x 11 square

Worth noting that private activities are still given tiles in Veloviewer, so if you don't want to put it on your Strava feed you don't have to.

e.g. Confession time.  I got a few squares by walking around the IKEA and Livingston Outlet car parks.  The only useful things to be gained from visits to these awful places...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 27 September, 2018, 07:22:51 pm
In one corner of my square I've already hit my limit, a shooting ground of the Belgian Airforce. That's 3-4 tiles which can't be ridden. Completely off-limits.
Anything is a dildo rideable if you're brave stupid enough.


Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 28 September, 2018, 09:11:29 am
I've just been looking through all the activity types on Strava and Veloviewer.  I can't find dildo anywhere,  am I missing something?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: amir on 28 September, 2018, 09:35:41 am
A splosh on Musselburgh beach -> 12 x 12 square  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: RobertW on 29 September, 2018, 07:33:23 pm
Having been made aware of VV Explover by Salvatore a year or so ago, I today made use of his tip about Basingstoke Crematorium to push my Max Square up to 27.  Further progress may be limited as it is getting to be a long ride just to get to new tiles for the Max Square.  Increasing the cluster is less difficult with some more local tiles, a couple at Selsey & Wittering may be do-able at low spring tide.

Would post a screenshot (have a jpg) but beyond my technical competence - hopefully the hyperlink will work

https://veloviewer.com/athlete/25786390/activities?o=0:1&f=0:1361020422000|1538205913000,1:All,5:282.2|243372,6:0|2272.8&c=0,0,5,6,9 (https://veloviewer.com/athlete/25786390/activities?o=0:1&f=0:1361020422000|1538205913000,1:All,5:282.2|243372,6:0|2272.8&c=0,0,5,6,9)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 29 September, 2018, 08:36:32 pm
Did a nice 100km ride today. At one point, when I found myself bashing down the A257, I did wonder "Why did I plan the route to come this way rather than the quiet country lane I'd usually take?" but now I look at the results on Veloviewer, I remember exactly why...

Bagged an isoated tile that increased my cluster by 5. And another odd tile added 6 to my cluster.

I've now got three overlapping 10x10 squares and only need two tiles to turn them into a 12x12.

I'm not hooked. I can handle it. Honest.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 29 September, 2018, 09:26:32 pm
Ped today: Do you know this road's a dead end in a mile?

Me: Yes, yes I do  :facepalm:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris N on 30 September, 2018, 11:00:21 am
Upto 14x14 this morning:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1936/44093465355_bd8c7e427e_c.jpg)
Missed one tile NW of Malmesbury because a bridge was being rebuilt - should be able to collect it if I follow the Fosse Way instead.
Would have been 15x15 but I'm not very fit and cut the ride short.  I'll have to visit Castle Combe on the way back from work next Friday.  Max cluster still 367 but it's 100 miles away.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 01 October, 2018, 01:17:30 pm
For anyone looking for squares in South East London or Kent, Southeastern are offering unlimited travel on their network for £20 this Saturday.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: DuncanM on 01 October, 2018, 02:58:53 pm
I took a few random roads I'd not taken before on Saturday.  Got back and realised I'd missed a bit!  ::-) I need to get the MTB out of hibernation and go get the 2 squares in the middle of what would be an expansion from 4x4 to 6x6. Baby steps.
With a bit of effort at bagging lots of single squares, I can probably expand towards 12x12, but it will involve a certain amount of creativity. I don't know how much effort I can be bothered to expend to get there!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: pdm on 01 October, 2018, 04:03:58 pm
Just discovered this thread - I am in awe of the exploits of some on here...
I had a go on VeloViewer to see where my paltry efforts lay:

(https://www.meiring.org.uk/images/vv1810.png)

A piffling effort with a Max square of 5x5  and Max Cluster of 126!

I suspect I will have to vary my riding a bit to extend the coverage!
Some squares in the trackless wastes of some high Pennine hills will ever be out of reach - being unable to walk any distance....
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 04 October, 2018, 07:43:51 pm
Do London, and you will eventually find things like Heathrow and Gatwick are a problem. Solve these and you're gonna hit the military bases further out.

Neither airport is a problem as they have public perimeter roads and there's no single square that is just airport (you could probably just do a short run in the public part of a terminal even if they were).

Ah that's handy. Schiphol was a bit of a pain. I had to explore all the fire access routes to the airport to get all the tiles, even ended up unintentionally in a fuel depot...

Was perusing the map, and it looks like for me the biggest hindrance is going to be the 3 tiles in the centre of this shot:

(http://photos.quixotic.eu/misc/vv-screenshot01.jpg)

There's no public access to these squares, I may be able to get the right hand of the 3 by pack raft or swimming in the top right corner, but the other 2, I've got no idea. There are farm tracks, but being a crazy Brit lost on one those might be tough to explain...

Perhaps I should take Ivo with me to see if we can negotiate access...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 07 October, 2018, 06:16:33 pm
150km ride to get missing squares out towards Stirling.  Cluster increased from 389 to 475.  Annoyed as helper app said I was in the Dunmore square, but smoothing meant that I missed it.

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1957/44248682525_8006dcc7a0_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2aq74Hp)Capture 20181006 (https://flic.kr/p/2aq74Hp) by paddy_irish (https://www.flickr.com/photos/paddyirish/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fuaran on 07 October, 2018, 08:33:19 pm
150km ride to get missing squares out towards Stirling.  Cluster increased from 389 to 475.  Annoyed as helper app said I was in the Dunmore square, but smoothing meant that I missed it.
If you view the activity details on Veloviewer, it will recaulculate the tiles using the full track data. So can help for any missing squares where you just crossed the edge.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 08 October, 2018, 09:25:14 am
@fuaran

That's really handy to know thanks!  Worked a treat and another 5 tiles added to my cluster.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 11 October, 2018, 07:35:12 am
Someone (Jonathan France) has just dropped in a few rides he's done to go top of the leaderboard:-

(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/dAe0W-qBNcXWBqCc90wYQFeJ7r8EjHkzFNASK8LqNp8-2048x1955.jpg)

96x96

(Looks like it should have been more as there's multiple 96x96 boxes there and a seemingly missing square just above Luton - plus another couple a little further North). So probably closer to 104x104 if he sorts that out.)

Eww. Swindon (or is that second load centred around somewhere like Lambourn?)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 11 October, 2018, 08:48:40 am
Someone (Jonathan France) has just dropped in a few rides he's done to go top of the leaderboard:-

(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/dAe0W-qBNcXWBqCc90wYQFeJ7r8EjHkzFNASK8LqNp8-2048x1955.jpg)

96x96

(Looks like it should have been more as there's multiple 96x96 boxes there and a seemingly missing square just above Luton - plus another couple a little further North). So probably closer to 104x104 if he sorts that out.)

Eww. Swindon (or is that second load centred around somewhere like Lambourn?)

He indeed has plenty of room for improvement. Is that the guy who first started mopping up the tiles at the top of his intended square and then working his way downwards to link them up to his main square?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris N on 11 October, 2018, 09:34:40 am
96x96

 :o  Wow.

Eww. Swindon (or is that second load centred around somewhere like Lambourn?)

Faringdon, judging by the number of tracks through there.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 11 October, 2018, 09:42:45 am
Eww. Swindon (or is that second load centred around somewhere like Lambourn?)

Faringdon, judging by the number of tracks through there.

My guess was purely based on that image alone (and my shaky knowledge of that area thanks to Audaxes). I hadn't looked at his profile in VV.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 11 October, 2018, 09:51:01 am
Map here (https://veloviewer.com/athlete/2151491/activities?o=0:1&f=0:1366892939000|1538728232000,1:Ride|Walk,5:642.7|277996,6:0|20417.1&c=0,0,5,6,9)

Looks like he needs to go walking on Netley beach (near Southampton) at low tide. And break into Thameshaven port.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek 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.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm 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.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen 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.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: pdm 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
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank 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).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay 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.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181015/9074d69d3d005d5df9444dbec5e8077a.jpg)

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.


Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank 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.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo 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).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay 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. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay 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. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181016/5996675f68c3dd4d2b2df31ea72a40d3.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank 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.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank 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:-

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vv1.png)

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

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vv2.png)

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:-

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vv3.png)

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:-

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vv4.png)

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.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 20 October, 2018, 01:55:53 pm
That, is total geeky awesomeness. Love it!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank 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.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S 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.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris N 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.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano 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.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo 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.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Paul D 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
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 23 October, 2018, 11:50:15 am
Really started targeting this in early October  Since then

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.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme 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.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank 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.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme 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.

:)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 24 October, 2018, 09:40:04 pm
Some of us walk. Y'know, us Sapiens have been doing it a while now.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 24 October, 2018, 09:52:32 pm
Walking on water. Genius!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 24 October, 2018, 10:05:33 pm
Walking on water. Genius!

Pretty sure us Sapiens had to leave it up to someone else for that.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 24 October, 2018, 10:18:37 pm
Walking on water. Genius!

Pretty sure us Sapiens had to leave it up to someone else for that.

[Cetacean needed]

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 25 October, 2018, 09:37:37 am
Did you do that on porpoise?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 25 October, 2018, 11:09:01 am
Hoping to tick off 14 on tonight's ride in the glamour of Thurrock, as well as the fabled Dartford Crossing shuttle service.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: tonyh on 25 October, 2018, 11:17:51 am
Did you do that on porpoise?

 ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 25 October, 2018, 11:21:06 am
Hoping to tick off 14 on tonight's ride in the glamour of Thurrock, as well as the fabled Dartford Crossing shuttle service.
Hold on- that's motorised!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 25 October, 2018, 11:47:12 am
The comma is important, I read it as "ticking off 14 tiles, and also ticking off the fabled shuttle." Not using the shuttle to tick off any tiles.

The start/end points of the shuttle are in adjacent tiles, so you would have cycled in each of the tiles anyway.

Much like the Woolwich ferry (which has an engine) but you cycle either side of it and the ferry doesn't cover a complete tile where you wouldn't have already cycled.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 25 October, 2018, 01:22:54 pm
I've done the two tiles at either end of the crossing anyway but yes - I'll be pausing the track for the moto-assisted section, assuming it arrives! It's to save me duplicating bits of the scenic A13 corridor going back into London.

(If anyone is ticking in the same area, on the Kent/Bexley side of the river, it's possible to ride in all the Thames-adjacent tiles at least as far down as the Met Police Riot School.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 25 October, 2018, 05:25:29 pm
Day one of colouring in squares on porpoise. Level up at this stage is fairly easy as the Humber region of my map was dotted with holes. I started with a lap of Welton Waters to get me down onto the banks of the Humber, then followed the Trans Pennine Trail to pass Brough Aerodrome and continue as far as Crabley Creek. I was thwarted by a "Private Road" sign so decided to pick that square up from the other side on the way home later. I rode around Broomfleet tileworks which I'd never done before - and now know is a neat way to get from one side of Market Weighton Canal to the other without going off-road.

After this I had tried to make as many segments into little loops, by riding an unsurfaced road where it existed, then walking/pushing/riding along bridle paths and footpaths to get along the edge of a field, then joined another remote lane to rejoin the main road.

I have visited so many wonderful little hidden places between Howden, Hull and Newbald today, only been turned back by one farmer and not been shot by the shooting party he was entertaining. I wouldn't have explored or enjoyed anywhere near as much of this route today without playing this game.

My max square increased from 9x9 to 10x10 but moved from Middlesbrough to Hull. My cluster increased from 188 to 265 and moved from Durham to Hull. And I have a big grin on my face. Thank you to fboab, ChrisS and Deano for making this seem like a good idea last Saturday night. :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 26 October, 2018, 09:44:47 am
A new thing I discovered today. One or two of my routes contain inaccurate data, such as a line where Strava has joined up two sections where the garmin hadn't been recording. One was on the BCM and another went right through the middle of my new max square. So - max square back to 9*9 and relocated to Middlesbrough. The upside is that my score is more accurate and that I have some additional interesting places to visit.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 29 October, 2018, 02:52:45 pm
Another 50km bimble.

7 overlapping 12x12 squares now.

Explorer score up 31 to 5629.
Cluster up 43 to 365.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Stretch on 30 October, 2018, 08:11:49 pm
I'm joining the fun, I've been thinking about exploring more local trails for a while now and I figure this will give me the impetus to get out there and get off my beaten tracks.

Some interesting holes in the map where I would have thought were well covered and like Graeme there's an estuary smack in the middle of my map, should get the first gap knocked off on my commute tomorrow.


(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1913/44723913645_afd5d96379.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2b96Knp)Veloviewer Oct18 (https://flic.kr/p/2b96Knp) by Al (https://www.flickr.com/photos/highy/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 02 November, 2018, 12:22:07 pm
Does anyone know of an easy way to mass process the actual Strava data rather than the abbreviated data that is initially uploaded? I have about 850+ activities and each time I click on one, VV updates the abbreviated data with actual and my explorer score changes. It caught me out with my max square. I'm happy looking at newly added rides, but to process all the older ones individually will take a fair amount of time. Any suggestions?

Here is my current map - the cluster just recently moved from Durham to Humberside, and the max square briefly travelled from Teesside to Humberside but returned when I loaded more accurate data.

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1979/43861453340_7539ef651f_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/29PTpY9)Explorer Score 02-11-18 (https://flic.kr/p/29PTpY9) by Graeme (https://www.flickr.com/photos/147630562@N04/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: wajcgac on 02 November, 2018, 09:09:40 pm
I couldn't find a way to make the task any easier than you describe so I spent 2 or 3 evenings clicking on my rides one at a time (a similar number to yours).

A couple of things that made it less onerous for me

The rides which need their tiles calculated can be sorted by going to the activities tab. On the list of your rides click the header 'Tiles Calculated' at the top of this column.

Most helpful was that 60% of my recorded rides were identical commutes, I only had to click on one of these to get the tiles calculated and obviously could ignore the rest.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanN on 02 November, 2018, 09:16:57 pm
Last week I brought my max square up to 17x17. 22x22 is in sight, but after that it gets a bit trickier as it will have to shift north east

(https://i.postimg.cc/wj4fhhqT/Screenshot-from-2018-11-02-20-53-20.png) (https://postimages.org/)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 03 November, 2018, 03:09:58 pm
Got a nice 75km ride starting/ending in Woking planned for Monday. Perfectly timed as I've just finished reading _War of the Worlds_ which mentions that area a lot (Horsell Common, Ottershaw, Chobham, Maybury Hill, etc).

Should pick up 53 new tiles to extend the cluster but not extend the max square (that'll come with the two rides after that).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 04 November, 2018, 11:11:18 am
I had ~150 activities to update and ended up with 2 more bagged tiles, but the max. cluster decreased by 1.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 04 November, 2018, 10:11:27 pm
Current status and next rides planned (the blue boxes are some of the tiles I need to tick off):-

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vvplan20181104.png)

05-NOV: Blue (Woking) is a 70km ride with only 300m climbing to be done tomorrow.

12-NOV: Red (Lower one, Epsom/Leatherhead) is 50km and 521m climbing

19-NOV: Cyan (Surrey Hills) is 55km and 734m climbing (including the 18% climb of White Down)

26-NOV: Dark green (Croydon, Caterham, Coulsdon) is 60km and 992m climbing (I'm quite unfit and quiet heavy so that'll be fun, purposely routed it repeatedly across the North downs ridge)

Then the red run up to Waltham Abbey is 75km (or 85km if I have time and don't get the train home from Waterloo) and is part of the rides I need to do to connect a large clump of tiles up near Henham to my main cluster.

After that I'll aim for the NW section (Wembley, Ruislip, Rickmansworth, etc), then North London (Edgeware, Barnet, Enfield), NE/Essex and round to East London and SE London. By my reckoning it's ~20 more rides to cover all tiles within the M25.

After that I'll go for pushing my cluster out West (Reading area) and North (Henham and on up to Cambridge) or targeting max square increases with rides in new areas. I'll soon (6 months I suppose) hit the limit of what I can add in the 6 hour window I have once a week without spending too much of that time getting to/from new tiles.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 05 November, 2018, 07:15:41 am
Operation Crossing the Rivers is going like plan. I had to be in the Den Bosch area a few times in the past weeks (and have to be there again on wednesday) so I manage to add a few strategic tiles. The Maas and Waal rivers are already crossed, on wednesday the Rhine should follow.

(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/veloviewer+cluster+5november+2018.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris N on 05 November, 2018, 08:07:45 am
Got up to 16x16 last week.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4865/31856547518_230576b9ab_o.png) (https://flic.kr/p/Qx48Hh)
17x17 needs two rides, one through east Bristol, the other towards Corsham.

Not sure where to go after that.  There are tiles in the Severn downstream of Berkeley that I cannot ride to, so I guess I'll concentrate on extending the square to the south east.  Filling in some of the gaps around Stroud could be fun too.  I can't be far away from shifting my max cluster down to this area too - currently my cluster count for where I live now is 325 vs. 387 around my old address.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 05 November, 2018, 09:47:13 am
Until now I hadn't realised that there was a way of finding out which rides had had their tiles calculated.  So I'd just opened only my longest rides of 300km ish+ and the rides where the down sampling had caused missed tiles.

So this weekend I filtered my activity list on 'tiles calculated', ordered them by distance and worked my way down the list.  I've got 3710 activities on veloviewer, so this is gonna take some time.  So far, I've recalculated 300odd rides and I'm down to rides of about 80km in length.  There's got to be a way to automate this?
It's already affected my squares though and squares that I thought I'd got , it now turns out that I haven't.  My max square has now dropped down from 35x35 down to 16 overlapping 21x21.  The good news is that I've just got to get 7 of the lost squares to get back to where I was & I can now go do some more exploring and genuinely go and claim those squares.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181105/0623c441371f23b6dc03998a75f695da.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 November, 2018, 09:50:02 am

Flu and conferences (the 2 may be linked), mean I've not been able to get out and bag many tiles, until this last weekend when a 200k Audax allowed me to bag a load. It's done nothing to help with my cluster, or my square, but I did notice that my score has broken the 5000 mark now.

5066 tiles
Max square 13x13
Max Cluster: 228

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 05 November, 2018, 09:51:01 am
I did email Ben to ask if there was a way to automate this. I wondered if it might be a Pro Plus feature. It must use a lot of his server time and I thought he might want to find a way of prioritising that rather than have lots of us manually taking those resources. Does anyone here know Ben personally?

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 November, 2018, 09:56:20 am
I did email Ben to ask if there was a way to automate this. I wondered if it might be a Pro Plus feature. It must use a lot of his server time and I thought he might want to find a way of prioritising that rather than have lots of us manually taking those resources. Does anyone here know Ben personally?

No, but he's pretty good at replying when I ask questions on twitter. Seems like a nice guy.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 05 November, 2018, 09:56:38 am
Can you not just poke around the map and click on any rides that pass near the cluster boundary on a suspiciously straight line? And likewise any squares that just have one line flying through them? There should be only a handful of rides where recalculating affects your cluster size.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 05 November, 2018, 10:24:38 am
I met Ben when I was doing my everesting, he came out to ride a few reps with me. He's a nice guy, but I can't say I know him.

I've asked the question on the Ride Every Tile Strava group. 

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 05 November, 2018, 10:53:54 am
Got my feet wet on the beach this morning at Portobello and Musselburgh.  Was aiming for 3 tiles, and got two.  The third was probably about 50m into the sea.  Got a further 4 tiles on the ride and cluster up by 3.

Best thing about the ride was a glorious sunrise and a full double rainbow.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 05 November, 2018, 02:20:47 pm
Haven't had much opportunity to go tile-hunting lately but I snuck out for a short (30km) late-afternoon/early-evening ride yesterday and managed to bag a lone tile in the middle of my cluster, thereby increasing my cluster by 5.

The main reason I've not got it before is that the only public road that goes through it is the A2 - the pseudo-motorway dual carriageway section between Canterbury and the start of the M2. Fortunately, where you join the A2 you can stay on the sliproad through the local services and onto the exit on the other side, so you don't have to ride on the actual A2, but it was still far closer to a load of thundering artics than I would have liked.

Anyway, that's ticked off now, so I never have to do it again. Ever.

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4904/44818806135_2c13c43847_z.jpg)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 05 November, 2018, 02:57:27 pm
I did part of the 3 lane Ripley by-pass (A3) today, up to the turn off for RHS Wisley. No hard shoulder, 3 lanes and the left hand lane is handily marked "M25": https://goo.gl/maps/hKJJ8QEW59N2 The things we do for tiles...

Other than that is a was a nice 70km around the Woking area inspired by The War of the Worlds.

Managed to miss out a tile though today, missed the turn for Tannery Lane in Send which I was supposed to ride 50m of before turning back and carrying on. I was too busy thinking about "Sanger Drive" I'd just passed. Luckily it's only a couple of tiles away from some ungrabbed tiles so it'll only be a ~3km detour to get it on a future ride, but still slightly annoying. I try and avoid having those little out and back bits for the very reason that they are so easy to miss (and they don't feel like making progress on a bike).

11 overlapping 12x12 squares now. Next week's ride should push that to 15x15.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 05 November, 2018, 03:14:27 pm
Reply from Ben on the Ride Every Tile Strava group

Quote from: Ben Lowe - veloviewer.com
Hi. As mentioned above, when you open an activity it calculates the definitive set of tiles for that activity as on opening the activity, the code downloads all of the activity's recorded data points. For activities that haven't been opened then the calculations in the Summary page (and Activities page) are based on a very simplified set of data points provided by the Strava API on the top level Activity details which is collected as part of the Update process. This simplified set of data points can result in both false positives and negatives in terms of ticked tiles which is why opening an activity can result in you both gaining a tile and loosing a tile. Predominantly it results in you gaining tiles these days as the simplified set of data points rarely contains points that aren't part of the full set. Unfortunately I can't populate the definitive set of tiles in bulk as it would require getting all data streams for all of your activities and processing them all which is something I can't do at the moment due to the amount of extra processing (and re-writing of code) that would be required.

.

So it looks like doing it manually is the only way at the mo.  Unless anyone is able to write a script to do it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 05 November, 2018, 04:21:58 pm
Reply from Ben on the Ride Every Tile Strava group

Quote from: Ben Lowe - veloviewer.com
Hi. As mentioned above, when you open an activity it calculates the definitive set of tiles for that activity as on opening the activity, the code downloads all of the activity's recorded data points. For activities that haven't been opened then the calculations in the Summary page (and Activities page) are based on a very simplified set of data points provided by the Strava API on the top level Activity details which is collected as part of the Update process. This simplified set of data points can result in both false positives and negatives in terms of ticked tiles which is why opening an activity can result in you both gaining a tile and loosing a tile. Predominantly it results in you gaining tiles these days as the simplified set of data points rarely contains points that aren't part of the full set. Unfortunately I can't populate the definitive set of tiles in bulk as it would require getting all data streams for all of your activities and processing them all which is something I can't do at the moment due to the amount of extra processing (and re-writing of code) that would be required.

.

So it looks like doing it manually is the only way at the mo.  Unless anyone is able to write a script to do it.

Thanks for asking the question PeeJay
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 05 November, 2018, 04:28:21 pm
While I'm still in the novice / early stages of this game it is easy to gain squares with a lunchtime ride. I am now really pleased to have all the tiles along the north bank of the Humber from Goole to Marfleet. I just followed the Trans Pennine Trail all the way along the estuary side of the Port of Hull at St Andrews Quay. It was fascinating to see the silted up and overgrown old docks, the tumbledown lock gates and the inevitable broken glass next to derelict buildings. I thought I was heading for a dead-end, but at the last minute there was a flight of steps over the tops of the dock buildings and down to the massive lock gates - which I was able to cycle over. This brought me to the back roads near Smith + Nephew. After that, even though I gained no squares, I found a tiny cycle path alongside the A63 to a subway which was inexplicably lit blue. This game opens up new places I wouldn't have thought of cycling. I can see the downside of cycling the A2 slip road.

Some photos from my ride ontheline with instant-gram: https://www.instagram.com/balancingontwowheels/
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig on 05 November, 2018, 06:47:51 pm
You can't see well enough to inject into veins under blue lighting.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 05 November, 2018, 06:51:45 pm
You can't see well enough to inject into veins under blue lighting.

Ah ha. So, not for disco purposes then.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 06 November, 2018, 05:47:00 pm
Day off today - square hunting along the A1079. I had a very interesting day trying to make loops out of dead ends - following footpaths and the edges of fields to join up roads. I found 'Bad Bargain Lane' near York, and also visited a retirement caravan site, which got me into a square without travelling miles out of my way. Max square continues the hokey-kokey between Middlesbrough and Hull - but is now 11*11 and Max Cluster jumped from mid 250s to mid 420s - joining Hull to York. That was a worthwhile day out.

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1948/45752739241_bd1a95e8a4_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2cH1KnK)Hull and York Cluster (https://flic.kr/p/2cH1KnK) by Graeme (https://www.flickr.com/photos/147630562@N04/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 07 November, 2018, 05:02:45 pm
I've noticed that bagging these three squares would increase my max. cluster by 41:

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1935/45042918354_fddce37c71_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2bChJmA)
vv_3_squares (https://flic.kr/p/2bChJmA) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 07 November, 2018, 10:25:26 pm
Today I finally managed to extend my cluster across the Rhine:

(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/veloviewer+cluster+7+november+2018.jpg)

The cluster is now at 3005, so first goal reached. I might even manage to reach 3500 by the end of the year
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: rr on 08 November, 2018, 12:20:35 am
Reminds me of the TAC hunt for empty squares The Angry Corrie[\URL]

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
[] (http://www.scottishoutdoors.co.uk/outdoors/columista.cfm@feature_cat_id=27&selectedfeature_id=1519.htm)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 08 November, 2018, 09:07:17 am
Reminds me of the TAC hunt for empty squares The Angry Corrie (http://www.scottishoutdoors.co.uk/outdoors/columista.cfm@feature_cat_id=27&selectedfeature_id=1519.htm)

Shows me I'm somewhere on the millenial/IGG scale as my first reaction was of frustration at the lack of images in that piece and thinking it's just too long to read.

(I realise it was from 2001)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: rr on 08 November, 2018, 10:44:13 am
Reminds me of the TAC hunt for empty squares The Angry Corrie (http://www.scottishoutdoors.co.uk/outdoors/columista.cfm@feature_cat_id=27&selectedfeature_id=1519.htm)

Shows me I'm somewhere on the millenial/IGG scale as my first reaction was of frustration at the lack of images in that piece and thinking it's just too long to read.

(I realise it was from 2001)
You won't like the actual fanzine at all then.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 08 November, 2018, 10:49:26 am
Reminds me of the TAC hunt for empty squares The Angry Corrie (http://www.scottishoutdoors.co.uk/outdoors/columista.cfm@feature_cat_id=27&selectedfeature_id=1519.htm)

At least the veloviewer equivalent of SE8322 looks bagable via the little lane that runs down the Western edge.


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181108/599dd24dc491a795a240b4039e8358f3.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: rr on 08 November, 2018, 11:23:24 am
Reminds me of the TAC hunt for empty squares The Angry Corrie (http://www.scottishoutdoors.co.uk/outdoors/columista.cfm@feature_cat_id=27&selectedfeature_id=1519.htm)

At least the veloviewer equivalent of SE8322 looks bagable via the little lane that runs down the Western edge.


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181108/599dd24dc491a795a240b4039e8358f3.jpg)
There is also a bridleway running east from the end of it, the whole area looks very baggable.
What maps are the squares based on?

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 08 November, 2018, 11:28:07 am
Quote from: rr link=topic=108374.msg2340268#msg2340268 date=
What maps are the squares based on?
[/quote

OpenStreetMap zoom level 14:
https://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-explorer-score-and-max-square/
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: rr on 08 November, 2018, 01:18:48 pm
I think some one owes me £10.
Free only gets me lots of 2*2 due to numerous short commutes.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Stretch on 09 November, 2018, 10:20:21 am
Quote
There is also a bridleway running east from the end of it, the whole area looks very baggable.

Bridleway alongside Adlingfleet drain or lane south from Ousefleet that leans into the square as you go south. Some interesting squares in that area as you go further west, I'll be having a look in that direction at the weekend.

Bagged a few more squares in the dark last night, cluster score is now above 300 but the max square sizes are stubbornly still on 8.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 09 November, 2018, 11:24:50 am
I've recently rejoined vv.  Not done any explortile rides so far, but reckon on a few short rides to go from 5x5 to 11x11, so poss the first to get 13 tiles this weekend (on 45mm tyres).  Interesting to see where, close to home, I've not set tyre.

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4842/43977394890_969318dbb1_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2a18Dmo)my base level local explorer tile (https://flic.kr/p/2a18Dmo) by aaekoxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/25983110@N05/), on Flickr

Explorer score:
1590 tiles, average of 9.118 km per tile
Max square 5x5
Max Cluster: 76 

Have some riding to do...   ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 09 November, 2018, 11:25:05 am
I rode a 64km loop home from work yesterday out towards Ashbourne to pick up a couple of the squares that I'd previously been given as 'false positives' - I got them properly this time. 
One required a quick 10 metre trip down a farm track just off the A515 just south of Ashbourne. 
The other was a great little lane of the 'how come I've not been down here before' type.  Just what square exploring is all about, I'll definitely be back to ride that again in the daylight. :facepalm:
I'm now on 11 overlapping squares of 27x27 and max cluster of 1708.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181109/d8255a1df7649ab4f054183357acc9d5.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: rr on 09 November, 2018, 02:22:08 pm
Paid up and now up to 9*9, a few odd untouched squares close to home. Just been out at lunchtime to bag one of them, via the dead end, private road that just enters it, got wet.
Now planning routes to fill the gaps between my former Witham based rides and my current Chelmsford patch as well as filling a few southern gaps.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 11 November, 2018, 08:57:39 am
Another swathe of squares targeted yesterday in the SE of my region. Max square unchanged at 23x23, but max cluster up from 1059 to 1167.

Next time around I'll head towards north London and get that max square to jump a little higher.

(https://images2.imgbox.com/d9/09/Tj5Q6pOp_o.png) (http://imgbox.com/Tj5Q6pOp)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 11 November, 2018, 07:39:10 pm

Went out on my first tile hunt for a while. Aim was to tick off 9 north of the canal, and, then tidy up some loose ends around Haarlem. Turns out that on the 9 north, I didn't go far enough into one of the tiles. Even tho the explorer app on my phone thought I was there. Its rather annoying, as it's going to bug me for weeks. It wouldn't have helped with my max square, as I'll hit against the Ijsselmeer, but would have had a nice boost to my max cluster.

(http://photos.quixotic.eu/misc/vv-screenshot02.png)

So close...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: wajcgac on 11 November, 2018, 08:49:46 pm
Have you clicked on the ride in the activities list and got the definitive tile list calculated for the ride as by default it only uses

https://blog.veloviewer.com/explorer-tile-calculation-updates/

Quote from the above link

Quote
By default, the Explorer tiles are calculated using the summary map line for each activity which is the line you see in the map on your Activities List page. This is a simplified version of the route taken and can miss out some of the detail of your activity and occasionally fail to cross a tile boundary which you actually did cross, equally it can cross one that you didn’t!

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 12 November, 2018, 12:02:39 am

Yeah, tried that. Doesn't seem to have done anything :(

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 12 November, 2018, 09:29:43 am
Just seven new tiles yesterday, but clearly some key ones- cluster up from 417 to 583.

The inching south to connect the East Anglian massif to the North Yorks has reached Ripon. One more tile and I think I'll make York.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Stretch on 12 November, 2018, 10:23:47 am
A mooch around the flatlands of NW Lincolnshire and S Yorks this weekend finally shifted my square count from 8 to 11 and the cluster is now above 350. Picking off some of the holes in my map next will grow that cluster but think it'll be a while before the square increases again.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 12 November, 2018, 12:57:50 pm
Got 8 new tiles on Saturday during a walk in Ladybank Forest while my youngest was at a nearby birthday party.  They will hopefully become part of my cluster soon, if I can do a planned ride home from Dundee.

This morning headed away from work on the commute - went to Kirkcaldy train station via 11 missing squares.  That filled in all the last gaps between FRB and Glenrothes and cluster risen from 534 to 570 as a result.

Hoping to get a few more tiles after another train assisted commute tomorrow.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 12 November, 2018, 05:04:42 pm
28 new tiles today and up to 8 overlapping 14x14 max squares now with an extra 40 tiles in my cluster (to take it to 453). Forgot to check the ride before going (some of it was routed using 'Google (Walking)') and lo and behold I had to walk 50 yards or so across part of Leatherhead Golf Club's driving range (it is marked as a footpath on the OS map). Also a completely unnecessary detour into Givons Grove near the Mickleham bends which included a ridiculously steep downhill bit and a short and steep bit of muddy footpath.

Should really research the routes/roads a bit more before venturing out, at some point I'm going to be turned away from someone's private property.

Really didn't want to get out today given the forecast but was happy I did in the end, 60km including the trips to/from Wimbledon station.

Next week's ride is only 54km but includes White Down. It's only adding 20 new tiles but should be a big boost to my cluster as it connects up a bit I've done down in the Surrey Hills.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pedal Castro on 12 November, 2018, 05:34:27 pm
Just back from a tile raid to ease a bottleneck, 11 new files but cluster goes from 425 to 522 so a good day's work. 😀
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 12 November, 2018, 08:32:23 pm
I left yesterday's club ride after the cafe stop to go and 'do' the Nuneaton/Hinckley area.  Ended up as 186k by the time I got home but it was a really pleasant day once the early showers had finished.

Some of the bridleways required a bit of caution on 28mm slicks.  The A5 was no fun at all to ride on and there were quite a few urban bits that I won't mind if I never see again.

Max cluster now increased from 1275 to 1359 and max square bumped up from 26 to 29.  Next up is a load of urban stuff in Derby and Nottingham.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 12 November, 2018, 09:50:17 pm
First explorer ride completed ~50km; great autumn colours*.  15 new tiles, but I missed (obligatory?) one local tile by omitting a small spur on my garmin track, which would have added ~40 to my cluster.  More careful planning needed.   :)

* Heading up towards the Ridgeway

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4894/44033869680_84a60f8dab_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2a686kE)IMG_20181110_085044581_HDR (https://flic.kr/p/2a686kE) by ao (https://www.flickr.com/photos/25983110@N05/), on Flickr

 

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 12 November, 2018, 10:00:54 pm
I've a DIY 200 planned for friday which will add about 100 tiles to my cluster. No chance for the square though as I'll be riding around some big holes in Germany. I do keep clear of Manheim village and the Hambach forest due to the massive police presence there at the moment.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 13 November, 2018, 07:25:15 pm
I've just got back from  my first long tilebagging trip. Grabbed one square in Redbridge to expand my max square from 12 to 13, then a load of random ones in the suburbs of Dagenham, then a lengthy jaunt along the Thames path from Rainham to Thurrock under the Dartford Bridge. Most of it is a 6 inch wide strip of gravel between brambles and bushes, plus an 8 foot high sea wall on one side and a series of chain link fences on the landward side, plus various rickety metal staircases and semi-flooded underpasses. Amazingly it's *not* part of the National Cycle Network .This goes on for several miles with *no* access points off it back onto the road network.

Then my first experience of the Dartford Crossing bike van and a trip to Abbey Wood to grab some missing squares around Thamesmead.

Max Cluster is up to 542 and stretches all the way to Gravesend.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 13 November, 2018, 11:56:02 pm
Amazingly it's *not* part of the National Cycle Network.

My recent favourite (from tile bagging) was NCN 61 (going West) after it crosses the M25 near Iver.

I don't think anyone has cycled it for at least 10 years, but at least it's marked as a national cycle route on a map. Tick!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 14 November, 2018, 07:07:51 pm
(http://i67.tinypic.com/2dv4acp.jpg)

123km and 1700m of climbing gave me a grand day out. A lot of it I've cycled before, just not with a GPS, but it's been long enough that it all felt pretty new.

Bumped my max square from 8 14x14s, to 3 17x17s and my max cluster up to 429.

(http://i66.tinypic.com/2qxb23q.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 15 November, 2018, 09:17:11 pm

Fitted new tyres to the bike, so needed to do a shake down ride. 31km look out to the tile that I missed the other day. Bit of a headwind on the return leg. Cluster now up to 267 from 243. Won't help the max square much, but it fills in a gap on the map...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 17 November, 2018, 02:02:21 pm
Just over a week after starting tile bagging, and three rides, square is 9x9 (from 5x5), and cluster on 197 (from 76).  Still missed one today, by changing the route, and forgetting about it.  On one of my tile 'spurs' off the main route, I had the treat of seeing a Kingfisher, flying low along the Thames (Duxford).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 17 November, 2018, 02:37:07 pm
Fuckballs. I loaded up an old ride and I'm down a square, taking my max to a paltry 16x16; you can see it up there in the 'ain' of 'Annfield Plain'.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 18 November, 2018, 06:50:12 pm
Added two new squares which increased the max cluster by 6. It also added two new max squares. so I have collection of 6 of them  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 19 November, 2018, 09:29:14 am
Supposed to be going to Woking to start another 60km ride to pick off a bunch of tiles but the trains are up the spout and it'd be a risk getting round and back home in time to collect daughter from school. Will leave it until next week and just go round Richmond Park a few times (it'll seem novel as I haven't done that for a while).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 19 November, 2018, 10:07:29 am
I went out yesterday afternoon on a 100km loop to hoover up 2 more squares.  These were ones that were previously 'false positives', now they are 'true positives'.   One involved a detour down a bridleway a short way, the other was a lovely little lane to Colton just to the west of Ashbourne.
I'm now back to 35x35 max square. Max cluster is 1718

 (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181119/b6ad8fb3887165e7d0e97fad656b0517.jpg)

I'm also pretty confident now that I've got no more false positives.  I've had veloviewer calculate squares for my 600 longest rides, only rides less than 40km have not been calculated.  The rides not calculated yet are mostly commutes and utility rides around town.  All the false positives were caused by the downsampling of long rides causing straight lines cutting corners across adjacent squares.  Im sure I've captured all those now.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 19 November, 2018, 04:25:14 pm
That's beautiful like. I've got some catching up to do.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 19 November, 2018, 05:28:00 pm
I left the club run yesterday just before the coffee stop and snook off down a bridleway to get a lonesome square next to Langar airfield.  After the cafe I headed off to hoover up a block of ten tiles around the Holme Pierrepoint/Tollerton area on a mixture of bridleways, towpaths, urban biketracks, pretty country lanes and a couple of main roads.  No increase in max square but it clears the way for future expansion.  SW Derby looks like my next target.

My spy tells me that my clubmates think I am mad/sad - they may be right.


(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4820/45908398092_0c2ca4bf90_z.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 23 November, 2018, 11:19:27 am
Anyone know how to configure OSMand app map to display the explorer tile grid?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fuaran on 23 November, 2018, 11:49:25 am
Anyone know how to configure OSMand app map to display the explorer tile grid?
First you need to install the Explorer helper app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.anisart.vv
Then in that app, go to sync tiles, and select your OsmAnd folder, then tell it to update the data and recreate tiles.
Then in OsmAnd, you can go to map settings, and enable the overlay map.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 23 November, 2018, 01:25:57 pm
Thanks done all that, I think.  In OsmAnd, I can enable >Overlay map > OsmAnd (online tiles).  Is this it?  Don't see any grids though...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fuaran on 23 November, 2018, 01:36:15 pm
No, the overlay should be listed as "Explorer".
If its not there, check you set the correct folder in the Explorer app. Probably something like Android/data/net.osmand/files/tiles. May depend on your phone and Android version, and whether you have installed OsmAnd on the internal memory or SD card.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 23 November, 2018, 02:00:47 pm
No, the overlay should be listed as "Explorer".
If its not there, check you set the correct folder in the Explorer app. Probably something like Android/data/net.osmand/files/tiles. May depend on your phone and Android version, and whether you have installed OsmAnd on the internal memory or SD card.

Thanks.  OsmAnd data is on SD card.  From sync in ExpHlper app, I go files>tiles (folders mapillary vector & raster & OsmAnd online tile) and click select...  Then, go recreate tiles & rides, get message 'Explorer tiles have been recreated', but then, 'Error during creating rides file'. 
Maybe it's not worth bothering with...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 23 November, 2018, 02:11:15 pm
I've never got it to work either and get the same 'error during creating rides file' too.
 
My OSMand folder is on my SD card, dunno if that's got anything to do with it.   

I've set app permissions for explorer helper to access the card.  I've tried selecting the 'files' folder and the 'files/tiles' folder, neither work.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 23 November, 2018, 02:55:38 pm
Got it working!   
Within OSMand I moved the storage folder to internal storage.  In explorer helper selected the 'osmand' folder. 

Update the rides and tiles

Then select explorer as a map overlay in OSMand.


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181123/b8f8d6106fa8df2bf4997618a1fccc68.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 23 November, 2018, 03:11:54 pm
Goodstuff.  I don't have enough internal memory left to move the OsmAnd folder, 37Gb free on the card though.  Running Android oreo 8.1.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: dme on 23 November, 2018, 03:28:06 pm
Is there an iOS application that will show tiles (ideally including those already visited) available?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fuaran on 23 November, 2018, 03:30:25 pm
Goodstuff.  I don't have enough internal memory left to move the OsmAnd folder, 37Gb free on the card though.  Running Android oreo 8.1.
You could tell it to download the Explorer tiles to a folder in the internal memory. Then use a file manager move that folder to your OsmAnd folder on the card.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 23 November, 2018, 03:48:34 pm


You could tell it to download the Explorer tiles to a folder in the internal memory. Then use a file manager move that folder to your OsmAnd folder on the card.

Brilliant, cheers,  that works.   Although I got it working moving the OSMand to internal memory, it does fill up the internal memory somewhat.  That's a much better solution.  Cheers

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 23 November, 2018, 08:50:36 pm
Didn't work for me, oh well.  I can select the Explorer overlay in OsmAnd map config, but no tiles display.  Anyway the Explorer app itself is sort of useful from a location POV, if there's reception. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 23 November, 2018, 08:54:50 pm
Didn't work for me, oh well.  I can select the Explorer overlay in OsmAnd map config, but no tiles display.  Anyway the Explorer app itself is sort of useful from a location POV, if there's reception.

Open up the area you plan to explore when you have signal, zoom around, move around, view it a few different levels. This should then get cached for when you are offline.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 25 November, 2018, 08:58:13 pm
This morning, I had to drop my wife off in Herne Bay for a running event, then took the dog for a walk. The tide was out far enough that there was beach exposed around the end of Hampton Pier, so I took the opportunity for a spot of opportunistic tile-bagging and fired up Strava on my phone to grab the annoying odd tile that always seems to be underwater whenever I'm passing by...

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4861/45998413382_521d513579.jpg)

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4811/44232462790_ea319bd7c7.jpg)

Hasn't made any meaningful difference to my stats but very satisfying!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 25 November, 2018, 08:59:38 pm
Yay \o/
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 25 November, 2018, 09:01:06 pm


Got invited to join a hike in the dunes today, 10km walked, bagged one tile that I hadn't yet, and wasn't sure how to get it by bike. Doesn't add anything to the numbers, yet...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 25 November, 2018, 09:34:11 pm
My tile square now has the dizzying dimensions of 11x11.  Doubt I'll be able to maintain this rate of increase  ;)   (5x5 -> 11x11 in 12 days)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 26 November, 2018, 05:08:49 pm
Only 20 new tiles in a 55km slog around some of the Surrey Hills (including White Down), but it connected up a few bits I'd ridden before and filled in a couple of random missing tiles.

Still need to pay attention to route plotting, I did 1km of almost unrideable public footpath for no real reason (there was a perfectly good road that still hit the same squares) but I never know whether this is necessary or not at the time so dutifully stick to my route.

3 overlapping 18x18 squares (was lots of 14x14)
Max cluster up from 453 to 509.
Explorer score up from 5709 to 5729.

Also need to clean the bike and relube the chain, spots of rust on it before starting it, and the raceblade-esque mudguard on the back ate itself when I got the bike off the train at Clapham Junction. Should really take off the tri-bars too as I'm not using them.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: rr on 26 November, 2018, 05:47:28 pm
Now up to 12×12, I will now have to work at all sides to increase.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 27 November, 2018, 12:34:23 pm
Ooh, realised I can get up to 21x21 with one 50km ride around Guildford (well, I only need a 20km ride to cover the bare minimum tiles but no point going there for that short a ride): Marble Arch top right corner, Slough top left, Redhill bottom right, just West of Guildford bottom left. That's next week's ride sorted assuming the trains aren't messed up.

Don't have as much time on a Monday as my daughter's after school gymnastics class has finished (which gave me an extra 1h15m), hopefully she'll want to do it again next term.

Getting to/from places using the trains to do a long enough ride is a bit tighter now and, given how frequent there are problems on the trains, I don't want to be stranded 25 miles away with only 90 minutes to get back. Building up distance though, so should be good for 100km in 5h once the weather improves in Spring, that'll let me cover a lot more ground without worrying about trains at all.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 27 November, 2018, 03:43:10 pm
I have managed a couple of short extensions to my commute by using the train and have filled gaps between my main cluster and a smaller group of tiles in East Lothian which I'd covered during an audax.  It was only 12-15 tiles and my cluster is up by 13 to 583, but it is a step that will give future benefits.

I am being given a 3 week break by my client due to a contractor furlough and think I can get away with 3 tiling rides during the time before my kids finish school.  I intend to ride home from Berwick, North Berwick and Dundee and hope my cluster should reach St Andrews and Haddington and increase to 700 in that time.  If I can climb Saline Hill in that time I will also get a 12x12 square
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 27 November, 2018, 10:02:26 pm
A grand afternoon out filling in a load of gaps at the north of my square took me from 13x13 to 17x17:
(http://www.fondantfancies.com/chigwellmaxsquare1.png)

I had particular trouble with this square west of Epping, which despite being yards from the M25 (and the LEL route) has no roads or bridleways:
(http://www.fondantfancies.com/chigwellmaxsquare2.png)

I decided I couldn't be arsed sticking to the footpaths which would eventually get you there legally, and instead dumped my bike legged it across the field to the nearest corner of the square. Also, trying to continue west from there I only found mud tracks were I'd expected a road, so more trespassing required to rejoin the road network without doubling back.

I also found there are two squares west of Cheshunt straddling the M25 that are only accessible on a road (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Oldpark+Ride,+Goff's+Oak,+Waltham+Cross/@51.69345,-0.0810037,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x487621e59099c647:0x67e6b42066d5d478!8m2!3d51.69345!4d-0.078815) that has lots of keep out signs and locked gates across it with electronic keypads, but is actually a public bridleway.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 28 November, 2018, 07:04:57 am
That's a wiggly piece of art! :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 28 November, 2018, 07:55:07 am

(http://www.fondantfancies.com/chigwellmaxsquare2.png)

I decided I couldn't be arsed sticking to the footpaths which would eventually get you there legally, and instead dumped my bike legged it across the field to the nearest corner of the square. Also, trying to continue west from there I only found mud tracks were I'd expected a road, so more trespassing required to rejoin the road network without doubling back.

That square is blocking me. My first thought was to use one of the farm tracks, but they have big gates across. My current plan is to use the footpath to get to the brook just north of Spratt's Hedgerow Wood, then nip across into the square.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 28 November, 2018, 08:19:21 am
Yes, the purple line by “Orange Wood” has a gate across it and a private sign, but the dotted green line I took is a signposted footpath. Then you just need to decide when to dash east into the square.

And as I say, don’t try to go west from here unless you really like mud.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 28 November, 2018, 09:16:49 am
Having a quick look on Streetview and Strava I'd probably plan on doing it from the East when I get round to doing that bit. The farm track off Bury Lane (by the B181/B182 junction) looks relatively rideable, might have to lift the bike over the gate first:-

https://goo.gl/maps/cAcSWbE4vZk

Strava Heatmap shows just a few people have cycled and run the whole of the road that goes North/South across that tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 30 November, 2018, 06:35:00 pm
Filling in the Swiss cheese. A local 46km pootle bagged seventeen new tiles and took the max cluster over 300  :thumbsup:

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4815/46069491172_a466440bd3_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2dc1bFW)
vv_181130 (https://flic.kr/p/2dc1bFW) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 01 December, 2018, 09:31:22 pm
Spotted this thread late, fun to see your exploring challenges.
 I've been filling in Explorer tiles since Ben came up with the idea, watching the overall tile numbers grow with big summer adventures.  Just lately I've made an effort to fill in the local gaps; Yesterday saw a big jump up to a 58 Box with most rides from home.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4874/45410855774_7b34e4f6da_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2cbNvkd)

I don't do as well on the cluster front as I have spread a spidersweb of rides, might be fun trying for a coast to coast cluster over the next few years. The Wash to Seven bridge for starters.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4818/45410856524_a393b178da_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2cbNvy9)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 02 December, 2018, 01:33:03 pm
Had to ride over to my parents this morning so took the opportunity to devise a route that picked off 12 new tiles, upping my max cluster from 268 to 296. Even did a nice bit of comedy offroading on a grassy footpath.

There are still four irritating tiles over that way making an unsightly hole in my cluster, but they'll require the MTB.

Haven't been out on the bike much lately so my picking off of East Kent tiles is making slow progress, but I'm getting there...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 02 December, 2018, 05:28:35 pm
112k ride today to 'do' SW Derby and Swadlincote areas.  I had my knees out !

There were some pretty new lanes  :) and then there was Swadlincote and the suburbs of Derby  :sick:

Max square now up to 31 and max cluster up to 1444.

I can see an urban assault of Nottingham happening in the near future.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 03 December, 2018, 11:33:59 am
A 130 km ride in the Peak District yesterday and bagged 4 more squares in the process.
No change to the size of my max square, but now 3 overlapping 35x35 squares and max cluster up to 1742.
2 of the squares up near Hope required a ride up (very steep) dead end farm tracks.
I then followed the Pennine Bridleway south across Ox Low to bag the next square and then down the very steep slippery grass switchbacks from Tunstead down to the Monsal Trail for the final square of the day.  This was very 'interesting' on road tyres and a failing front brake!  All good fun though, got very muddy and was a route that I probably wouldn't have ridden if it wasn't for this explorer square lark.


The Pennine Bridleway across Ox Low (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181203/a4cd1a76bb4f93555c959847643be4be.jpg)

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181203/d65e347ffffe0889a801e3103cdfce62.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 03 December, 2018, 03:26:59 pm
I went to see my Spiritual Director today, she lives in Swainby so a train trip to Northallerton was followed by a variation on my usual routes. Ingleby Arncliffe isn't somewhere I've been before and involved several crossings of the A19. Not too bad thanks to the central turning lane I could nip into. But I was then emboldened to try and reach Mount Grace Priory. This did involve 100m of butt clenching ride. Unfortunately Mount Grace Priory is shut for winter. Hence the sneaky walk to the middle of a field 'pretending' I was lost in case the farmer turned up.

https://flic.kr/p/2ayAosQ
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 03 December, 2018, 07:46:22 pm
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4804/32293631658_7f924a52b3_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/RcFiAJ)Screenshot_20181203-193848 (https://flic.kr/p/RcFiAJ) by Graeme (https://www.flickr.com/photos/147630562@N04/), on Flickr

When I got home I discovered that my explorer tile score had reached exactly 8000. Woot!
Cluster unchanged at 504
Square unchanged at 11x11

Apart from having to use the A19 briefly, and making a running dash into the middle of a field because Mount Grace Priory was closed - once again I rode routes I had not used before. This is so much fun. I also found a ford I didn't know about... and chose not to ride through it.

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4901/46162063161_9020924b61_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2dkbD7H)2018-12-03_03-13-44 (https://flic.kr/p/2dkbD7H) by Graeme (https://www.flickr.com/photos/147630562@N04/), on Flickr

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 03 December, 2018, 10:44:58 pm
This long weekend netted 178 new tiles (6329 total) and increased the max cluster by 41 to 325 in ~290km of cycling. The max square resolutely remains in single figures, thobut.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 04 December, 2018, 06:15:11 pm
I thought that I ought to get Veloviewer to calculate my tiles 'properly' so have spent quite some time viewing lots of individual rides.

BN:  It stole a load of tiles off me.
MBN:  Max square has been knocked back from 31 to 23.
GN:  Most of the stolen tiles are relatively accessible.
MGN:  I get to ride my bike  ;D

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4870/46178963801_dcce2b523c_z.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 05 December, 2018, 11:35:02 am
I thought that I ought to get Veloviewer to calculate my tiles 'properly' so have spent quite some time viewing lots of individual rides.

BN:  It stole a load of tiles off me.
MBN:  Max square has been knocked back from 31 to 23.
GN:  Most of the stolen tiles are relatively accessible.
MGN:  I get to ride my bike  ;D

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4870/46178963801_dcce2b523c_z.jpg)
Looks like you might just get that square if you ride right over on the west side of the road just north of Hoby.   Maybe stop and start off again to make sure the gps track to records a point there. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: tom_e on 05 December, 2018, 11:47:38 am
Streetview says he's fine to just head up Church Lane in Hoby. 

I was thinking it was bad luck not getting it already from that many passes on Ragdale road.  But OSM, satellite and OS streetmap [and your GPS] all put that road slightly to the East of the line.  Only OS 1:50k puts its centre line inside the box.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 05 December, 2018, 12:51:23 pm
Nipping up Church Lane was the plan.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chew on 05 December, 2018, 01:20:41 pm
Wait until you find squares without any roads/tracks/paths...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2876/33104221353_40d4ede962_z.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 December, 2018, 01:37:26 pm
Wait until you find squares without any roads/tracks/paths...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2876/33104221353_40d4ede962_z.jpg)

At least your square had land... I had to kayak for 2 tiles...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Whitestone on 07 December, 2018, 08:33:24 am
The last couple of trips have been "interesting". There were a few above Langstrothdale that required a bit of hike-a-bike, well 2hrs worth :o

(https://i.imgur.com/mMM2188.jpg)

That increased my max cluster but not my max square. For that there was one tile replete with "No Cycling" signs and access through farm yards and shooting yards that required a short walk. That bumped my max square from 16x16 to 19x19.

Yesterday was another exploration of one of those bridleways in the Dales that finishes in the middle of "nowhere". Nowhere in this instance is the border wall of an estate who aren't keen on public access. The mirk was down so no chance of anyone seeing me unless they were on the bridleway itself. Another four tiles visited using the fat bike to get over the boggy ground.

Max square now up to 22x22 and max cluster is 1184 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 08 December, 2018, 10:17:24 am
Started my Xmas holiday with a lazy 66km pootle from Edinburgh to North Berwick- picked up another ~25 tiles and increased my cluster from 576 to 604. A glorious day with kite-surfers out having a ball. It was a tailwind almost the whole way, but I certainly got a taste of how unpleasant it could be going into it.  Even the return train being delayed by 1/2 hour failed to put a damper on my mood.

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4881/46227508961_b4028ccc51_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2dqY4Sz)20181207 (https://flic.kr/p/2dqY4Sz) by paddyirish (https://www.flickr.com/photos/paddyirish/), on Flickr

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4805/45502511264_929b6205a0_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2cjUgjh)DSC_0421 (https://flic.kr/p/2cjUgjh) by paddyirish (https://www.flickr.com/photos/paddyirish/), on Flickr

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4898/31283330407_fb606cf220_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/PEpfeD)DSC_0432 (https://flic.kr/p/PEpfeD) by paddyirish (https://www.flickr.com/photos/paddyirish/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 08 December, 2018, 04:26:12 pm
Today's ~80km ride, sort of an angry Scooby doo, expanded square to 13x13 and a cluster of 261.

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4857/46230960671_b36cf1e6e1_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2drgKWP)Fullscreen capture 08122018 155600 (https://flic.kr/p/2drgKWP) by ao (https://www.flickr.com/photos/25983110@N05/), on Flickr

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4832/45318293315_3c4834c5ef_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2c3C6JK)08122018 (https://flic.kr/p/2c3C6JK) by ao (https://www.flickr.com/photos/25983110@N05/), on Flickr

Took in the Devil's Quoits henge, nr Stanton Harcourt (never been before & it's well hidden!)

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4908/32358793308_952f5334f0_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/RirgTs)IMG_20181208_093046316_HDR_stitch2 (https://flic.kr/p/RirgTs) by ao (https://www.flickr.com/photos/25983110@N05/), on Flickr

Elsewhere near Standlake... Fortunately it got 'better' after ~50m.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4812/46180829132_13047c7ae9_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2dmQPzW)IMG_20181208_112722697 (https://flic.kr/p/2dmQPzW) by ao (https://www.flickr.com/photos/25983110@N05/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 08 December, 2018, 05:09:21 pm
Popped out yesterday afternoon to reclaim the tile near Hoby.

Picked up a similar one that I had 'mislaid' near Peckleton on the way back from this morning's club run.  I am now back up to 3 overlapping 31*31 squares  :)

I now realise that another tile that has gone missing was just 100m off last Sunday's route.  Unfortunately it is a 70k round trip to get it now   >:(
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Paul D on 09 December, 2018, 11:11:47 am
Some filthy lanes this morning means I've finally dragged my 29x29 max square North out of the Isle of Purbeck and up to 30x30 for the first increase in about 14 months. More to come this winter.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 09 December, 2018, 02:30:23 pm
Nabbed a few missing squares down the Eastern edge of my max square in Essex yesterday whilst doing a DIY Perm, now up from 23x23 to 27x27.

As there were only 3 sections of off-road, I took my 23mm tyre fixed gear bike. Worked well until a telltale noise with every rotation of the front wheel after the final section of off-road. Turned out to be a piece of flint. Only problem was I realised I didn't have a spanner on me for the wheel nuts. Immediate thought was game over, but then the more rational me decided to fix the inner tube in place. Turned out to be a quick job ... first time I've used the stick-on patches, and worked perfectly.

I'll stick to my bullet-proof tyres on future off-road endeavours.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 09 December, 2018, 03:48:43 pm
I now realise that another tile that has gone missing was just 100m off last Sunday's route.  Unfortunately it is a 70k round trip to get it now   >:(

There wasn't a pre-planned route for today's club run and I seemed to get volunteered to make something up on the fly.  As there is a decent cafe just round the corner from this missing tile the decision was easy  :thumbsup: :smug:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 09 December, 2018, 04:29:44 pm
Max square now in double figures: 10, woo hoo  :thumbsup: A short ride filling in the holes netted 16 new tiles and took the max cluster up to 360. A small bit of comedy off-roading was involved  :)

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1947/31306764697_63cf443c89_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/PGtmr8)
vv_181209 (https://flic.kr/p/PGtmr8) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 12 December, 2018, 10:12:22 am
We're quiet in the office so I'm planning routes to pick off the outer edges, Rapha 500 might be 500 squares :D.

Sunday bumped me to 18x18 but I've multiple gaps on all 4 sides now.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 15 December, 2018, 01:54:28 pm
Had a few tiling attempts this week.  One out to Central Fife to fill gaps along the coast to Leven and up to Falkland.  Lots of boggy fields, the Fife Coastal Path and bike and I were both filthy.  Another time, I tried to climb Saline Hill to get to a 12x12 but the route had dozens of cattle, so I decided discretion was the better part of valour.  Then Yesterday I went for a Hill  walk into the Ochils and managed to get Ben Cleuch (721m) into my cluster.  Now still 11x11, but cluster is now 656.

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4902/45412414905_1e3f955c30_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2cbWuNM)20181215 (https://flic.kr/p/2cbWuNM) by paddyirish (https://www.flickr.com/photos/paddyirish/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 17 December, 2018, 05:10:56 pm
I've been doing a bit of gap-filling the last few weekends, and the cluster is now up to 3004.

The square is still at 37x37, but I just need three at the SW corner to push that up.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 17 December, 2018, 05:18:42 pm

Haven't had much chance to get out on gap filling duties, have been concentrating on audaxes and tours. My square is still stuck at 13 x 13. My cluster had a small leap a few weeks back. But I've noticed my total tile count is going up substantially compared to the rest of the stats.

5429 tiles
Max square 13x13
Max Cluster: 254

What's other peoples total tiles to cluster/square ratio like?

I've got a tour planned which will fill a couple of gaps in on the way, and I've managed to find a 200k route I hope to use as a DIY audax in the next few weeks, that will hopefully give me a jump in square and cluster.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 17 December, 2018, 05:35:06 pm
...
5429 tiles
Max square 13x13
Max Cluster: 254

What's other peoples total tiles to cluster/square ratio like?...


Similar:

6345 tiles, average of 4.438 km per tile
Max square 10x10 
Max Cluster: 360
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 17 December, 2018, 05:42:07 pm
3161 tiles, average of 4.954 km per tile
Max square 18x18   
Max Cluster: 589   

I'm not too fussed about extending the square* at the moment as three of the four outer corners of my current squares are in pretty boring suburban areas, so I'm just picking up new tiles here and there, and making minor tweaks to Audax routesheets where this picks up some extra tiles.   

*Actually three overlapping squares at the moment.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 17 December, 2018, 06:20:12 pm
the total amount of tiles is a bith of the scale (although one member of this parish has a substantially higher amount). My cluster is reasonable now, the max square is seriously lagging behind.

27925 tiles   
3.516km/tile   
max square 32x32   
cluster   3189
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 17 December, 2018, 07:03:19 pm
Interesting. My stats are

Tiles 1902 @18.438 km/tile
Square 11x11
Cluster 662

So 1 in 3 tiles visited are in my max cluster. Then there are about 300 in Austria and 100 in each of England and Finland, so one in 2 Scottish tiles are in my cluster, but less than one in ten in my max square. Reflects that I can't do many long rides far from home.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 17 December, 2018, 07:04:12 pm
Interesting extra challenge has crossed my radar.

https://www.longtermnlchallenge.bike

Similar idea to the veloviewer tile game, but with municipalities. There's one for Belgium too. I'm at 48% of Dutch municipalities. Am waiting on the Belgian one to finish processing to see how I'm doing with that one.

I'm hoping that RatN will give me a good chunk of these, but it gives me an extra target along with the tiles to chase!

I wonder if there is one for .uk...

J

Edit: 27% of Belgium it seems...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 17 December, 2018, 10:52:21 pm
If anyone is interested in ticking off UK district councils*, KML files are available from mapit.mysociety.org 🚩

*Your NUTS, m'lord (with apologies to Robbie Barker)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 17 December, 2018, 11:47:22 pm
I've completed 23% of Belgium. I've only ridden my bike there once.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 18 December, 2018, 08:55:01 am
I'm currently at 77% for the Netherlands and 91% for Belgium. There's a lot of work to do for my up north. The Amsterdam 400 and the Merselo 600 will bag my quite a lot of the northeren municipalities.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 18 December, 2018, 09:36:38 am
16985 tiles, average of 3.146 km per tile
Max square 18x18
Max Cluster: 590

18% of Belgium- D.A.L.E. rode to and from the ferry. (And into Luxembourg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 18 December, 2018, 10:34:31 am
My stats :

9361 tiles, average of 12.532 km per tile
Max square 36x36
Max Cluster: 1812

0% of Belgium cos I've never been there

With only a handful of exceptions, my rides all start and finish at home, which probably reflects the high km/tile score. I'm often covering familiar ground on the commute or weekend day rides in the Peak District.  As for Audax rides, I tend to ride out to/ECE or do DIYs.   I've been doing this VV square lark, filling in the gaps over the last 18 months or so, slowly increasing the max square.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 18 December, 2018, 10:48:18 am
18% of Belgium- D.A.L.E. rode to and from the ferry. (And into Luxembourg)
(http://i67.tinypic.com/2vwzfk7.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Si S on 18 December, 2018, 10:55:46 am
3371 tiles, average of 11.931 km per tile
Max Square: 21x21 (four squares that size)
Max Cluster: 756

I really need to find some enthusiasm again, I've managed 2 rides that didn't involve a commute since June  :-[ and the track for one of those is still on the etrex.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 18 December, 2018, 12:29:38 pm
My Longterm Challenge maps:

(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/longtermNLchallenge2018december.jpg)

(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/longtermBEchallenge2018december.jpg)

I should spend a couple of sundays in the Brussels and Antwerp area's to cover the empty bits.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 18 December, 2018, 12:46:08 pm
10493 tiles, average of 7.289 km per tile
Max square 31x31
Max Cluster: 1450

Hopefully using the Rapha Festive 500 to bump up that max square a little.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 18 December, 2018, 02:18:07 pm
My Longterm Challenge maps:

(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/longtermNLchallenge2018december.jpg)


Refresh your NL map, it's not picking up your ride home on Sunday!



J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 18 December, 2018, 05:31:34 pm
Is everyone already a member of the YACF Strava club? Anyone who is a member of that shows up in / can see ... the leaderboard on Velo Viewer.

https://veloviewer.com/leaderboard/y/0/t/explc/at/-/c/2081

Did everyone already know this?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 18 December, 2018, 06:18:29 pm
Did everyone already know this?

Yes and no. I knew about the club filter when viewing the leaderboard, but not that there was a YACF Strava group. Now joined.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 18 December, 2018, 06:27:02 pm
Is everyone already a member of the YACF Strava club? Anyone who is a member of that shows up in / can see ... the leaderboard on Velo Viewer.

https://veloviewer.com/leaderboard/y/0/t/explc/at/-/c/2081

Did everyone already know this?

Curse you, Ivo!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 18 December, 2018, 06:38:20 pm
Did everyone already know this?

Yes and no. I knew about the club filter when viewing the leaderboard, but not that there was a YACF Strava group. Now joined.

If you use the options on the update page of VeloViewer you can choose to let others see your maps of data.. I believe the option is to select 'share my data with anyone'... noting that 'private' Strava activities do add to your Explorer score but aren't visible. All private data stays private.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 18 December, 2018, 09:52:30 pm

My NL map:

(http://photos.quixotic.eu/misc/nlmunicpalities.png)

I can see Bromptons and Islands in my future...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 21 December, 2018, 01:08:21 pm
Night ride yesterday to bag four squares including two next to the M2/A2 Junction 1 (https://goo.gl/maps/Fxd3EewSEr92). On the map these looked tricky but there was actually a handy Sustrans route through both - I take it all back :) 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 21 December, 2018, 03:18:48 pm
Is everyone already a member of the YACF Strava club? Anyone who is a member of that shows up in / can see ... the leaderboard on Velo Viewer.

https://veloviewer.com/leaderboard/y/0/t/explc/at/-/c/2081

Did everyone already know this?

It doesn't seem reliable though. I appear in some leaderboards but not others. (With Club set to YACF.)

For example, if select "Explorer (tiles)", "All" years and "All" events I don't appear at all.
If I change it to "Explorer (tiles)", "All" years and "Ride" events I'm 40th with 5712 tiles.
"Explorer (tiles)", "All" years and "Swims" events I'm top with 6 tiles.
"Explorer (tiles)", "All" years and "Run" events I'm not there at all. (Despite having 58 tiles ticked off from running.)

But change it back to "All" events and I'm not there, (I should be there with 5731 tiles.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 21 December, 2018, 03:32:32 pm
It does take some time to sync. Is it still doing this 24 hours later?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 21 December, 2018, 03:42:40 pm
I joined the YACF Strava club a few days ago, so it's more than 24h.

I guess it only syncs the tables periodically (I've got PRO membership, not PRO+).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 21 December, 2018, 03:45:45 pm
Hmmm. Weird. It has been keeping pace with my records accurately. I can't explain... Anyone else got an idea what might be happening?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 21 December, 2018, 05:10:25 pm
Is everyone already a member of the YACF Strava club? Anyone who is a member of that shows up in / can see ... the leaderboard on Velo Viewer.

https://veloviewer.com/leaderboard/y/0/t/explc/at/-/c/2081

Did everyone already know this?

It doesn't seem reliable though. I appear in some leaderboards but not others. (With Club set to YACF.)

For example, if select "Explorer (tiles)", "All" years and "All" events I don't appear at all.
If I change it to "Explorer (tiles)", "All" years and "Ride" events I'm 40th with 5712 tiles.
"Explorer (tiles)", "All" years and "Swims" events I'm top with 6 tiles.
"Explorer (tiles)", "All" years and "Run" events I'm not there at all. (Despite having 58 tiles ticked off from running.)

But change it back to "All" events and I'm not there, (I should be there with 5731 tiles.)
That's weird, I can see you in the tables.
For running you're 11th with 58 tiles
For all activities , you're 40th 5731 tiles
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 21 December, 2018, 08:04:51 pm
Must have just updated as I see the same now.

As always, not quite patient enough.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 21 December, 2018, 08:37:18 pm
Think it looks for the cache. I have refreshed pages and they update fine, usually with other riders' scores updated.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 22 December, 2018, 11:05:17 pm
Bagged a few more tiles. Max cluster up to 397. I now have four 10x squares.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7821/46374196292_c26600eb37.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2dDVSUu)
vv_181222 (https://flic.kr/p/2dDVSUu) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 23 December, 2018, 09:07:30 pm
And after today's pootle the max cluster went over 400 and another size 10 square was added to the collection.

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4814/44617503890_064d5bed70_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2aYGnss)
vv_181223 (https://flic.kr/p/2aYGnss) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 24 December, 2018, 12:22:21 pm
Looks like I'm in for a ride to Dunkard's corner, and possible short walk towards Polecat end...   

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7890/44627891790_8d47d149f7.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2aZBBqb)Fullscreen capture 24122018 091310 (https://flic.kr/p/2aZBBqb) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 26 December, 2018, 03:59:22 pm
Nice 95km ride today. Picked off 11 tiles that increased my max cluster from 296 to 378. Discovered some really lovely lanes I've never ridden down before, and spotted some interesting sights including a lifesize carved wooden hippo.

Missed out on another couple of tiles due to part of my planned route turning out to be along a private farm track and although I tried to work a way round it, I missed the target tiles. Curses. Oh well, I'm planning to go out again tomorrow to pick off a few more so I'll tweak the route to take in those two. With another one I've got on my hit list for tomorrow, that will also take my max square up from 10 to 12.

Particularly pleased to pick off this one:
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7827/45749946864_788e1802a9.jpg)

Had planned to go through Eastwell Manor but it turns out the road is verboten to bikes. Luckily, by riding right up to the gate, I went *just* far enough to take me into the target tile. Yay!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 26 December, 2018, 04:30:46 pm
A bit of comedy off-roading (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=87796.msg2354361#msg2354361) meant that my max square unexpectedly went all the way up to 11  :thumbsup:

6375 tiles, average of 4.454 km per tile
Max square 11x11
Max Cluster: 409
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 26 December, 2018, 07:43:24 pm
bagged some 150 new tiles over Christmas so I managed to climb 1 place in the rankings. Next rider has about 2500 tiles advantage so that'll be difficult.
In the meantime also increased my cluster to 3251, a couple of extra strategic tiles and some serious increases are possible again.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 26 December, 2018, 08:49:58 pm
I seem to have leapfrogged Greenbank's 'max cluster' score* with today's ride. But I ran into a problem which is blogged about elsewhere... there is a tile by Ousefleet that can only be reached by walking to the end of someone's garden. I'll have to make a trip back with a bottle of wine I think. The previous "cycling tile explorer" just asked nicely, but I can't see that being okay very frequently.

Cluster up to 531.

*Greenbank's max square is significantly higher than mine to be fair.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: orejas on 26 December, 2018, 11:17:21 pm
Just got the suscription asa Christmas present from my wife. 4,,968 tiles, 8*8 square and max cluster of 333. A visit to 2 squares now planned for Saturday which should increase to 11*11.
Oh what fun!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 27 December, 2018, 02:17:20 pm
I tentatively loaded my data into VeloViewer to see what this Max Square stuff was all about...

Seems to be a ploy to encourage me to cycle around more of what can only be described as 'Brimingham'.  Bah!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 27 December, 2018, 03:09:23 pm
I tentatively loaded my data into VeloViewer to see what this Max Square stuff was all about...

Seems to be a ploy to encourage me to cycle around more of what can only be described as 'Brimingham'.  Bah!

If you pay, it'll upload your complete Strava history, meaning you've probably covered most of Brum already. So you can concentrate on riding anywhere else...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 27 December, 2018, 03:25:51 pm
Oh well, I'm planning to go out again tomorrow to pick off a few more so I'll tweak the route to take in those two. With another one I've got on my hit list for tomorrow, that will also take my max square up from 10 to 12.

I am a bloody idiot. On today's ride, I decided to take a shortcut home rather than stop off for coffee and cake as I'd originally planned - the detour to the cafe would have nabbed an awkward tile I've been aiming for. Curses!

None the less, it was a very enjoyable ride, and at least I managed to pick off the two tiles I missed yesterday - I've also discovered some seriously lovely lanes I've never ridden before, partly because they're a bit 'cross country' so rather lumpy, but absolutely worth it. Some to bear in mind for future audax route planning...

Bagged another 12 tiles to increase my max cluster from 378 to 425, and by virtue of my max square shifting position slightly, it's now up from 10x10 to 13x13. Annoyingly, if I'd got that tile I missed, it would be up to 15x15.

My coverage of East Kent is starting to look quite healthy - I've got another couple of routes worked out that will fill in most of the gaps around Folkestone and Dover, and I've still got to find time for an MTB outing to Sandwich to tick off that cluster, but it won't be long before I'll have to start expanding westwards...
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4857/32614479298_8d0f7d873d_o.png)

This is proving a much more satisfying way to spend my Christmas break than slogging round pointless miles to do the Festive 500.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 27 December, 2018, 03:33:53 pm
I tentatively loaded my data into VeloViewer to see what this Max Square stuff was all about...

Seems to be a ploy to encourage me to cycle around more of what can only be described as 'Brimingham'.  Bah!

If you pay, it'll upload your complete Strava history, meaning you've probably covered most of Brum already. So you can concentrate on riding anywhere else...

Nahh, I've got the urban equivalent of the coastal town problem.  The overwhelming majority of my rides are to the south and east, avoiding the conurbation.  Which means that to expand the square I either need to cover quite large distances to get to places I haven't already been, or venture into the nearby areas to the north (and the Solihull area) that I've been avoiding for good reason.

There appear to be a couple of low-hanging tiles that I've missed because they're dead-ended by motorways, and some scope for expanding the square further into the bastard hills to the west.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 27 December, 2018, 04:53:01 pm
Today's tile bagging included a short walk in a field near Banchory:

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7844/45574899375_a58de28588_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2crigMa)
vv_field_walk (https://flic.kr/p/2crigMa) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr

6384 tiles, average of 4.461 km per tile
Max square 11x11 
Max Cluster: 428 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 27 December, 2018, 04:58:42 pm
I tentatively loaded my data into VeloViewer to see what this Max Square stuff was all about...

Seems to be a ploy to encourage me to cycle around more of what can only be described as 'Brimingham'.  Bah!

If you pay, it'll upload your complete Strava history, meaning you've probably covered most of Brum already. So you can concentrate on riding anywhere else...

Nahh, I've got the urban equivalent of the coastal town problem.  The overwhelming majority of my rides are to the south and east, avoiding the conurbation.  Which means that to expand the square I either need to cover quite large distances to get to places I haven't already been, or venture into the nearby areas to the north (and the Solihull area) that I've been avoiding for good reason.

There appear to be a couple of low-hanging tiles that I've missed because they're dead-ended by motorways, and some scope for expanding the square further into the bastard hills to the west.

Sounds like you're hooked. And so quickly.
 ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 27 December, 2018, 05:32:50 pm
Sounds like you're hooked. And so quickly.
 ;D

I'm too ill to go anywhere near a bike, so peering at maps is a natural proxy activity.  Currently seeing how much I can improve my score using my collection of pre-2014 GPX files that never made it to Strava.  This involves tedious cropping, because Strava doesn't handle single Tracks with a gap for a train journey gracefully, and gets gremlins if you feed it after midnight.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 27 December, 2018, 07:47:17 pm
90k for me today to pick up 14 tiles SW of Nottingham.  A bit urban but very quiet on the roads.

Bumped up my max cluster from 1450 to 1489 and I now have two off 32*32 squares.

Rutland Water is next on the list to repeat some pre-Strava bits.  It looks like I should be able to get the tiles without traipsing all the way along the peninsula.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 28 December, 2018, 04:28:56 pm
Why does VV thin out a gpx track so much?  (edit.  server space I guess) Is there anyway to change the way it does this?

Ride today was around Oxford, and though I'd get the tile alongside Whytam woods, but VV has diddled me out of it. OK it was cutting it bit fine, but even so...

From Strava - note track on road...

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4811/32628414408_583bd81d52.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/RHg9R7)Fullscreen capture 28122018 161822 (https://flic.kr/p/RHg9R7) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

From VV - gpx track is a very approximate representation...  and so I don't get the tile.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7866/32628414228_de602fd191.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/RHg9N1)Fullscreen capture 28122018 161738 (https://flic.kr/p/RHg9N1) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

I suppose, that I now know to beware of this on, these 'close' bends...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 28 December, 2018, 04:45:53 pm
Why does VV thin out a gpx track so much?  Is there anyway to change the way it does this?

Ride today was around Oxford, and though I'd get the tile alongside Whytam woods, but VV has diddled me out of it. OK it was cutting it bit fine, but even so...

From Strava - note track on road...

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4811/32628414408_583bd81d52.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/RHg9R7)Fullscreen capture 28122018 161822 (https://flic.kr/p/RHg9R7) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

From VV - gpx track is a very approximate representation...  and so I don't get the tile.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7866/32628414228_de602fd191.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/RHg9N1)Fullscreen capture 28122018 161738 (https://flic.kr/p/RHg9N1) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

In veloviewer, click on the ride track, and it will open a tab with a detailed view of the route. This may get you the extra tile. By default, veloviewer downloads a truncated "preview" of the route, which it then uses to generate tiles. This truncated route is usually enough, but occasionally you will have to do the click on trace thing to make it load the full detail. Note, this is a double edged sword. In some cases you lose a tile, in others you gain.

Good luck.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 28 December, 2018, 05:25:11 pm
OK, thanks, that seemed to do the trick.   :)

An alternative way to get this tile was to go in and out of the park & ride entrance, so I've been spared that joy...   ;)

First time ever, I downloaded full gpx onto my old etrex which then truncated to 500pts, and so I lost my track in N Oxford, and had to try ridewgps on my phone*

*couldn't find track-up setting, which was a pain
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 28 December, 2018, 07:51:34 pm
Got my max square up to 11x11 by lovingly curating my recordings of pre-2014 rides (which includes an assortment of local "I'm not going that way again" discoveries from shortly after we moved to Brum) into a format Strava can handle.   :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 28 December, 2018, 08:50:49 pm
160k for me today picking up 26 tiles around Eyebrook reservoir and Rutland Water.  It was ridiculously mild.  There were probably more efficient routes to get the RW tiles but in my book a lap of the lake beats fiddly in-and-outs even if I did get a bit beaten up on some of the rougher tracks.  Still had a couple of slippery in-and-out bridleways elsewhere which was 'entertaining' in the dark with dyno lights and 28mm slicks.  No increase in max square but max cluster has jumped from 1489 to 1612.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 29 December, 2018, 03:03:23 pm
100km today - but cut the ride short because that wind was utterly exhausting. Expanded max square to 15x15 but had to walk into a field to do it. I was wondering if it would be easy enough to add the explorer tiles to the map folder on my Garmin Touring. It would have made life easier if I didn't have to keep checking my phone to see if I was in the right place.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 29 December, 2018, 03:26:39 pm
...I was wondering if it would be easy enough to add the explorer tiles to the map folder on my Garmin Touring. It would have made life easier if I didn't have to keep checking my phone to see if I was in the right place.

I put the tiles of interest on my GPS via Basecamp. Each tile is a separate track. Then I set them to 'Show on map' via the Track Manager on the GPS (do this before you set off!).

ETA - you could investigate joining tiles into one track in Basecamp.

FETA - like this. The tiles in green are one track made by joining all the tracks for the individual tiles. I made it one row at a time. and had to move parts of the constructed tracks to hide diagonal lines.

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4841/46462320672_b774fdb219_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2dMHxdm)
tiles_example (https://flic.kr/p/2dMHxdm) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 30 December, 2018, 05:51:20 pm
The holes are getting filled in. Max square up to 13. It may take a while to increase that by much.

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4866/45803797894_2b976f9b38_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2cMwrkm)
vv_181230 (https://flic.kr/p/2cMwrkm) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr

6412 tiles, average of 4.454 km per tile
Max square 13x13
Max Cluster: 459
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 30 December, 2018, 08:03:44 pm
My coverage of East Kent is starting to look quite healthy - I've got another couple of routes worked out that will fill in most of the gaps around Folkestone and Dover, and I've still got to find time for an MTB outing to Sandwich to tick off that cluster, but it won't be long before I'll have to start expanding westwards...
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4857/32614479298_8d0f7d873d_o.png)

Took the dog for a long walk today and filled in that annoying hole near Sandwich - the path along the Stour was well churned up in places, would have been tough going even on an MTB. There was also a flooded section that had to be circumvented by climbing a couple of fences. Jolly good fun!

15km walked, four tiles ticked off and max cluster increased by 12 to 437.

Hoping to get out on the bike again tomorrow - have my sights set on three tiles that will, if my calculations are correct, increase my max square to 16x16.

Next ride after that will be down to Folkestone to fill in the gaps round there, which ought to take my max square up to 19x19. And I have another dog walk planned to fill in the last coastal squares near Sandwich - at which point I'll have ticked off every Kentish land tile east of Ashford.

Maybe I should be looking to Lewis Pugh for inspiration for my next adventures in tile bagging...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 30 December, 2018, 09:45:25 pm
Did 110km around Otmoor today, so cluster is now on 356, and 14x14 square.

The dead end track to Drunkard's corner turned into a bit of a mudfest halfway down, after the signs to beware of shooting(!) - fortunately clay pigeon.  I had to poke out mud and leaves from my brakes with a twig, just before rejoining the road, and also spray electrolyte on the brake pads.  Don't know how I haven't had any visitations in the last month with the tracks I've been on.  Certainly getting used to hosing the bike down, post ride.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7839/46532236281_4a440b1efb.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2dTTSFT)cluster 30122018 (https://flic.kr/p/2dTTSFT) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

edit.  TBH not sure I'll have the will to do Swindon, if and when the time comes, we'll see.   ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 01 January, 2019, 11:00:28 am
I intended to ride Saturday's club run to get some 'easy' miles towards the Festive500 but woke up late.  Plan B involved collecting tiles in the Bingham, Bottesford and Belvoir area.

32k northwards along some really mucky (but lovely) little lanes to get to the first tile then a bit of meandering around the Bingham area before diverting for coffee at the excellent Caffe Velo Verde in Screveton.  An unpleasant uphill into wind stretch on the A52 before escaping back onto the lanes and one of the less obvious tiles.

When I was planning the route it looked like the only legit approach was 600m down the farm access track to Tythby Grange.  I checked on Streetview (dated March 2011) (https://goo.gl/maps/hewNtbEcjBx) and it looked OK but when I got there I was faced with gates, intercoms, cameras etc.  Maybe they had too many tile-chasing cyclists wandering down their drive ;)

The next best alternative appeared to be to approach the tile from the south by riding 1k along what I thought was a canal towpath even though it was only shown as a footpath.  When I got there it was obviously not a towpath as it was the wrong side of the fenceline from the canal that I now discover is actually the River Smite  :-[  Anyway - the 'track' ran along the edge of the field and looked rideable - so I did.  There was a bit of mudguard cloggage at one point but not too bad.


(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7856/32679294968_ece5a78f96_o.jpg)


I meandered through four more tiles before getting back onto the A52 for a stretch towards Bottesford.  This was far more fun as it was downwind, felt mostly downhill and picked up another two tiles :)

The flat roads across the Vale of Belvoir suddenly changed to the crinkly bits past the castle as I headed for Croxton Kerrial and the A607.  I really don't like riding this road as it is undulating, twisty and feels narrow for an A road.  Fortunately it wasn't too busy and I also 'needed' to dive off down the delightful little lane that leads to Croxton Park for another tile.

By the time I reached Waltham on the Wolds the A607 had yielded another two tiles and that was the end of Plan B with a 25k run home into the wind.  I also had a Plan C loaded into my GPS which was to pick up a stray tile near Coston.  This would add about 20k to the ride home but I convinced myself that as it was about 4pm it would allow the headwind to reduce a bit more for the homeward leg  :-\

I had planned to ride King Street Lane from Stonesby to Coston - the Streetview car had been down it (https://goo.gl/maps/qohBfeU93Bt) and it didn't look too bad.  After being suckered into it with a stretch of good surface it deteriorated to a sloppy mess.  It was fortunate that by this time I was generally coasting downhill and the dyno-light was good enough to pick out a half decent line rather than struggling for traction uphill (probably pushing) and with negligible lighting.  There was also a ford crossing just before Coston that washed a fair bit of the slop off.  With hindsight I should have done the extra mile (or two) on the road via Sproxton but where's the fun in that?

The run back into Melton was a bit of a struggle into wind so I diverted to get home via the Wreake valley rather than use the more direct but more exposed B676.

This ride bagged 20 new tiles and bumped my max cluster up by 71 to 1683 and I now have 5 off 33*33 squares.

Plan D is Derby.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 January, 2019, 12:52:59 pm
Interesting extra challenge has crossed my radar.

https://www.longtermnlchallenge.bike

Similar idea to the veloviewer tile game, but with municipalities. There's one for Belgium too. I'm at 48% of Dutch municipalities. Am waiting on the Belgian one to finish processing to see how I'm doing with that one.

I'm hoping that RatN will give me a good chunk of these, but it gives me an extra target along with the tiles to chase!

I wonder if there is one for .uk...

J

Edit: 27% of Belgium it seems...

I got an email from the guy behind the Long Term NL challenge talling me that I was in joint first place for number of Municipalities added in 2018, with 155. Ooh, says I, wait. I haven't synced my festive 500 rides yet. *syncs*. 159 total for 2018, sneaking 1st place at the last minute.

My 4 am Jaunt round a remote polder with a manually operate ferry on xmas eve paid off!

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 01 January, 2019, 01:05:26 pm
This ride bagged 20 new tiles and bumped my max cluster up by 71 to 1683 and I now have 5 off 33*33 squares.

Sounds like a good ride - and very productive. :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 01 January, 2019, 01:06:29 pm
My 4 am Jaunt round a remote polder with a manually operate ferry on xmas eve paid off!

Do you ever fear you’re taking this too seriously? ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 01 January, 2019, 01:08:52 pm
I have decided that my big target for 2019 will be to link up my main East Kent cluster with my mini London cluster. Should be quite achievable.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 January, 2019, 01:19:28 pm
My 4 am Jaunt round a remote polder with a manually operate ferry on xmas eve paid off!

Do you ever fear you’re taking this too seriously? ;D

It was my festive 500 attempt. I had only 3 days in which to get the 500km, and it also had to end up with me being in Leipzig. So I left home just after 3am on xmas eve, did 240km, hotel in Munster, then another 180, and completed with 77km and a train on the 3rd day. But I did wiggle the route a bit to bag me some extra tiles near Huizen, and to avoid me having to cycle round Flevopolder again. And when leaving Leipzig I did take a weird route from hotel to station so there was no hole in the tiles I had. Sure it doesn't add to cluster, or to my square, but it does mean I have no annoying single tile hole in the middle of Leipzig...

I was going to go out for a 50km ride today to find some tiles, but I'm still tired, and it turns out I need to spend my day swapping cassette and chains...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 01 January, 2019, 07:26:30 pm
Good 60km NYD ride via Ewelme to unlock a Chilterns cluster - so now 423, and 16x16 square. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 02 January, 2019, 08:54:11 pm
Added 73 tiles to the max cluster  :) Now up to 532.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7808/46575807631_cbf4e83a97_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2dXKbW4)
vv_max_cluster_027 (https://flic.kr/p/2dXKbW4) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 04 January, 2019, 04:47:21 pm

Not allowed to cycle at the moment on advise of Physio. She said if I was feeling restless to go for a walk instead, but no running. So I went for a walk.

I took a bus to the Waterleidingduinen, which is an area near Amsterdam that is primarily used to for water treatment of drinking water. I had a hole of 8 tiles that I can't get to by bike, only on foot. Ideal if I can't ride, a walk with purpose.

14km in total (thought it would be nearer 8, oops). Got all 8 tiles tho, and even made it to the bus with 3 minutes to spare.

Alas does nothing for my cluster yet, there's a couple of single tiles blocking things.

(http://photos.quixotic.eu/misc/vv-screenshot03.png)

I'll grab the single tiles when I can ride again, which hopefully won't be too long.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: pdm on 04 January, 2019, 09:18:19 pm
Hard work this tile chasing lark here in the Peak District...
Did a 103km ride climbing 2000m today.
Went from 3 10x10 to 2 12x12  :P

Max Cluster: 231. Average of 26.268 km per tile so far...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 04 January, 2019, 09:39:07 pm

Couple of shots from todays walk. Couldn't get much closer before they ran off, but I had a good with the limited kit I had with me.

(http://photos.quixotic.eu/XT1/2019/01/04/XT1A6527_1024.JPG)
(http://photos.quixotic.eu/XT1/2019/01/04/XT1A6500_1024.JPG)

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 04 January, 2019, 09:52:30 pm
Nice  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 05 January, 2019, 12:38:36 am
I went yesterday to bag a few missing squares in crappy bits of Hendon/Edgware/Stanmore/Wembley/Neasden that I'd not cycled anywhere near before because why would you? Square increased to 19x19 though.

I do need to learn to zoom in further when designing routes - this one wanted me to ride on the 8 lane no pavement underpass section of the North Circular near Hanger Lane. Fortunately I found a service road on the opposite side.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 05 January, 2019, 04:00:43 pm
I have decided that my big target for 2019 will be to link up my main East Kent cluster with my mini London cluster. Should be quite achievable.

With really careful planning you can do it with 2 one-way journeys (or one return journey), but each route would need to be a bit convoluted (I just blindly follow the pink line on my GPS so I don't care).

3 one-way journeys is obviously easier, and is very easy (in terms of planning/route-choice) with 4 one-way journeys.

If I get bored of trying to cover all tiles inside the M25 I may try and connect my Henham/Ugley mini-cluster with my London cluster. One or two 100km rides up there (train back) will do it as I've got a number of tiles already (and it will give me a chance to cover some new North London roads on the way, and fill in some missing tiles up at the top too). But rides like this will have to be weekend rides as I can't fit them in to my day off (I've only got 5.5h whilst MiniGB is at school).

I've got another mini cluster out West near Henley and another proto-cluster down by Dungeness (thanks to the Invicta 300 and Flattest Possible 300 Audaxes).

Maybe that could be my next big goal; to spread my cluster as far and wide as I can (with a bit of work I can get it to cover: Brighton, Cambridge, Henley, Guildford, Dungeness, Braintree and most of London within the M25). Hmm. Getting a ballot place in the Ride 100 would certainly help my motivation (focused on running now and swimming later in the year).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chew on 05 January, 2019, 04:26:56 pm
First person to get to 100x100 squares

https://rideeverytile.com/2019/01/05/the-first-tiling-century/

Think I can just about squeeze that size in between the Mersey and Humber, but it’s going to take some time....
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 05 January, 2019, 08:36:02 pm
First person to get to 100x100 squares

https://rideeverytile.com/2019/01/05/the-first-tiling-century/

Think I can just about squeeze that size in between the Mersey and Humber, but it’s going to take some time....

 :o  His 100x100 totally overlaps my 16x16 in Oxfordshire - interesting to see how he's tackled some of the trickier tiles around these parts...

JF's VV link (https://veloviewer.com/athlete/2151491/activities?o=0:1&f=0:1366892939000|1546447201000,1:Ride|Walk,5:642.7|277996,6:0|20417.1&c=0,0,5,6,9)... 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 January, 2019, 08:52:23 pm
First person to get to 100x100 squares

https://rideeverytile.com/2019/01/05/the-first-tiling-century/

Think I can just about squeeze that size in between the Mersey and Humber, but it’s going to take some time....

 :o  His 100x100 totally overlaps my 16x16 in Oxfordshire - interesting to see how he's tackled some of the trickier tiles around these parts...

JF's VV link (https://veloviewer.com/athlete/2151491/activities?o=0:1&f=0:1366892939000|1546447201000,1:Ride|Walk,5:642.7|277996,6:0|20417.1&c=0,0,5,6,9)...

Mighty impressive.

I'm wondering if a Sea kayak is going to figure in his shopping some time soon...

I've been looking at the Dutch map. There's no way to get more than about 60 or so, there's too many military bases that are off limits. I wonder what the max is in the UK before you hit up against tiles that are totally off limits.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 06 January, 2019, 01:47:24 pm
JF's achievement is great, especially 100x100 in 2018 alone.

I added about 30-40 tiles to my total as I spent Christmas and New year away from home, so no addition to my square or cluster.

Like @QG, I am going to have to take to the water to expand my max square.

For the first time, my goals for the year don't involve ride or total distance, but exploring.

Want to get my cluster over 1000 and expand it to include Dundee, Perth and Dunbar.  Also want to complete the Lomond Hills, the Pentlands and the Ochils.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: orejas on 06 January, 2019, 05:48:35 pm
I discovered this game a couple of weeks ago. With today's ride I am at 14*14 filling in a couple. 100 by 100 is certainly a lot of dedication!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 06 January, 2019, 10:00:49 pm
I have decided that my big target for 2019 will be to link up my main East Kent cluster with my mini London cluster. Should be quite achievable.

With really careful planning you can do it with 2 one-way journeys (or one return journey), but each route would need to be a bit convoluted (I just blindly follow the pink line on my GPS so I don't care).

Yes, it would be doable but I’m taking more of a nibbling away at it approach. I started planning some routes to pick off lots of tiles in one go but if I’m realistic, I’m never going to go out and actually ride them. Better to plan shorter routes to pick off tiles strategically in small numbers. I don’t have the time for big rides at the moment (unless they have the letters BRM attached to them).

I have a mini cluster around the Sevenoaks area so I’ll aim to link up with that first, by filling in a few gaps between Ashford and Sevenoaks, and then get to London by filling in the gaps between Sevenoaks and Biggin Hill.

I’m also finding that dog walking is a good way to reach the more inaccessible tiles, and ViewRanger is a good source of routes. Did a lovely 10km dog walk yesterday near Faversham, with a splendid pub stop and bagged another couple of tiles in the process that fortuitously increased my max square to 14x14.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 08 January, 2019, 06:31:10 am
Nice, the VV inforgraphic now has room for Explorer details.  Here is mine for 2018.

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4888/46606075422_6b917a123c_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2e1qjuw)veloviewer 2018-all-PI (https://flic.kr/p/2e1qjuw) by paddyirish (https://www.flickr.com/photos/paddyirish/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 08 January, 2019, 03:32:24 pm
I need to change my (Strava) name.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190108/32117e522d4c633deaa711689775e35e.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 08 January, 2019, 04:09:49 pm
(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/veloviewer+2018.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 08 January, 2019, 06:02:22 pm
Wow, great work @Ivo
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 08 January, 2019, 11:00:57 pm

My efforts seem quite lame compared to others. Maybe I'll use some of my training rides this year to join things up a bit:

(http://photos.quixotic.eu/misc/veloviewer-2018.png)

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 08 January, 2019, 11:24:58 pm
Don't knock it, they're more impressive than mine...

(http://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/cycling/veloviewer2018summary.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Si S on 09 January, 2019, 08:41:16 am
lots of flat commuting

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2Qo8d9HB9zVOLN8J3vZ7QU2oUmR9ecvJLSKQT9VsczXVQ8dEVqdSMWQwICzQI3xd7Ufr-t1JlA0oj5-1zpZsikhdI_7XV5-_HcWwP1RhszY-PFgyZeg9BvYMDiitIQPM45jTmyKCA_bVLzEVfxGbIz2k8oEWhIZ41dzuDWt28voHMo90hCs-3d-4fU2BqErSwrsOtwNVeFpfoaVCnBhq7x9kKXDp15wOqeWeZA4b7G8JdMWZxdg4E-UYDyn_ONsniNea5R5aF1ivHimuMdhdTZ9UEpkZxxGBDNYsq9WQLUjAK1Ptc9X0H--D_7SWzDgoJD4fFsbh0b2aVZzPUvEMQaXTvky_i12c28Ky3r7vvE2SRlj6JlDR1iBOXa-ahh0GLLPC643yYAxMQ__UNB808glRttk8pNiGq4G1TKaVdMKRek51I424JYA1QSR6rs-WIKDJAMlXkUtRj9cUi8buGom5Ti01o8OU4WYWOvSKo5zJwP9Cqlu15sHBRR9kOL0xFnxY1lRAr2fETwEVgr0N7TT70bRWrDchfRVE2u8Yaxs8rvUbewLl4NrpdmehoDtwxbNa5AtSEYC4jF8daa8cRCUWU9_JkClLnzSiRqs--4OOc92H3sYdYuf8_rfuGGWTtTTWunjE5AkF55IaxYeTh_qe=s735-no)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 09 January, 2019, 09:40:39 am
Some really good stats here - a lot of people only came to the game late, so 2019 should see some big increases.

@guixoticgeek ~5400 new tiles in a year is not pathetic at all  I am yet to break 2000 tiles in the 4 years I have been on Strava.  I think I need to add at least 1000 tiles this year, even if viewed as an investment for filling in gaps in the future
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 09 January, 2019, 10:32:10 am
Completely agree, 5400 new tiles in a year is a huge number.  That's a lot of riding in new areas.


These are my stats..... (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190109/95cffd5297ba4ccdb96f84f7f7a36def.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 09 January, 2019, 11:08:10 am
Ok, so my only 2018 stat worth mentioning is a cluster tile / km cycled value of 0.095   

displaying low hanging fruit weighting... ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 09 January, 2019, 08:29:08 pm
OK, being as we're sharing.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7818/45765233435_2f72f9e371_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2cJ7MsT)
2018 (https://flic.kr/p/2cJ7MsT) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 10 January, 2019, 10:10:03 pm
I filled in a big chunk of missing tiles between Harrow, Uxbridge and Denham, which has done nothing for my Max Square but has upped my 685 to 832 by connecting up to a load of tiles in the Thames valley.

Had a bit of an off riding on a necessary footpath between tiles - lost concentration, went off the edge of the narrow paved part and the Brompton wheels immediately dug into the wet mud.

On the plus side, gained a 4th Place Overall on a section of the Magic Roundabout (https://www.strava.com/segments/6053422?filter=overall) at the Denham A40/M40 junction. Might go back and try for the KOM!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 11 January, 2019, 10:10:44 pm
YES 5400 new explorer tiles is huge well done. I couldn't compete with Lee K but tried hard, I love going to new places.

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4878/45967133144_f57e400147_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2d2Xzdm)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 13 January, 2019, 05:38:46 pm
A bit of creative trespassing today helped me bag a tile that has no public rights of way through it - the footpath just misses the tile, but I 'accidentally' turned off onto a private farm track and went far enough along it to enter the tile before I 'realised' my mistake...  :P
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7887/31787219337_ec7b33cd39_z.jpg)

Still making slow progress otherwise - haven't been out on the bike yet this year aside from short commuting trips...  :'(
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: pdm on 14 January, 2019, 10:20:41 am
Very slow progress here! Some squares close to me are inaccessible, not being able to walk far...

Current paltry status:

Max square 12x12   Up from 10x10 on 1st Jan.
Max Cluster: 256
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 17 January, 2019, 11:53:27 pm

Been playing around with routes and maps, and I think the max square that I can get is 59x59, before I hit up against the army training ground at Infanterie Schietkamp Harskamp. But This requires kayaking for 4 tiles between Flevopolder and the mainland. After that I think I'll just have to target my cluster instead.

Did a couple of rides last weekend filling in a couple of blanks, Have increased my cluster upto 281, but no difference as yet to my square. Am pondering a 200k diy audax to fill in a big chunk of blanks, partly as I need to do my RRtY for January.

I got me some cycling to do!

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 18 January, 2019, 12:40:34 am
I've come up with a target of filling in the M25, which doesn't directly help my square, my cluster or my lungs, but it will look nice.

Today I completely the north west quadrant, with a zig zag route between Denham and Watford and crossing the M25 eight times.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 18 January, 2019, 08:47:27 am
If you draw up or import a route in the Strava planner (which is available on the free version), you can then check it in the Routes tab on Veloviewer to see the new tiles which it will give you :)

Example - https://photos.app.goo.gl/8ydFzuYkFbqYv87m7
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 18 January, 2019, 09:26:00 am
If you draw up or import a route in the Strava planner (which is available on the free version), you can then check it in the Routes tab on Veloviewer to see the new tiles which it will give you :)

Example - https://photos.app.goo.gl/8ydFzuYkFbqYv87m7

Very useful tip, thank you  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 18 January, 2019, 09:47:19 am
If you draw up or import a route in the Strava planner (which is available on the free version), you can then check it in the Routes tab on Veloviewer to see the new tiles which it will give you :)

Example - https://photos.app.goo.gl/8ydFzuYkFbqYv87m7

There is a veloviewer chrome extension that overlays your tiles in the Strava route planner. Makes planning very easy.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 18 January, 2019, 11:17:43 am
That's even better, many thanks.

Instructions here if anyone else needs it https://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-chrome-extension-for-strava-website/
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 18 January, 2019, 11:25:13 am
There’s also a Veloviewer companion app for Android, although beware it has the most terrible “is it doing anything?” user interface.

Also beware that although it has a track recording function it doesn’t seem to have an export/upload function, so you’d better be recording it on something else.

But when it’s working, super useful for checking which squares you need and whether youve crossed the boundary.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 18 January, 2019, 11:48:25 am
I've come up with a target of filling in the M25, which doesn't directly help my square, my cluster or my lungs, but it will look nice.

Today I completely the north west quadrant, with a zig zag route between Denham and Watford and crossing the M25 eight times.

We can swap notes then, I've done the SW quadrant.

(Not sure if you can view this: https://veloviewer.com/athlete/2417073/activities I think I made my stuff public)

Ah, that may be a suitable first major goal: cover all tiles within the M25.

Hoping to get out again on Monday to fill in the segment around Caterham.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 18 January, 2019, 11:53:32 am
By chance I've just done a route for Caterham, do you want it?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 18 January, 2019, 12:18:13 pm
There’s also a Veloviewer companion app for Android, although beware it has the most terrible “is it doing anything?” user interface.

Also beware that although it has a track recording function it doesn’t seem to have an export/upload function, so you’d better be recording it on something else.

But when it’s working, super useful for checking which squares you need and whether youve crossed the boundary.

Be aware that the GPS on your phone may not match the position of your wahoo/garmin. So even tho it claims you are just over the boundary into the tile, you're not. This has bitten me on the arse once. Had to go out again to get one tile that the app said I was in, but wahoo said no. Now I always go into a tile by a good 100m or so, just to be sure.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 18 January, 2019, 12:49:19 pm
By chance I've just done a route for Caterham, do you want it?

Thanks but I've got mine sorted as I have to visit a specific set of tiles and time is limited between dropping off my daughter at school and being there to pick her up.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 18 January, 2019, 12:50:07 pm
It can be worth - belt and braces wise - to set your phone's Strava App to record a short walk if you're really wanting to make certain you've captured a square. I'm my most recent "box of chocolates" trip into someone's back garden I was recording on three different devices just in case, and I uploaded one before I went home.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 18 January, 2019, 01:03:38 pm
It can be worth - belt and braces wise - to set your phone's Strava App to record a short walk if you're really wanting to make certain you've captured a square. I'm my most recent "box of chocolates" trip into someone's back garden I was recording on three different devices just in case, and I uploaded one before I went home.

I have my Inreach+ recording when I'm tile bagging, as a backup... Not paranoid... honest...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 18 January, 2019, 01:12:04 pm
That's why it'd be nice for the Veloviewer Companion app to be able to export a track, so you know you have *a* track that puts you within the square - assuming of course it uses precisely the same grid as Veloviewer itself!

(though there's an argument that if you get stiffed by GPS error, that's the universe telling you you weren't truly in the square any way, and you should try to visit it properly. Not always possible, of course)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 18 January, 2019, 01:17:28 pm
For an explorer ride with multiple spurs, I check tile positioning on Strava, then upload the gpx from Strava to Ridewithgps, put a POI on each spur end, then export the gpx with 'POI as waypoints', to Etrex.  Also means I have backup navigation (on rwgps app) if etrex doesn't play ball for some reason.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 18 January, 2019, 01:31:51 pm
TBH, If I knew I'd visited a tile but my GPS just hadn't recorded it properly I'd just tweak the GPX file and reupload it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 18 January, 2019, 05:07:55 pm

Was in Utrecht with an extra hour to kill. So thought I'd go for a walk, bag a couple of tiles. Ended up getting 3. Decided to get a bus back to the centre. Got on wrong bus. Realised this, went 3 stops. Logged the walk back to a bus stop in the other direction, got bus back to the station. Result: 5 tiles, filling in the blanks of Utrecht. And a walk logged of under 200m...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: pdm on 18 January, 2019, 06:30:30 pm
Took advantage of the lovely weather this morning to wheel the bicycle 100m onto a now hard frozen bog to bag a local tile and increase my square from 12x12 to 13x13... :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 January, 2019, 12:18:30 am
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DxR9u1-X4AEMKch.jpg)

Cancelled my planned 200k diy due to my stomach rebelling against yesterdays dinner, so took the Brompton on the train a couple of stops out of town, and did a simple 16k ride to bag 6 tiles that had been blocking my cluster's expansion. Any one of these tiles would be enough to open up the cluster, but while I was there, I may as well bag them all. Cluster went up 27 from 281 to 308. Now I have 5 overlapping 13x13 squares. Am going to have to work on southern tiles now. There's a tile with no public access blocking anything further north, and I'm gonna be limited by the Ijsselmeer at ~21x21 anyway.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 20 January, 2019, 07:59:27 am
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DxR9u1-X4AEMKch.jpg)

Cancelled my planned 200k diy due to my stomach rebelling against yesterdays dinner, so took the Brompton on the train a couple of stops out of town, and did a simple 16k ride to bag 6 tiles that had been blocking my cluster's expansion. Any one of these tiles would be enough to open up the cluster, but while I was there, I may as well bag them all. Cluster went up 27 from 281 to 308. Now I have 5 overlapping 13x13 squares. Am going to have to work on southern tiles now. There's a tile with no public access blocking anything further north, and I'm gonna be limited by the Ijsselmeer at ~21x21 anyway.

J

That tile further north has been bagged already by a few guys on the Dutch forum (fiets.nl)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 January, 2019, 08:58:08 am
There's a tile with no public access blocking anything further north, and I'm gonna be limited by the Ijsselmeer at ~21x21 anyway.

That tile further north has been bagged already by a few guys on the Dutch forum (fiets.nl)

Oh it's accessible if I have a packable boat, or if this cold snap last long enough for the ice to get thick enough to walk on. But given that I will very soon be limited to by the Ijsselmeer, It's a disproportionate amount of effort needed to bag a tile that will eventually not actually be that much use, am better off spending the effort south. Am trying to make a baseline from the North Sea to Zeewolde (and eventually to Harskamp), that I can then build downwards on. Yesterdays ride got it to the North Sea, and it now reaches Almere on the eastern side. There's a tile just south of Almere in the Gooimeer that I'm gonna need to Either kayak, or swim to bag, same with three east of Zeewolde.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 20 January, 2019, 09:09:01 pm
There's a tile with no public access blocking anything further north, and I'm gonna be limited by the Ijsselmeer at ~21x21 anyway.

That tile further north has been bagged already by a few guys on the Dutch forum (fiets.nl)

Oh it's accessible if I have a packable boat, or if this cold snap last long enough for the ice to get thick enough to walk on. But given that I will very soon be limited to by the Ijsselmeer, It's a disproportionate amount of effort needed to bag a tile that will eventually not actually be that much use, am better off spending the effort south. Am trying to make a baseline from the North Sea to Zeewolde (and eventually to Harskamp), that I can then build downwards on. Yesterdays ride got it to the North Sea, and it now reaches Almere on the eastern side. There's a tile just south of Almere in the Gooimeer that I'm gonna need to Either kayak, or swim to bag, same with three east of Zeewolde.

J

I can't remember anyone bagging the Gooimeer tiles yet.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 21 January, 2019, 09:43:28 pm
I can't remember anyone bagging the Gooimeer tiles yet.

They are Sea Kayak only I think. I'm not sure it would be safe to try them by swimming, too much water traffic. Maybe with a support boat, it could be safe, but I think I'll await the kayak...

Today I set off on a 200k DIY to both bag my RRTY for January, and bag loads of tiles. Alas Ice put play to that and I had to turn round at 85km, after finding the next road I was turning onto was just a single sheet of ice. It was quite a large road, and if that was icy, the smaller ones later in the ride had no chance. Redirected to a station and a warm train home. On the plus side, I now have all the tiles in a line from the North sea to Zeewolde, on the down side, I now know that I don't like combining tile bagging and the time pressure of an Audax.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 22 January, 2019, 09:14:09 am
On the plus side, I now have all the tiles in a line from the North sea to Zeewolde, on the down side, I now know that I don't like combining tile bagging and the time pressure of an Audax.

I've discoverd that already. I do tend to bag a few outlying tiles during a DIY if I can include them in relatively straight forward routes. But not the turning around to bag every tile style of routes. So good for 'new' area's, not for adding a lot to my square or cluster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 29 January, 2019, 09:45:02 pm
I've discoverd that already. I do tend to bag a few outlying tiles during a DIY if I can include them in relatively straight forward routes. But not the turning around to bag every tile style of routes. So good for 'new' area's, not for adding a lot to my square or cluster.

I bagged a couple of tiles on this weekends Brevet, 2 because the route is different this year, and 1 because I went down a dead end quickly.

Today I went out for a ride, did just over 50k, and bagged the last tile I had on the Haarlemermeer. Gone from 5 13x13's, to a single 14x14. Misjudged the temperature massively, and had very very cold feet on the return. Took a while to rewarm everything. Gonna take a lot of effort to bump the square some more.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DyG4lKUX4AUP47h.jpg)
J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 29 January, 2019, 10:37:04 pm
It was cold out today, but I still managed to go and collect a tile that was blocking my max square from growing. As a result of today's ride to a dead-end in Spaldington my max square rose to 17*17. I'm quite delighted with that but I think I'll need at least three longish rides to expand further. Since starting:

One of the people I know through church is a retired Humber Pilot. He has advised me against sea-kayaking the Humber. However there are a couple of sailing clubs nearby... I just don't think they qualify as 'human-powered.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DyHLlMRXcAAOBCF.jpg)

With a couple of rides I think I can join my cluster of tiles in Humberside with a previously collected cluster near Teesside.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chew on 30 January, 2019, 09:09:42 am
Good to see which tiles are available on the western side of the Humber.
Looking forward to hear about how you get on with the sailing club
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 30 January, 2019, 10:31:11 am
With a couple of rides I think I can join my cluster of tiles in Humberside with a previously collected cluster near Teesside.
I think your northernmost abut my southernmost. Linking to East Angular is much more difficult.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 30 January, 2019, 10:43:53 am
With a couple of rides I think I can join my cluster of tiles in Humberside with a previously collected cluster near Teesside.
I think your northernmost abut my southernmost. Linking to East Angular is much more difficult.

It's the challenge of having a series of rides that are 3 tiles wide which makes it so awkward. Just riding different routes from the Anglian television region to the TyneTees region is simples isn't it, but making them a cluster isn't.

Once I've joined Teesside and Humberside, there's another cluster around Durham to add. Coolio. I understand that Max Cluster is a way of recognising the explorer efforts of riders whose Max Square is limited by geography or legal access... so I'm not too worried about filling in the purely wet tiles (of the Humber), but I am wondering if I can get a cluster to spread from one coast to the other. I'm also interested in exploring Leeds/Sheffield where I have no rides at all

I'm grateful to fboab, Deano and ChrisS for enticing me to play.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 30 January, 2019, 11:03:24 am
The distance between the two furthest points in your cluster is also something interesting to check. That gives also an impresion about your exploring qualities.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 30 January, 2019, 11:05:12 am
The distance between the two furthest points in your cluster is also something interesting to check. That gives also an impresion about your exploring qualities.

Is that a VeloViewer metric? (Goes off to find out)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 30 January, 2019, 11:06:53 am
The distance between the two furthest points in your cluster is also something interesting to check. That gives also an impresion about your exploring qualities.

Is that a VeloViewer metric? (Goes off to find out)

No, but on a Dutch forum we do keep track of it ourselves.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 30 January, 2019, 11:29:26 am
The distance between the two furthest points in your cluster is also something interesting to check. That gives also an impresion about your exploring qualities.

Is that a VeloViewer metric? (Goes off to find out)

No, but on a Dutch forum we do keep track of it ourselves.

:)

"Google-walking" distance or "Crow-flies" distance?


(Using the https://www.omnicalculator.com/math/hypotenuse OmniCalculator (because I've lost my book of trigonometric tables)...)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 30 January, 2019, 12:20:49 pm
It's the challenge of having a series of rides that are 3 tiles wide which makes it so awkward.

Yes, this is exactly what I'm finding with my plans to link up my main East Kent cluster with my mini London cluster. The two clusters are already linked but filling in tiles so both are incorporated into my max cluster will involve some fairly torturous routing.

Anyway, I've worked out that I can do it in two rides - could do it in one ride, in theory, but breaking it down into more manageable chunks means I'm more likely to actually get out and do it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 30 January, 2019, 12:28:05 pm
  • Kirmington is 51 tiles east of Marton-le-Moor and 43 tiles south... making the hypotenuse 66.7km long.

Tiles aren't 1km x 1km. The corners are defined by lat/lon increments[1] and so their size changes depending on how North you are.

It's ~94km as the crow flies.

1. Well, they were originally defined as 256x256px images of OpenStreetMap at zoom level 14, but this boils down to standard lat/lon increments.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 30 January, 2019, 01:08:00 pm
  • Kirmington is 51 tiles east of Marton-le-Moor and 43 tiles south... making the hypotenuse 66.7km long.

Tiles aren't 1km x 1km. The corners are defined by lat/lon increments[1] and so their size changes depending on how North you are.

It's ~94km as the crow flies.

1. Well, they were originally defined as 256x256px images of OpenStreetMap at zoom level 14, but this boils down to standard lat/lon increments.

Well that makes that complicated. So - how do the Dutch compare sizes then.
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 30 January, 2019, 01:09:38 pm
There are various tools on the interwebs which will calculate the distance between 2 points on a map - have a google.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 30 January, 2019, 01:15:29 pm
It's the challenge of having a series of rides that are 3 tiles wide which makes it so awkward.

Yes, this is exactly what I'm finding with my plans to link up my main East Kent cluster with my mini London cluster. The two clusters are already linked but filling in tiles so both are incorporated into my max cluster will involve some fairly torturous routing.

Anyway, I've worked out that I can do it in two rides - could do it in one ride, in theory, but breaking it down into more manageable chunks means I'm more likely to actually get out and do it.

I took the dog for a walk and got to thinking... it is easy to get caught up with max cluster and square, and forget the 'explorer score'. A friend of mine nearby has a similar max cluster to me, but their explorer score is much lower. Essentially they ride a lot within a 20 miles radius, but not much further afield. Which begs the question, which is more interesting:

(Of course I realise it is all a game, with 'scores' which reward different types of exploration) I wonder, though, if having a low cluster score but a large explorer score would be the equivalent of cycling off into the bits of the map that say "here be dragons". Would this be the difference between 'exploring' and 'cartography'?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 30 January, 2019, 01:24:49 pm
I certainly find the explorer score more interesting in cycling terms.  I'd much rather ride to new places than spend my time colouring in the Wet Midlands.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 30 January, 2019, 01:29:49 pm
I think the leaderboards on VeloViewer demonstrate that we (yacf) feel the same way... exploring seems more preferable to colouring-in. I can see 69 'yacf' club members on the VeloViewer leaderboard...

I'm 21st for max square
22nd for max cluster...
but I'm 34th for explorer score... (today)

It's time I started going new places!
:)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 30 January, 2019, 01:44:22 pm
I certainly find the explorer score more interesting in cycling terms.  I'd much rather ride to new places than spend my time colouring in the Wet Midlands.

For me what's happened is two fold:

a) I've done lots of trips that have left small gaps that I can fill in by either a specifically targetted ride, or by taking a parallel road on a planned bike ride, or like the tile I got on Saturday's audax, by a short ~500m diversion.

b) I wanna go for a ride but I'm bored of the same old roads, where can I go that I've not been before? ooh, I could go here and bag these tiles.

My explorer score is quite high compared to both my cluster and my max square, because I have done things like my long trip to Hell. All being well, TCR should have a similar impact for me this year too. There are many metrics that can be used to compare how people ride using the veloviewer tiles. max square, max cluster, explorer score, or even ratios of the two. What's the ratio between your square, and your explorer score? For the cluster, what is the width/height ratio like?

Pick your metric, see where it drives you...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 30 January, 2019, 01:53:14 pm
I think the leaderboards on VeloViewer demonstrate that we (yacf) feel the same way... exploring seems more preferable to colouring-in. I can see 69 'yacf' club members on the VeloViewer leaderboard...

I'm 21st for max square
22nd for max cluster...
but I'm 34th for explorer score... (today)

It's time I started going new places!
:)

Deans reaction to me moving to Canada was "Ah, there's lots of new squares there".
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 30 January, 2019, 02:31:50 pm
I certainly find the explorer score more interesting in cycling terms.  I'd much rather ride to new places than spend my time colouring in the Wet Midlands.

Yes, I like the fact that I have an unbroken line from Land's End to John O'Groats. Looking at the map overall also reminds me of other rides I've done to more exotic places. Which is nice.

But I also like the game element of filling in tiles to expand my max cluster and max square. And like QG, I find it's a good excuse to explore local routes that I don't usually ride rather than just do the same old boring roads again - sometimes it only serves to remind myself of why I tend to stick to the usual routes, other times it has revealed some wonderful roads that are on my doorstep but I never knew about before. It's also a good excuse to go down some dead ends that I wouldn't normally have a reason to explore.

For the parts that are less accessible by bike, it is also a good excuse to take the dog on long and interesting walks.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 30 January, 2019, 02:38:40 pm
This is how the UK looks for me:
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4841/46876017582_ef707b5466_z.jpg)

Clearly I need to do more riding in Wales. Yorkshire also looks a bit barren but all my riding there was done in pre-GPS days.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 30 January, 2019, 03:38:51 pm
That's so funny! My map seems to be all the places you haven't got a gps record for...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DyK2jdRXcAIjrwD.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: tom_e on 30 January, 2019, 03:47:32 pm
Partly a function of how your time is available for bike rides, I think.  If you can get out regularly but only for a few hours then you can fill in a cluster pretty well.  On the other hand if you get out for a full day once per month then you're going to cover new ground rather than determinedly filling a local box.  My availability tends to go straight from one to the other - either I have two hours max, or a whole day available.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 30 January, 2019, 05:11:09 pm
My availability tends to go straight from one to the other - either I have two hours max, or a whole day available.

This.  Plus when it's cold and miserable I tend to suffer a sense of humour failure after a couple of hours.  Hence my map ends up like this:

(http://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/cycling/Screenshot_at_2018_12_28_18_50_03.sized.png)

(I reckon http://www.jonathanokeeffe.com/strava/map.php gives a better coloured heatmap though VeloViewer's map is more usefully interactive.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 30 January, 2019, 06:21:09 pm
Mine looks something like this:

(http://photos.quixotic.eu/misc/vv-screenshot-04.png)

I've got a nice clump in the Netherlands, but things like my festive 500 attempt to Leipzig, and my trip to Hell, have pushed the tile count up, while adding nothing to cluster nor square. In Belgium I've got 3 clumps that are not yet connected. There's the Gent clump, Brussels clump, and the Maastricht clump.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 30 January, 2019, 06:30:22 pm
I don't do touring. Can you tell? (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190130/d2ee788aa7a7ae58369906bf7a3e0d9d.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 30 January, 2019, 06:31:29 pm
I don't do touring. Can you tell? (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190130/d2ee788aa7a7ae58369906bf7a3e0d9d.jpg)

And what exactly is wrong with the Netherlands ? :p

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 30 January, 2019, 06:32:07 pm
Lol. The BoB ride looks like it does what it says on the tin. That's some exploring young lady.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 30 January, 2019, 06:34:04 pm
Our heatmaps appear look like a toddler's attempt to color in a map. #smallhands #crayola
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 30 January, 2019, 06:35:12 pm
Our heatmaps appear look like a toddler's attempt to color in a map.

That's what they are, only we're using the road network and a rather extravagant "pen", rather than a printed map and some crayons...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Feanor on 30 January, 2019, 06:38:54 pm
I reckon http://www.jonathanokeeffe.com/strava/map.php gives a better coloured heatmap though VeloViewer's map is more usefully interactive.

Just tried that; it took a fair while to chunder through over 1000 activities, but I do like it...

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4906/46016425765_5775fb6cc5_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2d7jdc8)
Heatmap (https://flic.kr/p/2d7jdc8) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr

Several well known Audax routes on there.
Off the top of my head, I can spot:

Snow Roads 300
Deeside Loop 200
Golden Roads & Standing Stones 300
Twilight 600
NW Highlands 1000
ToEL 100
Easter Arrows to York 400
Pendle 600
BCM600
Mersey Roads 24
A multitude of local DIYs
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 30 January, 2019, 06:41:04 pm

And what exactly is wrong with the Netherlands ? :p

J
:D
If you zoom enough you'll see I visited Aardenburg & Sluis. I did at least 5km in the Netherlands :D

I should add that I have ridden in Kent. Just not much, and I didn't have the GPS on. Not that London though. *shudder*
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 30 January, 2019, 06:44:26 pm
Ignoring the properly foreign rides:

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4889/46205734224_249bb701f2_o.jpg)

I am having a break from Wales this year (apart from TINAT) and have my crayon poised over some new bits.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 30 January, 2019, 06:47:54 pm
I have just noticed that there is now a 'Show Zwift maps' button on Veloviewer.

I guess people will be collecting virtual virtual tiles now.   ::-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 30 January, 2019, 07:10:38 pm
And here's mine. I need to do FurryBootToon-Embra and FurryBootToon-Dingwall at some point

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4815/39966244413_4001f113d6_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/23TFs4x)
heat_map_190130 (https://flic.kr/p/23TFs4x) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 30 January, 2019, 07:43:09 pm

And what exactly is wrong with the Netherlands ? :p

J
:D
If you zoom enough you'll see I visited Aardenburg & Sluis. I did at least 5km in the Netherlands :D

I should add that I have ridden in Kent. Just not much, and I didn't have the GPS on. Not that London though. *shudder*

You also appear to have successfully avoided Birmingham, which is like a worse version of London.   :thumbsup:

It's Belgium that I appear to have trouble with.  I've also subconsciously limited my intake of East Angular and the Tesco Value County of Lincolnshire.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 30 January, 2019, 08:02:50 pm
If we're playing this game:-

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/heatmap_20190130.png)

Almost all connected together except:-
* Midlander Super Grimpeur 300 is all on its own
* Mersey Roads 24 doesn't quite connect to the Snowdon and Coast 400 that passes below it near Shrewsbury: http://www.greenbank.org/misc/heatmap_notconnected_20171015.png (http://www.greenbank.org/misc/heatmap_notconnected_20171015.png)
* The small bit on its own down in Cornwall is a run

Other rides that stand out to me are: LEL, BCM 600, Border Raid DNF at Galashiels, Elenith, K&SW 600, Dunwich Dynamo.

The rest (various Chalfont, Henham and SE rides) just get mangled into one. You can see it won't take much to have a cluster stretching from Reading-ish across to London and then up to Cambridgeshire. I think I can get the cluster out to Tewkesbury with just one relatively straight forward (i.e. not convoluted) ride too.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 30 January, 2019, 09:53:02 pm
The distance between the two furthest points in your cluster is also something interesting to check. That gives also an impresion about your exploring qualities.

Is that a VeloViewer metric? (Goes off to find out)

No, but on a Dutch forum we do keep track of it ourselves.

:)

"Google-walking" distance or "Crow-flies" distance?

  • Kirmington (Northern Lincolnshire) to Marton-le-Moor (Ripon), google gives me 108km walking.
  • Kirmington is 51 tiles east of Marton-le-Moor and 43 tiles south... making the hypotenuse 66.7km long.

(Using the https://www.omnicalculator.com/math/hypotenuse OmniCalculator (because I've lost my book of trigonometric tables)...)

On the Dutch forum it's Google maps walking distance.

Mine is currently Utrecht Overvecht – Desnie   217km
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 30 January, 2019, 10:04:28 pm
I think the leaderboards on VeloViewer demonstrate that we (yacf) feel the same way... exploring seems more preferable to colouring-in. I can see 69 'yacf' club members on the VeloViewer leaderboard...

I'm 21st for max square
22nd for max cluster...
but I'm 34th for explorer score... (today)

It's time I started going new places!
:)

Exploring is indeed more something for me as well, the only score where I can keep up with the big boys.

Although when checking for YACF, I'm 1st for cluster, 2nd for explorer score and 'only' 6th for max square.

My heatmap tells the exploring area's:

(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/Heatmap+algemeen+2018_1.jpg)

I should have started using a GPS earlier, I still miss a lot of touring tracks.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Stretch on 31 January, 2019, 10:26:17 am
Where is the YACF leaderboard please folks?

I can't find it  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 31 January, 2019, 10:35:37 am
Where is the YACF leaderboard please folks?

I can't find it  :)

Once you've joined the 'YACF' club on Strava. Clubs: YACF (https://www.strava.com/clubs/yacf)
Then in VeloViewer, look for the Leaderboards link at the top of the website. Choose the 'Clubs' tab, select the year, and choose the metric you want to see.
YACF Explorer Score - all time (https://veloviewer.com/leaderboard/y/0/t/expl/at/-/c/2081)

Hope this makes sense.

Those whose names are in red have given permission for you to see there heatmap and routes - although their Strava privacy still applies.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 31 January, 2019, 10:40:57 am
Although when checking for YACF, I'm 1st for cluster, 2nd for explorer score and 'only' 6th for max square.

You're 1st for Eddington (miles) also, with an impressive 131 miles. I'll be reaching 125 miles soon, but it'll take a long while to build up from there.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 31 January, 2019, 11:03:08 am
Although when checking for YACF, I'm 1st for cluster, 2nd for explorer score and 'only' 6th for max square.

You're 1st for Eddington (miles) also, with an impressive 131 miles. I'll be reaching 125 miles soon, but it'll take a long while to build up from there.

Joint 1st I should say. And the other one with 131 miles has an easier target to reach 132.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 31 January, 2019, 11:30:53 am
I'm definitely been in the cluster building phase as I only realy get to improve on extended commutes.

As of last  night I was
23rd in cluster
35th in max square
64th(!) in VV Score (Needs improving this year)

My far points of Ladybank and Haddington are 57 miles apart cycling via the FRB, but a lot closer as the crow flies.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Stretch on 31 January, 2019, 12:13:51 pm
Thanks Graeme,

Sorted, there's some big numbers in there!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 01 February, 2019, 03:43:14 pm
Thanks for the link, added myself to prop up the bottom of the lists.  ::-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 February, 2019, 04:54:54 pm


Hmm, Veloviewer says I'm not in any strava clubs, although I am.

"Pick club:  You aren't currently the member of any Strava clubs."

Any idea how I opt into allow veloviewer to see this info?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 01 February, 2019, 05:05:52 pm
Veloviewer does have the occasional glitch.  It does know that you are affiliated to YACF as you appear in the YACF leaderboard.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7844/46950164021_1fbc8ba516_o.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 February, 2019, 05:21:58 pm

Resync, and it works.

Damn, 45th for total number of tiles. I need to cycle more...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanN on 01 February, 2019, 06:01:35 pm
60th.  :P

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 February, 2019, 11:22:38 pm
I bagged a couple of tiles on this weekends Brevet, 2 because the route is different this year, and 1 because I went down a dead end quickly.

Today I went out for a ride, did just over 50k, and bagged the last tile I had on the Haarlemermeer. Gone from 5 13x13's, to a single 14x14. Misjudged the temperature massively, and had very very cold feet on the return. Took a while to rewarm everything. Gonna take a lot of effort to bump the square some more.

Playing with the club stats for yacf, I notice it lists me as having a square of 15x15. When I count it on the map, 15x15. When I look on the front page of veloviewer, 14x14. Hmmmm. Seems I've got a better square than I thought! Win.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 02 February, 2019, 12:58:30 am
Veloviewer does have the occasional glitch.  It does know that you are affiliated to YACF as you appear in the YACF leaderboard.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7844/46950164021_1fbc8ba516_o.jpg)

I've had a quiet start to the year.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 02 February, 2019, 12:14:14 pm
I've just checked my club stats on veloviewer. I'm way down the yacf rankings for overall distance (both yearly and all-time), tiles, max cluster and max square, but somehow in the top 10 for veloviewer score, which probably counts for something... though I'm not sure what exactly.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 02 February, 2019, 02:25:35 pm


I've had a quiet start to the year.
Real G's move in silence like lasagna.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: markcjagar on 04 February, 2019, 09:59:35 pm
I don't have a problem with Wales, I promise

(https://i.imgur.com/E9ZjYU2.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 05 February, 2019, 09:45:24 am
Have been doing a lot of short potters into the Firth of Forth and the Eden Estuary, going out on beaches, breakwaters and a tidal causeway this morning to Cramond Island (Bike will need a drivetrain clean at lunchtime and a full clean tonight to recover from that), so have only upped my cluster from 662 at the start of the year to 667 (glad to move off 666 where I'd been stuck for a week) , but will reap the benefits later in the year when I start on longer bike rides. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 05 February, 2019, 11:10:02 pm
My Longterm Challenge maps:

(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/longtermNLchallenge2018december.jpg)

(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/longtermBEchallenge2018december.jpg)

I should spend a couple of sundays in the Brussels and Antwerp area's to cover the empty bits.

Finally got around to this for teh lolz:

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7816/46206421204_d780653aaf_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2dp6Zdy)
nl_190130 (https://flic.kr/p/2dp6Zdy) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7850/33055370988_b5c4e8536d_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/SmZqas)
belgium_190130 (https://flic.kr/p/SmZqas) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 09 February, 2019, 03:45:42 pm
Added ~40 to my cluster (461) with a good 60km ride in the Chilterns.  edit.  Reminded myself gmaps streetview is not necessarily up to date - thought it was strange, because I was sure I had checked.  It was supposed to be a quick 100m off the B-road, but farm road now turned out to have an electric gate installed.  So I found a bridleway further down to bag the tile - further in to go though.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7823/40072917233_081652b782_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2447bb6)IMG_20190209_094857807_HDR (https://flic.kr/p/2447bb6) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7850/32096116477_f5d3ab0292_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/QUdZdz)IMG_20190209_103132809_HDR (https://flic.kr/p/QUdZdz) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7815/46124152265_9fa4205a32_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2dgQkwz)IMG_20190209_110233655 (https://flic.kr/p/2dgQkwz) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 09 February, 2019, 08:00:56 pm
Increasing the square is slowly getting harder. Today I finally managed to go from 33x33 to 34x34. Quite a few rides needed before I can jump to 35x35

(https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/heatmap/large/veloviewer+190209.jpg)

The cluster increase is easier, I'm at 3448 now.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 10 February, 2019, 12:16:49 am

I had planned on tile hunting on todays 200 from Zwolle, but at CP2 I met a young couple on their first ever Audax, who were struggling in the wind, so I kept them company and guided them home (with 1 hour in hand!). I scrapped all my tile hunting plans. Just means I'll have to go ride some more around the Veluwe... tragic...

I did add a load of tiles, just none in a particularly structured way, total tile count now up to 5912.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 11 February, 2019, 05:18:15 pm
I was thinking that some of the people I have contact with on Strava must think I'm a pretty poor navigator with the number of dead-end, short 'spur' sections that go into some of my rides...   ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 14 February, 2019, 11:51:53 am
Plan for this weekend is the vast, unknowable, windswept mystery that is... the Isle of Sheppey.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 16 February, 2019, 10:37:51 pm
Crazy weather here this week, I've done 2 rides now in shorts, one in shorts + jersey. It gets bloomin' cold when the sun goes down tho. But with good weather, I took the chance to head to the Veluwe to see if I could work out a way of bagging the tiles there that are going to block everything. Turns out, no, no I can't. There's 4 tiles that I can't see a way to access. Some people claim that the area is open to the public occasionally, but I'm struggling to find info. On the plus side, 29 extra tiles, and I now have a mini cluster from Arnhem to Apeldoorn...

(http://photos.quixotic.eu/misc/vv-screenshot04.png)
(http://photos.quixotic.eu/misc/vv-screenshot05.png)

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 16 February, 2019, 10:48:43 pm
58 new tiles on today's DIY (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=97562.msg2370620#msg2370620). Max square and cluster unchanged.

6486 tiles, average of 4.479 km per tile
Max square 13x13   View map
Max Cluster: 532   KML
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 16 February, 2019, 10:51:24 pm
Plan for this weekend is the vast, unknowable, windswept mystery that is... the Isle of Sheppey.

How long do we give telstarbox, before sending out a search party?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 16 February, 2019, 10:59:15 pm
Plan for this weekend is the vast, unknowable, windswept mystery that is... the Isle of Sheppey.

How long do we give telstarbox, before sending out a search party taking off and nuking the site from orbit?

FTFY...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jakob W on 16 February, 2019, 11:00:13 pm
Crazy weather here this week, I've done 2 rides now in shorts, one in shorts + jersey.

Now I know it's been warm, and the Dutch have a reputation for social liberalism, but even so...

(The weather here has been similarly pleasant, but alas, I've not been able to get out, and next week is half term and I'm on the entertainment committee...)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 16 February, 2019, 11:08:40 pm
Crazy weather here this week, I've done 2 rides now in shorts, one in shorts + jersey.

Now I know it's been warm, and the Dutch have a reputation for social liberalism, but even so...

(The weather here has been similarly pleasant, but alas, I've not been able to get out, and next week is half term and I'm on the entertainment committee...)

Oh, now I reread that, I realise a slight issue of ambiguity... For clarity:

yesterdays ride: shorts + jersey; todays ride: shorts + jersey + arm warmers...

I wonder how people would react to me cycling in sports bra + shorts...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 17 February, 2019, 05:20:20 pm
I finally got round to having a go at the tiles north of Derby with a 140k ride in pleasant February sunshine - if a little breezy at times.

28mm slicks and close fitting mudguards isn't a great combination on muddy bridleways but I just about got away with it.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7812/40160397203_a4645f0a20_z.jpg)

Only ten tiles but it bumped my max cluster by 53 to 1736 and I now have 4 off 34*34 squares.

It looks like an assault on the northern bits of the Nottingham urban sprawl will probably be my next move.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chew on 18 February, 2019, 01:44:37 pm
The joy of being sandwiched between the North Peak District and Southern Pennines means that not all squares are accessible by bike.
Making the most of the summer conditions I had a walk up to Dean Head Hill to pick up a square.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7861/40169654463_394ceb8865_c.jpg)

Focusing more on increasing my cluster score this year, which is now up to 966
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 18 February, 2019, 01:54:47 pm
Wye Wednesday 200 this week. I've tweaked the route slightly to bag a few tiles along the way. Plus I'm planning to ride to the start to pick up a few more. This will entail setting off at about 3.30am and riding not far short of 300km, which feels positively Abrahamesque for a Wednesday in late February.

Still, it will be worth it - if my calculations are correct, the net result will be to extend my max cluster westwards as far as Gravesend and southwards almost to Dungeness (annoyingly, there's one rogue tile that is just a little bit too much of a detour to justify adding it to Wednesday's ride).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 18 February, 2019, 02:27:08 pm
I finally got round to having a go at the tiles north of Derby with a 140k ride in pleasant February sunshine - if a little breezy at times.

28mm slicks and close fitting mudguards isn't a great combination on muddy bridleways but I just about got away with it.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7812/40160397203_a4645f0a20_z.jpg)

Only ten tiles but it bumped my max cluster by 53 to 1736 and I now have 4 off 34*34 squares.

It looks like an assault on the northern bits of the Nottingham urban sprawl will probably be my next move.
That picture looks familiar.  Is that the bridleway between Morley and Stanley?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 18 February, 2019, 02:36:02 pm
I've not managed to bag a single new tile at all so far this year.  I've done plenty of riding, but it's mostly been commuting during the week and brevets that I've done before at the weekends.

I'm planning a square bagging assault on the north Nottinghamshire area.  I just need to find a suitable day to go ride it.  This is the current planned route - it's currently 180km - I might add 20km to it somewhere to make it a DIY gps.  This won't affect my max square however but the cluster should see a big increase.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190218/6c5feeb583f50daf8fba0e2fb5d725ae.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 18 February, 2019, 05:24:21 pm
I finally got round to having a go at the tiles north of Derby with a 140k ride in pleasant February sunshine - if a little breezy at times.

28mm slicks and close fitting mudguards isn't a great combination on muddy bridleways but I just about got away with it.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7812/40160397203_a4645f0a20_z.jpg)

Only ten tiles but it bumped my max cluster by 53 to 1736 and I now have 4 off 34*34 squares.

It looks like an assault on the northern bits of the Nottingham urban sprawl will probably be my next move.
That picture looks familiar.  Is that the bridleway between Morley and Stanley?

That's the one.  A lovely little lane->track->bridleway->ford.  It is what tile chasing is all about.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 20 February, 2019, 12:59:52 pm
I've not managed to bag a single new tile at all so far this year.  I've done plenty of riding, but it's mostly been commuting during the week and brevets that I've done before at the weekends.

I'm planning a square bagging assault on the north Nottinghamshire area.  I just need to find a suitable day to go ride it.  This is the current planned route - it's currently 180km - I might add 20km to it somewhere to make it a DIY gps.  This won't affect my max square however but the cluster should see a big increase.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190218/6c5feeb583f50daf8fba0e2fb5d725ae.jpg)

I probably missed this somewhere in the preceding 500 replies but...how do you get a proposed route overlaid on your existing tile haul in Veloviewer ?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 February, 2019, 01:03:10 pm

Dunno how it's done in that screen shot, but the veloviewer chrome plugin allows you to overlay your veloviewer tiles into the strava route planner, so you can plan that way.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 20 February, 2019, 01:09:46 pm
That screen grab was from the veloviewer site. 
Click on the routes tab and filter by (e.g.) name to select one or more of your strava routes.   The route is then shown along with your explorer squares. 



Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 20 February, 2019, 01:13:46 pm
I often do it that way as a lot of my route planning is done at lunchtimes at work and my work pc only has 'company approved software' installed - which doesn't include chrome unfortunately. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 20 February, 2019, 05:41:15 pm
That screen grab was from the veloviewer site. 
Click on the routes tab and filter by (e.g.) name to select one or more of your strava routes.   The route is then shown along with your explorer squares.

Thanks for that - I was opening the route in Veloviewer from the route tab rather than viewing it in the route tab.

QG's version works fine for me too - at home!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 20 February, 2019, 10:41:51 pm
Wye Wednesday 200 this week. I've tweaked the route slightly to bag a few tiles along the way. Plus I'm planning to ride to the start to pick up a few more.

35 new tiles bagged, for an increase on my max cluster from 461 to 579.  :thumbsup:

Now I'm just one ride away from extending my max cluster all the way from Margate to Teddington.

eta:
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7839/32226544467_c594d1d1e2_b.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 21 February, 2019, 04:50:16 pm


Well that was bonkers. Brompton off-road in sand dunes... Realising the headset is loose didn't help. Brompton are surprisingly viable cyclo-cross bikes... At least from the carrying up a sand dune on your shoulder point of view.

Did 22km in total, in 2 hours... It's expanded my square to 17x17, taking me all the way to the North sea. But to go any further north is going to require a kayak, and I'd still be limited by the IJsselmeer, so today's ride was kinda pointless, but it was fun, so who cares. If nothing else it's 11 extra tiles and it'll help towards the cluster...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dz8YyF9W0AAycTp?format=jpg&name=large)

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 24 February, 2019, 06:44:34 pm
A wee pootle (https://ridewithgps.com/trips/31944510) with some comedy off-roading (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=87796.msg2372755#msg2372755) netted 20 new tiles, increased the max cluster by 51 to 583 and the max square to 14 (there are 8 max squares).

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7881/47147536202_6511dac887_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2eQgrVd)
vv_190224 (https://flic.kr/p/2eQgrVd) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 24 February, 2019, 06:53:43 pm

Todays ride I bagged a tile that had alluded me on a number of rides. It's my absolute limit for northern square improvement, it's done wonders for my cluster. So far this year I've improved my cluster by 134, my tile count by 227, and my square from 13x13 to 17x17.

Target for the year is a cluster of 1000.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 25 February, 2019, 07:44:51 pm
I made the most of the lovely weekend weather with plenty of tiling.

On Saturday I set off a bit later than planned to 'do' NE Nottingham.  25k to Trent Bridge then a meandering route along the Trent as far as Lowdham.  A few rural lanes through Lambley then diving back into the suburbs to zig and zag through a total of 32 tiles and just over 100k.  Max square bumped up from 34 to 35.

On Sunday I had planned to do the Velo Club Long Eaton Reliability Ride.  I have DIY'd their long route (120k) up to 200k in previous years (when it wasn't snowed off) but this year I fancied their 'ERIC' route.  20k to the start of a 160k ride just had to be done!  The Eric also went places in the Peak District that I haven't been to before and with a few tweaks could pick up a load of extra tiles and also link up my 'home' cluster with a load of Peak District tiles  :)

When I set off at 0715 it was proper foggy.  Got to the RR start, signed on and was given a number to attach to my bike  :o  What's that all about ?  Set off in the first group at 0815 and had a good, swift ride out along the Trent/Dove Valley to Hatton where we turned North and headed for the hills as the sun broke through.  I left the official route at Alkmonkton to start harvesting a few tiles.  This put me on the A515 which wasn't too bad at that time on a Sunday morning and needs must...

I rejoined the RR route in Ashbourne and rode with some of the later starters on the climb to Longcliffe.  When they turned left at Grangemill I went straight on , up a lane that ended up in a cart track past a scramble bike meeting.  The summer bike was not impressed!

A brief return to the Eric route was followed by another lumpy detour through Birchover to grab some tempting tiles.

I refuelled in Bakewell and with two relatively short, flat diversions headed, somewhat nervously, for the Froggatt climb.  The climb itself was my sort of gradient and I could just pick a gear and get on with it.  A strung out group of Bolsover riders went past me then kindly waited for me at the top and adopted me on the run down to Owler Bar before we turned South to head for home.  I vaguely recognised some of the roads from pre-Strava MTBing.

I was mostly following the Eric route but with the occasional short spur.  I was losing track of where I was and decided that an arcade game style 'ping' would be good encouragement as new tile boundaries were crossed.  It seemed strange to arrive in Crich without a big climb but the descent towards Ambergate was as wasteful as ever on the brakes.

This was where the first of my two key tiles was to link my clusters.  The problem was that it involved riding 1k out of the Derwent valley up Holly Lane.  It was a bottom gear slog looking for the dry tarmac when out of the saddle and added weaving when safe.  Having bagged the tile I then turned round and hung onto the brakes all the way down to where I had been 15 minutes earlier.  The Reliability Ride finish was shutting at 1630 and I reckoned I was still OK timewise but hadn't allowed for the Belper tile.  The route that I had planned took me up Long Row in Belper which turned out to be a cobbled climb that made that one in Alston look like a billiard table.  Riding up it required concentration to pick a decent line and avoid the twattish 4*4 driver coming down it but coming down it was thoroughly unpleasant.

A quick check on the time made me realise that it was now most unlikely that I would get to the finish early enough to claim my certificate but I managed to resist the temptation to call in at the Holly Bush in Makeney to check out the pies (and beer).  I arrived at a deserted finish with 200k on the clock 15 minutes after they had closed but I had had other priorities.

I got home just before 1800 after 220k, had a beer, uploaded the ride to Strava, put my DIY claim in, then fired up Veloviewer to find that I had grabbed 26 new tiles and had managed to bump my max cluster up from 1771 to 1940.

I also had a wonderful day out in the Peak District on my bike  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 26 February, 2019, 05:19:22 pm
100km and 1500m of climbing got me from a 17x17 square up to a 20x20 today. Brilliant route, lots of walking and at least a dozen gates to climb over, shame it's my last ride in County Durham for a while.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2176787261

(http://i65.tinypic.com/2yvtgud.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 26 February, 2019, 06:48:10 pm

I've had a route in my wahoo for a 60km from one metro line to another, bagging a couple of dozen tiles along the way. Last week I discovered that the second metro line is closing, meaning I would either have to add 20km to the ride, or I'd have to get the ride in sooner. So with 15°C, and next to no wind, out I went. Had my first flat of the year, got an electric shock from leaning the wheel against an electric fence, had some boggy off roading, and found some beautiful roads. All in all, feeling a lot better for having ridden my bike. 27 new tiles, cluster up to 453.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 26 February, 2019, 07:14:07 pm
100km and 1500m of climbing got me from a 17x17 square up to a 20x20 today. Brilliant route, lots of walking and at least a dozen gates to climb over, shame it's my last ride in County Durham for a while.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2176787261

(http://i65.tinypic.com/2yvtgud.png)

Make the most of it buddy: you're starting from scratch in Canadia. :-D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 26 February, 2019, 09:10:24 pm
A day in the Wolds with Graeme, and my cluster is up to 3112. Square still on 37x37 (those Pennines squares I need are hard yakka).

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/H-yaOTGg0DxrMfTbwneBayBJi7ZtCrP-1sSVzJsSf5m1YvUNFSL0JGm_K9U7ujKs8ho67KRfpahTfp-7OYJtfqrw77N02nmVINWPGig6nubdAqVg9DHF4HTTwfUw_mnixkjjfDsaZhkDwlRV-JtoGRIpS9nZuipwbK98QdWIZ-kkMxX5TLnI8kf7Mih17rPSMmaMqUYTPXvGJn7h2CIu9F7Gzis9iVJEvYwb59qoY841UDKbrUEAPYgPqlgjDIYUOIS1dWaMa7-fRlKuEkzQlxFuLaSJA6m6tbB9xniqbxeOL3Vn7p558RmdtNrM4rgz07K-mrCARqFzZZMfAOy9f1q1bY-SHU8cSBblUJzv9X9rvnhQMTOukIsINP79Cu2fv6ylEOos_OUiPWW7SNSXaRX7sgX3L1UQX523gbh32X98Fchb2MAMlIkCxh91ehu_7pnEBlSqBB6k0NgyTdXn6_zbdEMo1GpP72TglYL0dIqIjS_-L3OPf3RNTXu35-7gxc2GViQ4W8Oou9Gg_YcEZCWxzrzhnAuzOvbmnQLGjesDzIfO8nspg-ss7q_hx_W-nGrtV_FZjlr_u4L4Vv_QdPEmEsdGUe0hIyKbZMKfEyfFA2mk8vWXRwzX04xfmRHTHlhQi-ZVeDPxwTUiNPmZ9PxzAaDvsUI=w410-h819-no)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 26 February, 2019, 10:07:08 pm
Competition is stiff in the 3000-4000 cluster range at the moment.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 26 February, 2019, 10:12:36 pm
Competition is stiff in the 3000-4000 cluster range at the moment.

As discussed with Deano today: I hope to be cycling into my 80s... this is a loooong game. :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 26 February, 2019, 10:28:57 pm
Competition is stiff in the 3000-4000 cluster range at the moment.

I find myself wondering how much of the Netherlands a 4000 tile cluster covers...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 26 February, 2019, 10:48:49 pm
Competition is stiff in the 3000-4000 cluster range at the moment.

As discussed with Deano today: I hope to be cycling into my 80s... this is a loooong game. :)

I hope you've got your own copies of all the GPX files.  I doubt Strava will be around that long...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 26 February, 2019, 10:58:28 pm
Competition is stiff in the 3000-4000 cluster range at the moment.

I find myself wondering how much of the Netherlands a 4000 tile cluster covers...

J

4000 tiles is ~6760km2. The area of the Netherlands (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_the_European_Netherlands) is 41,543 km2.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 26 February, 2019, 11:02:29 pm
Competition is stiff in the 3000-4000 cluster range at the moment.

As discussed with Deano today: I hope to be cycling into my 80s... this is a loooong game. :)

I hope you've got your own copies of all the GPX files.  I doubt Strava will be around that long...

Ha. Indeed.

I recently found a backup of my bikejournal records. Nothing is popular for long.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 27 February, 2019, 07:19:33 am
Competition is stiff in the 3000-4000 cluster range at the moment.

I find myself wondering how much of the Netherlands a 4000 tile cluster covers...

J

Mine doesn't limit itself tot he Netherlands.
But if you want to check how big a really huge cluster is within the Netherlands, just check the top ranking Dutch rider on the Veloviewer stats.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 27 February, 2019, 08:25:57 am
A day in the Wolds with Graeme, and my cluster is up to 3112. Square still on 37x37 (those Pennines squares I need are hard yakka).

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/08BLE0myElMXe5rr-YuF3aFzzBcfX-sDnEekuE8-W-BaKSyTe81_mlk2ldEVO--WXc6-DdpHR8hc8PfSKKDADTtRWz9-zqavmMhzu76G5YQsB5Cg12_mRKZ-q1mfB64ynISs3OKjBrw2EeIUaxfEDrst3WHzdjGC58qYv-3XSdv4DrcI_JfaAjB3mCwS5mpu2XNBel0Vpp12qbcU0PWXmPBLgZv_N9Yyl8YgYnAfowd5gHs9GWjg8tQ-ZrIh83vWiXU3w_5Id2UGOabb8qkblzFx6zCn3YaM1jRarSEwtAJN2VGRSXgFc-NOmPcUpCAUXPRVN_iESZ74z6URwz_fTMEwbjUOJrKM5_YPa7oExSrKQC7wljfWfIJyQmMImClisjl9k2ZxsHtA2kRIKPQ0lAqC8td7kPlIUex_m23S0kYCvo_x_NjfOaykOK1-nGqO_BoZKDpFcS2vJihppmr0apRXbfeIqfyWxLXz-sRj3QzPdfeFClflmR8RDL6i3V62CQ7HfRn5nKBtAN0JzelhPOxupJ6kdTm_By0sRl9kMIKt8tsjE1Cf-uuWxQw5IJ6qafykYwD0a7TNfQ7uXutDTnTcZWaEkaNVIFw1T9m1PD7tt1LDd4IQZt_32QuHaHzQQzQZFveG3W5zUff2xnMjJznaXkSfdqg=w905-h1810-no)

Am I the only not able to see Deanos photos atm?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 27 February, 2019, 09:20:12 am
A day in the Wolds with Graeme, and my cluster is up to 3112. Square still on 37x37 (those Pennines squares I need are hard yakka).



Am I the only not able to see Deanos photos atm?

I could at home, but not here at work.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 27 February, 2019, 03:16:07 pm
On a cluster of 499 now.  Still 16x16.

A few days back I went on a ride with a single unbagged tile surrounded by cluster as a bonus, which involved a short spur on A417.  On said spur, had a stupid close pass, in the face of an oncoming HGV (who gave overtaker a blast on horn), kind of took the shine off the whole ride...   :-\

ps could see Deano's map, but not now...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 27 February, 2019, 07:52:34 pm
Looking forward to getting back on this on Monday.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 28 February, 2019, 06:54:49 pm
Mini result today. I'm in Manchester for work and realised that the office sits near the junction of four tiles. Popped out for a lunchtime stroll and ticked them all off :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 03 March, 2019, 05:43:12 pm
I snook off from yesterday's clubrun to grab a lonesome tile just before the coffee stop.  As is often the case it involved riding part way down a long farm track but this time there was lots of shooting noises just to add to the interest  :-\

Today I did a blustery solo 100k to the northeast.  The idea was to enjoy the tailwind as I ran away from the rain then turn for home in the lull before the wind really picked up.  It mostly worked.

The route seemed to flow pretty well although there were a few short spurs to grab tiles.  There was one tile to the NW of Kneeton that I couldn't resist.  This involved descending on a steep, slippery track towards the Trent.  I had to push back up it as there wasn't enough traction to ride it.  I then carried a significant amount of mud round the rest of the ride in my shoes and overshoes.  The other option to get it was on road  -  but the other side of the river.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7802/40305028393_32a94ae089_z.jpg)

I ended up grabbing another 16 tiles and bumping my max square up to 36.

There is an annoying singleton tile near Atherstone that is now in my sights...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 09 March, 2019, 07:45:17 pm
Took myself off into the Lambourn downs on the rigid MTB (~35km), and increased cluster to 533.  Really nice most of the way, but the final section of Ridgeway into a strong wind felt cold.  Realised my hand isn't 100% from the off I had on a commute not so long ago...

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7893/47277782272_48fe895007_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2f2LZx7)IMG_20190309_154155918 (https://flic.kr/p/2f2LZx7) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7867/33454579748_0c65901f68_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/SYgt27)Cluster 09032019 (https://flic.kr/p/SYgt27) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 11 March, 2019, 03:14:25 pm
At last!  Finally bagged my first new squares of the year yesterday. 
I waited until lunchtime for the snow to melt before setting off and did a 85km loop around North Nottinghamshire, bagging 20 new squares in the process and upped my cluster to 1883.  No change to the max square but puts me in good stead for an increase in the future.

I did a fair bit offroad to get some of the squares and discovered some great new trails - and got very muddy.

This photo was taken in Bestwood Park (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190311/c0b60a7e420e9cd6bb27d33a2909e3d0.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 11 March, 2019, 09:24:04 pm
(http://i68.tinypic.com/fcr80m.png)

Starting to get out on the bike here in Vancouver. Got my max square up to 2x2!

Looking at the maps here, it's going to be more about clusters and new tiles than a max square. Riding a 200 on Saturday which should help things along nicely.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 11 March, 2019, 09:58:33 pm
 :thumbsup:

I went Pedalling Squares on Sunday  :D

For those not in the know, there really is a cyclists' cafe called Pedalling Squares, which is like a little bit of Hoxton transported to Blaydon-on-Tyne. I wasn't going to stop, but the weather had been so miserable that I needed to get in out of it. And Phil Addyman came over for a chat.

I filled a lot of gaps, rode through a very private estate where I would had a very hard time arguing that I'd missed the signs, and accidentally did a turn up the A1, but I linked an existing cluster near Morpeth with my main cluster, and it's now up to 3234.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 12 March, 2019, 10:24:31 pm
(http://i66.tinypic.com/117r14p.png)

40km to go find some methylated spirit got my North American max square up to 4x4 today
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: thesloth on 13 March, 2019, 02:21:22 pm
I've been playing this game for a while. Max square is at 41x41.
I live near the North East corner of square. There are tiles to get just 7km North of my house, but I'm not really interested in riding there.
My goal is to make it to the coast to the South. That should require about 50x50.
It's getting quite challenging now, as raids to the Southern border require +160km round trips.

I've found it great fun. I've been to some to some interesting places. I've also been to a few that I never want to go again.

Two of my club mates partake as well. One has a square slightly larger than mine
....but not for long!  :demon:

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7891/33492482048_36a1b9bc9e_c.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: bobb on 19 March, 2019, 09:57:47 am
Damnit! I've finally succumbed to this sillyness. My max square is pretty pathetic at the moment due to lots of pesky squares breaking things up. Already got today's ride planned to knock off a couple of easy ones. Will involve tracks and mud  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 19 March, 2019, 04:49:08 pm
Damnit! I've finally succumbed to this sillyness. My max square is pretty pathetic at the moment due to lots of pesky squares breaking things up. Already got today's ride planned to knock off a couple of easy ones. Will involve tracks and mud  :)

Welcome to a future of obscure bike rides and Strava tracks that make you look either forgetful, lost, bad at map reading, or all of the above. Welcome to a world of looking at your bike, then looking at the edge of the field ahead, then looking back at your bike and deciding to ride anyway. Welcome to 100km rides to get one pesky tile. Happy exploring.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 19 March, 2019, 04:50:35 pm
(http://i66.tinypic.com/117r14p.png)

40km to go find some methylated spirit got my North American max square up to 4x4 today

When do you think you'll be able to join your new cluster to your Sunderland bunch?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 19 March, 2019, 04:52:19 pm
(http://i66.tinypic.com/117r14p.png)

40km to go find some methylated spirit got my North American max square up to 4x4 today

When do you think you'll be able to join your new cluster to your Sunderland bunch?

You are probably looking forward to the celebration of moving your Max Cluster from the UK to Canadiaboroughbridgetonville.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 22 March, 2019, 09:15:38 am
Took advantage of the Equinox spring tides to bag a tile near Hound Point in Dalmeny Estate.  Left the bike and had about a 500m walk out through sinky sand and pools of shallow water, but got there in the end. 
Sand and salt water got through the overshoes and shoes to my socks which I spent 5 mins wringing sand out of in the shower once I got to work.  There is one more I may be able to target just West of Cramond Island, but that may need to wait for a fortnight.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: pdm on 22 March, 2019, 04:40:58 pm
Still lolling about in the doldrums here....

Did 100km in the Peaks today with 1650m climbing. Went from 13x13 to 14x14.....  :P

Current Explorer score sits at:

1978 tiles, average of 26.293 km per tile
Max square 14x14
Max Cluster: 331
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 22 March, 2019, 11:27:01 pm
I love the idea of waiting for spring tides to bag squares. As Graeme says, it's a long game.

I finally sucked up the ride straight into the wind to the Dales today to get a few squares I needed around the dead-end valley of Walden. The wind wasn't actually that bad, compared to last weekend, but maybe I'm just used to it. Going around the head of the valley along one of the shootin' tracks with a 45º lean away from the steep drop was interesting.

I had planned to carry on over the tops to Coverdale, but the weather was coming in, so sod that. As I was looking at the map on my phone to work out whether I needed to bear right, straight on or straight down, the farmer came along on his quad - shotgun mounted at the front and labrador mounted at the rear.

He asked if I was lost, and I explained that I was looking for a way back down into the valley, and just before I could explain that I was looking for the (h'official) bridleway from Fleensop back into Walden, he invited me to use his track back through his farm to the tarmac. Which I did, and it was lovely.

It pushed my square up to 38x38 (2 overlapping). 39x39 is relatively straightforward, I think, but 40x40 and beyond will be hard.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 23 March, 2019, 09:34:48 pm
Two ride weekend.  Bagged the 'Column of Victory' tile, accessing public bridleway on the Blenheim estate, in a ride around via Woodstock...  Today filled in Goring Gap area & some Berkshire downs.  Superb weather.   Cluster 599, & 19x19.

Short walk involved to access viewpoint, and down to Thames path bridleway section. 

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7801/33583600978_ace44f95cc_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/TaEJx5)Thames & Goring gap (https://flic.kr/p/TaEJx5) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

Restricted Byway, nr Compton

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7888/40493849193_8da15bfa5d_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/24GiyzF)Green Hams Lane (https://flic.kr/p/24GiyzF) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr





Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 31 March, 2019, 05:10:54 pm
Bagged some new Cotswold tiles, but no increase in cluster.  Left some trickier/more-of-a-detour tiles for another day...   ;)

Windrush valley...

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7804/46592177415_64a5276e6c_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2dZc66H)IMG_20190330_17 (https://flic.kr/p/2dZc66H) by aaekoxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/25983110@N05/), on Flickr

Foxholes, nr Bruern.   Challenging on 28mm tyres with minimal clearance.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7913/46592179955_2feb8ab3f3_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2dZc6Rv)IMG_20190330_14 (https://flic.kr/p/2dZc6Rv) by aaekoxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/25983110@N05/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 31 March, 2019, 05:25:41 pm
I did Foxholes on tight clearance 28mm tyres as a short cut on The Dean.  It was a mistake!  Those two puddles were far larger two weeks ago and I was scooting along CX-style almost in the hedge on the left.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 31 March, 2019, 05:59:22 pm
I did Foxholes on tight clearance 28mm tyres as a short cut on The Dean.  It was a mistake!  Those two puddles were far larger two weeks ago and I was scooting along CX-style almost in the hedge on the left.

I went left too, but had to get off, find a handy twig, and poke mud out from around the forks/brake calipers.  Nice beyond the houses back on tarmac, sun came out, hawthorn coming into bloom.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 07 April, 2019, 09:19:12 am
I did the Another Slice of Rutland 200k audax from Leicester yesterday.  It is a great route but I couldn't resist 'improving' it by picking up a couple of tiles that have been blocking my max square to the East and South.

A loop around the airfield to the north of the first control at Bottesford got me onto the Viking Way.  This is a gravel track that was a bit potholed and jiggly in places but perfectly rideable on the summer bike.  I then paralleled the audax route up the Belvoir ridge with a couple of minor spurs before rejoining it at Croxton Kerrial.

The southern squares were either side of Market Harborough so one diversion on the way into the Brixworth control and another one on the run back to Leicester picked those up.

This added about 20k to the route for an additional 21 tiles and a max square increased to 37*37.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 07 April, 2019, 05:46:16 pm
A dozen new tiles today took the max cluster up to 611. Max square still 14 (a several of).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: pdm on 07 April, 2019, 08:44:26 pm
55 km ride, some on Pennine moorland paths, with almost 1.2km climbing to get 3 squares relatively locally - Max square unchanged at a pathetic 14x14!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 07 April, 2019, 08:53:27 pm
14 sounds good to me  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: pdm on 07 April, 2019, 09:57:47 pm
Thank you!
It will be hard to get some of these Pennine squares - no tracks or paths that are cycle-able on my steeds; I really don't fancy doing Kinder Scout and all its surrounding hills on a cross bike... That limits egress North and west.
To get a much bigger square will mean longer ventures south to include most of the Staffordshire Moorlands and east that will also include some fairly industrial bits.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 09 April, 2019, 05:09:11 am
(https://explorersquare.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/kooscluster.png)

Decent.

https://rideeverytile.com/2019/04/08/koos-w-is-the-new-leader/
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 09 April, 2019, 09:13:38 am
he still has a few easy sections to cover. And a few sections which only can done on skates.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 09 April, 2019, 11:30:44 am
I'm now up to 2 overlapping 37x37 max squares and a cluster of 1998.

I've done a few I square bagging rides the last few weeks.  A couple of extended (90km) commutes to grab some squares around Loughborough at my south eastern corner of my max square.  This included a trip up Butthole Lane in Shepshed.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190409/ab494a5babdf31e2015e5be1d486a393.jpg)

This weekend a ride up to the north western corner to grab the elusive Coombs square just north of Buxton.  This square has no rights of way according to the OS map, but there is an unofficial?? path along Coombs edge.  It was mostly hike a bike across the moorland, though some of it was rideable in places.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190409/38d276c308ffc3b4287ca89fcda30f3f.jpg)

Then yesterday I walked (sans bike) up from Goyt Valley to bag the Shining Tor / Cats Tor square.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190409/1ecc6af0d9f5d6097e19e586d9dab501.jpg)

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190409/f2762dab8c7be3ecbf3ff9e54d03e19e.jpg)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 09 April, 2019, 11:43:25 am
Thank you!
It will be hard to get some of these Pennine squares - no tracks or paths that are cycle-able on my steeds; I really don't fancy doing Kinder Scout and all its surrounding hills on a cross bike... That limits egress North and west.
To get a much bigger square will mean longer ventures south to include most of the Staffordshire Moorlands and east that will also include some fairly industrial bits.

Walking counts. Kinder Scout is a good walk.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 09 April, 2019, 03:25:23 pm
(https://explorersquare.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/kooscluster.png)

Decent.

https://rideeverytile.com/2019/04/08/koos-w-is-the-new-leader/

That's impressive, in some ways it's reassuring, clearly showing which tiles are possible, I even have one he doesn't. But he also seems thwarted by the same 4 tiles between Apeldoorn and Arnhem, that are on military land.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 13 April, 2019, 06:22:44 pm
Ten new tiles today increased the max cluster to 655 and the max square to 15 (four of)  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 14 April, 2019, 11:58:27 pm
After uploading all my GPXs to Strava, here's my start point:

(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1865/44768257201_4fa4de8510.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2bd22at)
vv_tiles (https://flic.kr/p/2bd22at) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr

Looking into the crystal ball I foresee many trips to the Northron wastes.

And now:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/7840/47557152212_e55f827162.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2fssQud)
vv_tiles_20190413 (https://flic.kr/p/2fssQud) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 15 April, 2019, 08:20:38 am
Went out for a 80km ride around Leafield to bag a handful of tiles, and extended cluster by 116 to 715 into the Cotswolds; now 20x20.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/7884/32670061087_f3071dd497_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/RLWAXi)cluster_20190414 (https://flic.kr/p/RLWAXi) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 15 April, 2019, 08:59:10 am
Max square now up to 38x38 after yesterday's 160km ride out to Cannock Chase to fill in some gaps at the south west corner of my cluster. 
Was good fun on the trails on my gr*vel bike, will have to go back for more of a play on the trails rather than concentrating on bagging squares.  Max cluster now up to 2065.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190415/cb8b78ff0ef0471a2d0be5ebd3ba40d8.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 15 April, 2019, 06:57:52 pm
I waited for it to warm up a bit on Saturday morning before heading off on a 115k tile-gathering ride taking in northwest Nottingham across to Heanor.  Lots of contrast with a fair bit of urban riding on some rubbish surfaces, some off-road tracks on what I believe was reclaimed spoil heaps with bluebells and primroses and a run back through Shipley Country Park.  The unforecast showers mostly missed me but it felt pretty cool in the easterly breeze.  I bagged 24 tiles and this gave me another 37*37 square with that pesky Atherstone tile still blocking me.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/33738529368_8974e03a69_z.jpg)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 19 April, 2019, 10:45:26 pm

A 200k DIY today helped me with another Municipality for the Long Term NL Challenge (the main aim beyond RRtY). But it also helped tick off some tiles along the way. I'm wondering if the best way to increase things isn't a close meshed ride with lots of deadends, but rather to do lots of parallel routes from A to B...

Did nothing for my cluster, nothing for my square, but explorer score is up at 6437...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 20 April, 2019, 12:48:08 am

A 200k DIY today helped me with another Municipality for the Long Term NL Challenge (the main aim beyond RRtY). But it also helped tick off some tiles along the way. I'm wondering if the best way to increase things isn't a close meshed ride with lots of deadends, but rather to do lots of parallel routes from A to B...

Did nothing for my cluster, nothing for my square, but explorer score is up at 6437...

J

Indeed. I check which square I can reach within reasonable time (1-2 year) and simply start planning longer routes to or from a railwaystation. In this way I don't loose too much time/speed by the constant dead ends and turning around. The downside is that there are quite a few months with no square gain, the upside is that there are quite a few times when I suddenly jump forward with my square score.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 April, 2019, 10:50:39 pm

Someone at the start of today's Amsterdam 400k Audax gave me their bike train ticket. So having seen the riders off, I hoped on a train out of town, did a 20k nocturnal off road adventure, and in the process, bagged enough tiles to expand my cluster by 44 to 541. Pushing it all the way into Flevopolder. I bagged a group of 3 tiles I hadn't been sure I'd be able to access, but aside from it being off road, were simple enough. A successful trip.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4oHFiWWsAEY7od?format=jpg&name=large)

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 28 April, 2019, 03:44:54 pm
Have been chipping away with lots of short rides and runs/walks , though the family are onto me now with the latter :P.  Today did first 100km ride of the year which was lovely in the deserted Ochils, adding 30 new tiles and 10 to the clustr.  I can go back to explore there but there are very limited roads there a lot of the intervening gaps will have to be acquired on MTB or foot.

Score is up by 185 to 2104 and cluster by 43 to 705 since the start of the year. Max square still a pathetic 11x11

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47669633712_3b51ab80c1_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2fCpkjq) (https://flic.kr/p/2fCpkjq)

Next plans are to fill in gaps to the E of Kirkcaldy and in the Pentlands as part of extended commutes.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 28 April, 2019, 09:00:43 pm
Rides over the last two weekends have taken the max cluster to 725. Max square still at 15.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/32782166987_7979d1a669_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/RWRb8D)
vv_20190428 (https://flic.kr/p/RWRb8D) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 29 April, 2019, 10:21:31 am
This weekend I took part in Deano's "Festival of Cycling" in Newby Wiske, so I caught the train to York and meandered my way north on a fully loaded tourer. One long traipse through some woodland and a couple of excursions along "NO ENTRY" farm tracks has finally connected my cluster of tiles in Humberside with those in Teesside. This catapulted me up the yacf leaderboard from 28th to 17th - woooo hoooo! Passed the 1000 tile mark for the cluster. Of course, I then had a gander at Deano's current map and ate humble pie. Well, ate a little humble pie and then came here to brag.  ;)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/46814529125_9cff2d4af0_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2ejQGvT)IMG_20190426_115047974 (https://flic.kr/p/2ejQGvT) by Graeme (https://www.flickr.com/photos/147630562@N04/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47731155841_b7cafa5ec5_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2fHQDGM)Screenshot_20190428-163500_2 (https://flic.kr/p/2fHQDGM) by Graeme (https://www.flickr.com/photos/147630562@N04/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 10 May, 2019, 12:04:22 pm

Had a bit of a ride around the Netherlands (and a couple of bits of Belgium).

Added 944 new tiles, bought my cluster up by 12, and made no change to my square...

Municipalities count went from 208 to 263.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 10 May, 2019, 06:51:24 pm
Impressive 944 new tiles would be a great year for me...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 12 May, 2019, 06:57:13 pm
I started using Strava last year, but was doing more running that riding for a while; during the year my phone GPS became too flaky to use (lots of erratic straight lines as it made best effort with cell location away from towns); I fell off my bike and didn't ride for a bit; and my other GPS got water in it on Exmoor and died. But today I got to 400 tiles, which feels like a round enough number to dip back in here :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: pdm on 17 May, 2019, 08:33:08 am
Trying to bolster my meagre efforts, I went for a 90km pootle up and down the lumps (1800m) in the Peak district on a few new roads yesterday.
Max square up form 14 to 18, Cluster from 351 to 381...
At 27km per tile, I guess I am probably a bit stuck in a rut?

(https://www.meiring.org.uk/pdm/images/vv-20190516.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 19 May, 2019, 09:35:14 pm
Today I connected Brussels to my cluster. So the cluster increased to 4108. I guess that next weekend will take me to new grounds as my total amount of tiles is now 29729, the 30.000 barrier has to be cracked. Apart from that I added 8 more Brussels municipalities to my longterm challenge score, so Brussels is done now. 89 to go before I have all of the municipalities of the Netherlands & Belgium. A request has already been filed to create a longterm challenge for Luxemburg so I can aim at the full BeNeLux.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 19 May, 2019, 11:06:25 pm
Today I connected Brussels to my cluster. So the cluster increased to 4108. I guess that next weekend will take me to new grounds as my total amount of tiles is now 29729, the 30.000 barrier has to be cracked. Apart from that I added 8 more Brussels municipalities to my longterm challenge score, so Brussels is done now. 89 to go before I have all of the municipalities of the Netherlands & Belgium. A request has already been filed to create a longterm challenge for Luxemburg so I can aim at the full BeNeLux.

Got a picture?

Im hoping to complete .NL on the long term challenge this calendar year.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: orejas on 19 May, 2019, 11:26:42 pm
Got my square to 18*18, still only 471 on my cluster. Some work to do.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 20 May, 2019, 07:09:07 am
Today I connected Brussels to my cluster. So the cluster increased to 4108. I guess that next weekend will take me to new grounds as my total amount of tiles is now 29729, the 30.000 barrier has to be cracked. Apart from that I added 8 more Brussels municipalities to my longterm challenge score, so Brussels is done now. 89 to go before I have all of the municipalities of the Netherlands & Belgium. A request has already been filed to create a longterm challenge for Luxemburg so I can aim at the full BeNeLux.

Got a picture?

Im hoping to complete .NL on the long term challenge this calendar year.

J

Since DDS stopped it's fotoalbum I don't have a foto hoster which permits linking anymore :(.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 26 May, 2019, 01:25:55 am


My RatN injuries mean I couldn't do this weekend's BRM400 that went to Texel, so instead I took a train to Den Helder, ferry over, and did a simple 40k, then back to the mainland, and a train to go help out at the finish of the BRM.

Tiles aren't a use for cluster or square, but it adds a municipality for the NL long term challenge. I've now got 91 left, and am just 40 behind Ivo. Can I do 91 before Ivo can do 51... ?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 26 May, 2019, 10:28:36 pm
Two days with 100% rain, a productive weekend for square count (+133) but no addition to my cluster or max square.  On Saturday did the circuit from Shieldaig of Bealach na Ba (Eastern Side) and then the Coastal route back to Shieldaig (The North Coast  bit was the harder part of the Bealach with countless steep ups and downs demoralising in the wet- couldn't let loose on descents of surface water and blind corners so the uphills were slogs- death by 1000 cuts.

Today we departed from Achmore, down past Eilean Donan and then up Bealach Rataglan and then down to the Glenelg ferry to Sky where we had a 45 min weight in a wee lighthouse - we spent £15 on honesty box coffee and shortbread in an attempt to keep warm- on the plus side saw my first otter in the wild from the ferry..  The climb to Bealach Udal was another toughie, but from then it was plain sailing to the Skye Bridge- and back to Achmore.

All in all a very wet weekend
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 27 May, 2019, 09:21:44 pm


My RatN injuries mean I couldn't do this weekend's BRM400 that went to Texel, so instead I took a train to Den Helder, ferry over, and did a simple 40k, then back to the mainland, and a train to go help out at the finish of the BRM.

Tiles aren't a use for cluster or square, but it adds a municipality for the NL long term challenge. I've now got 91 left, and am just 40 behind Ivo. Can I do 91 before Ivo can do 51... ?

J

Currently I'm concentrating on the Belgian one as the terrain is better suited for PBP training. My aim is being the first to cover the full Benelux (But first Frank needs to add Luxemburg).

I used a long weekend to add a few more Belgian municipalities and extended my cluster to Tournai. 2 more tiles and my cluster extends to France, adding a 4th country to my cluster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: iomadh on 27 May, 2019, 10:01:27 pm
I've just discovered Explorer Score and Max Squares/Clusters thanks to this thread.  Paid up my £10 at the weekend.
I already had a 10x10 square but saw there were a few obvious gaps.  Plotted a route using Strava and upped it to a 14x14 (2 overlapping ones) in a single 50km ride.  Cluster jumped to 317.

Thanks to Veloviewer, I roamed on roads I didn't know existed, found a ruined castle like structure and discovered that Strava routing can mistake muddy farm tracks for roads (luckily I thought it might be the case and took my CX bike rather than my road bike)

Looking forward to using this to find more new roads and exploring further

(need to work out how to add an image here)



d
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 27 May, 2019, 10:09:26 pm
Currently I'm concentrating on the Belgian one as the terrain is better suited for PBP training. My aim is being the first to cover the full Benelux (But first Frank needs to add Luxemburg).

I used a long weekend to add a few more Belgian municipalities and extended my cluster to Tournai. 2 more tiles and my cluster extends to France, adding a 4th country to my cluster.

That's bloody impressive! my cluster barely makes it out of Noord Holland!

How much of Belgium have you got left?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 27 May, 2019, 10:26:24 pm
Currently I'm concentrating on the Belgian one as the terrain is better suited for PBP training. My aim is being the first to cover the full Benelux (But first Frank needs to add Luxemburg).

I used a long weekend to add a few more Belgian municipalities and extended my cluster to Tournai. 2 more tiles and my cluster extends to France, adding a 4th country to my cluster.

That's bloody impressive! my cluster barely makes it out of Noord Holland!

How much of Belgium have you got left?

J

NL: 304 gemeentes van in totaal 355 (85 %)

BE: 551 gemeentes van in totaal 581 (94 %)

So 51 to go for the Netherlands and 30 for Belgium. The next challenger in the combined classification NL/BE still has 247 municipalities to go while I have 'only' 81 to go. But that includes all of the islands.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 27 May, 2019, 10:31:13 pm
NL: 304 gemeentes van in totaal 355 (85 %)

BE: 551 gemeentes van in totaal 581 (94 %)

So 51 to go for the Netherlands and 30 for Belgium. The next challenger in the combined classification NL/BE still has 247 municipalities to go while I have 'only' 81 to go. But that includes all of the islands.

160 gemeentes van in totaal 581...

Think I'll concentrate on completing the NL set. Tho if .lu gets added, I may try to do the whole country as a single ride... or at the very least, a single weekend.

The islands are a sod to do as the ferry times are not conducive to bagging them all in a single trip :(

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Salvatore on 31 May, 2019, 07:35:33 pm
I wanted to update VV with my latest ride today, but it saw fit to update not only the new ride but also 423 old ones, which means I've 'lost' a tile and my max square has gone from 34x34 to 29x29. Ah well, now I have a destination for this weekend's ride.

(https://i.imgur.com/HBb93t1m.png)

Otherwise:
34673 tiles, average of 2.073 km per tile
Max square 29x29   (bah!)
Max Cluster: 1657
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 31 May, 2019, 08:06:43 pm
Ticked off the north side of Heathrow on my way to WCW. That’s upped my max square to 20. Can’t have done anything good for my lungs though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 02 June, 2019, 11:11:24 am
Yesterday's pootle increased the number of tiles by 1 and the max cluster by 1  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 03 June, 2019, 02:04:39 pm
48km ride around Guildford scheduled for day off next Monday which should take me up from 18x18 to 21x21 and first VV specific ride since November last year.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: pdm on 09 June, 2019, 09:00:51 pm
Still on 18x18 here... (sigh)
Have planned a couple of 120km Peak Destruct rides (~3500m climbing) to take it up to 20x20. Now just need to get around to doing them!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 17 June, 2019, 11:51:21 pm
I've been a bit quiet - I managed to push my square up to 39x39 (you can get over to Holwick Scar from Lunedale, just), and knocked off a load of tiles in the Lakes, and planned a grand procession home to knock off the linking tiles and make a coast-to-coast, but I shagged my knee, and since then I've been slowly recovering and ticking off a few more as circumstances permitted.

Yesterday, I finally rode Thistlewood Lane down into Wolsingham (Oakey country), and today I knocked off a few more around Alnwick and Shitbottle. I reckon I only need a dozen or so more tiles to link my cluster up into Scotland (currently 3466). The square is going to be a right bastard to extend, and I'm probably going to need to dig out some hiking boots as there are no tracks up in the Pennines.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 22 June, 2019, 01:57:00 pm
I haven't done any cluster enhancing rides for ages.  This morning's 50 mile ride targeting some tiles near Lambourn added ~60, so now on 778.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48108091603_a75a4be226.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2gi9xze)IMG_Ashbury (https://flic.kr/p/2gi9xze) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48108156157_b7e4835983.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2gi9SLe)IMG_Lambourn byway (https://flic.kr/p/2gi9SLe) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 22 June, 2019, 10:00:34 pm

Comedy off roading, headwinds, poor road surfaces. The full sustrans experience... In Noord Holland. finally picked off a tile that I needed a ferry to get to a small polder, then to cycle round the overgrown footpath. Cluster up by 4. Added another 24 tiles in total. Also completed Noord Holland for the long term challenge. My ratio of tiles to cluster to square is somewhat out of whack...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 28 June, 2019, 06:34:05 pm
One tile near Yarm International Airport was all I needed to link Hull, York, Middlesbrough, Darlington and Durham. Next mission is to add the cluster near Masham. Max square solidly not moving until I take an off road trip into the Wolds of Yorkshire.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 30 June, 2019, 08:05:21 pm
Half year report - slowish start with lots of little bits and pieces, but picking up with new rides and some fillers in the last 6 weeks.  A lot of new rides planned for July and August should see cluster increase and maybe even max square too...(currently cluster 765, square still 11x11 and tiles at 2282)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48162649512_7812f9452b_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2gnYaJQ)infographic 20190630 (https://flic.kr/p/2gnYaJQ) by  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/paddyirish/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: thesloth on 30 June, 2019, 11:43:28 pm
I went out this weekend to execute a long planned trip to advance the southern border of my 44x44 square. Plan was to ride to the South Downs from SW London after work on Friday. Bivi on the ridge and then harvest on Saturday. Most of these were off road and had as a result evaded me.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48163769801_f2993d6ea1_c.jpg)
I reached Ditchling Beacon at about 21:00 and then headed along the South Downs way before dropping down into Lewes for dinner. On a rocky bridleway on the way down I gashed the sidewall. I put a worm in (tales of the tubeless). I struggled to get this to seal properly, had to pump every 30min. Put a tube in after breakfast.
After dinner found a good bivi spot up high out of reach of the doggers.
tar
Had some great riding on Saturday. I've been on the South Downs Way many times, but it was great to get amongst these "new" valleys. Very few people.

Received a domestic recall and so had to cut the ride short. Only 26 tiles of the 48 target. Good to save some for next time I guess.

Some photos and videos: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmEEhH3K
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 07 July, 2019, 12:17:18 am

Cluster and max square stubbornly refusing to go anywhere. But I have now passed 8000 total tiles, current count is 8073!

Long term challenge score is moving. Am up to 26th, with 284 municipalities, and 1st for calendar year, with 242.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 07 July, 2019, 09:35:22 am
On the trip up to Tan Hill for the summer gathering I did a few bridleways near Northallerton and added the Masham/Bedale cluster to the meta-cluster. Max cluster just tipped over the 1.5k at 1502. Next mission is to spend time on the max square near Hull and see if I can get it to reach York.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D-3BPi1X4AApTlo?format=jpg&name=large)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fuaran on 07 July, 2019, 01:05:16 pm
Out on the bike, then a run through the woods. Scrambled down a slope through some brambles to the shore. Just made it into the corner of the tile anyway.
(https://i.imgur.com/gM3Tb7Il.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 11 July, 2019, 01:03:15 pm
I've finally managed to add ONE NEW SQUARE  ;D which will help me expand my maximum square. (I've done lots of other cool stuff, but chasing a bigger square has not happened...)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 11 July, 2019, 01:49:06 pm
On the trip up to Tan Hill for the summer gathering I did a few bridleways near Northallerton and added the Masham/Bedale cluster to the meta-cluster. Max cluster just tipped over the 1.5k at 1502. Next mission is to spend time on the max square near Hull and see if I can get it to reach York.


Howardians are looking close to cluster with a ride or two...   :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: thesloth on 16 July, 2019, 12:47:33 pm
I filled in some key tiles on the weekend and was able to advance the Southern border of my max square by 3.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48290951907_b579acd311_b.jpg)

Some great riding around that area. Lots of this:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48291145302_ed1d9d98bb_c.jpg)

& a bit of this:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48291127017_a08fa2a2b5_c.jpg)

I now need to work on the Eastern and Western borders, which involves some slightly less appealing areas.

Seen the news that Strava blocked Relieve.cc from using their API? Not good. I hope that they don't ideas about killing Veloviewer!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 16 July, 2019, 12:51:49 pm
Seen the news that Strava blocked Relieve.cc from using their API? Not good. I hope that they don't ideas about killing Veloviewer!

Veloviewer only uses strava data, so it should be OK.

Fingers crossed.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 25 July, 2019, 09:08:53 pm
I discovered the joys of 'bagging' squares a week or so ago and have managed to increase my counts a bit since. I'm in Cormwall, with loads of sea around, so my max square is only 12 but I have plenty of other  tiles from tours in the UK and Europe over the past 5 years (18000+ tiles, 747 cluster).
Anyway, I've successfully installed OsmAnd and 'Explorer Helper' to help with the process of filing squares. But OsmAnd only shows my tiles when I zoom in a lot - maybe showing 4 tiles at most. From other posts on here (I haven't read them all yet, only 18 pages out of 28!) it seems to be possible to get more tiles showing on a lesser zoom level. So what am I doing wrong?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 26 July, 2019, 07:11:28 am


Anyway, I've successfully installed OsmAnd and 'Explorer Helper' to help with the process of filing squares. But OsmAnd only shows my tiles when I zoom in a lot - maybe showing 4 tiles at most. From other posts on here (I haven't read them all yet, only 18 pages out of 28!) it seems to be possible to get more tiles showing on a lesser zoom level. So what am I doing wrong?

On the map screen, long press either the + or - and select 25%.    Does that fix it?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanDG on 26 July, 2019, 08:40:13 am
Living on Lewis was a bit crap for squares and clusters and once you'd done an DIY SR series on the island you had visited most of the tiles. Only recently aware of this option (last week) on Velo Viewer and since moving to Dumfries I've upped my square from a 3x3 to a 6x6, my cluster is 62 and I'm on on 2853 tiles.

Still restricted by surrounding trackless forest and moorland and the Solway Firth - going to be a good challenge.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 26 July, 2019, 09:12:28 am


Anyway, I've successfully installed OsmAnd and 'Explorer Helper' to help with the process of filing squares. But OsmAnd only shows my tiles when I zoom in a lot - maybe showing 4 tiles at most. From other posts on here (I haven't read them all yet, only 18 pages out of 28!) it seems to be possible to get more tiles showing on a lesser zoom level. So what am I doing wrong?

On the map screen, long press either the + or - and select 25%.    Does that fix it?
perfect, thanks, just in time for my ride today  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 28 July, 2019, 10:48:53 pm
3 new tiles today increased the max cluster to 753 and boosted the max square from 15 to 17. I like that efficiency :-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 28 July, 2019, 11:04:31 pm
Bit of a panic yesterday as I opened up one of the Border Raids which had missed a couple of tiles, and it robbed me of one of the tiles within my max square. Down to 29x29! I thought I'd spotted all of those.

It was less than ten miles away, and a good excuse for a bike ride in the drizzle.

With some solid work the last couple of weeks, and that stray tile, my square is back to 39x39, and the cluster is a satisfying 3570. I've got a pincer move going on the Leeds-Bradford conurbation, but I'm not in a rush to ride around there. A winter project, perhaps, and hopefully the cluster will be up to 4000 by the end of the year. A 40x40 square is just a few tiles away, which I might do before PBP.

My golden rule (which I usually manage to stick to) is that it should still be a decent bike ride.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanDG on 29 July, 2019, 07:25:47 pm
Targeted 5 tiles today taking my total to 2858. Upped my square from 6x6 to 7x7 and cluster from 62 to 91  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 05 August, 2019, 11:34:32 am
I set off yesterday to do 90km targeting an area east of Oxford around the M40-ish.  When I uploaded the gpx, I found I'd totally missed a tile in the middle, which was around 100metres from a junction I'd been through, oh well.   ::-)  ;)  Now up to 900 cluster, and increased square by 1, to 21x21.  Did quite a few dead end spur sections, but still really enjoying going to areas I wouldn't normally venture to.  A side benefit of doing more 'off-road' is that it makes the road surfaces around here relatively not seem quite as bad...  oh, and I dropped my phone for the first time, onto tarmac, taking a pic on the go, fortunately no harm done.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48461963202_ae3e4cda81.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2gQqegG)Abingdon bridge - early (https://flic.kr/p/2gQqegG) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48461963382_5a85aebc99.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2gQqejN)Bridleway nr Appleford (https://flic.kr/p/2gQqejN) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

This was me doing a bridleway, unusually - not to bag a new tile, but because I'd not done it before and wanted to see what it was like...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 06 August, 2019, 10:53:47 am
I seem to have a lot of routes that consist of straight lines between points, missing some squares, but more annoyingly passing through some that i didn't ride on. 
These seem to be from the early days of using Strava, 2010 and 2011 mostly.

When I look at the routes in Strava, the track follows the road, but in VV, it has straight lines

Is there any way of fixing this other than clicking 2700+ rides I have logged individually
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 06 August, 2019, 12:01:20 pm
I seem to have a lot of routes that consist of straight lines between points, missing some squares, but more annoyingly passing through some that i didn't ride on. 
These seem to be from the early days of using Strava, 2010 and 2011 mostly.

When I look at the routes in Strava, the track follows the road, but in VV, it has straight lines

Is there any way of fixing this other than clicking 2700+ rides I have logged individually
If you read upthread, this has been talked about before, and there's no automatic way of sorting this.  But you can reduce the amount of rides that you need to calculate tiles for....

The false positives and false negatives tend to occur on the longer rides where the downsampling has the biggest difference.

If you list your activities in veloviewer in order of length, longest to shortest and also use the filter 'tiles calculated : no' .   You can then work your way down your list.

I've got 4300 activities on veloviewer & I've worked my way down my list, I've only got rides of less than 27km that haven't been calculated yet & they are all local rides, commutes etc that don't affect my tile count. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 06 August, 2019, 12:26:46 pm
Thanks PeeJay, much appreciated
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 06 August, 2019, 01:25:30 pm
Somebody posted this on another forum and I thought some on this thread might be interested. I know no more than what is at the link.
https://gapnotes.com/veloviewer-explorer/
"I am currently doing a project on Veloviewer Explorer and would like to talk to people who use that feature of Veloviewer. The aim is to understand how we use the feature and why it is so compelling, addictive, or however you would describe it."
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 07 August, 2019, 07:18:30 pm

Not getting anywhere with the square or cluster, but the total number of tiles is going up...

8564 so far...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 11 August, 2019, 05:14:39 pm
Had to walk 400metres+ across an open field to bag an inaccessible tile.  On the way back, realised I'd left the garmin on the bike at the access gate.  And... repeat, with gps in hand.   ::-) ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 11 August, 2019, 07:29:23 pm
Had to walk 400metres+ across an open field to bag an inaccessible tile.  On the way back back, realised I'd left the garmin on the bike at the access gate.  And... repeat, with gps in hand.   ::-) ;D

On last years TCR, one rider took their bag off at the bottom of the CP4 parcours to make getting up and down easier, only to get back and discover their tracker was attached to the bag at the bottom...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Stretch on 16 August, 2019, 10:16:15 am
Quote
Had to walk 400metres+ across an open field to bag an inaccessible tile.  On the way back, realised I'd left the garmin on the bike at the access gate.  And... repeat, with gps in hand.   ::-) ;D

Sounds familiar  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 21 August, 2019, 04:12:41 pm
Done a bit more work expanding in several directions, including beyond low tide mark again, most noticeably towards Callander with a ride to watch the Women's Tour of Scotland on Duke's Pass and the Riding the Ghost Audax.  Just need one square near Stirling to bring Callander into the Cluster

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48592747667_ff072dd0d8.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2h2YwWg) (https://flic.kr/p/2h2YwWg)  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/paddyirish/)

No of tiles is now 2627, Custer is 810 with Max square stuck at 11x11

Goals for the rest of the Year
1) Bring Callander, Perth , Dundee and North Berwick into my cluster
2) Complete missing squares in the Lomond Hills
3) Bag a few tiles in Pentlands and Livingston to bring max square up to 13x13

If I do all of those the cluster should clear 1000
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanDG on 22 August, 2019, 03:58:12 pm
4 new tiles increased my cluster around Dumfries from 103 to 110

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48600116122_298ddf8ce2_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2h3CijA)Cluster 22-08-19 (https://flic.kr/p/2h3CijA) by ian (https://www.flickr.com/photos/acf_windy/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 25 August, 2019, 10:59:18 am
Had a ride around Chipping Norton area yesterday and added 65 to cluster, so now on 1013.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 31 August, 2019, 10:20:21 pm

Finally some movement on my cluster. Had a game of DnD in Delft today, so took the opportunity to cycle there, via a selection of tiles, filling in gaps, increasing my cluster by 23. First improvement in cluster in months.

Also bagged 2 more Municipalities. I'm calling that a success.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Salvatore on 11 September, 2019, 12:41:45 pm
By using a cunning and convoluted route to the Wellesbourne camping weekend I managed to extend my max cluster quite a bit further north. Another trip to see my mum and I should be able to link up with the south Shropshire/north Worcestershire mini-cluster.

 (https://i.imgur.com/WqgGuzE.png)

Linking up with my other mini-cluster in the Machars peninsula might take a little longer.

(https://i.imgur.com/HP23g7D.jpg)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 11 September, 2019, 08:30:36 pm
This was me doing a bridleway, unusually - not to bag a new tile, but because I'd not done it before and wanted to see what it was like...

this

my cycling experiences have been transformed by the discovery that most surfaces are rideable on any bike, and that 'I want to go down there just because'
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 11 September, 2019, 08:33:46 pm
this

my cycling experiences have been transformed by the discovery that most surfaces are rideable on any bike, and that 'I want to go down there just because'

You can off road on any bike, it just may be harder on some than on others...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 11 September, 2019, 08:38:34 pm
this

my cycling experiences have been transformed by the discovery that most surfaces are rideable on any bike, and that 'I want to go down there just because'

You can off road on any bike, it just may be harder on some than on others...

And sometimes the 'going down' is rather too literal...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 11 September, 2019, 08:41:07 pm
August's holidays netted 207 new tiles. Max cluster is 782, I have four squares of 17.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 14 September, 2019, 10:26:04 am

After months of nothing, 2 bits of progress in one month...

Cluster now down to Woeden on one tendral, and Alphen on another. 

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EEahrh4X4AA3-1X?format=jpg&name=large)

More importantly on the long term nl challenge, I've overtaken Ivo, am up to 314 Gementes. I thought I'd be upto 1st overall for 2019, but while I was out, 1st place was out too, and they added 11 to their tally. I'm 10 behind still :(

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EEYKxcOXoAAdKei?format=jpg&name=large)

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 14 September, 2019, 10:27:28 am
My Dutch tally is still lagging behind a bit, my Belgian is on schedule. The schedule to complete the full BeNeLux somewhere next year.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 14 September, 2019, 11:09:45 pm
A French tour has not helped my cluster or square, but has added a healthy bunch to my overall square count, which is now 19517. Square remain at 39x39, and cluster at 3701.

However - and I'm sure we had a thread about something like this a while back, but I cannae find it now - ALL of my UK rides now join up, as I rode from KX to Loughton, and to visit a mate's bike shop in Buckhurst Hill, which linked everything together.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 15 September, 2019, 07:32:06 am
A French tour has not helped my cluster or square, but has added a healthy bunch to my overall square count, which is now 19517. Square remain at 39x39, and cluster at 3701.

However - and I'm sure we had a thread about something like this a while back, but I cannae find it now - ALL of my UK rides now join up, as I rode from KX to Loughton, and to visit a mate's bike shop in Buckhurst Hill, which linked everything together.

Hm, that would lead to a new competition ;)
What's the longest distance between linked up bikerides ;).
Just checked mine, Den Helder - Ancona is only 1508km. A TCR or Northcape 4000 rider will do considerably better.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 15 September, 2019, 09:25:22 am

Hm, that would lead to a new competition ;)
What's the longest distance between linked up bikerides ;).
Just checked mine, Den Helder - Ancona is only 1508km. A TCR or Northcape 4000 rider will do considerably better.

I need to cycle to Hamburg, then I'd have a continuous line to Hell, from Amsterdam, all 2000km of it.

I'm wondering if there is a metric to be had based on number of tiles, square, and cluster...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 15 September, 2019, 10:21:06 am
I ECE'ed Straight Outta Hackney yesterday. Since it starts 3 km from my house that meant a loop into darkest South London,  grabbing an annoying tile containing Eltham station that's never been on the way to anywhere, then hoovering up all the tiles between the Thames, the M25, and the Chase of The Sun route (which comes in through Swanley) in the small hours.

I now for the first time in ages have a single max square of 24x24. That means it can't expand until I go to either Romford or Feltham *and* either London Colney or Orpington. Joy.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 18 September, 2019, 12:45:27 pm
Thanks to Pete Bartlett for a little bit of awesomeness - more details in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group Posts

You can see all tiles that have been logged by anyone in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group who have made their data public here (http://pcbartlett.com/heatmap.html)

Can select options for UK, US and Benelux at this stage.

Now we can try to be first to reach some of the "problem" tiles

Ben Lowe likes this and may try to incorporate into the main VeloViewer site
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 18 September, 2019, 12:54:03 pm
Thanks to Pete Bartlett for a little bit of awesomeness - more details in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group Posts

You can see all tiles that have been logged by anyone in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group who have made their data public here (http://pcbartlett.com/heatmap.html)

Can select options for UK, US and Benelux at this stage.

Now we can try to be first to reach some of the "problem" tiles

Ben Lowe likes this and may try to incorporate into the main VeloViewer site

OOH! that's useful. Shows that at least one person has achieved the 4 problem tiles on the military base near Apeldoorn. That's reassuring. Just need to work out a way of doing it...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 18 September, 2019, 01:01:37 pm
Thanks to Pete Bartlett for a little bit of awesomeness - more details in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group Posts

You can see all tiles that have been logged by anyone in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group who have made their data public here (http://pcbartlett.com/heatmap.html)

Can select options for UK, US and Benelux at this stage.

Now we can try to be first to reach some of the "problem" tiles

Ben Lowe likes this and may try to incorporate into the main VeloViewer site
Does this have to be "visited on a bicycle"? I've been GPS logging my hill walking and running for a while and think I could contribute some Munro bagging tiles to that... please post a link if so...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 18 September, 2019, 01:14:10 pm
Thanks to Pete Bartlett for a little bit of awesomeness - more details in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group Posts

You can see all tiles that have been logged by anyone in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group who have made their data public here (http://pcbartlett.com/heatmap.html)

Can select options for UK, US and Benelux at this stage.

Now we can try to be first to reach some of the "problem" tiles

Ben Lowe likes this and may try to incorporate into the main VeloViewer site

I've immediately checked it for my neck of the woods
Near the browncoal area's there are several tiles which could be visited 5 years ago (I have a few of them already) but the roads disappeared due to the large scale mines.
The former RAF Brüggen Base I'm chasing myself, I've already came tantalising close to bagging the tile, the gate is just 10m too far north....
Some tiles near Aachen can be bagged, only no-one ever took the effort to ride the dead-end streets
Some people braved no access signs near some Belgian military bases to bag the tiles. So maybe it could be done but I don't want to be that stupid to risk my feet trodding on unexploded ordnance.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 18 September, 2019, 01:30:16 pm
Thanks to Pete Bartlett for a little bit of awesomeness - more details in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group Posts

You can see all tiles that have been logged by anyone in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group who have made their data public here (http://pcbartlett.com/heatmap.html)

Can select options for UK, US and Benelux at this stage.

Now we can try to be first to reach some of the "problem" tiles

Ben Lowe likes this and may try to incorporate into the main VeloViewer site
Does this have to be "visited on a bicycle"? I've been GPS logging my hill walking and running for a while and think I could contribute some Munro bagging tiles to that... please post a link if so...

Walks and runs are fine and they show up if you've ticked the relevant options.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: grams on 18 September, 2019, 01:38:56 pm
The UK map won't load for me.

The Benelux route makes me wonder if anyone has made an effort to grab e.g. the Breskens ferry route by human power?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 18 September, 2019, 02:06:14 pm
Interesting, but not working accurately. A mate of mine has filled every tile east of Hull and south of Bridlington to Spurn Point. His data is public but doesn't show on this map. I know his data is public because I'm often looking to his ride info for clues to get tiles.

Sadly my sailing trip from Google to Scarborough stands out like a sore thumb. I guess I'm going to have to delete it before I'm bombarded with accusations of cheating. It was a great adventure though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 18 September, 2019, 02:11:18 pm
The UK map won't load for me.

The Benelux route makes me wonder if anyone has made an effort to grab e.g. the Breskens ferry route by human power?

Since this ferry is often used midday during longer rides I guess that it's simply a question of uploading the full ride in 1 go, so it'sreplaced by a straight line. Although it looks like people switched their garmins on in various places, hence the rather wide ferry route.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 18 September, 2019, 02:13:41 pm
@graeme- is your mate a member for the Ride every Tile Strava Group? 
Think it needed a few tweaks- one where people put country as Scotland weren't included, but has now been fixed.  Did your mate put down England for his country?  Or even Yorkshire  :-)

Think it is also not updated in real time but when Pete is able to.  I "went public" yesterday but my tiles are yet to be added.  Pete said that it would take a while.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 18 September, 2019, 03:10:20 pm
Very good. There are a few that I've got, but I have the activity private, so the square hasn't been ticked off. I'll have to tidy that up.

Does show how tricky some areas are!

And yes, you're a great big cheat, Graeme!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 18 September, 2019, 03:51:16 pm
Interesting, but not working accurately. A mate of mine has filled every tile east of Hull and south of Bridlington to Spurn Point. His data is public but doesn't show on this map. I know his data is public because I'm often looking to his ride info for clues to get tiles.
...


I do the same with JonathanF's 100x100 & cluster, which my 25x25 is fully contained in... 🙂. Though often it's - 'I'll do this, oh ok interesting he did that'...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 18 September, 2019, 04:29:22 pm
I have joined what I think is the right group and as far as I know all my stuff is public. Will wait and see...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 18 September, 2019, 04:56:35 pm
For anyone who doesn't know how to make VV public, you can go to the Update Tab, show options and check the "share my data with anyone" box. 

Your name will then be hyperlinked on all of the leaderboards.

The Strava Club to join is

https://www.strava.com/clubs/RideEveryTile (https://www.strava.com/clubs/RideEveryTile)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 18 September, 2019, 05:12:30 pm
I have just signed up for this as some of 'my' tiles need colouring in.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 19 September, 2019, 09:54:55 am
That sailing trip has been redacted - it was fun while it lasted.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 20 September, 2019, 09:38:29 am
this

my cycling experiences have been transformed by the discovery that most surfaces are rideable on any bike, and that 'I want to go down there just because'

You can off road on any bike, it just may be harder on some than on others...

And sometimes the 'going down' is rather too literal...

Dunno what you're talking about...

My quest to connect The North to East Angular has reached Selby. All gets a bit Lincolnshire from here.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 20 September, 2019, 10:22:11 pm
Thanks to Pete Bartlett for a little bit of awesomeness - more details in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group Posts

You can see all tiles that have been logged by anyone in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group who have made their data public here (http://pcbartlett.com/heatmap.html)

Can select options for UK, US and Benelux at this stage.

Now we can try to be first to reach some of the "problem" tiles

Ben Lowe likes this and may try to incorporate into the main VeloViewer site

My VV & Strava are set to be public but a lot of my tiles are missing. Also I can't see how to select the different regions  :(
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 21 September, 2019, 07:13:55 am
Thanks to Pete Bartlett for a little bit of awesomeness - more details in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group Posts

You can see all tiles that have been logged by anyone in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group who have made their data public here (http://pcbartlett.com/heatmap.html)

Can select options for UK, US and Benelux at this stage.

Now we can try to be first to reach some of the "problem" tiles

Ben Lowe likes this and may try to incorporate into the main VeloViewer site

My VV & Strava are set to be public but a lot of my tiles are missing. Also I can't see how to select the different regions  :(

The region selection button has been deleted.
You also have to be in the relevant Strava group.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 21 September, 2019, 04:00:11 pm
I did a 200k DIY yesterday that was a clockwise loop around Northampton.  I plotted a route then looked to see if there were any slight tweaks that I could use to gather tiles.  A stretch on the A6003 down the west of Corby wasn't particularly pleasant but bagged 5 tiles including one that will help my max square.  It was mostly new tiles down past Kettering and Wellingborough and on to Salcey Forest.  With hindsight I could have stuck little spurs all over the route to grab a few extra tiles but I had planned the ride in a rush and that wasn't really the purpose of it.  Back onto more familiar roads with a few new tiles near Towcester then at Preston Capes I joined up with a standard route for the run home.  The one exception was a tiny spur in Ashby St Ledgers.

Uploading to Strava and then Veloviewer showed tiles up from 11817 to 11862 and maximum cluster increased from 2080 to 2130.  I was really surprised at the cluster increase but it was mainly due to that little spur that allowed the cluster to flood down through Daventry to just past Canons Ashby  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 21 September, 2019, 06:28:39 pm
Thanks to Pete Bartlett for a little bit of awesomeness - more details in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group Posts

You can see all tiles that have been logged by anyone in the Ride Every Tile Strava Group who have made their data public here (http://pcbartlett.com/heatmap.html)

Can select options for UK, US and Benelux at this stage.

Now we can try to be first to reach some of the "problem" tiles

Ben Lowe likes this and may try to incorporate into the main VeloViewer site

My VV & Strava are set to be public but a lot of my tiles are missing. Also I can't see how to select the different regions  :(

The region selection button has been deleted.
You also have to be in the relevant Strava group.

I am a member of ride Every Tile.

For some reason it looked like my data was private on VV when I looked at the club there even though I had 'Share my data with anyone' ticked on the Update page. I unticked that, saved, re-ticked it, saved again and now it looks like my data is public on the club page in VV. However I still can't see a lot of my tiles on Pete Bartlett's site.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: wajcgac on 22 September, 2019, 07:48:45 am
For some reason it looked like my data was private on VV when I looked at the club there even though I had 'Share my data with anyone' ticked on the Update page. I unticked that, saved, re-ticked it, saved again and now it looks like my data is public on the club page in VV. However I still can't see a lot of my tiles on Pete Bartlett's site.[/color]

I think that is because it's not 'live' as such. It relies on Pete compiling the data 'manually' much in the same way as the data here is only periodically updated

https://rideeverytile.com/tiling-records-max-square/
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: bobb on 22 September, 2019, 10:10:08 am
Just made my data public to get some of those tiles filled in :)

Good to see that nobody has done Osea Island* yet. I need to get that bad boy. Maybe I'll wait until low tide is at a suitable hour and sneak over the causeway under the cover of darkness, James Bond style...

*Apparantly the island is "private". Whatever that means form a legal angle - there is a B & B on there....
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 22 September, 2019, 12:33:27 pm
Just made my data public to get some of those tiles filled in :)

Good to see that nobody has done Osea Island* yet. I need to get that bad boy. Maybe I'll wait until low tide is at a suitable hour and sneak over the causeway under the cover of darkness, James Bond style...

*Apparantly the island is "private". Whatever that means form a legal angle - there is a B & B on there....

No need for trespassing, a short (50m out I'd guess) swim West from the coast by the Marconi sailing club (W of St Lawrence) on the mainland would be enough to bag that square.

Alternatively, just go cycling down that road/causeway at appropriate tide time and see what's down there. You don't have to go as far as any buildings to get into the square.

There are going to be loads of squares that have been covered which just aren't available to Pete. I can see quite a few in the SW that I would have covered on various rides/runs/walks and they're not coloured in. A casual look around the SW shows that the SW Coastal Path has very poor coverage and that's been walked to death by thousands.

I'm not going to make my data public enough for it to be included in this.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: bobb on 22 September, 2019, 06:47:59 pm
... swim West from the coast by the Marconi sailing club...

I hadn't considered swimming! Would have to save it as a Ride or Hike though, I think...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 22 September, 2019, 07:22:02 pm
... swim West from the coast by the Marconi sailing club...

I hadn't considered swimming! Would have to save it as a Ride or Hike though, I think...

Why? VV takes swims too as they're human powered. Here's one tile I've got thanks to some open water swimming (Shepperton Lakes):-

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vvswim.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 22 September, 2019, 10:09:49 pm

Why? VV takes swims too as they're human powered. Here's one tile I've got thanks to some open water swimming (Shepperton Lakes):-

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vvswim.png)

Yep. Takes kayaking too. I got one square by kayaking into the middle of a lake.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 23 September, 2019, 05:43:58 pm

Had a bit of an offroad adventure South east of the city, added 9 tiles, but increased my cluster by 18 to 612. Still a crazy cluster to total number of tiles ratio (612:9287).

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ashaman42 on 24 September, 2019, 08:13:57 pm
Right then. Being a nitwit I accidentally hit revoke permission between Strava and Veloviewer (nearly everytime I go to veloviewer it asks about allowing Strava access not seeming to remember I've said it's fine).

Now I can't get VV to connect to Strava. Does anyone know how I fix it?

ETA: Asked on the VV facebook page. It was as simpe as logging out and back in again and it reasked for permission. The fact I didn't think if that is rather daft  :facepalm:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 03 October, 2019, 06:30:22 pm
Thanks for looking at my "everybody heatmap" folks. I know it is not perfect by any means: 1) you have to make your rides fully public so that I can see what tiles you have been to. Then after you've done that 2) I have to do an offline process to download everyone's data and merge into one map, so you don't get instant gratification of getting the map filled in. Then 3) the number of squares filled in is so massive that web browsers start to creak with the amount of memory needed to display it.

On the other hand, it is quite a fun map to look at.

I'm hopeful that Ben will provide an API that will fix some/all of these issues, but if you have other ideas on where to go with it, I'd be interested to hear.

Also, are there any other "impossible" squares that should be coloured in red?

Thanks,
Pete
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 04 October, 2019, 07:01:08 pm
... 2) I have to do an offline process to download everyone's data and merge into one map, so you don't get instant gratification of getting the map filled in...

Cheers Pete  :thumbsup: Scotland's a wee bit greener now!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 05 October, 2019, 12:21:55 am
...Also, are there any other "impossible" squares that should be coloured in red?...

What's the definition of an "impossible" square?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 05 October, 2019, 12:12:54 pm
...Also, are there any other "impossible" squares that should be coloured in red?...

What's the definition of an "impossible" square?

How about: One where you have to break the law to get there?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 06 October, 2019, 07:07:15 pm
I've had the ability to record an activity (just going for a walk) in one particular UK square that is completely off limits to the general public. One that you really couldn't get via trespassing either.

I wasn't breaking the law by being there, but I'm sure that recording the activity and uploading to Strava could have easily triggered some problems for me if I had done it especially as I wasn't able to carry a mobile phone with me at the time (but they weren't concerned with my Garmin watch).

(Kind of similar to this kerfuffle a few years ago: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42853072)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 06 October, 2019, 10:06:46 pm
Somewhere like Foulness Island could fit into this category.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 07 October, 2019, 12:39:05 pm
I've had the ability to record an activity (just going for a walk) in one particular UK square that is completely off limits to the general public. One that you really couldn't get via trespassing either.

I wasn't breaking the law by being there, but I'm sure that recording the activity and uploading to Strava could have easily triggered some problems for me if I had done it especially as I wasn't able to carry a mobile phone with me at the time (but they weren't concerned with my Garmin watch).

(Kind of similar to this kerfuffle a few years ago: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42853072)

Interesting. I boobed by calling squares "impossible" in this thread. On the heatmap webpage I merely called them "hard". Hard is a better word than impossible because for almost any square there is /someone/ who has the right to go there (e.g. military staff).

Maybe what we should be defining the difficulty of a square by how many people have been there. Nothing is impossible .. just "not yet visited".
 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 07 October, 2019, 01:21:38 pm
Turns out that I hadn't set my data to public properly. Have now done that (and paid for another year's subscription).
(I've got a pair of remote Munros that I went to at the beginning of September as a useful check on whether it is likely that my data is included.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peat on 07 October, 2019, 01:44:39 pm
WOW! Jonathan France is summink else!

I've been beavering away and was pleased with my 24x24 (all time). But 101x101 is just incredible.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 07 October, 2019, 03:26:16 pm

Interesting. I boobed by calling squares "impossible" in this thread. On the heatmap webpage I merely called them "hard". Hard is a better word than impossible because for almost any square there is /someone/ who has the right to go there (e.g. military staff).

Maybe what we should be defining the difficulty of a square by how many people have been there. Nothing is impossible .. just "not yet visited".

Agreed. I have a square that not may people have, because I hired a kayak and paddled into the middle of a lake (no I'm not addicted, honest!). I'm really hoping for a good cold snap this winter so I can cycle out onto the ice in a couple of places to bag water based tiles.

Maybe it should be an algorithm based on the number of people who have got the tiles next to it... So if the tiles on all 4 sides have been got more than 5x as much as the centre tile, it should be considered hard, or something.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 07 October, 2019, 04:01:52 pm
At the weekend I discovered that my 25x25 square had downsized dramatically, as a latent false positive had opened up very near to home. Now fixed with a good local ride including a first time bridleway.  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: pdm on 08 October, 2019, 02:50:27 pm
I'm still stuck on 18x18 although ALL squares are in the Peak District.
Just need to do a short 120km, 2500m ride to get to 20x20....  :) Maybe next week.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peat on 08 October, 2019, 02:50:52 pm
'latent false positive'

How does it change? I have a few that are very marginal grazings, GPS error could easily account for 1 or 2. Once it's commited, surely that's it?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 08 October, 2019, 03:43:25 pm
'latent false positive'

How does it change? I have a few that are very marginal grazings, GPS error could easily account for 1 or 2. Once it's commited, surely that's it?

Not quite.

The strava API affords for two types of track, the abridged, and the full at least a while back veloviewer only got the abridged version and used that, which is why you'd often get a straight road where you didn't pick up the tiles in the middle, but if you clicked on the activity, veloviewer got the full data, and you got the tiles. I've not had to do this for a while, so I'm thinking that he may have changed the way that the data is imported.

But it does mean occasionally you've got a tile you haven't actually got, because of the way the abridged form takes, in other cases you've not got a tile you have, for the inverse. It tends to work out eventually.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JenM on 14 October, 2019, 01:55:01 pm
I’m new to this Strava / VeloViewer business. Yesterday a ride transferred OK from Strava to VeloViewer. Today 3 short rides totalling 5 miles haven’t. Have tried logging out / to VeloViewer.

Is there a reason for this? Do rides have to be of a minimum distance?

Thanks for any help.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: tom_e on 14 October, 2019, 02:43:10 pm
I had some short ones disappearing because they fitted entirely inside a privacy zone.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JenM on 14 October, 2019, 04:06:38 pm
I don’t have a privacy zone set.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 14 October, 2019, 05:51:46 pm
Sometimes I've done an Update on my phone but then the latest rides don't appear on the desktop without doing an Update there as well. Could it be caused by cookies being stored to reduce load on the server?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: bobb on 14 October, 2019, 08:07:51 pm
... swim West from the coast by the Marconi sailing club...

I hadn't considered swimming! Would have to save it as a Ride or Hike though, I think...

Why? VV takes swims too as they're human powered.

I assumed it only took rides and hikes because of:

(https://zaribor.co.uk/raz/pics/vv.jpg)

But I'm guessing now it only gives me those options as I've only ever recorded rides and hikes...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 14 October, 2019, 08:57:14 pm
(http://greenbank.org/misc/vvmisc.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: orejas on 04 November, 2019, 12:03:16 am
After a ggod few month on 19*19, managed to get the required square. 20*20 now. North Londin is starting to get in the way, not that keen on the traffic
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 07 November, 2019, 02:10:12 pm
Managed to pick up a rogue tile this morning, increasing my max square from 9x9 to 12x12
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 07 November, 2019, 08:33:41 pm
A few long forays into France did increase my max tile count immensely but hardly did anything for my cluster or square.
My current results are:
Total amount of tiles 32022
max cluster  4789
square  35

At this rate I should have a total tile increase of over 4000 for this year by the end of the year. A bit more as expected.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 07 November, 2019, 09:50:58 pm
A few long forays into France did increase my max tile count immensely but hardly did anything for my cluster or square.
My current results are:
Total amount of tiles 32022
max cluster  4789
square  35

At this rate I should have a total tile increase of over 4000 for this year by the end of the year. A bit more as expected.

I'm at 3770 new tiles for the year. With overall tally of:

Tiles: 9536 tiles
Max square 17x17
Max Cluster: 617

On the plus side, I'm at 314 Gemente in 2019!

J
 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 08 November, 2019, 11:18:04 am
I follow the new tiles each year closely, I love adventuring to new places.

In the overall tiles each year, me and Lee Killestein have had some fun over the past few years.
I got Lee last year for the No1 spot but for 2019 he is super strong with his Audax points chasing.
Current score is  Lee 11,309 with mine at 11,040
Not sure I can summon up the enthusiasm to chase that before the end of the year   ::-)

Interestingly the Current leader in that table over Lee seems to be a data glitch, James H is on 11,835 tiles in the list but when you check his summary page it says he has only done 5060 this year, and the mileage covered seems to back that up.

Would be nice to see lee rightly in that top spot. :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 08 November, 2019, 06:09:29 pm
I follow the new tiles each year closely, I love adventuring to new places.

In the overall tiles each year, me and Lee Killestein have had some fun over the past few years.
I got Lee last year for the No1 spot but for 2019 he is super strong with his Audax points chasing.
Current score is  Lee 11,309 with mine at 11,040
Not sure I can summon up the enthusiasm to chase that before the end of the year   ::-)

Interestingly the Current leader in that table over Lee seems to be a data glitch, James H is on 11,835 tiles in the list but when you check his summary page it says he has only done 5060 this year, and the mileage covered seems to back that up.

Would be nice to see lee rightly in that top spot. :thumbsup:

The sharp end of this table is quite audax heavy. OK, Koos doesn't do audaxes and I don't know about Arek but you, John, Peter and myself all are active audaxers.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 08 November, 2019, 06:52:56 pm
I’ve not seen that leaderboard before, but pleased to see I’m in the top 20 ... to add to the plethora of audax riders ‘near’ to the sharp end
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 08 November, 2019, 10:00:32 pm

Where is the total tiles leaderboard?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 08 November, 2019, 10:06:06 pm

Where is the total tiles leaderboard?

J

In the leaderbords section, just select explorter (tiles) from the drop down menu and change to all on the left hand button
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 08 November, 2019, 10:32:07 pm
In the leaderbords section, just select explorter (tiles) from the drop down menu and change to all on the left hand button

Oh yes, Forgot that was there...

Looks like I'm 73rd. That's considerably higher than I expected. Another metric to aim for...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 08 November, 2019, 10:38:09 pm
Oh yes, Forgot that was there...

Looks like I'm 73rd. That's considerably higher than I expected. Another metric to aim for...


Oh, I was only looking at 2019. If I select all time, then I drop to 368th.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 09 November, 2019, 05:53:19 am
Oh yes, Forgot that was there...

Looks like I'm 73rd. That's considerably higher than I expected. Another metric to aim for...


Oh, I was only looking at 2019. If I select all time, then I drop to 368th.

J

Me too, I thought the discussion started about an annual ‘competition’ between 2 riders. Looking at all years, I drop down to top 100.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 09 November, 2019, 09:42:12 am
Oh yes, Forgot that was there...

Looks like I'm 73rd. That's considerably higher than I expected. Another metric to aim for...


Oh, I was only looking at 2019. If I select all time, then I drop to 368th.

J

Me too, I thought the discussion started about an annual ‘competition’ between 2 riders. Looking at all years, I drop down to top 100.

Both are interesting.
For me it's the other way round. I'm at 6 for all the years but 'only' in 29th spot for 2019.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chew on 15 November, 2019, 07:45:50 pm
Not really been looking to expand my square this year (It hasnt increased), but have been exploring a bit.
Lots of new places visited and hopefully of benefit in the long term.

Some interesting route choices at the weekend, allowed me to expand my cluster to 1,000 tiles

(https://i.ibb.co/sQfhtM5/1000.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 18 November, 2019, 07:11:43 pm
Did a DIY 200k on Saturday that, with a bit of meandering and a couple of spurs, grabbed a few tiles including the pesky one near Atherstone that has been bugging me since April.  Max square now 38*38.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 21 November, 2019, 09:59:45 pm
Max cluster now at 843. 6885 tiles bagged. Max square remains at 17.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49102129532_36daac11c2_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2hNZfqd)
vv_20191121 (https://flic.kr/p/2hNZfqd) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 27 November, 2019, 12:15:50 pm
Created a Strava Club (https://www.strava.com/clubs/567173) for those based in Scotland- maybe see if we can arrange summer water based (Kayak or Canoe) trips to collect problem tiles e.g. Forth and Tay estuaries, Loch Leven, Montrose Basin etc.

Anyone interested welcome to join.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanDG on 27 November, 2019, 02:33:01 pm
Targeted 3 tiles today increasing total to 3206 and upping the cluster score from 119 to 129

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49132119118_daaaa5b267_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2hRCXh3)vvexplorertiles271119 (https://flic.kr/p/2hRCXh3) by ian (https://www.flickr.com/photos/acf_windy/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 30 November, 2019, 04:51:36 pm

Went out on a 50k ride today, aiming to tick off a load of tiles and increase my max square.

I bagged all the intended tiles, and in doing, increased my tiles square from the 6 over lapping 17x17 to... 9 over lapping 17x17...

Ah well, cluster improved a bit.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 01 December, 2019, 09:57:15 am
Nearest unbagged tiles to me have a manhattan distance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicab_geometry) of 6 (going both North or East).

However the nearest tile I need to improve my square (currently 4 overlapping 18x18) is 40km as the crow flies. I don't have the time to ride there and back (and it's not a particularly nice route) so I now plan to get there/back using trains and do a 50-80km ride out there.

Once the weather improves in spring and I get my fitness back I can target the tiles N/NE/E of me which only require a short bimble across already bagged tiles so no reliance on trains.

Looking at my map of unbagged tiles annoys me as I can mentally see all of the tiles I know I've bagged before but don't have a GPS log for. There's a couple of Audaxes that predate my GPS use that would have bagged a whole load in North London and out towards Oxfordshire (like the old Muswell Hills 200), or the old Elstead 200 out to Friar Muck's in Amesbury.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 01 December, 2019, 09:27:00 pm
Today's Braco Way 100km audax added 14 new squares, including a 2km detour in Causewayhead  (some strange looks from fellow riders) to bag me a new tile which expanded my cluster by 39 tiles to 863 and it now extends out beyond Callander.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49153602638_4952fed714.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2hTx4zy)Capture 20191201 (https://flic.kr/p/2hTx4zy) by  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/paddyirish/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 01 December, 2019, 10:34:09 pm
Today I managed to push my cluster past the 5000 mark. And a lot of tiles easy to connect to it so I can expand it a lot this winter. Especially since I changed my Dutch railroads pass from 'daluren' to a weekend free pass, I pay a lump sum and can travel freely from friday evening to sunday evening. That makes tilehunting quite affordable.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Arminius on 02 December, 2019, 11:50:58 am
182km of sliding around on ice, mud and icy mud yesterday has increased my max square from 22x22 to 25x25. I'll hopefully get a chance to improve it a bit more before the end of the year but I really hope the weather improves a bit - all of the off-road sections around York are totally sodden at the moment!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 09 December, 2019, 06:17:16 pm
The forecast for Saturday was pretty reasonable for December so I plotted a tile-gathering DIY 200k including the northern edge of Coventry and the Lutterworth area.  28 tiles nabbed and my max cluster bumped up from 2163 to 2201.  More importantly it cleared a two tile wide border around my max square in that area so I shouldn't 'have to' go there for a while.

100k today out to the northwest of Derby into a fairly strong headwind that refused to blow me home.  Another 10 tiles and an increase in my max square to 39  :)  There were another couple of tiles up towards Ashbourne that were tempting but I had to get back for a dentist's appointment  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 14 December, 2019, 12:29:40 pm
Our trip to Cuba took my tile count over the 7000 mark to 7127. Cluster remains at 843, square at 17.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 14 December, 2019, 10:31:08 pm
Our trip to Cuba took my tile count over the 7000 mark to 7127. Cluster remains at 843, square at 17.

I'd worry if a trip to cuba increased your cluster or square :p

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 30 December, 2019, 03:25:17 pm
We've moved, so square progress will stall for quite some time, but I have finally visited Spennymoor, and once again my cluster includes my home.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191230/27370e3eec47b70b672def1ca2a3d34e.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 30 December, 2019, 05:30:35 pm
(https://burlycross.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/end-of-2019-24x24-1.jpg)

It takes a big effort to get to the edge of my square now, so for some late winter fun I have been seeing how much mud (tons) it takes to get my square into the top 10 for 2019. Just managed it with a 24x24 (pic is summary filtered for 2019 only)

Happy exploring in 2020 everyone  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 30 December, 2019, 06:42:18 pm
Picked up a few tiles, Nth of Woodstock - first for quite a while.  On 25x25, 2106 tiles, and 1098 cluster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 30 December, 2019, 10:43:39 pm
2019 saw a concerted effort from me to explore and grow the cluster and max square. With a house move in Jan/Feb the square is clearly going to stall for a while, but sometime mid 2020 there should be a good jump in cluster number as I link up new home in West Yorkshire with the tiles in East Yorkshire.

https://twitter.com/balancingonmy_/status/1211778464287744000?s=09

(forgive Twitter link, forgotten how to link image, sorry)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 31 December, 2019, 07:00:47 am
That's me done for the year in terms of new tiles- needed to go for a couple of short Motorway Service Station Walks to get over the 800 new tiles for the year (Scotch corner is good - 4 tiles doable in 10 mins). 

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49302742783_b2b8e3b31b_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2i7HrKn) (https://flic.kr/p/2i7HrKn)

A bit less than I wanted, but some good groundwork laid for next year. 

Next year's targets - 1000 new tiles including more in Austria, cluster to 1200 (Including Dundee, Perth, Dunbar, Glasgow, Crieff and Stronachlachar) and max square to 15.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 31 December, 2019, 03:58:35 pm
I'm quite pleased with that, Max square is secondary to Audax

(https://scontent.flhr4-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/p960x960/81935509_10218899429468709_1311084529980538880_o.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_ohc=aPXliI13O_sAQkdytBoaPsjDxdyqjIuEKMSqYbfwX21N4lE_KRY89drIg&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr4-2.fna&oh=1a381132be5f140c28e2fdf3e0c80392&oe=5E6FE16D)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 01 January, 2020, 10:24:18 am
Not a particularly busy riding year for me in 2019, with more running in the winter and various distractions - so this is rather more modest than many here. But here's where my cluster of 75 is at the end of the year. (Ignoring some further flung rides.) There's a "no rights of way square" limiting the max-square to the south east and a lack of recent off-roading limiting at the south west.

In 2020 we're planning to move in the summer, so my riding until then may well be about re-riding some old favourites. That will include some rides I haven't ever put on Strava (on the downs in particular), so it should see my cluster grow - but I might not chase all the little corners. After the move, I'll be starting afresh. I wonder how long it will take to get live in my max cluster.

(https://betweenbeyond.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/vv-cluster-end-2019.png)
(https://betweenbeyond.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/vv-info-end-2019.png?resize=512%2C512)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 January, 2020, 11:06:30 am


Kinda disappointing year. I fell short of my target by nearly 6000km, and had pitiful improvement in my square and cluster. I went from 13x13 to 17x17, my cluster went up by 375 to 643, and my total tile count increased by 4378 to 10145.

At this rate I'm going to end up competing the biggest mismatch in square size to total tile count...

Will post infographic when not on a train...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 01 January, 2020, 01:29:33 pm
(http://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/cycling/vv_2019.sized.png)

That'll do, given that I only actually made an effort to seek out tiles on about 5 rides.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 01 January, 2020, 11:37:09 pm
I finished the year with 19,926 squares (and could've bumped that up to a round 20,000 if I'd really tried), but the square stalled at 39x39 after I shagged my knee, and I've been a bit reluctant to go hike-a-biking, which is kinda what I need to do to get the squares to push it up to 40. The Pennines is tough terrain.

I should make progress on my cluster in 2020 (currently 3757), and I've a couple of well-covered areas around Berwick and the Lakes where I just need to get a few key* tiles to link it all together, then my cluster would be coast-to-coast from the North Sea to the Irish Sea, and from the Humber to the Tweed.

*read: fucking awkward. I had planned to get them riding back from the Lakes in April, but that's when I shagged my knee.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 02 January, 2020, 10:25:12 am

My count for the year:

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENRN2IRWoAEvcVm?format=jpg&name=large)

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: pdm on 02 January, 2020, 01:08:13 pm
Started playing the tiles malarkey in March 2019 - secondary to riding with my geriatric cycling group...

2019:
~9350km (250 short of 9600 "target!)
~122,000m climbing

Max square went from 9x9 to 18x18 - all on Peak District roads (can't walk for toffee).
Tiles from 1987 to 2533. (22.812 km per tile - riding too many repeat routes! - not difficult in the Peaks)
Cluster from 350 to 503

Must try harder this year!

May you all suffer tailwinds and downhill rides this new year and "decade"....  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 04 January, 2020, 01:06:48 pm
Targeted a few tiles on todays 53km gravel ride.
Total increased from 9810 to 9816
Cluster increased from 346 to 366
Max square increased from 12x12 to 13x13
And according to Wandrer I cycled 10.5 kilometers on roads i've never ridden before

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 04 January, 2020, 06:01:40 pm
What's Wandrer, Russell?

I got a whole 4! new squares today. It was an entertaining ride, apart from jarring my knee a bit, which kiboshed my plan to walk out and get a couple more squares.

I had a chat with a gamekeeper along a shootin' track - he spotted me and caught me up on his quad while I was fighting with my rain jacket and the wind.

Him: "How far up are you going?"

Me: "Dunno, how far does it go?"

He was quite relaxed about me riding it, he just wanted to let me know I properly shouldn't. Turns out, it's really handy for getting two awkward squares. I already had one of them, though, since I yomped up the hill at the opposite edge of the square last March :)

I've set myself a target of getting my square to 40x40 by the end of January. Knocked one of the squares off today, half a dozen more to go...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 04 January, 2020, 06:12:57 pm
What's Wandrer, Russell?

It uses Strava to work out where you've been, and lets you know when you ride new roads

https://wandrer.earth/ (https://wandrer.earth/)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 04 January, 2020, 06:18:18 pm
Nooooo, not another one...!

10 new squares today but a cluster increase of 30.

Last week I did this. Ffs.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200104/4084da1b3d1fa8b24562b4b6057c05a5.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 05 January, 2020, 09:02:16 am
What's Wandrer, Russell?

It uses Strava to work out where you've been, and lets you know when you ride new roads

https://wandrer.earth/ (https://wandrer.earth/)

I was intrigued by this, but there wasn't much info on the front page... I signed up anyway, and granted Wandrer all the permissions it asked for. Then I learn that it's limited to my last 50 rides unless I pay for a subscription. I'd rather have known that before I ticked 'grant access' to everything. Anyway, the 'delete account' button was easy to find, so that's a plus. I'm paying the VeloViewer subscription mainly for the Explorer Tiles game, Wandrer looks interesting but is perhaps too much of an overlap with Explorer Tiles to justify my cash.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 05 January, 2020, 09:04:06 pm
Ah fuck that then.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 06 January, 2020, 09:28:03 am
What's Wandrer, Russell?

It uses Strava to work out where you've been, and lets you know when you ride new roads

https://wandrer.earth/ (https://wandrer.earth/)



I was intrigued by this, but there wasn't much info on the front page... I signed up anyway, and granted Wandrer all the permissions it asked for. Then I learn that it's limited to my last 50 rides unless I pay for a subscription. I'd rather have known that before I ticked 'grant access' to everything. Anyway, the 'delete account' button was easy to find, so that's a plus. I'm paying the VeloViewer subscription mainly for the Explorer Tiles game, Wandrer looks interesting but is perhaps too much of an overlap with Explorer Tiles to justify my cash.

That's odd, as i'm displaying around 3000 rides and I don't pay a penny
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 06 January, 2020, 10:16:42 am
Early adopters of Wandrer had all their rides loaded for free.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 06 January, 2020, 10:27:24 am
Early adopters of Wandrer had all their rides loaded for free.

That'll explain it then, thanks.

Back on topic,
Yesterdays ride round Kielder Water increased my total from 9816 to 9819, by riding the peninsula i usually miss out
No changes to cluster or max square though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Nuncio on 06 January, 2020, 12:49:39 pm
What's Wandrer, Russell?

It uses Strava to work out where you've been, and lets you know when you ride new roads

https://wandrer.earth/ (https://wandrer.earth/)
Anyway, the 'delete account' button was easy to find, so that's a plus.

A cross would have been better.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peat on 06 January, 2020, 03:20:54 pm
I punted my max square from 24 to 26 early on Xmas day with some festive trespassing. Not a soul to be seen, except me...  :facepalm:

I have my targets firmly set on 30 x 30. I have 2 big clusters on opposing corners that I could work over with a carefully devised route, other than that lots of odds and sods annoying distances apart.

Great fun. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 06 January, 2020, 11:13:53 pm
I've cracked, sorry, here's my 2019.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49342226272_08201256a7_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2ibcNPb)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 07 January, 2020, 09:07:33 am
Early adopters of Wandrer had all their rides loaded for free.

I guess the early adopters should be thankful that our rides didn't get chucked out too.

Wandrer is going to be very computationally expensive (calculating every road is harder than calculating every tile) so I'm not surprised the Wandrer has tried to monetize much earlier than VeloViewer did. But I still think it is a bit pretty premature to pay - the basic static pages (like About and Scoring) are out-of-date but could easily be fixed. The real beef for me is that the road detection algorithm isn't very well tuned for the UK yet - loads of footpaths and private roads are marked as needing to be visited if you want to get to 100%. For the UK it should be roads and bridleways. I know this is mainly a problem with the underlying OpenStreetMap data, but is not unfixable - e.g. the rowmaps.com guy has marked up all bridleways. If he managed to do that, I reckon I'd end up paying for Strava AND VeloViewer AND Wandrer.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 12 January, 2020, 07:44:46 pm
I used the Rapha Festive500 to nibble away at the edges of my square with rides on flooded roads, badly diverted bridleways, barbed wire fences etc - all part of the fun.

Yesterday I had a nice tow into wind by the club run before I cut a corner for one tile then diverted after the cafe stop to pick up another couple near Market Harborough.  This gives me two overlapping 41*41 squares.  There is a bunch of tiles near Corby that I 'need' - I wonder if I can convince the club to drag me over there next Saturday  ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 19 January, 2020, 11:55:32 am
I managed to get 4 new tiles yesterday on @Deano 's Yad Moss / St Moritz 200
It was a bit too far from home to increase my cluster, which remains at 366
Unlucky for me, I'm still stuck on 13 x 13
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanDG on 20 January, 2020, 06:05:13 pm
Started to target the gaps in my cluster. Got 3 tiles today (with a bit of walking boggy off-road paths) and pushed my cluster from 189 to 201. Gained 67 tiles since Jan 1st and increased my cluster score by 58.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49415342482_814f4e8ac7_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2ihExHu)2020-01-20_05-18-06 (https://flic.kr/p/2ihExHu) by ian (https://www.flickr.com/photos/acf_windy/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 21 January, 2020, 09:54:21 am
Moving house really boosts the motivation.

I had a few hours to kill in Zunlun yesterday so walked their beaches. It was a lovely day, but it'll take more than Sunshine to make Sunderland ever bearable.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200121/465b8ea276a459df68d7314a62668bf2.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 22 January, 2020, 03:57:07 pm
Really got motivated at the end of last year trying to up my 2019 square, and I asked Veloviewer Ben about a current year KML.
He replied that he hopes to have a more specific area for explorers available this year with more tools, when he secures his first employee to help.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Salvatore on 22 January, 2020, 05:13:59 pm

I had a few hours to kill in Zunlun yesterday so walked their beaches. It was a lovely day, but it'll take more than Sunshine to make Sunderland ever bearable.


You could have gone for a ride on the fun bus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=324HRfKudQY).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 22 January, 2020, 05:14:44 pm
He replied that he hopes to have a more specific area for explorers available this year with more tools, when he secures his first employee to help.

That would have been an interesting job but, sadly, I suspect he couldn't afford me!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: pdm on 22 January, 2020, 05:28:03 pm
94km with 1400m climbing today to bag 5 squares....
Cluster up by 15(!) but still stuck at 3x 18 by 18
Will need to about 160km + 2500m climbing to get to 20x20...  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 22 January, 2020, 07:25:20 pm
He replied that he hopes to have a more specific area for explorers available this year with more tools, when he secures his first employee to help.

That would have been an interesting job but, sadly, I suspect he couldn't afford me!

Suspect not, but I guess he's doing ok having signed up 17 of the 19 world tour cycle teams for his route app Which they use in live races and preparation. :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 22 January, 2020, 09:48:31 pm

I had a few hours to kill in Zunlun yesterday so walked their beaches. It was a lovely day, but it'll take more than Sunshine to make Sunderland ever bearable.


You could have gone for a ride on the fun bus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=324HRfKudQY).

So many options (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0hlUISve2c)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanDG on 23 January, 2020, 11:29:50 am
I've been slowly filling in holes this year and increased my cluster from 129 to 211 since December.

Looking at the blank squares between the Dumfries/Bankend Road and the B724 that is one big bog/forest picked up 2 of them this week (the 2 pink ones N and NE of Bankend on the VV screenshot).

Seen this lane into Craig's Moss on the map but have cycled past it a few times and not noticed it.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49428554773_0297a33553_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iiQggB)theresatiletheresomewhere (https://flic.kr/p/2iiQggB) by ian (https://www.flickr.com/photos/acf_windy/), on Flickr

It would get me just the one tile

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49429028381_4aece3c36c_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iiSG4g)itsallbog (https://flic.kr/p/2iiSG4g) by ian (https://www.flickr.com/photos/acf_windy/), on Flickr

The reason I haven't noticed it (drove past it today to investigate) is that it's not as well defined on the ground as it is on the map.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49428537493_6951387750_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iiQb8F)2020-01-23_11-14-22 (https://flic.kr/p/2iiQb8F) by ian (https://www.flickr.com/photos/acf_windy/), on Flickr
 

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanDG on 26 January, 2020, 11:44:01 am
Got my square into double figures at last (10x10) - next target the 2 on the right hand side and the top right corner :)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49443687932_926a0bfc3f_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2ikaPQ9)260120 (https://flic.kr/p/2ikaPQ9) by ian (https://www.flickr.com/photos/acf_windy/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 26 January, 2020, 01:55:58 pm
I did a ridiculously wriggly ride yesterday with the intent of bringing my cluster south as far as Doncaster. I dunno what I was thinking during the planning as I failed, despite 74 new tiles, a great deal of spurs for tiles and a couple of time sapping wades through post-flood mud across fields. :facepalm:
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200126/6dea2b4bcc08176e02dae6556e24ce93.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 26 January, 2020, 06:35:28 pm
a 33k ride on my gravel bike bagged 4 new tiles taking my cluster from 366 to 374.
More importantly my max square increased from 13x13 to 15x15

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 26 January, 2020, 07:04:29 pm
I went out yesterday on a 200km DIY out towards Rutland Water and bagged 69 new squares.  I especially wanted to get these three squares which were limiting my cluster.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200126/9d5ea08620d7b9682e544824861262ac.jpg)

Cluster now up by 142 to 2594
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200126/dbe33c2e6ba4e77f4bfabea32bcfb697.jpg)

No change to my 42x42 max square though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peat on 27 January, 2020, 02:50:37 pm
I see you've given Leicester a wide berth.
My square is currently limited on one side by the urban blob of Swindon.

The squares would be relatively easy pickings, Swindon has alot of cycleways (and roads) but hardly pleasurable. I wouldn't chose to ride through town ordinarily, so I was thinking of making a trip of it to get all the urban squares in one hit - but when would be best? I'm leaning towards sparrows fart on a spring/summer morning, when the drunks and yoofs are a'slumber.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 27 January, 2020, 04:57:37 pm
I wouldn't chose to ride through town ordinarily, so I was thinking of making a trip of it to get all the urban squares in one hit - but when would be best? I'm leaning towards sparrows fart on a spring/summer morning, when the drunks and yoofs are a'slumber.

Christmas Day or during an important sportsball match.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 27 January, 2020, 07:43:49 pm
I see you've given Leicester a wide berth.
My square is currently limited on one side by the urban blob of Swindon.

The squares would be relatively easy pickings, Swindon has alot of cycleways (and roads) but hardly pleasurable. I wouldn't chose to ride through town ordinarily, so I was thinking of making a trip of it to get all the urban squares in one hit - but when would be best? I'm leaning towards sparrows fart on a spring/summer morning, when the drunks and yoofs are a'slumber.

Swindon and Reading are my leave alone areas atm; though I have done more of Swindon.  TBH I can't really see myself doing Reading.  Even Swindon, meh.  If I was going to, then very early a.m. & w/e, in the Summer would be my preferred too...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49450857268_d5d8cf40dd.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2ikNz2o)Reading (https://flic.kr/p/2ikNz2o) by ao (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49450857158_4f8c76bbd3.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2ikNyZu)Swindon (https://flic.kr/p/2ikNyZu) by ao (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 27 January, 2020, 08:09:39 pm
I've done various town/city rides for vv tile bagging and since I have to drop my daughter off at school at 9am and pick her up at 3pm then most of my cycling was done between 10am and 2pm, didn't have many problems at all.

(90% of my riding is urban anyway as my commute takes me almost in to central London and back each day.)

They're relatively quick to knock off and mean that, once done, you can concentrate on rides in more rural settings to increase your square/cluster.

This 3h 70km ride ticked off 54 tiles in/around Woking for example: https://www.strava.com/activities/1947476515 (although, annoyingly, I missed one tile by not following the GPS properly). Started/finished at Woking Station which saved me having to ride to/from Putney as I couldn't fit that in to the tight timescales otherwise (I could but a puncture could have left me missing school pickup time).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 28 January, 2020, 10:22:45 am
Yeah, likewise, I'm not adverse to urban cycling, my daily commute is across Derby and back everyday.  And I've got all of Nottingham and half of Sheffield in my cluster.   With a bit of local knowledge or a good route finding app it's often quite possible to find quite pleasant traffic free routes.   

I guess urban cycling is more out of necessity rather than choice a lot of the time.  When my max square reaches Leicester then riding in Leicester becomes a necessity!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 28 January, 2020, 11:23:52 am
Yeah, likewise, I'm not adverse to urban cycling, my daily commute is across Derby and back everyday.  And I've got all of Nottingham and half of Sheffield in my cluster.   With a bit of local knowledge or a good route finding app it's often quite possible to find quite pleasant traffic free routes.   

I guess urban cycling is more out of necessity rather than choice a lot of the time.  When my max square reaches Leicester then riding in Leicester becomes a necessity!

My cluster so far includes about the 90% of the area enclosed by the M25. And I'm going to be stubborn and finish it. But boy, I will be glad when I do so I can go back to some nicer areas :-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 28 January, 2020, 12:49:39 pm
I quite enjoy a bit of urban riding when there are interesting things to look at.  It is the sprawling housing estates that I find tedious.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 28 January, 2020, 01:11:44 pm
When playing with veloviewer I accidentally switched the filter to "Rides" and noticed 4 relatively nearby tiles disappeared. One is only 3 tiles away from home (2 East, 1 South) and I've cycled through it hundreds of times to go play 5-a-side football but obviously never GPSed one of those rides or done it on any other ride, I have run through it though as I remember doing a run to go and check if I'd left a pair of gloves outside the pub after football once, and another run to go collect the car from an MOT.

Two more relatively nearby (Thames Path - Barnes Bridge and further round past Kew) I've only run through on Strava. Definitely cycled along there but it was with MiniGB in a child seat on the back so wouldn't have recorded it on the GPS.

Then the tile just north of Weybridge I've only ever swam in at Shepperton Lake.

Not sure whether this annoys me or not.

2 overlapping 4x4 squares if I select just running, and that could move to 5x5 if I filled in 2 more squares and then 6x6 with a further 3.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 28 January, 2020, 01:49:54 pm
I quite enjoy a bit of urban riding when there are interesting things to look at.  It is the sprawling housing estates that I find tedious.

For me it's the soul destroying identikit light industrial parks full of dead ends and idiot drivers that I don't like...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 28 January, 2020, 06:28:06 pm
I quite enjoy a bit of urban riding when there are interesting things to look at.  It is the sprawling housing estates that I find tedious.

For me it's the soul destroying identikit light industrial parks full of dead ends and idiot drivers that I don't like...

J

There's a Dutch word for this: Golfplatenboulevard
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 28 January, 2020, 06:42:56 pm
I quite enjoy a bit of urban riding when there are interesting things to look at.  It is the sprawling housing estates that I find tedious.

For me it's the soul destroying identikit light industrial parks full of dead ends and idiot drivers that I don't like...

J

There's a Dutch word for this: Golfplatenboulevard

 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 28 January, 2020, 08:54:51 pm
OK, so having said 'I may not do Reading', I've just been on Strava route planning and designed a single ride to bag most of it, in perhaps a 100km from Goring stn, or 100mile from home.   ;D  Backburner tho.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 29 January, 2020, 08:32:07 am
;D  Backburner tho.
That's my feeling on Houghton Le Spring
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 29 January, 2020, 09:27:05 am
The planning is the best bit. I've planned about 20 future vv tile bagging rides covering most of London inside the M25 (having covered just over 1/4 of it already), I'm just shit at getting out there and doing them.

Current excuse is that I'm focusing on getting back to fitness after nobbling my ankle last year and the one day I can do longer rides easily is the day I'm cramming in spinning, swimming and a bit of running.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanDG on 29 January, 2020, 05:25:57 pm
The planning is the best bit. I've planned about 20 future vv tile bagging rides covering most of London inside the M25 (having covered just over 1/4 of it already), I'm just shit at getting out there and doing them.

Current excuse is that I'm focusing on getting back to fitness after nobbling my ankle last year and the one day I can do longer rides easily is the day I'm cramming in spinning, swimming and a bit of running.

Agreed, got lots of routes planned and ideas for bagging missed tiles, it's getting out there and doing it (will have to get some hill walking in too to increase my cluster/square).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peat on 01 February, 2020, 02:31:05 pm
A 'carefully' planned route skirting Reading and out to the south, bagging squares.

(https://i.ibb.co/WDCn3rL/fuck.jpg)

Bugger! Poor planning, Peat!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 04 February, 2020, 07:00:32 am
Two East Lothian trips in the last two weekends (John Muir Way from North Berwick to Dunbar  on Foot, and a two hour tiling ride bagged ~45 new tiles and increased my cluster by 33 to 906.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49486016853_0f21aeea98.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2ioULK8)20200203 (https://flic.kr/p/2ioULK8)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 04 February, 2020, 07:23:09 pm
A 'carefully' planned route skirting Reading and out to the south, bagging squares.
...

Bugger! Poor planning, Peat!

and... return.   :)  I do that a lot.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 07 February, 2020, 11:09:38 pm
I've set myself a target of getting my square to 40x40 by the end of January. Knocked one of the squares off today, half a dozen more to go...

Not quite :) But I knocked off a couple of rows at the southern end today, and now I've 3 overlapping 39x39s. It was fucking hard work, and fucking gorgeous.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49503405171_3085c5e224_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iqrTFH)

Just the one more up Swaledale for 40x40.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 08 February, 2020, 09:11:39 am
Oh, and grabbing a tile up Coverdale, I got electrocuted (twice) and shouted at, so good luck to anyone else working the Dales.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 08 February, 2020, 02:17:14 pm
Livestock fence, I'm guessing.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 08 February, 2020, 02:28:18 pm
Put 48 on cluster today.   Now 1151.

Longest ever stretch ridden of the busy A420; ~1km to Littleworth turning nr Faringdon.  Not too bad, though I had a queue building up behind due to oncoming traffic & solid white line, glad to get off.

Fairly sure I found the longest bit of dead straight road in the Vale; 2km - very quiet, just down from littleworth, heading towards Radcot/Thames.

Saw ~60(!) swans in a farmers field nr the Thames, and had a buzzard with attitude, firing guano at me from a tree branch - good aim, but I managed to swerve avoid.  :thumbsup:



The 'hole' nr Burford is Carterton/BrizeNorton, which I'll do at some point.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49505281158_fc2ab54972.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iqBvmj)Cluster08022020 (https://flic.kr/p/2iqBvmj) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49506030342_b17894c527.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iqFm4h)IMG_20200208-1_HDR (https://flic.kr/p/2iqFm4h) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 09 February, 2020, 09:47:29 am

Yesterdays audax added 93 new tiles to my count, doesn't do anything to cluster or square, but it does nicely connect up some of my clumps of tiles.

Also added two more Gemente, completing province Utrecht. 14 left to do!

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 10 February, 2020, 05:58:49 pm
Just signed up.  Though I racked up 6200 tiles in 2019 my biggest square is a paltry 5x5. Time for some hole filling.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: RobertW on 10 February, 2020, 06:37:40 pm
In the calm before the storm on Saturday a ride up to Horsham and Rusper, netted me 30 squares and took my total to  5003.  Cluster improved similarly to 2115.  Max square stayed at 30 , needing a ride to Guildford to improve.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 19 February, 2020, 09:09:08 am
Some fiddling around Ealing and Hounslow means I now have a cluster extending from Windsor to South Woodham Ferrers  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 19 February, 2020, 09:42:22 am
It is definitely addictive. I went from 5x5 a week ago to 11x11 yesterday. Just planning 40k on the mountain bike today.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 19 February, 2020, 05:08:09 pm

Took the Brompton out today, bagged about 30 new tiles. Does nothing for my cluster or square at this point, but it widened things at the bridge at Rhenen, which makes it slightly easier to push the cluster that way later.

More importantly bagged 3 more Gemeente. Bringing me up to 344, and 12th position. 4 in Friesland, 6 in Noord Brabant, and one in Zeeland left to go.

Zeeland is going to be hardest...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 20 February, 2020, 08:13:59 am
I keep seeing police tweets mentioning Project Servator - "we use a range of tactics and can pop up anywhere at any time" - which sounds like square hunting to me :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 20 February, 2020, 11:43:30 pm

Took the Brompton out today, bagged about 30 new tiles. Does nothing for my cluster or square at this point, but it widened things at the bridge at Rhenen, which makes it slightly easier to push the cluster that way later.

More importantly bagged 3 more Gemeente. Bringing me up to 344, and 12th position. 4 in Friesland, 6 in Noord Brabant, and one in Zeeland left to go.

Zeeland is going to be hardest...

J

Depends on which one in Zeeland ;)
Just bagged about 15 municipalities in Luxemburg. Hard going, not that many kilometers but a lot of climbing. Usually the border between 2 municipalities is right on top of the ridge.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 29 February, 2020, 03:38:48 pm
Last weekend, I extended my cluster up to Scotland:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49600308491_0918795916_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iz1xEB)

I'm not that far off extending it to Edinburgh, but it'll be a while before I'm up there again. I'd better get back to working on my square.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 01 March, 2020, 09:16:17 pm
Holy Moly Deano.

I added a square today - retires to pub for beer in front of fire.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 08 March, 2020, 12:16:03 pm
I did a DIY 200k yesterday which was originally designed to gather a couple of tiles near Ashbourne that were on the edge of my max square.  With the 'spare' distance I zigged and zagged past Carsington Water and along the top of Derby to pick off a few stragglers.  At the eleventh hour I reversed the route for some reason so that it went to Hucknal(ish) first then out to Ashbourne.

It was a pretty decent day but I made slow progress because of hills, headwind, rough tracks, farmyards, 'gravel' etc but mostly due to my lack of fitness and excess of fatness.  Still - another 42 tiles added bumping my cluster by 100 and giving me two overlapping 42*42 squares.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 15 March, 2020, 12:48:04 pm
Friday's jaunt took my cluster up to 915. Of course, you know what that means...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49662110562_e3822d8bd5_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iEtigy)
vv_20200313 (https://flic.kr/p/2iEtigy) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: CarlF on 15 March, 2020, 12:58:44 pm
Friday's jaunt took my cluster up to 915. Of course, you know what that means...

That’s Numberwang?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 15 March, 2020, 05:43:05 pm
Friday's jaunt took my cluster up to 915. Of course, you know what that means...

That’s Numberwang?

Arf  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 19 March, 2020, 11:19:57 am
In these current times going out with a flask of coffee and a ton of food onboard taking no risks is my intended escape to isolation.

I got interviewed by cycling weekly last week about this tile hunting lark so an article will turn up in the future sometime.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 21 March, 2020, 05:05:09 pm
I picked off a few rogue tiles today on my gravel bike
Max Square increased by 1 to 16x16
Cluster increased by 37 to 427
Tiles increased by 8

Every cloud...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 21 March, 2020, 07:24:03 pm
I seem to have benefitted from being on the run. I've lived in North Yorkshire, County Durham, East Yorkshire and now West Yorkshire. Just by exploring locally and joining these areas up I look a lot more 'explorer' than I am.
https://twitter.com/balancingonmy_/status/1241023668509171714
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 23 March, 2020, 07:42:53 am
A lovely spin round Berwickshire yesterday on quiet roads increased my cluster from 427 to 497, with my tiles increasing from 9873 to 9896.
Still on 16x16 max square though
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 28 March, 2020, 01:44:30 pm
Increased my max square to 17 today, after a spin round by Hawick. Cluster up to 516, with 9902 tiles.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200328/b50122b94113be1fb9a71ef0e1ec4dfb.jpg)

Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 28 March, 2020, 08:13:53 pm
Veloviewer Explorer, is it world wide? Looks a good way to motivate you to avoid cycling stuff you've done. Need something as Strava is loosing its appeal.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 28 March, 2020, 08:54:00 pm
Yes it is.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 28 March, 2020, 11:29:56 pm
Too much information, infographic is nice. Totals 26868 tiles, 11*11and MC 408. West coast has lots of lochs so not bothered about max square 😄
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 29 March, 2020, 03:42:32 pm
Too much information, infographic is nice. Totals 26868 tiles, 11*11and MC 408. West coast has lots of lochs so not bothered about max square 😄

Get a pedalo
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 29 March, 2020, 04:29:14 pm
Get a wetsuit.

(I've got 3 or 4 squares purely from open water swimming.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 29 March, 2020, 06:37:35 pm
No thanks, I prefer the Pine processioary caterpillar effect😁. Had a look at the Training calendar in Strava as i through my total distance was wrong. Strava has lost a couple of years😩. Going thro the Ascent backup and starting to go thro the missing runs. Good start another 230 tiles😁
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: jimmea on 30 March, 2020, 10:13:36 am
Too much information, infographic is nice. Totals 26868 tiles, 11*11and MC 408. West coast has lots of lochs so not bothered about max square 😄

Get a pedalo

I'll give it a week before he starts moaning about people having more squares than him, going out at the wrong time of day, not sticking to the rules or anything else that doesn't suit his way of thinking. He moans like fuck about all other forms of cycling so this will be just another platform for his greetin face.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 30 March, 2020, 10:19:11 am
Too much information, infographic is nice. Totals 26868 tiles, 11*11and MC 408. West coast has lots of lochs so not bothered about max square 😄

Get a pedalo

I'll give it a week before he starts moaning about people having more squares than him, going out at the wrong time of day, not sticking to the rules or anything else that doesn't suit his way of thinking. He moans like fuck about all other forms of cycling so this will be just another platform for his greetin face.

Aye
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 30 March, 2020, 10:58:39 am
Jimbo check when i joined yacf😊 Most don't  link veloviewer stats,
showing off if you do😉 as no one else sees your Veloviewer page. Still upset about Strava comments? hope you never deleted them especially the last 2. 👿
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 30 March, 2020, 01:32:56 pm
Most don't link veloviewer stats, showing off if you do😉 as no one else sees your Veloviewer page.

Absolutely
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 05 April, 2020, 12:58:51 pm
Today's government mandatory exercise netted me 8 tiles, taking my total to 9910, with a cluster of 528.

Still on 17x17 though
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 05 April, 2020, 02:24:02 pm
Readers of this thread may be interested to know that this week's Cycling Weekly (dated 2nd April with "How Good Are You?" as the main headline) has a four page article on "tile hunting". Thought it was a pretty good one too. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 05 April, 2020, 03:18:08 pm
I am up from 5x5 in February to 25x25. If I could face Luton town centre then 3 tiles will get me to 27x27. I have become a little bit addicted.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: orejas on 10 April, 2020, 10:53:01 pm
I cycled through Luton today to get to a couple of North Luton tiles to get me to 2 21*21 squares. 23 *23 should reasonably easy, getting more tiles in North London will be more challenging once the lockdown is over
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 11 April, 2020, 07:14:32 am
Succumbing to peer pressure, this was probably my last ride for a while.
Still on 17x17, but my cluster has increased by 4 to 532, and my total tiles have increased by 15 to 9925
Stay safe
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 11 April, 2020, 10:08:26 am
Russell were they threating to write you out of the will👿, learnt a lot about people's attitudes during this. 😊
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: thesloth on 12 April, 2020, 08:29:02 pm
Couldn't resist the temptation of quiet roads and so headed out to East London early on Friday morning to harvest.
Barking and Dagenham, not probably an area that I would choose to ride to on a regular basis, but interesting to visit.
Highlight was riding through a deserted square mile (although to be fair early on a normal weekend/holiday I don't think it looks any more populous)
Bumped me up 1 to 48x48

Some photos:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/thesloth94/UJ146R

...seems like a lot more are now discovering the joys and trials of the Max Square. A good activity in these times of solo riding.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 13 April, 2020, 12:48:55 pm
Bagged 6 new tiles to take the max. square to 19. Max. cluster is up to 930. It's going to be difficult to get the square >20.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 13 April, 2020, 03:06:44 pm
Yay! Finally! Two (I think) new squares for me! (Cammo Estate near Edinburgh Airport).
I "just" need to get the other two airport squares now. (Also the quiet roads mean I might go for the A702, normally a road to avoid...)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 13 April, 2020, 06:59:10 pm
Russell were they threating to write you out of the will👿
Peers, not family

learnt a lot about people's attitudes during this. 😊
No, only confirms what I always suspected
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 13 April, 2020, 07:42:10 pm
Been getting rid of some hard drives, used Ascent to log rides on the mac.  Transferred onto Strava and up almost 600 tiles to 27461. 2007 had some rides in France😁. Now i can delete the drives.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 13 April, 2020, 08:43:20 pm
Wow!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 13 April, 2020, 09:07:16 pm
Been getting rid of some hard drives, used Ascent to log rides on the mac.  Transferred onto Strava and up almost 600 tiles to 27461. 2007 had some rides in France😁. Now i can delete the drives.

15th place,  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 13 April, 2020, 11:39:00 pm
I had better start looking at the European Velo routes now. Just a matter of waiting until life is back to normal. 😂
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 14 April, 2020, 07:49:30 am
I had better start looking at the European Velo routes now. Just a matter of waiting until life is back to normal. 😂

There's still some room for improvement in your part of the standings. It's very quiet a bit more up the table (and most of us still riding).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 20 April, 2020, 01:03:33 pm
The farmland and associated tracks around here are OOB at the moment due to lambing, so i'm stuck on a Max square of 17x17.
I have been able to increase my cluster by 12 to 544, and my total tiles have increased by 13 to 9938.

I think I'll focus on getting my total tiles to 10000 for the time being.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 20 April, 2020, 04:39:47 pm
Well I got my two squares near the airport but it turns out that there are two Pentlands squares that I simply can't get to under current circumstances that block me on that side. There are other places I can go, though, and sometime I will get to those squares!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 20 April, 2020, 07:59:34 pm
I am up to 29x29 - not bad considering it was 5x5 in Feb

There are only 4 tiles needed to get me to 31x31.

I have found the lockdown great for this - most of the gaps were caused by main roads which have been blissfully quiet recently.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 21 April, 2020, 04:30:19 pm
So what's with the Reading bashing? Really that bad? When I come back to the UK, it's looking like that will be the destination.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: orejas on 23 April, 2020, 09:20:22 pm
Moved from 21*21 to 23*23 today after knocking of 8 squares, in ones and 2s. A couple required a bit of comedy off roading but it was a lovely day for it. 25* 25 should not be too hard, beyond that a lot of work to do.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 28 April, 2020, 10:33:36 am
One benefit of the lockdown, is how quiet the trunk roads are.

So a trip up the A68 to Carfrae Mill on Saturday, and another cross-border raid on the A699 to Cornhill-on-Tweed on Sunday increased my tiles by 23 to 9961
Max square is still 17x17, but my cluster increased by 52, to 596.



Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 28 April, 2020, 01:38:07 pm
Like Revolution9, I made use of the quieter roads at the weekend - in my case, the A702 to West Linton. I picked off some random squares within the Edinburgh bypass last week and I've got my eye on a few more Midlothian squares which should up my cluster a bit more.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bolt on 28 April, 2020, 10:02:56 pm
I'm interested in what route planning aids others are using in their tile bagging quests.  The best option I've come up with so far is to use Garmin Bascecamp with an "overlay" of my unexplored tiles downloaded from Veloviewer.  The challenge with this method is to balance the routing profile to allow for potential off-road meanderings combined with relatively fast and straightforward routes to the area of interest.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 28 April, 2020, 10:07:10 pm
I also have the tiles from VV in Basecamp. I create routes in RideWithGPS and import them into Basecamp in the same folder as the tiles. I can then see easily if the route goes far enough into a tile to bag it.

Tiles and tracks can then be sent to the GPS device.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 28 April, 2020, 10:13:26 pm
My solution is documented earlier in this thread: https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=108374.msg2334829#msg2334829

(I use gpxeditor.co.uk and some scripts to convert the 'unexplored tiles' kml file into a GPX file I can use to make it easier to plot routes.)

As for the actual route, they're all manually done. I generally plot the rough pattern I want to go through the tiles and then drag the routes about to tweak as desired. Some have come out pretty well and very efficient in terms of distance per tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 28 April, 2020, 10:26:46 pm
Identify an area in Veloviewer that I fancy riding, then I'll use RidewithGPS to plot it, supplementing with OSMaps (in the UK), Google Maps, Strava Heatmaps, Trailforks (I'm in North America) when needed.

I want to go get some new squares on the North Shore but they're all up massive feckin hills.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 28 April, 2020, 11:25:14 pm
So what's with the Reading bashing? Really that bad? When I come back to the UK, it's looking like that will be the destination.

It's just fear of a black Kennett.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 29 April, 2020, 07:35:12 am
I use the VeloViewer Chrome Extension for Strava

When creating new or editing existing routes in Strava you can see a “VeloViewer Explorer” toggle in the “Map View Options” that turns on the outlines of the explorer tiles along with your completed tiles, max square and max cluster.

There is also similar toggle that turns on the heat map, so I can see which routes have be ridden in the past.

As an additional check, I export this route to RidewithGPS where I can use the yellow Google man to make sure my route uses roads rather than tracks
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 29 April, 2020, 08:18:41 am
Forgot to say I'd do my initial plan in Paint on a screengrab from VV and another window with a zoomed in version of the VV map so I can make sure the roads are vaguely suitable (no point picking off a tile by using the M25 for example).

Once you do a few you get a feel for how long the actual ride is.

Here's an example of my plan for a while ago (all these rides are done now):-

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vv_plan_20180704.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 29 April, 2020, 08:45:13 am
Veloviewer have written an add in for the strava route planner.

I use that to plan the route and then I have my own gpx viewer that downloads from strava and displays on o/s maps. I find this useful to check bridleways. That then uploads to garmin.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200429/6eae1fea963c38ed2e3e944904d2ed7b.jpg)

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200429/94629db465088c69db646961f74d2aa6.jpg)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 29 April, 2020, 08:46:13 am
I use the VeloViewer Chrome Extension for Strava

When creating new or editing existing routes in Strava you can see a “VeloViewer Explorer” toggle in the “Map View Options” that turns on the outlines of the explorer tiles along with your completed tiles, max square and max cluster.

There is also similar toggle that turns on the heat map, so I can see which routes have be ridden in the past.

As an additional check, I export this route to RidewithGPS where I can use the yellow Google man to make sure my route uses roads rather than tracks
I do this, with added OS mapping. Like Davef but without my own GPS viewer
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bolt on 29 April, 2020, 09:35:48 am
Ah!  I have had the VV chrome extension installed for a while now but I never realised it also integrated with the Strava route planner.  This is brilliant and just the kind of solution I was looking for, thanks all :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 29 April, 2020, 11:58:59 am
VV Helper App combined with RwGPS and sometimes rowmaps.com

I'm using RideWithGPS to plot the route - out of habit really. Mainly because I've paid for the use of it and it's what I've used to share routes for Audax events.

With RwGPS on my laptop, I use the VV Helper App on my phone to zoom in on specific tiles and work out whether the route I'm plotting actually goes where I've 'never been before'. When it comes to collecting tiles that are awkward - you know, the ones with no access - I use the satellite view to visualise which edge of a field I might need to squidge along. I like that the VV Helper App has the ability to switch between mapping styles.

If I'm not sure whether a trail is legal or not, I use rowmaps.com in both the planning and outdoor stages. Once or twice when I've come across a barrier over a bridleway: I get a lot more confidence heading across a field with a "No Access" sign if I know for certain that it's really okay.

While on the road I'll check awkward tiles and whether I'm actually in them using the VV Helper App. It really is a great tool, but I've stopped using the OSMand plugin because I didn't find it helpful.

I have got OS mapping and Windy Maps for while I'm out and about, but rarely use them.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 01 May, 2020, 03:41:18 pm
Davef pretty local to me in Northants there.

The Strava plugin is great, and use that alot but the mapping is poor. I also use an old program with OS mapping called Tracklogs which has not been updated for years, which makes it fun sometimes when I meet new roads or housing estates. 
As my nearest new tiles are 50 miles away I spice up lockdown rides by starting again locally for 2020. This is a bit more labour intensive as there is no year based KML for guidance, something which Ben had said he  planned for a more Explorer based page in VV, before lockdown scuppered his plans of taking on a member of staff to help.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 01 May, 2020, 04:12:42 pm
You can look at your Strava generated routes overlayed on an OS map within Veloviewer.  On the Routes tab filter by name to just select the route(s) you want and change the map to OS (UK Only). (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200501/2d2bb17d616a103e19a238176f652d97.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 01 May, 2020, 04:18:25 pm
I've also been using lockdown to work on my 2020 squares.    Perfect for solo rides to out of the way places and gives me some motivation and purpose for my rides at the mo.
Currently on 19x19 max square and 531 cluster for 2020 so far.

All time max Square is 43x43 and 2837 cluster. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 02 May, 2020, 02:27:03 pm
Does anyone else find that VV sometimes loses old rides from your map? I just noticed that one from January was missing which meant a load of previously 'ticked' squares weren't showing up. Clicking on Update sorted it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fuaran on 02 May, 2020, 02:55:48 pm
Does anyone else find that VV sometimes loses old rides from your map? I just noticed that one from January was missing which meant a load of previously 'ticked' squares weren't showing up. Clicking on Update sorted it.
Check if you have any filters set. ie for activity type, or date or distance etc. If so, it won't show everything. Click the blue arrow above the map to show filters.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 02 May, 2020, 04:33:55 pm
I've also been using lockdown to work on my 2020 squares.    Perfect for solo rides to out of the way places and gives me some motivation and purpose for my rides at the mo.
Currently on 19x19 max square and 531 cluster for 2020 so far.

All time max Square is 43x43 and 2837 cluster.

even that was temporarily stopped for me as during the past weeks the adjacent hilly area was closed off for non locals. I live only 3-4km from it's border but not inside so I douldn't enter it.
Everything to the west and south is blocked due to closed borders.
So I'm very limited at the moment when it comes to adding new tiles.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 04 May, 2020, 04:04:05 pm
I'm being really stupid (and too lazy to re-read the thread) - where does it give you the numbers on your cluster and maximum square?
I've been having fun tile-hunting recently - went to places just off my usual routes that I have never been to before at the weekend. I think I now have three overlapping 11x11 squares...

EDIT ignore me, found it, you float over the square/cluster toggle buttons on the map. Cluster is up to 292.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 04 May, 2020, 04:33:46 pm
I'm being really stupid (and too lazy to re-read the thread) - where does it give you the numbers on your cluster and maximum square?
I've been having fun tile-hunting recently - went to places just off my usual routes that I have never been to before at the weekend. I think I now have three overlapping 11x11 squares...

EDIT ignore me, found it, you float over the square/cluster toggle buttons on the map. Cluster is up to 292.

That's one place but the canonical place is the Summary tab and in "Activity Stats" box there's a bunch of stuff including:-

"
Explorer score:
    5836 tiles, average of 4.586 km per tile
    Max square 18x18   View map
    Max Cluster: 511   KML
"
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 04 May, 2020, 04:49:19 pm
Some more main road bashing, to get the tiles on roads i wouldn't normally consider riding on.

Saturday was up the A7 and over Soutra Aisle to the A68, then back South over Soutra (OCD 363m)

Sunday was the now weekly cross-border raid to Cornhill-on-Tweed for coffee, trying to use different roads from my previous rides.

Tiles are now up to by 22 to 9983
Max square is still 17x17, but my cluster increased by 55, to 651.

With the lambing season all but over, and Friday being a holiday, I may venture off-road to increase my Max Square.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: rr on 04 May, 2020, 10:26:42 pm
I use the vv ad in to plan routes in strava, checking rights of way on the OS maps in Bing. Down load the gps and unload it into garmin connect and hence to my edge 500, also upload the gps into viewranger to deal with any difficulties on the ride.
Have been working at edges of my square the progressed from one 14×14 to 4 14×14 to 4 15×15 and now 3 16×16.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 05 May, 2020, 05:29:50 am
Went out on Sunday to get the tricky tile at Düsseldorf Airport - you have to ride through the short stay/drop off area, normally a nightmare in a car even. I wasn’t actually sure if it were possible although rideeverytile showed 5 people had managed it, but not on velomobile!

I decided Corona time and Sunday early was the only time it would be safely possible for me.

So a 92km ride planned, and off we went at 8:30am.

I couldn’t use the track I had planned as it took us on roads not allowed for bikes. The cycle path had some gates that we could not pass through with the velomobiles but eventually we made it to a long stay car parking area on the outside of the airport complex.

Really spooky. Acres of concrete parking with signed rows... nothing there except grass pushing up between the brick paving.

Further along fast roads, 4 lanes, normally chocka - not a single car.

We ended up exactly where we needed to be. We saw no normal cars but one airport security van and one police van. We saw one person on one of the elevated trains. We saw no humans walking around but loads of cyclists. Who knew that cyclists visit an airport for their Sunday constitutional?

We bagged the tile and made our way out again. I wish I had taken more photos of the empty airport as it was just so weird!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 05 May, 2020, 03:04:06 pm

That's one place but the canonical place is the Summary tab and in "Activity Stats" box there's a bunch of stuff including:-

Oh. Yes. I knew I was being stupid.
Got another couple of squares last night, including a bit of off-roading (though not as comedy as the bit at the weekend where I walked a km of track rather than retrace my steps quite a long way...)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 07 May, 2020, 11:15:07 am
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200507/70496e6560dabb5600328e7c13933ba1.jpg)
Evidence that tile hunting is getting popular!


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 07 May, 2020, 02:06:30 pm
I've been postponing my tile bagging recently, as round trips to the unexplored outer reaches of my cluster are a tad on the long side.  Having failed to get OSMand mapping to display the VV helper app offline grid, I found a workaround - using the unbagged tile vv kml file download, import in basecamp (useful as check before etrex upload), save as a gpx, import into osmand and display the tiles (as a gpx).   :)  Though actually it's quite rare for me not to have some mobile data reception.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 07 May, 2020, 02:15:13 pm
I've been postponing my tile bagging recently, as round trips to the unexplored out reaches of my cluster are a tad on the long side.  Having failed to get OSMand mapping to display the VV helper app offline grid, I found a workaround - using the vv kml file (with unbagged tiles surrounding cluster) download, import in basecamp, save as a gpx, import into osmand and display the tiles (as a gpx).   :)  Though actually it's quite rare for me not to have some mobile data reception.
I like that idea. I might do that with my garmin.  A gpx file of the missing squares would be useful for manual routing. In the last week I have come across 2 closed bridleways - one for a building site and one because of covid19 and one closed pedestrian bridge over a river.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 07 May, 2020, 02:17:54 pm
Can you really close a bridleway because of covid19?

That sounds like someone is trying it on.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 07 May, 2020, 02:27:18 pm
Apparently where they go through gardens or farmyards and the occupants are self isolating.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 07 May, 2020, 10:00:15 pm
Hi fellow tile-baggers, I’m totally hooked on this. Headed out to bag 66 tiles tomorrow
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 08 May, 2020, 07:56:09 pm
Hi fellow tile-baggers, I’m totally hooked on this. Headed out to bag 66 tiles tomorrow
...so 65 bagged today. The 66th shows different on Strava when compared to VV - VV has simplified the shape and cut off me dipping into the tile. Any ideas please people? Now I’ve updated in VV  an it be re-uploaded more thoroughly perhaps?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 08 May, 2020, 08:01:56 pm
Veloviewer initially uses a simplified version of your ride.  To get the full version just view the ride within Veloviewer then refresh the Summary page.

NB this will add tiles that you have visited but may also remove tiles that you think you have visited but haven't really! 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 08 May, 2020, 08:56:46 pm
Veloviewer initially uses a simplified version of your ride.  To get the full version just view the ride within Veloviewer then refresh the Summary page.

NB this will add tiles that you have visited but may also remove tiles that you think you have visited but haven't really!
It worked! Incredible, Big Thanks
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: thesloth on 08 May, 2020, 08:58:03 pm
You can look at your Strava generated routes overlayed on an OS map within Veloviewer.  On the Routes tab filter by name to just select the route(s) you want and change the map to OS (UK Only).

Good tip that. Thanks!

Today I finally reached 50x50. Been taking advantage of the quiet roads to do a fair bit of riding in North London. Keep thinking "this is pleasant, but I bet it would be grim at normal traffic levels"

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49871363486_99a8aab55b.jpg)

Fittingly there were hazards:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49871847027_a5582f973f_w.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 11 May, 2020, 12:34:52 pm
what have I done  :facepalm: Gulp
I thought it would be easier to post it on Ride Every Tile group on Strava.
https://www.strava.com/clubs/279168/posts/9531104

Unlike you MrSloth I just can't face Metropolis  ::-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: thesloth on 11 May, 2020, 01:09:37 pm
what have I done  :facepalm: Gulp
I thought it would be easier to post it on Ride Every Tile group on Strava.
https://www.strava.com/clubs/279168/posts/9531104

Unlike you MrSloth I just can't face Metropolis  ::-)

Respect Jack, it must have been a quite a decision to "erase" previous gains.

I like your ethos. I think that's exactly what it should be:
Not chasing some computer generated number just for the sake of climbing a leaderboard, but actually going out and exploring new places.

Regardless of any tiles, I still always look to find new trails and roads to ride (as no doubt most of us do). The ones that are right on your doorstep that you didn't know about are often the sweetest. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 11 May, 2020, 01:24:04 pm
Don't get me wrong, I will still chase that top number for brand new tiles visited worldwide, when allowed. Defended with pride even if it is mainly due to me being an early Garmin/Strava adopter  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 11 May, 2020, 01:40:46 pm
Friday's Bank Holiday, meant a day off work.
I headed up the Tweed Valley and into Cardrona Forest on my Gravel Bike, before descending to Peebles down the Gypsy Glen.

Saturday was an out and back to Carter Bar, picking up a few rogue tiles along the way

Sunday was aborted after 30k due to drinking from a damp glass the previous night


So +13 tiles takes me to 9996
Max square is still 17x17
+10 Max Cluster 661 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 11 May, 2020, 08:46:20 pm
Finally, got my square up to 40x40. And it was the most perfect bike ride around the moonscapes of Swaledale. Bit of hail up Melbecks, glorious sunshine by the afternoon. No one around but me and the ghosts of the lead miners.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49884057441_a5e6b4a849_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2j15QkT)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49883530998_36a906607c_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2j138Rh)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49883527708_af2d8f5881_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2j137Sy)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 11 May, 2020, 08:49:44 pm
Due to the Corona border closures I'm back at working at my year square. And that indeed brings me to some beautiful area's in my own area. And interesting experiences as being stuck behind the sheep at the natural area's directly next to Geilenkirchen air base. A huge contrast.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ben T on 12 May, 2020, 11:10:23 am
Struggled getting a tile yesterday that is basically just farm, no roads in it.
Ended up in the farmyard unable to get through a locked gate to the road, with no choice but to turn back across the bumpy fields. Was only a few hundred yards from Roseland business park, but no way through.
In the farmyard there were some goats and turkeys, but then there was a dead cow in a digger bucket. Disturbing.
Saw lots of hares though.
Hopefully there aren't many more like that.


Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pedal Castro on 12 May, 2020, 03:49:42 pm
I went to the SE corner of my 28x28 Square to clear a blockage, 6 tiles taken but for the 7th I walked into a rape field, left my bike hidden 20m in because it was hard going and jogged a further 40m in to be sure of getting the tile. Then after retrieving my bike and on my way I realised I'd left my GPS systems on the bike!  :o
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 12 May, 2020, 03:56:54 pm
I went to the SE corner of my 28x28 Square to clear a blockage, 6 tiles taken but for the 7th I walked into a rape field, left my bike hidden 20m in because it was hard going and jogged a further 40m in to be sure of getting the tile. Then after retrieving my bike and on my way I realised I'd left my GPS systems on the bike!  :o


*applauds*

There are two types of tile hunters, those who have done the above, and those that will...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 12 May, 2020, 04:33:37 pm
Having realized that veloviewer only costs a tenner, I'm slowly discovering that living on a peninsula is rather restrictive, and that other nearby options for bigger squares are going to need a lot of off piste mtbing... so I ticked the hike/run box.


There's a fair few holes to get, locally though and a good chuck of roads I can get.
https://veloviewer.com/athlete/1170821/activities
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solivagant on 12 May, 2020, 06:37:35 pm
Hi, I'm new to this forum having found out about it from the recent Audax survey.

I read this thread and although I'm late to the party the idea of collecting tiles has put a gleam in my eye and a smile on my face  :)

Checking on Veloviewer I'm starting with a meager 8x8 max square and 380 max cluster, so on the plus side I've plenty of tiles to go at.

(https://i.ibb.co/VB8nfvR/Tiles1.jpg)

I'm much more of a reader than a poster and I've read loads of useful stuff on here (Explorer helper/OSMand/Ride Every Tile) thanks for all that info and so my tile bagging starts.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Arminius on 13 May, 2020, 09:33:16 am
Hi, I'm new to this forum having found out about it from the recent Audax survey.

I read this thread and although I'm late to the party the idea of collecting tiles has put a gleam in my eye and a smile on my face  :)

Checking on Veloviewer I'm starting with a meager 8x8 max square and 380 max cluster, so on the plus side I've plenty of tiles to go at.

(https://i.ibb.co/VB8nfvR/Tiles1.jpg)

I'm much more of a reader than a poster and I've read loads of useful stuff on here (Explorer helper/OSMand/Ride Every Tile) thanks for all that info and so my tile bagging starts.

Looks like there's plenty of scope to increase those numbers pretty quickly. Enjoy!  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 13 May, 2020, 12:35:04 pm
Hi, I'm new to this forum having found out about it from the recent Audax survey.

I read this thread and although I'm late to the party the idea of collecting tiles has put a gleam in my eye and a smile on my face  :)

Checking on Veloviewer I'm starting with a meager 8x8 max square and 380 max cluster, so on the plus side I've plenty of tiles to go at.

(https://i.ibb.co/VB8nfvR/Tiles1.jpg)

I'm much more of a reader than a poster and I've read loads of useful stuff on here (Explorer helper/OSMand/Ride Every Tile) thanks for all that info and so my tile bagging starts.

Welcome to the madhouse.
:)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solivagant on 13 May, 2020, 06:20:47 pm

Looks like there's plenty of scope to increase those numbers pretty quickly. Enjoy!  :)


Welcome to the madhouse.
:)

Thanks, I picked off 6 new tiles today and got my square up to 11x11, this is going to be fun  ;D
Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 13 May, 2020, 10:30:11 pm
I am 10 tiles away from 40x40. It will take me 3 x 100km rides to get those 10, when I will take a break from max square and start joining up bit. One more ride and my connected set will go from Oxford to Cambridge. Then I plan to connect to London, and longer term Bristol. After that back to the square.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ben T on 13 May, 2020, 10:57:16 pm
Bollocks. There's one centred about here   https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.0844/-0.6934 that I physically cannot get, given that I would prefer not to be shot.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 13 May, 2020, 11:05:13 pm
Just wait till the flags are down and go for it, Ben.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 13 May, 2020, 11:14:43 pm
Bollocks. There's one centred about here   https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.0844/-0.6934 that I physically cannot get, given that I would prefer not to be shot.

Can you not go along Highfield Drive off Coddington Lane?

One of my tile bagging rides involved a wee sneak into a rifle range here: https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/57.2291/-2.0679
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 13 May, 2020, 11:18:15 pm
That would probably be my first shot approach.  There is also a footpath that just nibbles into the western edge of the tile but it looks like it might be quite a tortuous route to get along it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bolt on 13 May, 2020, 11:19:52 pm
Bollocks. There's one centred about here   https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.0844/-0.6934 that I physically cannot get, given that I would prefer not to be shot.

There does seem to be some public access routes into that area?

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/OIF2_Ox4hb_lvs9UQLy0fMuPh5SDWbJXlWnoVRDRShd_0xP0zzRRdHYjj78rxUeQaK31MEXK1FKiLKu_7_K0YOwdF-F79U3PPszEfqtOe2ZM5_rUjrkWCnRcCY1sGYBGXgt6PxyLb40=w2400)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 13 May, 2020, 11:31:33 pm
Bollocks. There's one centred about here   https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.0844/-0.6934 that I physically cannot get, given that I would prefer not to be shot.

According to https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8160x5331 , one person has got it ticked in on VeloViewer. Unfortunately but the ride itself now seems to be hidden or deleted on Strava. Maybe the extreme north-west of the tile is outside the danger zone?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 13 May, 2020, 11:45:51 pm
Some tiles are harder than others ...
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200513/30db6189ae949d0a8a94e2b92189c512.jpg)


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ben T on 13 May, 2020, 11:50:10 pm
Bollocks. There's one centred about here   https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.0844/-0.6934 that I physically cannot get, given that I would prefer not to be shot.

Can you not go along Highfield Drive off Coddington Lane?

One of my tile bagging rides involved a wee sneak into a rifle range here: https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/57.2291/-2.0679
Possibly, it's a non-road though and was on the road bike today.

Just wait till the flags are down and go for it, Ben.

Hmmm, they were down today but there was a locked gate and I chickened out of climbing over it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 13 May, 2020, 11:51:04 pm
Bollocks. There's one centred about here   https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.0844/-0.6934 that I physically cannot get, given that I would prefer not to be shot.

Fake a GPS tracklog that visits the NW corner and upload it to Strava.

;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ben T on 13 May, 2020, 11:58:27 pm
Bollocks. There's one centred about here   https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.0844/-0.6934 that I physically cannot get, given that I would prefer not to be shot.

Fake a GPS tracklog that visits the NW corner and upload it to Strava.

;)
No point in that, nobody else see it do they, in fact less point than driving an audax even  :)
Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 14 May, 2020, 06:08:54 am
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200514/4d0bf47a145207f7233d95215a94a1aa.jpg)

On a route I am planning for next week I will be crossing the rifle range enroute to the burial ground. Usefully above the start of the bridleway on the map there is a duck symbol.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 14 May, 2020, 09:06:33 am
Anyone bagged this (https://www.bing.com/maps?osid=a88db1de-edaf-4d62-b36f-c6355da4fcd3&cp=51.273448~-1.921807&lvl=16&style=s&v=2&sV=2&form=S00027) tile..?   ;)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49893357836_bb626ab7f5_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2j1Uv2w)Urchfont (https://flic.kr/p/2j1Uv2w) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 14 May, 2020, 09:23:10 am
One of the ranges near me has a Strava segment on it ;D I'll bet that's possible, Andy.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 14 May, 2020, 10:14:39 am
Ride Every Tile has it marked as one of the Impossibles (https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/impossibles)

Quote
MOD Salisbury Plain Live Artillery Firing Range. Though there are times when the public access is allowed to the range, there are no paths within this tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 14 May, 2020, 11:12:16 am
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200514/4d0bf47a145207f7233d95215a94a1aa.jpg)

On a route I am planning for next week I will be crossing the rifle range enroute to the burial ground. Usefully above the start of the bridleway on the map there is a duck symbol.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thought I recognised that one, I was sat on the corner of the wood above the burial ground having an isolated picnic mid ride only last weekend. Lots of signs but easy access. I might be wrong but I thought it was a rifle range linked to Cambridge colleges, so a quite period right now  :D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 14 May, 2020, 11:23:32 am
One of the ranges near me has a Strava segment on it ;D I'll bet that's possible, Andy.

15-20 years ago we used to do an annual mountain bike race across the firing ranges of Salisbury, they would change the route every year and the organisers were given good access. It was the first week in January and you would pray for it to be frozen, some of the tank trap puddles were waist deep with no way round  :-\

If only I had the GPS tracks from the five times I did it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 14 May, 2020, 11:44:17 am
They laid off a bunch of rangers a few years ago, it makes finding out when they're accessible really hard. I've tended just to ride up and check that the flags are down (make sure at least two are down, they sometimes forget one), but I'll not be fucking about with Warcop ranges, that's some really heavy shit. Me and a mate were riding across Mickle Fell about 20 years ago when they started barraging one of the targets up the fell. I've never got down off a mountain so fast.

Mind you, I quite like the idea of applying for a permit to access it, think I'll frame it when I do: https://www.cumbria.gov.uk/roads-transport/public-transport-road-safety/countryside-access/openaccess/Warcop.asp
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 14 May, 2020, 12:14:39 pm
The military love cyclists. A long time ago in a different lifetime, I cycled past Bodney Camp next to the Stanford ranges in Norfolk, and I happened to glance down in time to see several laser beads upon my person. Fun times.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 14 May, 2020, 12:40:09 pm
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200514/4d0bf47a145207f7233d95215a94a1aa.jpg)

On a route I am planning for next week I will be crossing the rifle range enroute to the burial ground. Usefully above the start of the bridleway on the map there is a duck symbol.

My lifetime GPS trace would have that square easily covered.

I grew up a few miles away and my best friend lived on New Road in Barton, there was just a field between his house and that rifle range.

We used to go snooping around the targets at the rifle range when we could see the red flag wasn't flying.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: baldcyclist on 14 May, 2020, 01:33:22 pm
Bollocks. There's one centred about here   https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.0844/-0.6934 that I physically cannot get, given that I would prefer not to be shot.

Can you not go along Highfield Drive off Coddington Lane?

One of my tile bagging rides involved a wee sneak into a rifle range here: https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/57.2291/-2.0679
Possibly, it's a non-road though and was on the road bike today.

Just wait till the flags are down and go for it, Ben.

Hmmm, they were down today but there was a locked gate and I chickened out of climbing over it.

You can get there like Pingu describes when the range isn't in use, I did it to get that square. The footpath in the top NW corner goes just into the corner of the square. It's also all gravel tracks if you don't mind lifting your bike over the gates/stiles. You can follow the tracks right through to Stapleford or come back into the wood in a little loop.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pedal Castro on 14 May, 2020, 01:59:09 pm
Bollocks. There's one centred about here   https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.0844/-0.6934 that I physically cannot get, given that I would prefer not to be shot.

Fake a GPS tracklog that visits the NW corner and upload it to Strava.

;)
No point in that, nobody else see it do they, in fact less point than driving an audax even  :)

I'm sure I've run a range day there but long before personal GPS systems so not counting yet.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 14 May, 2020, 04:21:33 pm
Ride Every Tile has it marked as one of the Impossibles (https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/impossibles)

Quote
MOD Salisbury Plain Live Artillery Firing Range. Though there are times when the public access is allowed to the range, there are no paths within this tile.

I've fielded one for this list which is already marked in red on the heatmap (tile 8481x5494, Inden brown coal mine) but not on the list (yet).
Interestingly the two adjacent tiles which I managed to bag are still lsited as grey.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 14 May, 2020, 04:35:59 pm
There are a couple (8161x5348 and 8163x5348) that I have been to that are still grey but:

Quote
Data date: 10th March 2020
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 14 May, 2020, 05:09:20 pm
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200514/4d0bf47a145207f7233d95215a94a1aa.jpg)

On a route I am planning for next week I will be crossing the rifle range enroute to the burial ground. Usefully above the start of the bridleway on the map there is a duck symbol.

My lifetime GPS trace would have that square easily covered.

I grew up a few miles away and my best friend lived on New Road in Barton, there was just a field between his house and that rifle range.

We used to go snooping around the targets at the rifle range when we could see the red flag wasn't flying.

Did you eat lots of haggis?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 14 May, 2020, 06:40:59 pm
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200514/4d0bf47a145207f7233d95215a94a1aa.jpg)

On a route I am planning for next week I will be crossing the rifle range enroute to the burial ground. Usefully above the start of the bridleway on the map there is a duck symbol.

My lifetime GPS trace would have that square easily covered.

I grew up a few miles away and my best friend lived on New Road in Barton, there was just a field between his house and that rifle range.

We used to go snooping around the targets at the rifle range when we could see the red flag wasn't flying.

Did you eat lots of haggis?
It is a planned ride for next week. I will take the portable barbecue in case I find the odd haggis that has strayed onto the rifle range and met an untimely end.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 14 May, 2020, 06:43:19 pm
There are a couple (8161x5348 and 8163x5348) that I have been to that are still grey but:

Quote
Data date: 10th March 2020

But why is the tile which I marked as impossible then already coloured red? I marked this the day after riding the other two tiles.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 14 May, 2020, 07:24:53 pm
I guess that updating the heatmap involves sucking in all of the available Strava data and processing it whereas marking a tile as impossible is a separate (manual) process.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 15 May, 2020, 07:43:41 am
“marking as impossible” and “heat map”.  I may have been exploring new routes since February, but clearly not explored the website fully.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 15 May, 2020, 09:45:17 am
That's from the rideeverytile.com website, not veloviewer itself.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 15 May, 2020, 11:06:12 am
Someone has taken photos from the track (http://www.geograph.org.uk/mapper/?t=tolJ5oOXXJ0oOXJFoOXXJfobXbJqoNOMJL5405o48hV8h4hVbNlbaua&gridref_from=SU0752&centi=1) leading through that impossible unlikely square  https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/656646  Possibly military, looking at the date - when ranges closed to public.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 15 May, 2020, 11:25:35 am
I reckon that this is the bit of the track (https://goo.gl/maps/t3bCqAXt7LufYgTx5) that you need to get to to just nibble into that square.  There seems to be an awful lot of strange crater-like features if you zoom in a bit!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 15 May, 2020, 11:30:57 am
Ideally the truly impossible squares (like RAF Lakenheath) get marked as impossible within Veloviewer itself and therefore don't interrupt max squares for people who just happen to live near them.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 15 May, 2020, 11:53:50 am
Ideally the truly impossible squares (like RAF Lakenheath) get marked as impossible within Veloviewer itself and therefore don't interrupt max squares for people who just happen to live near them.

RAF Lakenheath have base tours twice a month, in normal times. Would that not be an opportunity to acquire the problematic square(s) there? Just a suggestion, as I have not looked at where the squares line up.

Re marking squares as impossible, that sounds like a good idea.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Carlosfandango on 15 May, 2020, 12:11:36 pm
Ideally the truly impossible squares (like RAF Lakenheath) get marked as impossible within Veloviewer itself and therefore don't interrupt max squares for people who just happen to live near them.

RAF Lakenheath have base tours twice a month, in normal times. Would that not be an opportunity to acquire the problematic square(s) there? Just a suggestion, as I have not looked at where the squares line up.

Re marking squares as impossible, that sounds like a good idea.

Why wait for an open day? I've a daring idea for you. A few years ago CND were protesting there, me and my buddy threw a carpet over the razor wire, climbed in and had the run of the place for several hours. When we were spotted the American MPs were so unfit they couldn't catch us. We gave ourselves up when we got bored and hungry.

You're as fit as a whippet off you go.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 15 May, 2020, 12:17:27 pm
If people are allowed to collect tiles in canoes I don't see why I shouldn't use my glider to bag the 'impossible' Lakenheath tile.  I need to look through my .IGC files and get uploading to Strava  ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 15 May, 2020, 12:24:13 pm
If people are allowed to collect tiles in canoes I don't see why I shouldn't use my glider to bag the 'impossible' Lakenheath tile.  I need to look through my .IGC files and get uploading to Strava  ;)

Gliders need non-human power to get them into the air thobut.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 15 May, 2020, 12:38:46 pm
Not always:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6-EeuEi-KY

Although I confess that I have never had a bungee launch.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 15 May, 2020, 12:48:30 pm
Interesting, but I don't think it would quite be in the spirit of the competition anyway. (And the other humans providing some initial power might disqualify it too.)

Climbing to the top of a mountain (unaided of course) and wingsuit flying down (and over an otherwise inaccessible area) would be a similar conundrum.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 15 May, 2020, 12:53:43 pm
Why wait for an open day? I've a daring idea for you. A few years ago CND were protesting there, me and my buddy threw a carpet over the razor wire, climbed in and had the run of the place for several hours. When we were spotted the American MPs were so unfit they couldn't catch us. We gave ourselves up when we got bored and hungry.

You're as fit as a whippet off you go.

I've got quite some way to go before I need that square. Just checked, and I'm good up as far as 60x60 before I would need it. But others might be tempted sooner!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: wajcgac on 15 May, 2020, 02:07:36 pm
Bollocks. There's one centred about here   https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.0844/-0.6934 that I physically cannot get, given that I would prefer not to be shot.

According to https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8160x5331 , one person has got it ticked in on VeloViewer. Unfortunately but the ride itself now seems to be hidden or deleted on Strava. Maybe the extreme north-west of the tile is outside the danger zone?

That'll be my ride - linked to by the Rider 1 Link. My Strava profile is private so that may be why you can't see it.

The route I took was Highfield Drive and then there is a farm type track off diagonnaly left that will take you to the square. There is a footpath in to the square from this point as well but I didn't bother with it.

Look out for the red flags flying at the gate you get to - if they are the range is in use so best return another day.

I know of at least one other square hunter who has had that square for some time so not sure why I'm showing as the only one.



Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 15 May, 2020, 02:11:33 pm
Bollocks. There's one centred about here   https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.0844/-0.6934 that I physically cannot get, given that I would prefer not to be shot.

According to https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8160x5331 , one person has got it ticked in on VeloViewer. Unfortunately but the ride itself now seems to be hidden or deleted on Strava. Maybe the extreme north-west of the tile is outside the danger zone?

That'll be my ride - linked to by the Rider 1 Link. My Strava profile is private so that may be why you can't see it.

The route I took was Highfield Drive and then there is a farm type track off diagonnaly left that will take you to the square. There is a footpath in to the square from this point as well but I didn't bother with it.

I know of at least one other square hunter who has had that square for some time so not sure why I'm showing as the only one.

At the moment it is only capturing data that has been 'public' in VeloViewer. Roughly ~half of tilers make their VV data public. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: wajcgac on 15 May, 2020, 02:11:54 pm
Struggled getting a tile yesterday that is basically just farm, no roads in it.
Ended up in the farmyard unable to get through a locked gate to the road, with no choice but to turn back across the bumpy fields. Was only a few hundred yards from Roseland business park, but no way through.
In the farmyard there were some goats and turkeys, but then there was a dead cow in a digger bucket. Disturbing.
Saw lots of hares though.
Hopefully there aren't many more like that.

I'm curious which square you were getting. I've got them all round there with little problem.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 15 May, 2020, 02:57:28 pm
13 new tiles today, increased the cluster by 20 to 950.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 15 May, 2020, 03:09:25 pm
That's from the rideeverytile.com website, not veloviewer itself.
Thanks I will take a look. Another whole website, I think this World Wide Web is going to take off.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ben T on 15 May, 2020, 03:17:31 pm
Struggled getting a tile yesterday that is basically just farm, no roads in it.
Ended up in the farmyard unable to get through a locked gate to the road, with no choice but to turn back across the bumpy fields. Was only a few hundred yards from Roseland business park, but no way through.
In the farmyard there were some goats and turkeys, but then there was a dead cow in a digger bucket. Disturbing.
Saw lots of hares though.
Hopefully there aren't many more like that.

I'm curious which square you were getting. I've got them all round there with little problem.

https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8157x5340
Wasn't difficult to get it, but it was to do it using a loop rather than go back the way I came. (Which was bumpy, more bumpy than is comfortable for the non-suspension-forks of the halfords-bargain-basement-bin shitter.)
https://www.strava.com/activities/3436066107
I might just have failed to update but the one to the left didn't seem to have been recognised by a ride down Foston lane that clips the corner of it, so I tried to do a loop that does both of those.
Although looking back i could have just gone all the way down sewstern lane which comes out at bottesford lane allington, if I'd known the foston lane corner was enough of 8156x5340.


Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: wajcgac on 16 May, 2020, 09:50:55 am
8156x5340 should have been covered by a your trip down Normanton Lane (Foston Lane?) - make sure that when you do a ride that you click on it in Veloviewer to get the definitive tile list from your ride. If you don't do this Veloviewer uses a summary of your ride data so it can miss or give you tiles incorrectly especially the ones that are only just clipped by your route.

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/fez4od61u57lpbc/2020-05-16%20%284%29.png?raw=1)

Bottesford Road, Allington was the way I approached a couple of the squares in that area.

Veloviewer has an OS map layer that's very helpful, it would have given you confidence that you could get over the gate at the end of Highfield Drive and get the tile at the Beckingham Range. You can see that there is a public footpath so you have every right to be there (just not when the red flags are flying).

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/0c4kdp7pzw8vus9/2020-05-15.jpg?raw=1)

Enjoy your tile hunting.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ben T on 16 May, 2020, 10:44:09 am
Thanks for that, got the rifle range one now https://veloviewer.com/athletes/7624706/activities/3456252487
Thanks for the tip about clicking on a ride, didn't realise that did anything other than highlight it but can see how it would.


Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: wajcgac on 16 May, 2020, 11:21:34 am
Thanks for the tip about clicking on a ride, didn't realise that did anything other than highlight it but can see how it would.

If you go to the activities tab you'll see your activities list and a map if you've selected to view both. Scroll to the very right on the activities list and you'll see a column labelled 'Tiles Calculated' - it'll say 'Yes' for the ones that you've clicked on and these are the ones Veloviewer has analysed your ride data fully.



Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 16 May, 2020, 11:32:41 am
NB Clicking on a ride should credit you with tiles that you have been to but VeloViewer didn't register.  It may also uncredit you with tiles that you haven't been to but VeloViewer previously thought you had.  It is the 'right' thing to do though so I have laboriously clicked on all of my longer rides.

Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 16 May, 2020, 01:08:30 pm
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200516/7eacf4c60074332cf42f2b4a326787e6.jpg)
I think my route this morning across the military firing range would have been hazardous if the flags were up.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 18 May, 2020, 02:04:27 pm
Another successful tile bagging trip has to my surprise taken me from 3 overlapping 11x11 squares to one 13x13. I thought I had a blocking square but not so.
I really ought to screenshot where I've got to but I get lazy and decide it is too much of a faff!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 18 May, 2020, 02:09:04 pm
Climbing to the top of a mountain (unaided of course) and wingsuit flying down (and over an otherwise inaccessible area) would be a similar conundrum.

Seems about at legit as cycling:  Human power, gravity, wind.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 18 May, 2020, 02:12:42 pm
In tilebagging news, I've finally sucked it up and ridden some of those horrible bits of the Black Country I'd been avoiding.  I now have a max square of 17, awaiting easy expansion by filling in some odd gaps.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 18 May, 2020, 03:47:46 pm
Climbing to the top of a mountain (unaided of course) and wingsuit flying down (and over an otherwise inaccessible area) would be a similar conundrum.

Seems about at legit as cycling:  Human power, gravity, wind.

It was more about being able to cover otherwise inaccessible squares by flying over them rather than touching the surface of the earth at that point (as you do by cycling, albeit indirectly, walking, running, swimming, kayaking, etc).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 18 May, 2020, 07:34:42 pm
Climbing to the top of a mountain (unaided of course) and wingsuit flying down (and over an otherwise inaccessible area) would be a similar conundrum.

Seems about at legit as cycling:  Human power, gravity, wind.

It was more about being able to cover otherwise inaccessible squares by flying over them rather than touching the surface of the earth at that point (as you do by cycling, albeit indirectly, walking, running, swimming, kayaking, etc).
As many of the inaccessible tiles seem to be RAF bases I can see it not ending well.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bolt on 19 May, 2020, 12:00:32 am
In tilebagging news, I've finally sucked it up and ridden some of those horrible bits of the Black Country I'd been avoiding.  I now have a max square of 17, awaiting easy expansion by filling in some odd gaps.
with grey pays and bacon ;)?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 19 May, 2020, 05:31:19 am
Stupid basic question - is a square 1km wide or 1 mile wide?

I am at 30x30 since the beginning of 2019 but am pretty much stuck now due to military bases at two corners of my square.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 19 May, 2020, 06:02:00 am
From https://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-explorer-score-and-max-square/

Quote
The squares themselves are based around the standard OpenStreetMap map tile 256x256px image at a zoom level of 14

The physical size of the tiles varies with latitude but round here they are about 1.5*1.5km.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 19 May, 2020, 08:35:06 am
RideWithGPS have implemented a new auto 'spur removal' feature. I've tested it a bit and it appears to just remove short spurs automatically, not longer ones. For those who use this tool for planning square bagging rides, that'll be something to watch out for.

It's a pity there isn't an option to switch the spur removal feature off, but I guess for the vast majority of users those spurs are unintentional.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 19 May, 2020, 10:34:10 am
RideWithGPS have implemented a new auto 'spur removal' feature. I've tested it a bit and it appears to just remove short spurs automatically, not longer ones. For those who use this tool for planning square bagging rides, that'll be something to watch out for.

It's a pity there isn't an option to switch the spur removal feature off, but I guess for the vast majority of users those spurs are unintentional.
I use the Strava planner, especially since you get the veloviewer plugin
https://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-chrome-extension-for-strava-website/ (https://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-chrome-extension-for-strava-website/)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 19 May, 2020, 11:33:08 am
RwGPS provides an OS map view, which I find helpful when determining access rights. All depends on what area you are riding in as to how useful that is, and your mapping tool preference.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 19 May, 2020, 11:40:07 am
RwGPS provides an OS map view, which I find helpful when determining access rights. All depends on what area you are riding in as to how useful that is, and your mapping tool preference.

Does it?

What - real Ordnance Survey?

How do I find that?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: TimC on 19 May, 2020, 11:45:00 am
Yes, it's one of the map selections in the planner.

Edit: correction, it's not. It's there somewhere though!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: TimC on 19 May, 2020, 11:50:03 am
And now, having said that, I can't find it! But I know I was looking at an OS map on it very recently. I'll keep looking.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 19 May, 2020, 12:01:08 pm
And now, having said that, I can't find it! But I know I was looking at an OS map on it very recently. I'll keep looking.
There is one in veloviewer.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: TimC on 19 May, 2020, 12:21:32 pm
That'll be it!!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 19 May, 2020, 12:30:41 pm
But as far as I am aware you cannot plan routes in Veloviewer.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: TimC on 19 May, 2020, 12:37:58 pm
No, sorry - I think for that you'd need the OS app.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 19 May, 2020, 12:54:28 pm
RwGPS provides an OS map view

Doh! Sorry, didn't engage brain. Was thinking VeloViewer. I switch between the normal view and OS Map in VeloViewer when planning a tile collecting route, and plot the route in RwGPS alongside.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 19 May, 2020, 04:41:00 pm
RideWithGPS have implemented a new auto 'spur removal' feature. I've tested it a bit and it appears to just remove short spurs automatically, not longer ones. For those who use this tool for planning square bagging rides, that'll be something to watch out for.

It's a pity there isn't an option to switch the spur removal feature off, but I guess for the vast majority of users those spurs are unintentional.
I use the Strava planner, especially since you get the veloviewer plugin
https://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-chrome-extension-for-strava-website/ (https://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-chrome-extension-for-strava-website/)

Strava route building is now only available for paid subscribers.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 19 May, 2020, 09:38:47 pm
I think that will be the case when the new planner comes out. I am still using the route planner and have not paid.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: thesloth on 20 May, 2020, 09:22:29 pm
It looks like Strava has deployed an update to the route creation tool  ...and the Veloviewer Chrome plugin doesn't appear to work anymore.
Anybody else see anything different?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 May, 2020, 09:28:31 pm
It looks like Strava has deployed an update to the route creation tool  ...and the Veloviewer Chrome plugin doesn't appear to work anymore.
Anybody else see anything different?

I am hoping that the author of the VV plugin will update it for the new route planner. I'll give it a week or 3 before I worry about alternatives.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 20 May, 2020, 09:43:49 pm
Perhaps also if a bunch of people email RWGPS support and request a VV route planning grid, they may seize an opportunity...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 20 May, 2020, 10:04:32 pm
It looks like Strava has deployed an update to the route creation tool  ...and the Veloviewer Chrome plugin doesn't appear to work anymore.
Anybody else see anything different?

I am hoping that the author of the VV plugin will update it for the new route planner. I'll give it a week or 3 before I worry about alternatives.

J

VV posted thusly on Facebook:

Quote from: VeloViewer
A quick note on the Explorer Tile overlay (via the Chrome Extension) in the new Strava Route Builder. I've taken a look at the new Route Builder's code/DOM and can't at the moment see a way to overlay the Explorer Tile info. If there are any Javascript Guru's out there (I'm experienced enough to know how average I am at actual coding!) who are willing to take a look then please get in touch. These browser extensions really are a hack and the previous tile overlay was one of the biggest, nastiest hacks I've had to do! I'm not optimistic to find a way to get that to work again unfortunately.
Thanks to all of you that continue to support VeloViewer, it is very much appreciated.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 20 May, 2020, 10:40:41 pm
What we really need is for VeloViewer to do a route planning tool!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 20 May, 2020, 11:07:16 pm
What we really need is for VeloViewer to do a route planning tool!

Or... a VeloViewer for another service that has a decent route builder.
I've been using the VV activity map in OS mode and matching it to an OSM view in RWGPS, has worked well enough so far.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: marlan on 21 May, 2020, 11:55:38 am
With those changes at Strava my Veloviewer score is now zero! Not that I’m bothered by that, looking at segments was mildly interesting but I’m not a performance based athlete!

So as long the changes at Strava don’t impact on the VV tiles and squares, I won’t be subscribing. I have subscribed in the past.

Btw, love this thread, keep the tips coming!

Currently 17x17


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 21 May, 2020, 01:33:19 pm
This lack of a tiles overlay on Strava really is a blow for me, and might be a deal breaker as far as Veloviewer is concerned. 

It made plotting a route so much easier, and while it wasn't flawless, I've just discovered it certainly was a lot less prone to mistakes than changing between maps on a small laptop screen  :facepalm: .

I can get the same info from statshunters FOC.

I've got 6 months left on my current 'Pro' subscription, so will decide nearer the time
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 21 May, 2020, 02:08:43 pm
Veloviewer is a strava plug-in, and their target audience is segment hunters. Us saddo tile baggers are a minority really, most folks are there for the faster-and-further stats.
I've already been peeved by a lack of segment timing- I wanted to guesstimate how long a route would take me by looking at my teammates times. I don't know if the peevishness will result in me coughing up for Strava. It's not like I actually use it- I barely follow anyone, and all my ride data is stored elsewhere.
As a Strava plug-in, VV is never going to join up with another route planner, best we can hope is he finds a developer who can make it play again.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: R_nger on 21 May, 2020, 03:19:06 pm
The tiles overlay is clearly an issue. I have some adhoc code here that will create a GPX track replicating the unvisited tiles. I upload this to RWGPS and plan my route accordingly.

All it needs is the KML output by Veloviewer

If anybody wants a GPX created, I could give it a go (usual disclaimers apply)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 21 May, 2020, 04:27:37 pm
The tiles overlay is clearly an issue. I have some adhoc code here that will create a GPX track replicating the unvisited tiles. I upload this to RWGPS and plan my route accordingly.

All it needs is the KML output by Veloviewer

If anybody wants a GPX created, I could give it a go (usual disclaimers apply)

Interesting, you have an upload grid to RWGPS.  I've found that Garmin Basecamp will import the vv kml unbagged-tile file and display the grid.  One can export this as a gpx file, and in OSMand this uploads & displays as a single gpx grid, but in RWGPS the same gpx file separates out into individual squares 1.5x1.5km (so not that useful), and AFAIR is limited to an import of 20 squares.   The vv kml in basecamp is useful for track checking, but not really for routeplanning, although Basecamp does seem to have a  track adjustment tool.  ETA.  in basecamp joining all the individual square tracks doesn't work as one gets multiple diagonal lines going on.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 21 May, 2020, 05:32:10 pm
...in basecamp joining all the individual square tracks doesn't work as one gets multiple diagonal lines going on.

A bit further work is required to move and/or insert points to render squares. It's what I do, but I'd like an automated method.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 21 May, 2020, 07:48:18 pm
The tiles overlay is clearly an issue. I have some adhoc code here that will create a GPX track replicating the unvisited tiles. I upload this to RWGPS and plan my route accordingly.

All it needs is the KML output by Veloviewer

If anybody wants a GPX created, I could give it a go (usual disclaimers apply)

I just used https://kml2gpx.com/ to do it.

(But this creates a GPX file with one GPX tracklog per unvisited tile and some sites don't like a GPX file with thousands of GPX tracks. I wrote my own scripts to find the outlines of the tiles and was going to extend it to draw the tiles using the minimum number of straight lines but never got around to it, that would have kept the number of GPX tracks in the GPX file to a minimum. If yours does this then that's great!)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: R_nger on 21 May, 2020, 10:20:25 pm
My tool creates one track for each contiguous set of tiles and has no diagonals - I wrote this a year or two ago and have no idea how I managed this !

Sadly, it's not in a very user friendly format to distribute...I may have to address that.  I would like to share a screenshot in RWGPS ... watch this space...

Edited to add link to image of RWGPS screen with several tracks loaded (not sure if this link will work !)...  https://flic.kr/p/2j4n6AJ (https://flic.kr/p/2j4n6AJ)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49921180042_dc42d2dbf6_c.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 21 May, 2020, 10:54:35 pm
Aha, well done.

Mine just did the outline of each block and I never got as far as filling in the individual tile boundaries with minimal trackpoints.

There are a bunch of screenshots of the various stages of it (back in October 2018 in this thread): https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=108374.msg2334829#msg2334829

I had planned on redoing it in go/python and then sticking it up on a website somewhere (maybe free via heroku) but never got around to it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: R_nger on 21 May, 2020, 11:13:31 pm
My tool can also output a text representation of the KML file. For example (where Xs are visited)...

Code: [Select]
       ......X............X.                           
       ......XX..........XX..                         
     .XXX.....X..........XX...                         
   .X...XXXX.XXX..........X.X.XXXXX...X.XX........     
   .X.....XXXXXX..........XXXXX.......XXXXXXX.....     
   .X......XXX.XX..........XXX.............XX.....     
   X ......XXX..X..........XX...............XX....     
   X.......XXX..X.........XX.................X.....   
   XX......X.X..XX........X..................XXXXXXXX..
   XXXX...XXXX..XX........XXX.................X..X.  XX
   ...XX..XXXX.XXX........XXX.................X....XX..
   ....X.XXX.XXXXXXX......XXXXXX..............X....XX.X
   XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX......X..XXXXX...XXXXXXXXXX....XX..
   XXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXXX.....X......XXX.XXX..XXXXXX.... XX
   XXX.XXXX.XXXXXXXXXX....XX......XXXXXX...XXXXXX..XXX.
   XXXX.X.XX.XXXXXXXXX....XX.......XXXXX....X...XXXX...
   .XXXXX.X..XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX...XX...XXXXX..
   ..X..XXX.XX.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.X..XXXXXXXXX
   XXX..XX...X...XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX..XX...X
.XXXX...XX...XX...XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX....X....X
.XXXXXX..XX..XXX.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX...XX
.X..X.XXXXXX..XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.XXXXXX..X.
.XX.XX.XXXXXX..XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXX.
X X..XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX...XX..
.XX..XX......XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.X.....X..
X XXXXX.XX..XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.XX.X.....XX.
X XXXXXXXXXXXXXX.X..XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX..X.XX......XX
X.X...XXXXXXXXXX.X...XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX...X.X........X
XXX...X.X.XXXXXXXXX...XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX..XXXX........X
XXX..XXXXXX...XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX..XXX..........
XX..XXXXXX.......XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX..XX...........
XX..X..XX.....XXXX.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.X............
.XXXXXXX......XXX..XX.XXX.XXXXXXX.......XXX...........X
 XXXXX........X..XXXXXX.XXXX..XXXXX.....XXX.......... X
 .XXXXXX....XXX..X......XX....XX.XXX......XX.........X.
 XXX..XXXX.XX...XX.......X.....X.XXXX.....XX........   
 .XXXXXXXXXXX...X......XXX....XX..X.XX....XX.......   
 ....XXXXXXXXX..X...XXXX.X....XX..XX.XX...XX......     
 ....X..X..XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.....X...X..XXX..X......     
    .XXXX.X.XXXXX.XXXXXXXX.....XX.XX....X.........     
            XX .XXXXX.XXX.......X..XXXX.XX........     
            XX ..X.X.XX.........XX....XX.XX......     
            ..XXXXXXXX..........X......XX.X           
                    ............XX......X..           

You can then do some "what if" planning by modifying the text and recalculating the new max square and cluster.

It has been limited to my squares, but I'd happily run it against any other KML in an attempt to break it
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 22 May, 2020, 03:09:11 pm

Before you all get too creative in your new methods, this from Veloviewer:

https://twitter.com/VeloViewer/status/1263833888427835394

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 22 May, 2020, 03:33:42 pm
Good news, but I've never bothered with the route VV plug-in route planner thing so I'm unaffected by the recent problems.

The thing R_gner and I did independently was not for that, but to be able to use any other route planning software that can take a GPX file of unvisited tiles. Personally I prefer gpxeditor.co.uk but everyone has their own preference.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: R_nger on 22 May, 2020, 05:17:40 pm

Before you all get too creative in your new methods, this from Veloviewer:

https://twitter.com/VeloViewer/status/1263833888427835394

J

That sounds promising. I don't do much twitter, but I'm following them now ! Thanks Q
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: R_nger on 22 May, 2020, 05:20:54 pm
Good news, but I've never bothered with the route VV plug-in route planner thing so I'm unaffected by the recent problems.

The thing R_gner and I did independently was not for that, but to be able to use any other route planning software that can take a GPX file of unvisited tiles. Personally I prefer gpxeditor.co.uk but everyone has their own preference.

The multi-tile GPXs can be imported into GPXEditor too - but you need a subscription to load more than one track (I like GPXE, but marginally prefer RWGPS for its ability to group routes into events...paid for too !)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 22 May, 2020, 05:46:20 pm
Good news, but I've never bothered with the route VV plug-in route planner thing so I'm unaffected by the recent problems.

The thing R_gner and I did independently was not for that, but to be able to use any other route planning software that can take a GPX file of unvisited tiles. Personally I prefer gpxeditor.co.uk but everyone has their own preference.

The multi-tile GPXs can be imported into GPXEditor too - but you need a subscription to load more than one track (I like GPXE, but marginally prefer RWGPS for its ability to group routes into events...paid for too !)

Yep, and the reason GPXEditor is nice and responsive when you do upload a GPX file with thousands of tracks in it is because Ben T did a load of work a few years ago to make it much faster when I tried to upload such files.

Some other sites fall to pieces when you upload a GPX file with 1500 individual tracks in it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bolt on 22 May, 2020, 09:49:59 pm
Although route planning in Basecamp is not as refined as some of the online route planners, I have found that its usable with a bit of time spent learning the routing logic of the chosen mapset and the required adjustments of the routing profile.  I tend to use it to plan a looped route through just the target tiles for a ride and then use cycle.travel to plan a route to the entry point of that loop.  I then load both gpx files into Oruxmaps, and merge the 2 routes.  I also have my VV KML file loaded into Oruxmaps as an overlay which gives an extra level of confidence and the ability to pick off any unplanned tiles on the fly.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 23 May, 2020, 11:04:07 am
I've realised how much I used the vv plugin in Strava routeplanner on Google.  So for now, in the absence of a combined osm/tile grid and routeplanner, I'll revert to having two browser windows open side by side, one with vv activities OS map, and the other with RwGPS routeplanner.  Then check in Basecamp, on the unbagged tile grid kml import.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: R_nger on 23 May, 2020, 11:39:47 am
I've realised how much I used the vv plugin in Strava routeplanner on Google.  So for now, in the absence of a combined osm/tile grid and routeplanner, I'll revert to having two browser windows open side by side, one with vv activities OS map, and the other with RwGPS routeplanner.  Then check in Basecamp, on the unbagged tile grid kml import.

The offer is still open... if you are happy to send your Veloviewer KML then I will create the GPX tracks for you to use in RWGPS
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 23 May, 2020, 11:43:43 am
You can still see your strava routes overlayed with your bagged/unbagged squares in veloviewer.
Go to the routes tab and filter on your route name.  It's not as slick as the strava /chrome /VV plugin.  But it'll do me until/if a new strava plugin comes along.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 23 May, 2020, 07:26:13 pm

The offer is still open... if you are happy to send your Veloviewer KML then I will create the GPX tracks for you to use in RWGPS

Thanks.  I have a few pre-planned rides sitting in Strava routes ready to ride, so am good to go for a bit.   :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 23 May, 2020, 07:50:15 pm
Just had a quick play with https://brouter.de/brouter-web and it looks promising.  <Load>, <Tracks>, <Your VV .kml file> puts your required tiles on a map and you can start clicking away to produce an editable route.  There are multiple routing options and I think that you can fine tune them too.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 23 May, 2020, 08:11:48 pm
Brouter is very good for velomobile riders as it has an option for us which avoids Silly Sustrans Gates etc.

I don’t find the interface that great but my partner uses it all the time and loves it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 23 May, 2020, 11:22:52 pm
Just had a quick play with https://brouter.de/brouter-web and it looks promising.  <Load>, <Tracks>, <Your VV .kml file> puts your required tiles on a map and you can start clicking away to produce an editable route.  There are multiple routing options and I think that you can fine tune them too.

Thanks for that, looks good.  Easy to display unbagged tile vv kml grid, then construct track over it, and export.    :)

ETA.  as usual worth double checking for inadvertent off-road routing selections...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 24 May, 2020, 06:01:52 pm
Thanks for the heads-up on Brouter.  I'd not heard of that one before.  I used it succesfully for the first time today although I did import the route into RWGPS as a double check.

Last weekends ride to Cornhill for coffee increased my total tiles by 3 to 9999, and my cluster by 8 to 669,

Yesterday's local off-road venture into the wind got me over the 10k mark to 10002 tiles.  Unfortunately I missed 3 tiles which would have got me to 18x18, but i couldn't face the headwind to go back for them.   I'll get these another day.

I headed a bit further north on today's Border Raid, and picked up 4 tiles, increasing my cluster by 10 to 699 / 10006 tiles
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 28 May, 2020, 02:53:42 pm
Strava app has been updated!  :thumbsup:
Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 28 May, 2020, 03:09:51 pm
Strava app has been updated!  :thumbsup:
Do I need to update ? Can’t find where to do this

Edit: removed and added extension- working nicely

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Paul D on 28 May, 2020, 03:40:38 pm
Had a little search through my ride list to work out how long ago I lost interest in expanding my vv max square because I have the south coast on 1 1/4 sides of it:

30x30 9th Dec 2018
26x26 28th Jan 2017
20x20 31st August 2016
First mention of trying to bag a tile 8th July 2016

It's a five hour ride to get out and back to the northern edges, and there's a bunch of offroad tiles to do when I get there...and all I'm achieving is dragging the same 30x30 square out of the Isle of Purbeck, so the good times have well and truly passed for me. Oh to live in the Midlands! ;D

(https://i.postimg.cc/6p06C0Rh/VV-Max-Sq-May2020.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 28 May, 2020, 06:42:37 pm
That's an impressive amount of water you've covered... The Humber isn't really suitable for human powered craft, is it the same situation in the sea around Poole? Given how frequently I've looked at Humber-cycling options I'm sure you've contemplated some wacky ideas. :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 28 May, 2020, 06:51:38 pm
I was probably going to drop Strava a couple of years ago, until fboab, ChrisS and Deano teased me with VeloViewer tiles. VV is the only reason I keep in with Strava really. I think of VV as the long game... but I guess it is only going to last as long as any other internet fad.

Anyone know what the next fad is going to be and when the lift doors are opening on the ground floor?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 28 May, 2020, 07:18:20 pm
Looks like Veloviewer have issued an update.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 28 May, 2020, 07:28:57 pm
vv comment re planner plugin on twitter  https://twitter.com/VeloViewer/status/1265996701225103360

I'm going to stick with free Strava and BRouter (+ vv kml file) for the moment.  I like BRouter's OpenTopoMap, with the cycling overlay too, and the customisable aspects of bike types etc, and the ease of dragging out a route.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 29 May, 2020, 12:41:37 pm
vv comment re planner plugin on twitter  https://twitter.com/VeloViewer/status/1265996701225103360

I'm going to stick with free Strava and BRouter (+ vv kml file) for the moment.  I like BRouter's OpenTopoMap, with the cycling overlay too, and the customisable aspects of bike types etc, and the ease of dragging out a route.

Excellent. And it works. Nice and quick to develop, worth the short wait.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 30 May, 2020, 04:52:57 pm
Had a little search through my ride list to work out how long ago I lost interest in expanding my vv max square because I have the south coast on 1 1/4 sides of it:

30x30 9th Dec 2018
26x26 28th Jan 2017
20x20 31st August 2016
First mention of trying to bag a tile 8th July 2016

It's a five hour ride to get out and back to the northern edges, and there's a bunch of offroad tiles to do when I get there...and all I'm achieving is dragging the same 30x30 square out of the Isle of Purbeck, so the good times have well and truly passed for me. Oh to live in the Midlands! ;D

(https://i.postimg.cc/6p06C0Rh/VV-Max-Sq-May2020.jpg)
That's impressive!

I'm at 15x15 myself.
(https://i.imgur.com/3ozJOba.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Ezo0Na6.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 30 May, 2020, 06:11:30 pm
Move house. It's the best way.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 30 May, 2020, 06:13:38 pm
Teesside... Durham... Hull... Slaithwaite. Easier than cycling to them all.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 30 May, 2020, 06:17:16 pm
OMG, we've gone Teesside to Durham, please not Hull next  :o
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 30 May, 2020, 06:27:53 pm
OMG, we've gone Teesside to Durham, please not Hull next  :o

It's flat. Does that help?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 30 May, 2020, 06:33:44 pm
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200530/e2c00481c30d83c717a1919181d1af84.jpg)
Feeling pleased with my choice of home.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 30 May, 2020, 06:52:13 pm


Feeling pleased with my choice of home.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Nah.
I should have been out more at the start of lockdown to bag some of the roads I won't usually ride on.
I still haven't moved my square to where I live yet. I blame Sunderland *shudder*

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200530/b4aa3c7c7891c60f6286deb65abcbd54.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 30 May, 2020, 06:56:06 pm


Feeling pleased with my choice of home.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Nah.
I should have been out more at the start of lockdown to bag some of the roads I won't usually ride on.
I still haven't moved my square to where I live yet. I blame Sunderland *shudder*

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200530/b4aa3c7c7891c60f6286deb65abcbd54.jpg)
Definitely. A few weeks back I did bits of A5, A6 and pretty much A41 all the way from Bicester to Aylesbury. Saw about 3 cars on the A41.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 31 May, 2020, 12:34:15 pm
This week's rides have haven me to 800 squares. I've been filling in some cluster gaps while some roads are quiet, up to 127 there now. But my square grows slowly (7x7) now as there's an unbaggable tile 4km from home.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ashaman42 on 31 May, 2020, 01:21:12 pm
This week's rides have haven me to 800 squares. I've been filling in some cluster gaps while some roads are quiet, up to 127 there now. But my square grows slowly (7x7) now as there's an unbaggable tile 4km from home.

Is that between Ripe and Glynde? I think I'm stuck on that square too.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 31 May, 2020, 03:26:49 pm


Feeling pleased with my choice of home.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Nah.
I should have been out more at the start of lockdown to bag some of the roads I won't usually ride on.
I still haven't moved my square to where I live yet. I blame Sunderland *shudder*

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200530/b4aa3c7c7891c60f6286deb65abcbd54.jpg)
:o
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 31 May, 2020, 08:08:06 pm
Does anyone use the EveryTile app for Garmin (https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/e53331b6-55db-475a-99e9-3f567327e7ce#0)?

In itself is works nicely, ticking of a square when I ride through it. But for all my trying I am unable to save my current tiles to the app so for every ride it is as it's my very first one. Creating the ascii text from the .kml works fine, but pasting it in Garmin Express and then saving/syncing has no effect. I also tried changing the home coordinates to move the part of where I would be riding today to the top-left, but this didn't make a difference.

I would love to see this app working as intended! What could I be missing? (this is on a Edge 830 with firmware 5.1 and the latest Garmin Express (just updated to 7.0 IIRC)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 31 May, 2020, 09:16:00 pm
This week's rides have haven me to 800 squares. I've been filling in some cluster gaps while some roads are quiet, up to 127 there now. But my square grows slowly (7x7) now as there's an unbaggable tile 4km from home.

Is that between Ripe and Glynde? I think I'm stuck on that square too.

Yes, that's the one - no road or path. I think there's the drive to a farm, but my commitment to this isn't sufficient to get a delivery job  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ashaman42 on 31 May, 2020, 09:19:32 pm
I believe there's a B&B where the farm drive turns left so did wonder, before lockdown, about knocking on their door and seeing if the path to the field is theirs and could I please just nip into the corner.

But I never quite got round to it
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 31 May, 2020, 09:29:33 pm
If you look on https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap you will see links to four Strava'd rides of people who have done that tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 31 May, 2020, 10:16:07 pm
Thanks! I'll pay more attention to those entrances next time I'm passing, and see how friendly they look  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 June, 2020, 12:55:21 am
Yes, that's the one - no road or path. I think there's the drive to a farm, but my commitment to this isn't sufficient to get a delivery job  ;D

Print up a flyier for a lost puppy, put someone you don't like's phone number on it, take a picture of a dog from Wikipedia, Walk up the drive, with the flyier and your gps running, post the flier, done...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 01 June, 2020, 01:55:19 pm
If you look on https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap you will see links to four Strava'd rides of people who have done that tile.
It looks like all four of those approached it from the south-east route. I got it by taking the track from that finishes just short of the north-west corner


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 01 June, 2020, 04:11:04 pm
A lovely ride up the Southern Upland Way to Lauder on my Gravel Bike bagged the one tile i missed a couple of weeks ago.
This combined with two outliers over by Earlston on the way back now means i'm finally at 18x18!

Total tiles is now 10007, with my cluster at 713.

I've now run out of roads / tracks to expand on 18x18, so i think i'll now concentrate on my cluster, rather than taking up hill walking.  It's supposed to be fun after all
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Lightning Phil on 01 June, 2020, 04:32:38 pm
Started on this about 4 weeks into lockdown. Now up to 18x18.  It’s giving me plenty of new variations in my efforts to acquire missing squares.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 01 June, 2020, 09:00:21 pm
Started on this about 4 weeks into lockdown. Now up to 18x18.  It’s giving me plenty of new variations in my efforts to acquire missing squares.
Agreed, lockdown has been kind to exploring. Keep up the good work
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 01 June, 2020, 09:31:13 pm
A lovely ride up the Southern Upland Way to Lauder on my Gravel Bike bagged the one tile i missed a couple of weeks ago.
This combined with two outliers over by Earlston on the way back now means i'm finally at 18x18!

Total tiles is now 10007, with my cluster at 713.

I've now run out of roads / tracks to expand on 18x18, so i think i'll now concentrate on my cluster, rather than taking up hill walking.  It's supposed to be fun after all

Come on Russell, WWMND?

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 01 June, 2020, 10:39:10 pm
A lovely ride up the Southern Upland Way to Lauder on my Gravel Bike bagged the one tile i missed a couple of weeks ago.
This combined with two outliers over by Earlston on the way back now means i'm finally at 18x18!

Total tiles is now 10007, with my cluster at 713.

I've now run out of roads / tracks to expand on 18x18, so i think i'll now concentrate on my cluster, rather than taking up hill walking.  It's supposed to be fun after all

Come on Russell, WWMND?

(click to show/hide)
You know

Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Paul D on 02 June, 2020, 08:33:19 am
If you look on https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap you will see links to four Strava'd rides of people who have done that tile.

Where are these getting their data from? Plenty of 'not visited' tiles near me that I've bagged and have lanes running through them so I can't be the only one.  ???
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 02 June, 2020, 08:45:43 am
If you look on https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap you will see links to four Strava'd rides of people who have done that tile.

Where are these getting their data from? Plenty of 'not visited' tiles near me that I've bagged and have lanes running through them so I can't be the only one.  ???

Periodic grabs of the public rides of everyone who is in the "Ride Every Tile" Strava Group.

If it's not public it doesn't get grabbed.
If you're not in the "Ride Every Tile" Strava Group (https://www.strava.com/clubs/RideEveryTile) then it won't get grabbed.
If you join the group of upload a ride it doesn't get grabbed straight away. The heatmap says the last data grab was 15th May 2020.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 04 June, 2020, 11:17:41 am
Now the fishermen and golfers are out its time to go out. Another 100 + tiles on the mtb and some off the old hard drives. Lots more around but not going to visit the farms up dead end tracks. Total for now 27571, will be glad when its back to hitting the road for a tour.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 04 June, 2020, 07:47:29 pm
Over the last week I have done a few socially-distanced tile grabbing rides to Corby, Grantham and Newark(ish).  I now have two overlapping 44*44 squares.

As a slight diversion I have noticed that I have almost 'done' Leicestershire so may have a day off square bashing and finish the job with a ride to the deep south.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49971432892_7827c3498c_w.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Paul D on 05 June, 2020, 10:21:45 am
Interesting about your county.

I pulled my outer tiles and country boundaries KML files into Google Earth which showed me what I expected: I don't go to the far West Dorset badlands very often.  ;D There's also coast path tiles that I could conceivably get without a boat. More to think about!

(The tile near the coast between Weymouth and Swanage is entirely Lulworth Tank Firing Ranges, therefore completely off limits to even a bit of light trespass ::-))


(https://i.postimg.cc/vm8npstj/VV-Dorset-June-2020.jpg)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 05 June, 2020, 11:23:55 am
Interesting about your county.

I pulled my outer tiles and country boundaries KML files into Google Earth which showed me what I expected: I don't go to the far West Dorset badlands very often.  ;D There's also coast path tiles that I could conceivably get without a boat. More to think about!

(The tile near the coast between Weymouth and Swanage is entirely Lulworth Tank Firing Ranges, therefore completely off limits to even a bit of light trespass ::-))


(https://i.postimg.cc/vm8npstj/VV-Dorset-June-2020.jpg)
I'm not sure about that tile being impossible - approaching from the East (Povington Lane), google street view ends at the red flag, but outside of firing times, I don't think there's anything stopping you from continuing along that road. But you'd have to cross pretty much an entire tile without meeting an actual barrier.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Paul D on 05 June, 2020, 11:41:02 am
I'm not sure about that tile being impossible - approaching from the East (Povington Lane), google street view ends at the red flag, but outside of firing times, I don't think there's anything stopping you from continuing along that road. But you'd have to cross pretty much an entire tile without meeting an actual barrier.

(https://i.postimg.cc/MZhWcJXQ/Lulworth-Tank-Ranges-Tile.jpg)

From the East, the closest point of approach that I've achieved on that map gets you to this barrier and sign:

(https://i.postimg.cc/mg32fpLF/IMG-20160627-124935856-HDR.jpg)


...which I'm not willing to be challenged about if I go further down the road. There looks to be access to a quarry (roughly West Creech on the OS map above) but one would need to go considerably further into the firing range after that to reach the tile edge. :hand:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 05 June, 2020, 06:31:44 pm
I'm not sure about that tile being impossible - approaching from the East (Povington Lane), google street view ends at the red flag, but outside of firing times, I don't think there's anything stopping you from continuing along that road. But you'd have to cross pretty much an entire tile without meeting an actual barrier.

(https://i.postimg.cc/MZhWcJXQ/Lulworth-Tank-Ranges-Tile.jpg)

From the East, the closest point of approach that I've achieved on that map gets you to this barrier and sign:

(https://i.postimg.cc/mg32fpLF/IMG-20160627-124935856-HDR.jpg)


...which I'm not willing to be challenged about if I go further down the road. There looks to be access to a quarry (roughly West Creech on the OS map above) but one would need to go considerably further into the firing range after that to reach the tile edge. :hand:
The unexploded shell is just behind that sign next to your bike.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 05 June, 2020, 08:42:42 pm
... I have noticed that I have almost 'done' Leicestershire ...

I've been thinking about bagging Oxon.  Need to do some exploring in North Oxfordshire, and elsewhere!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49974087163_f9a4c7db79.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2j93g3t)Oxfordshire_June 2020 (https://flic.kr/p/2j93g3t) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 06 June, 2020, 08:51:52 am
I'm not sure about that tile being impossible - approaching from the East (Povington Lane), google street view ends at the red flag, but outside of firing times, I don't think there's anything stopping you from continuing along that road. But you'd have to cross pretty much an entire tile without meeting an actual barrier.

(https://i.postimg.cc/MZhWcJXQ/Lulworth-Tank-Ranges-Tile.jpg)

From the East, the closest point of approach that I've achieved on that map gets you to this barrier and sign:

(https://i.postimg.cc/mg32fpLF/IMG-20160627-124935856-HDR.jpg)


...which I'm not willing to be challenged about if I go further down the road. There looks to be access to a quarry (roughly West Creech on the OS map above) but one would need to go considerably further into the firing range after that to reach the tile edge. :hand:
The unexploded shell is just behind that sign next to your bike.


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It is possible! Somebody else doing tiling...
https://www.strava.com/activities/3569237412 (https://www.strava.com/activities/3569237412)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 06 June, 2020, 09:43:29 am
It looks like there is some proper off-piste stuff on that ride.  Reading the comments there appears to be an inner security fence to make sure that people who 'inadvertently' get past the outer perimeter of signs, flags etc. don't get onto the real range.

I am not saying that I would have passed the barrier and sign in Paul D's photo but on reflection it does look more like something that the farmer decided was a good idea to enhance his privacy rather than something official from the MOD.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Paul D on 06 June, 2020, 09:45:30 am
Perhaps a 5am Sunday morning ride to the quarry is more on the cards than I previously thought (the strava activity still goes further than I would want or need to!).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 06 June, 2020, 09:50:44 am
Perhaps a 5am Sunday morning ride to the quarry is more on the cards than I previously thought (the strava activity still goes further than I would want or need to!).
He certainly seems to have a devil-may-care approach to difficult tiles.... earlier on in the week he was further into the oil refinery at Fawley than had previously been thought possible.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 06 June, 2020, 09:53:38 am
... I have noticed that I have almost 'done' Leicestershire ...

I've been thinking about bagging Oxon.  Need to do some exploring in North Oxfordshire, and elsewhere!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49974087163_f9a4c7db79.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2j93g3t)Oxfordshire_June 2020 (https://flic.kr/p/2j93g3t) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

Nice, where are people getting their KML/GPX of county boundaries from please.  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 06 June, 2020, 10:16:38 am
I downloaded all of England and Wales from here:

https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/d3d7b7538c934cf29db791a705631e24_2/data?orderBy=ctyua17nm&page=9

This points at the Leicestershire page as that was all I really wanted but you get the lot.

I sucked it into Google Earth, highlighted Leicestershire and save just that.

This data is from December 2017 and having had another podge around there are later datasets if you want.

Someone who knows what they are talking about will probably come along and describe a better method  :)
Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 06 June, 2020, 10:26:44 am
http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/5edb613c976cb/counties.zip (http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/5edb613c976cb/counties.zip)
Zipped gpx file. Each county is a track.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 06 June, 2020, 02:50:19 pm
My Oxon boundary was a manual Draw Lines 'trace' from the county boundary shown in the OSM overlay on RideWGPS.    :-\ O:-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 06 June, 2020, 03:14:30 pm
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200606/e69dbf36c402c0399c996d7ccaec936f.jpg)
I also have this png file where each county is in a very slightly different shade of grey. It means you can rapidly work out which counties a gpx route goes through.


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Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 06 June, 2020, 03:15:24 pm
To produce annual coverage ...(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200606/eab7e642ee87369d591e17a35d735077.jpg)


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 06 June, 2020, 04:14:33 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/FeeQqOG.jpg)
The counties are generally ceremonial, except for London boroughs. All time, not this year. Although I do apply the rule that I have to ride from/through a "home" point, be that home home or university.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Lightning Phil on 06 June, 2020, 05:25:51 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/FeeQqOG.jpg)
The counties are generally ceremonial,

Actually the counties are administrative as per county councils etc.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 06 June, 2020, 06:02:33 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/FeeQqOG.jpg)
The counties are generally ceremonial,

Actually the counties are administrative as per county councils etc.
This gpx I posted is of the ceremonial counties so Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire are there despite now being broken up into various unitary authorities.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 06 June, 2020, 07:00:25 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/FeeQqOG.jpg)
The counties are generally ceremonial,

Actually the counties are administrative as per county councils etc.
This gpx I posted is of the ceremonial counties so Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire are there despite now being broken up into various unitary authorities.

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I used the government one, so administrative, but I coloured them according to ceremonial county.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bolt on 06 June, 2020, 08:41:19 pm
You can also download UK ceremonial and historic county boundaries for free from Ordnance Survey:

https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-government/tools-support/boundaryline-support (https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-government/tools-support/boundaryline-support)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 07 June, 2020, 06:21:46 pm
Good to have some stray tiles close by .  Ardmore Point, shore track and over from Cardross on the track for 6 tiles. All within the 16km circle from the house. Running total  27588
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 08 June, 2020, 03:25:52 pm
One of the many benefits of wind farms, is the access roads.

So I decided to explore a new one near to me.  Great fun on a gravel bike.

This resulted in 14 new tiles, taking my total to 10021, and increasing my cluster by 6 to 719

Still on 18x18

 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 09 June, 2020, 06:05:23 pm
VV on Facebook just now:

Quote from: VeloViewer
Unexplored tile KML export is back 😀
This was previously available in the Chrome Extension but I've moved it to the main VeloViewer website and you'll now find it in the map settings popup on the Activities and Routes list pages.
You need to have either the max-square or max-cluster toggles enabled and if you zoom out too far it'll disable the button as the file will become too big. It now allows for a much larger export than the previous version as you can see in the Google Earth image. Note that there might be limitations on the size of the kml file in the apps that you use to view it so if it won't load, then perhaps zoom in a level and export a smaller file.
I've tested the export on Chrome, Safari and Firefox. Can someone let me know if it works or not in IE/Edge?
Note that on the Activities page the unexplored tiles are based on the current set of filters, so if you have the data filtered to just show runs, then the kml export will be the tiles unexplored by runs. Basically it'll be the inverse of whatever tiles are showing as ticked on the map at that time. Useful for those of you doing activity type specific max squares or a yearly cluster etc.
Another explorer tip: hover your mouse over the Max Square and Max Cluster to see their size in a tooltip (based on the activity filters).



Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 09 June, 2020, 06:30:03 pm
Did some comedy off-roading and walking to bag an awkward tile. Max cluster up to 955.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 10 June, 2020, 12:02:59 pm
VV on Facebook just now:

Quote from: VeloViewer
Unexplored tile KML export is back 😀
This was previously available in the Chrome Extension but I've moved it to the main VeloViewer website and you'll now find it in the map settings popup on the Activities and Routes list pages.
You need to have either the max-square or max-cluster toggles enabled and if you zoom out too far it'll disable the button as the file will become too big. It now allows for a much larger export than the previous version as you can see in the Google Earth image. Note that there might be limitations on the size of the kml file in the apps that you use to view it so if it won't load, then perhaps zoom in a level and export a smaller file.
I've tested the export on Chrome, Safari and Firefox. Can someone let me know if it works or not in IE/Edge?
Note that on the Activities page the unexplored tiles are based on the current set of filters, so if you have the data filtered to just show runs, then the kml export will be the tiles unexplored by runs. Basically it'll be the inverse of whatever tiles are showing as ticked on the map at that time. Useful for those of you doing activity type specific max squares or a yearly cluster etc.
Another explorer tip: hover your mouse over the Max Square and Max Cluster to see their size in a tooltip (based on the activity filters).

Great work from Ben, at last a KML filtered for just this current year, which adds to a bit of local fun revisiting off road trails.

 I downloaded the level 9 overall unexplored KML and its huge, managed to get it to display on basecamp with much processor whirring.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 12 June, 2020, 08:00:32 pm
Over the Kilpatrick hills to catch the last stray tile and on to the bike shop for 70kms on the mtb. Total 27600 tiles, blocked in by the sea lochs, Campsie hills and the eastern cental belt. Only option for scenery is Ayrshire  Renfrewshire and Inverclyde when everything opens up again.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 13 June, 2020, 09:57:14 am
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200613/f7896209ce282db8ca5b11ba8b82d883.jpg)
LIDL £9.99 bar bag ideal for wetsuit. Taking VV seriously.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 13 June, 2020, 10:18:03 am
I check the max square leader board from time to time. In the last couple of days the number of people above me seems to have halved. Has there been a cull of some sort ?


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 13 June, 2020, 12:23:21 pm
I check the max square leader board from time to time. In the last couple of days the number of people above me seems to have halved. Has there been a cull of some sort ?


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A little buglet in VeloViewer apparently. Ben says things will rectify themselves as riders all sync their latest rides.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 13 June, 2020, 01:46:05 pm
I check the max square leader board from time to time. In the last couple of days the number of people above me seems to have halved. Has there been a cull of some sort ?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

A little buglet in VeloViewer apparently. Ben says things will rectify themselves as riders all sync their latest rides.
I must remember to take a screenshot before relegation


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 14 June, 2020, 10:03:14 am
Went paddling into the Forth again this morning at low tide.  Got stuck in sinking sand, as I crossed a river bed, losing my shoes a couple of times and then falling over when I tried too hard to extract myself.  Had to wade out to knee depth to bag the tile.  Means that I now have 15 tiles bounding the north side of the Forth rather than 12, though will need to canoe in Loch Leven and head off piste in the Ochils on foot to achieve 15 x15 north of the Forth.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50003838288_4741c19f3c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jbEK1U) (https://flic.kr/p/2jbEK1U)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 14 June, 2020, 04:29:03 pm
On a cluster of 1349 (2264 tiles) now.  On yesterday's ride I managed to miss a tile right in the middle of the area I targeted; left it off the route plan.  And... back, at some point. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 15 June, 2020, 12:54:04 am
On a cluster of 1349 (2264 tiles) now.

That cluster:tiles ratio, 0.60, is much higher than mine. Mine is 968/7270 = 0.13.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 15 June, 2020, 06:06:42 am
On a cluster of 1349 (2264 tiles) now.

That cluster:tiles ratio, 0.60, is much higher than mine. Mine is 968/7270 = 0.13.
Before my maxsquare addiction my cluster/tile was 68/6372 - 0.01. I am now 2131/9588. I believe the c/t ratio, as I shall now call it , is equal to the percentage of waking hours spent route planning.


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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 15 June, 2020, 09:12:22 am
C:1212 T:18237

It's about how much of your riding is away from home. A: lots.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 15 June, 2020, 09:55:29 am
Went up between East Kilbride and Newton Mearns trying to find some countryside. Looks like the farmers new cash crop is building plots for the commuter identikit slums. Ended up going south and west for views, that gave me 41 tiles.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 15 June, 2020, 11:00:14 am
The Berrybush is a well known borders climb, but I'd never really explored the adjacent forest roads.

I cycled round the east side of St Mary's Loch, before climbing the Captain's Road to the forest, then descended down to the Ettrick Valley.

I then cycled to the bothy at the end of the valley for a coffee, before heading home into a strong North-Easterly

This resulted in 18 new tiles, taking my total to 10039.
My cluster is still at 719
Max square still on 18x18

 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 15 June, 2020, 11:44:37 am
On a cluster of 1349 (2264 tiles) now.

That cluster:tiles ratio, 0.60, is much higher than mine. Mine is 968/7270 = 0.13.
Mine is 290/2196 = 0.13 too.
It's basically a form of surface area/volume ratio, the absolute best ratio you can get is a square n^2/(4n+n^2), which for a 20x20, is 0.83, at 100x100, 0.96.

(https://i.imgur.com/cUj0fZt.jpg)
Got to do some cluster connecting really...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 15 June, 2020, 02:29:06 pm
Yes, higher local ride content, in the 'GPS years' .   :) 

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50008923411_d31631d22c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jc7NDr)cluster0620 (https://flic.kr/p/2jc7NDr) by ao (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

+ North Yorkshire...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 15 June, 2020, 03:13:32 pm
Went paddling into the Forth again this morning at low tide.  Got stuck in sinking sand, as I crossed a river bed, losing my shoes a couple of times and then falling over when I tried too hard to extract myself.  Had to wade out to knee depth to bag the tile.  Means that I now have 15 tiles bounding the north side of the Forth rather than 12, though will need to canoe in Loch Leven and head off piste in the Ochils on foot to achieve 15 x15 north of the Forth.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50003838288_4741c19f3c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jbEK1U)
 (https://flic.kr/p/2jbEK1U)

That's some dedication, I'm not sure if I can be arsed watching for very low tides to claim bits of tentsmuir sands; or bother coasting round the base at Leuchars.

I've still not got my cluster encasing the firth of tay yet either, largelly because it means doing some of the harder carse of gowrie escape climbs.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 16 June, 2020, 01:16:20 am
C:1212 T:18237

It's about how much of your riding is away from home. A: lots.

Mine's about 0.1, which is quite low considering.  I conclude this is because (until I started venturing into the nasty bits out of lockdown boredom) much of the riding I do near home tends to be repeating the same handful of non-shit routes over and over.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Global Nomad on 16 June, 2020, 10:35:30 am
Hi All,

just signed up so I could follow and post. Have been looking at the explorer tiles for a long time but more as a side note to riding...since lockdown have reconsidered and am now aiming to ride all the tiles within the M25 from home in east London. Sticking with my all time map for the moment but have routes planned and constantly edited using strava and following course on the garmin 520.  Each ride is aiming at about 100km but will be trying a longer one this week

cannot manage to post a screen grab....
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig on 16 June, 2020, 10:59:47 am
https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=103045.0 might help with posting photos. Basically link from a photo hosted elsewhere.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 16 June, 2020, 12:42:36 pm
+17 max cluster (290-307) on yesterday's ride
(https://thumbsnap.com/s/4V2WWXKr.jpg)
(https://thumbsnap.com/s/jg3tHfBN.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 16 June, 2020, 09:51:38 pm
I've just signed up too, after slipping into the tile grabbing world and looking in here now and again for the last 20 pages or so.
I've got slightly different issues growing the cluster than most of you, as you'll see from my cluster screenshot below, but I'm still working away ;-)
No easy ones left now. Hopefully some mainland trips again soon!

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ACtC-3c20JvjNgLf4GBHl4fjZrcPo8jwrK0urHDbXqNsxIRMJEKj1ZyikD4dAP1fgJJRBPDXafWaSYjlKeaG2oYBNpniACymv44TPhVy7yHV4JXALxhzFcfky7ufLjR7sB0k3qBM8P7tQBBBePTtzgTa_vye=w612-h818-no?authuser=0)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bolt on 16 June, 2020, 11:01:46 pm
I've just signed up too, after slipping into the tile grabbing world and looking in here now and again for the last 20 pages or so.
I've got slightly different issues growing the cluster than most of you, as you'll see from my cluster screenshot below, but I'm still working away ;-)
No easy ones left now. Hopefully some mainland trips again soon!

Nice work :thumbsup:  I think practically bagging an entire island deserves special recognition way beyond max square and cluster achievements!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 16 June, 2020, 11:09:38 pm
God, imagine what paddyirish could do with that canvas ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 16 June, 2020, 11:12:41 pm
Unfortunately I don't kayak, or there would maybe be more fun in what's left ;-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 16 June, 2020, 11:42:53 pm
I've just signed up too, after slipping into the tile grabbing world and looking in here now and again for the last 20 pages or so.
I've got slightly different issues growing the cluster than most of you, as you'll see from my cluster screenshot below, but I'm still working away ;-)
No easy ones left now. Hopefully some mainland trips again soon!

Nice work :thumbsup:  I think practically bagging an entire island deserves special recognition way beyond max square and cluster achievements!

I'm wondering what's wrong with Ȝell...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 16 June, 2020, 11:47:34 pm
And on a side note, I rode out with a mate yesterday around a route including tracks I'd have never ridden if I hadn't wanted to bag some squares. I don't think she'll start squarebagging, but this thing does prompt you to look at the maps and consider routes you might have never considered otherwise.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 17 June, 2020, 12:16:20 am
I've just signed up too, after slipping into the tile grabbing world and looking in here now and again for the last 20 pages or so.
I've got slightly different issues growing the cluster than most of you, as you'll see from my cluster screenshot below, but I'm still working away ;-)
No easy ones left now. Hopefully some mainland trips again soon!

Nice work :thumbsup:  I think practically bagging an entire island deserves special recognition way beyond max square and cluster achievements!

I'm wondering what's wrong with Ȝell...

Yell? It's just not great tile territory - I can't get the cluster to jump the water to it, and most of what I've not done is probably not practical to ride even grinding it out on plus tyred MTB :(
I will be back for more tiles anyhow, but it's a sideline ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 17 June, 2020, 01:04:38 am
I just didn't see any bagged tiles on yell that's all.

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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Global Nomad on 17 June, 2020, 07:46:16 am
Hi Carlos, bagging islands is certainly a more demanding goal. in ( i hope) 12 months or so i'll start in the canary islands...in the meantime have to stick to the island that is London


(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/46/dd/56/46dd56fe0235af9fe718f0257ef0e10b.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 17 June, 2020, 08:13:19 am
I have started with the outline and plan to go back and do the colouring in.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200617/71a460948722aef3ba2be447661f1c06.jpg)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 17 June, 2020, 08:26:39 am
I just didn't see any bagged tiles on yell that's all.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk
Ah, Yell has those easier road tiles done (just hard gaps between), it's Unst to the north and Fetlar to the east that have nothing.
There were plans to do a good 2 or 3 day trip this year, see if that still happens, it gets to be a long trip with multiple ferries both ways.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Global Nomad on 17 June, 2020, 10:31:27 am
the 'colouring in' is always fun
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 23 June, 2020, 01:06:53 pm
So back in the mists of time I wrote
... the gaps south of there can be filled in by some creative Pentlands running...
Well on Saturday I finally bagged those two squares.

Lockdown has been good for square and cluster bagging - I now have several overlapping 13x13 squares:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50034399618_5e87110cf4_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jennQo)Veloviewer2b (https://flic.kr/p/2jennQo) by f_m_m (https://www.flickr.com/photos/f_m_m/), on Flickr

The bigger picture looks like this:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50035201327_fd49b83942_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jeru9X)Veloviewer3 (https://flic.kr/p/2jeru9X) by f_m_m (https://www.flickr.com/photos/f_m_m/), on Flickr

It has been fun - I've done a bit of comedy off-roading, and went walking on Fisherrow sands in the rain because I'd come to bag that square so I jolly well was going to bag it...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 24 June, 2020, 08:48:34 am
(https://burlycross.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/screenshot_20200624-083828.png?resize=2786%2C2786)

Used the long daylight hours to start to extend my cluster to pick up all those Welsh routes. Staycation plans for this year now ready for campsites to open 👍
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 24 June, 2020, 11:41:41 am
I'm waiting for hotels to open. I don't want to do hike-a-bike laden for camping.

I will connect East Angular to the North.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 24 June, 2020, 12:59:21 pm
Ride to campsite, pitch tent, go and bag squares, return to tent, beer, rinse and repeat!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 24 June, 2020, 08:04:27 pm
Yesterday's tiling started my big push for Oxford.
Before:
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/1592937831228-png.531970/)
After:
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/1592938032223-png.531971/)

Max cluster 331/354/+23

I was skirting the edge of the Imber ranges, which will be one of the big limitations on any max square.

A big 200 km ride would get the job done:
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/1593002384177-png.532103/)

After that, pushing up to Leeds would probably be my next big goal, although filling out the local area is perfectly hard enough!
I call the route I've plotted (600 km) as far as Sheffield, "The Impossible Challenge".
(https://i.imgur.com/3NcT1xV.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 24 June, 2020, 11:11:19 pm
I'm waiting for hotels to open. I don't want to do hike-a-bike laden for camping.

I will connect East Angular to the North.

Will that knock me down the VC167 leaderboard?

(https://i.imgur.com/9HRRCc4.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 25 June, 2020, 10:13:47 am
Probably(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200625/13458507c17315fc534ccf69dea94f0d.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 26 June, 2020, 11:26:13 am
Today's low tide was a good one, 2 tiles off Cardross. One was a bonus as the east wind pushed the tide further out. Up to a 21 square, done lots of mtb rides in the local hills. Always good to have nearby tiles to tick off.  Roll on the easing of lockdown.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 26 June, 2020, 12:29:26 pm
Reminds me, I really need to finish off my code that allow me to give an idea of the minimal rides I'd have to do to grow my cluster or square.

e.g. with a ride that goes through x squares I could add y to my cluster

Especially if I can seed it with the locations of suitable train stations.

For example, just 5 more tiles between Maidenhead and Bisham (the enhe of 'Maidenhead' in the map below) would add a significant chunk to my cluster:-

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/vv_20200626.png)

(I'd do more than that if I went out that way, probably a big swirl to fill in lots of bits through Henley, ending at Windsor.

I've also got quite a dense area that isn't connected centered around Henham/Ugley due to those Audaxes. It'd only take a single well planned 100km ride up there to extend the cluster that way.

It's quite easy to make a single way trip cover two squares wide, and very easy to make a return trip covers a strip 3 squares wide in order to extend a cluster. (That is, of course, if there are easy enough roads to do this. It starts to be more of a problem in the sticks as it may require some trips down dead ends, but the roads aren't sparse to cause much concern in the SE of England).

Biggest call are the 11 squares that cover Guildford that would move my max square up from the 3 overlapping 18x18s to a single 21x21.

I've also got the benefit of having completely unvisited squares only 5 squares away from home having never bothered to cycle in East or North London that much.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Lightning Phil on 26 June, 2020, 07:23:12 pm
Currently at 20x20 max square.  A handful on eastern and northern edges are holding it back. Plan to hit some of those next week.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 26 June, 2020, 10:38:05 pm
Up to max square of 28 now.  Got most of the nasty urban stuff done, apart from Coventry.  Everything else is rapidly deteriorating into significantly long bike rides, or bastard hills.  Often on the other side of 20km of nasty urban stuff.

(http://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/cycling/veloviewer_cluster_2020_06_26.sized.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 27 June, 2020, 03:28:11 pm
Way too much hike-a bike on today's ride...

And filth, rain, grass seeds and the regular off road entry to the family's biggest bruise competition.

I'm all about the cluster these days. 1306.


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200627/ee6ee008603ee6afb8c1fc9163467f5e.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 28 June, 2020, 07:18:11 pm
So today I finally did RAF Brize Norton / Carterton area - which I'd been putting off.  It turned out to be a goody - one of the great things about explorering.   :)  At the end of the runway, saw a jet taking off and another cyclist there (Darren) turned out to have the same BritishEagle also bought in '92, snap! Chances of that?  Anyway, I'd planned to do one of the runway tiles from a nearby industrial estate - which as it turned out had a weekend locked gate on the entrance!  So I rode around via Black Bourton, and managed to find a section of the disused Witney-Fairford rail line, which took me along the perimeter fence.  Saw the 'Boris flag jet' in the distance.  Cotswold Wildlife Park was heaving to the max, with queues up the A361, as I crossed over.   Unexpected bonus was finding the ford at Shilton (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=52233.msg2512580#msg2512580), which I had no idea was there even. 

Up to 1424, & 29x29, with the hole filled.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50054652098_cce9045649_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jgabc5)vv280620a (https://flic.kr/p/2jgabc5) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 28 June, 2020, 07:36:21 pm
Way too much hike-a bike on today's ride...
...

A few weeks ago I gave up on my first 'bridleway' (nr Upper Heyford), which was an overgrown nettle-fest (turned out to be on the OS map, but not have a bridleway sign).  I had nettle sting tingling on my legs for several hours after.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 28 June, 2020, 07:56:05 pm
"not a convincing right of way"


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200628/f8c59777552d173086e91e9ef701dc9d.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 28 June, 2020, 07:59:21 pm
"not a convincing right of way"


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200628/f8c59777552d173086e91e9ef701dc9d.jpg)

That's either my back garden circa 2012 or the error in the GPX file for last year's York Rally 50...
Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 28 June, 2020, 08:03:02 pm
Way too much hike-a bike on today's ride...
...

A few weeks ago I gave up on my first 'bridleway' (nr Upper Heyford), which was an overgrown nettle-fest (turned out to be on the OS map, but not have a bridleway sign).  I had nettle sting tingling on my legs for several hours after.
I hit some bridleways adjacent to upper Heyford today(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200628/1dbe75f570dafa2e4dea7fff4a981e44.jpg)
Frustrating thing is the nice road the other side of the razor wire

Hit 45x45

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 29 June, 2020, 11:11:04 am
Carried my bike into the middle of a field today. In the pissing rain.

I'm starting to take this way to seriously...


I did get the tile though!!  ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 29 June, 2020, 04:49:41 pm
"not a convincing right of way"


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200628/f8c59777552d173086e91e9ef701dc9d.jpg)

That's either my back garden circa 2012 or the error in the GPX file for last year's York Rally 50...

Or one of Sustrans finer works...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 29 June, 2020, 04:50:30 pm
Carried my bike into the middle of a field today. In the pissing rain.

I'm starting to take this way to seriously...


I did get the tile though!!  ;D ;D ;D ;D

You know most of us leave the bike by the field gate and just carry the GPS to the middle of the field right?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 29 June, 2020, 04:57:08 pm
Carried my bike into the middle of a field today. In the pissing rain.

I'm starting to take this way to seriously...


I did get the tile though!!  ;D ;D ;D ;D

You know most of us leave the bike by the field gate and just carry the GPS to the middle of the field right?

J

If you're me, you walk into the middle of the field, having left the GPS unit still on the bike, by the gate.     ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 29 June, 2020, 05:00:09 pm

If you're me, you walk into the middle of the field, having left the GPS unit still on the bike, by the gate.     ;D

There are two types of tile hunters. Those who have done this, and those that will...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 29 June, 2020, 07:21:33 pm
A big tile day for me Yesterday.  I was on 5 overlapping 44x44 max squares. 

So I set off on this 240km ride which wiggled around to pick up the gaps around Stoke on Trent at the western edge of my max square....
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200629/47ddb2aaedfbb0603d60caf4722f60e2.jpg)

....and ending up with a new max square of 48x48.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200629/c8466b94b989e9da488c1c087fe9434d.jpg)

Despite a big chunk of the ride being quite urban, it was really very enjoyable, I was in Stoke quite early on a Sunday morning so it was nice and quiet and my route took me along a few canal towpaths and past the old pottery buildings & kilns and then though Whitfield Valley Park, which was lovely  I'd never have never ridden that route if it wasn't for this square game.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200629/b82211b60459d8955384a48d291dd915.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 29 June, 2020, 07:43:13 pm
I wonder what the max possible square size is anywhere in the UK, and where it would be centred...  (Ignoring the 'unbaggable' land tiles e.g. ranges etc)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pedal Castro on 29 June, 2020, 10:14:41 pm

If you're me, you walk into the middle of the field, having left the GPS unit still on the bike, by the gate.     ;D

There are two types of tile hunters. Those who have done this, and those that will...

J

I'm in the first group!  :thumbsup:

I almost lost my bike too, carried into a field of rape far enough not to be seen from the road (no hedge/gate) , left it 50m short of target because it was getting unwieldy and on my return it was invisible until I pretty much walked into it, which was lucky!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 30 June, 2020, 12:01:57 am
I almost lost my bike too, carried into a field of rape far enough not to be seen from the road (no hedge/gate) , left it 50m short of target because it was getting unwieldy and on my return it was invisible until I pretty much walked into it, which was lucky!

If only you had a GPS receiver to record its location...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 30 June, 2020, 08:29:08 am
I wonder what the max possible square size is anywhere in the UK, and where it would be centred...  (Ignoring the 'unbaggable' land tiles e.g. ranges etc)

101 has already been done by someone.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 30 June, 2020, 10:55:28 am
I wonder what the max possible square size is anywhere in the UK, and where it would be centred...  (Ignoring the 'unbaggable' land tiles e.g. ranges etc)

Zooming out the heatmap on rideeverytile.com so that it shows tiles bunched as 5x5 it might be possible to cover a 29x29 block of 5x5 tiles if you ignore the ungettable ones.

That would put it somewhere around 145x145 (although it could be anything up to 5 fewer or 10 more than this). I can't be arsed to zoom in far enough and scroll around to work it out exactly. This may also require some kayak or swimming action I'm guessing too.

Top left is by Hoylake on the Wirral, bottom left is just East of Cardiff where the Severn Estuary gets too wide. Top right is roughly halfway between Lincoln and Skeggy. Bottom right is SE London.

The limits seem to be the Severn Estuary and the Wash. If you go further East to avoid the Severn Estuary then you run up against the Wash and if you move further South then you've got the Thames Estuary to contend with.

Will upload a pic in half an hour or so:-

(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/uksquare.png)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 01 July, 2020, 10:31:18 am
I did a 130 mile round trip yesterday hoping to finally finish of Northants, but I missed one tile, Doh.  :facepalm:  Tough work when you live on the opposite boundary. Nice ride though with some good bridleways and finally found a good quiet route through Northampton.

(https://burlycross.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/bollox-northants-one-left.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 01 July, 2020, 04:36:15 pm
Carried my bike into the middle of a field today. In the pissing rain.

I'm starting to take this way to seriously...


I did get the tile though!!  ;D ;D ;D ;D

You know most of us leave the bike by the field gate and just carry the GPS to the middle of the field right?

J
Yes, I did do that eventually; it was just there was a "track" further than I expected so I kept pushing the bike.

(I then stopped for a pee without taking much care over concealment on the basis that there was no one else for miles. 10 minutes later another cyclist went past!)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 01 July, 2020, 04:36:56 pm
(I then stopped for a pee without taking much care over concealment on the basis that there was no one else for miles. 10 minutes later another cyclist went past!)

This always happens.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 01 July, 2020, 04:42:44 pm
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/1593532367685-png.533378/)

I went and tweaked the veloviewer plugin to show clusters created by new rides.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: markcjagar on 02 July, 2020, 12:06:08 pm
(I then stopped for a pee without taking much care over concealment on the basis that there was no one else for miles. 10 minutes later another cyclist went past!)

This always happens.

EVERY SINGLE TIME
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 03 July, 2020, 08:33:38 pm


First proper ride since lockdown, a nice 88k tour de ice-cream of Noord Brabant. Bagged 6 Gemeente for the long term challenge, as well as bagging 61 tiles.

Slightly miffed that poor route planning means I missed this tile...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EcBEZn-XgAAI3ri?format=jpg&name=large)

Oops.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 04 July, 2020, 12:31:35 pm
I went out early in rain and fog. Perfect weather for visiting Sunderland. I could probably have seen the sea, but as it was I didn't even see the Wear until I rode over it.

Managed not to earworm1 myself much at Chester Bridge, probably because Penshaw Hill was still in cloud.

1:see what I did  there (https://youtu.be/BcZcOoP_v2k) ?

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200704/de96f92a256d97be8410a0e52c5e21c2.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 04 July, 2020, 09:17:19 pm
Got my max square to 30.  This is the point where sensible people stop, isn't it?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 04 July, 2020, 09:27:27 pm
With the 105,000 people on veloviewer the median max square is 8. You are way past normal amongst the veloviewer population let alone wider humanity.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: rr on 04 July, 2020, 11:15:46 pm
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50076235758_f3f7576c18_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2ji4Ng9)
Now up to 21 square, probably stopping at that as further expansion involves large sections of the A127, the M25, the M11 or the A120 and the industrial estates of Basildon and Harlow (https://flic.kr/p/2ji4Ng9)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 05 July, 2020, 06:02:41 am
Got my max square to 30.  This is the point where sensible people stop, isn't it?
It’s the point where I stopped, certainly.

More than 31 would not be possible for me due to some RAF bases (Brüggen, Elmpt) and I thought 30 was a nicer number than 31.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 05 July, 2020, 10:17:52 am
Got my max square to 30.  This is the point where sensible people stop, isn't it?
It’s the point where I stopped, certainly.

More than 31 would not be possible for me due to some RAF bases (Brüggen, Elmpt) and I thought 30 was a nicer number than 31.

Brüggen is not impossible but hard. One rider managed to get himself behind the guardhouse so he has it. 2nd option which was discussed a while ago is aplying for a test lesson in Golf at the golf course on this tile and then log all the walking bits.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 05 July, 2020, 12:32:58 pm
Sneaking onto military bases is one thing, but golf?   :o
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 July, 2020, 12:36:42 pm
Brüggen is not impossible but hard. One rider managed to get himself behind the guardhouse so he has it. 2nd option which was discussed a while ago is aplying for a test lesson in Golf at the golf course on this tile and then log all the walking bits.

There's a Dutch military base that has a tile on it that has nothing outside the fence. But there is an aerospace company in the middle of it. I'm wondering if I should apply for a job, just to log the walk to and from the building for the interview...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 05 July, 2020, 12:59:41 pm
Brüggen is not impossible but hard. One rider managed to get himself behind the guardhouse so he has it. 2nd option which was discussed a while ago is aplying for a test lesson in Golf at the golf course on this tile and then log all the walking bits.

There's a Dutch military base that has a tile on it that has nothing outside the fence. But there is an aerospace company in the middle of it. I'm wondering if I should apply for a job, just to log the walk to and from the building for the interview...

J

 :thumbsup: That's the spirit!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 05 July, 2020, 01:16:26 pm
Sneaking onto military bases is one thing, but golf?   :o

We're entering the realms of this becoming a dressing up game
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 05 July, 2020, 01:53:16 pm
Not exactly tile hunting but municipality hunting, yesterday I completed all Belgian municipalities with a ride from Charleroi, first south to bag 2 and then further north to Leuven to grab the final municipality, Sombreffe.
Shortly before Leuven I managed to connect a larger chunk of tiles to my main cluster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 05 July, 2020, 04:20:05 pm
Got my max square to 30.  This is the point where sensible people stop, isn't it?
It’s the point where I stopped, certainly.

More than 31 would not be possible for me due to some RAF bases (Brüggen, Elmpt) and I thought 30 was a nicer number than 31.

Brüggen is not impossible but hard. One rider managed to get himself behind the guardhouse so he has it. 2nd option which was discussed a while ago is aplying for a test lesson in Golf at the golf course on this tile and then log all the walking bits.
Actually I have got the tricky tile at Brüggen (behind the guardhouse, took two attempts and some friendly chat) but it’s the correct side of the fence past golf course area that is a problem - it’s horribly off-road for a velomobile. I went quite a long way along it to bag one tile and then stopped - too far to the next one, I feared catastrophic tyre failure and suspension destruction due to the immense potholes.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 05 July, 2020, 05:22:29 pm
Got my max square to 30.  This is the point where sensible people stop, isn't it?
It’s the point where I stopped, certainly.

More than 31 would not be possible for me due to some RAF bases (Brüggen, Elmpt) and I thought 30 was a nicer number than 31.

Brüggen is not impossible but hard. One rider managed to get himself behind the guardhouse so he has it. 2nd option which was discussed a while ago is aplying for a test lesson in Golf at the golf course on this tile and then log all the walking bits.
Actually I have got the tricky tile at Brüggen (behind the guardhouse, took two attempts and some friendly chat) but it’s the correct side of the fence past golf course area that is a problem - it’s horribly off-road for a velomobile. I went quite a long way along it to bag one tile and then stopped - too far to the next one, I feared catastrophic tyre failure and suspension destruction due to the immense potholes.

Ah, so you're the one with that tile :)
I have the other one. On 32mm tyres it was doable with occasional walking. But there are multiple unpaved tracks towards it so it might be possible that you tried a different one. I approached it from the bikepath at the western side.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 05 July, 2020, 06:46:31 pm
Got my max square to 30.  This is the point where sensible people stop, isn't it?
It’s the point where I stopped, certainly.

More than 31 would not be possible for me due to some RAF bases (Brüggen, Elmpt) and I thought 30 was a nicer number than 31.

Brüggen is not impossible but hard. One rider managed to get himself behind the guardhouse so he has it. 2nd option which was discussed a while ago is aplying for a test lesson in Golf at the golf course on this tile and then log all the walking bits.
Actually I have got the tricky tile at Brüggen (behind the guardhouse, took two attempts and some friendly chat) but it’s the correct side of the fence past golf course area that is a problem - it’s horribly off-road for a velomobile. I went quite a long way along it to bag one tile and then stopped - too far to the next one, I feared catastrophic tyre failure and suspension destruction due to the immense potholes.

Ah, so you're the one with that tile :)
I have the other one. On 32mm tyres it was doable with occasional walking. But there are multiple unpaved tracks towards it so it might be possible that you tried a different one. I approached it from the bikepath at the western side.
I’m the second with that tile, I got it two months ago or so.

I approached from the east but the track was only getting worse the further west I went.

http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk/nine-wheels-in-germany-may-2020-month-74/
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 05 July, 2020, 07:16:32 pm
Got my max square to 30.  This is the point where sensible people stop, isn't it?
It’s the point where I stopped, certainly.

More than 31 would not be possible for me due to some RAF bases (Brüggen, Elmpt) and I thought 30 was a nicer number than 31.

Brüggen is not impossible but hard. One rider managed to get himself behind the guardhouse so he has it. 2nd option which was discussed a while ago is aplying for a test lesson in Golf at the golf course on this tile and then log all the walking bits.
Actually I have got the tricky tile at Brüggen (behind the guardhouse, took two attempts and some friendly chat) but it’s the correct side of the fence past golf course area that is a problem - it’s horribly off-road for a velomobile. I went quite a long way along it to bag one tile and then stopped - too far to the next one, I feared catastrophic tyre failure and suspension destruction due to the immense potholes.

Ah, so you're the one with that tile :)
I have the other one. On 32mm tyres it was doable with occasional walking. But there are multiple unpaved tracks towards it so it might be possible that you tried a different one. I approached it from the bikepath at the western side.
I’m the second with that tile, I got it two months ago or so.

I approached from the east but the track was only getting worse the further west I went.

http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk/nine-wheels-in-germany-may-2020-month-74/

Oh that one, I found it quite doable.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 05 July, 2020, 08:07:57 pm
Grabbed 3 stray tiles today.
1 on a hill with a monument to some bloke from the 19th century that otherwise looks like a lum and is only interesting because you can see it from pretty much everywhere in the Howe.
2 on a track between hamlets, this is where things went wrong, I discovered I was right not to have a bash at it on 30mm tyres, and discovered I was wrong not to have a bash at it on 2.2" tyres.
My feet are now rather sore, my dodgy ankle seems to have a 5km limit.

Talk of RAF Brueggen sets my mind back on how to claim the former RAF Leuchars; my historic thoughts were to volunteer to marshall next time it's used for motorsport but you now need to actually do some training for that.  There's definitely photos from outside the fence the mud in the Eden on Geograph but no idea if it was on foot or a boat of some form.

Edit: Loch Leven is also going to be a pain...

(https://i.ibb.co/vcvLWDJ/image.png) (https://ibb.co/vcvLWDJ)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pedal Castro on 05 July, 2020, 09:43:29 pm
Got my max square to 30.  This is the point where sensible people stop, isn't it?

I'm currently at 30, 31 is an easy pick but beyond that I need to do more off riding.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 05 July, 2020, 09:52:27 pm
Lots of good work over the past few weeks (mainly hacking up to Pennine watersheds by boot or bike), and my max square is up to 41x41.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50079996518_790d072aba_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jip5cQ)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50080573346_2ea502275a_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jis2F9)

(latter photo shows the new squares acquired today, mainly filling in some of the gaps north of Stanhope along decent tracks, before the main event of hacking out along the rough keeper's track by Bollihope Burn, and then off-piste along a grassy landy track up to Todd Carrs, which I walked).

Total squares at 20195, and cluster is a healthy 4246. Might have a week off the squarebagging now.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 06 July, 2020, 09:42:20 am
Had an explore beween Bicester & Buckingham yesterday, square now 31x31.   A mean head wind from Marsh Gibbon south.  Saw the rise of HS2 around Calvert (where the impacted BBOWT reserve is), lots of fencing/works/large house fenced for demolition.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 06 July, 2020, 01:44:05 pm
Went out into West Lothian last weekend and the weekend before. Max cluster up to 390. More to the point, I'm enjoying exploring new roads.
If I want to increase the size of my square, I need to go and do the off-road tiles south of Edinburgh. I know where they all are, and have a route planned...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: wajcgac on 06 July, 2020, 07:22:34 pm
I had my first max square increase since Mar 2019 this weekend - up to 45x45 from 43x43 after the weekends ride. I'd saved this one for when conditions were dry due to there being quite a few bridleways/tracks involved. This filled the NW corner of my new larger max square.

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/ylei6duark61cyp/Doncaster%20way.png?raw=1)

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/tgflexzqn6bz9kr/square%2045%20by%2045.png?raw=1)

I was going to stop at 40x40 but couldn't due to missing the addiction of planning and grabbing squares (especially the more awkward ones).

50x50 is doable for me but after that it would involve riding into Nottingham and Doncaster which doesn't really appeal - I think that would be a good time to shift emphasis from max square, to max cluster and tiles in general.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 08 July, 2020, 08:15:23 am
Interesting post from Ride Every Tile on Strava this morning, and in update to country leaderboards: https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/leaderboard_national
Good to see familiar names
:)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 08 July, 2020, 08:59:52 pm
Its getting harder picking up stray tiles , VTT is needed now. Inverclyde tracks along the old water works channels and track to Wemyss Bay and then  forest trails and the coastal path. Filled a few gaps, cluster 745, 22 x 22 and 27791 tiles.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 08 July, 2020, 09:34:35 pm
If you tag an activity on Strava as a walk, run etc, does it show on Veloviewer for Explorer purposes?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 08 July, 2020, 09:35:07 pm
Runs definitely do, not sure about walks.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 08 July, 2020, 09:35:22 pm
If you tag an activity on Strava as a walk, run etc, does it show on Veloviewer for Explorer purposes?

If you select it, yes.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 08 July, 2020, 09:39:26 pm
If you tag an activity on Strava as a walk, run etc, does it show on Veloviewer for Explorer purposes?

If you select it, yes.

J

Hmm, I only seem to be able to select Ride or Virtual Ride
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 08 July, 2020, 10:33:28 pm
If you tag an activity on Strava as a walk, run etc, does it show on Veloviewer for Explorer purposes?

If you select it, yes.

J

Hmm, I only seem to be able to select Ride or Virtual Ride

In VV: Update tab > Show options > Tick Walk checkbox
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 08 July, 2020, 10:49:59 pm
If you tag an activity on Strava as a walk, run etc, does it show on Veloviewer for Explorer purposes?

If you select it, yes.

J

Hmm, I only seem to be able to select Ride or Virtual Ride

In VV: Update tab > Show options > Tick Walk checkbox

Good man
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: TimC on 10 July, 2020, 12:26:30 pm
Got my max square to 30.  This is the point where sensible people stop, isn't it?
It’s the point where I stopped, certainly.

More than 31 would not be possible for me due to some RAF bases (Brüggen, Elmpt) and I thought 30 was a nicer number than 31.

Bruggen ceased to be an RAF base in 2001, and ceased to be anything to do with the British in 2015. 'Elmpt' is presumably NATO base Geilenkirchen, which ceased to be RAF (or British) in 1968. Whatever access problems you have, it ain't anything to do with the RAF!

Edit: of course (I should have remembered!) Elmpt is right next to the former RAF Bruggen, not Geilenkirchen, so I guess you ran up against two different parts of the same former airbase.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 10 July, 2020, 12:41:19 pm
Yep.  It’s no longer RAF but as I’m not a member of the golf club I’m not allowed in!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: TimC on 10 July, 2020, 12:43:16 pm
Ah. Golf clubs. Yes, understood!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 10 July, 2020, 06:16:10 pm
Got my max square to 30.  This is the point where sensible people stop, isn't it?
It’s the point where I stopped, certainly.

More than 31 would not be possible for me due to some RAF bases (Brüggen, Elmpt) and I thought 30 was a nicer number than 31.

Bruggen ceased to be an RAF base in 2001, and ceased to be anything to do with the British in 2015. 'Elmpt' is presumably NATO base Geilenkirchen, which ceased to be RAF (or British) in 1968. Whatever access problems you have, it ain't anything to do with the RAF!

Edit: of course (I should have remembered!) Elmpt is right next to the former RAF Bruggen, not Geilenkirchen, so I guess you ran up against two different parts of the same former airbase.

The Awacs base Geilenkirchen is no issue. Just south of the perimeter fence is a dirt track which covers the southern tiles. A few hundred meters of walking through a field covers the only tile without half decent roads.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 10 July, 2020, 08:26:35 pm
Got my max square to 30.  This is the point where sensible people stop, isn't it?

Nice round numbers trump being sensible, so I've now got it up to 32.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 12 July, 2020, 10:28:33 pm
A new tile today took me a wee bit closer to the kilocluster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 13 July, 2020, 10:51:27 am
My alarm went off at 0530 having had about 3 hours sleep. I got to the station at about 0615 so i checked in before 0630 when it gets expensive. Got the 0639 train to Zeeland, a ferry across to Not Belgium. And have risen about 5k to a cafe. This bags me the last Gemeente in Zeeland. And a dozen or so tiles.

Conditions are amazing. there's no wind. In Zeeland. I repeat no wind in Zeeland. The wind turbines don't turn, smoke goes straight up. It's amazing. I've never had such good conditions here. (Mainly cos Randonneurs NL insist on bringing us here in November :p)

Tis a good day!

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 13 July, 2020, 10:58:30 am
A weeks annual leave, and cancelled holiday plans meant some time for cycling and walking;

10109 tiles - an increase of 88
Max square 18x18 - still the same
Max Cluster: 726 - an increase of 7
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 13 July, 2020, 12:48:17 pm
Went out into West Lothian last weekend and the weekend before. Max cluster up to 390. More to the point, I'm enjoying exploring new roads.
If I want to increase the size of my square, I need to go and do the off-road tiles south of Edinburgh. I know where they all are, and have a route planned...
So on Saturday, that is what I did. It was rather good fun. I now have a 14x14 square and a 421 cluster. To increase the size of the square again I need more off-road tiles (but to go in one direction does involve a sensible round in the Pentlands). Maybe I'll stick with riding all over East Lothian to expand my cluster...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 15 July, 2020, 09:28:19 am
This has appeared for the more competitive types  ;D
https://rakietowa.org/maxsquare/

You can see who are the active hunters in recent weeks
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 15 July, 2020, 09:36:59 am
This has appeared for the more competitive types  ;D
https://rakietowa.org/maxsquare/

You can see who are the active hunters in recent weeks
That was interesting - I’m surprised I’m ahead of Olaf Storbeck in Germany as he rides way more. I guess less specific tile-bagging. Top German has 101 max square  :o
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 15 July, 2020, 04:27:48 pm
Lol. Deano is doing well down there in Darlington, South Carolina
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 15 July, 2020, 10:14:23 pm
Wait, South Carolina? Must be just south of Durham ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 15 July, 2020, 10:45:46 pm
South of Washington & New York, anyways  ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 16 July, 2020, 09:22:49 pm
1st go at the bikepacking for tiles, 30 new tiles for 88kms. With the Stay vacation for many this year i think that its going to be more off road for me.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 18 July, 2020, 04:39:16 pm
Max cluster up to 1000  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 18 July, 2020, 09:45:13 pm
New York to Washington today, loads of crappy urban riding. If I never ride a concrete road in a housing estate again I won't be disappointed.

Cluster now 1460. Next up- Wear Valley to Zunlun. I need to brace myself a bit for that.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 18 July, 2020, 10:28:40 pm
Good news: I get to go to Sheepy Magna.  I've already bagged that tile, but there are some adjacent ones I haven't been to yet...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 18 July, 2020, 10:37:16 pm
Good news: I get to go to Sheepy Magna.  I've already bagged that tile, but there are some adjacent ones I haven't been to yet...
Have they relaxed the rule about visiting comically named villages.? Thank goodness for that. Barton in the beans next.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 18 July, 2020, 10:57:05 pm
Good news: I get to go to Sheepy Magna.  I've already bagged that tile, but there are some adjacent ones I haven't been to yet...
Have they relaxed the rule about visiting comically named villages.?

I believe it's compulsory...


Quote
Thank goodness for that. Barton in the beans next.

(http://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/cycling/barton_in_the_beans.sized.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 18 July, 2020, 11:49:47 pm
I see VV is now highlighting all clusters. This is my second biggest:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50127423606_2fb7b1520c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jnA9Cf)
flandrian_cluster (https://flic.kr/p/2jnA9Cf) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 19 July, 2020, 11:12:25 pm
Good news: I get to go to Sheepy Magna.  I've already bagged that tile, but there are some adjacent ones I haven't been to yet...

Achievement unlocked:

(http://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/cycling/2020_07_19_15_43_10.sized.jpg)

There was a bag-one-get-one-free offer, so I got Sheepy Paver too:

(http://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/cycling/2020_07_19_15_40_24.sized.jpg)
(If ducks swim in smartwater do you get superintelligent ducks?)

Also got to see Mount Judd (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Judd_(Nuneaton)):

(http://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/cycling/2020_07_19_14_21_34.sized.jpg)

Max square now up to 34.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 19 July, 2020, 11:13:47 pm
Tidying up my Veloviewer heatmap and found some pre Strava runs where i forgot to switch off. Today if you forget to switch off and drive home you are guaranteed to be flagged. Down about 200 tiles, good news is mtb has filled a few holes and now on 801 cluster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 20 July, 2020, 12:11:15 am
Max square now up to 34.

You've decided to not be sensible then  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 20 July, 2020, 12:18:59 am
Max square now up to 34.

You've decided to not be sensible then  :)

It's worse than that, the previous two rides involved COR.  And I may have slightly trespassed on a gas installation.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 20 July, 2020, 12:27:07 am
Max square now up to 34.

You've decided to not be sensible then  :)

It's worse than that, the previous two rides involved COR.  And I may have slightly trespassed on a gas installation.

This is what they want  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 20 July, 2020, 09:53:00 am
...And I may have slightly trespassed on a gas installation.

Doing a Hopper?  ;)     
 
(click to show/hide)

 I have.   O:-)       
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 20 July, 2020, 09:27:29 pm
Some missing tiles tidied up and joined to the cluster, but had hoped for one more long CX to sort out a few more of the more obvious ones left in the NW.
Ah well, my friend made a video of one of our more "out in the wilds" MTB rides, so time to share.

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ACtC-3eP4B0DEygqmAE9zCCpt8XeW5Hpqw4tHGQnynv_kdXN22u9UmvXpPFts88larNgRbzHoXphwJAi6K0CZUbGFX2B2hwQfuLqm9tKS05GmQbEOTkobmohykKGFnzSJOhMo4y5hgrehC_isyJLH8qK_Gd-=w483-h826-no?authuser=0)

https://youtu.be/fpPkmQ6UWc8 (https://youtu.be/fpPkmQ6UWc8)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 21 July, 2020, 01:21:17 pm
That's gorgeous.

(and incidentally, I'm a "yay" for the socks  ;))
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 21 July, 2020, 01:54:23 pm
Some missing tiles tidied up and joined to the cluster, but had hoped for one more long CX to sort out a few more of the more obvious ones left in the NW.
Ah well, my friend made a video of one of our more "out in the wilds" MTB rides, so time to share.
...

https://youtu.be/fpPkmQ6UWc8 (https://youtu.be/fpPkmQ6UWc8)

Well done on the sheep rescue!   :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 21 July, 2020, 02:14:40 pm
That's gorgeous.

(and incidentally, I'm a "yay" for the socks  ;))

They go well with the 1980s Adidas trainers  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 21 July, 2020, 07:13:46 pm
@carlosferreiro, wonderful video and what a great trip. That's what tiling is all about. Will be watching the other videos with interest and planning a trip to Shetland. .
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 21 July, 2020, 07:14:07 pm
Haha, cheers. i went from BMX to Roadie without passing go, so now when the MTB comes out it's back to the olden days for flat pedal shoes ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 21 July, 2020, 07:17:55 pm
@carlosferreiro, wonderful video and what a great trip. That's what tiling is all about. Will be watching the other videos with interest and planning a trip to Shetland. .
Cheers  :thumbsup: There's a lot of Shetland hills that are rough enough that "well I never have to go back there again" comes up after getting the tiles, but there's also places turned up as more rideable (in a slow motion, plus tyre kind of way) than I expected, which as you say is kind of the point of tiling.
To be fair a lot of the hills are just a lot better "made" for walking, but I try to limit that kind of thing  ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 21 July, 2020, 07:29:40 pm
Does anyone use the EveryTile app for Garmin (https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/e53331b6-55db-475a-99e9-3f567327e7ce#0)?

In itself it works nicely, ticking off a square when I ride through it. But for all my trying I am unable to save my current tiles to the app so for every ride it is as it's my very first one.
Fixed this by downloading the source code (https://github.com/to-ko/EveryTile), inserting the generated "squares I visited" string and compiling the app. One of the reviews on the app mentioned that Garmin did recently reduce the maximum length of the entry field where you have to paste that string into causing this problem.

Really like this app now!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 21 July, 2020, 10:32:18 pm
Achievement unlocked: coast to coast. I think this means I've won Blockbusters.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50138506996_c326b4f4e3_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2joyXkb)

I had a week camping, offroading and squarebagging round the Pennines, only bagged about 130 tiles, but I linked up a couple of mini-clusters, pushed my overall cluster up to 4759, and most surprisingly, I didn't sicken myself off the whole thing. I'm pleased to have my Surly back in MTB mode now, though, some of that shit was a bit much on my tourer, especially with luggage.

Looks like I'll be riding back from Hull the last weekend of July, and I might try and fill in some of the gaps around there. Not just cos it's flat
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bolt on 21 July, 2020, 11:28:39 pm
Achievement unlocked: coast to coast. I think this means I've won Blockbusters.

That's very impressive :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 22 July, 2020, 08:12:19 am
I'm not far from coast to coast but mine is in the Tyne Valley, not over those big ass hills
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 22 July, 2020, 09:49:47 am
I'm not far from coast to coast but mine is in the Tyne Valley, not over those big ass hills

I see Deano's avoiding Zunlan too...  ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 22 July, 2020, 11:03:32 am
Nice one Deano,
Not far off my own C2C in middle England.
Finally ticked off my home County. Northants done.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 22 July, 2020, 01:04:50 pm
"I think this means I've won Blockbusters."

I think that means that you have to do the Gold Run.  Pentland Firth to English Channel  :demon:

Fantastic achievement- well done!

Hoping to do my C2C in Scotland this year- much easier for me.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 22 July, 2020, 11:25:37 pm
Reckon I could push it up to Inverness, but not sure I fancy heading south. I'd rather finish up Zun'lun.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 23 July, 2020, 10:28:46 am
"I think this means I've won Blockbusters."

I think that means that you have to do the Gold Run.  Pentland Firth to English Channel  :demon:

Fantastic achievement- well done!

Hoping to do my C2C in Scotland this year- much easier for me.
The Haa at the top of Ȝell to Troy Town on St Agnes would be better

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 23 July, 2020, 11:31:10 am

Soon. Real soon now.

(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Edmo-qGWkAILdbL.jpg)

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 24 July, 2020, 09:54:29 am

Challenge complete. 355/355 Dutch Gemeente visited by bike.

(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdreYpuX0AAFrWN.jpg)
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdreYpuX0AAFrWN.jpg

Now back to hunting tiles...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 24 July, 2020, 01:44:42 pm
well done QG! a great achievement!  Pleasing to see the map filled in with (watered down) Dutch orange!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 26 July, 2020, 05:59:58 pm
Did an explore up to Lechlade & E of Swindon, so now on 32x32, and 1542 cluster.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50155963677_7910e1325c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jq7qAr)IMG_20200726_bourton (https://flic.kr/p/2jq7qAr) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

Had a close thing with a tile near Fairford.  I've opened the track up in VV, to 'expose the full gpx', and it seems to have stuck OK. 

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50155198958_ce33b67187_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jq3vgC)tile (https://flic.kr/p/2jq3vgC) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr



Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 26 July, 2020, 07:24:48 pm
It looks like a track on the map, but wasn't, on the ground. And the farmer was in the yard frowning at me. I'll have to have another go via the footpath from the south.


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200726/f539fd4505b37469c64d13d0d0f40401.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 26 July, 2020, 08:51:55 pm
Yeah, I got that one from the south. You can follow the track in from near the Gretna, and there's a track-of-sorts alongside the motorway (presumably access from when they were constructing it).

If you come in from Preston, there's an entertaining FB under the railway. I made a loop of it :)

I got some Northumberland squares today to extend the cluster - all onroad, for a change. I don't have that much within sensible reach which I can get to by road, it was an easy sort of day.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 26 July, 2020, 08:56:31 pm

Now back to hunting tiles...

J

Turns out my Island escapades this week bagged me another 66 tiles. Nothing for cluster or square, but it does help the tile count somewhat. Still got the crazy disparity between total tiles/cluster/square...

:
10428 tiles
Max square 17x17
Max Cluster: 643

I should probably plan some rides to fix this...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 28 July, 2020, 05:57:33 pm

Challenge complete. 355/355 Dutch Gemeente visited by bike.

(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdreYpuX0AAFrWN.jpg)
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdreYpuX0AAFrWN.jpg

Now back to hunting tiles...

J

Well done
I still have 1 island to go
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 28 July, 2020, 07:50:32 pm

Well done
I still have 1 island to go

Thanks

Which one?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 28 July, 2020, 09:51:29 pm

Well done
I still have 1 island to go

Thanks

Which one?

Texel
I'll probably do that on my Tern folder
Current Corona developments in Luxemburg and Belgium will decide wether I'll do the remaining 20 municipalities of Luxemburg first or the leisurely ride on the island.
J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 28 July, 2020, 10:08:47 pm

Texel
I'll probably do that on my Tern folder
Current Corona developments in Luxemburg and Belgium will decide wether I'll do the remaining 20 municipalities of Luxemburg first or the leisurely ride on the island.

If you fancy some company when you do that, give me a shout. Maybe I can bring the Brompton...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 29 July, 2020, 06:15:23 am

Texel
I'll probably do that on my Tern folder
Current Corona developments in Luxemburg and Belgium will decide wether I'll do the remaining 20 municipalities of Luxemburg first or the leisurely ride on the island.

If you fancy some company when you do that, give me a shout. Maybe I can bring the Brompton...

J

That would be a nice idea, two folders on the island ;).
I'll travel via Amsterdam anyway by train.
I might use a saturday when the weather isn't too great, to evade the masses.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 29 July, 2020, 06:34:57 pm
I did a 'practice' 200k today in preparation for August 1st.  I bagged 52 tiles and managed to finish off Rutland.  Not a particularly elegant route with more spurs than I would have liked but it looks like I didn't miss any.  A couple of dry but rough(ish) tracks on the summer bike but nothing too bad.  The headwind for the return journey was a bit stronger than I expected but maybe I just need more practice.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 31 July, 2020, 12:27:16 pm
My long term goal at the moment is to cover Dorset...
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/1596183133632-png.538968/)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 31 July, 2020, 02:10:11 pm
My long term goal at the moment is to cover Dorset...

Mine is Kent...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50172571518_11926ed1ee_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jrzxww)

I've got a couple of holes to fill west of Maidstone, the southeast London/Kent borderlands, and the Isle of Sheppey, but aside from that, it's mostly a case of picking off the odd tiles here and there. Planning a ride tomorrow that will fill in a few tiles NW of Folkestone. There's one really annoying odd tile south of Sandwich that is hard to access but once I've got that, I think I can count East Kent as being done.

I think a couple of rides I've done recently are actually worth a few new tiles but I can't update at the moment because my VV sub has lapsed. Now that I'm doing a bit more riding again, it would probably be worth renewing it for a bit of extra motivation.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: RobL on 31 July, 2020, 06:19:26 pm
It looks like a track on the map, but wasn't, on the ground. And the farmer was in the yard frowning at me. I'll have to have another go via the footpath from the south.


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200726/f539fd4505b37469c64d13d0d0f40401.jpg)

I had the same issue just last Friday. I resolved it by riding down the track before the motorway bridge into the field to the first stand of trees. see map and photo below.

(https://i.imgur.com/iKHxo19.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/XvScnyU.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 01 August, 2020, 01:45:41 pm
There's one really annoying odd tile south of Sandwich that is hard to access...

Got the sod! Went out for a post-work ride yesterday, got carried away and ended up in Sandwich, so I did a little detour to grab the tile while it was on my mind.

It meant going down a bridleway for about half a mile or so, but the surface was mostly OK on 28mm tyres. Would have continued along the bridleway to loop back round to the main road but eventually hit a section where the going was a bit too rough for a road bike so turned back.

Still, 75km on a hot early evening to bag one tile. Very satisfying.

As a result of going out for a longer-than-planned ride yesterday, I have deferred my big multiple tile-bagging ride for tomorrow.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 01 August, 2020, 04:57:50 pm
Getting there with Oxfordshire, bit near Reading to go, and then up in the North/Banbury & beyond...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50177154867_6367ac6985_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jrZ2ZM)oxon0820 (https://flic.kr/p/2jrZ2ZM) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 August, 2020, 06:08:17 pm


10428 tiles
Max square 17x17
Max Cluster: 643

Left the shop and decided I couldn't be arsed cycling home into the wind. So headed with the wind towards Hilversum. Picked up some tiles that were blocking my cluster:

10437 tiles
Max square 17x17
Max Cluster: 666  

Cluster goes all the way To Hilversum, Almere, and Alphen. Might try for Utrecht next.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 01 August, 2020, 06:29:24 pm
QG, next time you are near Venlo/Kleve let me know and I’ll buy you a piece of cake.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 01 August, 2020, 06:46:08 pm
Max Cluster: 666 

The cluster of the beast!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 August, 2020, 10:43:00 pm
QG, next time you are near Venlo/Kleve let me know and I’ll buy you a piece of cake.

https://www.strava.com/routes/2724715401175676904

An idea starts to form...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 02 August, 2020, 07:44:31 am
QG, next time you are near Venlo/Kleve let me know and I’ll buy you a piece of cake.

https://www.strava.com/routes/2724715401175676904

An idea starts to form...

J
if you cross into Germany at Siebengewald and ride down the German side you get
A. Quieter roads with fantastic road surface (the roads in NL at this point are rather buzzy asphalt)
B. Three cracking cake emporia. One near Weeze airport, one just outside Twisteden, one west of Straelen

Might take you slightly overdistance by the time you get back to Venlo station though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 02 August, 2020, 03:32:01 pm
Cracking day out on the bike. Weather was splendid (not too hot), route was lovely, got to stop for a sausage roll and coffee at my favourite cycling-themed cafe, and I grabbed a good handful of new tiles...

Went from:
7025 to 7043 tiles total
15x15 to 17x17 max square
520 to 647 max cluster

Very satisfying!

East Kent is now mine...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50180604322_62e3a58614_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jshHp9)

Thought about doing a little detour to bag the last tile this side of Ashford but decided to save it for another day.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 03 August, 2020, 09:45:44 am
Picked up a few Berwickshire tiles yesterday, on a cycle to the seaside;

Explorer score:
10125 tiles, an increase of 16
Max square 18x18, still the same
Max Cluster: 730, an increase of 4
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: rob on 03 August, 2020, 09:51:22 am
I've just looked at this for the first time.   I have work to do.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: marcusjb on 03 August, 2020, 09:55:03 am
Having never played the game before, I am finding it such a great way to explore my new local area - I've moved my (very mediocre) max square up here, so plenty to build on now.

I need to move my cluster up here, but I think that will take a little while, though I can now actually be strategic rather than having made it by just riding my bike (I now see if I rode in W. London again, I could massively increase my cluster with only a few short rides).

17030 tiles
Max Square 11x11
Max Cluster 509

It will take a lot of walking (annoyingly, I should have recorded many of our hikes already) as the high moors are largely impenetrable by bike.  When business picks back up, I'll also have to treat myself to some wheeled transport to ride as many tiles as I can - trouble is mountain bikes are a lot more complicated than when we threw ourselves down hills in the late 80s on rigid bikes, I don't even understand all the names of 'different' mountain bike types these days.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 03 August, 2020, 11:58:33 am
I've just looked at this for the first time.   I have work to do.

Having never played the game before, I am finding it such a great way to explore my new local area - I've moved my (very mediocre) max square up here, so plenty to build on now.

It's not too late to escape
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 03 August, 2020, 12:05:07 pm
if you cross into Germany at Siebengewald and ride down the German side you get
A. Quieter roads with fantastic road surface (the roads in NL at this point are rather buzzy asphalt)
B. Three cracking cake emporia. One near Weeze airport, one just outside Twisteden, one west of Straelen

Might take you slightly overdistance by the time you get back to Venlo station though.

Something like this:

https://www.strava.com/routes/2724715401175676904

I'm not so sure I'd do it as a 200 yet, I'm still rebuilding my fitness, Maybe I'd do it as a 2 day trip 100k each day... or just get a train to Nijmegen and cycle from there...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peat on 03 August, 2020, 01:26:13 pm
Getting there with Oxfordshire, bit near Reading to go, and then up in the North/Banbury & beyond...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50177154867_6367ac6985_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jrZ2ZM)oxon0820 (https://flic.kr/p/2jrZ2ZM) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

(click to show/hide)

Andy, could you tell me how you generated that map? That would be really handy when planning a square bagging ride.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 03 August, 2020, 01:36:05 pm
Having never played the game before, I am finding it such a great way to explore my new local area

One of the things I enjoyed about yesterday's ride is that it didn't take me far from some of my usual routes, yet it uncovered some really lovely lanes I've never ridden before. That's been the biggest benefit to Veloviewer for me (aside from the satisfaction of filling in new tiles for its own sake).

Quote
It will take a lot of walking (annoyingly, I should have recorded many of our hikes already) as the high moors are largely impenetrable by bike.

Same here. A lot of the coastal paths are unsuitable for cycling - but again, it's been a great way of discovering new places to walk the dog.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 03 August, 2020, 01:37:34 pm
Andy, could you tell me how you generated that map? That would be really handy when planning a square bagging ride.

IIRC, you can export the outlines of blank tiles surrounding your main cluster as a KML from Veloviewer. Then convert it to GPX and import it to something like GPXeditor to view the map.

(The process is explained earlier in the thread if you can be bothered to trawl through to find it.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 03 August, 2020, 01:37:42 pm
if you cross into Germany at Siebengewald and ride down the German side you get
A. Quieter roads with fantastic road surface (the roads in NL at this point are rather buzzy asphalt)
B. Three cracking cake emporia. One near Weeze airport, one just outside Twisteden, one west of Straelen

Might take you slightly overdistance by the time you get back to Venlo station though.

Something like this:

https://www.strava.com/routes/2724715401175676904

I'm not so sure I'd do it as a 200 yet, I'm still rebuilding my fitness, Maybe I'd do it as a 2 day trip 100k each day... or just get a train to Nijmegen and cycle from there...

J
Train to Nijmegen is a good option. Then if I can persuade you it's a lovely ride south within Germany if you leave your track at Gennep. Your current track goes within about 1km of one of the great cafes so if you are wedded to sticking in NL you only have a minor divert for decent cake (about 500 metres over the border into Germany).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 03 August, 2020, 02:06:58 pm
...
Andy, could you tell me how you generated that map? That would be really handy when planning a square bagging ride.

I used the BRouter website:  https://brouter.de/brouter-web/#map=5/50.990/9.860/standard
Downloaded the kml file of unbagged tiles surrounding my cluster, from the veloviewer summary page.
Manually traced (from OSM) the boundary of Oxfordshire in RWGPS, saved as a gpx.  (Can post link if wanted)
Uploaded both these gpx tracks files into BRouter.

I use the vv kml file & BRouter* route planning, since the free version of Strava routeplanner 'disappeared'. 

*also super easy to share routes with.   Just copy URL of route, which contains the route info, and email...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peat on 03 August, 2020, 02:21:00 pm
Thanks. Perfect.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Lightning Phil on 03 August, 2020, 02:30:19 pm
...
Andy, could you tell me how you generated that map? That would be really handy when planning a square bagging ride.

I used the BRouter website:  https://brouter.de/brouter-web/#map=5/50.990/9.860/standard
Downloaded the kml file of unbagged tiles surrounding my cluster, from the veloviewer summary page.
Manually traced (from OSM) the boundary of Oxfordshire in RWGPS, saved as a gpx.  (Can post link if wanted)
Uploaded both these gpx tracks into BRouter.

I use the vv kml file & BRouter* route planning, since the free version of Strava routeplanner 'disappeared'. 

*also super easy to share routes with.   Just copy URL of route, which contains the route info, and email...

You can use overpass turbo to pull out OSM county borders as a single GPX.

http://overpass-turbo.eu/

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 August, 2020, 08:14:58 pm


Ooph. After a year or so of no movement on square or cluster, in a week I've got it up by 69. Now at 712. Not as satisfying as 666, but it now goes all the way to Utrecht. I need to fill in the gaps between Utrecht and Hilversum. And From Utrecht to Alphen. But it's positive movement. A few more rides, and I should be able to get my square to move close to Utrecht, and stop being limited by the Noord Holland Peninsular...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EerfvwJWsAIX1A0?format=jpg&name=large)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EerfvwJWsAIX1A0?format=jpg&name=large

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 August, 2020, 08:35:11 pm

Is there an easy way to get the lat/long of the 4 corners of a specific tile?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 05 August, 2020, 09:02:36 pm
Plot a route that touches the 4 corners and then examine the resulting GPX file.

There obviously is a formula/algorithm for finding the corners but it'd be a huge amount of work to derive it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 August, 2020, 09:13:13 pm
Plot a route that touches the 4 corners and then examine the resulting GPX file.

There obviously is a formula/algorithm for finding the corners but it'd be a huge amount of work to derive it.

That is sub optimal, the four corners are all in the middle of a river...

Isn't there some KML interface for this?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 05 August, 2020, 09:13:31 pm
Today's headwindfest filled in the last of what I've been thinking of as the Worcester Gap - my cluster now runs uninterrupted between Worcester and Stratford.  (It's done bugger all for my max square until I can perform some sort of slingshot manoeuvre around the dark side of Coventry, and fill in an assortment of annoying gaps to the south-east.)

This involved some trespassing, nettles, some muddy cyclocross, wedging a recumbent vertically in a kissing gate, carrying the bike up and then down some slippery steps on a narrow footpath, discovering that the path was comprehensively blocked off by building works, and having to re-trace the afore-mentioned slippery steps to a marina.  Which I only managed to escape by Indiana Jonesing an electronic gate as it closed after a car passed through (it was either that or the mud and the kissing gate again).

Sort of thing that really makes you appreciate the Dudley Bypass...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 05 August, 2020, 09:17:17 pm
Isn't there some KML interface for this?

You can download a KML file of your unexplored tiles near your cluster. It'll be in there.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 August, 2020, 09:24:43 pm

You can download a KML file of your unexplored tiles near your cluster. It'll be in there.

Bingo, got it.

Thanks. Can add that as waypoints to my gps.

J

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 05 August, 2020, 09:37:19 pm

You can download a KML file of your unexplored tiles near your cluster. It'll be in there.

Bingo, got it.

Thanks. Can add that as waypoints to my gps.

J
Not sure how the JavaScript is going to render but here is the maths that RideEveryTile and VeloViewer use. (You can use size=1 for an ordinary tile)

——

function tile_to_lat(y) {
      var z = 14;
       var n = Math.PI - 2 * Math.PI * y / Math.pow(2, z);
      return (180 / Math.PI * Math.atan(0.5 * (Math.exp(n) - Math.exp(-n))));
   }
   
   function tile_to_long(x)
   {
      var z = 14;
       return (x / Math.pow(2, z) * 360 - 180);
   }

    function tile_to_latlong_rectangle(x, y, size) {
      var left = tile_to_long(x)
      var right = tile_to_long(x+size)
      var top = tile_to_lat(y)
      var bottom = tile_to_lat(y+size)
      return [[top, left], [bottom, right]];
   }

———


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 05 August, 2020, 09:38:01 pm

Is there an easy way to get the lat/long of the 4 corners of a specific tile?

J
Vv tiles are Osm tiles at zoom level 14
To find all 4 corners you would call the below functions for x and x+1 and y and y+1

#define VVZOOM 14

// lon from tilex and zoom level
double osm_tilex2lon(int x, int z=VVZOOM)
{
return x / (double)(1 << z) * 360.0 - 180;
}

// lat from tiley and zoom level
double osm_tiley2lat(int y, int z=VVZOOM)
{
double n = M_PI - 2.0 * M_PI * y / (double)(1 << z);
return 180.0 / M_PI * atan(0.5 * (exp(n) - exp(-n)));
}
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 05 August, 2020, 09:39:34 pm
Snap. JavaScript and c++. Other languages are available.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: R_nger on 05 August, 2020, 09:47:56 pm
If you don't want to do the maths, there are other options...the updated route planner on RWGPS allows you to right click to popup a context menu which includes a "show lat/long" option (I think you can also left click on google maps)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 August, 2020, 11:14:52 pm


Using the ride every tile heat map to investigate target tiles, I came across this ride, which was tagged as having got 3 tiles that are hard to get...

https://www.strava.com/activities/1291592803

Is it me or is that blatantly cheating?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 06 August, 2020, 12:20:01 am
I guess that you are talking about the straight line section at the northeast of the trace.  The rider appears to have lost nearly 30 minutes of the recording and Strava will just join the two points.  Veloviewer has some algorithm to try to ensure that sections with dropped signals don't score tiles.  If the VV algorithm hasn't done this and the rider has deliberately taken advantage of the situation to grab those tiles then you might indeed call it blatant cheating.  Maybe the rider didn't realise what had happened - in which case it isn't.

Now you're going to tell me that you were talking about something entirely different  ::-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 06 August, 2020, 12:31:29 am
I guess that you are talking about the straight line section at the northeast of the trace.  The rider appears to have lost nearly 30 minutes of the recording and Strava will just join the two points.  Veloviewer has some algorithm to try to ensure that sections with dropped signals don't score tiles.  If the VV algorithm hasn't done this and the rider has deliberately taken advantage of the situation to grab those tiles then you might indeed call it blatant cheating.  Maybe the rider didn't realise what had happened - in which case it isn't.

Now you're going to tell me that you were talking about something entirely different  ::-)

Nope, that's what I was referring to!

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 06 August, 2020, 06:59:17 am
If you view the ride in question on VeloViewer and look at the tiles that it is credited with I think that you owe Mr van Kamp an apology.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50194628767_53cbe33aa4_o.jpg)

I also owe an apology to Mr VeloViewer for doubting his algorithm.

It would appear that the discrepancy* is in the heatmap.



*I really can't bring myself to call it an error.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 06 August, 2020, 09:53:45 am
If you view the ride in question on VeloViewer and look at the tiles that it is credited with I think that you owe Mr van Kamp an apology.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50194628767_53cbe33aa4_o.jpg)

I also owe an apology to Mr VeloViewer for doubting his algorithm.

It would appear that the discrepancy* is in the heatmap.



*I really can't bring myself to call it an error.
Interesting ... the heatmap comes directly from a list of tiles exported from VV, not from points/lines. So I don’t have an explanation until I get in front of a big computer and can look it at properly. Possibly the VV algo has improved over time.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 07 August, 2020, 10:23:45 am
That might be due to a Gamin hiccup with the satellite reception. Have one issue where its a straight line missing out part of the track along the shore on east side of Loch Lomond side. Lost a tile where the track just caught a corner. Picked up a few new tiles doing the circuit of Loch Lomond, started Drymen east Loch Lomond (WHW) Inverarnan, Balloch and back to Drymen.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 07 August, 2020, 12:59:18 pm
I have one of those. No hardship to walk Simonside again, though.

https://veloviewer.com/athletes/188837/activities/2305282663

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 09 August, 2020, 10:34:22 am
Yesterday did a bunch of tiles in Luxemburg. I managed to miss 1 municipality though so I have to return.
1036 done, 2 to go (Fischbach LUX and Texel NL)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solivagant on 09 August, 2020, 01:19:33 pm
I'm not a Strava premium member, I've been using RWGPS, uploading my routes to BRouter and overlaying the veloviewer KML to check.

I've now come across this site https://www.statshunters.com/ and I like it.

It connects to Strava and as you might expect there's loads of stats but also on the map settings it already has the option to show your tiles info and you can upload your GPX routes onto open street or google maps.

Here's their youtube overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e63UKfvPw9g

I'm still bagging clumps of tiles round the edges and up to 17x17 now, next target 20x20.

(https://i.ibb.co/nr0DGMK/Statshunters.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 09 August, 2020, 02:28:42 pm
I bagged a missing tile on Hampstead Heath and my cluster cascaded all the way into central London. Very pleasing.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 09 August, 2020, 05:23:41 pm
32 new tiles today boosted the max cluster by 74 to 1094.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 09 August, 2020, 06:07:25 pm
Did a 75km loop today with the aim of filling in a hole in my cluster. I was using Komoot to deliver navigation instructions via my earpiece and annoyingly missed a few turns, which meant I missed out on four tiles that should have been on my route. Pah!

Anyway, it was a lovely ride none the less - found a couple of great sections that I've never ridden before but will definitely want to ride again.

Also, I have another route planned that I can use to pick off those four tiles I missed without too much of a diversion And it's all good excuses to get out on the bike.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 10 August, 2020, 12:23:00 pm
Got 63 new tiles in East Anglular, largely on roads I'd previously ridden in the heady carefree days before things needed to be on Strava to happen.

It was bloody hot.

I'm prepping the Southern End for The Great Joinup.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 11 August, 2020, 12:01:04 am
A cheeky sleepover at an always-open shootin' hut in the North Pennines has pushed me up to 42x42.

More significantly, I reckon, I've filled the gap between Bollihope Common and Swinhope (high land between Teesdale and Weardale). I kinda thought it would be impossible, even though it's access land, as there are hardly any tracks, only one legit bridleway, and a dirty great quarry covering a big lump of it.

Actually, I did miss one tile, but it's the one with the legit bridleway through it. To get the rest, I had to scale stone walls and wriggle under fences (out and back), then  all the rest. Tis done.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 11 August, 2020, 09:52:18 pm
52 new tiles, max cluster up to 1147.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 13 August, 2020, 10:30:36 am
Since 'discovering' Veloviewer and Explorer tiles a year or so ago I've been endeavouring to complete Cornwall. The other day I increased my total tiles by 40 and my max cluster by 54, which was pleasing alhough a hot day in very hilly territory (highlighted ride on my image). I still have some cycling to complete near Bude, and will need some walks along bits of coast path and over Bodmin Moor:
(https://quilkin.co.uk/gpxmaps/cornwallVeloViewer.jpg)
Does anyone know if I can get rid of the straight lines caused by Strava blips? (they don't add inaccurate squares, but just look messy!)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 13 August, 2020, 11:26:10 am
Does anyone know if I can get rid of the straight lines caused by Strava blips? (they don't add inaccurate squares, but just look messy!)

Split the track into two parts, and upload them separately.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 13 August, 2020, 11:28:07 am
You can get ride of the connection lines by editing the track - in Strava if it's at the start/end you can crop it, otherwise you need dark magic tools to clean up the track.

I've never bothered.

There's something appealing to my completionist tendencies about filling in a peninsular like that.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 13 August, 2020, 11:35:20 am
Strava has a riding splitting tool as well as a ride cropping tool.  It is easy to use but the one time I did use it a lot of my segment times were very messed up.  This may have been a coincidence.  It didn't bother me too much but apparently it did bother the people whose KOM's I acquired.  Strava are investigating.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 13 August, 2020, 12:27:31 pm
On 34x34, & 1582 cluster now. 

Something I've noticed about my explorer route planning is that I now no longer really look at the elevations much; just set what seems to be a fairly efficient track for tile bagging & ride...  Still not much good at climbing though ;)   

Last explorer ride, I discovered part way through in Cotswolds that I'd acidentally managed to route on a footpath, so selected a bridleway (on phone map) at the roadside.  Rode this, but bridleway seemed to end on GPS, took alternative route to the road - came across elderly gent out for a walk.  Ended up having a cycling chat; turns out he used to do a lot of cycling post WW2 , & frequently cycled from Liverpool area up to Scotland to see relatives.   
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 13 August, 2020, 01:46:02 pm

Something I've noticed about my explorer route planning is that I now no longer really look at the elevations much; just set what seems to be a fairly efficient track for tile bagging & ride... 
Yes, that's how I ended up climbing over 2000 metres on a 95km ride on a very hot Sunday last week
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kamoshika on 13 August, 2020, 02:10:37 pm
Since 'discovering' Veloviewer and Explorer tiles a year or so ago I've been endeavouring to complete Cornwall.
Good effort! I'm working on something similar in Devon, but have got a lot further to go than you, especially in the far west of the county. Parts of Dartmoor are going to be tricky too. Currently on 6863 tiles total, max square 21x21, max cluster: 1018.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 13 August, 2020, 02:41:54 pm

Something I've noticed about my explorer route planning is that I now no longer really look at the elevations much; just set what seems to be a fairly efficient track for tile bagging & ride... 
Yes, that's how I ended up climbing over 2000 metres on a 95km ride on a very hot Sunday last week

Lumpy!   :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 13 August, 2020, 03:07:20 pm
Parts of Dartmoor are going to be tricky too.

Depends how much you enjoy being chased/fired at by the MOD, I guess!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 14 August, 2020, 06:50:39 pm
26 new tiles today, max cluster up to 1216.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 15 August, 2020, 06:58:18 pm
Max cluster now 1274  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 16 August, 2020, 11:05:14 am
A week's staycation and some well chosen early morning 1-2hr rides and a few family walks, mean that I added another ~100 tiles and reached the Kilocluster (© Pingu) yesterday.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 16 August, 2020, 01:49:42 pm
Signed up to Strava and VeloViewer, blimey that looks addictive!
3287 tiles
8x8 square
104 cluster

Addictive is exactly what I need to get me moving, I hope.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 16 August, 2020, 03:16:16 pm
Max square is now 47x47 and my current year (2020 only) max cluster is 10th at 1337. Just need to wash the bridleway off my bike.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 16 August, 2020, 07:06:44 pm
37 new tiles today, cluster up to 1360.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 16 August, 2020, 08:36:42 pm
Zig-zagging over peat country yesterday in a DIY300 to fill some holes and bring the square to 30x30 and the cluster to 1700. Now I'm boxed in by a lake and the Eems estuary (in the East), so it's time to move South (and maybe learn to kayak, already learned it's a Bad Idea™️ to hit big open water without experience and training)

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/80u96xn0swae5i8/veloview2020-08-16a.png?raw=1)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 16 August, 2020, 09:44:14 pm
Zig-zagging over peat country yesterday in a DIY300 to fill some holes and bring the square to 30x30 and the cluster to 1700. Now I'm boxed in by a lake and the Eems estuary (in the East), so it's time to move South (and maybe learn to kayak, already learned it's a Bad Idea™️ to hit big open water without experience and training)

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/80u96xn0swae5i8/veloview2020-08-16a.png?raw=1)

Maybe time to consider wadlopen?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 17 August, 2020, 12:48:51 pm
37 new tiles today, cluster up to 1360.
I am going to need a map update at some point Pingu!  ;)
Your area is the only one I have much real feel for the roads, so always good to see  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 17 August, 2020, 01:13:31 pm

Clicked on one of my rides from a couple of years back, magically gained an extra tile... Win...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 17 August, 2020, 01:54:09 pm
37 new tiles today, cluster up to 1360.
I am going to need a map update at some point Pingu!  ;)
Your area is the only one I have much real feel for the roads, so always good to see  :thumbsup:

Here you go:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50236910277_311acbf0c2_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jxgict)
vv_cluster_20200816 (https://flic.kr/p/2jxgict) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 17 August, 2020, 02:59:32 pm
Yesterday, I went out on a tile bagging excursion out to the Eastern edge of my cluster.

Managed to bag 38 new squares but filled in plenty of gaps, so my cluster went up by 78 to 3230.

Was pleased to be able to get a couple of squares on the Welbeck estate near Worksop which are tricky ones as it's private, but there was no one around when I got there (probably helped by the fact that it was early and that it was pissing it down) so I sneaked in and a rode the kilometre or so down the forest track to get both the squares.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200817/95d599ac83989db0b5834c5b6253bac2.jpg)(I entered )

So I'm now on 3 overlapping 48x48 max square and a 3230 cluster.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200817/b6fc220fc83b95fec361d6f76d693a01.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 17 August, 2020, 11:03:24 pm
37 new tiles today, cluster up to 1360.
I am going to need a map update at some point Pingu!  ;)
Your area is the only one I have much real feel for the roads, so always good to see  :thumbsup:
Here you go:

Cheers  :thumbsup: Great to see.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 17 August, 2020, 11:13:28 pm
Took the long way to the shop today.

Had never been up Glen Fincastle before and had spotted a route onto the top road of Allen forest. Missed the stone circle but found Loch Bhat which is a fishing Loch.
Well graded tracks in the forest meant the marsthon pluses mostly did fine but I needed the 22x36 on occasion
A bit of "misreading" of signs later (I'm sure they said "don't climb on timber stacks" rather than "keep oot") I found myself in areas of active forestry work before the descent but it turned out to be one forester and his harvester off to the side so got away with it.
Although the gate at the Bohspic Road was locked so had a heavy lift to do.
Intended heading to the Rannoch shop but after 2km heading west and realising it was too far past lunchtime I bailed on that plan in favour of the Tummel Bridge shop and a seemingly risk return up the hill to the caravan.

Claimed a few new tiles and I'm now looking at the tracks over to Blair Atholl and over to Strath Tay to get much more from the caravan.
I think if I'm not heading to the western Isles next week I might come back with the car, and mtb and a plan. (hiking kit is already here but I didn't use it when I wandered up into the forest yesterday )

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200817/ac09310fae25807a42530f1ffe1aca96.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 17 August, 2020, 11:22:15 pm
I'm up to 15x15 now. Will need a couple of 80-100km rides to get it to 16x16 or more.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 20 August, 2020, 04:31:50 pm
Up to 10x10
Some corrections today:
I visited a square I had previously been incorrectly credited due to some appalling logging  by my Garmin.  The square is legitimately mine now.  +8 tiles for the day but +9 including the 'repeat'

I have a friends track in my account (clearly marked as not mine) back from my Pennine Bridleway write up.  I'd like to remove it from my totals, Does anyone know how this can be done?  I tried changing it to a virtual ride, VV spotted it had changed but didn't remove it from my Explorer totals.  Changing it to Workout had no effect at all.  This track is falsely giving me 40 tiles, my 3304 should be 3264

[edit] Just checked the PROW map for Herefordshire and found I did my first bit of trespass today.   A track I used is marked as a service road on OSM so cycle.travel allowed it.  There were no signs so I made mental note to check.  OSM updated with private tags.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 20 August, 2020, 05:08:17 pm
Just been planning a ride to pick off some tiles on the Isle of Sheppey. Unfortunately, the northwest tip of Sheppey is inaccessible as it's part of the port...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50248400756_f12c13eb66_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jyhbVb)

...but looking more closely at the map, I noticed a path heading out to what looks a tiny island off the Isle of Grain, just across the water, which conveniently lies in that inaccessible tile. Hang on, I thought, I know what that is - it's the ex-military fort I read about in the local news just this morning:
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/no-1-the-thames-back-on-market-for-1-5m-232289/

Might have to pose as a prospective buyer for an excuse to visit!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 20 August, 2020, 05:14:26 pm
Looking at the satellite view it'd be much easier to nip into the tile by foot along the hardcore to the side of the sluiceway South of there.

Given the number of other water only tiles around there it may just be easier to go kayaking with someone one weekend (going sea kayaking alone isn't particularly clever).

On my own attempts, assuming MiniGB goes back to school I'll have Monday's back to go tile hunting. Have my long term goal of the inside of the M25 to do as that pretty much stopped when I broke my ankle last year.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 20 August, 2020, 05:49:14 pm
Looking at the satellite view it'd be much easier to nip into the tile by foot along the hardcore to the side of the sluiceway South of there.

Oh yes, I see what you mean. Good thinking. Although looking at street view, it's quite well fenced off...

Tbh, if I went at low tide, I wouldn't have to go all the way along the causeway to the tower to nick the tile, so that might still be the easiest option.

Definitely fancy the sea kayaking option as well.

Overall, Sheppey is going to take a few visits to tick off - can do most of it in one go on a road bike, but the southern half of the island is more walking/MTB territory.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 20 August, 2020, 06:02:36 pm
Looking at the satellite view it'd be much easier to nip into the tile by foot along the hardcore to the side of the sluiceway South of there.

Oh yes, I see what you mean. Good thinking. Although looking at street view, it's quite well fenced off...


There is a public footpath all the way along the edge of the water/mudflats with easy access from Port Victoria Road: https://goo.gl/maps/csDf7FQtFJnpDcxu5
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 20 August, 2020, 06:07:28 pm
Looking at the satellite view it'd be much easier to nip into the tile by foot along the hardcore to the side of the sluiceway South of there.

Oh yes, I see what you mean. Good thinking. Although looking at street view, it's quite well fenced off...


There is a public footpath all the way along the edge of the water/mudflats with easy access from Port Victoria Road: https://goo.gl/maps/csDf7FQtFJnpDcxu5

There's another one a bit closer: https://goo.gl/maps/8xbLcfoRpBAuHqLeA
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 20 August, 2020, 06:12:52 pm
I believe that this is what it looks like when you get there:

(https://s3.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/05/81/97/5819703_7dbae1a4_1024x1024.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 20 August, 2020, 08:54:36 pm
Easy  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 August, 2020, 09:02:09 pm


Ooph. After a year or so of no movement on square or cluster, in a week I've got it up by 69. Now at 712. Not as satisfying as 666, but it now goes all the way to Utrecht. I need to fill in the gaps between Utrecht and Hilversum. And From Utrecht to Alphen. But it's positive movement. A few more rides, and I should be able to get my square to move close to Utrecht, and stop being limited by the Noord Holland Peninsular...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ef44AFmWAAYqEPH.jpg)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ef44AFmWAAYqEPH.jpg

Boom, now upto Max Cluster: 829. A single ride joined the dots up all the way to Rotterdam. A 117 increase from a single ride...

ETA: Looks like I bagged 18 extra tiles, on todays ride to get the extra 117 cluster boost. Total now at 10474. Square still at 17x17
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 20 August, 2020, 09:09:57 pm
That’s good going. I’ve got a group of tiles around Bristol which will probably only take 1-2 tiles to connect. Most of my tiles are narrow corridors on audax rides
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ashaman42 on 20 August, 2020, 10:03:25 pm
Out of sheer coinkydink my last two squarebagging rides have both resulted in a cluster increase of 33. Originally both were from a new tiles count of 9 but a replot actually means that it was 10 and 9 for the two rides.

I ought to go out for another this weekend but I haven't plotted a route yet. And it's meant to be windy so rather than going too far afield I might just go for a bike ride instead.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 21 August, 2020, 08:56:00 am
I believe that this is what it looks like when you get there:

Hmmmm. For comparison, this is the causeway to the tower at low tide: https://flic.kr/p/fp5HTh

Anyway, I'm not likely to get out to the Isle of Grain any time soon - still quite a few tiles closer to home to tick off before I head over that way. But I'll be sure to keep you all posted when I do.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 22 August, 2020, 08:58:52 am
(https://burlycross.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/screenshot_20200822-085053.png)

I'm on a riding mission to get my cluster to the coast, at what point in the estuary can I claim to meet the sea, Portishead maybe or even Weston  ??? Linking to Bristol should be easy today.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 22 August, 2020, 09:06:48 am
Slightly beyond second Severn bridge to be sure of Estuary?   :)

Quote
Definitions of the limits of the Severn Estuary vary. A narrower definition adopted by some maps is that the river becomes the Severn Estuary after the Second Severn Crossing near Severn Beach, South Gloucestershire, and stretches to a line from Lavernock Point (south of Cardiff) to Sand Point near Weston-super-Mare.[3] The definition used on Admiralty Chart SC1179 and the Bristol Channel and Severn Cruising Guide is that the estuary extends upstream to Aust, the site of the old Severn Bridge. The estuary is about 2 miles (3.2 km) wide at Aust, and about 9 miles (14 km) wide between Cardiff and Weston-super-Mare.
wiki

ETA  I think Bristol channel proper is west of Steepholm & Flatholm.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 22 August, 2020, 02:01:29 pm


Ooph. After a year or so of no movement on square or cluster, in a week I've got it up by 69. Now at 712. Not as satisfying as 666, but it now goes all the way to Utrecht. I need to fill in the gaps between Utrecht and Hilversum. And From Utrecht to Alphen. But it's positive movement. A few more rides, and I should be able to get my square to move close to Utrecht, and stop being limited by the Noord Holland Peninsular...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ef44AFmWAAYqEPH.jpg)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ef44AFmWAAYqEPH.jpg

Boom, now upto Max Cluster: 829. A single ride joined the dots up all the way to Rotterdam. A 117 increase from a single ride...

ETA: Looks like I bagged 18 extra tiles, on todays ride to get the extra 117 cluster boost. Total now at 10474. Square still at 17x17


Got off the train one stop early, and bagged an extra 6 tiles. Which handily brought my cluster all the way to Den Haag

10480 tiles
Max square 17x17
Max Cluster: 849

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 22 August, 2020, 03:35:03 pm
You’re a bit stuck now with widening your square until you shift its centre south. Means more kilometres...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: orejas on 23 August, 2020, 02:56:09 pm
After today's 100 up to 26*26 and annoyingly 996 cluster. Next job get it past 1000
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 23 August, 2020, 03:48:03 pm
Detoured into the Kemsley Fields business park on yesterday's ride to pick up a loose tile, riding as far as the point where there were big signs saying "Absolutely no public access beyond this point on pain of death" (or words to that effect). I thought we'd already gone far enough by that point to have entered the tile so just turned back, but when I uploaded the ride later.....

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50258236588_76a7e77e87_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jz9ALu)

So annoying! Another hundred metres or so would surely have been enough - and would have been unlikely to draw the attention of local security on a Saturday morning.

I don't really want to ride up that way again - the roads are horrible, the scenery uninspiring. Looks like it might be possible to access it from the other end of the road (the road runs down from the roundabout by the start of the old Sheppey bridge) but the more appealing option is to bag it from the opposite side of the Swale, via a walking tour of Elmley nature reserve, which would also help me bag a few otherwise inaccessible tiles on Sheppey.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 23 August, 2020, 04:35:52 pm
ugh, yeah I managed that at the <Shrughs> Golf Course during full lockdown, turned before the closed gate into the club house area without going down to the water treatment plant.
I went back and went to the gate of the water treatment plant to claim the tile a few weeks later.

What's on the dotted line the other side of the water? MTB Territory?

Edit: It's the "Castle Course" which appears to be one of the links trust ones... which means I could have just vaulted the gate and not worried too much.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 23 August, 2020, 06:05:01 pm
27 new tiles today increased the max cluster by 118 to 1478.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 23 August, 2020, 06:53:29 pm
What's on the dotted line the other side of the water? MTB Territory?

Across the water is the Isle of Sheppey. Here's a wider view of the area:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50259784987_8cc89389d3_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jzhx42)

The stretch from Elmley Hills down to Dutchman's Island is mostly part of Elmley Nature Reserve (https://www.elmleynaturereserve.co.uk/the-reserve-information), which I'll need to book to visit - they say many of their trails are accessible by bike, so it will be worth taking the MTB over. Parts of it can only be reached on foot though.

What looks to be a road down through Grove to New Quay is actually a private farm track. Just a bit east of that is the road through the prison complex - not sure how accessible that is.

Quote
I could have just vaulted the gate and not worried too much.

I've picked up a few tiles by going down private tracks - it's the bits that are marked on the map as 'Danger area' that you want to be wary of. And with much of Sheppey being boggy marshland, I'm not keen on trying anything that involves straying from the marked paths.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 23 August, 2020, 07:28:49 pm
You can learn a lot by just looking at Google Streetview coverage. They (the Google Streetview Cars) are very conservative on where they will go.

On the North side of that tile the Google Streetview goes all the way into Ridham Dock up to about the 'a' of Ridham.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 23 August, 2020, 08:30:23 pm
On the North side of that tile the Google Streetview goes all the way into Ridham Dock up to about the 'a' of Ridham.

Yes, I did some streetview scouting in advance of yesterday's ride. The streetview runs all the way up to the dock entrance barrier, but well before you get to that point there's a big 'No unauthorised entry' sign... which is odd, but there you go.

Fortunately, you've already entered the tile in question by the time you reach that sign, so no need to go any further.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 23 August, 2020, 09:48:31 pm
This long weekend I finally managed to complete all 1038 BeNeLux municipalities for the LongDistance Challenge.
After completing Fischbach on friday I continued with the tilehunt. I have quite a mini cluster in central Luxemburg and around Bastogne now. My main cluster I've extended to sligthly south of Hotton. Still a few stray tiles to connect before I can add my 4th country to my cluster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 24 August, 2020, 10:27:52 am
Decided to update my off road gear and go bikepacking as cycling holidays are off for this year. Mix of roads, WHW and Great Glen to Inverness then the Badger Divide back down to Glasgow. The last part from above Drymen was changed as it missed nice singletrack and route curved to Killearn but missed the water board track going back onto the WHW at the Beechtree inn so never bothered going into Glasgow, cut off for home at Milngavie. 3 days up and another 3 days back for 300+ tiles. Total now 28026, roads are full of campervans. Will try some more bikepacking routes.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 24 August, 2020, 11:31:48 am
Had a doctor's appointment this morning which I had to drive to, so set my alarm for 5.30 am and threw bike in the car to do an hour's ride in an area which was "sort of" on the way.  Woke to pouring rain and thought I would man up and go out anyway.  Drove through to planned area saw rain had stopped there. Felt smug, got bike out and ready and went to record ride.  Ah- phone was still plugged in at home where it had been left to charge!

Went for a ride anyway to familiarise myself with the layout, but not on Strava so did't happen.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 24 August, 2020, 11:16:05 pm
Max cluster now 1504.

Back to work tomorrow so the cluster increase rate will drop to more normal levels  :(
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: thesloth on 27 August, 2020, 02:48:04 pm
I've noticed that by default VV saves activities with a reduced amount of data points. As a result the stored activity is made up a number of straight lines, rather than following the curves of the road/path accurately.
If you open up the specific activity in VV it then fetches all of the data points and a far more accurate track is stored.
I did this for a few of my activities and hey presto, I have dropped from 56x56 to 45x45

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50274151058_f2475e871b.jpg)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50274151068_5676738cbc_z.jpg)

So it seems a ride out to Petworth is required!

I wonder how many other "fake" tiles I have? I contacted Ben at VV to ask him if it was possible to trigger a mass regeneration of all activities. He said it's not and one would have to access each activity individually to trigger a recall of the rich data.
+2000 activities will take some time.

I'm fairly certain that the activities done specifically to target tiles are good. But there could be quite a few normal rides that are not. It would be a nice project to find all the holes and fill them.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: thesloth on 27 August, 2020, 02:58:02 pm
I contacted Ben at VV to ask him if it was possible to trigger a mass regeneration of all activities. He said it's not and one would have to access each activity individually to trigger a recall of the rich data.
+2000 activities will take some time.

I'm fairly certain that the activities done specifically to target tiles are good. But there could be quite a few normal rides that are not. It would be a nice project to find all the holes and fill them.

I think I've figured out how to do this...
One can download a CSV file of all or your activities.
It doesn't contain the url for each activity, but it contains the ID.
You could use the ID to create a url and then create a script to access all of the urls (slowly!)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 27 August, 2020, 03:02:02 pm
General practice for tilers, check each ride after you do it, dosent help you historically though.

On your activities page there is a column (right over on the far right) titled "Tiles calculated" which tells you which rides have been expanded to max resolution.
You can click on the header and sort all checked to the top..etc.

You can also filter that column for Yes and No.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 27 August, 2020, 03:06:08 pm
Yeah you really need to click on and open all* of your activities in veloviewer to get an accurate tile count and remove all false positive and false negative tiles.    This was discussed upthread a while back.

*in practice you don't need to open all your activities as it's the longer ones that the downsampling has the biggest effect on, so it's just these that you need to concentrate on.   What I've done is, in veloviewer activity tab display the list of your rides, add a filter to show 'tiles calculated' and just leave 'no' checked.  Then click on the distance heading to order  by distance with longest first.  Then just go down the list with a ctrl click to open the activities in a new browser tab - carry on down the list as far as you can be arsed.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 27 August, 2020, 03:07:23 pm
^^^Cross post with Jack
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: thesloth on 27 August, 2020, 03:08:27 pm
Many thanks both of you!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: thesloth on 27 August, 2020, 05:00:36 pm
So I recalculated all rides longer that 160km and now my square is looking like a Swiss cheese.
Down to 38x38!

It will be a large task to fix this.  ...which is a good thing.
I have no doubt that there are many more errors waiting to be discovered. Makes sense to find them all before planning rides to rectify the situation.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50275276326_c70d925390.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 27 August, 2020, 08:46:00 pm
I've lost a dozen tiles, 38 off my cluster and square back down to 19 following a similar exercise. Wondering if I should do all the remaining rides- I went to 90km but there's another 468 still to do...

*sigh*
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 28 August, 2020, 01:01:34 am
Dammit!

(http://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/cycling/hole_in_vv_square.sized.png)

38->32  :(
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 28 August, 2020, 02:04:15 pm
I fixed mine last month, zoomed in on map looking to do a good new tile run and the M8/74 showed up. Cropped all of the runs affected 200+ tiles deleted, i had forgotten to swich off then drove home.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 28 August, 2020, 04:05:28 pm
Lol, 3 false positives.  So down from 34x34 to 28x28.  Better load each ride after updating.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50277927643_cc8a7998b6.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jATwer)VV-post-tile calc_280820 (https://flic.kr/p/2jATwer) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 28 August, 2020, 04:31:29 pm
I went from 47x47 to 36x36 as I lost critical square. I was going through the village in question today and it needed only a 100m detour. Stopped at pub for lunch in village. Just arrived home and realised I forgot the 100m detour. Still back at 36x36
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 28 August, 2020, 07:11:26 pm
I feel for you downgraders.

Yes, this was discussed early in the topic and being a relatively late GPS adopter I luckily only had a couple of hundred activities to update. Still took a while thobut.

Perhaps Ben at VV could make this issue more prominent on the website?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 28 August, 2020, 07:19:30 pm
I had a couple of rides which meandered all over (especially Mille Pennines), but couldn't get them to update so I've been eyeballing it and knocking out the false positives. I'm confident I have none in my square, probably a few in my cluster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 29 August, 2020, 11:03:06 pm
I laboriously went through this a year ago, sorted my rides by length and slowly loaded them all until I'd got accurate VV tiles for each. Now I just click on the ride after loading it, just to make sure. It's a pain, but like Audax, just stick with it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 29 August, 2020, 11:30:53 pm
When I tried this my laptop ground to a halt because I opened too many at once.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 29 August, 2020, 11:39:19 pm
When I tried this my laptop ground to a halt because I opened too many at once.

It's a really good way to use lots of RAM.  I managed to tab off 20 at a time, go and do something else for a couple of minutes, then flip through the tabs closing them.  Got a bit quicker as the rides got shorter.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 30 August, 2020, 12:28:13 am
On today's ride tilebagging round Ashford, I discovered that a road I had planned to take no longer exists - it is a building site, and will eventually be a new housing estate.

Looking back at it on the map later, I noticed that a nearby tile was a false positive... argh! Annoying. I could have ticked it off properly today if I'd known before.


Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 30 August, 2020, 04:34:25 pm
Got a bit quicker as the rides got shorter.
By the time they're shorter you'd likely not get false positives anyway?
I had a bunch of commutes I largely ignored.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 30 August, 2020, 04:48:00 pm
Finally bagged Reading (N of M4).  Cluster 1634.   Also regained one of the false positives - but needed to climb Whitchurch Hill out of Pangbourne, & Long Toll.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 30 August, 2020, 05:08:15 pm
Also regained one of the false positives - but needed to climb Whitchurch Hill out of Pangbourne & Long Toll.

The hardest-earned tiles are the most satisfying, right?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 30 August, 2020, 07:28:18 pm
 :)  Was a little relieved not to have missed any tiles in my 'one-ride-to-bag-em-all' Reading excursion...  I follow a simple gpx track with inserted waypoints (in RWGPS) to indicate I have a 'spur' turning, and then another waypoint roughly at the about turn point.  Completely missed a turn, and so tile, in the Cotswolds several weeks back.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 30 August, 2020, 07:33:22 pm
I went from 47x47 to 36x36 as I lost critical square. I was going through the village in question today and it needed only a 100m detour. Stopped at pub for lunch in village. Just arrived home and realised I forgot the 100m detour. Still back at 36x36
Got the pesky blighter - back at 47x47
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 30 August, 2020, 07:43:37 pm
Went down to Dungeness today (walking rather than cycling) and picked up the tile behind the power station which I previously believed to be inaccessible - turns out the coastal path goes round it on the beach side (though there are signs warning that the land is power station property all the way down to mean high tide mark).

Might have continued a bit further but we'd already done a few miles down from Greatstone, and were getting worn out from being battered by the wind and walking on the shingle beach.

The coastal path looks like it would be rideable on a gravel bike or MTB, which would be a good way to tick off those tiles on the stretch from Dungeness up to Rye.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 31 August, 2020, 10:58:41 pm

Spent the day at IJmuiden ferry waiting for RatN riders to come though. In a gap between riders I did a 17k loop out and bagged another couple of tiles. Cluster up 6. Tile count up 3.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 31 August, 2020, 11:33:28 pm
Got a bit quicker as the rides got shorter.
By the time they're shorter you'd likely not get false positives anyway?
I had a bunch of commutes I largely ignored.

Yeah.  I have a lot of my regular routes near home, which can safely be ignored.  Some of the short rides are important though, typically off-road rides and shorter social rides away from home (fortunately, they tend to have interesting names, so are easy to spot in the list).  There were a couple of utility rides into the Wet Midlands Badlands that bagged tiles I have no desire to revisit, but I think I loaded those ones manually when I started taking this seriously, at around the time I managed to retrospectively bag a load of Cannock Chase by un-corrupting an archived GPX file (it was raining).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 01 September, 2020, 07:20:22 am
I clicked on every ride longer than 20k and reckoned that that was good enough.  Kim's point about short, remote rides got me thinking.  Rather than looking for interesting ride names in the list it is far easier to filter on 'Tiles calculated = No' and look at the map.  If you turn off the cluster and the max square and hit refresh you can easily spot the strays.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 01 September, 2020, 10:45:18 am
I clicked on every ride longer than 20k and reckoned that that was good enough.  Kim's point about short, remote rides got me thinking.  Rather than looking for interesting ride names in the list it is far easier to filter on 'Tiles calculated = No' and look at the map.  If you turn off the cluster and the max square and hit refresh you can easily spot the strays.

Clever!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 01 September, 2020, 02:33:51 pm
It's quiet at work. I've done all the IRL rides.

Glad it's a one-time adventure.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 02 September, 2020, 09:37:35 am
Having been through and calculated all activities >30km, I have lost just one key tile in my cluster, which takes my max square back down to 17 - another one of those mildly annoying ones that I could easily have ticked off on one of my recent rides if I'd known about it. Pah!

Not going to bother checking the 1600+ sub-30km rides/runs. There will be an awful lot of repeats among them - around 200 of them will be my local parkrun, and then there's the route I used back when I was running 2-3 lunchtimes a week... Using the filters and scanning over the map, it doesn't look like there are any controversial tiles left, so that'll do.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 02 September, 2020, 01:31:46 pm
I clicked on every ride longer than 20k and reckoned that that was good enough.  Kim's point about short, remote rides got me thinking.  Rather than looking for interesting ride names in the list it is far easier to filter on 'Tiles calculated = No' and look at the map.  If you turn off the cluster and the max square and hit refresh you can easily spot the strays.

Ah, good idea.  Found a couple of strays, re-calculated and all is still well.   :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 02 September, 2020, 09:20:37 pm
Done mine while at the relative ease of only 1200 activities.  I used a mix of sort by length and opening the outliers from the map.  +10 tiles, zero change on square & cluster (I'd already revisited my only known false positive).  Sadly, that leaves 900 activities in my 3 small 'been there a zillion times' zones. 
Thus only 1 in 4 of my rides are interesting. 
Demoralising :-(
So many rides recorded by Excel log in the pre-GPS days.  But they ain't on strava so they don't exist.  Poo.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solivagant on 06 September, 2020, 05:36:47 pm
Yesterday, I went out on a tile bagging excursion out to the Eastern edge of my cluster.

Managed to bag 38 new squares but filled in plenty of gaps, so my cluster went up by 78 to 3230.

Was pleased to be able to get a couple of squares on the Welbeck estate near Worksop which are tricky ones as it's private, but there was no one around when I got there (probably helped by the fact that it was early and that it was pissing it down) so I sneaked in and a rode the kilometre or so down the forest track to get both the squares.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200817/95d599ac83989db0b5834c5b6253bac2.jpg)(I entered )

So I'm now on 3 overlapping 48x48 max square and a 3230 cluster.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200817/b6fc220fc83b95fec361d6f76d693a01.jpg)


It looks like you're a bit blocked in by Cities and will have to go urban soon.

My max square is in a similar area to yours PeeJay, although considerably smaller! My plan is to tidy up around Melton/Syston and north of Leicester and use that (for now at least) as my SE corner before heading into Staffs/Derbys/Notts to fill in some gaps and see where that gets me.


(https://i.ibb.co/XjZB3yg/Tiles583.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 06 September, 2020, 08:55:36 pm
A fantastic day (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=10.msg2535128#msg2535128) exploring roads I'd never have used without this game.

+1 square
+41 cluster
- 6 tiles but that's a self induced glitch, I figured out how to delete a route I was falsely credited.  I think it was +18 tiles really.
E+1 metric
E+1 inperial
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 06 September, 2020, 09:14:46 pm
Shakalaka boom my square now includes my current house.


BN: Next up can only be Sunderland.


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200906/c5b80ccc7e7419e47a8b507d93e8751e.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 07 September, 2020, 12:16:02 am
No progress on my square (apart from filling in those gaps caused by re-sampling), but I managed to get close enough to the army munitions depot to count, without any boom.

(http://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/cycling/2020_09_06_15_11_46.sized.jpg)

*bzzt* repetition.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 07 September, 2020, 09:07:23 am
So dangerous they warned you twice!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 07 September, 2020, 11:12:38 am
Finally got two tricky squares around the A12 dual carriageway in Harold Hill at the weekend, as well as some gravelly bits in mid Essex :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 07 September, 2020, 01:36:45 pm
I've been a bit absent from tile hunting for the last month, and now that group riding is allowed in Scotland my focus will switch to that.

But I have managed to pick up a few rogue times on my travels;

10166 Tiles (+41)
Max Square is still 18x18
734 Cluster  (+4)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 08 September, 2020, 08:40:47 am
Russel dont you enjoy the thrill and the uncertainty of your front wheel rolling thro places new to your Strava and veloviewer account ?   I Take it the Gala series has started?  Is it a rehash of the usual old routes or anything different?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 08 September, 2020, 10:30:11 am
Russel dont you enjoy the thrill and the uncertainty of your front wheel rolling thro places new to your Strava and veloviewer account ?   I Take it the Gala series has started?  Is it a rehash of the usual old routes or anything different?

I was meaning Sunday Club runs, rather than Audax really.

I enjoy being out on my bike, with friends, and stopping for a coffee.

Where I go is relatively unimportant.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 08 September, 2020, 01:05:36 pm
I hope the runs leader is block booking the cafe on the Sunday run😁. Cafe stops are taking  up a lot of time now with social distancing 😩
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: rob on 08 September, 2020, 08:41:08 pm
Been gaffing around with this for a while.   I have my square up to 18*18 and my cluster at 401.

Looking at where I used to live it’s pretty clear that I would drop onto standard routes most of the time and do them repeatedly.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 08 September, 2020, 09:06:19 pm
Achievement unlocked: 40×40

(http://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/cycling/vv_square_2020_09_08.sized.png)

No nettles were harmed in today's activity.  I didn't even have to climb a Malvern.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 08 September, 2020, 10:04:44 pm
Nice!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 09 September, 2020, 06:16:08 am
Got my max square to 30.  This is the point where sensible people stop, isn't it?

Achievement unlocked: 40×40

2 months, that's fast work.  50 in November?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 09 September, 2020, 08:52:24 pm
Early start today so I could get an early finish.  Most pre ride faffing dealt with at lunch time too so soon after 15:00 I got going to bag some tiles along the lower Severn.  Mostly not awkward but to get there & back in the available time meant using both main routes from the forest to Chepstow.  These are roads I only use when I have to.  The forest is wonderful for cyclists, particularly off road but getting in and out really is a case of 'which road shall I have a (hopefully) near death experience on today?'  It's no mystery that the roads are lined with parked cars wearing empty bike racks all weekend.  Well today there was no shortage of NDEs on both the Chepstow options.  B4228 out (St Briavels road) and A48  back.

Anyway,  the first 4 of 6 targetted tiles went fine
(click to show/hide)

+5 tiles
0 cluster though +4 on an unconnected Chepstow cluster.
all useless towards my square even after I make the link
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 10 September, 2020, 10:23:25 am
Finished one of my Covid year target of Coast to Coast; Wash to Burnham on Sea. Completed with some better than expected Fen dyke off roading at the weekend. The other goals of completing Northants, and clustering into Wales also done, all ridden from home.
Next up is to get in the top 20 with my Cluster, only 18 off at 7,394 today, but it's a constantly moving goalpost.
(https://burlycross.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot_sea-to-sea-cluster.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 10 September, 2020, 09:28:39 pm
Excellent work, Jack!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 10 September, 2020, 09:36:16 pm
I'm just getting around the opening all of my rides - Jon's excellent suggestion of sorting them by distance has done the trick (I was trying to open them from within the map before, which just didn't work).

I've lost a few tiles, but not many are significant. My cluster's dropped a bit and my squares down to 30x30 from 42x42, but they're all pretty easy to get, and I knocked off a bunch yesterday on an LEL-shaped line (with some help from Mille Pennines) between Thirsk and Stamford Bridge.

By their nature, they're all pretty close to roads, and this is nowhere near as irksome as when my mate gave me his old Garmin. Turns out, he'd never deleted a single ride, and when I connected it with Garmin Connect, it shovelled them all onto Strava, and it took me yonks to delete them all. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 10 September, 2020, 10:05:54 pm
Finished one of my Covid year target of Coast to Coast; Wash to Burnham on Sea. Completed with some better than expected Fen dyke off roading at the weekend. The other goals of completing Northants, and clustering into Wales also done, all ridden from home.
Next up is to get in the top 20 with my Cluster, only 18 off at 7,394 today, but it's a constantly moving goalpost.
(https://burlycross.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot_sea-to-sea-cluster.png)

Covid 19 really threw the standings around. Some people were riding more as usual, I guess mostly those living in the centre of a country and working in a field where work hours were reduced. Others really had issues. I belonged to the 2nd group, lot's of borders around where I live and for several months a ban on bike transport by train, combined with lot's of extra work. I keep my own overview of the abt 40 highest scorers for cluster and the amount of position changes is tremendous the past few months.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 10 September, 2020, 10:09:28 pm
Finished one of my Covid year target of Coast to Coast; Wash to Burnham on Sea. Completed with some better than expected Fen dyke off roading at the weekend. The other goals of completing Northants, and clustering into Wales also done, all ridden from home.
Next up is to get in the top 20 with my Cluster, only 18 off at 7,394 today, but it's a constantly moving goalpost.
(https://burlycross.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot_sea-to-sea-cluster.png)

I like how you've gone to great lengths to avoid Ipswich!

Nicely done.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 10 September, 2020, 10:27:00 pm
+1 Birmingham.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 11 September, 2020, 08:45:30 am
+1 Birmingham.
:P Definately Birmingham, even though I have a lot of family there i could visit
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 13 September, 2020, 05:46:03 pm
I regained the last two false positives, in the Cotswolds; so up to 35x35.  Great weather this pm.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 14 September, 2020, 09:42:58 am
I got 3 new squares at the northern edge of my max square yesterday,  all on open moorland around the back of Stannage Edge in the Peak District.  1 required about 100m of hike-a-bike across some boggy ground north of Ringinlow Road.  The other 2 were accessible by riding about 5km along a quad bike track across the Moor West from Redmires Res.

Max square up 1 to 49x49
Cluster up 12 to 3251

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200914/a9b0aab9378c561a3d233aa00caad5ef.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ashaman42 on 14 September, 2020, 10:22:36 am
Yesterday's ride netted me +14 squares taking me to 986, +1 max square taking me to 13x13 and +47 to my cluster which is now 332. Got all the squares I was aiming for bar the final one which is off my usual commute anyway so I can try it another time.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 14 September, 2020, 06:23:47 pm
Had a great ride yesterday from Bridge of Earn, including seeing half a dozen red squirrels at a variety of points along the route.  That took me over 3000 tiles (3006), but only added 1 to my cluster (1008), but have a mini Cluster between Dunning and Perth which I need 1 square to link up to my main one- should add ~50 to my cluster.  The main thing will be to have broken through the Ochils, allows me to target bringing places like Crieff, Dunkeld and Blairgowrie and the North Shore of the Tay.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 14 September, 2020, 06:36:32 pm
Yesterday I bumped my max cluster... by 235.
724-959

I did it by finishing connecting my two clusters.
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/1600062935908-png.547048/)
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/1600062828026-png.547046/)
Main road hell, taking in both a decent fraction of the Swindon-Oxford A420, and 3.6 miles on the A34.
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/1600062864466-png.547047/)
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/1600062638837-png.547044/)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 14 September, 2020, 07:11:45 pm
The linking clusters thing would be a good tactic for me - I’m about a dozen tiles shy of linking my east Kent cluster to my London one. Now I’m commuting again, I have an excuse to get the train to a point that would make it pretty easy to do...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 14 September, 2020, 07:49:45 pm
The linking clusters thing would be a good tactic for me - I’m about a dozen tiles shy of linking my east Kent cluster to my London one. Now I’m commuting again, I have an excuse to get the train to a point that would make it pretty easy to do...
Yeah, I could tun the Mendips into a nice little cluster quite quickly - that was a Sportive. But, beyond that, my next tiles are waaay ooop North.

I have a 600 km "Impossible Challenge"  route, from Oxford. But I also need the time for something like that!
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/1600109169389-png.547136/)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 14 September, 2020, 08:35:45 pm
I only need 1 tile, I think, to link to the Bristol cluster and grow it a fair bit (living about 20 miles from Bristol). But hardly riding outdoors at the moment so...

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 16 September, 2020, 11:12:44 am
There is a plan. What could possibly go wrong?


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200916/faa3e6c19fb7259b01d4a2e2b1288d39.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 16 September, 2020, 08:28:18 pm
Out on the MTB to catch some tiles north of Drymen. Bit of a bogfest in places, 5 tiles have opened up the cluster to Callander. Cluster up to 1025 and total 28176 no improvement for square.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 20 September, 2020, 07:06:21 pm
Some comedy off-roading (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=87796.msg2539933#msg2539933) and the cluster is now 1600.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 27 September, 2020, 10:05:59 pm
There is a plan. What could possibly go wrong?

>650km, 6 days riding, 281 new tiles, cluster now south of Gainsborough. I came off on gravel on one of those endless droves to nowhere and generally got a bit bored and fed up of fens and peeing in fields.

A DIY 200 will finish it off and I will go back to road riding for a bit.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 01 October, 2020, 07:40:20 pm
Pushed my max square up to 42 and the cluster over 2000.  Given that I'm not willing to use trains for something as trivial as a bike ride, I'm not expecting much more significant progress now the weather's turning.

(http://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/cycling/kim_vv_2020_10_01.sized.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 02 October, 2020, 07:20:00 pm
I'm not expecting much more significant progress now the weather's turning.

Same here. But I did manage to opportunistically bag a tricky tile today, which was very satisfying. Went for a walk up the creek and because it was low tide and I had expeditiously worn wellies, I decided to go for it, and was able to head offshore *just* far enough. Strictly speaking, a no-go area, but since I stayed well below the high-water mark, I think that's OK.

No increase to my max square, which stands at 17x17, but I now have 14 of them. Still two tiles away from expanding to 19x19. Unfortunately, being hemmed in by the coastline on three sides means not much chance of expanding beyond 19 for a while yet.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 02 October, 2020, 07:27:15 pm
I managed a paltry two or three squares last weekend. I have a training plan which only allowed for a 2h30 ride or so. It is what it is.

Probably not going to get any squares this weekend, judging by the forecast. I'll be doing two 2h30 z2 indoors workouts.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 04 October, 2020, 05:06:55 pm
Well, I got fed up of looking out the window at the rain this morning so decided to go for a ride in it instead. I had a 110km route already planned, designed to pick off some tiles, so I went for it... and thanks to the wonders of modern sportswear fabric technology, I stayed warm and comfortable even when it was belting down.

The only thing that spoiled the ride was forgetting to pick up my water bottle and ride food on the way out, so ended up bailing out before I hit the wall, and got the train home. But still managed to get 75km done and more importantly, picked off most of the tiles I was after (seven) - and my max square is now up to 20.

Very satisfying day out!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50418006796_d6441fe0cd_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jPgsTf)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 12 October, 2020, 10:46:56 am
Needed some scenery therapy after 3 days cycling in the central belt, cluster up to 1550. Good weather was forecast for rest of week. Down to D&G to catch some tiles, running total 28600 +. As usual if its not on Strava your cycling history does not exist.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 13 October, 2020, 10:36:19 am
Cycled across Germany from Lake Constanz to the Rügen Island in the past few weeks, this netted me slightly over 1000 new tiles but no increase in cluster.
A wonderful ride though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 13 October, 2020, 11:19:19 am
Cycled across Germany from Lake Constanz to the Rügen Island in the past few weeks, this netted me slightly over 1000 new tiles but no increase in cluster.
A wonderful ride though.

You make me feel like a rank amateur. (Which I am, to be fair.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 17 October, 2020, 10:41:58 pm
Managed to get to 16x16 today with a 75km ride to the SW corner:

(https://i.imgur.com/5dHjP0Q.png)

Wish I'd filled in that one tile south of Bridgwater as I'll have to return to that area to fill in before I can grow the square to the south.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 18 October, 2020, 09:38:41 am
Filling in 9 tiles on the lefty jumps the square up from 23 to 28. Aberfoyle forest and east of Uplawmoor were a pain.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 18 October, 2020, 06:28:23 pm
Lovely 95km ride today to pick up 15 new tiles and take my max cluster from 742 to 770. Turned out to be a really good route too. Very happy with that.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 18 October, 2020, 07:13:03 pm
I'm going to have to stump up cash to get into Raby Castle.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201018/4f403b83c21a30885325989506ea10de.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 18 October, 2020, 08:48:05 pm
Reckon you could just rock up at the door asking if you're in the right place for an eye test...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 19 October, 2020, 04:53:10 pm
When you export the Max Cluster KML file, and it shows the tiles you haven't ridden, but only a slightly larger area than your max square.  Is there any way to make it show tiles further away?

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 19 October, 2020, 04:57:35 pm
When you export the Max Cluster KML file, and it shows the tiles you haven't ridden, but only a slightly larger area than your max square.  Is there any way to make it show tiles further away?

On the map on the Activities tab under settings there are options to export various KMLs. It's dependent on the zoom setting so watch out!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 19 October, 2020, 04:59:26 pm
Got an awkward tile yesterday by means of sneaking up someone's drive. Cluster up to 1603.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 19 October, 2020, 06:58:12 pm
+72 to my cluster yesterday.   I planned a 200km DIY out into the Nottinghamshire/Lincolnshire/Rutland/Leicestershire lanes, planned specifically to pick off some easy to get missing tiles. 

Cluster now 3385.

Before
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201019/2549d4f12cd45a53faf811d03974cf3b.jpg)

After
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201019/3cdfe951f3a5a2946f795e800e221342.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 22 October, 2020, 08:43:25 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/CdIjbRG.png)

103km ride today to extend the SE corner and got to 17x17
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 23 October, 2020, 06:29:54 pm
Ages ago I plotted a 120k route to extend my max square to the southwest.  This involved a lot of riding round Coleshill, Birmingham airport and northern Coventry and another 50k there and similar back home.  I kept putting it off but finally did it as a mandatory route 200k audax a couple of weeks ago. This bagged 94 tiles and bumped my max square up to 48*48.

(https://i.ibb.co/1r5rJxf/5f91283d14f49990617074.gif)


Urban routes can be fairly efficient in terms of distance for picking up tiles as there are a lots of roads to use. The traffic, traffic lights and junctions don't exactly help your speed though.
I also had a few mechanical issues resulting from a puncture picked up on a bit of canal towpath.  I somehow managed to reinsert the rear wheel incorrectly and damaged the rear derailleur.  This was beaten back into some sort of functional shape with a rock using a convenient cattle grid as an anvil  ::-)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50520895021_ef3db837e8_z.jpg)


A 150k ride out to the Kettering area on Tuesday added another 20 tiles and bumped my max square up to 50*50.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50521091482_d1c33220d8_z.jpg)


To my eye that top edge 'needs' tidying up a bit and I reckon that a trip to Newstead Abbey and Southwell should sort it out   :facepalm:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 23 October, 2020, 10:55:35 pm
Ages ago I plotted a 120k route to extend my max square to the southwest.  This involved a lot of riding round Coleshill, Birmingham airport and northern Coventry

You have my sympathy.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 24 October, 2020, 09:50:35 am
Ages ago I plotted a 120k route to extend my max square to the southwest.  This involved a lot of riding round Coleshill, Birmingham airport and northern Coventry

You have my sympathy.

Thanks - but it was OK!  I find that an occasional dose of urban sprawl is good for me and helps me appreciate the countryside ;)   None of it was as bad as north Nottingham's relentless 60's housing estates with carp road surfaces  :sick:

The only bits I didn't enjoy were some unavoidable stretches of fast A roads like the A452.  Even those weren't that bad as it was a Sunday and they were fairly quiet.  Most of the cars seemed fairly well behaved too  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 24 October, 2020, 07:23:56 pm
Bagged 9 tiles yesterday with an 18km walk, but detached from my main cluster so not much use until I fill in a few more gaps.

And another 17 tiles today on a 106km jaunt to the Maidstone area, taking my max cluster up to 805. The route included a stretch of the Pilgrims Way in order to bag a rogue tile that is otherwise only accessible by riding on the A20. With hindsight, I think that might have been a preferable option (see rant thread for opinions on the suitability of the Pilgrims Way for NCN status).

Getting to the point now where any tile-bagging activity will require riding well in excess of 100km - assuming I ride there and back, and bag enough tiles to be worth the trip. I don't mind - it's a good excuse to get some longer rides in - but it limits opportunities somewhat and requires more time planning. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 24 October, 2020, 07:41:36 pm
Worthwhile rides to the south or east for squares are 100km+ for me now. I can do useful rides to the north more easily. To the west lies the Bristol Channel so not much help there.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 24 October, 2020, 07:54:13 pm
I thought you did rowing, Simon?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 25 October, 2020, 08:55:39 am
I thought you did rowing, Simon?

Not so much since just over a year ago. Did a bit of pottering about in a single over the summer but I won’t go anywhere near a crew boat during covid.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 25 October, 2020, 04:33:51 pm
102km ride today gets 18x18. Don’t think a single ride will get 19x19
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 25 October, 2020, 05:26:58 pm
Ages ago I plotted a 120k route to extend my max square to the southwest.  This involved a lot of riding round Coleshill, Birmingham airport and northern Coventry

You have my sympathy.

Thanks - but it was OK!  I find that an occasional dose of urban sprawl is good for me and helps me appreciate the countryside ;)   None of it was as bad as north Nottingham's relentless 60's housing estates with carp road surfaces  :sick:

The only bits I didn't enjoy were some unavoidable stretches of fast A roads like the A452.  Even those weren't that bad as it was a Sunday and they were fairly quiet.  Most of the cars seemed fairly well behaved too  :)

Yeah, other than a couple of fast A-roads, it's nowhere near as bad as the urban areas between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, which I made good use of the quiet roads during the lockdown to cover.  Rat-runs and Big Scary Roundabouts are bad enough without being combined with bastard hills.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 25 October, 2020, 08:50:39 pm
I was out square bagging in the west Midlands today.  A 216km ride out to get some squares out around Cannock and Penkridge.  45 new squares upped my max square to 50x50 and cluster up to 3477. 

Some of it was quite urban main roads and there were a couple of the M6 junction roundabouts to contend with, but TBH, it wasn't that bad on a Sunday, and my route did have quite a lot of pleasant lanes and a bit of Canal towpath to make up for it.  I also had a play on the MTB trails in Cannock Chase on the way home too.  (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201025/e7b9ff1f65b0ab6c1d42e15acbc19fa8.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jeff E on 27 October, 2020, 11:13:48 am
50x50 Many Congratulations 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 01 November, 2020, 05:46:28 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/VTvINgb.png)

That square at Weston is getting annoying, so I'm still on 18x18. According to the map it's in the tidal part. The question is does the SE corner contain quicksand?  ???

Today's ride filled in squares around Butcombe, Red Hill, Wrington, Weston Super Mare, Haywood Village, and Locking. I'll be quite happy to not return to many of those places any time soon.

As well as filling in the gaps to the north it's connected the cluster of squares around Bristol to the main cluster so a fairly big jump in max cluster, now 509.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 01 November, 2020, 05:58:22 pm
That square at Weston is getting annoying, so I'm still on 18x18. According to the map it's in the tidal part. The question is does the SE corner contain quicksand?  ???

The Strava heatmap for that area is promising:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50555871312_7832a10a35_z.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 01 November, 2020, 06:23:36 pm
That square at Weston is getting annoying, so I'm still on 18x18. According to the map it's in the tidal part. The question is does the SE corner contain quicksand?  ???

The Strava heatmap for that area is promising:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50555871312_7832a10a35_z.jpg)

That's interesting. Particularly the repeated triangle. Dinghy racing?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 01 November, 2020, 06:40:23 pm
That's interesting. Particularly the repeated triangle. Dinghy racing?

http://westonblokartclub.co.uk/site/
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 01 November, 2020, 06:58:09 pm
Ooh. Tempting.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 01 November, 2020, 07:02:02 pm
Not sure it would count as "human powered" for tile bagging though. There's no human power input, it's just wind powered. That's not quite in the spirit of tile bagging.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 01 November, 2020, 07:06:31 pm
If they can sail there surely you can walk there.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 01 November, 2020, 08:54:19 pm
As I said earlier- Simon does rowing. The Bristol Channel should be no obstacle.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 01 November, 2020, 08:57:43 pm
As I said earlier- Simon does rowing. The Bristol Channel should be no obstacle.

Especially on Severn Bore days...  :demon:

Video or it didn't happen, Simon :D

------
Warning: Actual geography may make this gag less feasible than proposed.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Salvatore on 01 November, 2020, 09:35:21 pm
Not sure it would count as "human powered" for tile bagging though. There's no human power input, it's just wind powered. That's not quite in the spirit of tile bagging.

What about these tiles?
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50556438181_1eaedcecde_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k2uXHg)

All done in a rowing boat, so human powered, but I did some or the rowing, and swarm_catcher did some, so there may be some tiles where I did not exert any muscular effort.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/7393/9278296786_4ace5259a1_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/f8TGof)

?

It was here, if you were wondering
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50556656717_65011533a8_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k2w5F8)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 01 November, 2020, 10:09:09 pm
Not much different from being on a tandem and not pushing on the pedals.

It's up to you whether you'd want to claim those particular tiles.

If it was me and those tiles were critical to my cluster/square then I'd probably plan on revisiting them with a solo effort just to make sure. They do seem a bit far away though, so they'd be right down on my list of priorities.

In reality you probably did some rowing in each of the tiles, and that's all that matters. How you get to a specific spot doesn't matter (I know I've got to the beginning of plenty of rides/runs using trains/cars/etc). It's not much different from people who record a short walk in an airport terminal in order to bag a specific otherwise tricky to get tile. I chose to ride various grim roads around the perimeter of Heathrow airport to back those tiles rather than just recording a short walk in the terminal building the next time I was there, but sometimes there isn't an easy alternative.

Does dipping just a few meters into a tile, often by foot, valid? Yes, so it's not much different from claiming it via a bit of rowing.

Bagging tiles with no human effort at all (like land sailing or riding a ferry) would be strictly out for me personally.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 02 November, 2020, 12:14:03 am
It's worth noting that people have got stuck in the mud at Weston under the pier which is much closer to dry land than the heat map shows.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 03 November, 2020, 07:59:09 am
Ages ago I plotted a 120k route to extend my max square to the southwest.  This involved a lot of riding round Coleshill, Birmingham airport and northern Coventry

You have my sympathy.

Thanks - but it was OK!  I find that an occasional dose of urban sprawl is good for me and helps me appreciate the countryside ;)   None of it was as bad as north Nottingham's relentless 60's housing estates with carp road surfaces  :sick:

The only bits I didn't enjoy were some unavoidable stretches of fast A roads like the A452.  Even those weren't that bad as it was a Sunday and they were fairly quiet.  Most of the cars seemed fairly well behaved too  :)

... and I have just received an email from Wandrer.earth to tell me that:

Quote
You're the monthly leader for new miles in Solihull, West Midlands, Birmingham, and West Midlands Combined Authority during October!

It makes it all worthwhile  ::-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 03 November, 2020, 10:27:15 am
... and I have just received an email from Wandrer.earth to tell me that:

Quote
You're the monthly leader for new miles in Solihull, West Midlands, Birmingham, and West Midlands Combined Authority during October!

It makes it all worthwhile  ::-)

Ha, mine said "You're the monthly leader for Central Bedfordshire!". I don't think I actually wanted confirmation that I am the only person who finds cycling around Luton a legitimate pastime.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 03 November, 2020, 11:24:50 am
I don't think I actually wanted confirmation that I am the only person who finds cycling around Luton a legitimate pastime.

 ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 03 November, 2020, 07:50:46 pm
My monthly leader status was more German orienated:
Quote
You're the monthly leader for new miles in Mönchengladbach, Kreis Heinsberg, and Teltow-Fläming during October!
Due to current restrictions I'll probably have to aim for my home province for november.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 06 November, 2020, 05:13:55 pm
I'm new to this, so currently trying to get all my local tiles. I headed out to the Isle of Grain today and I have now got all the tiles apart from 2!
The NE tip of the Isle is an Army Demolition Range, so may involve a night time walk along the shore. The missing ones on the South are on private land, so will be very tricky. 

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50573502467_fb6d811797_h.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 06 November, 2020, 05:39:00 pm
I'm new to this, so currently trying to get all my local tiles. I headed out to the Isle of Grain today and I have now got all the tiles apart from 2!
The NE tip of the Isle is an Army Demolition Range, so may involve a night time walk along the shore. The missing ones on the South are on private land, so will be very tricky. 

I might need to ask your advice on routes... are the bits round the north side walks or rides?

By the way, if you look back through the thread you'll see some discussion about how to get the tile in the far northwest corner of Sheppey - I think the only way is actually from Grain, with a walk out along the causeway to the Battery Tower at low tide.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 06 November, 2020, 08:19:10 pm
A 140 km trip into the Dales, and my square is up to 44x44. A glorious two-three hours when the fog lifted, but it was downright gloomy the rest of the day.

I think that's it for square progress until spring. Well, unless I can convince the family that our Christmas walk should be the Great Shunner Fell circular ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 06 November, 2020, 11:17:10 pm
I didn't have to go so far, not did I get so large, but having braved death on the A19 slip road I can say glory won the day.
25 x 25


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201106/d7265799cac5dcdb2b1f816a27aa5ed6.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 06 November, 2020, 11:34:20 pm
 :facepalm:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 07 November, 2020, 06:58:50 pm
So I went to Red Hill and round the back of Bristol Airport today. Over the other side to Backwell, Nailsea, and back over Goblin Combe and home. Red Hill is on a hill, who knew?

(https://i.imgur.com/VDS0tEQ.png)

Problem here is now I have 5 overlapping 18x18 squares, and I either have to do a longer ride to the SE corner, or get in the sea, to get this to 19x19.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 08 November, 2020, 10:54:54 am
I've been working my way around and North of Perth picking up tiles and enjoying the autumn colours.

Yesterday I went past a road closed sign to get 3 tiles, just about managing it.  The road petered out into the building site for dualling the A9 and to get the last tile I ended up having to cross a big slag heap.  Ended up hitting a sinky spot, ending up knee deep in mud and losing a shoe when I extracted my leg.  Had to reach in with my hand to remove the mud surrounding the shoe to get underneath it so I could pull it up. All good fun :-). Anyway 14 new tiles and cluster up 21 to 1090.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50578354288_cbdc94a6b4_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k4rhBb)20201108 (https://flic.kr/p/2k4rhBb)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 08 November, 2020, 12:13:55 pm
...Ended up hitting a sinky spot, ending up knee deep in mud and losing a shoe when I extracted my leg.  Had to reach in with my hand to remove the mud surrounding the shoe to get underneath it so I could pull it up. All good fun :-)...

Good effort  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 08 November, 2020, 02:49:13 pm
Managed to sneak a tile by going slightly off-route on yesterday's audax. Cluster now 1606.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 08 November, 2020, 03:02:37 pm
I'm new to this, so currently trying to get all my local tiles. I headed out to the Isle of Grain today and I have now got all the tiles apart from 2!
The NE tip of the Isle is an Army Demolition Range, so may involve a night time walk along the shore. The missing ones on the South are on private land, so will be very tricky. 

I might need to ask your advice on routes... are the bits round the north side walks or rides?

By the way, if you look back through the thread you'll see some discussion about how to get the tile in the far northwest corner of Sheppey - I think the only way is actually from Grain, with a walk out along the causeway to the Battery Tower at low tide.
Thanks. The North Side of the Isle of Grain is mainly a footpath, but easy enough to visit with a mountain or gravel bike.  There is also a couple of  tricky tiles to get near the Container port. I went on some waste land for one of them, but there is a big area of hard standing that is being turned into a lorry park.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50579882457_762e0868e0_z.jpg)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 08 November, 2020, 03:40:57 pm
Just been planning a ride to pick off some tiles on the Isle of Sheppey. Unfortunately, the northwest tip of Sheppey is inaccessible as it's part of the port...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50248400756_f12c13eb66_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jyhbVb)

...but looking more closely at the map, I noticed a path heading out to what looks a tiny island off the Isle of Grain, just across the water, which conveniently lies in that inaccessible tile. Hang on, I thought, I know what that is - it's the ex-military fort I read about in the local news just this morning:
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/no-1-the-thames-back-on-market-for-1-5m-232289/

Might have to pose as a prospective buyer for an excuse to visit!

I took a look at what Jonathan France did to get this. Looks like he went along the beach at Sheerness, so I will probably try this when I head over there.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50579151843_9215bf0790_z.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 08 November, 2020, 03:42:32 pm
The road petered out into the building site for dualling the A9 and to get the last tile I ended up having to cross a big slag heap.  Ended up hitting a sinky spot, ending up knee deep in mud and losing a shoe when I extracted my leg.  Had to reach in with my hand to remove the mud surrounding the shoe to get underneath it so I could pull it up

Are they really tiles if you don't have some sort of difficulty like this?? Great job :-).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 08 November, 2020, 07:14:16 pm
The North Side of the Isle of Grain is mainly a footpath, but easy enough to visit with a mountain or gravel bike.

Did a nice circular walk from Cliffe today, using a route found on Viewranger, very enjoyable. I was expecting the paths to be a lot more boggy but they weren't at all, and there were loads of people out on bikes (all making essential journeys, of course - as were we). Grain is actually a fair bit bigger than I realised - our 14km route only covered a tiny corner of the "island".

Quote
I took a look at what Jonathan France did to get this. Looks like he went along the beach at Sheerness, so I will probably try this when I head over there.

Yes, you can go along the beach, but judging by my investigations on Google Street View, I don't think you can enter the tile in question without going beyond the big scary signs threatening that you will be zapped by sharks with frikkin' lasers or something if you go past this point. Good work by Mr France if he braved it.

I quite fancy a visit to the Battery Tower anyway, so will try to time any walk/ride over that way to coincide with low tide.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 09 November, 2020, 09:02:22 am
I seem to be planning my DIY Audaxes purely as an excuse to venture out into unchartered tile land.

Yesterday's 200 netted me 50 new squares and upped my cluster by 96.

I went out into North Leicestershire and found some great lanes in the process.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201109/d1d492a0af3d80636e55ab129fd89ec6.jpg)

Now on 3 overlapping 50x50 max square, cluster is 3573.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201109/ec42b8981dd5923df95343c904ffd836.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 09 November, 2020, 09:23:19 am
How do you render the before and after views? I assume this is done within Veloviewer settings?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 09 November, 2020, 09:32:53 am
How do you render the before and after views? I assume this is done within Veloviewer settings?

I assumed it was done in photoshop or similar (animated gif with multiple screengrabs).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 09 November, 2020, 09:37:12 am
How do you render the before and after views? I assume this is done within Veloviewer settings?

Filter on date in the Activities tab in VV.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 09 November, 2020, 09:54:33 am
Filter on date in the Activities tab in VV.

Of course! Seems obvious now you mention it.

Now I'm going to have fun making an animated timeline of my entire veloviewer history...  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 09 November, 2020, 10:05:26 am
The before view generated this way doesn't show the new ride overlaid, which was the part that didn't seem so easy to do with built-in Veloviewer settings.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 09 November, 2020, 10:29:04 am
The before view generated this way doesn't show the new ride overlaid, which was the part that didn't seem so easy to do with built-in Veloviewer settings.

That'll be where the photoshop trickery comes in.

I was thinking you would have to do it by taking a screengrab before updating, then do another screengrab after updating. Didn't occur to me that you could use the filters in the way Pingu mentioned, so that's a great penny-dropping moment for me. The trick is to make sure you have the same zoom level selected when you take the screengrabs so you can match them up neatly.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 09 November, 2020, 10:33:56 am
The before view generated this way doesn't show the new ride overlaid, which was the part that didn't seem so easy to do with built-in Veloviewer settings.

That'll be where the photoshop trickery comes in.

I was thinking you would have to do it by taking a screengrab before updating, then do another screengrab after updating. Didn't occur to me that you could use the filters in the way Pingu mentioned, so that's a great penny-dropping moment for me. The trick is to make sure you have the same zoom level selected when you take the screengrabs so you can match them up neatly.

Yep. I was hoping for something easier tbh, but this all makes sense. I might be too lazy to do this.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 09 November, 2020, 10:36:01 am
Quote
I took a look at what Jonathan France did to get this. Looks like he went along the beach at Sheerness, so I will probably try this when I head over there.

Yes, you can go along the beach, but judging by my investigations on Google Street View, I don't think you can enter the tile in question without going beyond the big scary signs threatening that you will be zapped by sharks with frikkin' lasers or something if you go past this point. Good work by Mr France if he braved it.

Just had another look - it might just be possible to dip a toe into that tile without going too far past the sign (tides permitting)...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50583107817_2d5019ef9f_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k4RDEz)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50582269838_9edb7e7b37_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k4MmyE)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 09 November, 2020, 10:37:55 am
PS I'm up to 19x19. I didn't get in the sea. I filled in gaps around the SE corner. The eastern side of the square needs a lot of filling in now, and pretty much every ride out there involves crossing the Mendips.

(https://i.imgur.com/msRGw6Q.png)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 09 November, 2020, 10:50:52 am
How do you render the before and after views? I assume this is done within Veloviewer settings?
The before is done in the routes tab.  I generated the route in strava so it gets synced with veloviewer.  Then I just filter on the route name and it overlays it over my current squares.  I did this before the ride was synced.

No photoshop trickery needed.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 09 November, 2020, 10:59:05 am
How do you render the before and after views? I assume this is done within Veloviewer settings?
The before is done in the routes tab.  I generated the route in strava so it gets synced with veloviewer.  Then I just filter on the route name and it overlays it over my current squares.  I did this before the ride was synced.

No photoshop trickery needed.

Thanks! My routes tab is empty as I generate my routes in RideWithGPS.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 09 November, 2020, 11:20:39 am
How do you render the before and after views? I assume this is done within Veloviewer settings?
The before is done in the routes tab.  I generated the route in strava so it gets synced with veloviewer.  Then I just filter on the route name and it overlays it over my current squares.  I did this before the ride was synced.

No photoshop trickery needed.

Thanks! My routes tab is empty as I generate my routes in RideWithGPS.

I once found some method of getting routes into Strava from RWGPS, but involved jiggery pokery on another route planning site to get date/time data added then importing that to Strava as a ride, then saving it as a route, then deleting the 'fake' ride in Strava. All a bit of a faff really.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 09 November, 2020, 11:33:03 am
I just uploaded a gpx from RideWithGPS directly into the Strava route creator, and then produced the same view as PeeJay has shown. So I think the experience has improved.

It's useful to try this before riding anyway, as it's easier to check you're not going to accidentally miss a useful tile.

Edit:

(https://i.imgur.com/79a1hxr.png)

Probably would be better with a different map layer/colouring. The NCN routes in red don't look much different to the route.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 09 November, 2020, 11:39:48 am
How do you render the before and after views? I assume this is done within Veloviewer settings?
The before is done in the routes tab.  I generated the route in strava so it gets synced with veloviewer.  Then I just filter on the route name and it overlays it over my current squares.  I did this before the ride was synced.

No photoshop trickery needed.

Thanks! My routes tab is empty as I generate my routes in RideWithGPS.

I once found some method of getting routes into Strava from RWGPS, but involved jiggery pokery on another route planning site to get date/time data added then importing that to Strava as a ride, then saving it as a route, then deleting the 'fake' ride in Strava. All a bit of a faff really.

With a paid Strava account, based on the above I can see that you can import a GPX created from RWGPS, and that works in Veloviewer. I've previously used Google MyMaps to closely check planned routes, but  importing into Strava I can see is a whole lot simpler.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 09 November, 2020, 11:44:20 am
Sub goal: collect all the accessible sections of the Fosse Way.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 09 November, 2020, 11:54:16 am
How do you render the before and after views? I assume this is done within Veloviewer settings?
The before is done in the routes tab.  I generated the route in strava so it gets synced with veloviewer.  Then I just filter on the route name and it overlays it over my current squares.  I did this before the ride was synced.

No photoshop trickery needed.

Thanks! My routes tab is empty as I generate my routes in RideWithGPS.

I once found some method of getting routes into Strava from RWGPS, but involved jiggery pokery on another route planning site to get date/time data added then importing that to Strava as a ride, then saving it as a route, then deleting the 'fake' ride in Strava. All a bit of a faff really.

With a paid Strava account, based on the above I can see that you can import a GPX created from RWGPS, and that works in Veloviewer. I've previously used Google MyMaps to closely check planned routes, but  importing into Strava I can see is a whole lot simpler.

I do it all in Basecamp with the KML of unexplored tiles from VV and routes created in RWGPS.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 09 November, 2020, 12:16:57 pm
All this is the main reason I keep paying for strava.  I actually quite like the new version of their route planning tool and being able to overlay tiles with the veloviewer plug in is a big bonus to me. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 09 November, 2020, 01:03:12 pm
I seem to be planning my DIY Audaxes purely as an excuse to venture out into unchartered tile land.

Yesterday's 200 netted me 50 new squares and upped my cluster by 96.

I went out into North Leicestershire and found some great lanes in the process.


I'm pleased that you like my back yard but you really need to sort that tile north of Thrussington!

I try to avoid doing in/out spikes so ended up on the A46 for it.  I have done a few TTs on that stretch and it never seemed that bad but it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience when I didn't 'have' to be on it.

I should have been doing a 200k up your way yesterday to grab some tiles but the general drabness of the weather killed whatever motivation I had :(
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 09 November, 2020, 01:28:06 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/rHcPRT5.png)

Three routes I've plotted - looks like I'll miss two tiles, so some adjustment required. The routes to Bath are both rather hilly.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 09 November, 2020, 01:46:49 pm
Statshunter does a better job of showing what your planned route will achieve:

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201109/b3511ed4c111ee8137a6cfc305fbfd64.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 09 November, 2020, 02:03:10 pm
I seem to be planning my DIY Audaxes purely as an excuse to venture out into unchartered tile land.

Yesterday's 200 netted me 50 new squares and upped my cluster by 96.

I went out into North Leicestershire and found some great lanes in the process.


I'm pleased that you like my back yard but you really need to sort that tile north of Thrussington!

I try to avoid doing in/out spikes so ended up on the A46 for it.  I have done a few TTs on that stretch and it never seemed that bad but it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience when I didn't 'have' to be on it.

I should have been doing a 200k up your way yesterday to grab some tiles but the general drabness of the weather killed whatever motivation I had :(
Yes, I'm well aware of that tile!  Like you, the combination of not wanting to do dead end turns and not wanting to ride on the A46 has left it unbagged so far.   It will become a much higher priority if/when it limits my max square.   
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 10 November, 2020, 07:48:58 am
I also like the Strava interface with VV plugin and again, it is probably the only reason that I pay for Strava.  you can see clearly here the yellow squares which would be gained by my planned route

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50586132066_5b51827af4_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k589EN)strava tool (https://flic.kr/p/2k589EN)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris N on 10 November, 2020, 09:29:32 am
Sub goal: collect all the accessible sections of the Fosse Way.

ALL of them?  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 10 November, 2020, 05:37:48 pm
Around here it's mostly a major road with a Roman approach to hills and a liberal assortment of "HIGH RISK CRASH ROUTE" signs.  It featured on a few of this summer's tilebagging expeditions.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 10 November, 2020, 07:53:24 pm
I also like the Strava interface with VV plugin and again, it is probably the only reason that I pay for Strava.  you can see clearly here the yellow squares which would be gained by my planned route

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50586132066_5b51827af4_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k589EN)strava tool (https://flic.kr/p/2k589EN)

Cute, but not enough for me to fork out dosh for it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 10 November, 2020, 08:02:58 pm
I download the .kml with tiles-not-yet-visited from Veloviewer, import that into Garmin's Basecamp and plan my route there. No fancy colouring of the squares the route passes through, but it's adequate.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 10 November, 2020, 08:20:46 pm
Statshunter does a better job of showing what your planned route will achieve:

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201109/b3511ed4c111ee8137a6cfc305fbfd64.jpg)


I can get the red, blue and green tiles and can suck in a GPX but how do you get the yellow tiles?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 10 November, 2020, 08:42:46 pm
Settings menu, top left of the map screen.


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201110/f16ad0ec5997dd953ed955307599e677.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 11 November, 2020, 08:10:15 am
I also like the Strava interface with VV plugin and again, it is probably the only reason that I pay for Strava.  you can see clearly here the yellow squares which would be gained by my planned route

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50586132066_5b51827af4_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k589EN)strava tool (https://flic.kr/p/2k589EN)

Cute, but not enough for me to fork out dosh for it.

Agreed.   I'm currently on a two month free trial, & for me the routeplanner is the only real subs interest - but not for £48pa.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 11 November, 2020, 09:27:50 am
I also like the Strava interface with VV plugin and again, it is probably the only reason that I pay for Strava.  you can see clearly here the yellow squares which would be gained by my planned route

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50586132066_5b51827af4_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k589EN)strava tool (https://flic.kr/p/2k589EN)

Cute, but not enough for me to fork out dosh for it.

Agreed.   I'm currently on a two month free trial, & for me the routeplanner is the only real subs interest - but not for £48pa.
Is anyone else finding the strava route planner often wants to send you down one way streets and roundabouts the wrong way ? Is there an “avoid head on collisions” setting I have missed ?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 11 November, 2020, 10:01:12 am
...
Is anyone else finding the strava route planner often wants to send you down one way streets and roundabouts the wrong way ? Is there an “avoid head on collisions” setting I have missed ?

Good spot.  Just did a quick test - it picked a route the wrong way down one-way street through middle of town.   ???
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 11 November, 2020, 10:17:05 am
...
Is anyone else finding the strava route planner often wants to send you down one way streets and roundabouts the wrong way ? Is there an “avoid head on collisions” setting I have missed ?

Good spot.  Just did a quick test - it picked a route the wrong way down one-way street through middle of town.   ???

Yes, but I live in a country where most one way streets say "uitgezonder fietsen", so it doesn't matter...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 11 November, 2020, 10:22:01 am
...
Is anyone else finding the strava route planner often wants to send you down one way streets and roundabouts the wrong way ? Is there an “avoid head on collisions” setting I have missed ?

Good spot.  Just did a quick test - it picked a route the wrong way down one-way street through middle of town.   ???

Yes, but I live in a country where most one way streets say "uitgezonder fietsen", so it doesn't matter...

J
... and with anticlockwise roundabouting too. I would have put it down to brexit confusion but it is only some roundabouts.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 11 November, 2020, 10:26:54 am
I think the anticlockwise roundabouts is where there's a path/ cyclepath?

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 11 November, 2020, 10:43:19 am
Yeah, I get the wrong way on roundabouts thing too.   Seems to happen on most of them cyclepaths or not. I've also been caught out by the wrong way street thing once too.   

Makes you wonder if the routing algorithm actually works backwards from the end of the route towards the start. 

I've never been inconvenienced by it enough though to bother raising a support ticket or owt.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 11 November, 2020, 10:43:39 am
...
Is anyone else finding the strava route planner often wants to send you down one way streets and roundabouts the wrong way ? Is there an “avoid head on collisions” setting I have missed ?

Good spot.  Just did a quick test - it picked a route the wrong way down one-way street through middle of town.   ???

To be honest, there's probably a psychological element going on here: Those that haven't paid Strava the ~£50pa want to convince themselves that the offering is bad and those that have HAVE paid, want to convince themselves they've paid for something good.

I do pay for premium, so with the caveat in mind, I will say I find the route planner (with VV addin) to be excellent for tiling rides. The underlying mapping knows about one-way streets and so will only send you down them in unusual circumstances (e.g. you force it, or if the mapping indicates a cycle lane contraflow).

When on a ride, I've never had it suggested that I go a wrong way round a roundabout - though I couldn't guarantee this is ensured in the Strava layer or it could be being patched up when Garmin translates the route into a .fit for display on the device.






Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 11 November, 2020, 10:52:38 am
...
Is anyone else finding the strava route planner often wants to send you down one way streets and roundabouts the wrong way ? Is there an “avoid head on collisions” setting I have missed ?

Good spot.  Just did a quick test - it picked a route the wrong way down one-way street through middle of town.   ???

To be honest, there's probably a psychological element going on here: Those that haven't paid Strava the ~£50pa want to convince themselves that the offering is bad and those that have HAVE paid, want to convince themselves they've paid for something good.

I do pay for premium, so with the caveat in mind, I will say I find the route planner (with VV addin) to be excellent for tiling rides. The underlying mapping knows about one-way streets and so will only send you down them in unusual circumstances (e.g. you force it, or if the mapping indicates a cycle lane contraflow).

When on a ride, I've never had it suggested that I go a wrong way round a roundabout - though I couldn't guarantee this is ensured in the Strava layer or it could be being patched up when Garmin translates the route into a .fit for display on the device.
It is definitely in the strava routing and happens pre upload to garmin and I would say it happens on about 10% of roundabouts. Some do have cycle paths near by but not always and it is routing (in blue) round the road not the path. Here is an example from last week. I have marked cycle paths in red. I was heading north. Ps I happily pay my subscription to strava.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201111/42573865ad746c2fc90a09500ce7f1d7.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 11 November, 2020, 11:02:04 am
And here is an example of a one way st with no cycle path in Bedford (I was coming from north)

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201111/ecfd20d423ff02422c9854fa4d02a7e1.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 11 November, 2020, 11:02:29 am
It is definitely in the strava routing and happens pre upload to garmin and I would say it happens on about 10% of roundabouts. Some do have cycle paths near by but not always and it is routing (in blue) round the road not the path. Here is an example from last week. I have marked cycle paths in red. I was heading north. Ps I happily pay my subscription to strava.

Yuck, that's annoying. As it happening to you in the Strava app but not me in the Garmin, I guess I am getting lucky that the fit conversion is fixing it, then.

Could raise tickets to Strava but there's a high chance they will just blame the underlying mapping rather that algo. "But it's a roundabout, of course it is one way!" is not the most easily understood argument by American developers!
 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: TimC on 11 November, 2020, 11:03:38 am
Strava is an American product, and contra-flow riding on one-way streets is common (and even encouraged) in much of the US. I’m surprised by the roundabout thing. I live in the countryside and rarely encounter them on any of my rides, but I can’t say I’ve ever encountered the issue - and I’ve been a paying member of Strava pretty much since Day 1.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 11 November, 2020, 11:10:14 am
Here's another example, this is near Syston from Sunday's square bagging route.

I was traveling west to east.  It directed me the right way on the first roundabout, and the wrong way on the second.  No cyclepaths on either. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201111/d98ca96f7361f3e57f0a303c72d87110.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 11 November, 2020, 11:18:19 am
Those roundabouts are fractionally offset.  It has given you the shortest route.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 11 November, 2020, 11:22:59 am
So does Strava use a 'walking' algorithm rather than a 'cycling' one?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 11 November, 2020, 11:33:40 am
Those roundabouts are fractionally offset.  It has given you the shortest route.
Not when you include the detour via A+E and/or police station.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 11 November, 2020, 11:35:32 am
Strava is an American product, and contra-flow riding on one-way streets is common (and even encouraged) in much of the US. I’m surprised by the roundabout thing. I live in the countryside and rarely encounter them on any of my rides, but I can’t say I’ve ever encountered the issue - and I’ve been a paying member of Strava pretty much since Day 1.
It is only since the route planner rewrite a few months back.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 11 November, 2020, 11:38:40 am
No-one seems to have a completely satisfactory cycling routing algorithm. I could not persuade Strava to do a 180 at a roundabout in Keynsham. It wanted to stop about 1/3 way round and retrace. Any attempt to make it go right around caused it to continue ahead, and then do a u-turn about 100 yards down the road.

I've realised that the fundamental limit of my home square is going to be about 40x40 because I have the Bristol Channel to the West and about 40 tiles east from there is Salisbury Plain, most of which is going to be out of bounds forever.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 11 November, 2020, 12:51:52 pm
Most Popular...  eh?

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50589236498_99331af16d.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k5p4vu)RP1 (https://flic.kr/p/2k5p4vu) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

vs, Most direct...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50590101387_dcbbf4e716.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k5tuBn)RP2 (https://flic.kr/p/2k5tuBn) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 11 November, 2020, 12:54:54 pm
It is only since the route planner rewrite a few months back.

I've not used the Strava route planner for a while but I'm sure this has always been a feature.

In fact, I think it's probably a feature of every route planner I've ever used, and I tend to force them to behave by adding in extra points. Sometimes I also turn off the 'follow route' option for sections and just draw straight lines.

Or just not bother and let it do its thing - I mean, it's not like I'm going to ride the wrong way round a roundabout just because Strava tells me to.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 11 November, 2020, 12:56:06 pm
Settings menu, top left of the map screen.


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201110/f16ad0ec5997dd953ed955307599e677.jpg)

Sorted thanks.

I was sucking in a GPX using the 'Add route to map by loading GPX file' button half way down the right hand side of the map screen.  This does add the route but doesn't colour the new tiles.  Loading a route through the top left menu/routes/upload route button means that they do get coloured in  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 11 November, 2020, 01:52:52 pm
It is only since the route planner rewrite a few months back.

I've not used the Strava route planner for a while but I'm sure this has always been a feature.

In fact, I think it's probably a feature of every route planner I've ever used, and I tend to force them to behave by adding in extra points. Sometimes I also turn off the 'follow route' option for sections and just draw straight lines.

Or just not bother and let it do its thing - I mean, it's not like I'm going to ride the wrong way round a roundabout just because Strava tells me to.
I have never encountered it before the update (apart from when doing a route reversal myself by simply reversing the points in the gpx but I can’t blame that on strava!). It is more of an issue with one way streets where it can be difficult to find your way. I think it is as someone has pointed out above to do with the popularity routing ignoring direction as the heat map is directionless.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 11 November, 2020, 05:28:53 pm
I like Statshunters but I have noticed that it sometimes misses tiles like the one in the middle of this area:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50590027663_43b217bbfc.jpg)

It seems to use simplified track similar to VV but zooming in shows that I did cross through the tile - but only just:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50590891352_3ae2b175ca_w.jpg)

The more detailed view from VV shows I definitely bagged it:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50590891382_ec9e53f97c_w.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 11 November, 2020, 05:57:31 pm
I like Statshunters but I have noticed that it sometimes misses tiles like the one in the middle of this area:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50590027663_43b217bbfc.jpg)

It seems to use simplified track similar to VV but zooming in shows that I did cross through the tile - but only just:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50590891352_3ae2b175ca_w.jpg)

The more detailed view from VV shows I definitely bagged it:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50590891382_ec9e53f97c_w.jpg)

Behind the scenes, if you let an app like VV or StatsHunter have access to your activities, the app can use the Strava API to get two different "representations" of the ride. They both use the same Google polyline format, but the first one is a minimal rough cut and the second one is a complete one that really follows every contour of where you went.

The first one is obviously much smaller in terms of data to copy/store/process. VV uses the first one initially, and it can get your tiles wrong if you just clip the edge of a tile. This is where the advice to click into the ride details comes from - if you do that that VV loads the second more detailed form.

I have loads of holes in my StatsHunter max square too - I am pretty sure it only uses the first form, unfortunately.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 11 November, 2020, 06:15:12 pm
Statshunter can download the detailed track on request.  It did this for me but still misses the tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 11 November, 2020, 06:24:40 pm
So it can!

I asked it to improve the precicision of the offending ride and it now credits me with the tile :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 11 November, 2020, 06:25:50 pm
So it can!

I asked it to improve the precicision of the offending ride and it now credits me with the tile :)

Ha, I'm just disappearing down this rabbit hole of ride updating too ... thanks simonp.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 11 November, 2020, 07:07:40 pm
So it can!

I asked it to improve the precicision of the offending ride and it now credits me with the tile :)

Ha, I'm just disappearing down this rabbit hole of ride updating too ... thanks simonp.

So this worked for about 90% of the holes, but two of them remained stubbornly unfilled - including one I have clipped three times riding along the same road! I'm now worried that if clicked the detail view of those rides in VV, I will lose the squares there too... I had better go back to them :-).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 11 November, 2020, 10:07:04 pm
I've seen a lot of widdershins roundabouting by the Strava route planner, which I attributed to USAnian developers not understanding  a) what a roundabout was  or  b) that we ride on the left side of the road.

A bigger issue is that it has no clear understanding of whether a given track is cycleable or a footpath.  I accept that that's an NP-hard problem, and the mapping will always have inaccuracies, but it seems particularly bad at sending you on a helpful shortcut over a stile and through a muddy field with a 25% gradient and wandering cows when there's a perfectly good road route that's 100m longer.

But the tiles thing is handy.  I use the route as a guide for plotting in Basecamp (or if there's non-trivial off-road, it gets tidied up in ridewithgps), so I tend to discover most of this from the comfort of my computer.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 11 November, 2020, 10:13:13 pm
I've seen a lot of widdershins roundabouting by the Strava route planner, which I attributed to USAnian developers not understanding  a) what a roundabout was  or  b) that we ride on the left side of the road.

We get the fair share of Turnwise roundabouting too... I think the strava developers are just slightly misguided, Same as they think its acceptable to remove stations from the default map render. My attempt to log this as a bug has been met with them basically being unable to understand what I'm actually asking for...

Quote
A bigger issue is that it has no clear understanding of whether a given track is cycleable or a footpath.  I accept that that's an NP-hard problem, and the mapping will always have inaccuracies, but it seems particularly bad at sending you on a helpful shortcut over a stile and through a muddy field with a 25% gradient and wandering cows when there's a perfectly good road route that's 100m longer.

Well yes, but surely that's just down to how it's classed in OSM?

My bigger issue is there's no "avoid stairs" feature, which I didn't think I'd need to request of a cycle route planner, but I've now had to log as a feature request in Komoot, Strava, and RidewithGPS...

Quote
But the tiles thing is handy.  I use the route as a guide for plotting in Basecamp (or if there's non-trivial off-road, it gets tidied up in ridewithgps), so I tend to discover most of this from the comfort of my computer.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 12 November, 2020, 09:33:03 am
Ah ha. I have some further insight with a little experimenting. Popularity routing can tip the balance in favour of going the wrong way, but also avoiding trunk roads.

If you look on my example it is trying to avoid the A312 that has leaked onto the roundabout in the underlying map data. The fix would be to ignore say the last 5 metres of trunk roads.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201112/bd69099f202614dfe0444fe291792f33.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 12 November, 2020, 12:26:39 pm
... and I have just received an email from Wandrer.earth to tell me that:

Quote
You're the monthly leader for new miles in Solihull, West Midlands, Birmingham, and West Midlands Combined Authority during October!

It makes it all worthwhile  ::-)

I'd never heard of Wandrer so yesterday I had a look, and signed up (and paid! ). Now having pulled in all my 6 years' of Strava rides, I'm #1 in Cornwall (and #30 in the world!).
I thought I'd done all the roads in Cornwall, but of course i've only done the rural ones. That's only 46% (according to Wandrer) of all the roads in the county. But do I really want to cycle every street in every town?  :-\
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 12 November, 2020, 12:28:46 pm
Ah ha. I have some further insight with a little experimenting. Popularity routing can tip the balance in favour of going the wrong way, but also avoiding trunk roads.

Presumably popularity gets skewed by people mostly going in the other direction...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 12 November, 2020, 01:37:36 pm
Ah ha. I have some further insight with a little experimenting. Popularity routing can tip the balance in favour of going the wrong way, but also avoiding trunk roads.

Presumably popularity gets skewed by people mostly going in the other direction...
Yes indeed, I don’t think the heat map takes into account direction.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 12 November, 2020, 01:52:08 pm
I was a longtime Paid up Strava member and advocate of the route planner, loved it......then they improved it. It ground my average PC to a crawl and the routing just got so much worse. lost my vote and cash.
i have really enjoyed using Brouter this year, it has taken me on some great new adventures  :D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 12 November, 2020, 04:47:00 pm
While playing with Garmin Connect IQ to look at Group Track on the 530, I spotted there is a VeloViewer "Every Tile" app clicky (https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/e53331b6-55db-475a-99e9-3f567327e7ce).

(https://services.garmin.com/appsLibraryBusinessServices_v0/rest/apps/e53331b6-55db-475a-99e9-3f567327e7ce/screenshots/00fabdb8-2f74-4d6a-904d-de23f2492563)

Not all of my rides are pre-planned explorer tiles rides, so to have this screen available rather than check the Explorer Helper App on my phone is handy. Been downloaded 358 times and has a 4 star review. It had a version update in July this year. There is another one called "Tile Explorer" but that hasn't been updated since 2018 and only downloaded 78 times.

Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 12 November, 2020, 04:51:17 pm
While playing with Garmin Connect IQ to look at Group Track on the 530, I spotted there is a VeloViewer "Every Tile" app clicky (https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/e53331b6-55db-475a-99e9-3f567327e7ce).

(https://services.garmin.com/appsLibraryBusinessServices_v0/rest/apps/e53331b6-55db-475a-99e9-3f567327e7ce/screenshots/00fabdb8-2f74-4d6a-904d-de23f2492563)

Not all of my rides are pre-planned explorer tiles rides, so to have this screen available rather than check the Explorer Helper App on my phone is handy. Been downloaded 358 times and has a 4 star review. It had a version update in July this year. There is another one called "Tile Explorer" but that hasn't been updated since 2018 and only downloaded 78 times.
I wonder who the other 77 are. I just use it for checking when I have reached a tile when on a dead end and don’t want to travel further than necessary.
Edit: my mistake I am on the more popular everytile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 12 November, 2020, 05:08:45 pm
My new Garmin has IQ capability. I think you might have just answered the “What’s the point?” question. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 12 November, 2020, 05:12:57 pm
Nah, the point is so you can sync routes with the Ridewith GPS app.
This app is more limited than the 'phone app.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 13 November, 2020, 08:57:01 pm
Increased the max square for the first time in ages by bagging some awkward tiles near Oldmeldrum. It's now at 20. I don't think it's going to be increased much beyond that. Cluster now 1626.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solivagant on 14 November, 2020, 09:39:17 pm
I like Statshunters but I have noticed that it sometimes misses tiles like the one in the middle of this area:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50590027663_43b217bbfc.jpg)

It seems to use simplified track similar to VV but zooming in shows that I did cross through the tile - but only just:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50590891352_3ae2b175ca_w.jpg)

The more detailed view from VV shows I definitely bagged it:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50590891382_ec9e53f97c_w.jpg)

Behind the scenes, if you let an app like VV or StatsHunter have access to your activities, the app can use the Strava API to get two different "representations" of the ride. They both use the same Google polyline format, but the first one is a minimal rough cut and the second one is a complete one that really follows every contour of where you went.

The first one is obviously much smaller in terms of data to copy/store/process. VV uses the first one initially, and it can get your tiles wrong if you just clip the edge of a tile. This is where the advice to click into the ride details comes from - if you do that that VV loads the second more detailed form.

I have loads of holes in my StatsHunter max square too - I am pretty sure it only uses the first form, unfortunately.

(https://i.ibb.co/MVgJx4B/Statshunters2.jpg)

If you click on the ride in Statshunters it gives you a few options, one of which is to 'update activity precision'. Much the same as in VV I do this after every ride now and it's worked for me so far.

As an example I've shown what I assume is PeeJay & JonBuoy's Thrussington tile, it's down to individual preference or your own 'set of rules' if you like but I've got no qualms with doing a u turn to bag a tile and avoid a dual carriageway.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 15 November, 2020, 09:28:48 pm
Went for a walk on the Isle of Sheppey this afternoon. Lucked out with the weather - we arrived at our starting point just as a three hour window of fine autumnal sunshine opened in between the bouts of heavy rain.

While tile-bagging was not the primary goal of the outing, it would have been remiss not to take the opportunity to fill in a few gaps. But annoyingly, I failed to get one that I'd targeted. It can only be reached by a spur path that leads to the tip of Shellness, at the farthest end of Sheppey (as in farthest from the sole access point to the island), so is pretty awkward to get to. Our starting point was the parking area by the entrance to the Shellness gated community and before we headed off on the main part of the walk across the marshes to Harty Ferry, I'd planned to nip along the path far enough to enter the tile in question, but there was a barrier across the entrance to the path and a notice saying it was closed because of bird breeding (the area is within an RSPB reserve). But surely they're not breeding in mid November? ???

Anyway, I could easily have vaulted over the barrier but the path was looking extremely boggy with the kind of puddles in which you risk losing footwear, so I decided to leave it to the end of the walk and see if I felt like giving it a go then. But by the time we got back to the car, the heavens had opened again so I gave it a miss... disappointing. But it was a lovely walk none the less.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50606885237_cb4755726d_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k6XvS6)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 15 November, 2020, 09:36:28 pm
Bunch of tiles around Shepton Mallet today. Square unchanged.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 17 November, 2020, 07:30:47 pm

Had an amazing ride today. There are 3 tiles with no road access that require walking across farmers fields. I didn't want to do these on my own, and wanted to take a Dutch speaking friend. Fortunately I two Dutch friends who also have a tile addiction, needed the same tiles. So I rode 37km out to meet them, we then walked through the field to get the first two, then rode another 35km or so together to bag some more tiles, then after they headed back to their cars, I went and grabbed the 3rd tile. Everyone has said it's easy, the gate is open, walk into the field, done.

Gate was shut and well tied to make it closed. As i was inspecting this, I heard a loud clang from a nearby farm. I wandered over to find the farmer tidying up. He spoke good English, I explained what I was upto, and asked if I could ride through the farm yard, then turn round. He said yes. I thanked him profusely, and proceeded to ride past the loud dog, out the other end of the yard, check I was in the tile, and then turn round. That's got the hardest tiles of the area.

Cluster up a little, no difference to max square, but it does mean that I can push the square straight south, so I don't need to move it east to make it bigger, as I had feared.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnC4meXXUAAeFrx?format=jpg&name=large)

Cluster now reaches the edge of Bodegraven.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 17 November, 2020, 07:40:17 pm
I wandered over to find the farmer tidying up. He spoke good English, I explained what I was upto, and asked if I could ride through the farm yard, then turn round. He said yes. I thanked him profusely, and proceeded to ride past the loud dog, out the other end of the yard, check I was in the tile, and then turn round.

 :thumbsup:

I wonder if British farmers would be so accommodating. There are a couple of awkward tiles on Sheppey that are only accessibly via farm tracks and they have threatening signs at the entrance, so I'm not sure I'd want to find out - although a couple of them are actually marked on the OS maps as public footpaths or permissive byways, so the farmers in question are being very naughty.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 18 November, 2020, 11:02:40 am
It depends. If you're polite, generally farmers are OK.

Permissive Byways are just that- by permission. Which can be withdrawn.

I've got holes in my paramo from crawling under/over/through barbed wire on what the OS defined as a footpath which was invisible on the ground.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 18 November, 2020, 11:20:31 am
Permissive Byways are just that- by permission. Which can be withdrawn.

Of course. I was thinking the 'permissive' part applies to who is allowed to use them but I'm just confused.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 18 November, 2020, 12:34:37 pm
I explained what I was up to

I've often wondered how I might explain this to the layperson. Up until now I have always avoided it when out and about, so for instance when I did a detour from a mixed use path to grab a square near to a small river, when I got back on the mixed use path again and had to re-pass a walker I had previously spoken to, I just said I had been down to see the river. At other times when I have doubled back on a bridlepath having acquired a square, I've said I'm just out exploring. I guess the latter is true enough!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 18 November, 2020, 12:37:23 pm
I explained what I was up to

I've often wondered how I might explain this to the layperson. Up until now I have always avoided it when out and about, so for instance when I did a detour from a mixed use path to grab a square near to a small river, when I got back on the mixed use path again and had to re-pass a walker I had previously spoken to, I just said I had been down to see the river. At other times when I have doubled back on a bridlepath having acquired a square, I've said I'm just out exploring. I guess the latter is true enough!

I had the app on my phone, i showed him the where the tile boundary is, and how it's about visiting every bit of the country.

Generally if you end up where you shouldn't "fucking google maps" seems to work in multiple languages. Certainly saved my arse at least twice.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 18 November, 2020, 12:38:46 pm
I had to try to explain this to security at a former RAF Barracks (Javelin) in Brüggen. In German.

They sounded vaguely interested and I got my tile - just!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 18 November, 2020, 12:40:01 pm
Remind sme I should probably try to claim the tile using the foreshore at mod Leuchars before it gets more difficult for me.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 18 November, 2020, 12:40:38 pm
I had to try to explain this to security at a former RAF Barracks (Javelin) in Brüggen. In German.

They sounded vaguely interested and I got my tile - just!

I had the issue of arriving on the wrong side of a security barrier at Schiphol. "fucking google maps" was all I said, and they opened the gate and let me out...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 18 November, 2020, 02:41:31 pm
I explained what I was up to

I've often wondered how I might explain this to the layperson. Up until now I have always avoided it when out and about, so for instance when I did a detour from a mixed use path to grab a square near to a small river, when I got back on the mixed use path again and had to re-pass a walker I had previously spoken to, I just said I had been down to see the river. At other times when I have doubled back on a bridlepath having acquired a square, I've said I'm just out exploring. I guess the latter is true enough!

"I'm trying to visit every grid square on the map" seems to suffice.  You don't need to get into the details of OSM and Strava and Veloviewer for people to understand that as a concept for making solo bike rides more interesting.  If they assume you mean the OS grid, as BRITONS who are old or outdoorsy enough to understand proper maps are inclined to, that doesn't matter.

And yes, if someone catches you somewhere dubious, blaming Google or Garmin usually works.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 18 November, 2020, 03:01:00 pm
"Fleeing from the lava, his satnav pleading thus:
I'm not from round here, mate, you should have caught the bus"
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 18 November, 2020, 03:04:39 pm
I explained what I was up to

I've often wondered how I might explain this to the layperson. Up until now I have always avoided it when out and about, so for instance when I did a detour from a mixed use path to grab a square near to a small river, when I got back on the mixed use path again and had to re-pass a walker I had previously spoken to, I just said I had been down to see the river. At other times when I have doubled back on a bridlepath having acquired a square, I've said I'm just out exploring. I guess the latter is true enough!

"I'm trying to visit every grid square on the map" seems to suffice.  You don't need to get into the details of OSM and Strava and Veloviewer for people to understand that as a concept for making solo bike rides more interesting.  If they assume you mean the OS grid, as BRITONS who are old or outdoorsy enough to understand proper maps are inclined to, that doesn't matter.

And yes, if someone catches you somewhere dubious, blaming Google or Garmin usually works.
I say “each square mile” ( as that is what they nearly are ).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 18 November, 2020, 03:45:43 pm
Remind sme I should probably try to claim the tile using the foreshore at mod Leuchars before it gets more difficult for me.

We have our eyes on the same tile...  The heatmap shows that it can be accessed from the East- maybe best on foot.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 19 November, 2020, 11:16:01 am
Generally if you end up where you shouldn't "fucking google maps" seems to work in multiple languages. Certainly saved my arse at least twice.
"my GPS directed me here" is my standby excuse (that I didn't have to use yet). Never mind I had to lift my bike over a 3 foot high barrier to get here  ;D (as happened last weekend to get 2 coastal tiles East of Eemshaven, I'm sure Slugbait knows the ones I'm talking about  8))
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 19 November, 2020, 12:01:12 pm
In Essex I've used a couple of farm tracks (https://goo.gl/maps/52vbcFnWLdSgnoK6A) (with no gates etc) to get a few squares, only going as far as the tile edge and then straight back to the public road.

"I took a wrong turn" would have been plausible but there was nobody around for miles anyway.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 19 November, 2020, 03:06:44 pm
"my GPS directed me here" is my standby excuse (that I didn't have to use yet). Never mind I had to lift my bike over a 3 foot high barrier to get here  ;D (as happened last weekend to get 2 coastal tiles East of Eemshaven, I'm sure Slugbait knows the ones I'm talking about  8))

Um, I have one question.

Why the fuck are you using feet as a unit of measure? I thought you were Dutch?!?!!!

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 19 November, 2020, 04:10:08 pm
(https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/436/943/93f.jpg)

 :P
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 19 November, 2020, 04:10:25 pm
Just narking resident geeks  ;D

(and having the misconception that the UK was still fully imperial on measurements, but according to wikipedia "In schools metric units are taught and used as the norm." so there's hope for ye yet)

Anyway, as long as precision is not required (ie 90cm being good enough for 3 feet) I can do inches, feet, yards, miles and pounds easy enough. Don't ask me to do furlongs and stones though...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 19 November, 2020, 04:41:34 pm
,,, according to wikipedia "In schools metric units are taught and used as the norm."

Anybody entering the school system in the UK from about 1971 would not have touched the archaic measuring scales, at least during their secondary school period onwards. The original intention was to transition to a metric system, but somewhere along the way that didn't quite happen.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 19 November, 2020, 05:36:23 pm
Indeed.  I was born in 1979, and my official education was pure metric, other than literary references and the occasional unit conversion as a suitable basis for a maths question.

Imperial units are alive and well in domain-specific contexts (it's still a 30mph speed limit, or a 0.1" pin header, or a 1500mm length of 2x4), and the minds of Older People, so most of us achieved varying levels of fluency with the common ones.  I seem to have been unusually resistant to measuring the height and weight of human beings in imperial.  I mean, sure, 6ft means tall, but I've no idea what a stone is or what a healthy baby should weigh in pounds.  I can however easily add the weight of my bike and body together to achieve something meaningful.

I'm bilingual in Fahrenheit, but only for body temperatures: Medical parents.

I spend a lot of time on the bike converting miles to kilometres and back.  I measure speed in miles/hour, and UK road signs are in miles.  But on bike and foot I navigate in kilometres like any right-thinking child of the 80s.  I'd quite like a car SatNav to be able to do speed and distance estimates in miles, but use metres for turn prompts, but it's not really an issue in practice as 'yards' are synonymous for those purposes.


Basically it's a mess.  But I think most Brits are happy to use metric when it gets vaguely technical, in a way that USAnians seem more resistant to.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 19 November, 2020, 05:58:16 pm
a 1500mm length of 2x4

2x4 isn't actually 2x4, though - it's a purely nominal measurement.

For that matter, pints and miles are strictly nominal measurements these days as well, defined by reference to SI units.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 19 November, 2020, 05:59:59 pm
(https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/436/943/93f.jpg)

 :P

Seriously? I'm the worst person you know?

I'm so pleased, you know only nice people. Lucky sod...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 19 November, 2020, 06:05:50 pm

I spend a lot of time on the bike converting miles to kilometres and back. 

I definitely swing both ways on the bike when it comes to measurements .

Especially counting down the distance to go on a long ride... “20 miles to go... 30kms to go... 15miles... 20kms... 10miles... 15kms... 10kms... 5 miles... 5kms...” .... means the little victories come a little more often!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 19 November, 2020, 07:30:15 pm
Just narking resident geeks  ;D

Troll :p

Quote

(and having the misconception that the UK was still fully imperial on measurements, but according to wikipedia "In schools metric units are taught and used as the norm." so there's hope for ye yet)

Anyway, as long as precision is not required (ie 90cm being good enough for 3 feet) I can do inches, feet, yards, miles and pounds easy enough. Don't ask me to do furlongs and stones though...

<contentious view>The UK is a metric country, anyone claiming otherwise is probably some brain dead gammon... </contentious view>

For most purposes we can treat a yard and a meter as the same thing, it's just easier to say "hundred yards" than it is to say "hundred meters" In your case the 3' fence is basically a 1m fence...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 19 November, 2020, 07:50:32 pm
Actually, for me there is a substantial difference between a 1 yard fence and a 1 meter one: the first one I can step over (on the tip of my toes) whereas I cannot with the other.

Oh, and I do notice a fair amount of usage of imperial units in this forum... :D

Anyways, our beloved squares are neither in metric kilometers nor in imperial miles (well, not in "nice" numbers anyway). They're not even all the same size I just learned...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 19 November, 2020, 08:14:58 pm
Anyways, our beloved squares are neither in metric kilometers nor in imperial miles (well, not in "nice" numbers anyway). They're not even all the same size I just learned...

Aren't they canonically in pixels?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 20 November, 2020, 09:34:46 am
For most purposes we can treat a yard and a meter as the same thing, it's just easier to say "hundred yards" than it is to say "hundred meters" In your case the 3' fence is basically a 1m fence...
Roads Engineer here - fun fact, when you get a warning sign with a "100 yards" plate or whatever, the regulations require it to be placed 100m from the thing ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 November, 2020, 09:50:17 am
Actually, for me there is a substantial difference between a 1 yard fence and a 1 meter one: the first one I can step over (on the tip of my toes) whereas I cannot with the other.

True, but for the purposes of describing it. I climbed over a 1m fence the other day, and a 1.5m gate. I don't know if those are the right numbers, but they are close enough for you to get the idea...

Quote
Oh, and I do notice a fair amount of usage of imperial units in this forum... :D

Well yes, there are a couple of reasons for this.

a) old farts

b) ignorance in thinking gear inches is a useful way of conveying gear size, when clearly MoD is a more useful unit, and gain is even more useful as it takes into account crank length. When ever I have mentioned this, I usually get flamed to hell and back. Cos apparently the best way to measure gears, is to compare it to the diameter of the big wheel of a penny farthing, and not, something as useful as "if I turn my pedals one revolution, I go x distance"

But then, as has been established, I am the worst person some people on here know. I am an idiot, and I am wrong. So take this all with a pinch of salt (slice of lemon, and a shot of tequila)

Quote
Anyways, our beloved squares are neither in metric kilometers nor in imperial miles (well, not in "nice" numbers anyway). They're not even all the same size I just learned...

Nope, due to the wonder that is conveying the surface of a sphere, on a flat surface. I Wonder, does this make it harder or easier, for someone living in say the far north?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 20 November, 2020, 11:23:54 am

Quote
Anyways, our beloved squares are neither in metric kilometers nor in imperial miles (well, not in "nice" numbers anyway). They're not even all the same size I just learned...

Nope, due to the wonder that is conveying the surface of a sphere, on a flat surface. I Wonder, does this make it harder or easier, for someone living in say the far north?

Easier, but only E/W distance shrinks as you go more Northern (assuming you're in the Northern hemisphere to begin with). The N/S distance of each tile should be the same. (I think, I'm pretty sure...)

Note that E/W distances of each tile aren't the same at the top and bottom of the tiles. The E/W distance will be slightly shorter on the side closer to the nearest pole.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: slugbait on 20 November, 2020, 11:59:06 am
"my GPS directed me here" is my standby excuse (that I didn't have to use yet). Never mind I had to lift my bike over a 3 foot high barrier to get here  ;D (as happened last weekend to get 2 coastal tiles East of Eemshaven, I'm sure Slugbait knows the ones I'm talking about  8))

Of course, but I'm waiting to bag those tiles when the road along the dyke is open again. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 20 November, 2020, 12:15:07 pm

Quote
Anyways, our beloved squares are neither in metric kilometers nor in imperial miles (well, not in "nice" numbers anyway). They're not even all the same size I just learned...

Nope, due to the wonder that is conveying the surface of a sphere, on a flat surface. I Wonder, does this make it harder or easier, for someone living in say the far north?

Easier, but only E/W distance shrinks as you go more Northern (assuming you're in the Northern hemisphere to begin with). The N/S distance of each tile should be the same. (I think, I'm pretty sure...)

Note that E/W distances of each tile aren't the same at the top and bottom of the tiles. The E/W distance will be slightly shorter on the side closer to the nearest pole.

You are right. The tile "height" is always about 1.4km. The tile "width" varies from 2.4km on the equator down to as little as 200m at the edge of the tiled area (which is actually about 85 degrees N/S, not the poles). RET.com has some expanded info on this at https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/how_big_is_a_tile
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 20 November, 2020, 12:40:30 pm
You are right. The tile "height" is always about 1.4km. The tile "width" varies from 2.4km on the equator down to as little as 200m at the edge of the tiled area (which is actually about 85 degrees N/S, not the poles). RET.com has some expanded info on this at https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/how_big_is_a_tile

Presumably the tiles at the North Pole are triangular. And if you took your Garmin, you could bag a whole lot of tiles very quickly.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 20 November, 2020, 12:52:11 pm
You are right. The tile "height" is always about 1.4km. The tile "width" varies from 2.4km on the equator down to as little as 200m at the edge of the tiled area (which is actually about 85 degrees N/S, not the poles). RET.com has some expanded info on this at https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/how_big_is_a_tile

Presumably the tiles at the North Pole are triangular. And if you took your Garmin, you could bag a whole lot of tiles very quickly.

That would be awesome! Unfortunately there is a problem.  All the major mapping sites (OSM, Google Maps, others) use the same "Web Mercator" system for showing maps, which essentially stops at 85deg N/S. This effectively means there are no tiles near the poles :(. Try zooming in north of Svalbard in Google maps, eventually you find a limit.

It also makes me wonder if consumer GPS like Garmins work well at the poles? Fewer satellites there...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 20 November, 2020, 01:14:25 pm
This effectively means there are no tiles near the poles :(

Boo!

That's next year's trip cancelled.

ETA: just did a quick calculation - if the tiles are 2.4km wide at the equator, that means the circumference of the earth is ~16,700 tiles. Such a shame they don't go all the way to the poles - that would be one hell of a tilebagging trip.  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 20 November, 2020, 02:42:02 pm
Ref imperial vs metric; if a recipe offers both grams and ounces I always use ounces, even though that means changing the weighing machine which we have set to default to grams. Probably because I learned to bake with my mother and she always used ounces, and we had old recipes from her mother which were only in ounces.



Also the numbers are smaller.

On topic, I really need to do a new screenshot for this thread as I have slowly been picking off tiles here and there.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 20 November, 2020, 05:19:27 pm
ETA: just did a quick calculation - if the tiles are 2.4km wide at the equator, that means the circumference of the earth is ~16,700 tiles.

Yup, your calculation is close... there are 16,384 tiles around the earth. This is a power of 2 ( 16384 = 2*2*....*2*2 fourteen times) and comes about because tiles are created by starting with one massive tile that covers almost all the earth and then repeatedly splitting into four equal sub-tiles - i.e. each zoom level has four times as many tiles as the previous one.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: hugovk on 22 November, 2020, 06:07:32 pm
I made a calculator, you can use it to work out how big an explorer tile is at your latitude:

https://hugovk.github.io/tiles/

I first head about tiling in April, was on 8x8, now up to 19x19!

(https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1324225/99911431-12e0c300-2cfd-11eb-8658-721fc991c30a.png)(https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1324225/99911454-30ae2800-2cfd-11eb-9d24-ae7a052e0df3.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 22 November, 2020, 06:25:33 pm
Remind sme I should probably try to claim the tile using the foreshore at mod Leuchars before it gets more difficult for me.

We have our eyes on the same tile...  The heatmap shows that it can be accessed from the East- maybe best on foot.
There's a small park just off the road, I think only need to walk a bit beyond that to claim, unlike the east tile don't think would need to walk the foreshore. Still not been back along since I first explored and missed crossing into the tile...

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: slugbait on 22 November, 2020, 07:25:37 pm
I made a calculator, you can use it to work out how big an explorer tile is at your latitude:

https://hugovk.github.io/tiles/


Nice tool, but the default 60.2 degrees is quite northern (it makes me feel that at 53.2 degrees, I live in the deep south). For the imperial guys: at a latitude of 48.9 your squares are almost exactly 1 mile ;-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Chris S on 22 November, 2020, 10:26:57 pm
I liken the Imperial vs Metric debate to the Brexit "debate" (yeah, there really wasn't one - I realise that). Is there actually any benefit in brexit imperial over metric?

No. Of course there fucking isn't.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 22 November, 2020, 11:26:51 pm
I had an upset stomach yesterday so missed my indoor workout. Which left me down on hours, so I decided to pick one of my longer tile bagging routes, and I added a bit to it, to get a few more tiles.

Before:

(https://i.imgur.com/6HS6IWs.png)

After:

(https://i.imgur.com/Rx9Stlf.png)

This one again doesn't increase the square - max cluster up to 624 now.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 22 November, 2020, 11:51:59 pm
...This one again doesn't increase the square - max cluster up to 624 now.

Welcome to my tile bagging world  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 23 November, 2020, 12:35:15 am
I liken the Imperial vs Metric debate to the Brexit "debate" (yeah, there really wasn't one - I realise that). Is there actually any benefit in brexit imperial over metric?

No. Of course there fucking isn't.

And yet it remains extremely popular with Old People and those who rarely have anything to do with SCIENCE...  Good analogy.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Salvatore on 23 November, 2020, 11:02:05 am
I made a calculator, you can use it to work out how big an explorer tile is at your latitude:

https://hugovk.github.io/tiles/


Nice tool, but the default 60.2 degrees is quite northern (it makes me feel that at 53.2 degrees, I live in the deep south). For the imperial guys: at a latitude of 48.9 your squares are almost exactly 1 mile ;-)

For hugovk it is neither north not south, it's home.

The narrowest tile I've visited is 0.80 km wide. I rode all the way (apart from ferries) to get there, so I reckon I deserved a few 'easy' ones.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Salvatore on 23 November, 2020, 11:18:00 am
Ref imperial vs metric; if a recipe offers both grams and ounces I always use ounces, even though that means changing the weighing machine which we have set to default to grams. Probably because I learned to bake with my mother and she always used ounces, and we had old recipes from her mother which were only in ounces.


When touring in Ireland many years ago, one of our group was so taken with the brown bread we were given  at breakfast that in our last B & B in Killarney he asked for the recipe. The proprietor wrote it down for him, and the quantities were 'a handful of' this, a 'good handful of'  that 'a fair amount, but not too much' of the other. I imagine she'd been taught by her mother, and had made a batch every morning for decades, so could tell how much was needed just by looking at it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 23 November, 2020, 03:31:00 pm
Whoop whoop 50x50 (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201123/11c26d7db0c4f552e5ccb1f74f01c91f.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 23 November, 2020, 03:39:12 pm
For most purposes we can treat a yard and a meter as the same thing, it's just easier to say "hundred yards" than it is to say "hundred meters" In your case the 3' fence is basically a 1m fence...
Roads Engineer here - fun fact, when you get a warning sign with a "100 yards" plate or whatever, the regulations require it to be placed 100m from the thing ;)

Do you have a link to the regs for this?

Thanks

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 23 November, 2020, 03:57:44 pm
...This one again doesn't increase the square - max cluster up to 624 now.

Welcome to my tile bagging world  :)

I feel your pain. Though now I have the option to do one more ride to increase the square.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 24 November, 2020, 03:38:38 pm
For most purposes we can treat a yard and a meter as the same thing, it's just easier to say "hundred yards" than it is to say "hundred meters" In your case the 3' fence is basically a 1m fence...
Roads Engineer here - fun fact, when you get a warning sign with a "100 yards" plate or whatever, the regulations require it to be placed 100m from the thing ;)

Do you have a link to the regs for this?

Thanks

J
Oooh, now you're asking - it's been a while!
I did think it was in the TSRGD directions for the plate, but doesn't seem to be. Maybe it was a DMRB one, in which case it would only be guidance and not regulations.....
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 25 November, 2020, 10:04:12 am

Quote
Anyways, our beloved squares are neither in metric kilometers nor in imperial miles (well, not in "nice" numbers anyway). They're not even all the same size I just learned...

Nope, due to the wonder that is conveying the surface of a sphere, on a flat surface. I Wonder, does this make it harder or easier, for someone living in say the far north?

Easier, but only E/W distance shrinks as you go more Northern (assuming you're in the Northern hemisphere to begin with). The N/S distance of each tile should be the same. (I think, I'm pretty sure...)

Note that E/W distances of each tile aren't the same at the top and bottom of the tiles. The E/W distance will be slightly shorter on the side closer to the nearest pole.

You are right. The tile "height" is always about 1.4km. The tile "width" varies from 2.4km on the equator down to as little as 200m at the edge of the tiled area (which is actually about 85 degrees N/S, not the poles). RET.com has some expanded info on this at https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/how_big_is_a_tile

Surely they are always square in size  8)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 25 November, 2020, 10:06:57 am
Whoop whoop 50x50 (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201123/11c26d7db0c4f552e5ccb1f74f01c91f.jpg)

Nice one, you'll soon be tearing your hair out in the Fens  :facepalm: hard work there.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 25 November, 2020, 09:36:52 pm

Quote
Anyways, our beloved squares are neither in metric kilometers nor in imperial miles (well, not in "nice" numbers anyway). They're not even all the same size I just learned...

Nope, due to the wonder that is conveying the surface of a sphere, on a flat surface. I Wonder, does this make it harder or easier, for someone living in say the far north?

Easier, but only E/W distance shrinks as you go more Northern (assuming you're in the Northern hemisphere to begin with). The N/S distance of each tile should be the same. (I think, I'm pretty sure...)

Note that E/W distances of each tile aren't the same at the top and bottom of the tiles. The E/W distance will be slightly shorter on the side closer to the nearest pole.

You are right. The tile "height" is always about 1.4km. The tile "width" varies from 2.4km on the equator down to as little as 200m at the edge of the tiled area (which is actually about 85 degrees N/S, not the poles). RET.com has some expanded info on this at https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/how_big_is_a_tile

Surely they are always square in size  8)

Well, they are pretty close to square at any rate. I updated that page to be a bit more accurate when by brain stopped farting instead of thinking!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 26 November, 2020, 12:01:43 am
Tonight, I decided I couldn't face 2h30 of z2 on the turbo, Batman or no Batman.

Before:

(https://i.imgur.com/mnkNDdv.png)

After:

(https://i.imgur.com/KzB1fvl.png)

This wasn't ever going to increase my max square, but brings cluster up to 647. The leg down the Huntspill river looked like it might be an issue: there's a sign (on Streeview anyway) saying gate closed after 4.30pm. And also at weekends. But I got there at 8pm or so and it was wide open, no issue.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 29 November, 2020, 06:57:27 pm
Tidied up one of my false positives today - I suppose there is an advantage to that, annoying though it was, as I can still make progress with shorter rides (80 km today).

Cluster is now at 5204, square still at 44x44 and I'm not expecting that to change until spring when I can try and take my bike around Three Peaks country.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 29 November, 2020, 08:39:16 pm
I dream of 44. My 80 mile ride today should have got 20. Will update later. Bike is getting very muddy.

The route:

(https://i.imgur.com/idg2mNB.png)

740 cluster, 20x20 max square. Now once again it's going to take multiple rides to make the square bigger.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 30 November, 2020, 04:21:53 pm
The tricky Grain/Sheerness Tile
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50664819583_8998a5dc8f_b.jpg)

I rode out to Sheerness on Saturday. Glad to report that it is easy to walk along the beach to get this tile as long as the tide is out. 
It is quite an impressive view too
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50664647593_f4d08ee6f5_z.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50665412301_283a27315d_k.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 30 November, 2020, 06:35:24 pm
The tricky Grain/Sheerness Tile

Good work!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 30 November, 2020, 07:16:57 pm
Wondering if that would work for the Avonmouth docks.

Have there been any tile bagging fatalities yet?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 01 December, 2020, 10:03:30 pm
I've set my own (soft) limits on what cliff scrambling I will be going to go for....  O:-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 02 December, 2020, 09:28:15 am
I need to do a 175km* explore to Buckingham area to get ~50 new tiles & 39x39.   So it's probably going to be a while before this get's done.

*80km, if I do a 'drive n ride'.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 04 December, 2020, 05:10:17 pm
Just curious, are there any iOS / iPhone apps that are useful for tile bagging?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 December, 2020, 01:08:13 am
If you view the ride in question on VeloViewer and look at the tiles that it is credited with I think that you owe Mr van Kamp an apology.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50194628767_53cbe33aa4_o.jpg)

I also owe an apology to Mr VeloViewer for doubting his algorithm.

It would appear that the discrepancy* is in the heatmap.



*I really can't bring myself to call it an error.
Interesting ... the heatmap comes directly from a list of tiles exported from VV, not from points/lines. So I don’t have an explanation until I get in front of a big computer and can look it at properly. Possibly the VV algo has improved over time.

Hmmm, using the heatmap to see how other people have got a particular tile, I find the following strava activity:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1343732799

Same user. Same line straight through a difficult to get tile, in the same area. Looking at the tile map for the user in question, their square includes these tiles, and these are the only two rides in those tiles.

Something doesn't quite add up here.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 05 December, 2020, 08:51:06 am
If you view the ride in question on VeloViewer and look at the tiles that it is credited with I think that you owe Mr van Kamp an apology.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50194628767_53cbe33aa4_o.jpg)

I also owe an apology to Mr VeloViewer for doubting his algorithm.

It would appear that the discrepancy* is in the heatmap.



*I really can't bring myself to call it an error.
Interesting ... the heatmap comes directly from a list of tiles exported from VV, not from points/lines. So I don’t have an explanation until I get in front of a big computer and can look it at properly. Possibly the VV algo has improved over time.

Hmmm, using the heatmap to see how other people have got a particular tile, I find the following strava activity:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1343732799

Same user. Same line straight through a difficult to get tile, in the same area. Looking at the tile map for the user in question, their square includes these tiles, and these are the only two rides in those tiles.

Something doesn't quite add up here.

J

Interesting!

Going back to the ride in my previous snip it still looks the same if I open it in VeloViewer.

However, if I look at Gerard van Kamp's activity tab on VeloViewer and filter to just get this ride I see this:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50681795881_2ab3db3663.jpg)

NB - you can tell that this is the activity tab as the embyonic 2*2 max squares are outlined.

So it looks like the VeloViewer dodgy-GPS-data filter is different depending on whether you view the ride on its own or on the activity tab.  I assume that the activity tab data is used to calculate Gerard's max square etc and also populate the RideEveryTile heatmap.

...and so the BlatantCheatometer swings back the other way.


But.......if I look at one of my rides on my activity tab where I forgot to turn the GPS back on after a cafe stop I have not been credited with the tiles that the straight line passes through.  The most obvious difference (other than country ::-)) between my missing chunk and Gerard's is that mine is 20k and 90 minutes and his is only 10k and 30 minutes.  If I get really bored I may experiment by chopping various sized chunks out of an old ride and re-uploading it to Strava and VeloViewer to see if there is a discernible pattern.

How strange!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50681795916_ec54b57a1f_z.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 05 December, 2020, 11:11:03 am
I remember way back there was a problem with long straight roads being missed in tile hunting, happened to me in Kansas on my TransAmerica ride. Not sure what the resolution was, but I thought revisiting your ride filled in the straight lines, but found this old link:

https://www.strava.com/clubs/279168/posts/579623
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 December, 2020, 11:15:54 am

Have had a nice email exchange with Ben from velowviewer (the guy replied at gone 2am!), he's investigating if it's a bug at his end.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 05 December, 2020, 11:49:21 am
For most purposes we can treat a yard and a meter as the same thing, it's just easier to say "hundred yards" than it is to say "hundred meters" In your case the 3' fence is basically a 1m fence...
Roads Engineer here - fun fact, when you get a warning sign with a "100 yards" plate or whatever, the regulations require it to be placed 100m from the thing ;)

Do you have a link to the regs for this?

Thanks

J
Oooh, now you're asking - it's been a while!
I did think it was in the TSRGD directions for the plate, but doesn't seem to be. Maybe it was a DMRB one, in which case it would only be guidance and not regulations.....

I visited the BEAR Scotland placey in Perth once for something, and it was mentioned there at that something that for road signage purposes 1Yrd is actually 1M; measuring out 0.9144m on a metric trundlewheel must be a pain in the arse anyway but scale it up to the hundreds?

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 December, 2020, 06:15:58 pm


Went out on a bit of a tile bagging adventure today. There was one tile that has been worrying me as it has no road access, and only a footpath. I had to traipse across a muddy field, and cross some bridges. Fortunately the bridge design was perfect for easy pushing of the bike...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EofimTvXYAgbyy3?format=jpg&name=large)

Had a few issues with picking up mud on the tyres tho...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EofgOJUXUAA7qzE?format=jpg&name=large)

The rear didn't fair any better...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EofhWg0XMAcqOkj?format=jpg&name=large)

Something makes me think GP5k's are not the ideal muddy off roading tyre... Can't think why.

It was a beautiful day, but as the sun set, I could see ice starting to form on the road, and so bailed to a train.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eofi48wXIAAFyrT?format=jpg&name=large)

Most importantly tho, i got the tiles I was aiming for:

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EofjRzmW8AAiavb?format=jpg&name=large)

Which has made a nice 21 tile boost to my cluster. Square still the same, but cluster now 876.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EofjRWvXUAIJ5_9?format=jpg&name=large)

Now to wash my bike...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 05 December, 2020, 08:14:35 pm
This is what they want  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: rob on 06 December, 2020, 11:20:39 am
Max square up to 22*22 and max cluster 760.

Today required a bit of comedy off roading and a bit of walking.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 06 December, 2020, 05:19:15 pm


After my square being stuck at 17x17 for over a year, today I jumped to two over lapping 20x20.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EokaZcDWMAAJzJE?format=jpg&name=large)

I think one more ride and I can get to possibly 22x22. Might try that next weekend if the temp stays above freezing.

Nice cluster boost of 54(!!) to 930. I wonder if I can get to 1000 by the end of the year...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 06 December, 2020, 06:10:00 pm

Some more photos from today's tile hunt:

Zuid Holland from Noord Holland
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EokoBe1XUAI5Bw6?format=jpg&name=large)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EoknRwTW4AA2qXR?format=jpg&name=large)

Leiden at a distance
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EokpR3YXYAAqska?format=jpg&name=large)

J

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 06 December, 2020, 11:38:21 pm
The route:

(https://i.imgur.com/EsI3Tno.png)

I had quite a lot of this. I fell over. 28m GP5000 TL not very grippy in thick mud. I had cleaned the bike this morning, how foolish.

(https://i.imgur.com/gaSh8At.jpg)

I got to where I was meant to turn left, and there was a sign saying footpath closed due to dangerous bridge. So I had to continue for a mile, and trace a different route to get to the bit of road at the end of the path. The front fork crown got full of mud, and later on in another grassy lane I also needed (fortunately much shorter) I ended up with a large creature made of leaves and mud stuck behind the forks, I broke a stick off a tree to clear it out in the end, was like riding in treacle.

The result:

(https://i.imgur.com/AuEso5a.png)

781 cluster, lots of 20x20 squares overlapping, so now I need to head further east.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 07 December, 2020, 12:12:57 am
Something makes me think GP5k's are not the ideal muddy off roading tyre... Can't think why.

I fell over. 28m GP5000 TL not very grippy in thick mud.

For some inexplicable reason I'm imagining a 70s public information film - possibly sponsored by Schwalbe - warning VeloViewer newbies of the dangers of Comedy Off-Roading on Midly Inappropriate Bikes.

Please can somebody make this happen, so I don't have to?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 07 December, 2020, 12:17:50 am
Please can somebody make this happen, so I don't have to?

No, It's your idea...

:p

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 07 December, 2020, 12:50:51 am
Please can somebody make this happen, so I don't have to?

No, It's your idea...

:p

J

Looking forward to this  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 09 December, 2020, 10:14:09 pm
Interesting!

Going back to the ride in my previous snip it still looks the same if I open it in VeloViewer.

However, if I look at Gerard van Kamp's activity tab on VeloViewer and filter to just get this ride I see this:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50681795881_2ab3db3663.jpg)

NB - you can tell that this is the activity tab as the embyonic 2*2 max squares are outlined.

So it looks like the VeloViewer dodgy-GPS-data filter is different depending on whether you view the ride on its own or on the activity tab.  I assume that the activity tab data is used to calculate Gerard's max square etc and also populate the RideEveryTile heatmap.

...and so the BlatantCheatometer swings back the other way.


But.......if I look at one of my rides on my activity tab where I forgot to turn the GPS back on after a cafe stop I have not been credited with the tiles that the straight line passes through.  The most obvious difference (other than country ::-)) between my missing chunk and Gerard's is that mine is 20k and 90 minutes and his is only 10k and 30 minutes.  If I get really bored I may experiment by chopping various sized chunks out of an old ride and re-uploading it to Strava and VeloViewer to see if there is a discernible pattern.

How strange!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50681795916_ec54b57a1f_z.jpg)

Ben did something, and now the three tiles do not show as being bagged, and his max square is now down to 25.

I wonder if the rider in question will notice, and what he'll do about it.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: CrazyEnglishTriathlete on 09 December, 2020, 10:32:28 pm
I'm not a tilebagger - have too many other obsessions - but I did ride to Woerden one night from Den Haag along some of those roads purely to take a photograph of the Reypenaar Cheese Warehouse on Utrechtestraatweg, which turned out to be a very unimpressive brick building next to the Shanghai Palace Chinese Restaurant.  The way back was a little tense as from the way the mist was condensing over the canals it was getting very close to freezing and icy paths, but I got back unscathed and very late.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 11 December, 2020, 02:55:23 pm

Did a nice little 28k ride. It was cold, and wet, and windy. But I managed to increase my cluster to 956.

All being well will do a 60k ride on Monday which should see my square increase again.

I'm wondering if I can get my cluster to ≥1000 by the end of the year...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eo9ipAJWEAU84C9?format=jpg&name=large)

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: CrinklyUncle on 14 December, 2020, 03:33:26 pm
Last month I started a new job and they allow 1.5 days a month to work on a personal/open source project.
I have an iPhone and I am thinking of creating an app that takes the unexplored tile export and my current position to work out if I have got a tile or not while out on a ride.
Would this be of any use to anyone else?
Is there anything like this now for an iPhone? (No point in duplicating effort e.g. I know there is an Android app and a Garmin app - I have a wahoo).


Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 14 December, 2020, 05:19:50 pm

That was a good afternoon. Took a train down to Alphen, and cycled home. 61.5km in total, at least 50km of which was with a nice tailwind. No slog, just joyous riding. This route bagged me 16 new tiles, expanded my cluster by 35 to 991, and most importantly of all, increased my square to two overlapping 22x22. I am now at the limit of what fits between the Noordzee and the Ijselmeer. My only option to get my square bigger, is to move the top edge south by four tiles, which means I'll also no longer be living in my max square.

Glad I chose to do this ride today and not as originally planned, on last Friday, It was about 10 degrees warmer today, I had to take my jacket off, I was too hot!

I wonder if I can get 9 more tils into my cluster by the end of the year, given the impending harder lockdown...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 15 December, 2020, 11:32:28 am
Three years ago my GPS went for a bit of a wander around while I was having coffee with a couple of mates.  The resulting 5k spike nabbed a few tiles before I even knew what they were.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50722595771_97405f843b_z.jpg)


This means that I have a false positive for one tile that fortunately isn't part of my square or cluster.  I know that I could delete the ride from Strava, edit the spike out then re-upload it but that would lose the comments, photo's etc.  I would just go and grab it properly but it is 70k away, in a lower Covid tier and it is December so I wondered if anyone could think of an easier fix.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fuaran on 15 December, 2020, 03:19:24 pm
This means that I have a false positive for one tile that fortunately isn't part of my square or cluster.  I know that I could delete the ride from Strava, edit the spike out then re-upload it but that would lose the comments, photo's etc.  I would just go and grab it properly but it is 70k away, in a lower Covid tier and it is December so I wondered if anyone could think of an easier fix.
Could split the ride into 2 sections, then crop out the spike. That should still keep the photos and comments on the first section.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 15 December, 2020, 03:54:54 pm
Good idea.  That is certainly a possibility but would mean that I have two 100k rides instead of one 200k ride  :(

The only time I have used the Strava ride splitting feature it completely messed up the two resulting rides and the Strava help team were particularly useless when I tried to get them interested in resolving it.

I guess I will have to live with the guilt until I get around to a trip to the deep south.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 15 December, 2020, 05:36:47 pm
I guess I will have to live with the guilt until I get around to a trip to the deep south.

Meh. It's only one rogue tile and it would be easy enough to collect it legitimately next time you're in that area. So unless it's boosting your max square or cluster in any significant way, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

You'll just have to live with all of us thinking that you're a disgraceful human being.  ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 15 December, 2020, 08:29:14 pm
Photos can be re-uploaded.  Are the comments really that valuable?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 15 December, 2020, 08:32:25 pm
But what about all those kudos?

(I bet it would really annoy Jon if I Strava-stalked him to find that ride and give him an extra kudo)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 15 December, 2020, 08:49:41 pm
OK I admit it - it was all about the Kudos.

I guess I could screenshot the comments and the Kudos and upload that along with the photos  :-\
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 15 December, 2020, 10:45:33 pm
...well it looks like Deano is bored enough this evening for some Strava stalking and has gone Kudos Krazy  :-*
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 15 December, 2020, 10:49:09 pm
I'm not going deep enough to find that ride (yet), but I'm happy to dish out the kudos :)

I wouldn't fret it, just grab the tile when you get chance.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 19 December, 2020, 12:40:04 pm
A trip to the Northron Wastes with some comedy off-roading and bike 'n' hike netted 40 new tiles to increase the max cluster by 63 to 1693.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 December, 2020, 07:46:43 pm

Went out to do a 102k ride, 50k into a headwind, then 50 k home with a tail wind. But by 55k my toes were so cold I bailed to a train. All up I did 60km. But I bagged the tiles I was aiming for. Thirteen new tiles bagged, no change in square, cluster now up to 1012, which completes my target a cluster of 1000 by the end of 2020. Was very pretty out there once the rain stopped... 10579 total tiles.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EptHq13XcAUHSEG?format=jpg&name=large)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EptFAEkXcAIyXVi?format=jpg&name=large)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EptFCxnXIAAb_P5?format=jpg&name=large)

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 26 December, 2020, 11:05:49 am
Yesterday I managed to bag 4 tiles which were blocking my progress for more than a year. On these tiles is a military training ground. I reckoned that with christmas there'll be no-one present. Part of the training ground is very loose sand. The rain of the past few days did harden it up enough to make it rideable. Especially since apprantly no vehicles had been powing the tracks.
Since it's a training ground where duds and other explosive things can be around, I defintely stuck to the tracks made by wheeled vehicles and prefered to go through the occasional puddle and not around it, off the track.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 26 December, 2020, 07:29:54 pm
I seem to have lost the Veloviewer menu from Strava. Just me or have others had the same? I've checked my Strava app settings and it still says Veloviewer has access.  ???
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 26 December, 2020, 08:06:21 pm
I don’t recall ever seeing a veloviewer menu in the strava app.  HTH ???
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 26 December, 2020, 09:10:20 pm

Had three good days of tile bagging. Xmas eve I got the count up to 10599 tiles 22x22 square, and a cluster of 1049 with a 100k ride oop noorf. Xmas day I went out and did another 108km ride, this time the winds were more benign, and aside from being chased by showers, it was a great ride. It got me up to 10630 tiles, 23x23 square, and a 1098 cluster. Today the winds were stronger, and from the south west, which governed what my choices would be. I had realised that with a big of zigzagging across the bottom of my square I could add a bit to it. Well 100.6km later, and I had brought my tile total to 10685, my square is 24x24, and my cluster is 1178. I'm amazed how fast it's gone up, I hadn't expected the jumps to be so large.

I now also don't live inside my max square which was always an inevitability, as the Ijsselmeer and the Noordzee kinda get in the way.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EqMIq_8XIAElnSF?format=jpg&name=large)

Cluster of 2021 remains the target for 2021.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 28 December, 2020, 02:33:50 pm
Today's ride brought 82 new tiles in 138km and extended the cluster from 3659 to 4049. Lovely ride it was as well, especially compared to the stormy shitty weather yesterday.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 29 December, 2020, 11:00:03 am
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50774803312_fba3380d45_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kmN94j)vv20 (https://flic.kr/p/2kmN94j) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

That's me for 2020.  Not been tile bagging since Oct.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 29 December, 2020, 06:41:59 pm
My exploring has been a bit curtailed by the weather over the last couple of weeks. Now I'm Tier 3 and there are a bunch of routes I'd planned which would take me into Tier 2 areas => not allowed.

Think that's a wrap on 2020 then.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 29 December, 2020, 07:49:19 pm
Both Cycling UK and British Cycling disagree with your excuse interpretation.

Cycling UK:
Quote
Similarly, you are permitted to ride from a Tier 3 area into Tier 1, Tier 2 or other Tier 3 areas as part of your route, however you should only stop for a break while within your own area.

British Cycling:
Quote
Groups from ‘Very high’ (Tier 3) areas are permitted to pass through ‘Medium’ (Tier 1), ‘High’ (Tier 2) or other ‘Very high’ (Tier 3) areas as part of their route, however they should only stop for a break while within their own area.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 29 December, 2020, 09:29:12 pm
Both Cycling UK and British Cycling disagree with your excuse interpretation.

Cycling UK:
Quote
Similarly, you are permitted to ride from a Tier 3 area into Tier 1, Tier 2 or other Tier 3 areas as part of your route, however you should only stop for a break while within your own area.

British Cycling:
Quote
Groups from ‘Very high’ (Tier 3) areas are permitted to pass through ‘Medium’ (Tier 1), ‘High’ (Tier 2) or other ‘Very high’ (Tier 3) areas as part of their route, however they should only stop for a break while within their own area.

Here is the current wording for Tier 3:

Quote
Travel
Where possible, you should stay local and avoid travelling outside your local area, meaning your village or town, or part of a city. People should continue to travel for reasons such as work, education, medical attention or if they have caring responsibilities.

You can still travel to venues that are open, or for reasons such as work or education, but you should reduce the number of journeys you make wherever possible.

You should still avoid travelling outside your tier 3 area other than for the reasons such as those above.

So far as I can see, travelling outside the area does not include for exercise.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 30 December, 2020, 09:39:21 am
Both Cycling UK and British Cycling disagree with your excuse interpretation.

Cycling UK:
Quote
Similarly, you are permitted to ride from a Tier 3 area into Tier 1, Tier 2 or other Tier 3 areas as part of your route, however you should only stop for a break while within your own area.

British Cycling:
Quote
Groups from ‘Very high’ (Tier 3) areas are permitted to pass through ‘Medium’ (Tier 1), ‘High’ (Tier 2) or other ‘Very high’ (Tier 3) areas as part of their route, however they should only stop for a break while within their own area.

Here is the current wording for Tier 3:

Quote
Travel
Where possible, you should stay local and avoid travelling outside your local area, meaning your village or town, or part of a city. People should continue to travel for reasons such as work, education, medical attention or if they have caring responsibilities.

You can still travel to venues that are open, or for reasons such as work or education, but you should reduce the number of journeys you make wherever possible.

You should still avoid travelling outside your tier 3 area other than for the reasons such as those above.

So far as I can see, travelling outside the area does not include for exercise.
That is correct. You must not travel to outside your area to exercise, your exercise should start and finish in your area if you are in tier 3 or 4. Travel and exercise have always been distinct form the very start when exercise was limited to once a day but travelling by bicycle to work or the shops was not. Unnecessary travel was discouraged but going for a cycle ride encouraged. British cycling have been in exhaustive discussions with the government prior to publishing their detailed guidance.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 30 December, 2020, 06:49:11 pm
All moot now as we’re going to Tier 4. If I understand correctly today’s ride which went into an adjacent Tier 3 area would be outside the rules with both in Tier 4.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 30 December, 2020, 11:11:08 pm
I'm pleased to have bolstered the connection between Hull/York where I used to live, and Huddersfield where I am now. Lots of hilly riding around Dewsbury, Wakefield and Pontefract has given me a nice sense of continuity between the max cluster centres.

I'm looking at the yacf leaderboard and thinking that adding 1000 to the cluster is very possible in 2021.

One of the other interesting things about VeloViewer is the charting of Strava data. I can see I rode further than ever last year, but this year my distance/elevation is out of the park. I found that helpful because I've done a lot less distance this year but feel knackered.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 31 December, 2020, 12:03:19 pm
It's all hills from here.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201231/fbb72f1af67c14e207d68011bd6842e8.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 31 December, 2020, 12:16:05 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/E7pCTOJ.png)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 31 December, 2020, 01:00:41 pm
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201231/1fb9d50b5747ab0a3838c025bdc40685.jpg)
If something is worth doing, it is worth doing to excess.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 31 December, 2020, 01:00:58 pm
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50783233047_ded69d7c24_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2knxkVz)
vv_2020 (https://flic.kr/p/2knxkVz) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 31 December, 2020, 05:19:20 pm
I'm with Dave on this one  :)

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/5e78lcu7sn6temn/veloviewer-2020-tiles.png?raw=1)

First year of tile bagging, obviously next year's progress will be a lot slower.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 31 December, 2020, 09:07:26 pm
After deleting most of my rides that involved vehicles I spent lockdown filling in from home
Very happy with my haul for 2020, and achieved my main target of getting in the top 20 in the Cluster league.
Not sure how much I can expand this on solely from home rides, time will tell.
(https://burlycross.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/2020-square-stats-for-yacf.jpg)

In my annual fun challenge with Lee K he trounced me with 7037 tiles visited in the year to my 5994. Well done Lee  :thumbsup:
A very different year with Lee top exploring Brit in 19th, when we have both been in the top 5 for previous years.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 01 January, 2021, 03:23:29 pm
I seem to have lost the Veloviewer menu from Strava. Just me or have others had the same? I've checked my Strava app settings and it still says Veloviewer has access.  ???

Answering my own question, I've worked out the cause: the Veloviewer menu is a Chrome extension. Recently, I've switched to using Safari instead of Chrome. Like, duh!

Anyway, here's my 2020 in Veloviewer:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50787262886_a649b30f73_o.png) (https://flic.kr/p/2knTZRy)

Forced myself out today and got 2021 off to a decent start by picking up a 5 new tiles and extending my max cluster by 14.
(https://s2.gifyu.com/images/nydayridetiles.gif) (https://gifyu.com/image/CoUy)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 January, 2021, 04:24:51 pm


(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EqpXZFzXAAIcn9u?format=jpg&name=large)

Pretty much all of the cluster increase happened in December, tho the ride that connected Rotterdam made a big jump too.

All of the square increase has been in December I think. I now don't live in my max square, and am only a few rides away from pulling it south enough that it flows out into the Gooimeer.

Cluster target for 2021: 2021.

J
Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 01 January, 2021, 04:39:46 pm
the ride that connected Rotterdam made a big jump too.

My main target for 2021 is to connect my East Kent cluster to my London cluster. That would see a BIG jump in my numbers.

Of course, that was main target for 2020 too... in theory it should be quite easy but it will require either a very long ride or a ride plus train journey, and circumstances have not been conducive to either.

Instead I ended up focusing my efforts on filling in the local gaps to expand my max cluster. Short of a few tiles to the south, around the Tenterden area, I’ve pretty much done the whole of East Kent now. Good progress.

Quote
I now don't live in my max square,

If this year goes well, this could be a secondary target for me - I’ve reached the point where it’s not really possible to extend my max square significantly without shifting it westwards.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 02 January, 2021, 07:30:04 am
My Veloviewer thingy doesn’t work as most of my rides are classed as Velomobile and these aren’t treated as cycling in the summary. So I have apparently done 598 km this year - but that’s just what I did on the trike.

Real figures are as follows:
(https://i1.wp.com/www.auntiehelen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Screenshot-2020-12-31-at-11.25.27.png?w=500)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 06 January, 2021, 05:21:19 pm
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EqpXZFzXAAIcn9u?format=jpg&name=large)
Max ride elevation 336m  :o

It's 20km & 340m to my closest unclaimed square.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: markcjagar on 06 January, 2021, 06:27:11 pm
Oh wow, I did 24km and about 500m tonight which is fairly standard around these parts of South Yorkshire.

I know .NL is flat but I always forget how flat, even the hills of Limburg are pretty tiny.

My year
(https://i.imgur.com/0bAI2yS.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 06 January, 2021, 11:25:41 pm
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EqpXZFzXAAIcn9u?format=jpg&name=large)
Max ride elevation 336m  :o

I hadn't spotted that.  Chapeau!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 06 January, 2021, 11:26:51 pm
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EqpXZFzXAAIcn9u?format=jpg&name=large)
Max ride elevation 336m  :o

It's 20km & 340m to my closest unclaimed square.

I think my nearest available square* hits the 500m contour. It's a bit further away than 20 km, mind.

*Excluding those in the sea and otherwise inaccessible - maybe they'll start doing public tours round Redcar Steelworks.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 07 January, 2021, 09:39:04 pm
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EqpXZFzXAAIcn9u?format=jpg&name=large)
Max ride elevation 336m  :o

It's 20km & 340m to my closest unclaimed square.

I think my nearest available square* hits the 500m contour. It's a bit further away than 20 km, mind.

*Excluding those in the sea and otherwise inaccessible - maybe they'll start doing public tours round Redcar Steelworks.

I'm lucky to have a choice of nearest tiles: North 12.4km and only 536m... or South 11.4km and 564m. Both are going to involve walking the hound: boggy walking only rights of way
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 07 January, 2021, 09:55:43 pm
There's a tile within 10 miles but it's on Weston-super-mare beach. I don't regard that as local to home, so I won't be going there. It would not increase my max square now as it got to 20x20 by going south instead.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Greenbank on 07 January, 2021, 10:01:37 pm
My nearest tile is just over 5 miles away, but that's North of the river, and ain't nobody got time for that kinda shit.

(Plus I've no need to venture more than 2 miles away from home right now.)

Pretty sure I've ridden through it too, but obviously don't have a GPS tracklog from it. There are a few early Audaxes I did where I managed not to record everything properly.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 07 January, 2021, 11:00:29 pm
My nearest tile not yet done is about a 85km roundtrip crossing 3 national borders with a maximum elevation f somewhere between 400 and 500m.
All the rest involves a roundtrip of over 100km.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: simonp on 07 January, 2021, 11:36:10 pm
My nearest tile not yet done is about a 85km roundtrip crossing 3 national borders with a maximum elevation f somewhere between 400 and 500m.
All the rest involves a roundtrip of over 100km.

You continental types don't know you're born.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 09 January, 2021, 06:18:06 am
My nearest unvisited tile is less than 1km from home.  I really need to get a kayak.  Still got a few coastal tiles 30km away that I should be able to wade to.  Just need right tides.

The nearest tile in my max square is 20km+away and apart from Loch Leven (20km away) the nearest landlocked unclaimed tile is about 35km away.  Still got ~150 tiles within my local authority boundary to visit.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanDG on 17 January, 2021, 10:33:52 am
Boom--max cluster has now moved to the NORTH (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180827/cda3f08844988fa2083cd6bf2d11b1c8.jpg)

What's this app called? Had to get new mobile and need to upload. Thanks
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 17 January, 2021, 10:43:16 am
Explorer Helper for Veloviewer.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.anisart.vv
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanDG on 17 January, 2021, 11:15:32 am
Explorer Helper for Veloviewer.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.anisart.vv

Thanks, first thing to show when I searched veloviewer
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 21 January, 2021, 10:57:53 am
I've just seen an ad for a new triathlon that's happening in July this year. I'm very tempted to enter - partly because I quite fancy the challenge, but mainly because the swim and run segments would be very good ways to bag some otherwise inaccessible Veloviewer tiles, being on private land (the Brett site near Lydd).

Sad or what?  ;D

(Only the £75 entry fee is putting me off a bit, but I see there are some other events organised on the same site, including a 20 mile run, which also looks tempting.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 23 January, 2021, 06:14:07 pm
Went out for a walk today which netted a few awkward tiles  :thumbsup: Max cluster increased by 4.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 08 February, 2021, 06:29:40 pm
I see it's been 6 months since my last post! No travel off island and the Shetland mainland tiles left here are all hard work now, but I've been chipped away a bit.
The weather has been calm and cold for more than 2 weeks now, which is not usual at all, but meant a coastal walk with my video making pal, and an excuse to include a link to his youtube again:no bikes in this one though  :-[

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y44tu-beQTE

Maybe good if you're not getting out and about as far as you would want just now.

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ACtC-3fW-J_b6_3Ah4sWkCOZeGE6rNlBongAVkZlVeJ0NmPN2p3PIOHcecsA4ku0DJ3_HCflIsYgM_jQ48Id2zX2h7jjVhDGUBJf1CVfmBsyvgARCvBxKIU4Cy5WiEWIT88IDKM3Y6qQJ9hkZU1Si5kifVTw=w432-h795-no?authuser=0)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 08 February, 2021, 07:16:51 pm
Went out for a walk today which netted a few awkward tiles  :thumbsup: Max cluster increased by 4.

Similarly, I went out for a walk on Saturday and bagged a couple of awkward tiles. I wasn’t going to bother recording it but luckily realised before we were too far in that there was an opportunity, so fired up Strava on my phone. Yay!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 08 February, 2021, 07:18:37 pm


Lots of canals in .NL may freeze enough this week that I'm pondering some of the water only tiles...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 09 February, 2021, 09:45:47 am
Doesn't Ivo play this game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht

(I'm so jealous)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 09 February, 2021, 08:11:59 pm
Doesn't Ivo play this game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht

(I'm so jealous)

I stopped racing 10 years ago, that long ago that most of my times disappeared from the net ;)..
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 11 February, 2021, 11:13:29 am
Some well known Dutch tilehunters are already working on icy tiles:
https://www.strava.com/activities/4769361608
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 11 February, 2021, 11:16:50 am
Some well known Dutch tilehunters are already working on icy tiles:
https://www.strava.com/activities/4769361608

I have all of those tiles via a bike... I'm pretty sure Yorick has too...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 21 February, 2021, 04:05:43 pm
First tile of year, and the Endrick is flooded over the last square i can add in the county.  When the country opens up it will be good, no more groundhog days plodding about local runs.
Totals 28741, 29 square and 1658 cluster
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 27 February, 2021, 04:41:13 pm
Started using OS mapping on VV as it shows low spring tide marks, bringing more tiles into possible range. There may be a tile near to home that I haven't even considered that is doable. So Monday night, 8.50pm there is a 0.24m low spring tide. Zip off troosers and hipflask at the ready. Watch this space.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 27 February, 2021, 05:33:38 pm
Started using OS mapping on VV as it shows low spring tide marks, bringing more tiles into possible range. There may be a tile near to home that I haven't even considered that is doable. So Monday night, 8.50pm there is a 0.24m low spring tide. Zip off troosers and hipflask at the ready. Watch this space.

That's the spirit  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 27 February, 2021, 10:54:12 pm
Started using OS mapping on VV as it shows low spring tide marks, bringing more tiles into possible range. There may be a tile near to home that I haven't even considered that is doable. So Monday night, 8.50pm there is a 0.24m low spring tide. Zip off troosers and hipflask at the ready. Watch this space.

That's the spirit  :thumbsup:

RNLI on stand by :p

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 28 February, 2021, 08:35:27 pm
As I rode up to the farmhouse, a dog started barking inside. Two ~8 year old boys appeared in front of the windows, checking out who dared approach their mansion.

I had dismissed a stealth approach beforehand given the layout of the place; just cycling across would have been rude. Still, I had hoped for someone to be outside making it easy to make contact.

Oh well... I rang the front door bell. The dog stopped barking. Would that be a good sign? The boys and their mom appeared. "Can I ask you a strange question?" I said. "Could I cross your property and ride a bit on the farm road going out back?" She looked surprised for 455 milliseconds, then responded with "that's ok" Didn't even ask what this was all about ;D

Not sure whether it was that I spoke the local language, or that she just wanted this clearly mental person in his hi-viz vest and Dennis Taylor sized cycling specs to be gone asap, but I'm not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Tile bagged!

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/yp0me09u55x47ds/20220228-akkrum-tile.png?raw=1)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 01 March, 2021, 10:03:30 am
Since it's Friesland, speaking Frisian certainly helps a lot in gaining special access rights (same counts for Limburg).

On saturday I tried once again to access the RAF Brüggen tile. No chance, now even the first gate was closed with a chainlock.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 01 March, 2021, 01:24:50 pm
Oh bad luck with the Brüggen tile - but I think it’s impossible unless you take up golf and play a round there.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 01 March, 2021, 07:29:28 pm
Five new tiles bagged with a bit of comedy off-roading took the cluster up to 1716 and increased the max square for the first time in a while. Square is now 21 and I don't live in it anymore  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 March, 2021, 09:31:01 pm

I've done a few rides, picking up a couple of tiles per ride, which has got me from 1178 to 1217 for my cluster.

Any work on my square is going to have to wait until the curfew is lifted. Northern winds have had me venture north of the canal. I have 3 tiles there which are going to require a kayak. When the plague is over...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 01 March, 2021, 11:34:00 pm
Started using OS mapping on VV as it shows low spring tide marks, bringing more tiles into possible range. There may be a tile near to home that I haven't even considered that is doable. So Monday night, 8.50pm there is a 0.24m low spring tide. Zip off troosers and hipflask at the ready. Watch this space.

Made it reasonably successfully.  Had to scramble ~100m over seaweedy boulders and enjoyed a Drygate Chocolate Milk Stout with a pal I have corrupted , while watching the tide go out- was actually 10.09pm for low tide, but we were able to get it about 9.40.  Changed footwear and only had to paddle out knee deep to bag the tile - balmy 4 degrees (feels like -1).  Quick change back into warm shoes and a Brewdog beer to celebrate.  Less than 9km return cycle/walk from home.  Unbelievable that I had never considered it. 

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50994857552_54730342c0_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kGeYvW)Braefoot (https://flic.kr/p/2kGeYvW)

Could have gained the square by taking a ferry to Inchkolm island, but where is the adventure in that?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 02 March, 2021, 09:29:45 am
Wow.

Deano, you hear that? Time to check out the tide tables for Hartlepool Bay. Or maybe get a hold of a sea kayak.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: CarlF on 02 March, 2021, 05:03:20 pm
Excellent mini-adventure, Paddyirish.

Looks like there are a few other squares around the Fife coastline that might be accessible the same way.

Where's next?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 02 March, 2021, 08:52:49 pm
Wow.

Deano, you hear that? Time to check out the tide tables for Hartlepool Bay. Or maybe get a hold of a sea kayak.

;D

I think I would need that kayak, it's a bit far out for paddling.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 02 March, 2021, 11:08:27 pm
@CarlF.

Have had a few muddy adventures at low tides both North and South of the Forth, and reckon I have about a dozen coastal tiles to get, a few easy, piers in Methil, Tayport and Newport, a few requiring a walk from Crail to St Andrews, 2 immediately South of Leuchars air base that may require a paddle and a few on the Tay estuary.  I think I'll have to take a sea kayak west of the Forth Bridges to get any more there.

But all good fun.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 07 March, 2021, 12:18:28 am
A wee walk today just snecked the top-left of a tile and increased the cluster by 2  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 07 March, 2021, 04:44:41 pm
Went out for a nice 117km ride today, on a route designed to pick off a few gaps round the Tenterden area. As a result, I've increased by max square from 20 to 21 (in fact I now have 8 overlapping 21x21 squares) and my max cluster from 826 to 866. Satisfying.

One of the tiles required venturing onto a private estate (https://morghew.com), but I figured since the road was marked as a restricted byway, it should be fine. There were a few people about but no one batted an eyelid - except a bunch of geese, who made a lot of noise but didn't go so far as attacking me.

The road is a 'lollipop' - straight off the main road with a loop at the end. I followed the loop round and most of it was well surfaced, but then I hit a section of muddy farm trail, well churned up with some deep ruts and puddles... I wasn't sure how far I needed to go round the loop to bag the tile. Tried to check on my phone but the map wasn't detailed enough to be helpful. And I didn't want to get home to find I'd missed out on it, so ploughed on - ploughed being the operative word.

Turns out I didn't need to go along that bit after all. Doh!

Also realised that if I'd carried on another kilometre or so along the road from Tenterden to Rolvenden, instead of turning back towards Biddenden, I could have bagged another tile that would have taken my max square to 22. Annoying. Once I've got that tile, that will be pretty much the limits of my square reached for a while - I can't expand any further north, east or south without going into the sea, so I'll need to focus on expanding westwards, and it's getting to the point where that's going to involve some proper long rides.

Still, a very enjoyable ride, taking in some very pleasant new lanes I've not ridden before - which is really the main point of this exercise, isn't it?

The muddy bit was the top section of the loop, which did go into a tile I needed, but I filled it in anyway on the road out of Tenterden:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51012987717_41c3d3a313_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kHQTYZ)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 07 March, 2021, 05:08:09 pm
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51013011767_823b5e3a34_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kHR28D)
VeloViewer (https://flic.kr/p/2kHR28D) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 08 March, 2021, 11:37:28 am
Looking good, Mr P!

I've planned a route to fill in a few tiles to link up my main cluster to an outlying small cluster round the Sevenoaks area. Only thing is, the route is just shy of 170km and the way I'm feeling today after yesterday's 117km, I'm not sure I'm up to that kind of distance at the moment. Unfortunately, I'm now at the point where I have to ride 50km just to get to my closest fresh tiles.

Oh well, it will be a good way of building up my fitness.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51015747367_8022bb38e3.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kJ63ka)

The annoying thing is that I've ridden quite a lot of those roads round West Kent in the early days of my audax career... before I had any kind of GPS tracker...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 08 March, 2021, 11:50:10 am
Darn it. Left a hole.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210308/9ee4e187dc27e26dc2848ee40951a64d.gif)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 14 March, 2021, 07:06:41 pm
After yesterday's ride I have every square in Greater London south of the river :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 14 March, 2021, 10:37:17 pm
Chunk of Northumberland added.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210314/0d04b400ff99d2b23481065d7aff2451.gif)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 15 March, 2021, 08:44:35 am
Chunk of Northumberland added.

Nicely done.

Looks like you're studiously avoiding Sunderland though. I don't blame you.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peat on 15 March, 2021, 10:46:42 am
Ha! Superb effort!  :D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 17 March, 2021, 10:18:00 am
I've been chipping away at Dorset more. Now have the SE of the couny pretty much covered!
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/capture4-png.578410/)
A couple of private roads involved here. One that is very well defined on the global heatmap, too... I decided that the "no" in "no public access" looked like it had been written onto the sign afterwards.  8)
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/c04641bc-bf3a-47b5-8a0e-6a641f479cca-jpeg.579052/)
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/capture3-png.578409/)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 17 March, 2021, 10:20:11 am
Is there a scout badge available for filling in those last three tiles?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 17 March, 2021, 10:31:17 am
Is there a scout badge available for filling in those last three tiles?
Nah, that's a relatively easy walk once they reopen! I think the scout badge should be awarded for getting the tip of Arne...
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/9e15618d-6498-483d-80a0-62b4d739f032-jpeg.579054/)
Quite hard to keep your feet dry, not to mention being in road shoes  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jpreichardt on 17 March, 2021, 10:36:50 am
Sorry if I should have posted it in another topic, but I could not find one.

Regarding Unexplored tiles view in Garmin Edge 1000.

I was not able to finish that procedure using Java to send the layer to Garmin, because it is too much advanced for me, so I tried to download the kml file from Veloviewer and load it into my Garmin Edge with Base Camp from Garmin.

It worked fine and I could see the tracks in my computer ( each unexplored tile is a track) .But I do not know how to show them at Garmin.

Do you think is it impossible?

I have the print screen but I could not attach it here into the forum.

Thank you

Joao - Sweden


 

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 17 March, 2021, 08:35:23 pm
Hi Joao
Lets say its difficult.
As you said the unexplored tiles are in Basecamp as many individual tracks. These can be connected in Basecamp using the join function, but it creates messy diagonal connections. Try it.
In the early days I was like you, I imported the KML to Basecamp but manually created a track drawing over the squares I was trying for on each ride (I know a lot of boring work) then this route was loaded to the Garmin and then select it on your device go to settings to make it show on the map in  a bright Colour like red so the tiles show up.
It really is worth finding an old Android phone and loading the Explorer help App, its worth it.

As your new to this forum you might want to try the search window up top. While you have this topic open if you put Basecamp into the search it will show just the Basecamp talk in this topic. This has been discussed before.
Happy exploring
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 17 March, 2021, 10:19:48 pm
There is a garmin IQ app you can install - tile explorer I think it is called.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jpreichardt on 18 March, 2021, 08:26:30 am
This has been discussed before.
Happy exploring

Hi Jack, thank you for the tips. Sorry for messing the discussion 🙄 next time I promiss I will search first.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jpreichardt on 18 March, 2021, 08:30:45 am
There is a garmin IQ app you can install - tile explorer I think it is called.
Hi Davef, I have installed it but perhaps I have did something wrong since everytime I start using it all my tiles are like unexplored and as I rede they got green. Next day all are red again.
Also, once I got green from the app and went home.... Checking at Veloviewer i realized that the gps has not got that position as explored..tks
Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 18 March, 2021, 06:49:38 pm
There is a garmin IQ app you can install - tile explorer I think it is called.
Hi Davef, I have installed it but perhaps I have did something wrong since everytime I start using it all my tiles are like unexplored and as I rede they got green. Next day all are red again.
Also, once I got green from the app and went home.... Checking at Veloviewer i realized that the gps has not got that position as explored..tks
I must admit I only use it for checking for crossing a tile boundary when I am on a dead end and don’t want to go further than necessary but I was also fairly sure you could initialise from your kml - will investigate.

Edit: see http://www.shmo.de/EveryTile/setup.html for prepopulating
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jpreichardt on 18 March, 2021, 07:08:45 pm
Thank you for the link!!! I never have did it. Tks!!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 21 March, 2021, 08:27:25 pm
Have a four day weekend, so am trying to do 4 back to back century days. So far I've added 99 new tiles, and increased my cluster by 61. No change to the square.

(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/ExBz4pGWQAYWQrF.jpg)

10809 tiles
Max square 24x24
Max Cluster: 1278

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 21 March, 2021, 08:32:20 pm
No such 4 day delights for me, and yesterday was still a bit anti-body building.
Went looking for flat roads. I hadn't expected a square increase, but got one. I'm going to have to go out in Hartlepool Bay now.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210321/2528e2a6f5f3578a0ee6b87b48a5dcb7.gif)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 23 March, 2021, 07:14:40 pm
Cracking day out today - 172km of mostly glorious spring sunshine. And added 29 strategically targeted tiles to fill in a few holes in West Kent, and link up my main cluster to a mini cluster around Sevenoaks.

Net result is my max cluster jumps from 866 to 965 - only minor disappointment is not getting one more tile to make it the round 100 for the day. Chiz!

Before:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51066116643_983ff8751e_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kNxcmX)

After:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51066118153_5a45a5e92d_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kNxcNZ)

Very satisfying!


And I'm now one step closer to linking my Kent cluster to my London cluster...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51066836476_49aca2a735_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kNATkS)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 23 March, 2021, 07:16:27 pm
 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 23 March, 2021, 09:47:22 pm
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210323/ddda3313436a058e04860b40b7cd54c0.jpg)
South west corner is where I need to get going next. Maybe I need to go and camp there once we are out of lockdown.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 24 March, 2021, 07:13:29 am
The perils of tile hunting (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-56505413) ;)


(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51067614186_ff1d3c8460_z.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 26 March, 2021, 05:14:07 pm
looks like lots of potential there Dave.F

Getting back into it with a near 200km ride to grab one solo tile. It's getting harder to motivate me to carry on riding from home, 77x77 might be the limit. Itching to get back out on longer adventures like many others I guess.
(https://burlycross.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/2021-grabbing-one-tile-view.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 26 March, 2021, 06:58:46 pm
looks like lots of potential there Dave.F

Getting back into it with a near 200km ride to grab one solo tile. It's getting harder to motivate me to carry on riding from home, 77x77 might be the limit. Itching to get back out on longer adventures like many others I guess.
(https://burlycross.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/2021-grabbing-one-tile-view.jpg)
I have chosen my basecamp wisely. Currently 52x52 and I am aiming for 60+ by year end and can’t really see any major geographic obstacles.
Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 27 March, 2021, 09:22:52 am
Caller on RadMac just now was talking about Turf. Have a feeling it might appeal to some here...

https://turfgame.com

I’ve signed up and can see I have two local rivals I’m going to have to get out there and topple... this could be fun!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jpreichardt on 28 March, 2021, 07:34:57 am

https://turfgame.com


I have played turf for two seasons, it is funny but what it makes boring is to wait 30 or 40 seconds at each new territory.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 28 March, 2021, 02:16:05 pm
I've been chipping away at the north-western and southern edges of my square, I'm now on two overlapping 44x44s. Curse you, North Sea!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51078725082_a3a2744821_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kPDPpQ)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 28 March, 2021, 02:33:10 pm

https://turfgame.com


I have played turf for two seasons, it is funny but what it makes boring is to wait 30 or 40 seconds at each new territory.

I had a little play on it while out walking the dog yesterday. I didn't mind having to wait in each zone to claim it, but nor did I feel particularly excited about having claimed new zones either.  Ho hum!

I can see that it might be more fun if you're in an area with lots of other participants and much denser zone coverage.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 31 March, 2021, 09:38:18 am

https://turfgame.com


I have played turf for two seasons, it is funny but what it makes boring is to wait 30 or 40 seconds at each new territory.

I had a little play on it while out walking the dog yesterday. I didn't mind having to wait in each zone to claim it, but nor did I feel particularly excited about having claimed new zones either.  Ho hum!

I can see that it might be more fun if you're in an area with lots of other participants and much denser zone coverage.
Cheers for mentioning this, I'd not heard of it before.
I also had a little play with Turf out on the dog walk the other day and took a zone.  Felt a bit meh about it.  Then I thought I'd give it a fair shot yesterday and while out on a ride took 17 zones, now I feel like I'm being drawn in.  I think I might have upset someone by taking lots of their zones, as this morning, I lost 8 of them (watched 3 of them being taken in real time on the app). Now I've got the urge to go out and get them back.   I can see how this can get addictive. 
Here in Derbyshire the zones are quite spread out, there's 8 in my town, but I've got to travel to neighbouring towns/villages for the others - it was a 70km ride to get the 17 zones yesterday.
The appeal of veloviewer squares to me is visiting new places, but Turf seems more about repeatedly visiting the same places over and over.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 31 March, 2021, 12:17:05 pm
The appeal of veloviewer squares to me is visiting new places, but Turf seems more about repeatedly visiting the same places over and over.

It seems to be more a 'tower defence' game than anything else. Like you say, the zones are too spread out to make it really appeal as a tile-bagging game.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 31 March, 2021, 01:44:40 pm
The perils of tile hunting (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-56505413) ;)


(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51067614186_ff1d3c8460_z.jpg)

I just discovered this Forum after Veloviewer retweeted the Evergreen post a couple of days back.
And I also just did my first tiling ride yesterday since 2019 due to some bug going around. Probably my first non local ride since 2019 as well. :o
So went and filled in a couple of holes in Scunthorpe that I stupidly managed to miss when tiling there an eon ago. And did a few others whilst I was there. Felt very hilly for a flat place with the strong wind every time I headed south or west.  ;D My lack of riding anywhere more than 20km for such a long time and out of practice at eating on a ride didn't help. But so good to be back tiling again. 
Plotting a route now is also soooo much easier since Strava finally took its lame route planner out of beta and VV got even better integration. So hopefully no more missed tiles like these.

Well I was going to post a screengrab of ride but after jumping through lots of hoops that I've not used for more than a decade. Hello Flickr, very long time no see. No image wants to appear.   :'(
Do you need to post for a while before being able to post images, because some forums do that.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 31 March, 2021, 02:39:26 pm


Do you need to post for a while before being able to post images, because some forums do that.


Not that I'm aware of.

I find the easiest way of adding piccies to this forum is to use the Tapatalk app on my phone.  They then do the picture hosting.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 31 March, 2021, 02:42:03 pm
The perils of tile hunting (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-56505413) ;)


(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51067614186_ff1d3c8460_z.jpg)

I just discovered this Forum after Veloviewer retweeted the Evergreen post a couple of days back.
And I also just did my first tiling ride yesterday since 2019 due to some bug going around. Probably my first non local ride since 2019 as well. :o
So went and filled in a couple of holes in Scunthorpe that I stupidly managed to miss when tiling there an eon ago. And did a few others whilst I was there. Felt very hilly for a flat place with the strong wind every time I headed south or west.  ;D My lack of riding anywhere more than 20km for such a long time and out of practice at eating on a ride didn't help. But so good to be back tiling again. 
Plotting a route now is also soooo much easier since Strava finally took its lame route planner out of beta and VV got even better integration. So hopefully no more missed tiles like these.

Well I was going to post a screengrab of ride but after jumping through lots of hoops that I've not used for more than a decade. Hello Flickr, very long time no see. No image wants to appear.   :'(
Do you need to post for a while before being able to post images, because some forums do that.
Firstly, welcome! You could try imgbb, there isn't any built in attachment support here.

This mini cluster is annoying me, so I might even join that up this evening.
(https://i.ibb.co/dm0fTGV/image.png) (https://ibb.co/z6hmMGB)
(https://i.ibb.co/fYNhbKd/image.png) (https://ibb.co/8DxWJRg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 31 March, 2021, 02:46:37 pm
I just discovered this Forum after Veloviewer retweeted the Evergreen post a couple of days back.

Ahoy!

Quote
Do you need to post for a while before being able to post images, because some forums do that.

Don't think so. You need to use the BBcode tags rather than the basic URL, if that helps.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 31 March, 2021, 02:47:52 pm
Ta for suggestions.
I dusted off an ancient Flickr account to use as there's no direct upload here. But nothing appeared when using the usual *img* link. Hence why I wondered if there was a minimum number of posts before allowing images to be added.
Tapatalk is no use to me as my screengrabs/photos are on desktop and Flickr would be least painful option because I can easily upload to Flickr directly from Lightroom.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 31 March, 2021, 02:49:11 pm
Don't think so. You need to use the BBcode tags rather than the basic URL, if that helps.
I used the url nested between the *img* tags if that's what you mean.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 31 March, 2021, 02:52:56 pm
Wondering if it's a Flicker issue.
Just tested with an image url from elsewhere and it works.

(https://images.theconversation.com/files/350865/original/file-20200803-24-50u91u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C29%2C4955%2C3293&q=45&auto=format&w=926&fit=clip)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 31 March, 2021, 02:55:44 pm
On the Flickr photo page by the photo there's an arrow-pointing-right icon, Share Photo. Click this, choose BBCode from the pop up. Choose the image size from the drop down menu (go for a medium one if possible). Click on the code in the box, it will be copied to your clipboard. Paste that into your forum post. I do this from a laptop - I don't know if it works the same on a phone or tablet.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 31 March, 2021, 03:03:12 pm
Yes that BB code copy worked. Cheers for that suggestion.

Anyway so here are a couple of holes missed due to Ye Olde Strava Route Planner being a bit rubbish when plotting routes in 2019
Added some other tiles to fill out that edge. No point going any further East for now because theres 4 tiles in Humber only accessible by kayak just above there.


(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51082422653_98d3f1f5ed_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kPYLz4)
Scunthorpe missing tiles (https://flic.kr/p/2kPYLz4)


Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 31 March, 2021, 03:05:14 pm
I used the url nested between the *img* tags if that's what you mean.

I meant what Pingu said, but he did a much better job of explaining it than me! Anyway, you seem to be on top of it now so all good.

I do this from a laptop - I don't know if it works the same on a phone or tablet.

You can't do this from the Flickr iPhone app, I know that much. It's infuriating!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 31 March, 2021, 03:39:43 pm
You can't do this from the Flickr iPhone app, I know that much. It's infuriating!
Well you have to dig around to be able to do it on desktop too. Lots of times when you click share, it's not an option.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 31 March, 2021, 03:52:32 pm
This is NE edge of my Square. Marked tiles are only doable by kayak or pedalo.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51001127539_69d5d6f137_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kGN7na)
Kayaking the Humber (https://flic.kr/p/2kGN7na)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 31 March, 2021, 04:12:24 pm

I just discovered this Forum after Veloviewer retweeted the Evergreen post a couple of days back.


Hello!
This is the home of erudite and smutty cycling... or at least that is what is says on the tin. Loads of really helpful info and people with experience on most aspects of cycling life. Glad you found us.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 April, 2021, 12:11:24 am
This is NE edge of my Square. Marked tiles are only doable by kayak or pedalo.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51001127539_69d5d6f137_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kGN7na)
Kayaking the Humber (https://flic.kr/p/2kGN7na)


https://eu.orukayak.com/pages/compare

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 01 April, 2021, 12:54:21 am
Those Oru folding kayaks are interesting idea. But not really for serious sea kayaking. No watertight bulkheads so really bad news if you capsize and have to climb back in. No hatches and it seems iffy customer service and poor quality control.
I'm probably going to get a P&H Virgo Kayak. My white water kayak is no fun for going any distance or in straight lines

(https://www.roho.co.uk/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/ec0220039b94dee9faddde1110292608/v/i/virgo_clx_ts_5.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 01 April, 2021, 07:56:44 am
When I lived in Brough I spoke to one of the Humber Pilots about this and the look of horror on his face was a picture. Tidal flow of seven knots... I went sailing with another friend and even in a strong wind, sailing downstream against the incoming tide was dead slow. The waves got really choppy too.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 01 April, 2021, 08:05:38 am
Those Oru folding kayaks are interesting idea. But not really for serious sea kayaking. No watertight bulkheads so really bad news if you capsize and have to climb back in. No hatches and it seems iffy customer service and poor quality control.
I'm probably going to get a P&H Virgo Kayak. My white water kayak is no fun for going any distance or in straight lines

(https://www.roho.co.uk/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/ec0220039b94dee9faddde1110292608/v/i/virgo_clx_ts_5.jpg)
The idea is based on the folding kayaks used by the Royal Marine Commandos during WW2, often transported by submarine. My 1/72 airfix toy soldiers had some.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 01 April, 2021, 10:26:26 am
When I lived in Brough I spoke to one of the Humber Pilots about this and the look of horror on his face was a picture. Tidal flow of seven knots... I went sailing with another friend and even in a strong wind, sailing downstream against the incoming tide was dead slow. The waves got really choppy too.
Yup, it's not a task to be undertaken lightly. Almost everything you learn in kayaking is safety related. Mess up on a bike and you'll probably end up with road rash or similar. Mess up kayaking and you can end up dead. I'd only paddle in the Estuary with experienced locals. And in good weather.

A chap in paddling group I'm in just did a 52km tidal loop from Selby. He went down the Aire on the ebb flow and back around on Ouse on flood. You have to time it just right though.  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 April, 2021, 10:28:36 am
When I lived in Brough I spoke to one of the Humber Pilots about this and the look of horror on his face was a picture. Tidal flow of seven knots... I went sailing with another friend and even in a strong wind, sailing downstream against the incoming tide was dead slow. The waves got really choppy too.
Yup, it's not a task to be undertaken lightly. Almost everything you learn in kayaking is safety related. Mess up on a bike and you'll probably end up with road rash or similar. Mess up kayaking and you can end up dead. I'd only paddle in the Estuary with experienced locals. And in good weather.

A chap in paddling group I'm in just did a 52km tidal loop from Selby. He went down the Aire on the ebb flow and back around on Ouse on flood. You have to time it just right though.  ;D

The closest I've ever come to thinking I was going to die was in a kayak. Trapped, upside down, in about 600-800mm of water on the river Wye.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 01 April, 2021, 10:35:43 am
The idea is based on the folding kayaks used by the Royal Marine Commandos during WW2, often transported by submarine. My 1/72 airfix toy soldiers had some.
The Commando folding boats evolved from original Inuit designs, whereas these Oru kayaks do seem to be genuinely original as they are cleverly based on origami folding. Though the folds as I suspected also seem to be a weak point with leaks being an issue with some users.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 01 April, 2021, 10:40:33 am
The closest I've ever come to thinking I was going to die was in a kayak. Trapped, upside down, in about 600-800mm of water on the river Wye.

J
That's doesn't sound like fun.  :-[
I grew up on sea front and have a healthy respect for water and how very easily it can kill you.
Kayaking can be great fun, but also pretty scary and not in a exciting fairground ride way. Genuinely scary.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 01 April, 2021, 11:14:58 am
When I lived in Brough I spoke to one of the Humber Pilots about this and the look of horror on his face was a picture. Tidal flow of seven knots... I went sailing with another friend and even in a strong wind, sailing downstream against the incoming tide was dead slow. The waves got really choppy too.
Yup, it's not a task to be undertaken lightly. Almost everything you learn in kayaking is safety related. Mess up on a bike and you'll probably end up with road rash or similar. Mess up kayaking and you can end up dead. I'd only paddle in the Estuary with experienced locals. And in good weather.

A chap in paddling group I'm in just did a 52km tidal loop from Selby. He went down the Aire on the ebb flow and back around on Ouse on flood. You have to time it just right though.  ;D

Glad you know what you're doing. I read a lovely piece by Ken Oliver about Kayaking the Humber estuary and he's perhaps the expert to talk to (https://www.kkc.org.uk/disciplines/sea-kayaking/). He's done it and he'll know the risks... which get reported on every now and again. Last May, from the Hull Daily Mail (https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/rescue-kayaker-distress-river-humber-4161182).

From a land based perspective, have you collected the tile at the bottom of the garden of the house on Station Rd in Whitton? I took the couple who live there some chocolates to apologise for the intrusion. On the northern bank, just east of Hull, I have struggled to get access to the tile on the eastern bank of Old Fleet opposite Saltend chemical works. ABP have failed to repair the pedestrian crossing at the lock gates to King George Dock. I know its a dead end footpath, but it is the only way to visit that side of Saltend.

Happy / safe kayaking!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 02 April, 2021, 02:20:54 pm
I'm definitely going to have to get into sea kayaking - although the price of kayaks is a bit of a barrier at the moment.

There are a bunch of tiles I need in the Medway estuary that are only accessible by water:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51090136998_a6b0dd1391_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kQEiM1)

Looking at the Strava heatmap, I'm guessing there are quite a few other veloviewer tile baggers in the area:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51090136968_e2b38fc789_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kQEiLu)

I looked up Burntwick Island - it has an interesting history:
http://www.rainham-history.co.uk/articleslist/341-infamous-island-of-burntwick
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 02 April, 2021, 08:14:54 pm
Glad you know what you're doing.
I wouldn't go that far. I know what I need to know though. Still not there yet.
Desperate to get myself a sea kayak this year.

Quote
I read a lovely piece by Ken Oliver about Kayaking the Humber estuary and he's perhaps the expert to talk to.
I contacted that club a while back to get some info. There was to be a group outing led by a local for the Yorkshire Sea Kayakers (https://www.facebook.com/groups/411870646373113) a while back, but weather put a damper on it. Do you have a link to this article. In case it's not one I've read already.

Quote
From a land based perspective, have you collected the tile at the bottom of the garden of the house on Station Rd in Whitton? I took the couple who live there some chocolates to apologise for the intrusion.
I knocked on their door back in Sept 2018, they were lovely about my odd request to stand at foot of their garden. Didn't manage to tile much in 2019 for various reasons, then Covid. Hence little progression past there. Plus the water issue.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51090295274_df2be05d62_h.jpg)



 (https://flic.kr/p/2kQF7PU)
Quote
On the northern bank, just east of Hull, I have struggled to get access to the tile on the eastern bank of Old Fleet opposite Saltend chemical works. ABP have failed to repair the pedestrian crossing at the lock gates to King George Dock. I know its a dead end footpath, but it is the only way to visit that side of Saltend.
Happy / safe kayaking!
Cheers. That dock is still about 15 tiles away from my current NE edge. So a long way off time wise. Poss 20-30 rides/kayaks away.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 02 April, 2021, 08:30:23 pm
I'm definitely going to have to get into sea kayaking - although the price of kayaks is a bit of a barrier at the moment.
I think kayaks are really cheap compared to bikes. Got a really nice creek boat second hand for about £400 onc spray deck, carbon paddle and a good buoyancy aid and air bags for inside boat. I also paid £20 for a dry suit from an Army Surplus place for a film shoot where I had to stand in a river. Perfect for kayaking too. 
A really good new sea kayak is £800+ and a really expensive one is about the low end price a keen cyclist will pay for just one of their bikes.
The additional various bits of safety stuff can certainly add up though. However there are water sport places where you pay an annual fee and get use of facilities and kayaks, canoes, boats, SUP, etc for nothing after that. Manvers Lake in Yorkshire costs just £60 a year. Bargain. 
Be very aware that kayaking can be deadly if you don't know what you are doing. Get proper coaching. It's nearly all safety stuff. Water is dangerous.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 05 April, 2021, 11:51:39 am
Tiled Leeds North on Easter Sunday. It was a tad cold + windy shall we say. Obviously wind speed halved on return leg.  :facepalm:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51096912945_80d45645c7_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kRg32F)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51096651823_6063e0138b_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kReGpz)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 07 April, 2021, 11:31:49 pm
I'm definitely going to have to get into sea kayaking - although the price of kayaks is a bit of a barrier at the moment.

There are a bunch of tiles I need in the Medway estuary that are only accessible by water:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51090136998_a6b0dd1391_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kQEiM1)

Looking at the Strava heatmap, I'm guessing there are quite a few other veloviewer tile baggers in the area:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51090136968_e2b38fc789_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kQEiLu)

I looked up Burntwick Island - it has an interesting history:
http://www.rainham-history.co.uk/articleslist/341-infamous-island-of-burntwick

I reckon you should follow Graeme and boab's example, and just move house to somewhere you need a bunch of squares :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 08 April, 2021, 10:01:31 am
That approach can only take you so far. I can't imagine ever moving to

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 08 April, 2021, 10:48:44 am
I reckon you should follow Graeme and boab's example, and just move house to somewhere you need a bunch of squares :)

Maybe we should set up some Tilebaggers house swapping for short periods   :P ;D

Did cross my mind if there was merit in the "collective" offering safe parking spots at their homes to explore different areas, as we wait for campsites and the like to open up. You are very welcome in East Northants.  :thumbsup:

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 08 April, 2021, 11:50:20 am
I reckon you should follow Graeme and boab's example, and just move house to somewhere you need a bunch of squares :)

Maybe we should set up some Tilebaggers house swapping for short periods   :P ;D

Did cross my mind if there was merit in the "collective" offering safe parking spots at their homes to explore different areas, as we wait for campsites and the like to open up. You are very welcome in East Northants.  :thumbsup:
What I really could do with is a tilebagging friend at Porton Down...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 08 April, 2021, 12:44:36 pm
What I really could do with is a tilebagging friend at Porton Down...
Saw there was an off road sportive in that area at the weekend with another planned, rider videos of passing tanks at speed drew my attention, but seems they only did the bridleways, no private areas like some old mtb events there.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 08 April, 2021, 01:47:35 pm
Maybe we should set up some Tilebaggers house swapping for short periods   :P ;D

Did cross my mind if there was merit in the "collective" offering safe parking spots at their homes to explore different areas, as we wait for campsites and the like to open up. You are very welcome in East Northants.  :thumbsup:
Interesting idea. And for more normal times too. I'm Sheffield with Peak District a short ride away. Lots of lovely riding here.

I went to visit my Mum last March for a few days, ended up staying a few months because of some bug going around. Luckily I had my new FS MTB with me because as there are loads of great MTB trails behind house. Also did a lot of local micro exploring. Tiled all the land part of The Gower bar one which I rode past twice within a few easy metres of ticking it off, but forgot. Duh!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51103764270_da4460aa30_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kRS9FY)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 08 April, 2021, 02:53:43 pm
Tiled all the land part of The Gower bar one which I rode past twice within a few easy metres of ticking it off, but forgot. Duh!

Frustrating!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 08 April, 2021, 04:13:01 pm
Frustrating!
No big deal with this one. It's not part of my Max Square, it's easy to get and it's somewhere I'll ride again anyway.
When I'm finally allowed to visit home again.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 08 April, 2021, 05:49:46 pm
Used the extension of ability to move within Fife and a low tide to explore the North East Corner of the Kingdom.  First, accessed the two tiles south of Leuchars, which I thought would be tricky, but actually were really simple- a 25 min walk from Coble Shore parking on the Guardbridge to St Andrews Road.  It was a little muddy but nothing compared to what I have already done.

Then had a great ride in Tentsmuir Forest and on the beach - some lovely hard sand (and a bit of hike a bike over some softer stuff) and some great little MTB trails.  Then tidied up some missing tiles in the NE corner of Fife.  A mini cluster of 40 odd ready to join up with the rest.  I also think Tentsmuir point is worth further exploration.  At low tide there are as many as 3 or 4 tiles (2 to North and two to the East which could be accessible.  Would have to be there for 1hr either side of low tide, not 3hrs after it like I was today.  And seals in their hundreds as potential sandbar mates...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51103048551_50abfbb360.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kRNtVZ)tentsmuir (https://flic.kr/p/2kRNtVZ)

One annoyance was a tile in Newport- by an old pier on Boat Brae- hoped to blag my way onto it, but all padlocked shut.  Another day...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: iroiromono on 09 April, 2021, 10:49:09 am

One annoyance was a tile in Newport- by an old pier on Boat Brae- hoped to blag my way onto it, but all padlocked shut.  Another day...

FifeingEijit might be able to help with access to this one.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 09 April, 2021, 10:57:42 am
Used the extension of ability to move within Fife and a low tide to explore the North East Corner of the Kingdom.  First, accessed the two tiles south of Leuchars, which I thought would be tricky, but actually were really simple- a 25 min walk from Coble Shore parking on the Guardbridge to St Andrews Road.  It was a little muddy but nothing compared to what I have already done.

Then had a great ride in Tentsmuir Forest and on the beach - some lovely hard sand (and a bit of hike a bike over some softer stuff) and some great little MTB trails.  Then tidied up some missing tiles in the NE corner of Fife.  A mini cluster of 40 odd ready to join up with the rest.  I also think Tentsmuir point is worth further exploration.  At low tide there are as many as 3 or 4 tiles (2 to North and two to the East which could be accessible.  Would have to be there for 1hr either side of low tide, not 3hrs after it like I was today.  And seals in their hundreds as potential sandbar mates...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51103048551_50abfbb360.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kRNtVZ)tentsmuir (https://flic.kr/p/2kRNtVZ)

One annoyance was a tile in Newport- by an old pier on Boat Brae- hoped to blag my way onto it, but all padlocked shut.  Another day...
That tile is right at the end of the slip so needs low tide and boat trips running from the pier.
I reckon the Newport gala day would do next time it runs, just got to pick your rib trip right. Or kayak...

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 14 April, 2021, 11:43:29 pm
So I went tiling on Tuesday as it finally stopped snowing/sleeting/hailing/blowing a gale. Yay!
Went to fill car up but forgot mask so back home. Fueled up and it's an hour and a half drive, mostly on motorway and I'm ready to set off. Decide to put GoPro on for climb out of Oxenhope as drivers were being well drivers and camera beeps to say no. Thought I'd forgot to put card in, but I later discover camera had turned itself on and recorded my office wall until 128GB card was full. Voice control is not always a good thing when it mistakes other random speech for instructions.
1.5km in and the hill gets steeper. A lot steeper, 18% in places and it's very hard work. Get to flat section and notice chain is misbehaving as I ease up on pedals. Turns out wheel was binding, so no wonder the climb was really tough. Though my lack of long rides/fitness didn't help either. I try and fettle bike and then cassette stops freewheeling entirely. I console myself at least it wasn't half way around like last time this part failed. I limp back to car on my now fixie, which is always harder going down than up and visit the bike shop in nearby Hebden Bridge. As I expected, no spare part for obscure non standard widget. What was not expected was a parking ticket. Hadn't realised spot became a clearway half an hour into my 1 hour parking. Duh! I have little concept of time/day of week/month anymore. Then a two and a half hour drive to get back for various boring reasons, the first hour of which felt like 5 hours as bladder was very full and nowhere to stop to empty it for way too long.  :-[
So £84 in parts/ticket, 4 hours driving and I get a whopping 3 tiles. Woohoo!
On the upside I can at least skip those tiles and the 18% climb when I return to do the rest of loop.  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 16 April, 2021, 08:21:29 am
It might be cheaper to move to Hebden
 ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 16 April, 2021, 10:19:39 am
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 16 April, 2021, 12:23:28 pm
:D

You'll have an awesome max rectangle.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 16 April, 2021, 01:19:15 pm
Some long term planning... if I go through with this DIY audax -
(https://i.ibb.co/MDwSvXm/Capture.png) (https://ibb.co/jv0fNpS)
Then this would join up the few tiles that I've got lying around in Sheffield.
(https://i.ibb.co/z2YtP8m/Capture.png) (https://ibb.co/Ksk8VN5)
Closer to home, some ideas for this weekend:
(https://i.ibb.co/FJCt9wt/Capture.png) (https://ibb.co/TRd5Z85)
(https://i.ibb.co/SvB3C0Q/Capture.png) (https://ibb.co/HgqH8YN)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 16 April, 2021, 01:40:09 pm
It might be cheaper to move to Hebden
 ;D
Though as Hebden is off NW corner of Max Square at moment, it would make more sense to move to SW corner as I've nearly finished Peak District. South and West is way easier than more of the Pennines in the very lumpy North + West. I'd end up swapping riding the Peaks to the Dales and these areas are really slow going.
But very pretty  :)- https://www.futtfuttfutt.com/-/galleries/imajez-portfolio/britain-by-bike/-/medias/fdf45a2a-3487-4e0e-abb1-904af15a844c (https://www.futtfuttfutt.com/-/galleries/imajez-portfolio/britain-by-bike/-/medias/fdf45a2a-3487-4e0e-abb1-904af15a844c) I had to clamber up a 45 degree bank to get that tile [and photo].

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 16 April, 2021, 05:05:45 pm
South and West is way easier than more of the Pennines in the very lumpy North + West. I'd end up swapping riding the Peaks to the Dales and these areas are really slow going.


Tell me about it, the SW corner of my square is on Fountains Fell, and the western edge is the Pennine Way.

Not that I'd swap, it's fabulous, just slow going.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 16 April, 2021, 07:15:47 pm

Had a nice 55k ride North of the Kanal. Added 7 new tiles, increased cluster by 10.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 16 April, 2021, 10:31:13 pm
Tell me about it, the SW corner of my square is on Fountains Fell, and the western edge is the Pennine Way.

Not that I'd swap, it's fabulous, just slow going.
It is very nice in The Peaks and Dales.
Though on that note I was pondering recently how folk down South [UK] managed to get such big squares so quickly and some folk doing so, always riding from home.
However I recall seeing some World Pro riders being interviewed before a stage race that ended in Sheffield [where I live] and them commenting that Yorkshire/The Peak District is one of the hardest place to race. The hill are not as high as the Alps, but they are vicious. 20% is not unusual and and the TdF in 2014 was basically won on Stage 2 that did the Peaks and 2km from finish went up Jenkin Hill in Sheffield which has a 33% section. Peloton was similarly shredded during the last Tour Of Britain stage that went through the Peaks.
Then the off road stuff makes that look easy going. A 20km ride around Kinder Downfall was much tougher than a 150Km tiling ride out Lincolnshire way. I've done a lot of what I would describe as XC trials riding with bits of mountaineering thrown in. Sometimes with bike on shoulder, but yesterday I abandoned bike and clambered up last 150m of the boulder field. Because no-one in their right mind would try to climb down with it.  ;D 

6km/h average speed is not unusual on the some off piste excursions. Though I think my lowest speed was taking 45 mins to go 400m [there + back] to get to one tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 16 April, 2021, 10:46:39 pm
@imajez, that's proper dedication.  Not a proper tiler until you have a few stories. Quite a few of my tiles have no roads or paths, forth ones include knee deep estuary mud, though now a SUP gives me an alternative way to explore the Forth, Loch Leven and maybe the Tay.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 17 April, 2021, 10:38:39 am
Well, after a week in the Dales, I'm done with Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale (for squarebagging purposes, at least).

Before:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51120680961_a611244e45_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTmRr4)

During, there was quite a lot of this:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51120593833_6159e8221d_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTmpwR)

Way too much of this shit:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51121471620_8909c2e5b8_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTqUt7)

A fair bit of this:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51121475245_376a122e32_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTqVxB)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51120683481_40af1fbff9_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTmSbv)

And even some of this (I was on holiday, you know):

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51120682181_0190a9bc8f_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTmRN6)

After:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51121475630_9091489343_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTqVEf)

And here's the new squares in context:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51120111947_89dbd27e91_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTiWht)

Cluster is now 5687, and I was a bit surprised that my max square leapt up to 46x46 (x2), from 44x44.

Might take a break from it for a while now...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 17 April, 2021, 12:48:34 pm
Nice work!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 17 April, 2021, 01:42:49 pm
A fair bit of this:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51121475245_376a122e32_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTqVxB)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51120683481_40af1fbff9_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTmSbv)

Ooh! That terrain can be really hard going. Ankle snapping too if you are not careful.
Good work. Those hills are tough. Our squares may be touching soon.  ;D
Also having looked at where you went I just realised when I walked around Malham in 2019, I forgot to strava it. Duh!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: markcjagar on 17 April, 2021, 10:30:58 pm
Hey imajez, I'm also in Sheffield - I've taken to hiking to acquire the moorland tiles between Strines and Ladybower but will need to do a lot more to get the rest.

(https://i.imgur.com/yXr3eiQ.png) (https://imgur.com/a/bHik6pE)

I've found the most I can manage per ride if I'm tile-hunting is around ~100km because the dirt-tracks, dead-ends and horrific main roads that are easily avoided start to wear me down after a few hours - I have however found plenty of new lanes and some climbs that will be visited again.

edit: some numbers

7178 tiles, average of 7.166 km per tile
Max square 19x19
Max Cluster: 971
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 17 April, 2021, 11:02:51 pm

Ooh! That terrain can be really hard going. Ankle snapping too if you are not careful.
Good work. Those hills are tough. Our squares may be touching soon.  ;D
Also having looked at where you went I just realised when I walked around Malham in 2019, I forgot to strava it. Duh!

As you can imagine, I've done loads of terrain like that. Always reminds me of Takeshi's Castle.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 18 April, 2021, 01:08:27 am
Hi Mark, those moorland areas are certainly a bit challenging, I rode all of them bar a 15km loop near Holme Moss, as I did that as a walk with girlfriend. But then I really like really technical XC riding.
The glacial pace I mentioned above was getting a tile which I think is just above your top tiles on Strines. There's no path of any kind going there. I abandoned bike and traipsed cross country for a last few hundred metres to get that tile.  Also if you have an accident there, you'll never be found unless you have a PLB to call for help. It may still be within the Sheffield City boundary, but no phone reception at all. Though if the vulture returns, he may find you. ;D He nested just South East  of that tile.
A lot of the N+W corner just outside of your square is particularly hard work. It's a lot of XC trials riding with occasional mountaineering. But it's really beautiful.

Which climbs are the ones you will never repeat?
The only place I've been to and thought, I'm definitely never coming back here again other than busy main roads was when tiling SW Doncaster. Ironically I did exactly that because half way around I realised my GPS had borked so I had to loop back and do that awful section again. Then to add injury to insult, I then got bitten by a dog when cutting back to repeat route. The only other unpleasant ride was the opposite side of Doncaster where I was chased by horrible nasty flies on one gruelling section where I couldn't pedal fast enough through the sandy trail to escape the bitey little buggers. Donny sucks!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 18 April, 2021, 05:01:02 pm
Took the SUP out on Loch Leven and finally nabbed the two tiles that have been blocking me for years has increased max square by 2 to 15x15 and cluster by 8 to 1134. Also have a good opportunity to increase square to 17x17 in a week or two and beyond with a bit more luck.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 18 April, 2021, 07:22:42 pm
The last few weeks have seen the max cluster upped to 1821. It should've been more but I was frustrated by a blocked road today  :demon: The max square remains at 21, though there are six of them now.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 18 April, 2021, 08:18:53 pm

Might take a break from it for a while now...

Spoke too soon! I had to go round t'Moors today anyway, to do a spot of route-checking and check there was a cafe/pub stop for one of my audaxes in a couple of weeks.

I grabbed a few extra squares while I was round there, and I've finally pushed my square under the Tees Estuary, which has been a long-term goal for a while (now I can expand on three sides, instead of just south and west, though I'll hit the Humber eventually). Square has bounced up to 47x47 (x2).

But look how close I am to 48x48 - you can see where I walked out to the cliff edge (on a previous ride, not today). I might have to go and walk out along the beach under Cattersty Cliff from Skinningrove now.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51123744248_9d1b9b514b_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTCy3m)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 18 April, 2021, 09:06:14 pm
Very pleased to have finished the Isle of Sheppey today. The RSPB reserve is a delight and the B2231 is probably one of the most dangerous roads I have had the displeasure of riding on. After a couple of close passes I just rode in the middle of the lane, which led to the inevitable annoyed drivers. Luckily, I was only on it for a couple of miles.

If anyone else is trying to do this, here is my route.  https://www.strava.com/activities/5149062796

I did have a rather challenging gate to climb over. So would suggest this alternative.  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35749004
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 18 April, 2021, 11:28:40 pm
the B2231 is probably one of the most dangerous roads I have had the displeasure of riding on.

It is really unpleasant. Still, you’ll never have to do it again now!

Good work.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 19 April, 2021, 12:03:23 am
Quote from: Random Motorist
It's a dead end road!

I'm a bit surprised I don't get this more often  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 19 April, 2021, 07:16:50 am

Might take a break from it for a while now...

Spoke too soon! I had to go round t'Moors today anyway, to do a spot of route-checking and check there was a cafe/pub stop for one of my audaxes in a couple of weeks.

I grabbed a few extra squares while I was round there, and I've finally pushed my square under the Tees Estuary, which has been a long-term goal for a while (now I can expand on three sides, instead of just south and west, though I'll hit the Humber eventually). Square has bounced up to 47x47 (x2).

But look how close I am to 48x48 - you can see where I walked out to the cliff edge (on a previous ride, not today). I might have to go and walk out along the beach under Cattersty Cliff from Skinningrove now.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51123744248_9d1b9b514b_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTCy3m)
Or pack the abseiling kit.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 19 April, 2021, 08:46:31 am

Might take a break from it for a while now...

Spoke too soon! I had to go round t'Moors today anyway, to do a spot of route-checking and check there was a cafe/pub stop for one of my audaxes in a couple of weeks.

I grabbed a few extra squares while I was round there, and I've finally pushed my square under the Tees Estuary, which has been a long-term goal for a while (now I can expand on three sides, instead of just south and west, though I'll hit the Humber eventually). Square has bounced up to 47x47 (x2).

But look how close I am to 48x48 - you can see where I walked out to the cliff edge (on a previous ride, not today). I might have to go and walk out along the beach under Cattersty Cliff from Skinningrove now.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51123744248_9d1b9b514b_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTCy3m)
Or pack the abseiling kit.

Or attach gps to boomerang.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 19 April, 2021, 09:59:16 am
@trickedem - thanks to your pioneering efforts, I've devised a route to tick off the tiles I still need on Sheppey. Good excuse to get the cross bike out of the garage next weekend. You'll note I'm planning on taking the option of doubling back on the farm track rather than riding on Lower Road any more than is entirely necessary...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51124844554_aa7e665031.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTJc89)
Sheppey tilebagging gravel ride (https://flic.kr/p/2kTJc89) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

When I went over to Sheppey before, I didn't make it all the way to the tip of the headland past Rushenden - ran into the locked gate so turned back. But looking at the map again, I can see there's a path that takes you round the gate, which I guess is what you did. Annoyed I missed that!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 19 April, 2021, 02:35:45 pm
Couldn't quite see which way you intended to get to Warden Point. My original plan was to go to the end of Warden Road. But the path at the end has now been closed by the Council due to landslips.   Instead, I went through a stile which has been installed here and there is a very pleasant path through the field down to the cliff edge.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4145236,0.8985453,3a,80.4y,73.85h,70.89t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sxuFqFuNMjV3f2pzqXpns1A!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DxuFqFuNMjV3f2pzqXpns1A%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D134.0356%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The little diversion off the prison road to get another tile is interesting. At the end of the track the guy in the last house has all sorts of interesting stuff in his garden including a bofors gun from WW2
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 19 April, 2021, 07:36:04 pm
Couldn't quite see which way you intended to get to Warden Point. My original plan was to go to the end of Warden Road. But the path at the end has now been closed by the Council due to landslips.   Instead, I went through a stile which has been installed here and there is a very pleasant path through the field down to the cliff edge.

I was planning to go through the campsite, but that path looks like an interesting possibility.

In a similar vein... in case you haven't already got this one, there's a tile you can get easily in Seasalter by going into the Alberta holiday park:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51125926018_92b183d54a_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTPJB5)
Screenshot 2021-04-19 at 19.33.11 (https://flic.kr/p/2kTPJB5) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 19 April, 2021, 08:41:34 pm

Did my first 200k DIY since last Feb. Route was slightly quirky to pick up tiles. 55 new tiles, cluster up by 12.

Annoyingly a diversion for road works meant that I missed out on a few more :(

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 19 April, 2021, 10:26:18 pm
Note to self - when route planning don't add on a load of road miles on a loop when using the full sus to do some proper MTB tiles. It's hard/tedious/slow work on tarmac.
You can tell I'm out of tile collecting practice when I do dumb things like that. It was so slow going on road, I ran out of daylight. So I had to skip the 4km spur off main loop, which looked it could be a bit technical on satellite imagery and which prompted me to take the MTB in first place, rather than the CX. Duh!
But the other off road sections were definitely better on the Epic than my Crux.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 19 April, 2021, 11:12:45 pm
Note to self - when route planning don't add on a load of road miles on a loop when using the full sus to do some proper MTB tiles. It's hard/tedious/slow work on tarmac.
You can tell I'm out of tile collecting practice when I do dumb things like that. It was so slow going on road, I ran out of daylight. So I had to skip the 4km spur off main loop, which looked it could be a bit technical on satellite imagery and which prompted me to take the MTB in first place, rather than the CX. Duh!
But the other off road sections were definitely better on the Epic than my Crux.

This is a nightmare. I'm in a similar situation, needing to travel some distance by road to get to some offroad tiles... I'm feeling the CX bike will be the best compromise. The MTB will just be too slow on the road.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 19 April, 2021, 11:52:12 pm
Well I normally use the CX, even with 28mm road tyres [though I've now settled on 33mm even for road]  and it's done some really serious off roading in it's time and is really fast on road. Feel like I need something between the CX and the full sus for some riding some tiling loops. Preferably weighing 8.5kg or less, so way more than I can afford at present. I was eyeing up a Diverge (https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/gravel-bikes/specialized-diverge-comp-carbon-review/) in a store the other day the other day, ideal for tiling/bikepacking and my size too. Shame price is too big for the wallet. The 3T Exploro is another bike I quite fancy and even pricier.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 19 April, 2021, 11:55:27 pm
Folding road tyres for the MTB...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 20 April, 2021, 12:02:36 am
For mixed terrain tilebagging I use my tourer (Bob Jackson World Tourer) with 35mm light gravel tyres (Hutchinson for me). That's a nice compromise.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 20 April, 2021, 12:38:12 am
I should clarify, that when I say I need an MTB for off road sections, I mean seriously difficult stuff to ride on an MTB.
This was done on CX with 28mm road tyres. It would have been more sensible with 33mm tyres [which is now my standard for roads], but still manageable.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51126464831_fd0994bc28_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTSuLX)

Riding up rock gardens isn't much fun on any drop barred bike. And the track got more interesting after that.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51125911117_0bd1bf9a79_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTPEba)

The descent the other side was awesome, but very narrow, rather challenging and technical too. More like DH trials riding.  ;D

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51126397388_00c3a27a70_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTS9J9)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 20 April, 2021, 06:08:43 am
You had a track?  I dreamed of having a track... ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trundle on 20 April, 2021, 07:27:02 am
^^^ Great piccies.

I hope your wheels have lots of spokes!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 20 April, 2021, 10:43:29 am
You had a track?  I dreamed of having a track... ;D
Sheep would have struggled with that 'track'. Imagine single track and halve the width and give it a very variable vertical profile with added random rocks.  Track does not necessarily equal easy. I however loved it because I like techy riding.
I do a lot of track free trails too. Amazed I haven't snapped an ankle yet.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 20 April, 2021, 10:52:20 am
^^^ Great piccies.
Ta.

Quote
I hope your wheels have lots of spokes!
Just 24 on those road wheels.  ;D
Still nice and straight, despite my best efforts.  JRA Wheels. (https://www.justridingalong.com/)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 20 April, 2021, 10:56:50 am
I should clarify, that when I say I need an MTB for off road sections, I mean seriously difficult stuff to ride on an MTB.

I don't have anything like that round my way, but I did run into difficulties on a few sections of the Pilgrims Way. It's a real mixed bag. Parts of it are fine on 25mm tyres, parts of it are quite rough but still rideable. Then there are bits that are seriously rocky but would be OK on a full-sus MTB.

And then there are sections where you find yourself wading through knee-deep mud. Totally unrideable.

All considered suitable to be designated part of NCR17. ::-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 20 April, 2021, 01:24:46 pm
All considered suitable to be designated part of NCR17. ::-)
Many parts of the Sustrans network are being deprecated as they are not fit for purpose.
Sections of supposed bike routes that become deep mud, need upgrading however. No users appreciate that.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 20 April, 2021, 02:57:11 pm
All considered suitable to be designated part of NCR17. ::-)
Many parts of the Sustrans network are being deprecated as they are not fit for purpose.
Sections of supposed bike routes that become deep mud, need upgrading however. No users appreciate that.
Problem is what Sustrans consider "suitable".
(https://i.ibb.co/kh05PMR/18-DDCDD6-BAED-4-D6-E-8-FB3-1-D57-E35431-A2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/55vGJ2N)
This looks like a lovely quiet country route, right? Well, it is. But for some inexplicable reason it's been deprecated as NCN 254.

It looks like their emphasis is on traffic free routes, not routes suitable for road bikes. And that's fine for the kids - but the sustrans network is not "about it being for everyone", as their CEO says. It's for families out on jollies.

I've long thought that there is a space for a network targeting road cyclists and commuters that avoids busy roads where possible, but fundamentally has a decent surface (fine gravel railway paths may be acceptable with a signed alternative), and takes a direct route.

Sure, there's Strava, but when your GPS gizmos go crackers, at rush hour, it's nice if there are signs to follow, instead of you knowing only one route back home to Oxford, that route being the A34.  :o
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 20 April, 2021, 10:07:22 pm
Or as I saw today, a cyclist on the 70mph 3-lane section of the A20. Google Maps offers this as a cycle route but it's really not advisable (the ex A20 is a good parallel alternative).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 April, 2021, 10:52:52 pm
Or as I saw today, a cyclist on the 70mph 3-lane section of the A20. Google Maps offers this as a cycle route but it's really not advisable (the ex A20 is a good parallel alternative).

Komoot tried to take me down the A14 near Cambridge...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 21 April, 2021, 08:35:09 am
Or as I saw today, a cyclist on the 70mph 3-lane section of the A20. Google Maps offers this as a cycle route but it's really not advisable (the ex A20 is a good parallel alternative).

Komoot tried to take me down the A14 near Cambridge...

J
When I did the Festive 500, the cycleway from Cambridge to St Ives was flooded. I decided to use the old A14/A1307, built as part of the new A14, but they hadn't finished building it between Bar Hill and Swavesey! The legal route was to cycle on the new A14, the same one that was meant to be the A14(M). Needless to say ignoring the road closed signs and a bit of creativity, including contraflowing a slip road for a short distance, felt far safer.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 21 April, 2021, 10:44:57 am
You had a track?  I dreamed of having a track... ;D
The majority of my tiling time now is spend confering with my spirit animal - "If I was a sheep, where would I go from here...."  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 21 April, 2021, 08:28:45 pm
Some Cowal Way / Dunoon Dirt Dash tiles this week as we are out of LA Lockdown. (https://i.imgur.com/ZcNxCZk.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 21 April, 2021, 08:56:55 pm
You had a track?  I dreamed of having a track... ;D
The majority of my tiling time now is spend confering with my spirit animal - "If I was a sheep, where would I go from here...."  ;D
At times I think sheep had more sense than to come this way.  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 21 April, 2021, 09:27:36 pm
Three years ago my GPS went for a bit of a wander around while I was having coffee with a couple of mates.  The resulting 5k spike nabbed a few tiles before I even knew what they were.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50722595771_97405f843b_z.jpg)


This means that I have a false positive for one tile that fortunately isn't part of my square or cluster.  I know that I could delete the ride from Strava, edit the spike out then re-upload it but that would lose the comments, photo's etc.  I would just go and grab it properly but it is 70k away, in a lower Covid tier and it is December so I wondered if anyone could think of an easier fix.

I did the decent thing yesterday - used a day of holiday to grab the spurious tile for real.

180k in (mostly) glorious sunshine with just a few spots of rain.  I had my knees out and the twattish tan lines are developing nicely  ::-)

I managed to grab 41 tiles in addition to the important one and bumped my cluster up by 51.  None of the tracks were even remotely comparable with imajez's but 25mm GP4000s on the summer bike weren't exactly ideal:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51129982036_770027707f_z.jpg)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51129983356_85eb57d3cc_z.jpg)

I also managed to get escorted (nicely) from the massive building site that will probably soon be a new warehouse at DIRFT when the rough 1.8k long bridleway heading west from Yelvertoft just stopped with no signposted diversion.  I really didn't fancy retracing my steps so just headed off into the industrial wasteland to grab a tile  :P
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 22 April, 2021, 01:07:11 pm
None of the tracks were even remotely comparable with imajez's but 25mm GP4000s on the summer bike weren't exactly ideal:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51129982036_770027707f_z.jpg)
Hard baked mud particularly where horses/cattle have been wandering when wet is awful on almost any bike, let alone 25mm tyres.

I like how you revisited tile out of good conscience.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trundle on 22 April, 2021, 03:34:56 pm
This looks like a lovely quiet country route, right? Well, it is. But for some inexplicable reason it's been deprecated as NCN 254.

It looks like their emphasis is on traffic free routes, not routes suitable for road bikes. And that's fine for the kids - but the sustrans network is not "about it being for everyone", as their CEO says. It's for families out on jollies.

I've long thought that there is a space for a network targeting road cyclists and commuters that avoids busy roads where possible, but fundamentally has a decent surface (fine gravel railway paths may be acceptable with a signed alternative), and takes a direct route.

Sure, there's Strava, but when your GPS gizmos go crackers, at rush hour, it's nice if there are signs to follow, instead of you knowing only one route back home to Oxford, that route being the A34.  :o

That is very much the emphasis of the national byway - quiet roads. It shares 10% of its lanes with sustrans, but the rest are on quiet low traffic lanes. I rode a couple near Quainton two weeks ago, and they were lovely. Interesting and quiet.

It is nowhere near as extensive as the NCN though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 22 April, 2021, 09:56:48 pm
Trying to catch some more odd tiles, and as usual something different to see.  An old Bedford lorry with a tree growing thro the metal work.(https://i.imgur.com/rZ3oxWI.jpg?1)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ashaman42 on 22 April, 2021, 10:06:01 pm
I've got a motorbike in a garden that was doing that, we chopped the undergrowth down to move it but it really needs scrapping.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 24 April, 2021, 09:15:51 am
A mix of roads and dirt tracks joining up pats of the Cowal Way /Dunoon Dirt Dash routes. Loch lomond side is camper wagon alley now , so much for overnights away from Monday. Starting to look at the wind farms and thro tracks in the hills. (https://i.imgur.com/OiQm9iU.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 24 April, 2021, 05:48:26 pm
Bridleways that were impassable mud a few few weeks back are like concrete now. Did about 20km of them on a 170km ride today. Admiring 54x54 max square whilst glueing fillings back in.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 24 April, 2021, 06:54:32 pm
I had my first explorer ride since end of September.  Including some nice bridleways north of Waddesdon up to Winslow, so filled in a corner of my square, 35 to 39x39.  Cluster 1739.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51136395089_59697eff57.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kUKoGi)PXL_20210424_1 (https://flic.kr/p/2kUKoGi) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

Spot the tea...   First explore on this bike.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51135831788_e6acee69d3.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kUGvfd)PXL_20210424_3 (https://flic.kr/p/2kUGvfd) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: DrBru on 24 April, 2021, 11:13:34 pm
I started this a month or so ago, not long after I decided to get back on the bike after many years of nothing more than commuting. My previous audax career was all pre-GPS (or at least, I didn't have a GPS device then), so I'm very much starting from scratch. Still - that means I'm at the fun stage of being able to increase my cluster + square with every 30k ride from home :)
Today's jaunt gave me all the nines -- 99 cluster, and a 9x9 max square. Next extended commute should push it up to 10x10 :)

(https://drbruaudax.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/cluster240421-1.png)

I'm wondering whether to try and complete all of the Vale of White Horse for a first challenge -- I might take advantage of the dry conditions and get some squares along the ridgeway next; relatively rare chance for it to be accessible with 28mm tyres and low clearance mudguards!

(https://drbruaudax.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/vowhdc_240421.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 24 April, 2021, 11:18:43 pm
 :thumbsup: Welcome to the madhouse  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 25 April, 2021, 08:42:41 am
I started this a month or so ago, not long after I decided to get back on the bike after many years of nothing more than commuting. My previous audax career was all pre-GPS (or at least, I didn't have a GPS device then), so I'm very much starting from scratch. Still - that means I'm at the fun stage of being able to increase my cluster + square with every 30k ride from home :)
Today's jaunt gave me all the nines -- 99 cluster, and a 9x9 max square. Next extended commute should push it up to 10x10 :)

...

I'm wondering whether to try and complete all of the Vale of White Horse for a first challenge -- I might take advantage of the dry conditions and get some squares along the ridgeway next; relatively rare chance for it to be accessible with 28mm tyres and low clearance mudguards!

...

Hi DrBru, I'm based in Abingdon.   :)  I've been vv explorer-ing since end 2018, though logging rides since ~2014.  I've done some of the downs south of the Ridgeway on a 90s rigid frame MTB, but usually I'm on 28/32mm tyres.  Nice and dry at the moment.   I'm planning to finish Swindon area off soonish...  Current square:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51138006280_d3303c20d9.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kUTDDs)vv25042021 (https://flic.kr/p/2kUTDDs) by ao (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

Jonathan F's 100x100 (https://veloviewer.com/athlete/2151491/activities?o=0:1&f=0:1366892939000|1546447201000,1:Ride|Walk,5:642.7|277996,6:0|20417.1&c=0,0,5,6,9) can be useful for ideas for some harder to get squares, as it covers this area.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 25 April, 2021, 10:50:08 am
:thumbsup: Welcome to the madhouse  :)

+1

Also, this has given me an idea: if I only count tiles bagged since I started using Veloviewer, suddenly a lot more of my short, local rides would become more “meaningful”. And since I’m not getting a lot of opportunity to go out in longer rides right now, it might be a good source of motivation to get out on my bike.

Hmmmm...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 25 April, 2021, 06:14:47 pm
Welcome @DrBru

I got another 8 tiles including 2 tricky off-road ones in the Ochils on a ride which netted me 8 new tiles, a cluster increase of 11 and also a max square increase to 17x17.  Getting the two water based tiles on the Loch Leven Paddling trip has given new impetus to max square growing  - can add a few more to that before being bound by the Forth and the Tay.  Will require some serious off road stuff in the Ochils in the NW corner and SUP in the Forth for the SE corner
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 25 April, 2021, 08:33:12 pm
The Ochlis look like they'll be fun/challenging.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 25 April, 2021, 10:53:07 pm
The Ochlis look like they'll be fun/challenging.

They are - everyone heads past them on their way to the highlands, but they are a decent range in their own right- as high as 720 m.  However, roads are few and far between, and often very up and down with 20% slopes not uncommon. As a result, need to use a lot of tracks and tody a slog across moorland to bag tiles. Only saw 2 cars in a 2 and a half hour ride and the only cyclists started to appear 20 mins from the end.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 26 April, 2021, 09:54:47 am
Big one yesterday, picked up 5 tiles near Shaftesbury:
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/94b4765d-1896-4ff8-a8d9-de75661f0025-png.585715/)
Conveniently part of a ride from my new place to my parents' house, so a little over 40 miles (the most direct route is 25 and involves the unpleasant A350, so I went a mile along the trunk A31, then did the A350, but the calmer 30-40 limited section).
That took me from multiple 19x19 squares to a 23x23, and were the last tiles in that region of Dorset. Now my attention has to turn to the West. Although I'm literally living two miles away from 3 unclaimed tiles... those are Brownsea island.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 26 April, 2021, 10:14:07 am
They are - everyone heads past them on their way to the highlands, but they are a decent range in their own right- as high as 720 m.  However, roads are few and far between, and often very up and down with 20% slopes not uncommon. As a result, need to use a lot of tracks and tody a slog across moorland to bag tiles. Only saw 2 cars in a 2 and a half hour ride and the only cyclists started to appear 20 mins from the end.
At least there is a reasonable number of tracks.
Though one that caught my eye due to contour density made a 20% climb looks easy.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanN on 26 April, 2021, 05:23:54 pm
A change of jobs and the start point of most of my rides means I have some joining up to do...

(https://i.imgur.com/abYTQSj.png)

This may involve hills
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 26 April, 2021, 05:51:36 pm
This may involve hills
No 'may' about it.  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 26 April, 2021, 06:27:29 pm
Almost reached the east coast, the hill around the Carron valley and Fintry were a struggle . Max square now 31 and cluster is 1800+, Just Grangemouth and roundabout Skinfllats to fill in .(https://i.imgur.com/sAOs8SV.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 26 April, 2021, 07:59:51 pm
Carron Valley and Fintry currently blocking my cluster moving West.  Have reached Loch Venachar and have a plan to try to get to Inversnaid and Arrochar for a C2C cluster (On East have North Berwick and 1 short ride away from having St Andrews and Fife Ness).

Skinflats/Grangemouth is pretty straightforward - two tiles where you may need to walk off the road/path -  the tile just south of Kincardine Bridge which is useful if you want to head over into Fife/Clacks and the other is the one two tiles south of that one.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 26 April, 2021, 08:19:32 pm
Carron Valley and Fintry currently blocking my cluster moving West.  Have reached Loch Venachar and have a plan to try to get to Inversnaid and Arrochar for a C2C cluster (On East have North Berwick and 1 short ride away from having St Andrews and Fife Ness).

Skinflats/Grangemouth is pretty straightforward - two tiles where you may need to walk off the road/path -  the tile just south of Kincardine Bridge which is useful if you want to head over into Fife/Clacks and the other is the one two tiles south of that one.

Have you managed to bag Flanders moss nature reserve, going to wait for a winter big freeze. ;D(https://i.imgur.com/lsOx4Ht.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: DrBru on 26 April, 2021, 09:32:14 pm
Thanks for the welcome!
@paddyirish -- the ancestral pile is around the Forth (Dunfermline/Grangemouth). Hopefully I'll get some riding in around there sometime; planning a trip up next month, which will be the first time for nearly 18 months!
@andyoxon -- rather bizarrely, I ended up chatting to guy on a ride a month or so ago who asked if I "knew Andy from Abingdon, he's into audaxes" (he'd seen my AUK mudguard sticker) - I guess maybe he meant you!?!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 26 April, 2021, 10:58:57 pm
Have you managed to bag Flanders moss nature reserve, going to wait for a winter big freeze. ;

Yes, is no problem at all and worth an explore beyond just grabbing the tile - good sculpture trail and a worthwhile climb of the tower to get a view around. In winter you'll miss all the fun with the resident adders :-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 27 April, 2021, 08:18:44 am
...
@andyoxon -- rather bizarrely, I ended up chatting to guy on a ride a month or so ago who asked if I "knew Andy from Abingdon, he's into audaxes" (he'd seen my AUK mudguard sticker) - I guess maybe he meant you!?!

I've only really done selected local calendar 200s/100s + DIYs, but they could have meant me...   :)   
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kamoshika on 27 April, 2021, 02:23:39 pm
I've never posted very much here, but have been planning rides around getting to new tiles for a while, mostly to make myself ride new roads rather than getting stuck in a rut of riding the same routes all the time. Had my first decent ride for ages at the weekend. Square up to 24x24, cluster 1164. It's getting to the stage where the rides need to be quite long to add any new tiles, and Dartmoor is a bit of a block to expanding in that direction. At the moment I'm working towards extending my cluster from the South coast up to the North - lots of gaps to fill in on Exmoor!(https://i.imgur.com/PqBaJ7o.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 27 April, 2021, 05:57:43 pm
A hike or is it a bogfest catching the last 2 tiles in the Forth valley. Gives me another 8 for the cluster.(https://i.imgur.com/lsOx4Ht.png) A view from the tower (https://i.imgur.com/ULY17Ru.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 28 April, 2021, 11:28:47 am
This is so annoying!

I took the dog for a walk along the seafront this morning, and since the tide was right out, I took the opportunity to go out along The Street, a natural shingle spit that is uncovered at low tide (see pics below). Had an inkling that if I went out far enough, there could be a tile in it for me, so I fired up Strava on my phone...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51144204528_4e0e8a5213.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kVrqaN)
Screenshot 2021-04-28 at 11.22.01 (https://flic.kr/p/2kVrqaN) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

Aaaaaarrrrrrggghhhh!!!

If only I'd had different footwear on - the shoes I was wearing were most definitely not suitable for getting wet, otherwise I could have gone out about another 30-40 metres, at least.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51143867256_b291d88ec7.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kVpFUL)
View from the Street (https://flic.kr/p/2kVpFUL) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51144081223_ed1ca347cd.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kVqMvR)
The Street, from the shore (https://flic.kr/p/2kVqMvR) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 28 April, 2021, 12:02:44 pm
 :-\   These days when I reach end of a tile bagging 'spur', I double check I've crossed the grid boundary using the explorer helper for VV app.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 28 April, 2021, 12:07:26 pm
explorer helper for VV app.

Not available for iPhone, unfortunately.  :(

Either way, I would have had to get very wet to bag the tile. But fortunately it's local so I can in theory go back and get it any time I like - just need to keep an eye on tide times and remember to wear wellies. Today was a perfect opportunity though, as it was clearly a very low tide (it doesn't always go out that far).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 28 April, 2021, 12:22:06 pm
explorer helper for VV app.

Not available for iPhone, unfortunately.  :(

Either way, I would have had to get very wet to bag the tile. But fortunately it's local so I can in theory go back and get it any time I like - just need to keep an eye on tide times and remember to wear wellies. Today was a perfect opportunity though, as it was clearly a very low tide (it doesn't always go out that far).

Fairynuff.

One workaround for lack of app, may be to download the vv 'unbagged tiles' grid kml file from the vv summary page directly on your iphone using Safari, and then in Brouter* (again in Safari) upload the downloaded kml grid as a track, then use the BRouter locate arrow icon to see if you're in the correct grid square...

* https://brouter.de/brouter-web/#map=9/51.4352/0.0412/standard
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 28 April, 2021, 12:28:24 pm
Take the shoes off, roll the troosers up and wing it :-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 28 April, 2021, 12:41:18 pm
Take the shoes off, roll the troosers up and wing it :-)

Yeah, I probably should have done that!  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 28 April, 2021, 01:00:37 pm
You can also fire up VeloViewer in a browser but it is a bit slow and you obviously need to be online.

This was mildly annoying from the ride last week:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51144319623_6e5ccc08c7_z.jpg)

I am pretty sure that I didn't ride a dead straight line to cut the inside of the corner but as far as VeloViewer is concerned the GPS never lies!  I had actually put a spike on the GPX out into the field just to remind me to check that I was 'in' but missed it as I didn't bother with an alarm and wasn't hanging about as I was moderately sure that I was trespassing!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 28 April, 2021, 01:23:11 pm
explorer helper for VV app.

Not available for iPhone, unfortunately.  :(
You can use Maps.me app on iPhone though. Load the KML file from VV website and it'll show you tiles around your max square you haven't yet ticked off.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 28 April, 2021, 01:25:00 pm
This was mildly annoying from the ride last week:

I am pretty sure that I didn't ride a dead straight line to cut the inside of the corner but as far as VeloViewer is concerned the GPS never lies!  I had actually put a spike on the GPX out into the field just to remind me to check that I was 'in' but missed it as I didn't bother with an alarm and wasn't hanging about as I was moderately sure that I was trespassing!
Look at your activities on VV, click on that one and open it in a new tab. VV will then do a more accurate rendering of route. It may just get you that tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 28 April, 2021, 01:50:48 pm
You can use Maps.me app on iPhone though. Load the KML file from VV website and it'll show you tiles around your max square you haven't yet ticked off.

Thanks. Have just downloaded maps.me. Now trying to work out how to get the kml to open in the app... have selected 'open in app' from the file options but it's not appearing... hmmm.

ETA: fixed! This is going to be very useful... many thanks for the tip!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 28 April, 2021, 01:55:55 pm
This was mildly annoying from the ride last week:

I am pretty sure that I didn't ride a dead straight line to cut the inside of the corner but as far as VeloViewer is concerned the GPS never lies!  I had actually put a spike on the GPX out into the field just to remind me to check that I was 'in' but missed it as I didn't bother with an alarm and wasn't hanging about as I was moderately sure that I was trespassing!
Look at your activities on VV, click on that one and open it in a new tab. VV will then do a more accurate rendering of route. It may just get you that tile.

Unfortunately that is a screenshot from the individual ride tab with the accurate rendering etc.  No problem - access to the other side of that tile is legit, it is a nice part of the world to ride a bike and there are other unclaimed tiles nearby  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 28 April, 2021, 01:56:39 pm
explorer helper for VV app.

Not available for iPhone, unfortunately.  :(

Either way, I would have had to get very wet to bag the tile. But fortunately it's local so I can in theory go back and get it any time I like - just need to keep an eye on tide times and remember to wear wellies. Today was a perfect opportunity though, as it was clearly a very low tide (it doesn't always go out that far).
If you open the VV website, there's an option to show your current location on the activities map.
(https://i.ibb.co/fqCVpVK/97-B255-AF-A0-FF-4-D14-94-B2-3821-B53-B41-FB.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 28 April, 2021, 02:00:15 pm
If you open the VV website, there's an option to show your current location on the activities map.

This is also very useful but does rely on having a decent signal on your phone, which is precisely what I didn't have this morning... the maps.me suggestion is good because it works offline. (Although to work offline it does require you to have a recent kml file of your unexplored tiles saved on your phone.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 28 April, 2021, 03:32:20 pm
...
If you open the VV website, there's an option to show your current location on the activities map.
...

Thanks.  it's been so long since doing any vv exploring I'd forgotten about that.

Last ride I did, I plotted route in BRouter, and placed map 'lollipops' at turns & end of 'spurs', then exported with waypoints - which conveniently show up on the Garmin etrex.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 28 April, 2021, 04:43:16 pm
There is a tile explorer IQ app I have on my garmin. It means you don’t have to go too far down dead ends before turning.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 28 April, 2021, 05:56:47 pm
There is a tile explorer IQ app I have on my garmin. It means you don’t have to go too far down dead ends before turning.

That seems a useful additional for the new Garmins.   https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/e53331b6-55db-475a-99e9-3f567327e7ce
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 28 April, 2021, 06:05:29 pm
There is a tile explorer IQ app I have on my garmin. It means you don’t have to go too far down dead ends before turning.
I always add a bit extra to dead end spurs and then ride past that point, just in case. GPS may be slightly off and I want to make 100% sure. Had to revisit a tile because of that once. Lesson learnt. Also when a route only just goes into a tile like JonBuoy's near miss above, I add a spur onto it. Just to be safe.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 28 April, 2021, 06:09:48 pm
I always add a bit extra to dead end spurs and then ride past that point, just in case. GPS may be slightly off and I want to make 100% sure. Had to revisit a tile because of that once. Lesson learnt.

Same here. I even added a gratuitous hill on a recent ride, even though I was pretty sure I was into the tile before the climb started.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 28 April, 2021, 09:36:16 pm
There is a tile explorer IQ app I have on my garmin. It means you don’t have to go too far down dead ends before turning.

That seems a useful additional for the new Garmins.   https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/e53331b6-55db-475a-99e9-3f567327e7ce
Yep, that’s the one
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 28 April, 2021, 09:38:55 pm
I always add a bit extra to dead end spurs and then ride past that point, just in case. GPS may be slightly off and I want to make 100% sure. Had to revisit a tile because of that once. Lesson learnt.

Same here. I even added a gratuitous hill on a recent ride, even though I was pretty sure I was into the tile before the climb started.
I used to before I had the garmin app. Now I just watch the app and wait for the tile to change colour. I then know the device has recorded a track point in the tile (even if it is slightly off from reality)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 28 April, 2021, 10:08:19 pm
An extra low spring tide today, managed another tile on the sands.   (https://i.imgur.com/SAof1tp.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 29 April, 2021, 08:33:09 am
Couldn't quite see which way you intended to get to Warden Point. My original plan was to go to the end of Warden Road. But the path at the end has now been closed by the Council due to landslips.   Instead, I went through a stile which has been installed here and there is a very pleasant path through the field down to the cliff edge.

I was planning to go through the campsite, but that path looks like an interesting possibility.

In a similar vein... in case you haven't already got this one, there's a tile you can get easily in Seasalter by going into the Alberta holiday park:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51125926018_92b183d54a_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kTPJB5)
Screenshot 2021-04-19 at 19.33.11 (https://flic.kr/p/2kTPJB5) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr
Only just saw this. Yep, I got that one, I went alongside the Holiday Park on a grass path, then back to the road through the Caravan Site.  My next Veloviewer outing is likely to be Minster and Thanet, so I may be in touch if any of the tiles look a bit tricky.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 29 April, 2021, 08:40:28 am
explorer helper for VV app.

Not available for iPhone, unfortunately.  :(

Either way, I would have had to get very wet to bag the tile. But fortunately it's local so I can in theory go back and get it any time I like - just need to keep an eye on tide times and remember to wear wellies. Today was a perfect opportunity though, as it was clearly a very low tide (it doesn't always go out that far).
I did wonder if it was possible to get that tile. I might have to ride down to Whitstable for a suitable low tide.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 29 April, 2021, 03:17:40 pm
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/29/parking-mad-uk-man-completes-mission-to-park-in-every-spot-at-local-supermarket (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/29/parking-mad-uk-man-completes-mission-to-park-in-every-spot-at-local-supermarket)
Tiling on a micro level?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 29 April, 2021, 04:05:49 pm
I see that the lovely OS maps on VeloViewer have been replaced with something called 'OS Light'.  I am not impressed!

There are details on the VV Facebook page that I don't fully understand need to read again.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 29 April, 2021, 04:24:57 pm
I see that the lovely OS maps on VeloViewer have been replaced with something called 'OS Light'.  I am not impressed!

There are details on the VV Facebook page that I don't fully understand need to read again.
There are 2 options, os light and os something else


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 29 April, 2021, 04:44:09 pm
This is the sort of thing that I see on the Activities tab:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51146738348_a925d7ef77_z.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 29 April, 2021, 04:58:01 pm
There are 2 options, os light and os something else

OS Light and OS Leisure. I can see both in my maps list in Activities. Might be something to do with having a PRO account?

I read the post on Facebook and I don't really understand it either. I mean, I get that the OS maps are now restricted but I didn't really understand the bit about layering with Google maps.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 29 April, 2021, 05:09:32 pm
OS Light doesn't look too useful, but OS Leisure provides the standard OS view, which is most useful when route plotting to acquire difficult squares. Sounds like this is now a Pro feature then?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 29 April, 2021, 05:09:59 pm
PRO account for me too  ???
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 29 April, 2021, 05:56:54 pm
I assumed we were all pros here. Tiling is no place for amateurs.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 29 April, 2021, 06:20:50 pm
Just OS Light for me with a Pro account  :(
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 29 April, 2021, 06:27:34 pm
Could be to do with your browser privacy settings, perhaps? I had a pop-up window to ask if I was happy to share my details with OS, which is a requirement of being able to see the OS Leisure maps, according to the Facebook post.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 29 April, 2021, 06:30:22 pm
I assumed we were all pros here. Tiling is no place for amateurs.

On the basis that it doesn't import enough Strava history. Fine to be a Strava free-account user, but VeloViewer without Pro is basically teaseware isn't it? Also, what Ben does is worth the moolah.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 29 April, 2021, 08:05:20 pm
Could be to do with your browser privacy settings, perhaps? I had a pop-up window to ask if I was happy to share my details with OS, which is a requirement of being able to see the OS Leisure maps, according to the Facebook post.

No popups here on either Chrome or Firefox on Win10.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanN on 29 April, 2021, 08:14:35 pm
The new OS Leisure option includes 1:25,000 , which is new I think
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 29 April, 2021, 08:34:50 pm
Where is the Activties List page  ???
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 29 April, 2021, 10:24:27 pm
I read the post on Facebook and I don't really understand it either. I mean, I get that the OS maps are now restricted but I didn't really understand the bit about layering with Google maps.
I think that is just the technical explanation for why the OS leisure maps are available on some VV things but not others, because they use different mapping?

VV on Facebook - "the OS Leisure maps are no longer possible on the Activity and Route Details pages. They are still available on the Activities, Segments and Routes list pages and the Segment Details page "
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 30 April, 2021, 08:34:02 am
Where is the Activties List page  ???
Comme ca:
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210430/c7591ebda3b3fb7109c0fa12be5be0c9.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 30 April, 2021, 09:42:17 am
Ta, that's what I gleaned eventually.

Anyway, the VV team are on the case  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 30 April, 2021, 10:02:36 am
I have VV PRO but only see OS Lite maps.

ETA.  Sorted.  Logged out of VV, then logged back into VV (with Strava) & was asked to agree with OS T&C, now have OS Leisure 1:50K & 1:25K options.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 30 April, 2021, 12:05:10 pm
I didn't even have to log out of VV - a box appeared asking for consent and it just works now  :thumbsup:

I will stop sulking!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 30 April, 2021, 01:31:38 pm
Most impressed by Ben & VV. I will not be telling my customers about that level of service.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: RobertW on 30 April, 2021, 05:26:07 pm
Good to have the OS maps back - however I am not seeing the tile boundaries for un-visited tiles on the OS Leisure view, but they are present on other map views eg. OS Light, Open Street and VV maps.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 30 April, 2021, 06:08:52 pm
Good point.  I hadn't noticed that.  Looks like it needs a further bit of tweaking from Ben.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 30 April, 2021, 08:02:39 pm
Tell them.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 30 April, 2021, 09:04:00 pm
They are aware and working on it  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 30 April, 2021, 09:07:06 pm
 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 01 May, 2021, 10:48:05 am
Another failed attempt at the Lulworth Ranges tile.
(https://thumbsnap.com/s/cMTYvgv8.jpg)
(https://thumbsnap.com/s/qDwNSMuF.jpg)
(https://thumbsnap.com/s/cHDNqqXj.jpg)
(https://thumbsnap.com/s/GKwv8sVt.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 01 May, 2021, 11:25:45 am
Back down in Galloway catching squares we done pre GPS ,pic is part of an old 100km Audax with 40% roughstuff .We ran it from Kendoon YH, path is almost gone now due to the farmers quad bikes.  (https://i.imgur.com/r4I9j4b.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 01 May, 2021, 02:05:49 pm
Partially successful tile-bagging outing to Sheppey this morning. I tried to use @trickedem's route through the prison to Great Bells but after scaling the gate at the end of the road (ignoring the 'no unauthorised access' sign), I encountered a large flock* of cows with their calves blocking the way forward, and decided I'd rather not do anything to upset them (really didn't like the way they were looking at me). So I ended up going back along the main road (ugh!) and attempted to access Elmley from the other side, but couldn't find a way in - the official entrance is gated, and there were a couple of nice people on guard who told me very nicely that I couldn't cycle down that way because of birds nesting by the roadside.

I had intended to go up to Rushenden point to bag the tile there, but was losing heart by that point so didn't bother. Annoyingly, because I then cut the route short back to the car, I also completely forgot to bag the tile at Halfway. Bollocks.

It was a glorious morning, though, perfect conditions for a bike ride - slightly chilly but fine once I got moving. Most enjoyable. Apart from the bits on the main road.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5222547695

This is what Sheppey looks like for me now - still some work to do:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51150489063_a2dc3ba37d.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kVZCkR)
Screenshot 2021-05-01 at 13.53.11 (https://flic.kr/p/2kVZCkR) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

Very frustrating that it's not possible to get through to Great Bells from Harty. There are plans to open a coastal path all the way round the island but the route for that section is still at the consultation stage.

Obligatory photies:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51149610082_a377eb9e26.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kVV841)
Danger UXB (https://flic.kr/p/2kVV841) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51150517768_33cb995a22.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kVZLSL)
Unusual garden ornament (https://flic.kr/p/2kVZLSL) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51150517763_b0590d4b61.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kVZLSF)
Warden Point (https://flic.kr/p/2kVZLSF) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51149610037_cf8004a360.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kVV83e)
Shellness (https://flic.kr/p/2kVV83e) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51149610002_bdf7f65a92.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kVV82C)
Between Leysdown and Shellness (https://flic.kr/p/2kVV82C) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51150283551_9345b54845.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kVYzfx)
Leysdown beach (https://flic.kr/p/2kVYzfx) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51149609987_048d5e685a.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kVV82n)
Leysdown beach (https://flic.kr/p/2kVV82n) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

*classic dad joke


Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: orejas on 02 May, 2021, 08:14:55 am
28x28 achieved yesterday, by ticking a couple of tiles between Beaconsfield and the M40. A decent couple of hills .cluster 1177, still need a few tiles to connect StAlbans and Chichester clusters properly
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 02 May, 2021, 09:28:20 pm
Bothy pic,  sums up collecting tiles on Veloviewer  (https://i.imgur.com/qthZ1sn.jpg) Wind in the willows quote.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 02 May, 2021, 10:29:44 pm
Over to the east for tiles between Stirling and Polmont. Ranger v Celtic today so the crap roads should not be very busy. Cluster up to 1901 as a few gaps filled in.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: DrBru on 03 May, 2021, 11:09:49 am
Rain and persistent north-easterlies have put my plans for heading south to the unpaved ridgeway on hold. So I got out early this morning (6am) to pick off a few tiles along the horrible road between Oxford and Eynsham. Square up to 10x10 now, and cluster to 128 (52.2% of my total tiles -- showing I haven't done many far flung rides!).
Two broken spokes in 40k shows it is time for a wheel rebuild, not just the fake ones I do on the road...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 09 May, 2021, 09:36:24 am
There is a tile explorer IQ app I have on my garmin. It means you don’t have to go too far down dead ends before turning.

After much faffing about, I’ve now managed to install this on the Garmin. Thanks for the tip.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 09 May, 2021, 01:03:59 pm
A Saturday ferry trip over to Yell for a change. Not too much too far off roading for us this time, with lambing going on, but a nice road loop round the south half of the island, picking up the stray tiles that weren't too much work to get to.
By the end Yell will involve a lot of MTB coastal stuff and a lot more hill run/hike through the rough peat hags in the middle, so it'll be a long term project.
Little video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m11xMzdu-Nk
Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 09 May, 2021, 06:53:30 pm
FUCKING USELESS PIECE OF SHIT GARMIN!

The stupid thing had an eppy about halfway round today’s ride, which meant I lost half a dozen tiles I’d bagged up to that point. I wouldn’t mind so much but it was a tough route, very lumpy with some dreadful road surfaces, so I’m not relishing going out and doing it all over again.

Fortunately, it behaved for the rest of the ride so I have at least secured a couple of really tricky tiles I was after - they were grim ones, involving riding on busy main roads and crossing motorway junctions. Ugh! Very glad I won’t have to do those again.

Suffering a bout of cramp and several punctures in the final 30km didn’t improve my mood at all.

I suspect the everytile app could be the cause of the problems - it was misbehaving even before I set off and it took lots of faffing about to even upload the route to the device. I’ll uninstall it and see if it behaves better on my next outing.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 10 May, 2021, 07:15:00 am
I do hope it wasn’t the fault of everytile after my recommendation. I had my first ride of the year over 200km with some slippery bridleways to hone my offroad skills with slick tyres. Still 54x54 but I feel a sudden growth spurt coming soon.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210510/74ab00a42a165549883d583652f8456f.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 10 May, 2021, 08:54:58 am
...
The stupid thing had an eppy about halfway round today’s ride, which meant I lost half a dozen tiles I’d bagged up to that point. ...

 :-\   These days I tend to run back-up logging on my phone. My normally 'dependable' etrex, shut off on bumpy ground in Shrops a few months ago, fortunately because I was navigating I realised after not too long.   I don't have paid Strava, so tend to run free Komoot for back-up, as can download gpx easily.  Actually I find Komoot, on my phone, runs at the same time as Strava, with no issues - & low power drain. Strava app seems pretty stable too (on this phone).

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 10 May, 2021, 09:18:34 am
I do hope it wasn’t the fault of everytile after my recommendation.

Well, it's impossible to know for sure. But the Garmin was being a bit sluggish and unresponsive from the moment I turned it on, so I wonder if it could be down to relatively limited processing power of the Edge Explore, compared to, say, the 1030, making it harder for the device to handle the plugin.

I won't hold it against you anyway!

I think I'm going to delete it though. Tbh, I prefer using the method of uploading the kml from veloviewer to maps.me anyway, since it shows the specific tiles you need, whereas Everytile shows, er, every tile and seems to only count visited tiles per ride - would be better if it could sync with your Veloviewer account.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jeff E on 10 May, 2021, 09:39:17 am
I cannot speak too highly of my Wahoo Bolt.   It never lets me down, unlike the  4 previous Garmins over the years.    Most long distance cyclists have two computers on show (quite often using their Stem and an out front extension on their bars).    I bought a Wahoo Roam for the larger clearer mapping and 50% larger battery ETC.    Only the Bolt is on Auto Pause, so that the ROAM tells me if I risk finishing out of time on an Audax

Having to make plenty of out and back turnings in and out of tiles, especially at roundabouts, it is so easy to miss a turning, so having both Maps screens on display at once allows one to be showing at a scale of 200m and the other giving an over view of what is coming up at 500-1000m, ensuring that I get every planned Tile.    I have been stuck on 44x44 for a while, but would have a lot more if I had not missed so many Tiles when I started 13 months ago, due to turning round too early on dead end roads or bridleways, also by missing Turnings by having the wrong map scale and no overview back up.  Tiling has been all about Solo exploring new roads for me during these depressing COVID Times.  Audaxing has always been about enjoying great routes devised by others, so Tiling has been mini-Audaxing for me
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 10 May, 2021, 10:01:17 am
Use the phone as backup and a check to see if i have cycled into a tile up a dead end road/track . Couple of tiles down at the Endrick Water.(https://i.imgur.com/WRyt0qx.jpg) The old bridge west of Drymen, and this tile. Last time here my garmin was about 20 m out and i missed the tile. :facepalm:(https://i.imgur.com/pDgQmZ2.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 10 May, 2021, 10:29:03 am
Any one else having problems with the explorer android app recently?

I've been using the app to output tiles for OSMand, but recently the app just crashes out when I click on the "Select OSMand Folder" button.

I've contacted the developer, but just wondered if it was just me having this issue.   
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 10 May, 2021, 11:15:25 am
FUCKING USELESS PIECE OF SHIT GARMIN!

The stupid thing had an eppy about halfway round today’s ride, which meant I lost half a dozen tiles I’d bagged up to that point. I wouldn’t mind so much but it was a tough route, very lumpy with some dreadful road surfaces, so I’m not relishing going out and doing it all over again.

Fortunately, it behaved for the rest of the ride so I have at least secured a couple of really tricky tiles I was after - they were grim ones, involving riding on busy main roads and crossing motorway junctions. Ugh! Very glad I won’t have to do those again.

Suffering a bout of cramp and several punctures in the final 30km didn’t improve my mood at all.

I suspect the everytile app could be the cause of the problems - it was misbehaving even before I set off and it took lots of faffing about to even upload the route to the device. I’ll uninstall it and see if it behaves better on my next outing.
I have no qualms about using the GOTOES utilities to convert my GPX route into one with timestamps, and then upload it as a private ride (so you don't claim KOMs etc), in such circumstances. Very useful too if your recording had a GPS drift, but you checked that you were in the tile on your phone.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: CarlF on 11 May, 2021, 11:18:37 am
Any one else having problems with the explorer android app recently?

I've been using the app to output tiles for OSMand, but recently the app just crashes out when I click on the "Select OSMand Folder" button.

I've contacted the developer, but just wondered if it was just me having this issue.

I don't bother clicking the "Select OSMand Folder button" when I want to update Explorer Helper, because I assumed that was a one-time setting and it sees to work fine without doing that each time (I'm not using OSMand for anything else - I just use the helper app). I've just checked what happens if I do click on that, and it crashes out for me as well.

If I click on the "Recreate Tiles and Rides" button it goes into a loop where it pops up alerts saying
Quote
[MAP] Explorer tiles has been recreated!
Quote
[MAP] All rides has been saved!
Quote
Error during creating rides file.
Cycling through each in turn, endlessly until I force-close the app. After that, I reopen it and it seems to have updated fine.

It started doing this a month or two back, but I don't need to update it very often so I've just lived with it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 11 May, 2021, 11:55:01 am
Yeah, I get that looping through those messages thing too, and as you say, it seems to work, so I've lived with that as well.  I was having an issue where it wouldn't update the tiles for OSMand, so I tried reselecting the OSMand folder button which is when it crashes,  so I'm now stuck with my old tiles on OSMand.

I  heard back from the developer earlier today, and they were already aware of these issues, so hopefully there'll be an update soon. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 11 May, 2021, 01:04:45 pm
 Is it android 10 thats causing issues, my XZ3 sometimes crashes when using veloviewer and updating the map is a pain. 
Yesterday was a tour of the fly tipping capital of Scotland, so much crap tossed onto most of the places you can pull off the road. The roads to the south of Falkirk are an eyesore. Cluster up to 1927.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 11 May, 2021, 01:19:43 pm
FUCKING USELESS PIECE OF SHIT GARMIN!

The stupid thing had an eppy about halfway round today’s ride, which meant I lost half a dozen tiles I’d bagged up to that point. I wouldn’t mind so much but it was a tough route, very lumpy with some dreadful road surfaces, so I’m not relishing going out and doing it all over again.

Fortunately, it behaved for the rest of the ride so I have at least secured a couple of really tricky tiles I was after - they were grim ones, involving riding on busy main roads and crossing motorway junctions. Ugh! Very glad I won’t have to do those again.

Suffering a bout of cramp and several punctures in the final 30km didn’t improve my mood at all.

I suspect the everytile app could be the cause of the problems - it was misbehaving even before I set off and it took lots of faffing about to even upload the route to the device. I’ll uninstall it and see if it behaves better on my next outing.
I have no qualms about using the GOTOES utilities to convert my GPX route into one with timestamps, and then upload it as a private ride (so you don't claim KOMs etc), in such circumstances. Very useful too if your recording had a GPS drift, but you checked that you were in the tile on your phone.
GPS should be accurate to 3m or so.

If you are sampling frequently though your position might always be accurate to 3m your distance travelled could accumulate large amounts of error, but this won’t affect tile gathering.

I have certainly found with footpaths and bridleways often reality is out of sync with the maps by much more than this amount - tens of metres if not more.

Using the everytile app I can see immediately whether my recorded position is within a particular tile. I think this preferable to reverting to using the planned route to claim the tiles where it deviated from the recorded route.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 11 May, 2021, 01:40:14 pm
FUCKING USELESS PIECE OF SHIT GARMIN!

The stupid thing had an eppy about halfway round today’s ride, which meant I lost half a dozen tiles I’d bagged up to that point. I wouldn’t mind so much but it was a tough route, very lumpy with some dreadful road surfaces, so I’m not relishing going out and doing it all over again.

Fortunately, it behaved for the rest of the ride so I have at least secured a couple of really tricky tiles I was after - they were grim ones, involving riding on busy main roads and crossing motorway junctions. Ugh! Very glad I won’t have to do those again.

Suffering a bout of cramp and several punctures in the final 30km didn’t improve my mood at all.

I suspect the everytile app could be the cause of the problems - it was misbehaving even before I set off and it took lots of faffing about to even upload the route to the device. I’ll uninstall it and see if it behaves better on my next outing.
I have no qualms about using the GOTOES utilities to convert my GPX route into one with timestamps, and then upload it as a private ride (so you don't claim KOMs etc), in such circumstances. Very useful too if your recording had a GPS drift, but you checked that you were in the tile on your phone.
GPS should be accurate to 3m or so.

If you are sampling frequently though your position might always be accurate to 3m your distance travelled could accumulate large amounts of error, but this won’t affect tile gathering.

I have certainly found with footpaths and bridleways often reality is out of sync with the maps by much more than this amount - tens of metres if not more.

Using the everytile app I can see immediately whether my recorded position is within a particular tile. I think this preferable to reverting to using the planned route to claim the tiles where it deviated from the recorded route.
I get some interference between the Wahoo and the front camera, which can cause quite significant drifts at times.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 11 May, 2021, 04:06:36 pm
FUCKING USELESS PIECE OF SHIT GARMIN!

The stupid thing had an eppy about halfway round today’s ride, which meant I lost half a dozen tiles I’d bagged up to that point. I wouldn’t mind so much but it was a tough route, very lumpy with some dreadful road surfaces, so I’m not relishing going out and doing it all over again.

Fortunately, it behaved for the rest of the ride so I have at least secured a couple of really tricky tiles I was after - they were grim ones, involving riding on busy main roads and crossing motorway junctions. Ugh! Very glad I won’t have to do those again.

Suffering a bout of cramp and several punctures in the final 30km didn’t improve my mood at all.

I suspect the everytile app could be the cause of the problems - it was misbehaving even before I set off and it took lots of faffing about to even upload the route to the device. I’ll uninstall it and see if it behaves better on my next outing.
I have no qualms about using the GOTOES utilities to convert my GPX route into one with timestamps, and then upload it as a private ride (so you don't claim KOMs etc), in such circumstances. Very useful too if your recording had a GPS drift, but you checked that you were in the tile on your phone.
GPS should be accurate to 3m or so.

If you are sampling frequently though your position might always be accurate to 3m your distance travelled could accumulate large amounts of error, but this won’t affect tile gathering.

I have certainly found with footpaths and bridleways often reality is out of sync with the maps by much more than this amount - tens of metres if not more.

Using the everytile app I can see immediately whether my recorded position is within a particular tile. I think this preferable to reverting to using the planned route to claim the tiles where it deviated from the recorded route.
I get some interference between the Wahoo and the front camera, which can cause quite significant drifts at times.
That is bizarre. Normally it is the radio wave bouncing off something taking a slightly longer route from one of the satellites to the gps and thereby throwing calculations off. I can see how a camera might be radiating causing interference meaning you lose signal but it should be short lived. I have only really noticed problems in cities with tall buildings tricking me into thinking I am running a pb as I my watch thinks i am jumping about like a prawn in a frying pan.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 12 May, 2021, 10:28:18 am
Back in the old days when GPS chipsets were a lot less sensitive than they are now, my front light on the other side of the handlebars would cause enough interference for my eTrex Legend to lose its lock on most of the weaker satellites (add a bit of dense tree cover and it could lose its fix entirely).  Fewer satellites mean bigger error.

There's not a lot to a bike light.  It was clearly a switching regulator causing the issue.  I'm sure a camera could have the exact same problem (as well as the computery bits having to run more or less continuously in order to record video).  I'd just expect the GPS receiver to be a bit more robust.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: CarlF on 12 May, 2021, 01:35:48 pm
Is it android 10 thats causing issues, [...]

No, my phone is running Android 11
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 13 May, 2021, 06:39:50 pm
Finally finished off Swindon (cluster 1779).  While the car was being worked on I did a very rainy 60km, up to through Blunsdon to Cricklade and back.  Very wet.  Rainlegs* came out!   ;D  Fortunately I had a reasonable jacket + hood, double mitts - soaked up a lot of water, had to wring them out, but feet were dry n' toasty because I employed the waterproof socks with 'marigold'-cuff gaiter trick.  It works.  Oh yes, and there was tea on board...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51176680246_0965ea029e_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kYiS4Y)swindon2 (https://flic.kr/p/2kYiS4Y) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

Blunsdon lynch gate shelter

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51176918133_ffd5d54686.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kYk5Mt)PXL_20210513_2 (https://flic.kr/p/2kYk5Mt) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

Bridleway to Castle Eaton

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51176017802_0a6d56e51b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kYft9w)PXL_20210513_3 (https://flic.kr/p/2kYft9w) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

The rain... (VIDEO)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/51176700091_c8142eb77b_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kYiXY8)PXL_20210513_rain (https://flic.kr/p/2kYiXY8) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr


*ETA.  Beware: rainlegs...
(click to show/hide)


But, that A419...   >:(  Those junctions...  Really tortuous route for bikes (to Cricklade).

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51175986482_934c867f60.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kYfiQw)A419 (https://flic.kr/p/2kYfiQw) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 14 May, 2021, 12:04:16 am
In a similar vein, I had an exam in Sunderland today. Telling myself if I've passed I never have to go there again, I took a bike.

Before :

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210513/cbb85f6fb3b6bf3c41a551ba0e7eaaf7.jpg)
After :


(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210513/2b6d0e90d95cb7800173a6971ef0944f.jpg)

Didn't look too bad from this angle:

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210513/94839e9a0ed7acfc72bbbfa1d50b24fd.jpg)

Cluster 2307.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 16 May, 2021, 12:03:57 am
Claimed some more tiles and roads today with a nice spin into a chilly easterly with a strong sun doing its best to both boil me in my warmers and chill me if I dared leave my jersey unzipped.

Out the village and up the Cadgers towards Kennoway with the first new road of the day being the cut along Baintown, prettier than Kennoway anyway.
A busier road drag then new road towards Leven before turning into a series of loops on the hillside above Lundin Links and Largo for road and tile bagging purposes, this had the altitude counter flying and by the time I finally got the other side of Largo Law I had most of the days climbing clocked up >700m in 35km.

With such a long lay off due to fucking my right leg (last year it was my left leg) just at the start of the cycling season it started to seem like I might have made a bit of a mistake, however as well as being home to civil servants that don't know their own rules Elie is home to a rarity, a flat(ish) bit of Fife and I was soon holding a decent speed around Shell Bay and Kinneuchar with the biggest concern being the climbing strain on my dodgy right ankle starting to show.

The track on Ruddons point proved to be unsuitable for skinny tyres and a gentle walk round eventually found a bench to rest the ankle.
Another new tile and new road bagged.  I had planned to get here earlier but this was scunnered by a sleep in, and the going being slower and tougher than I thought but my plan to get something to eat here was scuppered in entirety by the fact that all my masks were hanging up at home. Doh!

The lateness however did have one advantage, everyone that hadn't gone home for tea was sitting in a pub garden eating, so after claiming some more tiles and roads on the other way into Kinneuchar and with the wind now thankfully behind me it was a good blast along from Colinsburgh to Lundin Links and a deliberately chosen easier route back up to the top of Langside and the gentle descents home.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5302668850


I've got a few tiles to bag nearby that are well off the road, might have to get the hiking boots out, or even maybe, possibly, the MTB...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 16 May, 2021, 01:58:45 am
It's finally done.
I had to use the shopper as the bling bike is having its sealant replaced and by all accounts, it's not going well.
103 new tiles. The wrong tyres. A great deal of Tesco Value County of Lincolnshire (Kim). Cluster increase 1140 :D

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210516/194e46873783ed67b8a41eb3d3e84670.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 16 May, 2021, 06:16:20 am
 :thumbsup:

You'll have leapfrogged Graeme on max cluster now?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 16 May, 2021, 08:24:32 am
Aye. I'm over the hike-a-bike though, really looking forward to some road rides. Although I am planning a MTB jolly on Thursday :facepalm:

And all those holes in East Anglia are begging to be filled....
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 16 May, 2021, 04:05:56 pm
Excellent work, fboab! Seriously impressed.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 16 May, 2021, 05:17:02 pm
Hm, fboab has me wondering what's more feasible, filling in the Midland Valley or joining the 7 cities.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210516/5ab7108d9d9e8badc78c837fd86e2286.jpg)

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 16 May, 2021, 06:58:56 pm


(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1hiT3dX0AA80pw?format=jpg&name=large)

So damn close. I even checked on my phone with the explorer app.

Even so, a 52km ride, bought me upto:

10887 tiles
Max square 24x24
Max Cluster: 1337

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 16 May, 2021, 07:34:46 pm


(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1hiT3dX0AA80pw?format=jpg&name=large)

So damn close. I even checked on my phone with the explorer app.

Even so, a 52km ride, bought me upto:

10887 tiles
Max square 24x24
Max Cluster: 1337

J
Probably best to record the track on the same device you are using to check whether you have crossed a tile boundary. I use the garmin for both. Had you been recording on say strava  app on your phone and checking tile crossing on the phone tile app I suspect all would be good.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 16 May, 2021, 07:38:58 pm
So damn close. I even checked on my phone with the explorer app.

Having done that myself a few times, I feel your pain.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 16 May, 2021, 08:01:45 pm
Hm, fboab has me wondering what's more feasible, filling in the Midland Valley or joining the 7 cities


I filled in the gap between Cupar, Balmullo and Strathkinness today, meaning my cluster has reached St Andrews and Tayport.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51183435338_9e22397b95.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kYUu85)

One of my projects is to move the cluster Westwards from Loch Venachar to Arrochar.  To do this I need to

1) Ride the Great Trossachs trail from Kilmahog to Inversnaid + the S side of Loch Katrine.
2) Climb Ben Venue and Beinn a'Choin
3) SUP the south side of Loch Arklet.
4) Do what looks like a short and simple ride to link Inversnaid and Arrochar

Reaching the West Coast by doing the Central Belt through Glasgow is probably a lot easier, but a lot less fun.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 16 May, 2021, 08:23:24 pm
Probably best to record the track on the same device you are using to check whether you have crossed a tile boundary. I use the garmin for both. Had you been recording on say strava  app on your phone and checking tile crossing on the phone tile app I suspect all would be good.

I normally solve this problem by going a good distance into the tile, just to be sure. Which I thought I had done enough of in this case. Turns out, not. Ah well, it's close enough to a few other tiles I need so not a major issue.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 17 May, 2021, 10:14:48 am
Hm, fboab has me wondering what's more feasible, filling in the Midland Valley or joining the 7 cities


I filled in the gap between Cupar, Balmullo and Strathkinness today, meaning my cluster has reached St Andrews and Tayport.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51183435338_9e22397b95.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kYUu85)

One of my projects is to move the cluster Westwards from Loch Venachar to Arrochar.  To do this I need to

1) Ride the Great Trossachs trail from Kilmahog to Inversnaid + the S side of Loch Katrine.
2) Climb Ben Venue and Beinn a'Choin
3) SUP the south side of Loch Arklet.
4) Do what looks like a short and simple ride to link Inversnaid and Arrochar

Reaching the West Coast by doing the Central Belt through Glasgow is probably a lot easier, but a lot less fun.


Over here in the west Arrochar is classed as inland  :demon: The sea lochs ,lochs and hills are a major problem extending the cluster west to the coast >:(. Ayrshire and Galloway are the only easy options.(https://i.imgur.com/VFvSK8j.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: DrBru on 17 May, 2021, 10:15:43 am
Continuing my Vale of White Horse mini-project, I've managed to complete the north-eastern quadrant (nearest my house!). This weekend I got the north-western tip around Lechlade, and hacked up a very grotty restricted byway to push up my max square to 11x11 -- and I didn't even have a gravel bike...  Also pleased to manage my first 100k ride since (I think) the Upper Thames audax in 2012!!

298/140/11x11

(https://drbruaudax.files.wordpress.com/2021/05/vowhdc_160521.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 17 May, 2021, 12:04:14 pm
So damn close. I even checked on my phone with the explorer app.
...
Max Cluster: 1337
Admit it, you missed that tile on purpose to get that number (https://www.google.com/search?q=1337)  ;D (linked for people lacking the nerd gene)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 17 May, 2021, 02:02:35 pm
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/ecfd9514-653f-4a8a-b94f-f819560c1f1b-jpeg.586884/)
(https://thumbsnap.com/s/5uepFtco.jpg)
My Dorset project nears completion, and I managed to collect the Lulworth Range Tile!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 17 May, 2021, 03:35:28 pm
Spent 6 days meandering along the central part of the Netherlands. My main cluster is now extended to Zwolle and only a few tiles away from Enschede. Also the Hague/Leiden are gettitting close to the main cluster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Steve Orchard on 17 May, 2021, 05:25:08 pm
Started collecting tiles properly in the first lockdown. Now upto 28x28 square and max cluster 1184.
It's a great excuse to go exploring. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210517/95f62f3cf1b2128d9476965264f36c9a.jpg)

Sent from my SM-T830 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 May, 2021, 08:31:22 pm
Hmmm, using the heatmap to see how other people have got a particular tile, I find the following strava activity:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1343732799

Same user. Same line straight through a difficult to get tile, in the same area. Looking at the tile map for the user in question, their square includes these tiles, and these are the only two rides in those tiles.

Something doesn't quite add up here.


Well, using the ride every tile heat map to see how others had found a particular tile, I noticed someone had done the straight line trick with the gps "error" to bag the tile.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1280468490

And guess who it is... yep, same person. That's now three rides where he's used a gps error to bag otherwise hard to access tiles. Have reported it.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 20 May, 2021, 08:49:16 pm
Have reported it.

Harsh.

But fair.  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 May, 2021, 08:51:53 pm
Have reported it.

Harsh.

But fair.  ;D

Given the rest of us carried bikes across muddy fields and climbed over fences to bag the tiles. It's taking the piss for him to cheat like this

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 20 May, 2021, 10:17:25 pm
Bumped my NA max cluster up to a massive 174 yesterday.  8)

This game is just not that fun here.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 21 May, 2021, 12:15:21 am
Have reported it.

Harsh.

But fair.  ;D

Given the rest of us carried bikes across muddy fields and climbed over fences to bag the tiles. It's taking the piss for him to cheat like this

J

And he's hardly among the local top riders.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 21 May, 2021, 12:22:26 am
And he's hardly among the local top riders.

Exactly. It just looks like he doesn't want to get his feet dirty...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 21 May, 2021, 06:11:21 am
Hmmm, using the heatmap to see how other people have got a particular tile, I find the following strava activity:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1343732799

Same user. Same line straight through a difficult to get tile, in the same area. Looking at the tile map for the user in question, their square includes these tiles, and these are the only two rides in those tiles.

Something doesn't quite add up here.


Well, using the ride every tile heat map to see how others had found a particular tile, I noticed someone had done the straight line trick with the gps "error" to bag the tile.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1280468490

And guess who it is... yep, same person. That's now three rides where he's used a gps error to bag otherwise hard to access tiles. Have reported it.

J
That's excellent. How do I do it?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 21 May, 2021, 07:47:39 am
Hmmm, using the heatmap to see how other people have got a particular tile, I find the following strava activity:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1343732799

Same user. Same line straight through a difficult to get tile, in the same area. Looking at the tile map for the user in question, their square includes these tiles, and these are the only two rides in those tiles.

Something doesn't quite add up here.


Well, using the ride every tile heat map to see how others had found a particular tile, I noticed someone had done the straight line trick with the gps "error" to bag the tile.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1280468490

And guess who it is... yep, same person. That's now three rides where he's used a gps error to bag otherwise hard to access tiles. Have reported it.

J

It isn't really a gps error - he is taking advantage of a quirk(?) of VeloViewer.

There is still a discrepancy between the tiles bagged if you look at a ride in VV on its own:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51193928860_8bb61cd6f8_w.jpg)

or look at the same ride filtered from the activity page:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51192865071_1ac9f426b8_n.jpg)

It looks like Ben still needs to sort this.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 21 May, 2021, 08:25:11 am
It isn't really a gps error - he is taking advantage of a quirk(?) of VeloViewer.

More a quirk of the way GPX track logging works in general, I think.

Pondering how Veloviewer (and Strava, for that matter) could fix this... I suppose it could look at the point sampling rate and not join two points where the time gap between them is above a certain threshold, but instead leave a gap in the track. Would that work?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 21 May, 2021, 08:42:53 am
Have reported it.

Harsh.

But fair.  ;D

Given the rest of us carried bikes across muddy fields and climbed over fences to bag the tiles. It's taking the piss for him to cheat like this

J

'Cheating themself'?  Arguably there is a sense in which vv tile bagging is simply a personal challenge, not a competition. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 21 May, 2021, 08:43:15 am
Wouldn't this be fixed if the owner of the ride opened it in veloviewer to properly calculate the tiles?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 21 May, 2021, 09:21:53 am
That reminds me that there is one tile that I've kind of cheated...
(https://i.ibb.co/m0tKbfN/Capture.png) (https://ibb.co/8b2wN1Y)
When I did that run/walk, I thought the spur was just me being inaccurate with the route tool. It's a bit de minimis when it's the difference between running on one side of the road or the other, and the GPS log isn't accurate enough to tell... Surprisingly, I haven't been through it since, despite being about 2 miles from where I now live. I really ought sort that out.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 21 May, 2021, 10:32:43 am
Well, using the ride every tile heat map to see how others had found a particular tile, I noticed someone had done the straight line trick with the gps "error" to bag the tile.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1280468490

And guess who it is... yep, same person. That's now three rides where he's used a gps error to bag otherwise hard to access tiles. Have reported it.

J
Dear me. How sad and pathetic are some folk who feel they have to cheat at something like this?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 21 May, 2021, 10:38:40 am
It isn't really a gps error - he is taking advantage of a quirk(?) of VeloViewer.

There is still a discrepancy between the tiles bagged if you look at a ride in VV on its own:

It looks like Ben still needs to sort this.
I recall there being an issue with straight line tracks that Ben fixed some years back. It may have been the opposite problem though. Folk riding very straight roads looked like a GPS error. Not something that tends to happen in Europe a lot. But in North America...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 21 May, 2021, 11:49:42 am
Dear me. How sad and pathetic are some folk who feel they have to cheat at something like this?

I'm with andyoxon on this, in that it doesn't matter to me whether they cheat or not, but it really is a bit pathetic.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 21 May, 2021, 12:53:02 pm
I'm with andyoxon on this, in that it doesn't matter to me whether they cheat or not, but it really is a bit pathetic.
However if you do cheat, then you should be removed from leaderboards/disqualified. Because you didn't earn it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 21 May, 2021, 01:08:24 pm
I'm with andyoxon on this, in that it doesn't matter to me whether they cheat or not, but it really is a bit pathetic.
However if you do cheat, then you should be removed from leaderboards/disqualified. Because you didn't earn it.

Ah! I didn't realise there were leaderboards for Explorer tiles. That does put a slightly different spin on it.

(I never look at the leaderboards, they're of no interest to me, but I did just have a look out of curiosity and... well, I'm inside the top 4,000 at least.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 21 May, 2021, 02:07:44 pm
Never bother with VV stats leaderboards either.      Edit.  just checked for 1st time.  Right, back to being oblivious relatively oblivious.

If required, as an antidote to leaderboards, just spend some time looking at JF's 101x101 max square (https://veloviewer.com/athletes/2151491/summary)/ cluster, or similar effort.   ;)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 21 May, 2021, 04:38:56 pm
If required, as an antidote to leaderboards, just spend some time looking at JF's 101x101 max square (https://veloviewer.com/athletes/2151491/summary)/ cluster, or similar effort.   ;)
I see that as a incentive.  ;D  I was 11th in 2019 but not being able to ride for 18 months dropped me a long way down board.
It's also much slower going tiling up North because there's so much challenging off road riding to do. So where folk down south easily do 150+km rides, quite a few of mine are just 20-25km and harder work than my rarer 150km rides. Wouldn't swap locations though. It's great up North.  :)
However I would swap this year's weather for previous few years in a heartbeat.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 21 May, 2021, 04:49:24 pm
Interesting seeing Jonathan F's tilebagging adventures round my way - kind of reassuring to see that even he has run up against his limits with the Medway estuary.

Also provides useful ideas for bagging some of the other tricky tiles round here, eg down on Romney Marsh.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 21 May, 2021, 04:57:59 pm
Interesting seeing Jonathan F's tilebagging adventures round my way - kind of reassuring to see that even he has run up against his limits with the Medway estuary.

Also provides useful ideas for bagging some of the other tricky tiles round here, eg down on Romney Marsh.

The ride every tile heatmap is very useful for working out how to do a specific tile. It's what I use to see what others have done... And find cheats by mistake...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 21 May, 2021, 11:56:03 pm
Some riders leave notes about how to reach a tile which only very few people have done. You can find them on the tile heatmap.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 21 May, 2021, 11:57:34 pm
Originally I had planned to use the long pentecostal weekend to bag some tiles on the military training grounds of Leopoldsburg. But seen the current situation in Belgium and the fact that Jürgen C knows this training ground well it's wiser to postpone bagging these tiles. A shame though as they block the extension of my square.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 22 May, 2021, 06:58:40 am
The ride every tile heatmap is very useful for working out how to do a specific tile. It's what I use to see what others have done... And find cheats by mistake...

Yes, I’ve been using that. Only problem is for quite a few of the tiles I’m interested in, the relevant activities aren’t visible (presumably due to users privacy settings).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 22 May, 2021, 07:26:55 am
A big part of the challenge for me is working out how to get a tile and creating a route to nab as many tiles as possible with the least riding and preferably no doubling back. 
If I simply follow someone else's route, then there's not much challenge for me then.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 22 May, 2021, 07:51:05 am
A big part of the challenge for me is working out how to get a tile and creating a route to nab as many tiles as possible with the least riding and preferably no doubling back. 
If I simply follow someone else's route, then there's not much challenge for me then.

Absolutely!  This uses the same principles as the route planning on the mountain bike orienteering events that I do although that is on the fly against the clock rather than blobbing around at home at my leisure.

Having said that - on some of the less obvious (or less legal ::-)) tiles I do sometimes 'cheat' and use rideeverytile or the Strava heatmap to validate my route planning.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 22 May, 2021, 10:02:07 am
Last time I checked, with quite a few of the more challenging tiles I was the only person to have ticked them off.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 22 May, 2021, 11:02:05 am
Last time I checked, with quite a few of the more challenging tiles I was the only person to have ticked them off.

I can think of a few tiles where I know for a fact more people have visited than they think, so presumably their data is incomplete and/or out of date.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 22 May, 2021, 02:56:53 pm
Last time I checked, with quite a few of the more challenging tiles I was the only person to have ticked them off.

I can think of a few tiles where I know for a fact more people have visited than they think, so presumably their data is incomplete and/or out of date.

They only map data from those who are in the Strava Ride Every Tile Club AND make their profile public.  That cuts out a lot of people.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 22 May, 2021, 03:40:50 pm
They only map data from those who are in the Strava Ride Every Tile Club AND make their profile public.  That cuts out a lot of people.

Ah! I didn't know about the club. Thanks.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 22 May, 2021, 08:00:47 pm
Interesting seeing Jonathan F's tilebagging adventures round my way - kind of reassuring to see that even he has run up against his limits with the Medway estuary.

Also provides useful ideas for bagging some of the other tricky tiles round here, eg down on Romney Marsh.
Just wait until our boy gets himself a sea kayak... also I get a bit infuriated looking at the Isle of Wight, because he could take a short swim from Norton and add the whole thing to his max cluster!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 22 May, 2021, 09:16:33 pm


That was absolutely fucking brutal. Ouch. On plus side. 8 overlapping 24x24 squares.

10917 tiles
Max square 24x24
Max Cluster: 1391

More when I've managed to procure some lunch

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 22 May, 2021, 10:11:32 pm
The tile down this path has not see many visitors, the rope handrail is covered in lichen.(https://i.imgur.com/XXaqo42.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 23 May, 2021, 12:18:52 am
Today was brutally hard. It started so easily, 50km of beautiful tail winds, bagging tiles, really enjoying myself... Then the off road happened.

In total I had 10km of crazy off road shit. It started with a 1.4km hike a bike through chest high vegetation on a path that clearly hadn't been used for a while... At the end of which, the water level had over topped the path, and if there was any hope left of dry feet, it disappeared at this point. Tho I was already soaked upto about waist level from the wet vegetation.

Then began the next 4.3km of slow laborious off road. The "path" was off camber to one side, and made of grass and mud. My GP5K tyres are not really suited to this terrain, which made it even harder than it needed to be. This really made my arms hurt from the amount of effort needed on the handlebars just to keep from falling. I lost the rear end a few times. And if My drive train wasn't dirty enough already... it acquired it's self a shrubbery...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E2BfG6MXMAMWJoR?format=jpg&name=large)

After this sector I mercifully got some tarmac, which was heavenly. Then I got to the next off road section. This was 4.3km in length, and started off relatively rideable. But by the final km or so, I had the mother of all bonks, and it became a trial just to keep going. I ended up getting off and pushing. When I eventually got to the end of that sector, I had planned to find some dry ground, sit down, and have something to eat. Exiting the woods, the rain started. So that plan went out the window. I donned a waterproof, and headed to about 1km to where I knew there was a bus shelter, and sat out of the rain, and had a handful of M&Ms.

I was pretty messed up at this point. I had a drink. I had some food, but I was also getting cold, so only one thing for it, Get on the bike. I decided to not try my luck with the next off road section, tho it looked from the bit I could see, like it may have a reasonable surface. I'll come back for that.

At the 70km mark, I called a friend. "I'm fucked. Help". She spent the next hour and a half, talking to me, and guiding me through, as we modified my route on the fly to just get me to a station, as easily as possible. I am very grateful of this, it really helped. I had to stop a few more times to top up the M&M inputs. I realised around this point that I was starting to dehydrate. I had started with 1L of water, and with 20km to go, was down to my last emergency mouthful. Not good. Fortunately at the 90km mark I found a water tap, for which I was exceedingly grateful. This, and a few more M&M's was enough to get me to the finish. After crossing the Rijn-Kanaal, I just took the most direct route to the station, avoiding any faff for tiles. Just needing to get home.

In the end the ride was 100.6km in length, with 10km of it offroad.

Bagged 30 new tiles, increased my cluster by 54. And I now have 8 overlapping 24x24 squares. And... I learned a lot.

Fortunately there aren't many tiles left that require off roading. So hopefully I won't have to go through this again.

Hopefully.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E2BP4uFXoAM-Fh1?format=jpg&name=large)

And the ride on strava if you're curious. https://www.strava.com/activities/5341000184

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 23 May, 2021, 12:54:26 am
Just wait until our boy gets himself a sea kayak... also I get a bit infuriated looking at the Isle of Wight, because he could take a short swim from Norton and add the whole thing to his max cluster!
I took up kayaking again because I knew the Humber Estuary would become an issue. Was hoping to get a sea kayak and start ticking these off last year, but...
My white water kayak isn't really suitable for this sort of adventure. A sea kayak would have been a handy and very nice way to tick off tiles the Trent flows through too.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51001127539_69d5d6f137_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kGN7na)Kayaking the Humber (https://flic.kr/p/2kGN7na) by imajez photography (https://www.flickr.com/photos/153886060@N03/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 23 May, 2021, 12:55:48 am
The tile down this path has not see many visitors, the rope handrail is covered in lichen.(https://i.imgur.com/XXaqo42.jpg)
Not come across a rope to help you along a path yet. Would have been handy in a few locations it has to be said.
Where is that?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 23 May, 2021, 01:24:00 am
Today was brutally hard. It started so easily, 50km of beautiful tail winds, bagging tiles, really enjoying myself... Then the off road happened.
....<SNIP>.....
Bagged 30 new tiles, increased my cluster by 54. And I now have 8 overlapping 24x24 squares. And... I learned a lot.

Fortunately there aren't many tiles left that require off roading. So hopefully I won't have to go through this again.

Hopefully.
Sounds like a fun day out.  :o
I recall going down a footpath a few years back that obviously hadn't been used in a while. The vegetation was almost head height and composed mostly of stingy nettle and other typically vicious UK plantlife. I was wearing lycra shorts and a short sleeved top. Getting wet from foliage may seem been a better option, but not if you end up getting chilled.  I think I became almost immune to stingy nettles that year, I got stung so very often.

I highly recommend sun dried bananas to carry on bike to prevent running out of energy. They last forever in bag/pocket, are very cheap, don't damage like fresh bananas and are way better than M+Ms for keeping you going. These are not the hard crunchy banana chips kind, they are soft and chewy whole bananas. The ones in packet shown on right in photo here are my favourite brand. Usually around 12 whole bananas in a small pack.
https://www.spiceoflifecardiff.co.uk/product/sun-dried-banana-whole/ (https://www.spiceoflifecardiff.co.uk/product/sun-dried-banana-whole/)
B+M [for those in UK] have decent flapjacks for 29p each - vegan too for those who avoid dairy. I buy a box every few months and always keep one along with a couple of sun dried bananas in a rear pocket just in case.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 23 May, 2021, 08:09:23 am
Interesting seeing Jonathan F's tilebagging adventures round my way - kind of reassuring to see that even he has run up against his limits with the Medway estuary.

Also provides useful ideas for bagging some of the other tricky tiles round here, eg down on Romney Marsh.
We follow each other on Strava. I had managed to get a tile out on the Hoo Peninsula that he hadn't. Within a couple of days he had done an epic long ride down here to pick it up. Very impressive.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 23 May, 2021, 08:21:29 am
And the ride on strava if you're curious. https://www.strava.com/activities/5341000184

J

Hm, finishing in Houten. Before the GPS times that town was a challenge in itself to find your bearings.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 23 May, 2021, 08:58:00 am
I took a day off on Thursday to do a long ride and capture some distant tiles. Very pleased to go up from 24x24 to 27x27 in one ride. Nothing really tricky on this one but I did end up with a bit of comedy offroading. I am hoping to finish all of Kent by the end of the year.
https://www.strava.com/activities/5330389382
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51196910016_0f658906bf_z.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51196910056_9053153fb8_w.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51197121043_9b57c17dc2_z.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 23 May, 2021, 12:30:46 pm
I took a day off on Thursday to do a long ride and capture some distant tiles. Very pleased to go up from 24x24 to 27x27 in one ride. Nothing really tricky on this one but I did end up with a bit of comedy offroading. I am hoping to finish all of Kent by the end of the year.

Nice work!

Where you have gaps on the Ash levels and those two coastal tiles north of Sandwich, I had to take to foot to get most of those. I have some walking routes on Viewranger if you want me to share them.

In return, I might ask for tips on Hoo tiles, when I get round to heading out that way.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 23 May, 2021, 07:53:16 pm

Can someone remind me, how do I find the lat/long of the corners of a single tile?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 23 May, 2021, 11:11:17 pm
Some good clusterage the weekend - never mind Sunderland, I've completed Carlisle (the Sunderland of the west), and linked it to my main cluster not once, but twice. Across the Tyne Gap and up the Eden Valley.

Plus I knocked off a bunch of extra tiles down the Furness peninsula, my cluster is now 6093.

And all the talk of leaderboards prompted me to check, I'm 53rd for clusterage. Everyone around me seems to be in the Netherlands.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 24 May, 2021, 12:08:11 am
Today was brutally hard. It started so easily, 50km of beautiful tail winds, bagging tiles, really enjoying myself... Then the off road happened.

In total I had 10km of crazy off road shit. It started with a 1.4km hike a bike through chest high vegetation on a path that clearly hadn't been used for a while... At the end of which, the water level had over topped the path, and if there was any hope left of dry feet, it disappeared at this point. Tho I was already soaked upto about waist level from the wet vegetation.

Then began the next 4.3km of slow laborious off road. The "path" was off camber to one side, and made of grass and mud. My GP5K tyres are not really suited to this terrain, which made it even harder than it needed to be. This really made my arms hurt from the amount of effort needed on the handlebars just to keep from falling. I lost the rear end a few times. And if My drive train wasn't dirty enough already... it acquired it's self a shrubbery...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E2BfG6MXMAMWJoR?format=jpg&name=large)

After this sector I mercifully got some tarmac, which was heavenly. Then I got to the next off road section. This was 4.3km in length, and started off relatively rideable. But by the final km or so, I had the mother of all bonks, and it became a trial just to keep going. I ended up getting off and pushing. When I eventually got to the end of that sector, I had planned to find some dry ground, sit down, and have something to eat. Exiting the woods, the rain started. So that plan went out the window. I donned a waterproof, and headed to about 1km to where I knew there was a bus shelter, and sat out of the rain, and had a handful of M&Ms.

I was pretty messed up at this point. I had a drink. I had some food, but I was also getting cold, so only one thing for it, Get on the bike. I decided to not try my luck with the next off road section, tho it looked from the bit I could see, like it may have a reasonable surface. I'll come back for that.

At the 70km mark, I called a friend. "I'm fucked. Help". She spent the next hour and a half, talking to me, and guiding me through, as we modified my route on the fly to just get me to a station, as easily as possible. I am very grateful of this, it really helped. I had to stop a few more times to top up the M&M inputs. I realised around this point that I was starting to dehydrate. I had started with 1L of water, and with 20km to go, was down to my last emergency mouthful. Not good. Fortunately at the 90km mark I found a water tap, for which I was exceedingly grateful. This, and a few more M&M's was enough to get me to the finish. After crossing the Rijn-Kanaal, I just took the most direct route to the station, avoiding any faff for tiles. Just needing to get home.

In the end the ride was 100.6km in length, with 10km of it offroad.

Bagged 30 new tiles, increased my cluster by 54. And I now have 8 overlapping 24x24 squares. And... I learned a lot.

Fortunately there aren't many tiles left that require off roading. So hopefully I won't have to go through this again.

Hopefully.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E2BP4uFXoAM-Fh1?format=jpg&name=large)

And the ride on strava if you're curious. https://www.strava.com/activities/5341000184

J
That elevation chart tells the story of the weather I guess...

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 24 May, 2021, 09:57:31 pm
Some good clusterage the weekend - never mind Sunderland, I've completed Carlisle (the Sunderland of the west), and linked it to my main cluster not once, but twice. Across the Tyne Gap and up the Eden Valley.

Plus I knocked off a bunch of extra tiles down the Furness peninsula, my cluster is now 6093.

And all the talk of leaderboards prompted me to check, I'm 53rd for clusterage. Everyone around me seems to be in the Netherlands.

Nice clusterage indeed Dean.  :thumbsup: Noticed you were a big mover on the https://rakietowa.org/maxsquare/ site on the cluster tab. Also did a good bit of grabbing now we are released hitting Walsall, Swindon and Reading. Got to say that wasn't my target just a consequence of hitting new tiles. Can't keep up with those Dutchies  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 26 May, 2021, 09:07:27 am
Stumbled across another tiling spin off site. Squadrats  ::-) Guess its hard to find a new URL name. https://squadrats.com/ (https://squadrats.com/)

Has some uses in showing just how many new tiles you bagged for a ride. The rest of it is a touch baffling on first look.

(https://burlycross.files.wordpress.com/2021/05/ride-example.jpg)

My latest ride filled in a nice chunk of cluster and got me 33 new tiles.
Trying to work out the colour code:Full green tiles are new ones grabbed.
Initially thought that the shaded green are those that now join your cluster, but it appears not that simple.
White is my current cluster
Grey are uncollected tiles

The description for Squadratinhos is interesting: ???
"Tiny Squadrats 64 Squadratinhos make one Squadrat,
Come and get all of these small nasty bastards" ;D

Guessing Italian origin maybe.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 26 May, 2021, 09:32:46 am
Guessing Italian origin maybe.

Polish, I heard.
Tiling is growing.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 26 May, 2021, 01:45:17 pm
statshunters.com (https://statshunters.com/) is another one, I use this to check if a route touches all the tiles I intend to bag. Plus I like the colours  :)

Last Sunday's DIY200:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/xwovpdmi6smlx5c/20210523-tiles-of-fryslan.png?raw=1)
(light green = cluster tiles, red = non-cluster visited tiles, blue = part of the square)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: IanN on 26 May, 2021, 04:48:29 pm
It looks like statshunter is more accurate by default - it shows a couple of tiles that I didn't really get but VV sampling error gave me.
Best go get them properly I suppose...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 26 May, 2021, 04:59:06 pm
It looks like statshunter is more accurate by default - it shows a couple of tiles that I didn't really get but VV sampling error gave me.
Best go get them properly I suppose...
It’s a bit complicated... by default both VV and Statshunter use the “summary” polylines  from Strava API but each have their own way of letting you request the detailed lines if you need them. 

Then there also appears to be some VV activities that were not affected by the “squaremageddon” a few years back which was supposed to remove the allowance that you used to get. This made a bunch of us lose a load of tiles but maybe not as much as we should have!

Anyway, as you say, a good excuse for a bike ride “just to make sure”...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 26 May, 2021, 06:41:16 pm
Got a couple of tiles with a walk last night, if I can be arsed exploring either Pitmedden or Methil*  tomorrow I can expand my square.

* actually the standing stane road from Methil to Kirkcaldy, not one I really want to bag by bike unless it's around 4 am and all the eejits that thrash down it every day have either gone to bed or hosputal/deth

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 26 May, 2021, 07:14:31 pm
Got a couple of tiles with a walk last night, if I can be arsed exploring either Pitmedden or Methil*  tomorrow I can expand my square.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk
Is the tile at the end of Methil Pier doable?

Re Standingstane I did all the tiles on it by using the wind farm gravel tracks to the north.
Pitmedden has a driveway tile- first time I tried there were 200 deer grazing and I wussed out. second time was an early start and was achieved.  Some good gravel and Singletrack to N.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 26 May, 2021, 09:07:02 pm
I got most of Pitmedden that I hadn't got on the mtb by riding into yough land and then onto the forest roads one day, I need to have a proper look at the couple I still need to claim.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: slugbait on 26 May, 2021, 10:24:29 pm
It looks like statshunter is more accurate by default - it shows a couple of tiles that I didn't really get but VV sampling error gave me.
Best go get them properly I suppose...

It's more complicated than this. There are a couple of tiles that I definitely visited (road/bicycle path just dips into a tile), but statshunter doesn't recognize it as such. I've decided that I'm sticking to whatever Veloviewer counts as a tile visited. The errors will probably even out.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 26 May, 2021, 11:11:47 pm
Looks like I need 3 different walks for the ones I need to get just north of here, or to finally get back out in the mtb...

Mtb might make more sense if my ankle problems persist

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 27 May, 2021, 09:24:11 am
It looks like statshunter is more accurate by default - it shows a couple of tiles that I didn't really get but VV sampling error gave me.
Best go get them properly I suppose...

It's more complicated than this. There are a couple of tiles that I definitely visited (road/bicycle path just dips into a tile), but statshunter doesn't recognize it as such. I've decided that I'm sticking to whatever Veloviewer counts as a tile visited. The errors will probably even out.
You have to update the precision on statshunter like you do on veloviewer.



(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210527/1e380d37ce4bf5d2070b0b62328585be.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 27 May, 2021, 10:44:30 am
With Squadrats I'm missing one in the suspected Jurgen C hideout area. Both Statshunters and Veloviewer credit me with this tile
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 27 May, 2021, 01:43:31 pm
It's finally done.
I had to use the shopper as the bling bike is having its sealant replaced and by all accounts, it's not going well.
103 new tiles. The wrong tyres. A great deal of Tesco Value County of Lincolnshire (Kim). Cluster increase 1140 :D

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210516/194e46873783ed67b8a41eb3d3e84670.jpg)

That's brilliant! I love it. I guess I'm way behind now. Bike-a-hike is where I am these days.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 28 May, 2021, 09:30:18 am
Success!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51208270743_4306f2f4d5_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m26LPH)
The end of our street (https://flic.kr/p/2m26LPH) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 28 May, 2021, 09:33:39 am
Success!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51208270743_4306f2f4d5_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m26LPH)
The end of our street (https://flic.kr/p/2m26LPH) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

I love the way you made sure you'd got that. No sneaking over the line, that's a genuine 'into the tile' bit of exploring
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 28 May, 2021, 10:06:48 am
I love the way you made sure you'd got that. No sneaking over the line, that's a genuine 'into the tile' bit of exploring

It's very rare to catch the tide that low, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to go out as far as possible - it turns very quickly and even before I'd got back to the beach, the part inside the tile was underwater.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 30 May, 2021, 10:24:18 pm
A short walk in a field and some comedy off-roading netted three awkward tiles today.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 30 May, 2021, 10:26:27 pm

On Friday I did a DIY 200, from Amsterdam to Roermond. I followed a previous ride's route but one tile over. I'll do something similar again in a few weeks, but one tile over again. This should get me a 3 tile wide strip all the way from Noord Holland, to Limburg. If I do it properly. Meaning my cluster will reach all the way to the hills.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 30 May, 2021, 11:50:08 pm

On Friday I did a DIY 200, from Amsterdam to Roermond. I followed a previous ride's route but one tile over. I'll do something similar again in a few weeks, but one tile over again. This should get me a 3 tile wide strip all the way from Noord Holland, to Limburg. If I do it properly. Meaning my cluster will reach all the way to the hills.

J

That's what I prefer as well, multiple parallel rides and not zigzagging around.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 31 May, 2021, 06:09:10 am

On Friday I did a DIY 200, from Amsterdam to Roermond. I followed a previous ride's route but one tile over. I'll do something similar again in a few weeks, but one tile over again. This should get me a 3 tile wide strip all the way from Noord Holland, to Limburg. If I do it properly. Meaning my cluster will reach all the way to the hills.

J
I’ll offer you a cup of tea next time if the rules allow it!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 31 May, 2021, 09:38:34 am
I’ll offer you a cup of tea next time if the rules allow it!

I'm looking forward to when I can cross that border again. I need some good cake... and to finally take you up on your kind offers.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 31 May, 2021, 10:03:45 am
Over to Lanark on the good bike as summer has arrived, wrong tyres for the lanes . Clements Strada lgg roll well but the sidewalls are paper thin, clipped a stone on a corner .  Patched the split up with a few puncture repair patches, took it easy for the rest of the run as i was only 10 km out. 59 tiles for the day, and 115 kms zigzagging about to catch them. (https://i.imgur.com/JSPzMq1.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/irXFi13.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 31 May, 2021, 10:28:22 am
I’ll offer you a cup of tea next time if the rules allow it!

I'm looking forward to when I can cross that border again. I need some good cake... and to finally take you up on your kind offers.

J

You can now, for a maximum of 12 hours. There's an exception in the quarantaine law if you stay less than 12 hours in the high risk area (Dutch rules). The German RKI ruled that the Netherlands isn't a high risk area anymore so you may enter Germany for a maximum of 24 hours without testing.
Once the RIVM deems Germany safe again (which they should have done already since the amount of German Covid cases per capita is about 1/4 of the Dutch) you can visit Germany for up to 24 hours without testing.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 31 May, 2021, 10:32:51 am

You can now, for a maximum of 12 hours. There's an exception in the quarantaine law if you stay less than 12 hours in the high risk area (Dutch rules). The German RKI ruled that the Netherlands isn't a high risk area anymore so you may enter Germany for a maximum of 24 hours without testing.
Once the RIVM deems Germany safe again (which they should have done already since the amount of German Covid cases per capita is about 1/4 of the Dutch) you can visit Germany for up to 24 hours without testing.

But the people I want to visit have not yet been fully vaxxed, and aren't Germany requiring proof of vax to access things like cafes?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 31 May, 2021, 12:24:08 pm

You can now, for a maximum of 12 hours. There's an exception in the quarantaine law if you stay less than 12 hours in the high risk area (Dutch rules). The German RKI ruled that the Netherlands isn't a high risk area anymore so you may enter Germany for a maximum of 24 hours without testing.
Once the RIVM deems Germany safe again (which they should have done already since the amount of German Covid cases per capita is about 1/4 of the Dutch) you can visit Germany for up to 24 hours without testing.
But the people I want to visit have not yet been fully vaxxed, and aren't Germany requiring proof of vax to access things like cafes?

J
Nope, we are now open again in a lot of Nordrhein-Westfalen, so sitting outside and eating is fine (assuming the cafes are still in existence!)

Where I am in Kreis Viersen everything opened up on the 28th. I cycled to Kempen for ice cream last night and it was so wonderful to see all the tables outside, but surprisingly not very busy so far.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 31 May, 2021, 10:52:23 pm
You can end up visiting some unusual places, an old open cast mine returning to nature. The mine is a loch now.(https://i.imgur.com/oYBZuV3.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/6nxcNvP.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 01 June, 2021, 01:32:56 pm
That's what I prefer as well, multiple parallel rides and not zigzagging around.
Zigzagging is often the only option in many places. It gets tricky working out efficient routes at times.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 01 June, 2021, 01:36:26 pm
You can end up visiting some unusual places, an old open cast mine returning to nature. The mine is a loch now.
There's loads of old mining towns around these parts. Only evidence is obligatory half winding wheels at side of road and loads of pretty country parks that used to be polluting pits.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: RobertW on 02 June, 2021, 05:03:21 pm
I have an isolated group of tiles (in SW Scotland).  Is there a way to get the VV metrics (tiles, max square, cluster) of this isolated group ?  It would give a measure of achievement on a forthcoming visit.  Thanks.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 02 June, 2021, 07:01:32 pm
I have an isolated group of tiles (in SW Scotland).  Is there a way to get the VV metrics (tiles, max square, cluster) of this isolated group ?  It would give a measure of achievement on a forthcoming visit.  Thanks.
You can filter the rides by activity ID, but that'll only give you a visual I think, so some counting would be involved.

(https://i.ibb.co/RHkKYXc/Capture4-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/JkwTmYH)
This weekend's ride wasn't as much of a potential catalyst to connecting rides as I had hoped.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 03 June, 2021, 05:43:57 pm
I have an isolated group of tiles (in SW Scotland).  Is there a way to get the VV metrics (tiles, max square, cluster) of this isolated group ?  It would give a measure of achievement on a forthcoming visit.  Thanks.
You can filter by date if you did them in one go. I do that with my European/North American totals.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: RobertW on 04 June, 2021, 08:40:33 am
I have an isolated group of tiles (in SW Scotland).  Is there a way to get the VV metrics (tiles, max square, cluster) of this isolated group ?  It would give a measure of achievement on a forthcoming visit.  Thanks.
You can filter by date if you did them in one go. I do that with my European/North American totals.

Dale & Solocle thanks for the tips.

The solution I came up with was to rename the relevant rides in strava to contain a common string.  Then by filtering on activity ID in VV using that string I could get the stats for that group of rides on the activities>map screen from the icons on the side bar.  Thankfully it was only 17 rides, a larger number would have been tedious.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51224709404_90d52a147c_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m3y2sU)Kirkcudbright Tiles (https://flic.kr/p/2m3y2sU) by rfwatson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/23849319@N07/), on Flickr

Tiles = 301
Max square = 6
Cluster = 76

Robert
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 04 June, 2021, 10:28:32 am

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51224709404_90d52a147c_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m3y2sU)Kirkcudbright Tiles (https://flic.kr/p/2m3y2sU) by rfwatson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/23849319@N07/), on Flickr

Tiles = 301
Max square = 6
Cluster = 76

Robert

I'm going to that precise area of Galloway for the weekend. My first visit, and will only be on foot, so not many tiles expected.

Hope you enjoy
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 04 June, 2021, 11:59:35 pm

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51224709404_90d52a147c_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m3y2sU)Kirkcudbright Tiles (https://flic.kr/p/2m3y2sU) by rfwatson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/23849319@N07/), on Flickr

Tiles = 301
Max square = 6
Cluster = 76

Robert

I'm going to that precise area of Galloway for the weekend. My first visit, and will only be on foot, so not many tiles expected.

Hope you enjoy

Dumfries and Galloway has a good network of signed walking paths for the MTB and the road cycling is ace. I am looking at trying to link the Solway to my cluster.(https://i.imgur.com/ErbxdZJ.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 05 June, 2021, 08:00:24 pm
6 new tiles filled in a Swiss cheese hole in the Northron Wastes and upped the cluster to 1855 (expected) and the square to 22 (bonus!) :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 June, 2021, 10:17:47 pm

Started the day with:

10917 tiles
Max square 24x24
Max Cluster: 1391

Did a 72k ride from station to station.

Ended up with:

11009 tiles
Max square 27x27
Max cluster 1422

(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/E3IikUwXMAM0Eq_.jpg)

Have now completed everything north of the river and east or Schoonhoven. I'm likely to hit up against the tile in the middle of the Gooimeer. That's gonna require swimming. Will try to bag it one day this summer.

J

Edit, I think the starting numbers may be those from before my 200 last Friday, rather after. Can't seem to find the intermediate data...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 08 June, 2021, 11:16:04 pm
Bit of a Hike this evening to claim a couple of tiles in the Lomonds I'd somehow never been down on the MTB.
I need to knock out 5 tiles around 'Muchty to get my square bigger as there's a bit of a problem with one of the Loch Leven Squares.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 10 June, 2021, 09:48:44 pm


Did a 200k DIY, with some of the route one tile over from where I've been before.

The result is:

11111 tiles
Max square 27x27
Max Cluster: 1429

Wasn't intending for any specific number. But the 11111 amused me.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 12 June, 2021, 02:42:24 pm
Think I upped my square last night by claiming a tile in strath ore, I'd forgotten that's where the pit was that Glenrothes was built for.

Which also led me down the rabbit hole of "why the fuck is it called Glenrothes when the river is the leven".

It's a nod to the landowner, which I also discovered is why Leslie is called Leslie.

Now I need to find out why one of the farms was called Macedonia.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 12 June, 2021, 03:42:38 pm
Not a convincing right of way, part n. I was trying to avoid too much walking. #failed



(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210612/19ef3c107c5bec9e8126180550a2617a.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 12 June, 2021, 07:13:22 pm


Today I spent 10km rising gravel, and pushing my bike through deep sand. Looking at how others to the same tile, i had a look on the ride every tile site. One of the random 5 rides it picks is this one:

https://www.strava.com/activities/730779698

I'm getting really fed up with people cheating like this...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 12 June, 2021, 08:44:54 pm
I assume that you are complaining about the tiles on the straight line between Groenendaal and Hoenderloo.

I'm not convinced that it is 'cheating'.  It looks like the guy had a problem with his iPhone which is why he switched to Android for the last bit of his ride.

It also looks like Ben has updated the site so that the tiles obtained match whether you look at the ride itself or the activities tab filtered to the ride.   :thumbsup:    Looking at the guy's activity tab there are still three tiles that the straight line goes through that he is not being given credit for so I reckon that the problem is that the RideEveryTile.com heatmap needs updating.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: slugbait on 12 June, 2021, 08:49:40 pm


Today I spent 10km rising gravel, and pushing my bike through deep sand. Looking at how others to the same tile, i had a look on the ride every tile site. One of the random 5 rides it picks is this one:

https://www.strava.com/activities/730779698

Can you be a bit more specific? I don't see anything particularly dodgy about that ride.

[I also spend my day with some comedy off-roading to capture the last two tiles in Drenthe (that's a province in the Netherlands, the one were I lived the first 18 years of my life). No regrets there, a beautiful piece of moorland where I enjoyed many walks with my dad as a kid. Tomorrow's ride should increase the square from 44x44 to 47x47.]

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 12 June, 2021, 08:50:01 pm
I assume that you are complaining about the tiles on the straight line between Groenendaal and Hoenderloo.

I'm not convinced that it is 'cheating'.  It looks like the guy had a problem with his iPhone which is why he switched to Android for the last bit of his ride.

It also looks like Ben has updated the site so that the tiles obtained match whether you look at the ride itself or the activities tab filtered to the ride.   :thumbsup:    Looking at the guy's activity tab there are still three tiles that the straight line goes through that he is not being given credit for so I reckon that the problem is that the RideEveryTile.com heatmap needs updating.

That's cos Ben fixed it for me within a few minutes of me emailing.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 12 June, 2021, 08:55:37 pm

Can you be a bit more specific? I don't see anything particularly dodgy about that ride.

[I also spend my day with some comedy off-roading to capture the last two tiles in Drenthe (that's a province in the Netherlands, the one were I lived the first 18 years of my life). No regrets there, a beautiful piece of moorland where I enjoyed many walks with my dad as a kid. Tomorrow's ride should increase the square from 44x44 to 47x47.]

 the straight line between Groenendaal and Hoenderloo, there's no way to do that on the ground, there are too many fences in the way.

This is the second person I've seen doing this. I can't be certain it's 100% intentional, but given the 3 tiles it bags include one that has only been reached by 38 people, and involves a fenced off enclosure with all the gates bar one locked... And the faded sign that I've now realised said "no entry" in Dutch. But more on that when I have a proper keyboard.

Fortunately Ben is very fast to fix it when I email him.
J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: slugbait on 12 June, 2021, 09:24:41 pm
I now see it. Where I live, there are many, many long straight roads. Therefore I didn't catch this anomaly... 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 12 June, 2021, 09:51:03 pm
I now see it. Where I live, there are many, many long straight roads. Therefore I didn't catch this anomaly...


https://www.strava.com/activities/5447973813

I experienced some of those on Thursday...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 12 June, 2021, 10:03:02 pm
I now see it. Where I live, there are many, many long straight roads. Therefore I didn't catch this anomaly...


https://www.strava.com/activities/5447973813

I experienced some of those on Thursday...

J

When you check the flyby's you can see who was cheating.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 12 June, 2021, 10:48:08 pm


Ah karma.

I noticed one tile where the road went through it, but veloviewer hadn't picked it up. So I loaded the route in the map view. Checked my total, and I went from 11121 to 11120... Fortunately, I should be in the area on Monday so can pick the tile up then..

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: slugbait on 13 June, 2021, 07:55:56 pm
I now see it. Where I live, there are many, many long straight roads. Therefore I didn't catch this anomaly...


https://www.strava.com/activities/5447973813

I experienced some of those on Thursday...

J

I saw it, next time cycle a bit further to Spaak. They were serving a nice Pad Thai that evening (as well as their excellent selections of beers).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 13 June, 2021, 08:22:27 pm
I assume that you are complaining about the tiles on the straight line between Groenendaal and Hoenderloo.

I'm not convinced that it is 'cheating'.  It looks like the guy had a problem with his iPhone which is why he switched to Android for the last bit of his ride.

It also looks like Ben has updated the site so that the tiles obtained match whether you look at the ride itself or the activities tab filtered to the ride.   :thumbsup:    Looking at the guy's activity tab there are still three tiles that the straight line goes through that he is not being given credit for so I reckon that the problem is that the RideEveryTile.com heatmap needs updating.

That's cos Ben fixed it for me within a few minutes of me emailing.

J

I've also removed this ride from contributing to the RET.com heatmap. If and when this ride gets re-imported to RET, it should be with correct tiles.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 13 June, 2021, 09:22:49 pm
I planned a ride along a track that was just inside the tile, and because it was on the map as being in the tile, and wasn't a dead end, I didn't bother to check on my phone I was in the tile...

Turns out the map position of that trail is about 10m south of where the trail is... So i traced a neat line just inside the next tile over. Oops...

Ah well, I'll just have to come back to the Veluwe for my rides... Tragic...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 13 June, 2021, 10:32:45 pm
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/helleuiil4wqx6p/veloviewer-2021-06-13.png?raw=1)

If you think force 3 headwinds are annoying on a bicycle, try it on open water in an inflatable canoe. Ugh 😅

Tiles +7
Cluster +20
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 14 June, 2021, 09:39:01 am
I've also removed this ride from contributing to the RET.com heatmap. If and when this ride gets re-imported to RET, it should be with correct tiles.
You may also want to take a look at tile 8377x5414 (Maasvlakte in Rotterdam); as far as I can tell everyone who bagged that tile did so by using the ferry. I don't think it's possible to walk/cycle into that tile and that harbour is for the truly gigantic container and oil transporters, so using a kayak will likely earn you a Darwin Award  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 14 June, 2021, 12:26:34 pm
I've also removed this ride from contributing to the RET.com heatmap. If and when this ride gets re-imported to RET, it should be with correct tiles.
You may also want to take a look at tile 8377x5414 (Maasvlakte in Rotterdam); as far as I can tell everyone who bagged that tile did so by using the ferry. I don't think it's possible to walk/cycle into that tile and that harbour is for the truly gigantic container and oil transporters, so using a kayak will likely earn you a Darwin Award  ;D

I noticed that one as well ... Quite a few have got it via the ferry...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 14 June, 2021, 10:00:38 pm

My 6 day mini holiday has had a bit of an impact on my stats.

It started off looking like this:

(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/E33lL0wWEAIPyHu.jpg)

11009 tiles
Max square 27x27
Max cluster 1422

And it finished like this:

(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/E33lK_qXwAIIqUn.jpg)

11158 tiles
Max square 27x27
Max Cluster: 1696

I did about 400km in total, in temps upto 32°C. It's started with a 200k to Groningen to finish my RRTY, then 3 days of filling in gaps around the Veluwe, then today rode from Arnhem to Hilversum to fill in the gaps and connect my Veluwe clump to the main cluster. I had one small issue with a faded sign on an unlocked gate, which I've since realised said "no entry" but in Dutch. I went into a compound, and found all the gates out of it were locked. This resulted in 10km of sand, gravel, and comedy off roading... And then came out the gate I'd gone in through. As I'm following the track back to the main road, a woman comes out of a drive way.

 "have you come from the forest"

"Just to the gate and back" (technically true, just not saying which gate)

"This is a private road"

"That'll teach me for following Google maps"

"Yep, Google maps is useless, have a good ride"

This is the second time I've managed to blame Google maps for being where I shouldn't...

The next day I had a small issue that if you use the Strava heat map to pick a route, make sure it's not an MTB trail...

While following a MTB trail complete with berms and other such fun stuff, it turns out the trailer position on the earth does not match the map, and I missed the tile by... About 10m... Ah well. Just means I'll have to go ride in the Veluwe some more... tragic...

Twas a very good weekend. Lots of ice-cream. Lots of fun bike challenges. And a cluster jump or 267!!

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 14 June, 2021, 10:05:52 pm
I've also removed this ride from contributing to the RET.com heatmap. If and when this ride gets re-imported to RET, it should be with correct tiles.
You may also want to take a look at tile 8377x5414 (Maasvlakte in Rotterdam); as far as I can tell everyone who bagged that tile did so by using the ferry. I don't think it's possible to walk/cycle into that tile and that harbour is for the truly gigantic container and oil transporters, so using a kayak will likely earn you a Darwin Award  ;D

I noticed that one as well ... Quite a few have got it via the ferry...

J

I see I've got 4 tiles from using a ferry. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 15 June, 2021, 10:43:45 am
I'm undecided on my own approach to ferries to the islands here.
On the one hand for a straight island to island crossing, as part of a longer ride, it's not so different from if there was a bridge.
On the other hand, it is a bit different.

I have the ferry bits split as seperate activities so i can have them, or not, as I eventually decide.
The only real effect is on joining tiles on other islands to the main cluster, and here that already involves some small boat expedition stuff, so I'm not sure it will make much difference in the end, by the time those other ones are covered.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 15 June, 2021, 10:46:35 am
For my upcoming holiday ride I'm considering this as well. I'll have to cross the Elbe, if I do this at Glückstadt it's a short ferry ride and I'm not bothered to cut it out. If I go via Brunsbüttel, it's about an hour, which is far too long for my taste to keep in the log.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 15 June, 2021, 10:52:49 am
For my upcoming holiday ride I'm considering this as well. I'll have to cross the Elbe, if I do this at Glückstadt it's a short ferry ride and I'm not bothered to cut it out. If I go via Brunsbüttel, it's about an hour, which is far too long for my taste to keep in the log.

I have wondered if you walk around and around on the ferry, whether that counts...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 15 June, 2021, 11:08:04 am
I'veanaged to wind up am off duty crew member on the loch Seaforth with the amount of walking around I do on ferries.
Most passengers were looking a bit queasy that day though.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 15 June, 2021, 11:21:09 am
For my upcoming holiday ride I'm considering this as well. I'll have to cross the Elbe, if I do this at Glückstadt it's a short ferry ride and I'm not bothered to cut it out. If I go via Brunsbüttel, it's about an hour, which is far too long for my taste to keep in the log.

I have wondered if you walk around and around on the ferry, whether that counts...

J
I think there may be a ferry or two in Scotland if you walked onto its furthest end before it left the dock that you could 100% legitimitely bag a new tile
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 15 June, 2021, 02:15:38 pm
I found some old GPX files earlier. Annoyingly some appear to be half an Audax (recognisable because they start at Polegate / Hailsham and then end somewhere in the countryside rather than going back to the start). I also had a couple where there was some train on the track. I went back in and cropped these in Strava, and now I seem to have some squares with no activity that goes through them. Is this something that takes care of itself, or do I have to prod it somehow else?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 15 June, 2021, 06:33:57 pm
After you crop a ride in Strava you need to click Update in VV again, unless you've done that already?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 15 June, 2021, 06:41:57 pm
Yes, I’ve done the update. And it’s still there on a different device, so not local caching either.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 15 June, 2021, 10:14:18 pm
Yes, I’ve done the update. And it’s still there on a different device, so not local caching either.

Try double clicking on the ride in VV and viewing it.  That can sometimes trigger an update
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 15 June, 2021, 10:24:25 pm
It didn't update it, but it did show that there's two versions of the trace in the system - one truncated and the other not. I'll give it a day, in case there's some batch process that will sort it out then I might ask veloviewer directly. It'd be nice to fix it - on veloviewer no one can see the bleeding knee that caused me to take the train in 2017 :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 16 June, 2021, 09:12:20 am
The solution was pretty close to both those answers:
Open the ride in veloviewer. Go to summary tab for the ride. Update [really delete]. Go to account update, which then re-downloads the ride. Then summary and now the map doesn't have the squares I didn't really ride.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 16 June, 2021, 02:46:59 pm
I noticed that one as well ... Quite a few have got it via the ferry...
J
Would it count if you were on a turbo trainer for the whole time?  ;D
Though my view is no, because you are not propelling yourself.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Steve Orchard on 16 June, 2021, 02:50:52 pm
Any know reason why VV does not include activities classed as Walking but does include Runs?

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 16 June, 2021, 02:52:37 pm
I noticed that one as well ... Quite a few have got it via the ferry...
J
Would it count if you were on a turbo trainer for the whole time?  ;D
Though my view is no, because you are not propelling yourself.

You could set up a virtual ride on the route of the ferry crossing (you can do this on the Bkool app), then try to match your virtual speed as you ride it to the actual speed of the ferry.

I think that would have to count.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 16 June, 2021, 02:55:13 pm
Any know reason why VV does not include activities classed as Walking but does include Runs?

I can see walks on VV. You might have to change the Activity Type filter settings (I think walks might be excluded by default).

It doesn't include swims though - which I realised when idly wondering how far out to sea I would have to swim to bag a couple of local tiles...

People seem to have kayaking activities included on VV, which is odd because I can't see that as an option (but that might be because I don't have any kayaking activities to log).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 16 June, 2021, 02:58:09 pm
Any know reason why VV does not include activities classed as Walking but does include Runs?

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

In VV:
Updates tab
Show Options
Make sure Walks box is ticked
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Steve Orchard on 16 June, 2021, 03:01:24 pm
Any know reason why VV does not include activities classed as Walking but does include Runs?

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

In VV:
Updates tab
Show Options
Make sure Walks box is ticked
Thanks. I had not noticed those settings

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 16 June, 2021, 03:03:17 pm
Any know reason why VV does not include activities classed as Walking but does include Runs?

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

In VV:
Updates tab
Show Options
Make sure Walks box is ticked

Aha! I forgot you had to change those settings, and not just the filters... that also explains why I can't see my swims.  :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:

(Not that this helps me much, since I'd already ascertained that I'd need to swim much further out from shore than I'd be comfortable with to bag any tiles.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 17 June, 2021, 07:44:48 pm
Can someone tell me, please, when you've downloaded the KML of your unexplored tiles to the maps.me app (for iPhone), how do you get rid of it? It's now out of date, but opening a new KML file doesn't get seem to overwrite the old one...

ETA: it's OK, I've found it - the file was added as a bookmarks list, so I just had to go into the bookmarks folder and delete it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 17 June, 2021, 11:20:11 pm
Long-term thinking is starting to reap dividends, clusterage is up to 6341.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51253162737_292911be62_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m64RDB)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 18 June, 2021, 09:28:36 am
Another trip down to Dumfries area, can't be bothered with increasing square . Need to take the VTT next time to try and link up the southern 7 Staines MTB centres. Found a nice cafe, the boathouse on the Nith.(https://i.imgur.com/4Jfx6r7.jpg). (https://i.imgur.com/I8A74y4.png) A few tiles on the A75 are no go areas
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 18 June, 2021, 09:42:38 am
Are you an Explorer or stay at home person, easy way to check. Cluster as a percentage of total.  I will start 2187 cluster is 7.35% of total, lower the better. For some of us Max Square involves cycling into lots of crap areas ???
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 18 June, 2021, 09:49:53 am
Are you an Explorer or stay at home person, easy way to check. Cluster as a percentage of total.  I will start 2187 cluster is 7.35% of total, lower the better. For some of us Max Square involves cycling into lots of crap areas ???

I'm surprised to see that mine is 15.2%. Being stuck unable to head out very far for the last year, it's gone up a lot. Hopefully if I can complete Ruska in September, it will swing back the other way...

The other interesting metric: do you live in your max square?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 18 June, 2021, 10:05:53 am
18%.

But my cluster stretches from Sudbury in Suffolk to Seahouses in Northumberland - close to 500km

No, I don't live in my max square. There's a lot of moorland between me and that, and I'm not Deano. I'd have to hoik it North and inland over the North Pennines to get in it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 18 June, 2021, 10:12:50 am
Are you an Explorer or stay at home person, easy way to check. Cluster as a percentage of total.  I will start 2187 cluster is 7.35% of total, lower the better. For some of us Max Square involves cycling into lots of crap areas ???

I'm surprised to see that mine is 15.2%. Being stuck unable to head out very far for the last year, it's gone up a lot. Hopefully if I can complete Ruska in September, it will swing back the other way...

The other interesting metric: do you live in your max square?

J
1390/3334 = 41.7%

There was a time where the edge of my max square ran through my back garden. The house was not in the square! Currently I live one or two tiles from the edge of my max square, unavoidable due to the coastline.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 18 June, 2021, 10:23:10 am
13.9% for me, but that probably reflects the fact that I'm an amateur at this game compared to many of you, so my max cluster is a relatively meagre 997, out of a relatively modest total of 7176.

When I eventually manage to link up to my main Kent cluster to my London cluster, that percentage will change significantly (planning to do this fairly soon).

I do currently live inside my max square, but if I have any ambitions to enlarge it significantly, I will have to shift it westwards as it is now hemmed in on three sides by the sea.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 18 June, 2021, 10:23:48 am
Yes its the dark square, west or north/west is kayak or hillwalking if you want to extend max square.(https://i.imgur.com/OjWNxka.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 18 June, 2021, 11:55:15 am
I've not really been focusing on tiles for a few months, but have managed to pick up a few along the way
10431 Tiles (+265)
829 Cluster  (+95)
Max Square is still 18x18
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: markcjagar on 18 June, 2021, 12:33:17 pm
12.5%

Tiles 7864
Cluster 980
Max square 19x19

Boxed in a bit by some Pennine moorland (the bits between Snake & Woodhead passes) and some less desirable urban areas to the east of Sheffield
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 18 June, 2021, 12:43:14 pm
18,9%, higher as expected

Tiles 36002
Cluster 6825
Square 41x41

another thing which is measured on a Dutch forum is your longest distance within your cluster.
For me that's Marquain - Zwolle, 327km
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Steve Orchard on 18 June, 2021, 12:44:14 pm
Are you an Explorer or stay at home person, easy way to check. Cluster as a percentage of total.  I will start 2187 cluster is 7.35% of total, lower the better. For some of us Max Square involves cycling into lots of crap areas ???
12.3% with max square 29x29. Lots of audax rides all over the place so I guess I an an explorer. Only concentrated on adding tiles and enlarging max square since the first lock down.

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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 18 June, 2021, 12:56:51 pm
18,9%, higher as expected

Tiles 36002
Cluster 6825
Square 41x41

another thing which is measured on a Dutch forum is your longest distance within your cluster.
For me that's Marquain - Zwolle, 327km
The longest distance in my cluster is Uplyme-Bicester, 180 km.
(https://i.ibb.co/Yk4ywzB/Capture.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ncqntHM)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 18 June, 2021, 01:02:01 pm
I noticed that one as well ... Quite a few have got it via the ferry...
J
Would it count if you were on a turbo trainer for the whole time?  ;D
Though my view is no, because you are not propelling yourself.

You could set up a virtual ride on the route of the ferry crossing (you can do this on the Bkool app), then try to match your virtual speed as you ride it to the actual speed of the ferry.

I think that would have to count.
Not for me. You need to physically propel yourself into a square for it to count. That's the whole point of the challenge. Otherwise you could fake entry to any awkward tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 18 June, 2021, 01:08:31 pm
24.1%

Max square is migrating north from my house.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 18 June, 2021, 01:20:19 pm
another thing which is measured on a Dutch forum is your longest distance within your cluster.
For me that's Marquain - Zwolle, 327km
How do you measure it? By road? Google makes mine 522km driving 551km cycling or 489km walking ("This route includes a ferry").
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 18 June, 2021, 01:24:01 pm
another thing which is measured on a Dutch forum is your longest distance within your cluster.
For me that's Marquain - Zwolle, 327km
How do you measure it? By road? Google makes mine 522km driving 551km cycling or 489km walking ("This route includes a ferry").
Looks like walking - I went with as the crow flies. If you do walking, mine is 202 km.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 18 June, 2021, 01:35:34 pm
20.1%  I've been in the Wet Widlands too long.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 18 June, 2021, 02:36:25 pm
29.9%, but I've only had a GPS the last six years or so, it would be way lower if I had traces of all my riding.

And 246 km from north of Duns to south of Selby (as the crow flies).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 18 June, 2021, 02:41:54 pm
38.1%

1269 Cluster
3330 tiles
4 17x17 squares, the closest is 5km North of my home.

Also only been on Strava for 6 years, would have loads more if it wasn't for that

145km by road North Berwick to Tentsmuir
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Steve Orchard on 18 June, 2021, 03:08:06 pm
Are you an Explorer or stay at home person, easy way to check. Cluster as a percentage of total.  I will start 2187 cluster is 7.35% of total, lower the better. For some of us Max Square involves cycling into lots of crap areas ???
12.3% with max square 29x29. Lots of audax rides all over the place so I guess I an an explorer. Only concentrated on adding tiles and enlarging max square since the first lock down.

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10286 tiles(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210618/feb3fd94ed3cb54ab6cc985b898b0846.jpg)

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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 18 June, 2021, 03:17:16 pm
29.9%, but I've only had a GPS the last six years or so, it would be way lower if I had traces of all my riding.

Isn't that true for everyone? I've got gaps in East Anglia and in France & Luxembourg from the pre-gps days.

I certainly got more tiles before I knew I was collecting them than since.

Moving house does help quite a lot.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210618/d8d690e1e2abaeb36a8aa37b6219d1fc.jpg)

And you can be damn sure I'll be targeting 20,000 by the end of this year.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 18 June, 2021, 03:19:06 pm
75% of my tiles aren't part of my 150k long max cluster.  Tomorrow I intend to reduce that percentage - probably by 'exploring' Coventry  :P

I live right in the centre of my max square - one of the few advantages of living in the Midlands.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 18 June, 2021, 03:51:44 pm

I only really started cycling properly in November 2017, so my 11158 tiles have all been gained since then...

Before that I was mucking about on a Brompton, I could dig the traces out of the etrex, but it feels like too much effort...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ashaman42 on 18 June, 2021, 04:23:59 pm
I do need to at least pull my old audaxes in at some point but eh, that's virtually admin.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 18 June, 2021, 04:24:33 pm
32.3%

Cluster :3825
Tiles :11826
Max square:52
Furthest distance within cluster about 163km

High percentage for me because pretty much every ride starts and finishes at home.

I live fairly near the middle of my cluster, though I've recently moved house, but only 20km up the road so not a lot of difference for tile bagging purposes.   
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 18 June, 2021, 06:16:41 pm
29.9%, but I've only had a GPS the last six years or so, it would be way lower if I had traces of all my riding.

Isn't that true for everyone? I've got gaps in East Anglia and in France & Luxembourg from the pre-gps days.

I bought a GPS receiver in about 2004.  I didn't re-discover cycling until 2008.  As such I have GPS tracks for almost every interesting ride I've done, and a couple of winters ago I sat down and worked out how to batch-upload them all to Strava.  Indeed, since I got into this tile-bagging nonsense, I've gone to the effort to recover the data from a couple of corrupted files, on the basis that it was an easier win than the comedy off-roading that created them.


Quote
Moving house does help quite a lot.

This is clearly where I'm going wrong.  I've got a modest cluster in That London, but there are too many gaps.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 18 June, 2021, 08:46:21 pm
Wish i kept my old gps units, first one was a Garmin GPS 3, bought for South America tours in 1997/8 and an Etrex Legend bought in the States for the Great Divide in 2002 as it had the mapping installed . They were not very efficient as the batteries did not last long and had the old serial connections.
Built in batteries , power banks and a solar panel are much better for touring today if you are out in the sticks for week or so.
Have ordered a GPSMAP 66sr , my Garmin 1000 is a disaster now , can't use the 3 button press fix if it locks up as the power button is dead. The only Garmin that has not given me grief was the GPSMAP60cxs so updated to the 66 model.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 18 June, 2021, 09:12:12 pm
29.9%, but I've only had a GPS the last six years or so, it would be way lower if I had traces of all my riding.

Isn't that true for everyone? I've got gaps in East Anglia and in France & Luxembourg from the pre-gps days.

Sure, but I was thinking of a particular trip to Nepal.

*Thinks of all the squares*

*Sighs*

And Ronnie makes the point well - it's more a metric of how early an adopter you were, than of how much of an "explorer" you are.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 19 June, 2021, 12:39:18 am
another thing which is measured on a Dutch forum is your longest distance within your cluster.
For me that's Marquain - Zwolle, 327km
How do you measure it? By road? Google makes mine 522km driving 551km cycling or 489km walking ("This route includes a ferry").

shortest distance walking in Google Maps
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 19 June, 2021, 12:41:32 am
29.9%, but I've only had a GPS the last six years or so, it would be way lower if I had traces of all my riding.

Isn't that true for everyone? I've got gaps in East Anglia and in France & Luxembourg from the pre-gps days.

Sure, but I was thinking of a particular trip to Nepal.

*Thinks of all the squares*

*Sighs*

And Ronnie makes the point well - it's more a metric of how early an adopter you were, than of how much of an "explorer" you are.

I bought my first GPS in 2008 and kept nearly all my records. So when is started with Veloviewer it took me some days to upload my old files and I could enter at serious level.
So not only how early you were with adapting but also how good you are at record keeping and archiving. I know of some early adapters who threw away all their old records.....
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 19 June, 2021, 12:43:53 am
And a lot of more recent GPS adopters have only ever used the cloud based service du jour for keeping their tracklogs, which doesn't lend itself to retrospective uploading the way a disk full of GPX files does.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 19 June, 2021, 10:57:08 am
7.14% (239/3348)
47km (Alveston to Ross on Wye)

I have an excel sheet listing several years of rides with a pre- gps cycle computer.  I could with a fair degree of accuracy reconstruct them & upload to Strava.  Would that be fair game?
I guess I'd have to do some kind of fakery to get them recorded under the correct dates which would likely get them all flagged thobut.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 19 June, 2021, 11:38:37 am
GPSies can create gpx files that Strava will accept.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 19 June, 2021, 12:29:23 pm
You could be ruthless and possibly have a fair way to rank YACF members by only counting tiles from when D.A.L.E. started the thread.  :demon: How would that work ?
 Would save most of us scrambling about looking into old hard drives /GPS units we have squirrelled away.  Have had a few email addresses for Garmin connect and the Ascent software for the mac might be hiding somewhere . 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 19 June, 2021, 02:11:11 pm
And Ronnie makes the point well - it's more a metric of how early an adopter you were, than of how much of an "explorer" you are.
Not necessarily. You still need to have ridden and explored a fair bit to tick off tiles regardless of when you started. Plus collecting tiles now is way easier than it was even just last year back due to much better mapping tools, apps etc. Not to mention, being able to see how other folk previously got to difficult places via heatmaps.
Just recalled that when I first dabbled with VV Tiling in 2017, I used to memorise my routes because although I used Strava, my GPS didn't have a mapping function. ;D Well I'd never needed one before because I have a good memory for maps/places and used to like to just randomly explore anyway. I think my starting square was 12/13 ish. Had to also redo lots of local tiles that I'd not visited since I used Strava regularly. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 19 June, 2021, 02:41:19 pm
Are you an Explorer or stay at home person, easy way to check. Cluster as a percentage of total.  I will start 2187 cluster is 7.35% of total, lower the better. For some of us Max Square involves cycling into lots of crap areas ???
Percentage will also greatly depend on where you live or how focused [anal ;D] your tiling is. Mine is 77% and I'm aiming for a higher percentage. But my cluster is deliberately square shaped and edges are a fair way from home now now I've filled all the holes. Re crap areas, Doncaster is the only area I thought I'm definitely not coming back here again to cycle.
I'm a sprinter/MTBer with vast networks of trails close to home, the Peak District [which I like to explore in fine detail too]. Finding every possible trail and route variation I can in an area is also my sort of thang. So epic long rides were rarely a thing for me until I after started tiling in 2017. Handily I got a CX in 2016, which is the ideal tiling bike.  :)  I've also found 25km local off road tiling rides can be harder and more challenging than a 160km tile explore out in North Lincs.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 19 June, 2021, 02:49:19 pm
GPSies can create gpx files that Strava will accept.
Done one as a trial (https://www.strava.com/activities/5495228351).  I don't have GPSies so I created the ride in cycle.travel & time shifted it using gotoes.org which is rather clever.  I've entered my recorded average & it's used that and the altitude c.t provided to set my speed.  That's better than using a flat average and should avoid any inappropriate uphill segments.  It's a typical lunch time ride from back when I worked on Manor Royal.  It doesn't add any tiles, I'll see if it gets flagged and what the general opinion is.  It would be one hell of a job to do all I have logged from this way from 2000-2010
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 19 June, 2021, 03:03:24 pm
I'd say any form of data-wrangling that allows you to upload old rides is legit; it's only yourself that you'd be cheating.

As for a cut-off date, doesn't VeloViewer do that already with annual stats and arbitrary filtering?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 19 June, 2021, 07:29:09 pm
As for a cut-off date, doesn't VeloViewer do that already with annual stats and arbitrary filtering?
There's leaderboards for each year, but also for all time. Don't think there's a cut off for that. Other than before strava existed.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 19 June, 2021, 08:16:06 pm
As for a cut-off date, doesn't VeloViewer do that already with annual stats and arbitrary filtering?
There's leaderboards for each year, but also for all time. Don't think there's a cut off for that. Other than before strava existed.

I don't think that's a limitation.  I've got rides from 2007 logged.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 19 June, 2021, 09:14:10 pm
GPSies can create gpx files that Strava will accept.

I've been contemplating using this method to recreate a ride I did recently that I partially lost due to a GPS failure.

It wouldn't feel right though. Not sure I can bring myself to go through with it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sg37409 on 19 June, 2021, 10:45:54 pm
I remember Ronnie and Gordon banging on about these new Garmin 305's they had on a reiver fever audax ages back.  They convinced me, and I became what I thought was an early adopter in 2009.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 19 June, 2021, 10:48:06 pm
It wouldn't feel right though. Not sure I can bring myself to go through with it.

Why?  You know you did the ride and you can put something in the ride description so you'd know later it was a recreation.
I'm not asking to criticise, I'm contemplating the same moral dilemma (10 years worth of rides in my case).  As Kim says I'd only be cheating myself, which I wouldn't do.  I know I did the rides.  So why does it feel wrong?
 
Having made a dozen or so of my old rides in cycle.travel I'm erring on the side of it's not wrong and I should get stuck in.  It's been a trip down memory lane reading my old notes & poring over the OS of my old stomping ground to make sense of them.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 19 June, 2021, 11:38:21 pm
Any know reason why VV does not include activities classed as Walking but does include Runs?

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Similar question of strava why cant I log distance in shoes when walking or hiking but can when running (I am according to strava a very slow runner)

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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 19 June, 2021, 11:42:33 pm
It wouldn't feel right though. Not sure I can bring myself to go through with it.

Why?  You know you did the ride and you can put something in the ride description so you'd know later it was a recreation.
I'm not asking to criticise, I'm contemplating the same moral dilemma (10 years worth of rides in my case).  As Kim says I'd only be cheating myself, which I wouldn't do.  I know I did the rides.  So why does it feel wrong?
 
Having made a dozen or so of my old rides in cycle.travel I'm erring on the side of it's not wrong and I should get stuck in.  It's been a trip down memory lane reading my old notes & poring over the OS of my old stomping ground to make sense of them.

I have a few gaps here where i forgot to charge the garmin or it was a big camping ( small municipal campsites were ok )   and leaving a garmin in the toilets overnight to charge was dodgy. Don't think that i will use digital magic to replicate the lost sections, does not feel right.(https://i.imgur.com/ROjjJDM.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 19 June, 2021, 11:47:04 pm
I guess one of the problems with using cluster for an exploration metric is its much easier to build cluster where the road/track/footpath network is quite dense, to get mine much further north is going to need a fair bit of mtb and hiking, where as to move it south is fairly easy.

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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 20 June, 2021, 07:23:52 am
...
(I am according to strava a very slow runner)


Ha, I feel your pain. When I uploaded some old gps tracks the other day, strava was auto-classifying my old off road rides as runs.

At some point I’ll find my old computer and see if there’s some more files in there. There’s a Newcastle - Edinburgh tour misssing for a start.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 20 June, 2021, 09:46:33 am
I guess one of the problems with using cluster for an exploration metric is its much easier to build cluster where the road/track/footpath network is quite dense, to get mine much further north is going to need a fair bit of mtb and hiking, where as to move it south is fairly easy.

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Can I introduce you to Deano?


We all have challenges. Some people just take a bivvy and hike over every hill in the Dales with their bikes.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 20 June, 2021, 02:19:47 pm
I guess one of the problems with using cluster for an exploration metric is its much easier to build cluster where the road/track/footpath network is quite dense, to get mine much further north is going to need a fair bit of mtb and hiking, where as to move it south is fairly easy.
I live in Sheffield, so tiling the Peak District is very slow going and very challenging to ride at times. Also you need a good spell of dry weather so as not to damage some trails/be able to ride them. 
Only hiked a [short] loop once instead of using bike, though will go back to ride down it at some point. But on balance it's a wonderful place to have to ride and look at the very pretty scenery. Plus I love very technical riding. 

Although down South it is far easier and quicker to build up a large cluster/square, you do have the downside of living down South.  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 20 June, 2021, 02:28:20 pm
As for a cut-off date, doesn't VeloViewer do that already with annual stats and arbitrary filtering?
There's leaderboards for each year, but also for all time. Don't think there's a cut off for that. Other than before strava existed.

I don't think that's a limitation.  I've got rides from 2007 logged.
I was speaking more generally. There will only be a few folk uploading rides to Strava from before Stava existed
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 20 June, 2021, 05:06:45 pm
Well, it got flagged but not for any 'oooh that looks like a faked file' reasons, simply because the gotoes.org (https://gotoes.org/strava/Add_Timestamps_To_GPX.php) tool doesn't weight uphill vs downhill nearly heavily enough.  I ended up 8th on a climb in Worth, a laughable proposition.

I'm only interested in logging where I went (for VV) and the yearly totals, speed is irrelevant as I'm unlikely to ride those roads again.  So I've just redone it (https://www.strava.com/activities/5501678954) setting my average speed to half what I recorded on the day.  No more PRs and I'm now 2315th on the climb, a far more likely ranking.  Even so I've set it to followers only which removes it from public rankings.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 20 June, 2021, 05:54:53 pm
That's a sensible approach.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 20 June, 2021, 06:24:47 pm
Well, it got flagged but not for any 'oooh that looks like a faked file' reasons, simply because the gotoes.org (https://gotoes.org/strava/Add_Timestamps_To_GPX.php) tool doesn't weight uphill vs downhill nearly heavily enough.

Interesting!

I decided to try using gotoes to fix my recent broken ride. Bit of a convoluted process because it was the middle section of the ride that was missing, but it seems to have worked. The bit where the made-up segment merges with the real log is a bit wonky, and as a result it has given me a time of 3 seconds for a 150m segment, but I've got the ride set to private, so it won't show up on any leaderboards.

As a result, I've filled in six tiles (that I legitimately rode through!) and increased my max cluster by 16.

Still feels a bit wrong but... wevs.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 20 June, 2021, 07:01:56 pm
I guess one of the problems with using cluster for an exploration metric is its much easier to build cluster where the road/track/footpath network is quite dense, to get mine much further north is going to need a fair bit of mtb and hiking, where as to move it south is fairly easy.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk
Can I introduce you to Deano?


We all have challenges. Some people just take a bivvy and hike over every hill in the Dales with their bikes.
I mean I clocked off a fair whack of Fife tiles without even knowing about tiles, north of Dundee I've just got the odd northwards line through a parent nothingness.

I first became aware of deano on my first audax, the port navigation and his other worldly dedication to cycling.

I can't be arsed going up glas maol again either...

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Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 20 June, 2021, 07:34:03 pm
GPSies can create gpx files that Strava will accept.

Ah, it seems that GPSies has been consumed by AllTrails and I can't see how to make a Strava compliant GPX on that site  :demon:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 20 June, 2021, 08:34:55 pm
Long-term thinking is starting to reap dividends, clusterage is up to 6341.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51253162737_292911be62_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m64RDB)
Looks like our clusters are now meeting up as top of my cluster moves above line of the Humber Estuary. I suspect/hope our squares may overlap too at some point.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51258609362_e793b0d047_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m6xLJW) (https://flic.kr/p/2m6xLJW)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 20 June, 2021, 09:41:34 pm
(https://thumbsnap.com/s/XKWeTJne.jpg)
Slow progress, but a coastal walk today from Charmouth to Seatown/Chideock. Over Golden Cap, and ticking off some coastal tiles!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 June, 2021, 10:09:05 pm


Today I went out on a training ride to Almere. In so doing I bagged 7 new tiles. This increased my cluster by 20 to 1716... yet my tile count went up by just 4. from 11158 -> 11162...

Not quite sure how that happened...

Before:

(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/E33lK_qXwAIIqUn.jpg)

After:

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E4WstzsX0AI37OV.jpg)

Some maths is weird somewhere...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: RobertW on 21 June, 2021, 09:01:15 am
On a visit to family in SW Scotland last week I managed to get some rides in to fill in some holes in my very modest collection of tiles .  Still plenty to do on future visits.

Tiles = 327 (+26)
Max Sq = 8 (+2)
Cluster = 134 (+58)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51261796734_820c507b80_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m6Q7eC)SW Scotland tiles (https://flic.kr/p/2m6Q7eC) by rfwatson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/23849319@N07/), on Flickr

It was the first time I had used the VV Explorer app and found it invaluable to confirm I was in the square when wandering about in clearfell forestry and when scrambling on the rocky foreshore of Kirkcudbright Bay.  Highlight of the trip was finding a very small deer fawn at the track side.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51261808444_fb59938fac_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m6QaHw)Deer Fawn cropped (https://flic.kr/p/2m6QaHw) by rfwatson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/23849319@N07/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 21 June, 2021, 10:51:02 am
I thought that the Explorer Tile number was the measure of how much I've explored. I know that moving house has contributed to my cluster score being higher but eventually don't we all reach the point where every ride begins with a ride through places we've already been? The higher the cluster or explorer number then surely ratio will get closer to 1:1

I used to get excited about various leaderboards on VV, but now I rarely look. What Explorer has contributed to my riding is an intentionality to finding places I've never been before and the rewards of this have been wonderful.

I also like that I can show my parents a heatmap of places I've been. Although I wish I had the time I did LEJOG shown, I'm not going back to recreate it manually. Perhaps I'll ride it again but with more pub stops next time.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 21 June, 2021, 11:37:00 am
What Explorer has contributed to my riding is an intentionality to finding places I've never been before and the rewards of this have been wonderful.

This is so true.  I also use it a lot for walking, kayaking etc as well as I do tend to seek out remoter areas that I can't always get to by bike.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 21 June, 2021, 11:37:53 am
Although I wish I had the time I did LEJOG shown, I'm not going back to recreate it manually. Perhaps I'll ride it again but with more pub stops next time.

One thing I'm really pleased about is having my LEJOG on Strava. And because of the various audaxes I've done crisscrossing the country, I have an unbroken link of tiles all the way back to home (just need to get up to Cape Wrath to get all four 'corners' of mainland Britain). Then I'll have to go back and do LEJOG by a more circuitous route to pick up enough ephemeral tiles to make it part of my max cluster...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 21 June, 2021, 11:44:40 am


What Explorer has contributed to my riding is an intentionality to finding places I've never been before and the rewards of this have been wonderful.

This ^^

It also gets me out of the rut of riding the same routes over and over and on days when I can't think of where to go, it gives me a destination.

I also quite like the geeky completeness of filling in the gaps, it's very satisfying.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 21 June, 2021, 12:12:28 pm
I've always had a thing about 'new roads' and never understood people who manage the same route every month of the year. VV just gives me a clearer picture of where those new 'roads' are.

I'm feeling desperate for a holiday- and it's not to be not-at-work, it's to see somewhere NEW.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 21 June, 2021, 12:41:54 pm
I've always had a thing about 'new roads' and never understood people who manage the same route every month of the year. VV just gives me a clearer picture of where those new 'roads' are.

+4 I think we're up to.

I'm capable of riding the same route over and over.  If I'm only going out for a couple of hours, there isn't an awful lot of choice, and I'd generally rather ride a good route (vis motor traffic, surfaces, the right kind of hills and so on) that I've ridden before than something unpleasant that I've ridden before just because it's different.  But it's not half dull, and mostly wins over the alternatives of 'turbo trainer' or 'not riding my bike'.

Going somewhere new, if only to pee in a hedge and colour in a map, is much more interesting.

Of course, if you don't move house often enough, your tilebagging excursions turn into commutes as you take the most efficient route through familiar territory to get to the new bits.  I spent a lot of time on the A38 between here and Worcester last year...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 21 June, 2021, 01:17:25 pm
Are you an Explorer or stay at home person, easy way to check. Cluster as a percentage of total.  I will start 2187 cluster is 7.35% of total, lower the better. For some of us Max Square involves cycling into lots of crap areas ???

Total number of tiles: 5542
Cluster: 556
Percentage: 10%

I'm surprised it is as high as that, as a lot of my tiles are not connected to my cluster.

Edited to add: I live in my square.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Salvatore on 21 June, 2021, 01:36:02 pm
On a visit to family in SW Scotland last week I managed to get some rides in to fill in some holes in my very modest collection of tiles .  Still plenty to do on future visits.


I too have a secondary cluster in SW Scotland to go with my Hampshire one, but further west than yours. I'll be there next week.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51261655808_1b4f3c3855.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m6PokS)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 21 June, 2021, 04:43:10 pm


What Explorer has contributed to my riding is an intentionality to finding places I've never been before and the rewards of this have been wonderful.

This ^^

It also gets me out of the rut of riding the same routes over and over and on days when I can't think of where to go, it gives me a destination.

I also quite like the geeky completeness of filling in the gaps, it's very satisfying.
All of these things!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 21 June, 2021, 07:18:23 pm


What Explorer has contributed to my riding is an intentionality to finding places I've never been before and the rewards of this have been wonderful.

This ^^

It also gets me out of the rut of riding the same routes over and over and on days when I can't think of where to go, it gives me a destination.

I also quite like the geeky completeness of filling in the gaps, it's very satisfying.
All of these things!

Yes.

Plus I enjoy planning a decent route to collect the tiles I want in a fairly efficient way.  I try to avoid spurs where possible as they mess up the flow of the ride.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 21 June, 2021, 08:26:51 pm
...... Although I wish I had the time I did LEJOG shown.......
I did LEJOG in 1983 (as part of an organised trip) and I still have printed copies of each day's route maps and instructions.  I could create some GPX files and use GOTOES to upload them to Strava. But should I? The resulting filled-in tiles would link together a few areas which are currently separated in my post-2013 Strava uploads. (Of course there are hundreds of other rides I did between 1962 and 2013 that will never get logged, because I don't know the exact routes any more.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 21 June, 2021, 10:49:05 pm

I just clicked on a ride and lost 3 tiles...

No change in other stats...

11159 tiles
Max square 27x27
Max Cluster: 1716

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 22 June, 2021, 05:34:15 pm
I did LEJOG in 1983 (as part of an organised trip) and I still have printed copies of each day's route maps and instructions.  I could create some GPX files and use GOTOES to upload them to Strava. But should I?
If it would bring a smile to your face when you look at your vv map then my opinion is yes you should.
If it would annoy you that the trip was recorded on paper, manually rather than automagically by a gadget then no I would think.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 23 June, 2021, 08:26:52 am
I did LEJOG in 1983 (as part of an organised trip) and I still have printed copies of each day's route maps and instructions.  I could create some GPX files and use GOTOES to upload them to Strava. But should I?
If it would bring a smile to your face when you look at your vv map then my opinion is yes you should.
If it would annoy you that the trip was recorded on paper, manually rather than automagically by a gadget then no I would think.
Yep, for instance, I recreated my year 8 coastal walk (2012), and put it on Strava. Of course it wasn't actually logged, but the route was effectively "follow the coast path".  There's also the Rempstone ride I did in that era, which still is the sole ride passing through a tile in the middle of Purbeck...
(https://i.ibb.co/pynR4TY/image.png) (https://ibb.co/16bdRNF)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 23 June, 2021, 09:03:00 am
Since everyone else seems to be at it, I'm starting to think I should dig out my old brevet cards and add some pre-GPS rides - could very handily fill in a few West Kent tiles...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 23 June, 2021, 09:09:45 am
Not everybody. I'm not.

I could easily recreate audaii from 2009 / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 in the pre-GPS era, including a PBP and a fine French 300, as well as all the other qualifying rides that year. And there are some Semaines Federales. I've walked the 3 peaks without a tracklog, too. Do I go back to childhood walks and tours? I have journals I kept then.

It wouldn't make me smile- I would feel it was cheating.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 23 June, 2021, 09:25:19 am
Not everybody. I'm not.

I could easily recreate audaii from 2009 / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 in the pre-GPS era, including a PBP and a fine French 300, as well as all the other qualifying rides that year. And there are some Semaines Federales. I've walked the 3 peaks without a tracklog, too. Do I go back to childhood walks and tours? I have journals I kept then.

It wouldn't make me smile- I would feel it was cheating.


Agreed. I'm in a similar boat. I could dig out even my old etrex, and try and get the data off it, I could recreate some of my rides from when I was younger. But for me, this is about what I've done since I took up cycling properly in late 2017.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 23 June, 2021, 09:27:37 am
It wouldn't make me smile- I would feel it was cheating.

I certainly wouldn't feel entirely comfortable doing it, and was being mildly facetious saying I will do it.

Also seems like a lot of effort - for a lot of those old rides, I only have the locations of the controls, not the routesheets, so it would be a laborious process trying to recreate them accurately.

One thing I am tempted to do, if I have an idle moment, is try to recreate some of those old routes so I can perhaps ride them again as DIYs. That would be a good way to authentically fill in some of those tiles.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 23 June, 2021, 09:31:11 am
Pre-GPS I was in the habit of 'recording' my ride on RWGPS as soon as I could after the event. I have just used GOTOES to upload a few dozen of these to Strava.

My max square was unchanged. My max cluster increased by 2.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 23 June, 2021, 09:35:56 am
I won't be recreating any pre gps rides either , it's a hair's breadth away from cheating IMO.

I'm more than happy that my Strava history is an incomplete version of my cycling/walking/running history.  That's just the way it is. 

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 23 June, 2021, 11:06:59 am
Same here
Any GPS track I had in my PC I uploaded to Strava. But the rides I didn't log on GPS or the odd ride which got lost I consider lost. If I would recreate my old tours of the past I would probably shoot to #1 spot on the total amount of tiles list, with some very unusual tiles. And some would have been from area's where at that moment the usuage of GPS devices by foreigners was forbidden (for example the Altaj Republic in Southern Siberia).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 23 June, 2021, 11:55:29 am
Strava very much remains an incomplete record - it's just too much effort to go back and recreate everything, and for very little gain. Although in all honesty there wasn't much that I did do before Strava, there was some mapmyrun recording!
(https://i.ibb.co/WGzb2H0/image.png) (https://ibb.co/8NxW7mb)
See that very expedient line on the right hand of my screen? That's a mapmyrun GPS recording that I probably had to use GOTOES on to get timestamps, as I believe it was route only. This is from 2014, years before tiling!

The coastal walk, however, is obvious. It's also quite a significant event, so it's fitting that there's some record of it. The route is super obvious - and it's very useful for claiming some tricky coastal tiles. It's even nicely dated to the correct month of 2012.

Meanwhile, I know that I've walked to the Fossil Forest (east of Lulworth Cove) before. However, I can't be sure of how far, particularly whether it actually got into that next tile. Almost certainly - but not certainly. Besides, I'm going to end up walking that piece of coastline anyway, to claim the definitely unvisited tiles further east, so there'd be no point in using imagery and such to try and recreate the walk.

After all, who would you be cheating but yourself? (Unless you're right at the top of the leaderboards). I don't feel like I'm cheating myself by recreating activities that I certainly have done - in fact, remembering these things can be quite fun. Just as long as you don't screw over segment leaderboards or anything, set the activity to followers only if necessary.

The whole point of this, at least to me, is to find and visit new routes and places, not to retrace an old route because it wasn't recorded "officially"!

What would have been cheating would have been to just GPS trace the Lulworth Ranges tile... but I didn't, I claimed that one fair and "square".
(https://i.ibb.co/tZ54xjj/image.png) (https://ibb.co/jVFTW00)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 23 June, 2021, 12:40:41 pm
Sounds like a lot of work.

It would feel a bit cheat-y, I reckon. But maybe if I was housebound for a few months I might refer back to my old diaries and photos to try to recreate old rides. What about going back to when the tech was available, or available to you? Suppose I could have spent a few years recording my tracks on my phone.

But nah, too much time in front of a computer for me.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 23 June, 2021, 12:46:16 pm
Sounds like a lot of work.

It would feel a bit cheat-y, I reckon. But maybe if I was housebound for a few months I might refer back to my old diaries and photos to try to recreate old rides. What about going back to when the tech was available, or available to you? Suppose I could have spent a few years recording my tracks on my phone.

But nah, too much time in front of a computer for me.
I my case that's easy, the tech has basically always been available  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 23 June, 2021, 12:57:23 pm
All our memories; captured, shared, discussed
pencil drawn, photographed, mapped by satellites
liked, shared, kudo'd

like blessings on our hearts and minds
at times inspirational to strangers
unwittingly boring to friends

Strava has flourished like a flower in the field
yet when the wind goes over, it will be gone
and it's place will know it no more.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 23 June, 2021, 08:22:37 pm
Since everyone else seems to be at it, I'm starting to think I should dig out my old brevet cards and add some pre-GPS rides - could very handily fill in a few West Kent tiles...


So tell us who is doing it? Its a slippery slope sitting at the computer generating tracks for Strava and Veloviewer. Will you be going all the way back to when you fell out of the pram and started walking?
Get a life.

Trying to fill in Kintyre, bits of the Kintyre way, forestry tracks and the wind farm roads are helping.(https://i.imgur.com/olb52N9.jpg) Some parts of the Kintyre way are going back to nature.(https://i.imgur.com/7wzQ37t.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 23 June, 2021, 08:41:16 pm
Sounds like a lot of work.

It would feel a bit cheat-y, I reckon. But maybe if I was housebound for a few months I might refer back to my old diaries and photos to try to recreate old rides. What about going back to when the tech was available, or available to you? Suppose I could have spent a few years recording my tracks on my phone.

But nah, too much time in front of a computer for me.
I my case that's easy, the tech has basically always been available  ;D

;D

Strava? Luxury! You know, when we were kids we had to run a bit of string around a road map to work out or mileage.

(My dad actually did this, his mate memorised all the distances between local GPOs and worked out his mileage from that)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 23 June, 2021, 08:48:08 pm
Strava? Luxury! You know, when we were kids we had to run a bit of string around a road map to work out or mileage.

(My dad actually did this, his mate memorised all the distances between local GPOs and worked out his mileage from that)

And now, when people use modern tech to recreate those old routes, they're discovering just how many of them were under distance... sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie.  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 23 June, 2021, 09:06:46 pm
It were hi-tech in our house, back in the day.

 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hi-gear-29-Pencil-style-map-measurer-/281892685158?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 24 June, 2021, 08:24:52 am
I had a look to see if it was feasible to recreate some of the more memorable rides from my student days... and found even some of the roads themselves had changed. I won't be doing it. Even if is not cheating, it feels too much like a slippery slope *towards* cheating :-/.
Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 24 June, 2021, 01:20:12 pm
I’m in the office today, so took advantage of it being the middle of summer (and therefore light early) to do the whole commute by bike - with a slightly circuitous route designed to pick up a few more tiles on the way.

105km in total. Not sure exactly how many new tiles I picked up - 13, I think. Including one tile I hadn’t planned on going for but accidentally picked up due to navigational issues. Nice!

Not going to ride all the way home, but I have a 50km route from London to Gravesend that will give me a few more tiles and thus extend my max cluster westwards a bit.

And with the ACH 200 next week passing through a few more tiles I need in SE London, that should finally link up my Kent cluster to my London cluster, which will be very satisfying.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: αdαmsκι on 24 June, 2021, 01:50:26 pm
And with the ACH 200 next week passing through a few more tiles I need in SE London, that should finally link up my Kent cluster to my London cluster, which will be very satisfying.

 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 24 June, 2021, 03:42:12 pm
And with the ACH 200 next week passing through a few more tiles I need in SE London, that should finally link up my Kent cluster to my London cluster, which will be very satisfying.

 :thumbsup:

I amended my route in today after you sent out the GPX for the 200 (mainly around the Bexley/Welling area) - made sense to target different tiles to the ones I know I'm going to be riding next week!

ETA: this is where things stand after yesterday's rides - tantalisingly close:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51270379840_32104977a2.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m7A6Gd)
clusters (https://flic.kr/p/2m7A6Gd) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

So I just need the run of four tiles between Eltham and Darenth, and one near Hawley, to join up to the London cluster. And they are all covered by next week's 200 (along with a bunch of tiles on the Hoo peninsula). It's a great route anyway, but this is a nice bonus!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51270379800_46612b47e2.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m7A6Fw)
audax tilebagging (https://flic.kr/p/2m7A6Fw) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 25 June, 2021, 11:01:30 pm
Plus I enjoy planning a decent route to collect the tiles I want in a fairly efficient way.  I try to avoid spurs where possible as they mess up the flow of the ride.
Likewise. However I did that on Tuesday and it was a huge mistake because  the path basically vanished and was tufty unrideable moorland which then became bog. I carried bike a long way and had soggy shoes rest of the day.  I had the foresight to wear waterproof sock that day at least. Should have stayed on road and done the short spurs off it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 25 June, 2021, 11:13:16 pm
There were lots of random holes in my local area when I started tiling that I had ridden on numerous occasions before Strava. I simply rode them again and enjoyed doing so. In fact the very first tile I deliberately bagged was one I'd ridden through many, many times, but not since I started using Strava. I was simply riding other less familiar areas.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 27 June, 2021, 08:48:54 pm
Knocked off a bunch of annoying ones to finish off the Tees estuary, including the awkward one at British Steel, and some bonus riding on the beach cos I was lucky enough to catch low tide at Redcar. The tide goes out a very long way there.

It's all a bit different from the trackless moors at the other end of my square, but I really enjoy riding round there.

I definitely had visited some of them pre-GPS. Not just the beach, but my dad took me round an oil module he'd been working on when they had an open day before it was tugged out to sea*. This being the nineties and this being my dad, we had a good look around all the non-public areas too. But that was bang inside one of those tiles.

*Strong contender for most northern day out of my childhood, alongside The Day We Went to See Newport Bridge Being Raised for the Final Time
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 27 June, 2021, 09:24:14 pm
I ventured properly into West Sussex yesterday, and today dug out old gpx tracks from a couple of El-Supremo 100s and my Newcastle - Edinburgh ride. There’s probably a Mid Sussex Hilly on there somewhere too. The local rides have not added to my cluster, but have made some big open spaces into holes to be filled.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 27 June, 2021, 09:59:13 pm
Knocked off a bunch of annoying ones to finish off the Tees estuary, including the awkward one at British Steel, and some bonus riding on the beach cos I was lucky enough to catch low tide at Redcar. The tide goes out a very long way there.

It's all a bit different from the trackless moors at the other end of my square, but I really enjoy riding round there.

I definitely had visited some of them pre-GPS. Not just the beach, but my dad took me round an oil module he'd been working on when they had an open day before it was tugged out to sea*. This being the nineties and this being my dad, we had a good look around all the non-public areas too. But that was bang inside one of those tiles.

*Strong contender for most northern day out of my childhood, alongside The Day We Went to See Newport Bridge Being Raised for the Final Time
*checks tide times for July*
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 27 June, 2021, 10:02:24 pm

A 67km training ride, this week I went to Den Haag, had cake, and got the train home. Picked up 11 new tiles, but expanded my cluster by 14.

11170 tiles
Max square 27x27
Max Cluster: 1730

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 28 June, 2021, 12:30:09 am
Knocked off a bunch of annoying ones to finish off the Tees estuary, including the awkward one at British Steel, and some bonus riding on the beach cos I was lucky enough to catch low tide at Redcar. The tide goes out a very long way there.
It's all a bit different from the trackless moors at the other end of my square, but I really enjoy riding round there.
When I got stuck at my Mum's during Lockdown 1, I kept myself sane by grabbing some local tiles around Gower and Swansea. This also involved waiting for tide to go out on occasions [second highest tidal range in world around there], which likewise made a change from the ankle snapping moorlands back oop North.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 03 July, 2021, 03:13:51 pm
...... Although I wish I had the time I did LEJOG shown.......
I did LEJOG in 1983 (as part of an organised trip) and I still have printed copies of each day's route maps and instructions.  I could create some GPX files and use GOTOES to upload them to Strava. But should I? The resulting filled-in tiles would link together a few areas which are currently separated in my post-2013 Strava uploads. (Of course there are hundreds of other rides I did between 1962 and 2013 that will never get logged, because I don't know the exact routes any more.)
Some interesting comments on this topic since my post last week, thank you. I have decided not to re-create my LeJog ride. But I have re-created my 2009 Etape du Tour (which included Mt Ventoux), and was probably pre-Strava (certainly pre any GPS that I have had). It was the longest day ride I've ever done, and the most climbing, so I felt it 'deserved' a slot in veloviewer. Didn't get me any increase in max square or max cluster though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 03 July, 2021, 08:02:04 pm
Planned to ride the Peak District North + West of Buxton this week. Thursday was nice and dry [essential when riding moors to prevent damage] but got to Buxton only to realise that I'd left my water bottles behind. I was already a bit concerned about carrying enough drink around as it was, with places to top drink up a bit hard to come after 15km, so I binned ride.
So I went back the next, even hotter day, but circumstances meant that I wasn't able to start ride until 12.30pm. But I optimistically reckoned 8 hours of daylight should be enough for a 88km ride even with the slow average speed in these parts.
I had planned the hardest part to do when still fresh. Straight up to the moor top above Buxton and then down the other side. But after getting to bottom I found a big locked and barbed wired gate there which was definitely not for passing. 



(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51287363431_4b8fba279e_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m969jK) (https://flic.kr/p/2m969jK)

I wasn’t the first to make this fruitless journey.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51288375865_c8c3bf6996_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m9bkhv) (https://flic.kr/p/2m9bkhv)


This meant a reroute and back up the very steep hill...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51287363756_2b0967364a_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m969qm) (https://flic.kr/p/2m969qm)

 ...and then climb further along ridge to get around. 



[This is looking back down, with lots more technical climbing to go.]
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51286613912_a6782c5e84_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m92iw1) (https://flic.kr/p/2m92iw1)

Two hours into ride and  I was still climbing the ridge line, but had only covered 9km since I set off. I reckon I was in first gear for the  majority of that time on my CX too. Lowest average speed yet! The ridge line climb/diversion was a very narrow and technical narrow sheep track with rocks, that combined with sunshine and amazing views made for the sort of awesome MTB ride I love. So luckily it was a diversion that was better than planned route by far. 
It took about three hours to get close to the 8km marker part of planned route and nearly had to turn around and go back up the hill once again, just before I got there because this time the road was completely blocked by two telegraph pole lorries. Luckily there was just enough room to squeeze through the stingy nettles at side. 

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51287386251_d42de24336_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m96g7c) (https://flic.kr/p/2m96g7c)

Now back on route, I pumped tyre up because I had a very slow puncture. Valve got unscrewed by pump and then the slow puncture became a lot less slow, going soft in just 10 mins Vs the previous 6+ hours since being pumped up. Luckily I was in the only area of route with some shops and there was a bike shop close by. I suspected it was a sealant dried up issue which I could simply top up  Bike got cooked in car previous day and I had noticed sealant bleeding through walls of other tyre - which doesn't normally happen months after set up.  ??? I had a spare tube BTW, but with handy bike shop nearby…though it actually turned out the tubeless valve was leaking air from rim, regardless of how tight lock ring was or wasn't. The instant deflation when valve popped out finished it off it would seem. Weird!
Wheel all sorted with new valve, but now I've done just 13km of the route and I’m 4.5 hours in. Time to cut my losses and head back to Buxton. Plot a route to maximise any tiles and back to Buxton I go. So just 37km and 870m of some very challenging climbing to get a mere 23 tiles. But this was a ride I really enjoyed nonetheless.   Had it been bad, weather though, it would have been rather unpleasant and potentially quite dangerous. Another reason why I only ride moor tops during good weather.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51288081344_42db82fc72_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m99PJy) (https://flic.kr/p/2m99PJy)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 04 July, 2021, 12:26:10 pm
Planned to ride the Peak District North + West of Buxton this week.....

Sounds like a great adventure imajez; thanks for sharing. Tiles left behind are just a good excuse to go back.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 04 July, 2021, 05:39:40 pm
Tiles left behind are just a good excuse to go back.
Indeed.
But not quite to same place.  ;D
Or if near Doncaster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 04 July, 2021, 09:05:11 pm
Tiles left behind are just a good excuse to go back.

I dunno. I seriously considered adding a diversion from yesterday's audax in order to pick up a couple of rogue tiles on Sheppey, so that I wouldn't have to go back there, which is not a prospect that fills me with glee. But I decided against in the end.

However, the prescribed route did, as previously mentioned, help me fill in the last few tiles I needed to link up my main Kent cluster to my smaller London cluster, so that was very satisfying indeed.

Total tiles: 7213 > 7264
Max square unaffected, stays at 21
Max cluster: 1029 > 1175

Here's the before/after shot:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51289119272_bf9de1ff92_o.gif) (https://flic.kr/p/2m9f9gS)
cluster (https://flic.kr/p/2m9f9gS) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

And what my whole cluster looks like now:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51289123962_c628c59b97_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2m9faEJ)
Screenshot 2021-07-04 at 21.03.13 (https://flic.kr/p/2m9faEJ) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

Making good progress towards my next long-term target of filling in all of Kent...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 05 July, 2021, 11:53:17 am
I had a nice long day on Saturday exploring West Kent and filling in quite a few more tiles.

A little bit of bad planning led to me missing a tile that would only have involved about another 500m of riding :-[

Before
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51291387463_ca704fa262_k.jpg)
After
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51291209086_d2d8c22acd_k.jpg)

I am hoping to do all of Kent by the end of the year.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 05 July, 2021, 11:54:33 am
I am hoping to do all of Kent by the end of the year.

I have a feeling you'll get there long before me.

Those two coastal tiles up towards Pegwell Bay are best accessed on foot. You can get to them by walking across the golf course from Sandwich.

At least the one you missed is easily accessible.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 05 July, 2021, 11:58:44 am
And I have just noticed that I might have missed another tile here at North Foreland

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51291230806_da3139fb9f_b.jpg)

@citoyen  I assume this is doable at low tide?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 05 July, 2021, 12:03:38 pm
I took a day off on Thursday to do a long ride and capture some distant tiles. Very pleased to go up from 24x24 to 27x27 in one ride. Nothing really tricky on this one but I did end up with a bit of comedy offroading. I am hoping to finish all of Kent by the end of the year.

Nice work!

Where you have gaps on the Ash levels and those two coastal tiles north of Sandwich, I had to take to foot to get most of those. I have some walking routes on Viewranger if you want me to share them.

In return, I might ask for tips on Hoo tiles, when I get round to heading out that way.
I managed to get the Ash levels tiles over my last two rides. I still need to get those two North of Sandwich.  Can you cycle along the coast path there? or at least push the bike?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 05 July, 2021, 12:07:22 pm
@citoyen  I assume this is doable at low tide?

Yes. Alternatively, if you befriend a North Foreland resident with a key, you could get down there via the original 39 steps. Of which there are in fact 78.

Can you cycle along the coast path there? or at least push the bike?

I should think so. Alternatively, you can go round via the path from Sandwich along that side of the Stour (might involve lifting the bike over a stile or two, but from memory I think it will mostly be rideable, even if that isn't strictly allowed).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 05 July, 2021, 12:14:21 pm
@citoyen  I assume this is doable at low tide?

Yes. Alternatively, if you befriend a North Foreland resident with a key, you could get down there via the original 39 steps. Of which there are in fact 78.

Can you cycle along the coast path there? or at least push the bike?
Thanks. I will have to do some more planning!
I should think so. Alternatively, you can go round via the path from Sandwich along that side of the Stour (might involve lifting the bike over a stile or two, but from memory I think it will mostly be rideable, even if that isn't strictly allowed).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 05 July, 2021, 01:35:48 pm
Away on the mtb/touring bikes, Lanark ,Canonbie ,Dumfries then north to home. Starting to run out of road tiles, catching odd road tiles and trying to link up tracks. 120 new tiles. (https://i.imgur.com/hHmVWQg.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/Zmm0pgp.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/Idb0EVU.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/0KjpAQU.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/xaBNnlT.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/PXpXELW.jpg)The Thunderstorms are getting closer .
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 06 July, 2021, 11:13:56 pm
Down to Ayr, had enough of cluster and off road tiles. Time to pick up easy road tiles round the South Ayrshire lanes.
Picked up 75 tiles and 30006 tiles for total. (https://i.imgur.com/v3bbc4m.jpg) Cafe stop at Mauchline to look at explorer on phone to decide where to go next.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 12 July, 2021, 08:42:06 am
I managed to pick up 35 tiles between Middleton-in-Teesdale and Hexham on Saturdays "The 4 Tops" Audax, taking my total to 10554

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 12 July, 2021, 09:15:30 am
I went to Northumberland too, and picked up 65 tiles. I was reminded again how just because it's a Byway Open To All Traffic doesn't mean I can ride it. About the first and last 5 metres were ridable track, and of course, that's the part you see on Google maps. :facepalm:

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210712/6ed7d875ef8350b8585a0eeaf2063a5a.jpg)

On the plus side, I had Doddington's milkshake from the Milk Bar in Wooler. Nom nomitty nom.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 12 July, 2021, 09:48:36 am
Down catching tiles east of Girvan , trying to link up old Audax rides in Ayrshire and D & G. Another 170 tiles bagged on the wrong bike, need to look at bike packing rigs as my carbon wheels may not do so well on the next trip. (https://i.imgur.com/FdaDCNQ.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/clDl3pj.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/PbaRjPr.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/BSZ8dxH.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/wXSFanL.jpg) Found a good community cafe at Kirkmichael.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 13 July, 2021, 10:51:05 pm
Sometimes, even at low tide, you have to get your feet wet...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51310464089_2b672f9d11_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mb8xkX)
Another tile bagged (https://flic.kr/p/2mb8xkX) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51309742906_cd5bae9e6b_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mb4QXL)
Paddling (https://flic.kr/p/2mb4QXL) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

(the water was actually a lot more pleasant than it looks in the pic)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 14 July, 2021, 02:54:19 pm
Excellent work @citoyen - welcome to the club.  Inner Forth water is as bad as it looks :-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 14 July, 2021, 10:28:16 pm
I indulged in some post work square bagging, and now need a calamine bath. One of the problems of being short is that nettles and thistles grow to my elbow height.
Green lanes in midsummer are gorgeous but I'm really looking forward to some road rides. I can only take so many cleg bites and nettle stings at once.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210714/9b466b32d451c84e447711bf663e839f.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 19 July, 2021, 08:41:26 am
I managed to pick up 1 tile between Wooled and Belford on yesterdays "Seashoses and Back" Audax, taking my total to 10555
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sg37409 on 19 July, 2021, 09:09:56 am
I got about 140  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 19 July, 2021, 09:18:20 am
I went out on Saturday and grabbed a handfull of tiles in Leicestershire including the one just north of Thrussington which has been eluding me for a while (JonBuoy knows the one).  It's not an especially difficult tile to get, there's a lovely lane running through the middle of it, it's just that the A46 fast dual carriageway at one end of the lane essentially makes it a dead end on a bike and I'm not a fan of 'stubs' just to bag tiles.   
It's only now that the tile is at the edge of my max square that I've bothered to go and get it.  While I was out that way I also got 9 other tiles around North Leicestershire.

Cluster is now up by 33 to 3894 and max square up by 1 to 53x53

Before
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210719/ffb332f3dd6c55410559e093e8531e4a.jpg)

After
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210719/92e82197fb6165a57f6c343f12e35bb5.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 19 July, 2021, 05:51:19 pm
  It's not an especially difficult tile to get, there's a lovely lane running through the middle of it, it's just that the A46 fast dual carriageway at one end of the lane essentially makes it a dead end on a bike and I'm not a fan of 'stubs' just to bag tiles. 
Not a fan of stubs either because I hate backtracking on myself. I regard them as a necessary evil when tiling though, the only option at times too around these parts. Some save riding much longer extra loops that would also then mean repeating even longer sections on a ride.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 19 July, 2021, 06:41:55 pm
Down at Crawford. Farm, forestry and wind farm tracks,tough going 46 tiles for 125kms and 2750m of climbing. Fitted new tyres to suit the dry conditions, Vittoria Barzo and Mezcal worked well on the loose gravel corners and climbs.
 


Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 20 July, 2021, 02:05:25 pm
Displacement activity when 'revising' - searching through emails for archaeologic evidence of GPS tracks from 2011.
I had a GPS logger for the early days of DIY by GPS.

The East Anglian end has fewer holes in it now.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 20 July, 2021, 04:28:56 pm
Back in the office today. Took an early train for the cheaper ticket, and used the bonus cycling time to take a circuitous 35km route from Bromley to Hyde Park via Wimbledon and pick off 9 tiles, neatly filling a SW London hole and increasing my max cluster by 28. Still arrived at the office before anyone else. Should have taken a longer route. Satisfying, none the less.

Planning to divert northwards later, taking the long way round to Kings Cross for the train home, via Kilburn and Hampstead Heath - that'll be good for another 10 tiles.

I've got two more office days this week as well... need to plan some more routes to make the most of it... Almost feels like the trek up to London is worthwhile.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 21 July, 2021, 12:09:36 am
I've got two more office days this week as well... need to plan some more routes to make the most of it... Almost feels like the trek up to London is worthwhile.  :thumbsup:
Almost.  ;D :D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 21 July, 2021, 08:15:55 am
I've got two more office days this week as well... need to plan some more routes to make the most of it... Almost feels like the trek up to London is worthwhile.  :thumbsup:
Almost.  ;D :D

These sacrifices have to be made for the sake of tilebagging.

Got sidetracked by drinks with the boss after work yesterday, so no more tiles, but like I said, two more office days this week… I’ll just have to make up for missing out yesterday!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 21 July, 2021, 12:11:10 pm
That's the spririt.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 21 July, 2021, 11:31:05 pm
Moffat to Eskdalemuir via the Garrowgill route for a few more tiles. (https://i.imgur.com/38TlK35.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/iekdLhe.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/7f4RJcn.jpg) Its the new high level route.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 22 July, 2021, 04:56:28 am
Its the new high level route.

Looks fantastic.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 22 July, 2021, 08:48:08 am
Its the new high level route.

I haven't heard of that one.  Is it the same as the Romans and Reivers Route?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 22 July, 2021, 09:06:38 am
It's the new section of the Southern Upland Way, much better than plodding through the forest break. The Forestry Commission have destroyed lots of paths and tracks linking up the old sheep farmsteads.  Sections of the old Edinburgh Road have been planted on.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 23 July, 2021, 11:56:06 am
Cycled to and around Denmark during the past few works. Of course that did nothing for my square or cluster but my total amount of tiles increased to 37229 so I moved up to 6th spot in the total amount of tiles ranking. Next rider is nearly 1000 tiles ahead so it'll take some time to catch him.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 24 July, 2021, 01:06:51 pm
two more office days this week… I’ll just have to make up for missing out yesterday!

Well, I think I have good reason to be happy with how this week turned out in the end. Racked up almost 300km of commuting over my three days.
Total tiles up from 7265 to 7322
Max cluster up from 1176 to 1279

The London end of my cluster has gone from this:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51330906548_fc08b1506e_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mcWjb9)
old cluster (https://flic.kr/p/2mcWjb9) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

To this:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51330906593_7cb0976373_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mcWjbV)
new cluster (https://flic.kr/p/2mcWjbV) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

What's particularly satisfying is filling in the holes in the hinterlands of southeast London - places like Woolwich, Abbey Wood, Thamesmead and Belvedere (and having now ticked them off, I really don't think I'll be going back). For my post-work ride home last night, I took the Thames Path all the way from Greenwich to Gravesend, which was very interesting. The landscape is a bit bleak, but the path itself is mostly pretty good - good surface, and wide. It was just the section around Crayford where I started to think maybe a road bike was not the best option - narrow, overgrown trail with a rough gravelly surface (so actually pretty good by Sustrans standards). Also took a small diversion off the main road at Northfleet, into an industrial estate - just far enough to get the necessary tile (it's a dead end, so no through option). This means I now have all the tiles along the Kent side of the river from central London as far as Gravesend.

Last night's ride: https://www.strava.com/activities/5675392950

Now to start filling in some gaps on the Hoo peninsula* and the last few tiles on Sheppey, then I'll have the whole coast around as far as New Romney. Obviously a bit of a hole in West Kent to be filled in too - I found a KML of Kent which will help me make sure my tile bagging rides are strategically focused for maximum gains...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51331010342_36263b5648_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mcWR2G)
kent tiles (https://flic.kr/p/2mcWR2G) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr


*Technically, Hoo is not in Kent, so I could conveniently overlook that in my quest to fill in the whole of Kent, but that's not really in the spirit, is it?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 25 July, 2021, 06:32:37 pm
26 new tiles on yesterdays DIY 400 to Kendal
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 25 July, 2021, 09:49:33 pm

A friend is visiting, and has a van with them, so we put the bikes in the van and drove to the Utrecht Heuvelrug. She wanted a ride in .NL, I wanted to hunt tiles. She agreed to humour my addiction. Bagged three round Maartensdijk, including the solar cycle path, plus some around Bilthoven and one I've been struggling with near Amersfort. Now at:

11190 tiles
Max square 27x27
Max Cluster: 1766

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E7E-nC4XMAgej5t?format=jpg&name=large)

That tile in the Gooimeer is bugging me. Gonna get a bus over there one day, and swim out and back again. Want to do it early in the morning before the boat traffic picks up.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 26 July, 2021, 12:59:59 am
Picked up a couple of tiles on Saturdays hastily planned DIY, discovered I'd lost one on Falkland Estate due to having previously skiffed the corner due to data points.

Might go and reclaim it in the mtb tomorroe, might not...

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 27 July, 2021, 08:49:14 am
Spent yesterday dodging sand and gravel in East Angular. Every fecking junction was a beach, and every descent had a crunchy corner at the bottom.
99 new tiles, cluster up almost 200.
Still an awful lot easier at this end than the trackless high moors at the northern end.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 27 July, 2021, 12:38:22 pm
Spent yesterday dodging sand and gravel in East Angular. Every fecking junction was a beach

This reminds me to rant about some badly-timed chipseal one one of my local routes.  They managed to put it down at the start of the heatwave, with - as they say - hilarious consequences.  Some genius then decided that the best way to improve the adhesion problem was to convert random corners into Sands Of Doom.   :hand:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 27 July, 2021, 01:20:54 pm
On subject of road surfaces, shortly after passing Flash the highest village in England, I climbed up to the Cat + Fiddle pub near Buxton last week, which is the second highest pub in England. With a long [and long anticipated] descent down to the Cheshire Plain.
Unfortunately, it was a brand new road surface. By brand new, I mean they were laying it earlier that day. So both sticky and loose chippings.
It was a very cautious descent which felt no easier than the last part of climb up to Cat + Fiddle.
I also just discovered this bit of info re this road...

"The inn gives its name to the Cat and Fiddle Road: a stretch of the A537 road, linking Macclesfield to the west with Buxton to the east, which features many sharp corners. This road became notorious for the high number of accidents, particularly among motorcyclists for whom the road is often regarded as an exhilarating technical challenge; an AA survey in 2003 named it as the most dangerous stretch of road in the United Kingdom.[13]

A 2016 report indicates that between 2007 and 2011, there were 44 serious or fatal crashes on the 7.5-mile (12 km) stretch. Between 2002 and 2006, there were 35. The report states that the safety issue is caused by "severe bends, steep falls from the carriageway and edged by dry-stone walls for almost the entirety of the road"


Thankfully it was fairly quiet traffic when I was riding on it. Not the only danger though. I have come around a blind corner on that road and a sheep jumped down onto road right in front of car. But I was going a sensible speed, so stopped no problem. If I had been going at the speed limit, that could have ended very badly, particularly as a 38 tonne lorry was coming down the hill on other side. Had a dippy sheep jump in road in front of bike when tiling around there too last week.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 27 July, 2021, 01:42:20 pm
I love that descent. At bike speeds the bends aren't that crazy. I only had the one change of the lights to wait for Mr Smith when he was on fixed and I had a freewheel. It was even more fun on the tandem.
I'd hazard a guess that it isn't the road but the drivers who are dangerous.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 27 July, 2021, 01:47:12 pm
I'd hazard a guess that it isn't the road but the drivers who are dangerous.

As someone who lives on a reputedly "dangerous" road, I would very much concur with this way of looking at it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 27 July, 2021, 02:50:47 pm
I love that descent. At bike speeds the bends aren't that crazy. I only had the one change of the lights to wait for Mr Smith when he was on fixed and I had a freewheel. It was even more fun on the tandem.
It's not a lovely descent on sticky tarmac. It was deeply disappointing, particularly when the ride profile promised so much.  :'(

Quote
I'd hazard a guess that it isn't the road but the drivers who are dangerous.
Well yes and no. If if was just drivers/bikers to blame, then all roads would be equally dangerous. Some roads however encourage fast driving and then punish you severely when you mess up.
Though I bet there are other more dangerous roads where it's not drivers/motorbikers at risk but more pedestrians and cyclists that get killed/seriously injured per km by selfish behaviour of those using motor vehicles.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 27 July, 2021, 03:55:04 pm
My grandfather used to make regular trips over that road in his lorry.  If my father was with him he would be allowed to get some driving practice in on the unladen trip from Macclesfield back to Buxton.  He was only 14 at the time so my grandfather used to insist that he wore a hat to make him look older!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 28 July, 2021, 01:56:03 pm
I can't see the Veloviewer addons in Strava Routes at the moment. I'm definitely logged into VV on the same PC. Anyone else  ???
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 28 July, 2021, 03:26:10 pm
Sometimes, even at low tide, you have to get your feet wet...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51310464089_2b672f9d11_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mb8xkX)
Another tile bagged (https://flic.kr/p/2mb8xkX) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51309742906_cd5bae9e6b_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mb4QXL)
Paddling (https://flic.kr/p/2mb4QXL) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

(the water was actually a lot more pleasant than it looks in the pic)
Is that the Whitstable Street? How far did you need to wade?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 28 July, 2021, 03:47:37 pm
I can't see the Veloviewer addons in Strava Routes at the moment. I'm definitely logged into VV on the same PC. Anyone else  ???

Looks like a known issue:

Quote
There is currently an issue with the VeloViewer Chrome Extension for the integration with the Strava Route Builder.  I've coded a fix and submitted the update to the Chrome Extension Store. It can take up to 24 hours before it is reviewed and published.

https://twitter.com/VeloViewer/status/1420361016551092225
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 28 July, 2021, 04:00:34 pm
Is that the Whitstable Street? How far did you need to wade?

No, that's Long Rock, down at the other end of Tankerton. You can actually get out far enough to get the tile without getting wet at low tide, but I got my timing wrong!

I managed to get the Street on a day when the tide was very low, so hardly got wet at all!

There's a couple of tiles just off the shore at West Beach that I reckon would be gettable on foot when the tide is right out, but I've yet to attempt them. One of them involves walking more than halfway to Sheppey... Tbh, I'm not entirely sure if it's safe to walk on the mud that far out. Maybe I'd be better off getting a kayak.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 30 July, 2021, 02:54:29 pm
I can't see the Veloviewer addons in Strava Routes at the moment. I'm definitely logged into VV on the same PC. Anyone else  ???

Looks like a known issue:

Quote
There is currently an issue with the VeloViewer Chrome Extension for the integration with the Strava Route Builder.  I've coded a fix and submitted the update to the Chrome Extension Store. It can take up to 24 hours before it is reviewed and published.

https://twitter.com/VeloViewer/status/1420361016551092225

Appears to be fixed now- Brilliant reaction from Ben, yet again.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 01 August, 2021, 07:28:32 pm
Gaudeamus!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 02 August, 2021, 01:23:34 am
Bagged a whopping 1 tile tonight along with a couple of new roads. I had planned to bag a few more by riding over path of condie to dunning and back, but in the end I couldn't be arsed.

The tile I lost by accuracy correction on the dryside still eludes me along with various others in the vicinity that just need me to pootle out on an Mtb.
I will get round to them. Eventually...



Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 02 August, 2021, 08:28:29 am
Yesterday I rode a DIY 200k to mop up a collection of stray tiles around Lichfield/Rugely/Blithfield Reservoir.  There are lots of tiny lanes in the area and virtually no cars  :thumbsup:

I had originally planned to follow some vague tracks through Bagot's Wood then some dodgy tracks back across Bagot Park but found something online that described it as a permanently wet area so wussed out and circumnavigated it with a few spikes to pick up tiles.

I made up for the lack of 'wet' by taking a different route home that included Spring Lane between Packington and Ravenstone.  It suckers you in as a pleasant lane, then a lovely gravel track but then turned into a quagmire with massive water-filled ruts and the stickiest mud known to mankind.  I guess the clue was in the name.  It might have been fun on a fatbike but not so good on the summer bike!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51352551039_fc26d271f1_z.jpg)

22 tiles collect and max cluster increased by 61.  It should have been 23 and 66 but I missed one of my spikes so there is still a stray tile that will need collecting.  I have generally set proximity alarms on the spikes but didn't bother for yesterday's ride  ::-)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51351822491_97066c67a9_z.jpg)

And as I type - I have just received an email to tell me that the ride has been validated.  It is a good job that I don't include the spikes in my mandatory route DIYs  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 02 August, 2021, 10:50:40 pm
Cycled to and around Denmark during the past few works. Of course that did nothing for my square or cluster but my total amount of tiles increased to 37229 so I moved up to 6th spot in the total amount of tiles ranking. Next rider is nearly 1000 tiles ahead so it'll take some time to catch him.

Great Work Ivo,  :thumbsup: I've been the full length of the UK recently which is helping to fend off that very active Polish chap, keeping me keen.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 03 August, 2021, 08:35:18 am
Cycled to and around Denmark during the past few works. Of course that did nothing for my square or cluster but my total amount of tiles increased to 37229 so I moved up to 6th spot in the total amount of tiles ranking. Next rider is nearly 1000 tiles ahead so it'll take some time to catch him.

Great Work Ivo,  :thumbsup: I've been the full length of the UK recently which is helping to fend off that very active Polish chap, keeping me keen.

The Polish chap is indeed riding a lot. Looks like he has 2 places to ride from.
Touring for 1-2 weeks is indeed a good week to gain extra tiles.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 05 August, 2021, 11:36:12 pm
A bit of comedy off-roading and bike 'n' hike increased the max cluster to 1986  :thumbsup: A cock up on the planning front meant that was 5 less than it should have been  :facepalm:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 07 August, 2021, 05:17:34 pm

Yesterday's ride was rather enlivened by my gps doing a factory reset.

Fortunately I've been able to recover the data.

Managed to increase my cluster to 1805. Just 2016 to go to meet my goal for the year.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8MxmZZX0AAXwze?format=jpg&name=large)

11211 tiles
Max square 27x27
Max Cluster: 1805

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 10 August, 2021, 10:09:11 am
For those that haven't seen it an interview with the explorer legend that is Jonathon France.
https://www.strava.com/clubs/279168/posts/17393636

Guessing only Strava users can view it
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 10 August, 2021, 08:31:46 pm
Everyone here will be using Strava to do their tiling.
Anybody can see post though, you only need to be signed in to Strava to comment.

Interesting read though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 10 August, 2021, 09:09:34 pm
I did a slightly different tiling ride this week.
I had company, which was a novelty. A fellow tiler who was happy to come and join me to redo some of his local tiles in a quite different way and even on some paths he hadn't ridden. Tiling routes are rarely suitable for non tilers I find. It was also nice to have someone who had a good knowledge of local geography to help tie my more meagre local  knowledge together.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 12 August, 2021, 11:41:34 am
My max square is currently constrained by no - access areas.

I have a cunning plan..

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210812/df87d903d25788a39d57fe09428e40b8.jpg)

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210812/77860ca80552062f7758342eca468bdd.jpg)

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210812/533b354efb2425718768a1184065633d.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 12 August, 2021, 11:56:22 am
Excellent! That will be £7 well spent.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 12 August, 2021, 01:17:28 pm
Just ride across when the flags are down.

There's even a segment across it: https://www.strava.com/segments/11631662
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 12 August, 2021, 01:51:42 pm
Just ride across when the flags are down.

There's even a segment across it: https://www.strava.com/segments/11631662
I couldn't find a list of dates when they'd be open? I don't want to head down there and get shot at not be able to ride it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 12 August, 2021, 01:54:17 pm
I thought that afterwards - it took me a few goes to find a clear run, but it's not that far from me.

Usually Sunday afternoons are clear, but it's a pretty active range.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 12 August, 2021, 01:56:17 pm
I did a range during alst christmas (a range of the Belgian airforce). I guessed that they won't be active during christmas ;).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 13 August, 2021, 10:37:13 pm

The eastward expansion of my square has been limited by one tile in the Gooimeer. There's no land on the tile, so it requires a water approach. There's no nearby kayak hire places. Meaning, my best option is swimming. I had planned to get an early bus one day, then do the swim, and get a bus home. But I chickened out of soloing it. And asked a friend who likes to SUP, if he fancied keeping me company.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8syy2KXsAQu2to?format=jpg&name=large)

Tonight, we headed over that way, him with a SUP. Me with my swimsuit.

To make sure I was in the tile, I made a note of coordinates of a point 100m in from the corner...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8s1KdwXEAErvtp?format=jpg&name=large)

There was a Bouy just a bit further into the tile that made a useful target to aim for.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8s1eb9XIAUblNf?format=jpg&name=large)

It turns out the Gooimeer is not as deep as I feared, and for quite a bit of it I was able to walk along the bottom.

Tile bagged. We decided to make the most of a nice evening, and head for a nearby Island.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8s1q38XsAUDIgi?format=jpg&name=large)

There was some boat traffic, including a jetski that was doing stunts and making a lot of noise. My friend went up to him via SUP, and told them what we were doing, and he went off to play elsewhere.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8s2TPqWQAwqKtA?format=jpg&name=large)

The sunset was stunning/

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8s2isEXsAQfeL5?format=jpg&name=large)

Total distance was 2km. I have very sore arms now.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8syyNgXIAAv2_W?format=jpg&name=large)

But I can expand east now.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8szC1FXoAMcS0R?format=jpg&name=large)

11212 tiles
Max square 27x27
Max Cluster: 1810

I expect tomorrow to involve DOMS. A lot of DOMS...

J

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 13 August, 2021, 10:50:18 pm
Meanwhile I did battle with some atrocious headwind, zapped myself on an electric fence and accidentally rounded up some sheep, in order to fill in The Rugby Triangle[1].  This means ...very little, in the scheme of things.  Mostly that I won't need to cycle through Coventry for a while.


[1] Roughly the area between Coventry, Warwick and Rugby.  Any mysterious disappearances are likely to be the result of HS2.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 14 August, 2021, 12:08:38 am
...I won't need to cycle through Coventry for a while...

Accentuate the positive.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 14 August, 2021, 07:14:02 am
Unexpectedly had to explain my tiling habit to my boss this week. Although he was impressed with my coverage :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 14 August, 2021, 09:16:49 am

My everything hurts...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 14 August, 2021, 11:31:52 am

My everything hurts...

J

Worth it though, eh?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 14 August, 2021, 12:29:56 pm
Worth it though, eh?

Fuck yeah...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 14 August, 2021, 12:32:21 pm
Worth it though, eh?

Fuck yeah...

J
Great story of a tile truly bagged. Nice one!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 14 August, 2021, 08:56:57 pm
A walk to Lunan Bay today nudged me closer to the 2k cluster. Max cluster now at 1990.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 14 August, 2021, 10:29:54 pm
...I won't need to cycle through Coventry for a while...

Accentuate the positive.

Looks like the Binley Mega Chippy[1] might have closed down?


[1] Mind you, I'm just assuming it's bad on the basis of the name.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Rod Marton on 15 August, 2021, 01:29:22 pm
Started doing this a couple of months ago. I thought I had ridden most of the local roads, but found that my initial square was only 11 and cluster ~400. There seemed to be an annoying large number of tiles which were accessible only by muddy tracks, main roads or the grottier bits of Gloucester. Anyway, by dint of cross bike and infilling I have now worked the square up to 20 and the cluster to ~750, which is at least respectable. I suspect the square isn't going to go much above 25: beyond that I would either have to become aquatic or venture into Swindon, neither of which have much appeal.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 17 August, 2021, 11:06:56 am
I ECE'd last weekend's 'No work for us today 200' into a 600 by riding to Kirkby Stephen and back, the day before.

This increased my tiles by 24, to 10618
My Max Square is still 18x18, and Max Cluster still 837

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 17 August, 2021, 12:52:18 pm
600km is a long way to ride for 24 tiles.

I hit my target over the weekend : 20043 tiles.

I'm working on a coast to coast link.
Hexham to Haltwhistle is brutal.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 17 August, 2021, 01:17:54 pm
600km is a long way to ride for 24 tiles.

Very true
I fancied a change from the usual Yad Moss or Shap routes south, so the tiles were picked up on the 40k between Penrith and Kirkby Stephen.  Coincidental really.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 17 August, 2021, 02:56:43 pm
Hexham to Haltwhistle is brutal.

Was down that way last week.  If I was aiming for C2C there, I think I would centre my efforts on the B6318 Chollerford to Greenhead and the Hadrian's wall walk? B6318 is hard work with lots of hidden dips and blind summits, cars may be fast, but maybe an early morning run would avoid the worst of the traffic?

Would that work better? Or is walking breaking your personal approach?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 17 August, 2021, 03:06:54 pm
I'm happy to walk  ;D

https://www.strava.com/activities/5797570039

It's the bouncing up and down the sides of the valley that will kill me.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 17 August, 2021, 03:17:05 pm
I'm happy to walk  ;D

https://www.strava.com/activities/5797570039

It's the bouncing up and down the sides of the valley that will kill me.

I did those tiles on Thursday :-)  Didn't have a bike with me last week so did a number of walks, the only ride was a hire of a 19" hybrid ( I used to have a 25" of the same type) which I used to get round Kielder Water.

My own C2C project probably requires 2-3 more ride days a hill walk and 3 separate paddleboard trips.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 18 August, 2021, 10:42:47 am
Did another tile-bagging commute this morning - headed south from Bromley via Biggin Hill before heading back northwards through Croydon, Mitcham and Tooting into central London.

Bloody hell, it's lumpy round Biggin Hill, isn't it? Total of about 500m climbing (according to Strava) in 49km, but that mostly came inside the first 15km. My Strava-planned route also took me up a cut-through footpath* where I had no option but to get off and walk - must have been well over 20% gradient. Might have been just about rideable except for the gates every 20m or so, and the loose, gravelly surface in places - trying to get traction would have been interesting.

Discovered some really lovely lanes though. Only slightly spoiled by a few idiot motorists being determined to get past when there wasn't space.

Somewhat less scenic were the stretch on Purley Way heading towards Mitcham, and the road through the Beddington industrial estate... Ugh!

All worthwhile though - added another 20 tiles to my max cluster.

*from Featherbed Lane up to the New Addington housing estate, if that means anything to anyone
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 21 August, 2021, 06:42:47 pm
A very successful trip down to the Dover area. Picked up two tiles on the coast that I failed to get on a recent walk, plus one I missed on my last visit down this way.   I managed to get 33 tiles today, but annoyingly missed one by a few metres.
Before  (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51392005412_6a4bf45b76_z.jpg)

After (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51392769351_98fc4688b3_z.jpg)

And the elusive tile. How annoying is when this happens
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51393017813_328f413972_h.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 22 August, 2021, 07:34:22 pm
Collecting a few tiles and roads out on the long island, Cheapabhal and Northton Road today, maraig Road off the Clisham Road yesterday along with the path out to eilean Glas on Scalpay Having bagged the Scalpay and husnis roads the previous day.

Where do people get their  tile/cluster increases from on vv? And will I see it using the phone app?

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 22 August, 2021, 08:22:16 pm
A very successful trip down to the Dover area. Picked up two tiles on the coast that I failed to get on a recent walk, plus one I missed on my last visit down this way.   I managed to get 33 tiles today, but annoyingly missed one by a few metres.

Good work! Shame about that one missed tile.

When you come back down this way to fill it in, you also need to do the descent into St Margaret's Bay...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51395701278_bdaa5b4bca.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2miEpoE)Screenshot 2021-08-22 at 20.14.49 (https://flic.kr/p/2miEpoE) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

Still need to get that one myself, tbh, along with the one a bit further along the cliffs towards Dover.

Would it be mean of me to point out that you have a false positive down on Rommey Marsh (on the Military Road between Rye and Appledore)? I only noticed it because it's one I've been trying to work out how to get myself so I thought I'd have a look and see how you managed it... I think it's possible to get it by going across the dyke further up, and then along a farm track on the other side, but the road doesn't quite go through it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 22 August, 2021, 09:13:45 pm

Was in Enschede for a birthday event. Had originally planned to get a train to Apeldoorn, and then cycle the remaining 94km and fill in all the gaps. That didn't happen, so I replanned a shorter route. Then I left my glasses on a train, and had a lot of faff to get them back (Thank you NS!!). So today I decided I'd ride the route in reverse. At least as far as Deventer.

Which I did. Just shy of 80km, on Gravel, sand, epic rain, and a headwind almost the whole way.

Added 47 new tiles. Which grew my cluster by 80 to 1894. I'm not far off my 2021 target to get to 2021 cluster by the end of 2021...

My cluster now reaches from the coast in the West of Noord Holland, all the way to one tile short of the German border. Am tempted to try and reach the Belgian border by the end of the year now...


(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E9a5ASVWQAU9oeO?format=jpg&name=large)

11270 tiles
Max square 27x27
Max Cluster: 1894

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 22 August, 2021, 09:21:28 pm
A very successful trip down to the Dover area. Picked up two tiles on the coast that I failed to get on a recent walk, plus one I missed on my last visit down this way.   I managed to get 33 tiles today, but annoyingly missed one by a few metres.

Good work! Shame about that one missed tile.

When you come back down this way to fill it in, you also need to do the descent into St Margaret's Bay...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51395701278_bdaa5b4bca.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2miEpoE)Screenshot 2021-08-22 at 20.14.49 (https://flic.kr/p/2miEpoE) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

Still need to get that one myself, tbh, along with the one a bit further along the cliffs towards Dover.

Would it be mean of me to point out that you have a false positive down on Rommey Marsh (on the Military Road between Rye and Appledore)? I only noticed it because it's one I've been trying to work out how to get myself so I thought I'd have a look and see how you managed it... I think it's possible to get it by going across the dyke further up, and then along a farm track on the other side, but the road doesn't quite go through it.
Thanks. The one on the cliff near South Foreland was nice. Bad planning on my part to miss the beach one at St Margarets though.

I will take a good look at the Appledore one. I've been along that road so many times so hadn't really looked too closely at it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 23 August, 2021, 09:19:42 am
Bad planning on my part to miss the beach one at St Margarets though.

I did wonder if it was just an oversight or you balked at the prospect of the climb back up the cliffs.

Quote
I will take a good look at the Appledore one. I've been along that road so many times so hadn't really looked too closely at it.

It's an annoying one - only just off the road, but on the wrong side of the dyke so a bit tricky to get to.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 23 August, 2021, 09:25:48 am

Would it be mean of me to point out that you have a false positive down on Rommey Marsh (on the Military Road between Rye and Appledore)? I only noticed it because it's one I've been trying to work out how to get myself so I thought I'd have a look and see how you managed it... I think it's possible to get it by going across the dyke further up, and then along a farm track on the other side, but the road doesn't quite go through it.

I will probably take the footpath to the South, which looks fairly straightforward.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51395966542_7d2e048132_c.jpg)

I have also noticed that I could have got another tile by walking to the end of Deal Pier!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 23 August, 2021, 10:04:42 am
I have also noticed that I could have got another tile by walking to the end of Deal Pier!

Yes, that one is on my radar too. That and the St Margaret's one are tiles I've visited many times in my life, just never with GPS.

Several tiles along that stretch of the coast are possibly accessible on foot at low tide, or by swimming.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 23 August, 2021, 10:59:48 am
My 200km ride yesterday included 6.5km of footpaths and 15km of Sustrans/tracks.
I've had to throw out my shoes.

I really need to get over this tiling obsession, it's doing SFA for my pace.
[73 new tiles, cluster +30, missed a crucial tile which would have joined to Hull so have to go back to the East Riding)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 23 August, 2021, 12:06:27 pm
...
22 tiles collect and max cluster increased by 61.  It should have been 23 and 66 but I missed one of my spikes so there is still a stray tile that will need collecting.  I have generally set proximity alarms on the spikes but didn't bother for yesterday's ride  ::-)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51351822491_97066c67a9_z.jpg)

...

Yesterday's clubrun was going in the right direction so I left them at the cafe and headed off to sort out the blemish.  I then retraced my steps and completed the club route at my own pace rather than having my legs ripped off  ::-)  130k for one tile doesn't seem particularly efficient but it was a good ride out.

Biggest disappointment of the day was when I cycled past a board declaring 'We are open' outside a delicatessen/patisserie with 3k to go to the tile.  I spent the next 6k deciding what I would reward myself with and decided that something with raspberries would be good.  When I got back to the shop I read the small print which said '...Tues-Sat'   :'(

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 23 August, 2021, 04:07:52 pm
My 200km ride yesterday included 6.5km of footpaths and 15km of Sustrans/tracks.
I've had to throw out my shoes.

I really need to get over this tiling obsession, it's doing SFA for my pace.
[73 new tiles, cluster +30, missed a crucial tile which would have joined to Hull so have to go back to the East Riding)

I have a 220km route planned (hoping to do it on one of my days off next week) which could be similar. Komoot reckons about 25km "off-road" in total, including -
Unpaved: 8.19 km
Compacted Gravel: 5.63 km

It'll be worth it for the tiles though - about 60, I think. But I might wait to see what the weather is like before deciding whether to ride it.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 24 August, 2021, 09:16:57 am
Wishlist for Veloviewer tiles. Is there a way to delete individual tiles, would be much easier than going into rides and cropping or splitting runs. Have a few short ferries where I never paused the garmin as I was pre Stava and some of the ferry sections have 10s of crossing.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 24 August, 2021, 09:33:38 am
Up on the Moray area catching missed tiles on the mountain bike. Missed one or two in another small cluster.(http://i.imgur.com/96QIT0k.png) (https://imgur.com/96QIT0k)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Hofnar on 24 August, 2021, 05:09:12 pm
Veloviewer doesn't seem to update my stats any way to force them?

The map is correct but my numbers on the leaderboard don't move any more. They took sometimes a couple of days in the past but have been missing cluster gains from over two weeks ago now.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 24 August, 2021, 07:09:27 pm
Veloviewer doesn't seem to update my stats any way to force them?

The map is correct but my numbers on the leaderboard don't move any more. They took sometimes a couple of days in the past but have been missing cluster gains from over two weeks ago now.
I thought there was an update tab to do this. Mine don't update automatically
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 27 August, 2021, 04:20:23 pm
Took advantage of a glorious lunch time to hop out on the paddleboard and pick up two tiles less than 1/2 mile from home.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51406598719_49c124219c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mjCfPz) (https://flic.kr/p/2mjCfPz)

Getting them only adds 5 to the cluster (1305) but means I have clustered across the Forth bridges.  Now hope to do the gap between the Forth Bridges and Kincardine. could be a way to make decent progress on my max square if I can get it to bridge both sides of the Forth.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 29 August, 2021, 08:26:46 pm
Up in Dingwall camping. Round the Loch Glass, Loch Bealach Culaidh circuit to Contin. Back into the forest for the Strathpuffer on way back into Dingwall. A good track from the gate before Loch Glass and about 35 new tiles
 on the dirt tracks
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 01 September, 2021, 10:40:39 am
Stopped on way home for a run out to Culra bothy. Its closed for overnights due to asbestos, not locked up as the weather can turn bad out in the hills. 16 tiles for the run.(https://i.imgur.com/ELq8ftk.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/QKMzcSL.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/NrahwWQ.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 04 September, 2021, 10:38:28 pm
beyond that I would either have to become aquatic or venture into Swindon, neither of which have much appeal.
Doncaster was my Swindon, but a couple of rides polished off that wretched area.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 04 September, 2021, 10:40:18 pm
But I chickened out of soloing it. And asked a friend who likes to SUP, if he fancied keeping me company.
You should have borrowed a SUP, there would have been far fewer DOMS then.
Congrats on your soggy tile though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 04 September, 2021, 10:42:00 pm
I'm working on a coast to coast link.
Hexham to Haltwhistle is brutal.
My long term goal will be a C2C cluster.
It may take a very long time to do.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 04 September, 2021, 10:45:48 pm
Did another tile-bagging commute this morning - headed south from Bromley via Biggin Hill before heading back northwards through Croydon, Mitcham and Tooting into central London.
A lot of my London tiles will be around there as my sister lives in Tooting.

Quote
Bloody hell, it's lumpy round Biggin Hill, isn't it? Total of about 500m climbing (according to Strava) in 49km,
That's bang on the average climbing for anywhere around here, Sheffield/Peak District. Sounds odd to get that much climbing darn London Way.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 04 September, 2021, 11:09:51 pm
beyond that I would either have to become aquatic or venture into Swindon, neither of which have much appeal.
Doncaster was my Swindon, but a couple of rides polished off that wretched area.

A personal goal is to find something of some kind of interest in every tile, but I really struggled in Dunstable, which seemed to be Luton without the glamour.

[The Dunstable Downs ridge was nice to ride along, but that's a couple of tiles off to the south-west]
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 04 September, 2021, 11:21:04 pm
A personal goal is to find something of some kind of interest in every tile, but I really struggled in Dunstable, which seemed to be Luton without the glamour.
Something that has developed out of tiling is a photo project - https://www.futtfuttfutt.com/-/galleries/imajez-portfolio/sub-liminal. (https://www.futtfuttfutt.com/-/galleries/imajez-portfolio/sub-liminal.) I find everywhere new interesting, just in different ways.
Doncaster was the only place I thought - 'At least I won't have to ride here again', only to discover my GPS had borked so I had to repeat the first half all over and also managed to get bitten by a dog looping back to redo the first section that didn't record.
Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 05 September, 2021, 03:36:36 pm
Quote
Bloody hell, it's lumpy round Biggin Hill, isn't it? Total of about 500m climbing (according to Strava) in 49km,
That's bang on the average climbing for anywhere around here, Sheffield/Peak District. Sounds odd to get that much climbing darn London Way.

Well, Biggin Hill is perhaps more Kent/Surrey than London. There's no great altitude there, just lots of short, sharp climbs - and the only reason my ride was so lumpy was that I was going back and forth across the gradients for the sake of the tiles. The main routes tend to follow the contours.

I have a 220km route planned (hoping to do it on one of my days off next week) which could be similar. Komoot reckons about 25km "off-road" in total, including -
Unpaved: 8.19 km
Compacted Gravel: 5.63 km

It'll be worth it for the tiles though - about 60, I think. But I might wait to see what the weather is like before deciding whether to ride it.

I did this ride on Wednesday. It was a lovely day out. Set off later than planned, and because of the terrain being quite difficult in places, it was slow going at times, so I ended up bailing out and getting the train because it was getting late and I needed to get home. But I managed to get all the tiles I'd set out to achieve, so job well done, I reckon...
Tiles 7393 > 7452
Max cluster 1354 > 1442
Max square 21 > 23

Filled in a nice chunk of tiles along the Kent/Sussex border around the Cranbrook/Tenterden area. (There's another big chunk of tiles that need filling further along the border around Tunbridge Wells, plus a big hole in West Kent, and some odd bits down near Dungeness, but I'm well on the way to getting the whole of Kent covered - question is whether I can beat trickedem to it... think I'm still some way behind him though.)

Before:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51425767467_92b774675f_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mmjv2e)
Cranbrook tiles (https://flic.kr/p/2mmjv2e) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

After:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51425767477_6a104ecb99_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mmjv2p)
Cranbrook tiles (https://flic.kr/p/2mmjv2p) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

The route involved going through Bedgebury Forest - a popular spot for mountain bikers. Not really ideal for road bikes, but the alternative would have been loading the MTB up on the car and driving down there. The main routes through the forest aren't too bad - wide, hard-pack trails like this:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51418777881_12242d14a9_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGFg8)
Bedgebury (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGFg8) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

Or not so wide but still easily navigable on 28mm slick tyres, like this:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51418777661_2a49d30d7c_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGFck)
Bedgebury (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGFck) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51418775441_67a84d741e_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGEx4)
Bedgebury (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGEx4) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

But then there were occasional obstacles like this...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51418775471_4f7f586ba1_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGExz)
Hmmm... left or right? (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGExz) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

And one or two nice bits of singletrack...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51418777571_52d3336707_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGFaM)
Bedgebury (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGFaM) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

Further along the route, there was another woodland trail that was the only way to reach a particular tile - I admit I got off and walked a few bits... but I did stick to my guns and follow the trail all the way through the woods, even though it would have been easier to only go far enough to get the tile then double back and take the road round:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51418035832_cf4fb04ab7_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mkCSFb)
Cranbrook (https://flic.kr/p/2mkCSFb) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51418775476_88ef823f67_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGExE)
Cranbrook (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGExE) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

There were also a couple of dead end farm tracks that I only went along far enough to reach the tile. Never happy about doing that, but there was no through-route option that I could see on the map.

And the final tricky bit of the day was a cluster of four tiles south of Tenterden, the middle two of which are only accessible via a bridlepath that starts next to Smallhythe Place. The first couple of hundred metres were fine, but I had to walk the rest... at least it was all dry. And I did follow it all the way through to rejoin the road at the other end...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51419034413_aa612fb9a6_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mkHZw6)
Tenterden (https://flic.kr/p/2mkHZw6) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51419033638_f8f47d472d_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mkHZhJ)
Tenterden (https://flic.kr/p/2mkHZhJ) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

These are the four tiles the path goes through:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51419035878_680ab4edc1_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mkHZXm)
Tenterden (https://flic.kr/p/2mkHZXm) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

Zooming in on the above pic, you can see the path only just clips the corner of the top tile - would have meant some traipsing across fields otherwise:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51418774761_6bac722ccc_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGEkk)
Tenterden (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGEkk) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr

Treated myself to a splendid lunch from Waitrose in Hawkhurst at about the halfway point:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51418773921_2707c2afce_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGE5R)
lunch (https://flic.kr/p/2mkGE5R) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 06 September, 2021, 10:26:59 pm
Another member has been added to the Century Max Square Club.
https://www.strava.com/clubs/279168/posts/17762605
So big congrats to William Oving.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 07 September, 2021, 12:54:17 pm
I have a 220km route planned (hoping to do it on one of my days off next week) which could be similar. Komoot reckons about 25km "off-road" in total, including -
Unpaved: 8.19 km
Compacted Gravel: 5.63 km

It'll be worth it for the tiles though - about 60, I think. But I might wait to see what the weather is like before deciding whether to ride it.

I did this ride on Wednesday... {snip}

Maybe it's because I cant get out much at the moment myself, but I do love these in-depth tiling reports, so thanks citoyen for this one.

Another member has been added to the Century Max Square Club.
https://www.strava.com/clubs/279168/posts/17762605
So big congrats to William Oving.

Refineries, canoeing, private land, military land... ticking all the boxes for "tricky tiles" with that one!

By the way, with the permission of Yorick and the interviewees we are storing the interviews at e.g.  https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/interview_willem_oving for visibility.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 07 September, 2021, 02:27:32 pm
Refineries, canoeing, private land, military land... ticking all the boxes for "tricky tiles" with that one!
There are plenty more kinds of tricky tiles.  ;D
In possibly related news, I have now finally completed the whole of the Peak District bar 4 fairly easy tiles missed by having to rejig a couple of rides on the fly. Leaving them until later on to fill in with an interesting route or two.


Quote
By the way, with the permission of Yorick and the interviewees we are storing the interviews at e.g.  https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/interview_willem_oving for visibility.
That'll be handy.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 07 September, 2021, 03:13:27 pm
Quote
Bloody hell, it's lumpy round Biggin Hill, isn't it? Total of about 500m climbing (according to Strava) in 49km,
That's bang on the average climbing for anywhere around here, Sheffield/Peak District. Sounds odd to get that much climbing darn London Way.
You need to try Devon and Cornwall. An 'average' ride is usually 750m of climbing per 50km; for tiling it's often over 1000m
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 07 September, 2021, 03:27:31 pm
Having trouble increasing my max sqaure above 19 - tricky in the SW with sea all around.
(http://quilkin.co.uk/shared/maxsquare1.png)
 I have got all the tiles in Cornwall that have road in them. There are a few tricky ones in Bodmin Moor that remain.
One in particular would let me go to 22x22, then 3 easy sqaures in Plymouth would get me much more.
(http://quilkin.co.uk/shared/maxsquare2.png)

 I've attempted to get into it 3 times, from 3 directions. From the north there is a tarck through a private woodland and I can't find the owner. From the East I have got within about 50 yards, after riding (but mostly walking) over more than 2 miles of moorland - to be confronted by an impossible barbed-wire fence (both sides of the fence are on common land, so this is extra frustrating). The easiest route in should be from the South, but the road to the ram there has plenty of 'private' signs; I have written (snaill-mail) to the farm's owners to ask permission but had no reply.
I've yet to try asking at the farms on the west side, but this will be a very steep slope.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 07 September, 2021, 03:58:15 pm
You need to try Devon and Cornwall. An 'average' ride is usually 750m of climbing per 50km; for tiling it's often over 1000m
Folk from here have commented how steep it can be in your neck of woods. But that 500m/50km I should note is the road riding average on sensible loops including lots of city. Some friends recently did 3000m+ in 100km.  See here... https://www.bandofclimbers.com/pages/sheffield-group-ride (https://www.bandofclimbers.com/pages/sheffield-group-ride) - You can get even more climbing in, but with less elegant a route.
I went out for a short MTB ride last night with a couple of mates in the local woods. Managed 400m climbing in 12km.  I seem to recall the 'easy' 40km loop of an upcoming BHF MTB loop has IIRC of 1500m climbing. A recent tiling loop of 39km was 1,013m mostly off road climbing, the single track descent down off the top was incredible though. Tiling around here has been a tad slow, unsurprisingly.  ;D Though the hills are way easier than the path free moorlands.
I plotted a 2500m in 50km route when stuck in Swansea/The Gower during lockdown 1. That was to contrast with the 100m in 50km ride I also did.  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 07 September, 2021, 04:13:56 pm
There are a few tricky ones in Bodmin Moor that remain.
One in particular would let me go to 22x22, then 3 easy sqaures in Plymouth would get me much more.
(http://quilkin.co.uk/shared/maxsquare2.png)

 I've attempted to get into it 3 times, from 3 directions.
Rather accurately according to Google maps, Newel Tor is permanently closed. 

Quote
From the north there is a tarck through a private woodland and I can't find the owner.
Is there anything physically stopping you riding the track? Because if you read about the history of land ownership in the UK and how most of it was acquired by questionable means. You tend to have little sympathy with private signs out in the countryside.

Or can you simply ride the track up and around from the Alpaca farm to the west?
You can visit them to to make enquiries or take an Alpaca for a stroll and then bag a tile whilst you are there.
https://www.alpacatrekkingcornwall.com/ (https://www.alpacatrekkingcornwall.com/)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 08 September, 2021, 10:26:01 am
Camping at Blair Atholl to catch missing tiles on roads then tracks. 87 tiles and 30558 total. (https://i.imgur.com/WcCtxC9.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/HmhRK5K.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/y8s3QGC.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/x3Urci5.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 08 September, 2021, 12:55:59 pm
I've attempted to get into it 3 times, from 3 directions. From the north there is a tarck through a private woodland and I can't find the owner. From the East I have got within about 50 yards, after riding (but mostly walking) over more than 2 miles of moorland - to be confronted by an impossible barbed-wire fence (both sides of the fence are on common land, so this is extra frustrating). The easiest route in should be from the South, but the road to the ram there has plenty of 'private' signs; I have written (snaill-mail) to the farm's owners to ask permission but had no reply.
I've yet to try asking at the farms on the west side, but this will be a very steep slope.


I've never asked for permission.

(https://www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-it-is-often-easier-to-ask-for-forgiveness-than-to-ask-for-permission-grace-hopper-13-62-23.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 08 September, 2021, 03:31:43 pm


I'm exploring Finland for the next couple of weeks. It's doing nothing for cluster or square. But doing great on the total tile count. Even better, the number of tile hunters here is low. So a lot of tiles have been bagged by only 1 or 2 people. This should make my ride every tile rare tile score do interesting things...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 08 September, 2021, 03:40:04 pm
Having read the interview who else is now mapping out their name in tiles?? :facepalm:

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210908/9cda82a591be58102a8d448edfb35157.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 09 September, 2021, 10:28:45 am
Is the party over for Veloviewer, wonder if its too popular and overloading the system. Had a look to see if i missed any tiles, but Veloviewer never replicated the Strava track in places.(https://i.imgur.com/duAr8Ht.png)(https://i.imgur.com/VNP5fYx.png)(https://i.imgur.com/LqlDtpT.png)(https://i.imgur.com/OaFAfVq.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 09 September, 2021, 10:36:27 am
Contact Ben at Veloviewer if there are any glitches. He's usually very quick at sorting any problems out, if they are his end.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Hofnar on 09 September, 2021, 10:41:47 am
Contact Ben at Veloviewer if there are any glitches. He's usually very quick at sorting any problems out, if they are his end.


No need IMO issue seems data points spacing. You need to after the update/upload you already did open the individual data ride. Opening the ride uploads the ride again with loads more detail, this can be necessary in the cases where you only just visited a tile and straight lining as clear on both your pictures makes you pass next to it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 09 September, 2021, 11:10:13 am
Thanks , fixed now found out that you need to double click ride in Activities. Is this a case of having to check up for lost /missing tiles due to Veloviewer straight lining out all the little bends. Thats ok when you are cycling thro tiles but not much use if trying to catch tiles that are only visited buy cycling in just enough to trigger a new veloviewer tile on the garmin or phone.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 09 September, 2021, 07:52:02 pm
Thanks , fixed now found out that you need to double click ride in Activities. Is this a case of having to check up for lost /missing tiles due to Veloviewer straight lining out all the little bends. Thats ok when you are cycling thro tiles but not much use if trying to catch tiles that are only visited buy cycling in just enough to trigger a new veloviewer tile on the garmin or phone.
It’s not really VeloViewer, it’s Strava. Everyone using the Strava API is allowed to use it a certain number of times per hour and per day. If you ask for “all the user’s rides in this time range” or “the details of this one ride” both of those count as one query - even though you might get 30 rides from the first form. So an API user like VeloViewer needs to use the first form as much as possible, but unfortunately this only gives the “summary” map - ie Strava is sending VeloViewer the “straightened lines”. Then the user notices some tiles are missing and double-clicks the ride - VV then uses the other form of the API - asking Strava about that one ride only - this is costly in terms of using up its API allowance, but worth it because the user really is interested in the detailed map that comes with it. The tiles now get calculated accurately

Hope that helps!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 10 September, 2021, 08:01:19 pm
Last week I took the inflatable kayak to the Noordoostpolder on two days to bag all the water tiles that might some day limit my square:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/rss3ilkly4h9838/veloviewer-NO-polder.png?raw=1)
The ones on the right were not strictly necessary, you could grab those on land as well, but that would involve some hike-a-bike, cycling over lumpy grassland and avoiding a grumpy farmer ;D Besides, it's just lovely kayaking in the Weerribben (North-East patch), small canals in a peat-bog area:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/cv7dr7vil478cyo/IMG_1223-weerribben.jpg?raw=1)

Then this week it was two long (26km each) trips in the Dollard sea:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/8giyvwf1a7sjckv/veloviewer-dollard.png?raw=1)
The first one (east part) was rather dicey, even though weather conditions were perfect: nice temperature and no wind at all. It turned the sea in a mirror:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/y4c2dx8tb7pspfd/IMG_1249-dollard.jpg?raw=1)
What makes the Dollard somewhat problematic is the fact that it isn't really sea, it's land that floods on the high tide. Meaning that low tide most of it falls dry. And if you fall dry, you'll be surrounded by (up to) kilometers of 10-40cm deep very soft, very slimy clay. Forget about getting out of your boat and walking, it's impossible, even for a few meters! So you'll be stuck waiting for the high tide and by that time it will be dark...
There is however a natural gully which meanders from the locks at Nieuwe Statenzijl along the South coast then up North that remains deep enough for a kayak. You'll be peddling surrounded by mud:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/33mayf0vpvr2cnp/IMG_1253-dollard.jpg?raw=1)

And you're be peddling like mad but making slow progress regardless. The water looks very calm in the gully, but when looking at the buoys you could see there is a significant current you have to peddle against.

The second trip was by comparison a walk in the park. I did start with high tide and followed the receding tide all the way to Delfzijl. Combined speed (current, paddling and even a little tailwind) got up to 12 kph!

Overall not an enormous amount of new tiles, but it was very satisfying to bag them. And I'll wager that it will be a while before another person comes along to get these tiles in the Dollard and IJselmeer  :D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 10 September, 2021, 08:05:46 pm
I've never asked for permission.

even when there's three separate signs saying 'private keep out' along the lane?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 10 September, 2021, 08:26:19 pm
I've never asked for permission.

even when there's three separate signs saying 'private keep out' along the lane?
What's the worst that can happen? They ask you to leave, you're not moving in. The only time I've ever been caught out was here :
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210910/226e657c66a6cd7c865c440af5d338ac.jpg)

The owners watched me walk across the field towards their house and then told me I couldn't follow the track through their property back to the road, so I walked back the way I'd come. :shrug:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 11 September, 2021, 03:16:07 pm
What's the worst that can happen? They ask you to leave, you're not moving in.

Take your point, but the worst that could happen is quite bad... landowners can be very precious about their fields in the same way that motorists can be about their cars.

I’ve had two incidents - once in the South Downs a shooting party saw me riding along a public footpath (not a bridleway) over private land. They decided to shoot a shotgun above my head. Was extremely loud and quite scary. By hand movements they made clear my bike was not welcome.

The second time a lady set their dog chasing after me along a private driveway. The dog was quite aggressive and nipped at my heel. In the moment I decided to keep pedalling and the dog came close to getting caught in my wheel before it relented.

Either incident could’ve turned out worse!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 11 September, 2021, 05:25:59 pm
Pretty sure any lawbreaking being done there in both cases was not by the cyclist.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 11 September, 2021, 06:02:30 pm
(UK) You know there's absolutely nothing in law that states you can't ride a bike along a footpath. Or indeed a horse. It's just a classification, to be used as guidance, that predates bicycles anyway.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 11 September, 2021, 08:52:46 pm
No to mention many supposed footpaths historically were roads/bridleways etc.
Lots of lazy reclassification and deliberate mistakes were made such as random ends to bridleways at boundaries.
So it's nice to see Cycling UK are being proactive with regard to this.
Some articles here...
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c129c4f9fb644a94b851949face73249 (https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c129c4f9fb644a94b851949face73249)
and here...
https://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/what-are-lost-ways-west-kernow-way (https://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/what-are-lost-ways-west-kernow-way)

How to save trails...
https://www.cyclinguk.org/2026 (https://www.cyclinguk.org/2026)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 12 September, 2021, 09:10:07 pm
Down in Ayrshire , tracks and back roads between Dalrymple Crosshill and Dalmellington picking up 32 stray tiles.(https://i.imgur.com/KkiCBlZ.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 14 September, 2021, 11:57:37 am
Quote
Bloody hell, it's lumpy round Biggin Hill, isn't it? Total of about 500m climbing (according to Strava) in 49km,
That's bang on the average climbing for anywhere around here, Sheffield/Peak District. Sounds odd to get that much climbing darn London Way.
No idea why I stated that figure and even less why I then repeated it in the following conversation.
I think I needed rebooting because climbing around here is actually twice that with 500m per 25km being the average [on road]. Duh!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 14 September, 2021, 06:08:26 pm
Loved this https://www.strava.com/activities/3145008494 (https://www.strava.com/activities/3145008494) on RideEveryTile Strava Club.  Makes my sea dabblings look pathetic.  Huge respect
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 14 September, 2021, 07:39:36 pm
Had my own near miss on a tile at the weekend - planned to go around Loch Tay and there was one tile that needs to be accessed off road. I went down a track signed to a farm shop and I went slightly past it but came to a group of people who looked like they were in their front garden.  'fraid to say I bottled it - should have gone down and asked about the farm shop, but without checking my app, I thought I had further to go than I actually did, so turned round...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51476552755_0a0e4cdcc9.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mqNMHD)near miss (https://flic.kr/p/2mqNMHD)

A lovely weekend's riding added 69 new tiles, no addition to cluster or likely to be one for some time, without about 25-30 tiles off roading and similar off tracking.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 15 September, 2021, 12:42:28 pm
Loved this https://www.strava.com/activities/3145008494 (https://www.strava.com/activities/3145008494) on RideEveryTile Strava Club.  Makes my sea dabblings look pathetic.  Huge respect

There's some great photos... The big crack in the ice looked a bit eeeeeck, though....
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 17 September, 2021, 08:08:28 pm
Bothy trip Loch and Glen Etive , Glen Coe and back down to North Connel. 36 new tiles  visiting bothies.  (https://i.imgur.com/Wu2CkRB.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/NYgKlWG.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/7cfvRmE.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/m38ujpW.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/A2Aqeg7.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/ikr0Bx6.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 17 September, 2021, 10:25:03 pm
Bothy trip Loch and Glen Etive , Glen Coe and back down to North Connel. 36 new tiles  visiting bothies. 
It's rather nice around there. A friend lived at Aird's bay on Loch Etive some years back so I rode up around the loch on that side during a visit. Long before GPS, so no tiles bagged. I did come face to face with a VERY large stag though. The week before I'd read about an American MTVer being killed by a deer, so was quite glad when he jumped over the enormous fence and off away from path. No idea why this huge metal fence was there, seemed rather incongruous.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 19 September, 2021, 10:06:12 am
  Yes its a good area for biking, the glen has a bucket list tag now due to the Bond film >:(A video of the route from north to south down glen and loch with the annoying adverts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDGSFPAP2Ug
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 19 September, 2021, 12:57:50 pm
Was that where Skyfall was filmed then?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 19 September, 2021, 03:29:36 pm
Was that where Skyfall was filmed then?

It was indeed.

I've only cycled on the road round there, but the offroad riding looks splendid.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 19 September, 2021, 06:50:49 pm
Just discovered I have 5039 tiles thanks to Statshunter telling me I have a badge.
And my cluster is 43 off off 4000.
Sounds more impressive than my Max Square increasing by just one this year.  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 20 September, 2021, 11:37:28 am
4646 tiles now after LEJOG.

Only passed the road to Loch Etive while cycling the A82. Still gorgeous!
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/dff1c91b-6f68-4365-b659-e9ef90b8ff0e-jpeg.608581/)
The descent through Glencoe, however... complete whiteout  :'(
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/8c07b5ff-021a-4390-9586-0551754fab89-jpeg.608580/)
While I wasn't at all focused on tiles, I did find a little bit of time...
(https://thumbsnap.com/i/RcwnES2c.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 20 September, 2021, 06:31:23 pm
My max square is currently constrained by no - access areas.

I have a cunning plan..

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210812/df87d903d25788a39d57fe09428e40b8.jpg)

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210812/77860ca80552062f7758342eca468bdd.jpg)

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210812/533b354efb2425718768a1184065633d.jpg)
Done. And, to be honest, a lovely walk.
Now constrained merely by hills.
3 overlapping 27x27.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210920/7526372c092a65a96e5395e7ca996e3a.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 21 September, 2021, 03:07:38 pm
I've ridden Catterick Garrison a few times. We used used to run MTB races there, long before GPS devices. But I think that's a different part of the Army land to which you just walked.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 21 September, 2021, 03:12:57 pm
Other side of the Swale.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 21 September, 2021, 04:50:50 pm
I did some tiling not in the Peak District last week and with some urban riding for a change. With a gentle bit of moorland road with nice views  to warm me up.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51499895878_bef634e680_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msSqPh)

We're going to need a bigger bin!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51498875597_a159bcf61c_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msMcwe)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51498875297_50a7c5752c_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msMcr4)


So that'll be easier than of late I thought. Nope. And more nope.
I decided on spur of moment to carry on along an off road spur as it led to a couple of moorland tiles I had to skip on a previous ride due to fading light. Well it's only a few more KM.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51499705671_11f0d58fbb_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msRsgR)

An extra 13.6km, which as I had suspected when looking at maps at home, may be more sensibly ridden on an MTB. In fact I noticed MTB tyre tracks to the side, avoiding the rock garden I rode on my 33mm tyre shod CX.
[I do like a bit of technical riding]


(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51500599395_121dde5bab_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msW2WT)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51500385349_c846460c0e_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msUWjr)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51498875497_440a46469f_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msMcuv)

I also cut a corner on a road section which again went off piste. Which although lovely, made previous off excursion seem like tarmac due to being 25% double track up then 45% down, 25cm wide, overgrown and with a quarry to fall into should you mess up.
Though as is quite frequent of late, I see the Flatlands of Manchester in the distance.
 
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51499668886_cec4f56331_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msRgkC)

I had a brief respite from lumpy terrain as I looped through some flat urban areas and even along a canal and along a euphemistically named road.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51498874967_4609e5540d_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msMckn)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51499668806_cd621d012a_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msRgjf)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51499668726_6be252dd5a_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msRghS)


Today's loop started next to the M62 and crossed over and under it several times on way around the region, but then more Pennine Bridleway [which can be incredibly hard going in places, it was 25%+ in pic below] replaced the easy urban riding and I was losing light due to the very slow average speed because there was a LOT more off road than originally planned. So when I got to the top of route if was rather dingy indeed, so I decided to cut off last section as riding moorland in dark was not wise. Ironically caused by my riding a previous section I avoided for same reason.
But at least time time I had brought a front light with me. Not my heavy proper off road lights though, so a lot of the time I rode without light because my night vision was better than the commuter light in twilight and I didn't trust the battery to last. Made for an interesting last hour or so.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51500384709_248d23b03a_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msUW8p)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51499668426_5b82c13879_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msRgcG)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51500598440_9a5590162d_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msW2Eq)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51499894938_09d9d99883_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msSqx5)

The Motorway here and the path along side it are actually the dam wall for Scammonden reservoir.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51500384514_a4639e8ae1_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msUW53)
But car is only a KM or so to go from here. Woohoo!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 21 September, 2021, 10:05:02 pm
A trip to France has really bounced up my overall tileage, but done pretty much fuck all for my cluster or square (still at 49x49). I did make sure to take different routes back where possible in the UK, mind, to open up the possibility of linking it all down south, and I rode a few genuinely lovely tracks between Donnie and Selby to push my cluster up to 6623, and my tileage went from 21300 to 23124.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 21 September, 2021, 10:19:41 pm
Gutted not to get an extra 2000 tiles.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peter on 22 September, 2021, 12:54:30 am
@ imajez

Some lovely pictures, there - and a very hard ride.  After you'd done the Rakewood Viaduct section and dropped towards Milnrow, you passed my house at the bottom of the steep hill, just before the left turn into the village.  When you did it, the houses were on the left (they still are) but surrounded by scaffolding, though I dare say you were concentrating on braking!  There's nothing wrong with the name Ladyhouse Lane!  It's a memory of a 17th century farm that was razed for the motorway slip-road in the 70s.  I know the canal sculpture well (I frequently ride past it and I think the bridge you show is the one on Manchester Road with the 1 in 3 cobbled descent with right angled bend taking you under the main road, isn't it?  The lock house is on the right at the same spot.  Lovely pictures of the Rakewood viaduct, too.  Is the trig point on White Hill on the Pennine Way?  There are worse ways to collect tiles! 

By the way, the hairdressers in Milnrow is called ...... Images!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 22 September, 2021, 11:44:16 am
I rode route clockwise https://www.strava.com/activities/5931396943  (https://www.strava.com/activities/5931396943)  - so after going under the Rakewood Viaduct I then went North and seriously uphill to Windy Hill Transmitter. So I guess I would have cycled up past yours.

I came across sculptures, including a cyclist by the same artist as one on canal near Dewsbury whilst tiling around the River Calder North of Huddersfield.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51502492591_797df33ffe_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mt6JJc)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51503211069_95931a2946_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mtaqiK)

The Trig point was on the spur heading towards Greenfield. It's on Standedge before you get to Standedge [road] Cutting.
Re the bridge [with bus]...I rode under it and stayed on canal, so it was very flat, def no 1 in 3 incline that I saw there.  ;D This is the location on Google Maps best viewed in Chrome for full 3D rendering...
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Manchester+Rd,+Rochdale/@53.5708639,-2.174953,45a,35y,294.19h,57.35t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x487bbbd777201993:0x1479b75f4273f2a0!8m2!3d53.6000948!4d-2.1788559 (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Manchester+Rd,+Rochdale/@53.5708639,-2.174953,45a,35y,294.19h,57.35t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x487bbbd777201993:0x1479b75f4273f2a0!8m2!3d53.6000948!4d-2.1788559)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peter on 22 September, 2021, 09:15:15 pm
you've really got me puzzled about that cobbled incline - mind you, I've only done it a few dozen times!  Time for another go....... .

That will have been hard up to Windy Hill up the "bridle path".  It used to be like the Somme with the 4x4 destruction.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 22 September, 2021, 09:24:59 pm
If Windy Hill had been at start of ride, I'd have ridden it all. But being at the end of a battering and tiring ride meant I was low on energy. This combined with road gearing meant annoyingly had to push up a couple of bits I'd normally try and ride.
There were 4 lads on mini motorbikes riding the opposite way. Despite the no motor vehicles warning signs. And some parts were very trashed by vehicles. It was pretty dry though. Would not like to ride that in the soggy months.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peter on 22 September, 2021, 10:02:15 pm
I don't even walk up there in the soggy months!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 22 September, 2021, 10:08:16 pm
Don't blame you. I try and avoid moors unless it's dry.
It's no fun, can be dangerous [I got swallowed by a quicksand bog once and that was in dry] and you can cause a lot of damage.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 26 September, 2021, 12:04:01 pm
Yesterday I finally managed the last tiles of the Leopoldsburg military training ground. It involved dragging my bike for over an hour through soft sand churned up by tracked vehicles.
But no I've removed the nasty tiles blocking my north-westward expension of my cluster. To the north east there's still the small matter of the former RAF Brüggen but that will change when they redevelop the area.
I jumped from a 41x41 to a 47x47square yesterday.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 04 October, 2021, 11:32:14 am
Thanks , fixed now found out that you need to double click ride in Activities. Is this a case of having to check up for lost /missing tiles due to Veloviewer straight lining out all the little bends. Thats ok when you are cycling thro tiles but not much use if trying to catch tiles that are only visited buy cycling in just enough to trigger a new veloviewer tile on the garmin or phone.
It’s not really VeloViewer, it’s Strava. Everyone using the Strava API is allowed to use it a certain number of times per hour and per day. If you ask for “all the user’s rides in this time range” or “the details of this one ride” both of those count as one query - even though you might get 30 rides from the first form. So an API user like VeloViewer needs to use the first form as much as possible, but unfortunately this only gives the “summary” map - ie Strava is sending VeloViewer the “straightened lines”. Then the user notices some tiles are missing and double-clicks the ride - VV then uses the other form of the API - asking Strava about that one ride only - this is costly in terms of using up its API allowance, but worth it because the user really is interested in the detailed map that comes with it. The tiles now get calculated accurately

Hope that helps!

Works the other way too, with a recent injury confining me to the sofa I went back through all my old rides on Veloviewer, filtered to over 30 miles. This meant a full re-query of all rides in more detail (sorry Ben for API overload) which absolutely decimated my Max square.  :facepalm:

I had about a dozen solo tiles where the straight lines had just clipped the corners; some very local, others not so.  I had previuosly done this regularly for several years on all rides since becoming interested in tiling, but hadn't realised how much the older rides had an effect. Oh well gives me another target to go for picking off these new holes in my square.

I'm guessing some of those with big squares would see the same if they haven't religiously checked all rides. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 04 October, 2021, 11:50:07 am
absolutely decimated my Max square.  :facepalm:

Good excuse to get back out on the bike - as soon as you're fit enough.

I've not done any cycling aside from the commute for ages. Feeling a distinct lack of mojo right now, but I've got some holes in my max cluster that are nagging away at me so I really should make an effort to do something about that. I don't even have the excuse of being injured, just feckless.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 04 October, 2021, 11:56:05 am
I had about a dozen solo tiles where the straight lines had just clipped the corners; some very local, others not so.  I had previuosly done this regularly for several years on all rides since becoming interested in tiling, but hadn't realised how much the older rides had an effect. Oh well gives me another target to go for picking off these new holes in my square.

I'm guessing some of those with big squares would see the same if they haven't religiously checked all rides.
Maybe not. 2-3 years back Ben rejigged the accuracy of the tiling setup and 'squarepocalypse' was the result. Previously there was a teeny tiny bit of fudge, so being very close to a tile got counted. Pretty much everyone's square was affected, so lots of 'revisiting' tiles was done. This made folk make doubly sure they got into a tile.
I started using Statshunter recently and my max square in that was markedly smaller. Which i thought odd and on checking it was because of a missing tile fairly close to home. Now I had gone through tile [only just on corner], I checked. But had done so going downhill on road at high speed and the gps points on route were not recorded *in* the tile. Statshunter doesn't count tile unless a GPS timestamp is in tile even if route definitely goes through it. So I went out and rode that way again and through said tile on another road to make sure.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 04 October, 2021, 07:44:31 pm
Last week I took the inflatable kayak to the Noordoostpolder on two days to bag all the water tiles that might some day limit my square:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/rss3ilkly4h9838/veloviewer-NO-polder.png?raw=1)
The ones on the right were not strictly necessary, you could grab those on land as well, but that would involve some hike-a-bike, cycling over lumpy grassland and avoiding a grumpy farmer ;D Besides, it's just lovely kayaking in the Weerribben (North-East patch), small canals in a peat-bog area:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/cv7dr7vil478cyo/IMG_1223-weerribben.jpg?raw=1)

Then this week it was two long (26km each) trips in the Dollard sea:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/8giyvwf1a7sjckv/veloviewer-dollard.png?raw=1)
The first one (east part) was rather dicey, even though weather conditions were perfect: nice temperature and no wind at all. It turned the sea in a mirror:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/y4c2dx8tb7pspfd/IMG_1249-dollard.jpg?raw=1)
What makes the Dollard somewhat problematic is the fact that it isn't really sea, it's land that floods on the high tide. Meaning that low tide most of it falls dry. And if you fall dry, you'll be surrounded by (up to) kilometers of 10-40cm deep very soft, very slimy clay. Forget about getting out of your boat and walking, it's impossible, even for a few meters! So you'll be stuck waiting for the high tide and by that time it will be dark...
There is however a natural gully which meanders from the locks at Nieuwe Statenzijl along the South coast then up North that remains deep enough for a kayak. You'll be peddling surrounded by mud:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/33mayf0vpvr2cnp/IMG_1253-dollard.jpg?raw=1)

And you're be peddling like mad but making slow progress regardless. The water looks very calm in the gully, but when looking at the buoys you could see there is a significant current you have to peddle against.

The second trip was by comparison a walk in the park. I did start with high tide and followed the receding tide all the way to Delfzijl. Combined speed (current, paddling and even a little tailwind) got up to 12 kph!

Overall not an enormous amount of new tiles, but it was very satisfying to bag them. And I'll wager that it will be a while before another person comes along to get these tiles in the Dollard and IJselmeer  :D
Very precise and concise paddling, chapeau


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 10 October, 2021, 10:01:21 am
Veloviewer explorer, now this has a few problems? How on earth can it be an explorer app if Veloviewer has a heat map button, takes all the excitement out of the ride as you can look at the app on the phone . Met someone who said I just copy a ride off Strava and follow the garmin😳. Now if veloviewer dropped the heatmap getting lost just means you are exploring. EXPLORER for me is a line of tiles, cluster is missing out all the crap and Max square is wasting time cycling through all the crap that no-one bothered about a few years ago😂
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 10 October, 2021, 11:57:26 am
Last week I took the inflatable kayak to the Noordoostpolder on two days to bag all the water tiles that might some day limit my square:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/rss3ilkly4h9838/veloviewer-NO-polder.png?raw=1)
The ones on the right were not strictly necessary, you could grab those on land as well, but that would involve some hike-a-bike, cycling over lumpy grassland and avoiding a grumpy farmer ;D Besides, it's just lovely kayaking in the Weerribben (North-East patch), small canals in a peat-bog area:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/cv7dr7vil478cyo/IMG_1223-weerribben.jpg?raw=1)

Then this week it was two long (26km each) trips in the Dollard sea:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/8giyvwf1a7sjckv/veloviewer-dollard.png?raw=1)
The first one (east part) was rather dicey, even though weather conditions were perfect: nice temperature and no wind at all. It turned the sea in a mirror:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/y4c2dx8tb7pspfd/IMG_1249-dollard.jpg?raw=1)
What makes the Dollard somewhat problematic is the fact that it isn't really sea, it's land that floods on the high tide. Meaning that low tide most of it falls dry. And if you fall dry, you'll be surrounded by (up to) kilometers of 10-40cm deep very soft, very slimy clay. Forget about getting out of your boat and walking, it's impossible, even for a few meters! So you'll be stuck waiting for the high tide and by that time it will be dark...
There is however a natural gully which meanders from the locks at Nieuwe Statenzijl along the South coast then up North that remains deep enough for a kayak. You'll be peddling surrounded by mud:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/33mayf0vpvr2cnp/IMG_1253-dollard.jpg?raw=1)


Impressive. What boat are you using?

At some point I'm going to need to do something with a boat in the area of De Biesbosch national park. As long as the Wolderwijd near ZeeWolde. Tho the later I may try the swim thing with my friend on the SUP for safety like I did with the Gooimeer.

If I ever successfully lose enough weight that I fit, in it, I want to get an Oru Kayak, that may open up a few more possibilities.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 10 October, 2021, 05:17:19 pm
I have a MRS Nomad S1 light (open version without spraydeck). Word of caution: you'll need narrow hips to fit comfortably when it is pumped up hard.

The Oru Beach LT looks very interesting; packsize and weight notably more than the Nomad, but also faster in the water (narrower, longer water length).

Wolderwijd and Veluwerandmeer I ticked off a few weeks ago. Train to Harderwijk, then cycling to the beaches where I would start peddling. Had the Nomad on the front rack and everything else (peddles, PFD, pump, food in a backpack.

The Biesbosch is also on my list, but mostly because I think it will be a great area for kayaking; it's not likely that it will be part of my square (then again, I do hate holes in the cluster, so that will be an incentive too ;))
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 11 October, 2021, 08:21:16 pm
74 new tiles on Saturdays Moulin Muirs 200
Total now 10712
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 14 October, 2021, 04:20:49 pm
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211014/fff2d628295f1f63891b24b5a202623d.jpg)
Has anyone managed to acquire the tiles to the West of Portsmouth, seemingly requiring Military access?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 14 October, 2021, 04:56:20 pm
Has anyone managed to acquire the tiles to the West of Portsmouth, seemingly requiring Military access?

Of those two "difficult" squares, the northern one is seemingly do-able by staying on the shoreline to the north of the Tipner shooting range. The southern one is the headquarters of the Royal Navy. I believe both people who have it on RideEveryTile had special military access. Maybe there is public access to Whale Island sometimes though...

Ref: https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8141x5497
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 14 October, 2021, 10:10:20 pm
Has anyone managed to acquire the tiles to the West of Portsmouth, seemingly requiring Military access?

Of those two "difficult" squares, the northern one is seemingly do-able by staying on the shoreline to the north of the Tipner shooting range. The southern one is the headquarters of the Royal Navy. I believe both people who have it on RideEveryTile had special military access. Maybe there is public access to Whale Island sometimes though...

Ref: https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8141x5497
I take it I can’t paddle my canoe around the perimeter of the southern one then, ha
Looks to be a major Ferry port also?
So there are genuinely only two people to ever accomplish the two “difficult” squares?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 15 October, 2021, 08:39:34 am
Has anyone managed to acquire the tiles to the West of Portsmouth, seemingly requiring Military access?

Of those two "difficult" squares, the northern one is seemingly do-able by staying on the shoreline to the north of the Tipner shooting range. The southern one is the headquarters of the Royal Navy. I believe both people who have it on RideEveryTile had special military access. Maybe there is public access to Whale Island sometimes though...

Ref: https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8141x5497
I take it I can’t paddle my canoe around the perimeter of the southern one then, ha
Looks to be a major Ferry port also?
So there are genuinely only two people to ever accomplish the two “difficult” squares?
I could always pedal on to a Ferry taking me somewhere, ha
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 15 October, 2021, 08:45:01 am
Has anyone managed to acquire the tiles to the West of Portsmouth, seemingly requiring Military access?

Of those two "difficult" squares, the northern one is seemingly do-able by staying on the shoreline to the north of the Tipner shooting range. The southern one is the headquarters of the Royal Navy. I believe both people who have it on RideEveryTile had special military access. Maybe there is public access to Whale Island sometimes though...

Ref: https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8141x5497
I take it I can’t paddle my canoe around the perimeter of the southern one then, ha
Looks to be a major Ferry port also?
So there are genuinely only two people to ever accomplish the two “difficult” squares?
From looking at this I think it should be possible canoeing. You're not allowed to cross the ferry channel, you have to exit/enter through the small boat channel, but it seems to cross that tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 15 October, 2021, 09:31:12 am
Has anyone managed to acquire the tiles to the West of Portsmouth, seemingly requiring Military access?

Of those two "difficult" squares, the northern one is seemingly do-able by staying on the shoreline to the north of the Tipner shooting range. The southern one is the headquarters of the Royal Navy. I believe both people who have it on RideEveryTile had special military access. Maybe there is public access to Whale Island sometimes though...

Ref: https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8141x5497
I take it I can’t paddle my canoe around the perimeter of the southern one then, ha
Looks to be a major Ferry port also?
So there are genuinely only two people to ever accomplish the two “difficult” squares?
From looking at this I think it should be possible canoeing. You're not allowed to cross the ferry channel, you have to exit/enter through the small boat channel, but it seems to cross that tile.

Interesting - this company https://www.stokedwatersports.co.uk/event/portsmouth-harbour-kayak/ seems to offer a guided trip from Trafalgar Wharf in Portchester down to Gosport. Not guaranteed to hit the difficult tile, but it might do.

The exclusion zone around the Naval Base seems to be 50m according to https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/qhm/portsmouth/documents/19_0117-qhm_leaflet_a4_single_pages.pdf?la=en-gb&rev=78ee1c6d057846d48c642d6555157eb3&hash=CC026EF88E9314F4FD70AC95D59A296C . This would seem to leave scope for a kayaking option.

Would be great to hear about your adventures if you pull this off.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 15 October, 2021, 10:43:40 am
Has anyone managed to acquire the tiles to the West of Portsmouth, seemingly requiring Military access?

Of those two "difficult" squares, the northern one is seemingly do-able by staying on the shoreline to the north of the Tipner shooting range. The southern one is the headquarters of the Royal Navy. I believe both people who have it on RideEveryTile had special military access. Maybe there is public access to Whale Island sometimes though...

Ref: https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8141x5497
I take it I can’t paddle my canoe around the perimeter of the southern one then, ha
Looks to be a major Ferry port also?
So there are genuinely only two people to ever accomplish the two “difficult” squares?
From looking at this I think it should be possible canoeing. You're not allowed to cross the ferry channel, you have to exit/enter through the small boat channel, but it seems to cross that tile.

Interesting - this company https://www.stokedwatersports.co.uk/event/portsmouth-harbour-kayak/ seems to offer a guided trip from Trafalgar Wharf in Portchester down to Gosport. Not guaranteed to hit the difficult tile, but it might do.

The exclusion zone around the Naval Base seems to be 50m according to https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/qhm/portsmouth/documents/19_0117-qhm_leaflet_a4_single_pages.pdf?la=en-gb&rev=78ee1c6d057846d48c642d6555157eb3&hash=CC026EF88E9314F4FD70AC95D59A296C . This would seem to leave scope for a kayaking option.

Would be great to hear about your adventures if you pull this off.
Portsmouth is currently slightly outside my catchment area. My biggest watery focus at the moment would be to bridge to the Isle of Wight. You can get Hurst Castle fairly easily, and thus get a mainland cluster touching an IOW cluster, as shown in blue. A quick swim from Norton Beach (about 200m out) and you nab the shaded green tile, adding the two green dotted tiles to your cluster, and thus making one supercluster.
(https://i.ibb.co/sWWNgc9/Capture.png) (https://ibb.co/NTTJFf2)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 15 October, 2021, 11:31:09 am
Has anyone managed to acquire the tiles to the West of Portsmouth, seemingly requiring Military access?

Of those two "difficult" squares, the northern one is seemingly do-able by staying on the shoreline to the north of the Tipner shooting range. The southern one is the headquarters of the Royal Navy. I believe both people who have it on RideEveryTile had special military access. Maybe there is public access to Whale Island sometimes though...

Ref: https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8141x5497
I take it I can’t paddle my canoe around the perimeter of the southern one then, ha
Looks to be a major Ferry port also?
So there are genuinely only two people to ever accomplish the two “difficult” squares?
From looking at this I think it should be possible canoeing. You're not allowed to cross the ferry channel, you have to exit/enter through the small boat channel, but it seems to cross that tile.

Interesting - this company https://www.stokedwatersports.co.uk/event/portsmouth-harbour-kayak/ seems to offer a guided trip from Trafalgar Wharf in Portchester down to Gosport. Not guaranteed to hit the difficult tile, but it might do.

The exclusion zone around the Naval Base seems to be 50m according to https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/qhm/portsmouth/documents/19_0117-qhm_leaflet_a4_single_pages.pdf?la=en-gb&rev=78ee1c6d057846d48c642d6555157eb3&hash=CC026EF88E9314F4FD70AC95D59A296C . This would seem to leave scope for a kayaking option.

Would be great to hear about your adventures if you pull this off.
Thanks for the well wishes, and for the links! Even rideeverytile I hadn’t realised was so informative
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 17 October, 2021, 11:57:43 pm
Up Perth way for a few days catching tiles, 172 new tiles on tracks ,roman roads and over to Dunkelk via little Glenshee.  (http://i.imgur.com/QlcHJmU.jpg) (https://imgur.com/QlcHJmU)(http://i.imgur.com/td1W5QG.jpg) (https://imgur.com/td1W5QG)(http://i.imgur.com/9vKBsHi.jpg) (https://imgur.com/9vKBsHi)






Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 18 October, 2021, 10:52:49 am

Mildly amused to discover I have passed the 12000 tile mark yesterday.

At 12002, cluster is 1930.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Joe.B on 18 October, 2021, 09:44:54 pm
Has anyone managed to acquire the tiles to the West of Portsmouth, seemingly requiring Military access?

Of those two "difficult" squares, the northern one is seemingly do-able by staying on the shoreline to the north of the Tipner shooting range. The southern one is the headquarters of the Royal Navy. I believe both people who have it on RideEveryTile had special military access. Maybe there is public access to Whale Island sometimes though...

Ref: https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8141x5497

Dam it, just realised that I should have those difficult squares in Portsmouth as I've had evening runs through them on many occations when still in the RN. I haven't got them though because at the time I was using Run Keeper rather than Strava :facepalm:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 18 October, 2021, 09:48:29 pm
Dam it, just realised that I should have those difficult squares in Portsmouth as I've had evening runs through them on many occations when still in the RN. I haven't got them though because at the time I was using Run Keeper rather than Strava :facepalm:

Given the trickiness of that tile, maybe take a look at this support article....!

https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216917737-Moving-your-activity-history-from-Runkeeper-to-Strava
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 20 October, 2021, 10:30:51 pm
Is rideeverytile correct in stating that no one has ever bagged this tile?: https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8149x5499

I ran around the public footpath of Thorney Island at low tide today and I reckon it’s possible with a small diversion just west of the runway approach lights and towards the X on my Strava image here..as long as it’s not quick sand of course, ha.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211020/985eaf9c7a0f191b1aabceac78416e1a.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211020/63596d5c40dbccb3cf77ee2bc35f49fd.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211020/fa071a6d07320f75da459404dc1e576e.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 20 October, 2021, 10:58:26 pm
Is rideeverytile correct in stating that no one has ever bagged this tile?: https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8149x5499

I ran around the public footpath of Thorney Island at low tide today and I reckon it’s possible with a small diversion just west of the runway approach lights and towards the X on my Strava image here..as long as it’s not quick sand of course, ha.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211020/985eaf9c7a0f191b1aabceac78416e1a.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211020/63596d5c40dbccb3cf77ee2bc35f49fd.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211020/fa071a6d07320f75da459404dc1e576e.jpg)
Well, it means no one who has public VeloViewer data and is a member of RideEveryTile has ever got that tile. That’s only about 2,000 people at the moment.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 20 October, 2021, 11:14:51 pm
Is rideeverytile correct in stating that no one has ever bagged this tile?: https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8149x5499

I ran around the public footpath of Thorney Island at low tide today and I reckon it’s possible with a small diversion just west of the runway approach lights and towards the X on my Strava image here..as long as it’s not quick sand of course, ha.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211020/985eaf9c7a0f191b1aabceac78416e1a.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211020/63596d5c40dbccb3cf77ee2bc35f49fd.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211020/fa071a6d07320f75da459404dc1e576e.jpg)
Well, it means no one who has public VeloViewer data and is a member of RideEveryTile has ever got that tile. That’s only about 2,000 people at the moment.
Interesting Pete. It’s not obvious how to either sign up to rideeverytile, or make my veloviewer data public. Is the latter driven by Strava privacy settings, perhaps? My ideas on how to activate either?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 21 October, 2021, 07:02:50 am
https://www.strava.com/clubs/RideEveryTile (https://www.strava.com/clubs/RideEveryTile)

On veloviewer, go to the update tab, click on the blue arrow and you'll see a number of checkboxes. Make sure the share my data with anyone is checked. You may also want to check the leaderboards box as well.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 21 October, 2021, 07:09:55 am
https://www.strava.com/clubs/RideEveryTile (https://www.strava.com/clubs/RideEveryTile)

On veloviewer, go to the update tab, click on the blue arrow and you'll see a number of checkboxes. Make sure the share my data with anyone is checked. You may also want to check the leaderboards box as well.
Brilliant, thank you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 25 October, 2021, 10:10:11 pm
Today I managed to get into a tricky tile on Bodmin Moor to increase my max square from 19 to 22.
On the same trip I also completed some gaps in my cluster:
(http://quilkin.co.uk/shared/landsendbristol.png)
it now runs all the way from Land's End to Bristol - is there a challenge for the longest cluster?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 25 October, 2021, 10:26:09 pm
Today I managed to get into a tricky tile on Bodmin Moor to increase my max square from 19 to 22.
On the same trip I also completed some gaps in my cluster:
(http://quilkin.co.uk/shared/landsendbristol.png)
it now runs all the way from Land's End to Bristol - is there a challenge for the longest cluster?

Not on Veloviewer itself. On a Dutch forum we have an internal challenge about this. To be at the top your longest distance within your cluster should already be over 400k. Nothing compared to one German tilehunter who has a cluster extending from the Adriatic to the Baltic Sea.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 25 October, 2021, 10:30:28 pm
Today I managed to get into a tricky tile on Bodmin Moor to increase my max square from 19 to 22.
On the same trip I also completed some gaps in my cluster:
(http://quilkin.co.uk/shared/landsendbristol.png)
it now runs all the way from Land's End to Bristol - is there a challenge for the longest cluster?

Not on Veloviewer itself. On a Dutch forum we have an internal challenge about this. To be at the top your longest distance within your cluster should already be over 400k. Nothing compared to one German tilehunter who has a cluster extending from the Adriatic to the Baltic Sea.
Think it is Baltic to Mediterranean (Rostock to Genoa) but wouldn’t be surprised if he has done Adriatic too! Some details at https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/interview_jurgen_knupe


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 25 October, 2021, 11:21:57 pm
Not on Veloviewer itself. On a Dutch forum we have an internal challenge about this. To be at the top your longest distance within your cluster should already be over 400k. Nothing compared to one German tilehunter who has a cluster extending from the Adriatic to the Baltic Sea.

How long until someone adds channel swims and/or kayaking to get cluster on both UK and mainland...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 26 October, 2021, 08:36:02 am
Today I managed to get into a tricky tile on Bodmin Moor to increase my max square from 19 to 22.
On the same trip I also completed some gaps in my cluster:
(http://quilkin.co.uk/shared/landsendbristol.png)
it now runs all the way from Land's End to Bristol - is there a challenge for the longest cluster?

Not on Veloviewer itself. On a Dutch forum we have an internal challenge about this. To be at the top your longest distance within your cluster should already be over 400k. Nothing compared to one German tilehunter who has a cluster extending from the Adriatic to the Baltic Sea.
The longest straight line distance entirely inside your cluster is a bit of a different metric, I suspect.
(https://i.ibb.co/s3pT91s/image.png) (https://ibb.co/2K0z3Mc)
It wouldn't be inconceivable to extend my cluster down to Land's End, there's one ride there already as a catalyst. But it wouldn't be a straight line to Oxford.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 26 October, 2021, 04:13:28 pm
LEJOG cluster opportunities just waiting for somebody.... ;-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 26 October, 2021, 04:21:20 pm
LEJOG cluster opportunities just waiting for somebody.... ;-)
Naturally had occurred to me, but parts of my LEJOG route aren't exactly conducive to clustering...
(https://i.ibb.co/nPj3pPf/image.png) (https://ibb.co/xF6mZFG)
(https://i.ibb.co/TWnyCQS/image.png) (https://ibb.co/g4XYn0p)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 26 October, 2021, 05:07:18 pm
Your first picture is within my max square :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 26 October, 2021, 05:33:30 pm
LEJOG cluster opportunities just waiting for somebody.... ;-)
Hmmm - wondered about that after completing Land's End to Bristol, but a quick look at road density in Scotland (north of Golspie)  suggests it's impossible on roads or tracks. You'd need to kayak a lot.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 26 October, 2021, 07:08:43 pm
I think you can get up the east coast with a lot of short out and back gravel slog and some strategic hill wanders to tile boundaries.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: RobertW on 26 October, 2021, 07:46:35 pm
Staying in Gatehouse of Fleet last week allowed me a little time to work on my SW Scotland cluster.  At the end of the week I was at Total tiles : 360 (+33), Cluster 170 (+36) and Max Square 8 (unchanged). 

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51631135121_dfe5709638_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mEt4ER)D&amp;G tiles Oct 21 (https://flic.kr/p/2mEt4ER) by rfwatson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/23849319@N07/), on Flickr

Mainly short rides aiming for farm and forest tracks to boost the cluster.  These ranged from easily rideable on a road bike to quite muddy, though achievable by walking up the edge & then into a field

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51631990120_f71c71b138_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mExrQd)Track near Creetown (https://flic.kr/p/2mExrQd) by rfwatson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/23849319@N07/), on Flickr

to fighting through regrowth on a track and hoping I would be able to find the bike and a cyclepath out of Creetown which was more challenging than expected.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51631137331_0bb4791d1c_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mEt5jX)Creetown cyclepath (2) (https://flic.kr/p/2mEt5jX) by rfwatson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/23849319@N07/), on Flickr

Still plenty of forest tracks in the locality to do on my next visit to fill in some of the holes.

Robert
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 28 October, 2021, 07:46:26 am
LEJOG cluster opportunities just waiting for somebody.... ;-)
I'm almost London to Jedburgh - or is that not what you meant ?  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 28 October, 2021, 09:23:11 am
I'm a fan of any long place to place cluster  :thumbsup:
First look Edinburgh to JoG looks easiest (most road density) up the east coast all the way. No idea south of the border, but keep up the same approach and you could do half of a UK coastal cluster too  ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 28 October, 2021, 09:32:43 am
My current goals are to get to Carlisle and Dunbar this year.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211028/f29269d9595a327eed805d72d18ff2e1.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 28 October, 2021, 02:05:15 pm
Not on Veloviewer itself. On a Dutch forum we have an internal challenge about this. To be at the top your longest distance within your cluster should already be over 400k. Nothing compared to one German tilehunter who has a cluster extending from the Adriatic to the Baltic Sea.

Fun idea Ivo, a long way from Lejog as mentioned but did think could I stretch mine to Scotland one day.
currently as a route within my cluster I have approx:

453Km from Minehead to Sheffield
456Km from Minehead to the Wash coast near Kings Lynn
493Km from Minehead to near Manningtree on the Suffolk coast, which could be easily pushed over 500km
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 28 October, 2021, 06:09:03 pm
My current goals are to get to Carlisle and Dunbar this year.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211028/f29269d9595a327eed805d72d18ff2e1.jpg)
That's impressive; do you ride from home to the Cambridge area a lot and go slightly different ways each time?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 28 October, 2021, 07:33:17 pm
Not on Veloviewer itself. On a Dutch forum we have an internal challenge about this. To be at the top your longest distance within your cluster should already be over 400k. Nothing compared to one German tilehunter who has a cluster extending from the Adriatic to the Baltic Sea.

Fun idea Ivo, a long way from Lejog as mentioned but did think could I stretch mine to Scotland one day.
currently as a route within my cluster I have approx:

453Km from Minehead to Sheffield
456Km from Minehead to the Wash coast near Kings Lynn
493Km from Minehead to near Manningtree on the Suffolk coast, which could be easily pushed over 500km

Yorick tops the list on the Dutch forum, with a cluster from Northern France to the northern tip of the Netherlands.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 28 October, 2021, 08:03:29 pm
Yorick tops the list on the Dutch forum, with a cluster from Northern France to the northern tip of the Netherlands.

And to think I was pleased when I got my cluster to reach from Ijmuiden to Enschede...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 29 October, 2021, 08:43:42 am
Not on Veloviewer itself. On a Dutch forum we have an internal challenge about this. To be at the top your longest distance within your cluster should already be over 400k. Nothing compared to one German tilehunter who has a cluster extending from the Adriatic to the Baltic Sea.

Fun idea Ivo, a long way from Lejog as mentioned but did think could I stretch mine to Scotland one day.
currently as a route within my cluster I have approx:

453Km from Minehead to Sheffield
456Km from Minehead to the Wash coast near Kings Lynn
493Km from Minehead to near Manningtree on the Suffolk coast, which could be easily pushed over 500km
I currently have a couple of microclusters at Sheffield and Leeds.
(https://i.ibb.co/v1bBKt8/image.png) (https://ibb.co/rkgt1WJ)
Also a titcher near Penrith
(https://i.ibb.co/Fssc7n2/image.png) (https://ibb.co/pWWNXnc)
Strange experience to do some tiling on a LEJOG.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 29 October, 2021, 09:44:49 am
That's impressive; do you ride from home to the Cambridge area a lot and go slightly different ways each time?
God no.
I hate riding in Lincolnshire, believe it or not. It's like the bad bits of riding in the Netherlands (long interminably dull flat roads and no scenery) with shitty drivers.

Couple of renditions of Flatlands 600, an LEL, a Lincoln 400, and moving from BSE to The Good Bit made it pretty straightforward, really.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 29 October, 2021, 09:53:33 am

Would it be mean of me to point out that you have a false positive down on Rommey Marsh (on the Military Road between Rye and Appledore)? I only noticed it because it's one I've been trying to work out how to get myself so I thought I'd have a look and see how you managed it... I think it's possible to get it by going across the dyke further up, and then along a farm track on the other side, but the road doesn't quite go through it.

I will probably take the footpath to the South, which looks fairly straightforward.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51395966542_7d2e048132_c.jpg)

Well I got that tricky tile. Bad route choice though as I had to walk across a very muddy field after the footpath petered out and eventually left my bike behind in some bushes to finish. Much better to take the track further South which is much more passable.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51637997660_071aa52f52_c.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 07 November, 2021, 09:40:51 pm


Went out for a tiling ride. Annoyingly didn't spot one of the tiny dead end bits on the screen, so missed this tile:

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDnbbg1X0AAp5_6?format=jpg&name=large)

On the plus side, bagged 52 new tiles. Added 70 to my cluster, and increased my square to 29x29.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDnbvQ_WYAU146_?format=jpg&name=large)

12062 tiles
Max square 29x29
Max Cluster: 2000

Target cluster of ≥2021 by the end of 2021 looking distinctly achievable.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 08 November, 2021, 01:06:01 am
Having made that mistake enough times, I now end my Route at the dead end bit and start a new one for the continuation of the ride. Means I have to stop and faff with the GPS, which doubles as a useful cue to check I'm definitely inside the tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 08 November, 2021, 11:39:03 pm
Having made that mistake enough times, I now end my Route at the dead end bit and start a new one for the continuation of the ride. Means I have to stop and faff with the GPS, which doubles as a useful cue to check I'm definitely inside the tile.

I'd end up with 20 separate routes for some rides. The amount of dead ends I get on some rides is rather bonkers. Yesterday's was quiet mild with 6 of them. That would mean 7 routes for an 87km ride...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 09 November, 2021, 12:03:04 am
Ah, I suppose you've got a lot more paths that are dead-ended by water than I usually have to deal with. I think the worst I've had was about 8 in 120km or something.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 09 November, 2021, 02:29:55 pm
I tend to put a coursepoint on the relevant section and wait till my Garmin pings to show me I have reached it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 14 November, 2021, 11:06:00 am
Yesterday's Salt & Cotswolds audax from Droitwich Spa bagged another 49 tiles.  I had plotted a variation of the route that added 19k and mopped up another 36 tiles but on the day I was enjoying riding with other people so didn't bother.

Just over 0.5k per tile seems like an absolute bargain now that I am sitting at home in the centre of my max square!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 14 November, 2021, 04:27:51 pm
Picked off some fiddly ones around Ealing today. I think I only have a handful more in Greater London to do :)
Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 14 November, 2021, 07:17:42 pm
Nice one people, love hearing the stories. Completed my last ~50K ride to tick all of the localish tiles since I moved house. On to some bigger adventures as and when now : D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 15 November, 2021, 10:31:19 am
Yesterday's Salt & Cotswolds audax from Droitwich Spa bagged another 49 tiles.  I had plotted a variation of the route that added 19k and mopped up another 36 tiles but on the day I was enjoying riding with other people so didn't bother.

Just over 0.5k per tile seems like an absolute bargain now that I am sitting at home in the centre of my max square!

I know exactly what you mean, I was with you in that car park in Droitwich on Saturday, taking advantage of a lift from a friend taking part in the Audax to go off on my own tiling adventure.
 A nice change from riding half the day just to escape my square; so nice to be gaining tiles from the off in a nice area to ride too.

Took another nice chunk out of my project 101 square. 717 to go ;D

(https://plumzenduro.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/p101-full-screenshot-for-november.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 15 November, 2021, 05:36:24 pm
Couple of tiling injuries to report-

A 4inch long cut while trying to cross a barbed wire fence to get into a field near Penicuik.

Also brakes failed on a twisty descent on road from Glen Finglas to Brig o'Turk.  Despite having both feet down I couldn't stop myself in time due to mud on the road and ploughed into a wooden gate that was across the road.  A number of cuts and bruises, though the gate fared worse...  Reported to the park authorities and waiting to hear back...

All in all Brig O'Turk is the Westernmost point in my cluster and West Linton now Southernmost, so the rides had the desired for tiling outcome at least.

Cluster now 1391 and square 17x17.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Rod Marton on 15 November, 2021, 06:02:49 pm
When I started Veloviewing in the summer I decided that a 25x25 square and cluster of 1000 were good targets for the year.

And I've now achieved them (actually 27x27, as I decided to knock off all the off-road tiles around Cricklade in one go). Of course most of this has been infilling between pre-Veloviewer rides and my total tileage has only increased by ~150, but it has meant that I have visited lots of places which I wouldn't have done otherwise. Of course there are good reasons why I wouldn't have wanted to visit some of them (Tadpole Garden Village, anyone), but there have been plenty of unexpectedly pleasant ones as well.

Expanding the square any further means going further into Swindon than Tadpole Garden Village, so I won't do that until I have good reason to go there (the only good reason to go to Swindon is to catch the train out). But there are still mini-clusters to attach to the main one, so I hope to add a few more tiles to the cluster total.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 16 November, 2021, 08:46:34 am
When I started Veloviewing in the summer I decided that a 25x25 square and cluster of 1000 were good targets for the year.

And I've now achieved them (actually 27x27, as I decided to knock off all the off-road tiles around Cricklade in one go). Of course most of this has been infilling between pre-Veloviewer rides and my total tileage has only increased by ~150, but it has meant that I have visited lots of places which I wouldn't have done otherwise. Of course there are good reasons why I wouldn't have wanted to visit some of them (Tadpole Garden Village, anyone), but there have been plenty of unexpectedly pleasant ones as well.

Expanding the square any further means going further into Swindon than Tadpole Garden Village, so I won't do that until I have good reason to go there (the only good reason to go to Swindon is to catch the train out). But there are still mini-clusters to attach to the main one, so I hope to add a few more tiles to the cluster total.
I crossed Swindon to join up my Dorset cluster and Oxford mini-cluster. Not too hard to knock off.
(https://i.ibb.co/3mDHBYg/image.png) (https://ibb.co/XxhTSkc)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 16 November, 2021, 08:56:42 am
Some random meandering recently put Leeds and Manchester city centres into my cluster. What's the 'Northern Powerhouse'... do I need to add Liverpool and Sheffield? Delighted to have Durham, Middlesbrough, York, Hull, Leeds, Wakefield and Manchester into the max cluster... like many of us a new goal is to reach from coast to coast. I figure either Liverpool or Blackpool first; I go to Blackpool more frequently. Oh wait, I guess Preston would probably be the first moment I hit coast to coast.

Someone (a couple of pages back) commented about it not being "exploring" if you're following a heatmap of other riders. Nonsense. Exploring is going places I haven't been, not going places other people haven't been. Sometimes I follow the trails blazed by our community of tilers, but more often than not I cycle somewhere, then open the app and have a look to see what I might be able to gather nearby. This is not efficient, but I'm not always bothered about efficiency, this game isn't one in going to win. In my cycling club there are only two other serious players of the game, and they're untouchable.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 16 November, 2021, 12:51:19 pm
Some random meandering recently put Leeds and Manchester city centres into my cluster. What's the 'Northern Powerhouse'... do I need to add Liverpool and Sheffield? Delighted to have Durham, Middlesbrough, York, Hull, Leeds, Wakefield and Manchester into the max cluster... like many of us a new goal is to reach from coast to coast. I figure either Liverpool or Blackpool first; I go to Blackpool more frequently. Oh wait, I guess Preston would probably be the first moment I hit coast to coast.

Someone (a couple of pages back) commented about it not being "exploring" if you're following a heatmap of other riders. Nonsense. Exploring is going places I haven't been, not going places other people haven't been. Sometimes I follow the trails blazed by our community of tilers, but more often than not I cycle somewhere, then open the app and have a look to see what I might be able to gather nearby. This is not efficient, but I'm not always bothered about efficiency, this game isn't one in going to win. In my cycling club there are only two other serious players of the game, and they're untouchable.
I'd rather like to join up my Sheffield and Leeds clusters to my main one.
It used to be about 600 km to do it, but since LEJOG it's down to about 400k, +5300m.
(https://i.ibb.co/QkB8qMk/image.png) (https://ibb.co/ypThMqp)
(https://i.ibb.co/6D1WmZb/image.png) (https://ibb.co/F80DKWJ)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 16 November, 2021, 02:25:22 pm
Is that smidge of red a cheeky little ride up and down Holme Moss from Holmfirth?

:)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 19 November, 2021, 10:14:30 pm
Cluster up to 1998 (ooh!) after some comedy off-roading on the first tile bagging trip for ages.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: orejas on 20 November, 2021, 01:39:23 pm
Up to 29x29 after a short ride in NE London today through Tottenham and Edmonton. Not the prettiest but quiet please as it only ocurred to me I could get anadditional few squares after I had decided to do the parkrun at Gunpowder
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 23 November, 2021, 03:14:29 pm
Has anyone noticed that the Strava route planner shows your completed tiles but lags behind the true coverage? For me it is missing some from a few months back so I don't think it's as simple as a periodic pull of the data?

https://www.strava.com/routes/new
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 23 November, 2021, 03:45:20 pm
How does it show completed tiles, but not full coverage?
All seems fine with mine, but done any tiling since Sept.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 23 November, 2021, 03:45:59 pm
Has anyone noticed that the Strava route planner shows your completed tiles but lags behind the true coverage? For me it is missing some from a few months back so I don't think it's as simple as a periodic pull of the data?

https://www.strava.com/routes/new
Try a veloviewer update. It seems to fix that for me generally.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 24 November, 2021, 10:19:22 am
In my cycling club there are only two other serious players of the game, and they're untouchable.

Colour me untouchable.

I'm not sure it's true though. Your itinerant lifestyle is in your favour, and it looks very much as if my joint health means my high mileage years will never return.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 25 November, 2021, 07:25:40 pm
I'm sure many of this parish would appreciate this (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/25/ive-done-332-so-far-man-aims-to-visit-englands-10449-civil-parishes-ndy-smith-youtube)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 25 November, 2021, 07:55:31 pm
Some civil parishes aren't much bigger than a VV tile so lots of pickings!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 01 December, 2021, 11:34:38 pm
Weather improved , up to Tyndrun for Glen Orchy circuit catching some dirt road tiles.(https://i.imgur.com/HX7dRNy.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/EaxzTlv.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/Fx2eRea.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 02 December, 2021, 12:03:12 am
Looks nice around there.
I imagine tiling is very hard work in places
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 02 December, 2021, 09:29:10 pm
Stating to run out of roads over on the west ,  lots of Glen's with forestry, landrover tracks and stalker paths to explore now.
 Its worth it for the views. Much better than cycling in urban areas thro identikit housing and industrial estates. 😅
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 03 December, 2021, 11:23:18 am
Another clever person has created a map overlay to show your collected tiles.
I use Brouter a lot and it works well with simple instructions.

here is a repeat of the post in the Strava group

Explorer overlay available
Last year I started working on explorer overlay, but have to postpone it a bit. Now the spring forced me to finish the work. It's fully working and available for public. I tested it with BRouter Web, Locus Map for android and OsmAnd (for both android and iOS). The page is https://vv.fork.pl and sources are at https://github.com/marcin-gryszkalis/veloviewer-explorer-overlay (you can report any issues via GitHub or via mail: mg@fork.pl).

Edit: I did some tests and it looks like it works pretty well with OsmAnd on both Android and iOS. I updated instructions accordingly.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeeJay on 03 December, 2021, 02:18:25 pm
That's bloody brilliant, cheers for sharing.

I've really missed the ability to show squares on OSMand since the export function stopped working on the explorer helper app.   This worked a treat!

Is it the same person behind this and the explorer helper app?



Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 December, 2021, 05:24:02 pm

How my day started:

12062 tiles
Max square 29x29
Max Cluster: 2000

How my day ended:


12073 tiles
Max square 29x29
Max Cluster: 2035

Which means I have achieved my goal of getting a cluster of ≥2021 by the end of 2021. Not sure what my goal will be for next year.

Cluster now reaches to Dordrecht at the southern end.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FF25bOUXEAYLVrl?format=jpg&name=large)

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 06 December, 2021, 12:26:35 pm
Another clever person has created a map overlay to show your collected tiles.
I use Brouter a lot and it works well with simple instructions.
.....
Edit: I did some tests and it looks like it works pretty well with OsmAnd on both Android and iOS. I updated instructions accordingly.
Seems to be a problem with Brouter here. I have two 'difficult' tiles visited (only gone into them 100m or so) showing up OK on VV itself and on the VV Strava plugin. But Brouter shows them as not visited. This is the case both with vv.fork.pl method and with the .kml export from VV loaded into Brouter.
I haven't notified fork.pl or Brouter about this, because maybe I'm doing something wrong (I have reloaded the relevant activities into VV and updated again). Anyone else have issues?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 10 December, 2021, 11:29:37 am

Reports on twitter of a tilemageddon following a slight change in the way routes are processed.

https://twitter.com/RideEveryTile/status/1469246728591314950

down to 44 overlapping 55x55 squares...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 10 December, 2021, 07:32:12 pm
Cold one today, over towards the east catching the farm roads between Coupar Angus and Alyth.  First real run on icy roads this winter. Kirriemuir tonight, hope its better tomorrow for the glens. 23 new tiles filling in gaps.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 13 December, 2021, 12:55:57 pm
I have a goal to do all the tiles in Kent by the end of the year. After two failed attempts to get a cluster near Dover I finally got them done yesterday.  I have one ride to do down near Dungeness and also a walk along the coast near Dover.
I had to park my bike up and walk out on Deal Pier to get one that I missed last year when I walked there. I also had to go down near to the beach at St Margaret's at Cliffe, near Dover after missing this earlier in the year.  It's a strange place, I even got a text from Vodafone saying Welcome to France!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51743826881_f9744d1c69_k.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 13 December, 2021, 07:46:00 pm
I was doing a group DIY 200k audax yesterday around a minor variation of a route that I have done before.  Obviously I checked out if there were any easy tile pickings before the ride  ::-)  I resisted most of them but there was a 150m long spike north from Little Brington that was too good to miss.  Only one tile but it bumped my cluster up by 15 so was worth the abuse I received from my companions.

A bit later in the ride we went past one of the potential access points to the Kineton bomb dump tile but I decided that the fence and prominent signs (https://goo.gl/maps/jCyFoyBj7h7c3kbK8) meant that there was no way that I could play the plausible deniability card if I did get stopped/shot/bitten/whatever.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 13 December, 2021, 08:27:30 pm
Up in Kirriemuir for a few days catching tiles in the Glens above Kirrie. Managed my target for the year 31000 tiles.(https://i.imgur.com/u3qVmzB.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/LlfTccq.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/krSGhzK.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/DHEHd1E.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/QZDjqMa.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/se6HQRi.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 14 December, 2021, 01:36:26 pm
Some nice photos there, salar55!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 30 December, 2021, 07:17:56 pm
A fair amount of progress this year, with close to 5000 new tiles and ditto extension of the cluster. I started tiling in earnest ^H^H^H obsessively in 2020 with the following timelapse as a result

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/phdfxpr81jnysqp/tiles_2019-2021_4MB-annotated.gif?raw=1)

Made by downloading images of my heatmap filtered by date from statshunters.com (https://statshunters.com) (a "must" site for tile baggers and IMO worthy of a donation). From January 2019 upto July 2020 one image per quarter, from July onwards one image per month. Next I used ezgif.com (https://ezgif.com/maker) (free site) to merge the 25 images into an animated gif, using 2 seconds per frame with a 0.4s crossfade. Cropping the boring bits, adding some annotation and optimising for size et voilà.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 30 December, 2021, 07:26:18 pm
That's quite neat showing progress like that.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 30 December, 2021, 09:30:53 pm
(https://cetaceanneeded.com/Images/veloviewer.gif)

Oops, guess what...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 31 December, 2021, 11:31:27 am
(https://cetaceanneeded.com/Images/veloviewer.gif)

Oops, guess what...

J
Love these animations. Might do one myself now.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 31 December, 2021, 08:24:07 pm

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FH9mE9zWQAcs5-P?format=jpg&name=large)

A disappointing year on the bike. Hope that things go a bit better in 2022.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 31 December, 2021, 08:44:07 pm
A max square of 2048*2048 is quite an achievement  ::-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 31 December, 2021, 08:51:11 pm
A max square of 2048*2048 is quite an achievement  ::-)

Alas, not one I have achieved.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 11 January, 2022, 04:59:28 pm
Set out to do the last few tiles of my Kent adventure last weekend
Before
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51813661292_bcee73a221_b.jpg)
After
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51814623741_dff9c29a5f_b.jpg)
And look how close idiot boy got to this one! I must have missed it by about 20 metres through not concentrating.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51814728008_4fd3b69254_b.jpg)
Going through the ranges was very interesting. But very hard going.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51815342805_eb1f7fbb84_b.jpg)
And the marsh was beautiful, but also very wet and involves a lot of pushing
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51813663397_d0649f5c77_b.jpg)

@citoyen  I thought this was my last Kentish tile, but have now discovered another 2, so another trip is needed, but I am almost there.  Then there are two that will involve a night time trespass, one of which is on an explosives range!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 11 January, 2022, 05:27:22 pm
I prefer Sundays during the day, dressed in hi-viz gear myself for "visiting" military ranges  (iow, the "nothing suspicious here, I'm a trained professional" look) :D

Missing a tile by 20m won't happen if you have a Garmin with the EveryTile app and/or an unexplored tiles map overlay with you, or an Android phone with the "Explorer Helper for Veloviewer" app.

Isn't closing holes in the cluster the best?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 11 January, 2022, 08:18:29 pm


Missing a tile by 20m won't happen if you have a Garmin with the EveryTile app and/or an unexplored tiles map overlay with you, or an Android phone with the "Explorer Helper for Veloviewer" app.
I have that on my phone, unfortunately I wasn't concentrating and hadn't realised this was one of those places I needed to check. Never mind it is a great place to visit so I will get it another time.

Isn't closing holes in the cluster the best? 
I certainly is.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 11 January, 2022, 08:52:21 pm
And look how close idiot boy got to this one! I must have missed it by about 20 metres through not concentrating.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51814728008_4fd3b69254_b.jpg)

It even told you to look out...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 11 January, 2022, 09:31:19 pm
And look how close idiot boy got to this one! I must have missed it by about 20 metres through not concentrating.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51814728008_4fd3b69254_b.jpg)

It even told you to look out...
Comment of the year!   :facepalm:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 12 January, 2022, 01:00:18 am
And look how close idiot boy got to this one! I must have missed it by about 20 metres through not concentrating.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51814728008_4fd3b69254_b.jpg)

It even told you to look out...
Oh well done for that.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 14 January, 2022, 11:39:00 pm
First new tiles of the year, 30 over in Fife. Revisiting the climbs of the old 90ies audaxs,  Milnathort, Path of Condie, Bridge of Earn and back via the Blairstruire climb.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 15 January, 2022, 06:03:24 pm
Finally got the max cluster over 2000 by comedy off-roading to bag 3 new tiles.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51822568544_cfe8ac54f9_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mXoda7)
vv_20220115_01 (https://flic.kr/p/2mXoda7) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51822309053_8e6a0bf735_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mXmT28)
IMG_9491_01 (https://flic.kr/p/2mXmT28) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 15 January, 2022, 06:46:21 pm
Congratulations @pingu, great effort.  I think that makes you the 4th Scottish based rider to do that in the Ride Every tile group.

However, off-roading?  That's an Aberdeenshire motorway  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 15 January, 2022, 10:20:03 pm
Out to Cupar on the back roads and the manky track south of Glenrothes to Coaltown.  Fife is good apart from the fast main roads. The so-called cycling network of Glenrothes is a mess. Every roundabout or road crossing discourages cycling, stop - start all the time. The town planners must have been told  to save cash and not put underpasses in. Another 50 tiles today
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: trickedem on 16 January, 2022, 04:09:35 pm
I went for a walk this afternoon, hoping to bag two tiles that are an old Army range. Despite a few signs there is no danger, particularly as I walking along the foreshore. I had visited this area before, but the tide was up and there was a fence that extended down into the water. However at 3 hours or so before low tide it is possible to simply step through the fence and walk along the shore.  You could even cycle it, as after a a couple of 100 metres there is a track that goes along the sea defence bank.  All in all a very pleasant and rewarding walk.

The fence

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51823207177_978ea181c3_k.jpg)
Before

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51824872360_a812a4d676_h.jpg)

After

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51823209222_1403fcff73_h.jpg)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 16 January, 2022, 07:56:56 pm

Count before:

12138 tiles
Max square 29x29
Max Cluster: 2040

Count after:

12143 tiles
Max square 29x29
Max Cluster: 2068 

It took me two hours to get to a hole in my cluster, and then another hour of headwinds and mud to fill it.

Had to climb over a style to get one tile...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FJP5x2nX0Akhw6G?format=jpg&name=large)

End result:

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FJPrY7RWQAAXZbp?format=jpg&name=large)

In 2021 I had a tile based goal to hit 2021 cluster by the end of the year. I haven't set myself a goal this year as I can't think of a suitable one. So I guess there's gonna be a sorta aimless gap filling going on...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 17 January, 2022, 03:29:16 pm

In 2021 I had a tile based goal to hit 2021 cluster by the end of the year. I haven't set myself a goal this year as I can't think of a suitable one. So I guess there's gonna be a sorta aimless gap filling going on...

J

How many countries in your cluster?  Can you add one (or more)?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 17 January, 2022, 07:44:18 pm

How many countries in your cluster?  Can you add one (or more)?

Right now, 1. I'm one tile short of the German border. And about one ride of maybe 80km, short of making Belgium.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 17 January, 2022, 08:35:27 pm
Over in Fife, we are catching tracks and back roads  as other half hates main roads. Done an Audax years ago, now i can try and fill in the gaps. 133 tiles for the few days, up to 31133 , some images.(https://i.imgur.com/E6CFzUB.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/4oKgaZD.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/0PiVlbz.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/hDhNnXY.jpg) best black pudding just made it before lunchtime menu(https://i.imgur.com/Te7eXfL.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/50SmdQj.jpg) A road closed for forestry work,  a bike will always find a way thro.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 17 January, 2022, 09:08:46 pm

How many countries in your cluster?  Can you add one (or more)?

Right now, 1. I'm one tile short of the German border. And about one ride of maybe 80km, short of making Belgium.

J

So 3 countries doable before Easter, how many by year end? there's a tiling goal right away :-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 17 January, 2022, 11:27:01 pm
Over in Fife, we are catching tracks and back roads  as other half hates main roads. Done an Audax years ago, now i can try and fill in the gaps. 133 tiles for the few days, up to 31133 , some images.(https://i.imgur.com/E6CFzUB.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/4oKgaZD.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/0PiVlbz.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/hDhNnXY.jpg) best black pudding just made it before lunchtime menu(https://i.imgur.com/Te7eXfL.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/50SmdQj.jpg) A road closed for forestry work,  a bike will always find a way thro.
Where is that road closed?

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 17 January, 2022, 11:38:38 pm
Drummy Wood on the Langdyke Road, you can see the other pic of the mud at the other end if I post the image.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 31 January, 2022, 10:08:42 am
Is this the ultimate UK Max Square to aim for before I am simply too old to pedal any more?:

It looks to be 150+ and the biggest square you can fit into the UK?? Is anyone close to completion, perhaps??

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220131/80e908800a2b22eebcef48193c087248.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 31 January, 2022, 10:12:23 am
What about military ranges and other areas that are truly inaccessible within this square?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 31 January, 2022, 10:15:59 am
Is this the ultimate UK Max Square to aim for before I am simply too old to pedal any more?

It looks like you've got RAF Lakenheath within there, which is a square that is somewhat difficult to acquire, unless you have connections within the forces.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 31 January, 2022, 12:31:41 pm
Is this the ultimate UK Max Square to aim for before I am simply too old to pedal any more?:

It looks to be 150+ and the biggest square you can fit into the UK?? Is anyone close to completion, perhaps??

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220131/80e908800a2b22eebcef48193c087248.jpg)

I have 80 X 80 right now with the wash the top limit, I might be able to get 1 more line with a canoe in 1 square needed. The box is my 100 x 100 target which I need about 600 squares to finish.
As for biggest possible, you can add a few lines on top of your theoretical box; Personally looks around 130 from my prospective going South and West, I have little desire to go East into the Fens any more, It is a bitch, so much trespassing required  :facepalm:

(https://plumzenduro.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/bigest-square-possible.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 31 January, 2022, 12:46:11 pm
Is this the ultimate UK Max Square to aim for before I am simply too old to pedal any more?

It looks like you've got RAF Lakenheath within there, which is a square that is somewhat difficult to acquire, unless you have connections within the forces.

To get that square, you've somehow got to get Lakenheath (one difficult tile), Porton Down (up to 4 difficult tiles) and the harder parts of the Salisbury Plain Training Area (up to 6 difficult tiles). Otherwise it's easy :-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 31 January, 2022, 03:17:22 pm
Is this the ultimate UK Max Square to aim for before I am simply too old to pedal any more?

It looks like you've got RAF Lakenheath within there, which is a square that is somewhat difficult to acquire, unless you have connections within the forces.

To get that square, you've somehow got to get Lakenheath (one difficult tile), Porton Down (up to 4 difficult tiles) and the harder parts of the Salisbury Plain Training Area (up to 6 difficult tiles). Otherwise it's easy :-)
Ha, wish me luck over the next few decades!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 31 January, 2022, 03:17:45 pm
Is this the ultimate UK Max Square to aim for before I am simply too old to pedal any more?:

It looks to be 150+ and the biggest square you can fit into the UK?? Is anyone close to completion, perhaps??

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220131/80e908800a2b22eebcef48193c087248.jpg)

I have 80 X 80 right now with the wash the top limit, I might be able to get 1 more line with a canoe in 1 square needed. The box is my 100 x 100 target which I need about 600 squares to finish.
As for biggest possible, you can add a few lines on top of your theoretical box; Personally looks around 130 from my prospective going South and West, I have little desire to go East into the Fens any more, It is a bitch, so much trespassing required  :facepalm:

(https://plumzenduro.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/bigest-square-possible.png)
That’s so very impressive! Chapeau
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig on 31 January, 2022, 03:35:19 pm
Some folk might be able to walk around their vehicle during a tour through RAF Lakenfield. It might be rare and restricted to certain personnel though.
https://www.lakenheath.af.mil/Portals/8/documents/Tour%20Request%20Form.pdf?ver=2017-02-07-085942-403
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 31 January, 2022, 07:31:26 pm
Is this the ultimate UK Max Square to aim for before I am simply too old to pedal any more?

It looks like you've got RAF Lakenheath within there, which is a square that is somewhat difficult to acquire, unless you have connections within the forces.

To get that square, you've somehow got to get Lakenheath (one difficult tile), Porton Down (up to 4 difficult tiles) and the harder parts of the Salisbury Plain Training Area (up to 6 difficult tiles). Otherwise it's easy :-)
Yeah, I wouldn't call Porton Down "difficult", but 4 nearly impossible tiles!
(https://i.ibb.co/kJwzsbr/0597-F726-0-AE4-4043-BB45-A012-A82692-CE.jpg) (https://ibb.co/DYvmHc6)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 31 January, 2022, 09:18:36 pm
I take it these are the four tiles in question?(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220131/0cc4fba8b0fcafcffd4b580f76303cb7.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 31 January, 2022, 09:38:56 pm
Yep  -  according to this:  https://rideeverytile.com/heatmap
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 31 January, 2022, 09:48:22 pm
I take it these are the four tiles in question?
They are indeed. All four are completely within the Porton Down/MOD site. If you research it carefully, I think some of the four may actually more difficult than others, but none are easy. The Wiltshire Definitive Map shows a dead-end footpath going into the site -- but it seems that the MOD red flags fly permanently there.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 31 January, 2022, 11:04:12 pm
I take it these are the four tiles in question?
They are indeed. All four are completely within the Porton Down/MOD site. If you research it carefully, I think some of the four may actually more difficult than others, but none are easy. The Wiltshire Definitive Map shows a dead-end footpath going into the site -- but it seems that the MOD red flags fly permanently there.
Looking at OS with my tiles:
(https://i.ibb.co/3vg9nkR/image.png) (https://ibb.co/Qky34XD)
The north boundary is easily covered by the Roman Portway beside the railway. South side A343.

The information here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-access-to-military-areas#salisbury-plain (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-access-to-military-areas#salisbury-plain) says about Salisbury Plain (and there's no seperate Porton Down entry) "The numerous Public Rights of Way remain open during military training, even when tanks are manoeuvring. The public should not leave the route of these Public Rights of Way."

Not sure I'd want to walk around a chemical weapons testing ground, though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 31 January, 2022, 11:50:24 pm
I take it these are the four tiles in question?
They are indeed. All four are completely within the Porton Down/MOD site. If you research it carefully, I think some of the four may actually more difficult than others, but none are easy. The Wiltshire Definitive Map shows a dead-end footpath going into the site -- but it seems that the MOD red flags fly permanently there.
Looking at OS with my tiles:
(https://i.ibb.co/3vg9nkR/image.png) (https://ibb.co/Qky34XD)
The north boundary is easily covered by the Roman Portway beside the railway. South side A343.

The information here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-access-to-military-areas#salisbury-plain (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-access-to-military-areas#salisbury-plain) says about Salisbury Plain (and there's no seperate Porton Down entry) "The numerous Public Rights of Way remain open during military training, even when tanks are manoeuvring. The public should not leave the route of these Public Rights of Way."

Not sure I'd want to walk around a chemical weapons testing ground, though.
I take it these are the four tiles in question?
They are indeed. All four are completely within the Porton Down/MOD site. If you research it carefully, I think some of the four may actually more difficult than others, but none are easy. The Wiltshire Definitive Map shows a dead-end footpath going into the site -- but it seems that the MOD red flags fly permanently there.
Looking at OS with my tiles:
(https://i.ibb.co/3vg9nkR/image.png) (https://ibb.co/Qky34XD)
The north boundary is easily covered by the Roman Portway beside the railway. South side A343.

The information here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-access-to-military-areas#salisbury-plain (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-access-to-military-areas#salisbury-plain) says about Salisbury Plain (and there's no seperate Porton Down entry) "The numerous Public Rights of Way remain open during military training, even when tanks are manoeuvring. The public should not leave the route of these Public Rights of Way."

Not sure I'd want to walk around a chemical weapons testing ground, though.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220131/b8597048d599e647b56471e9924a2c38.jpg)
I can’t quite tell if you saying any of the four are accessible or not… anything on the north side of the railway and the A343 itself do not touch the problematic four. Here is the OS map overlaid with rights of way info (using rowmaps.com). The dead end blue lines are byways (not footpaths as I said previously, sorry), but I’m not sure if they can be used or not as red flags are always up. As you say, there is MOD info on Salisbury Plain but not Porton Down.

Oh and, by the way, even if you use all the public rights of way on Salisbury Plain, there still looks to be six tiles that are inaccessible there too :-/ the tank training ground is a big area.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Rod Marton on 01 February, 2022, 08:22:40 am
Once, many years ago, I visited the Porton ranges (work visit, I hasten to add), so I may technically have bagged a tile there. Though as it was long before Veloviewer (or even GPS) I'm sure it doesn't count.

Security has tightened since then. and on visiting Porton Down a couple of years ago I was shadowed so closely that there was no chance of any surreptitious tile-bagging whatsoever.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 01 February, 2022, 08:44:07 am
I take it these are the four tiles in question?
They are indeed. All four are completely within the Porton Down/MOD site. If you research it carefully, I think some of the four may actually more difficult than others, but none are easy. The Wiltshire Definitive Map shows a dead-end footpath going into the site -- but it seems that the MOD red flags fly permanently there.
Looking at OS with my tiles:
(https://i.ibb.co/3vg9nkR/image.png) (https://ibb.co/Qky34XD)
The north boundary is easily covered by the Roman Portway beside the railway. South side A343.

The information here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-access-to-military-areas#salisbury-plain (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-access-to-military-areas#salisbury-plain) says about Salisbury Plain (and there's no seperate Porton Down entry) "The numerous Public Rights of Way remain open during military training, even when tanks are manoeuvring. The public should not leave the route of these Public Rights of Way."

Not sure I'd want to walk around a chemical weapons testing ground, though.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220131/b8597048d599e647b56471e9924a2c38.jpg)
I can’t quite tell if you saying any of the four are accessible or not… anything on the north side of the railway and the A343 itself do not touch the problematic four. Here is the OS map overlaid with rights of way info (using rowmaps.com). The dead end blue lines are byways (not footpaths as I said previously, sorry), but I’m not sure if they can be used or not as red flags are always up. As you say, there is MOD info on Salisbury Plain but not Porton Down.

Oh and, by the way, even if you use all the public rights of way on Salisbury Plain, there still looks to be six tiles that are inaccessible there too :-/ the tank training ground is a big area.
WSLO107 Byway. If it were accessible it would allow this:
(https://i.ibb.co/sJvVM7K/image.png) (https://ibb.co/WpW2YCk)
None of the others are of any real interest, as they don't reach tiles.

Interestingly the two down there dead end at the Hampshire border.
(https://i.ibb.co/dkY920g/image.png) (https://ibb.co/mhWsqC8)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 01 February, 2022, 09:44:24 am
I can't read the small print but the signage at the entrance to that byway isn't exactly welcoming:  https://goo.gl/maps/ph3AT4Fsbfsu5kbf8

The northeast tile looks easier - it is about 150m along the edge of a field once you hop over the fence at the side of the byway.  A somewhat dated photo is here:  https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2356485

NB  I am not suggesting that this is a sensible idea!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 01 February, 2022, 09:52:07 am
I can't read the small print but the signage at the entrance to that byway isn't exactly welcoming:  https://goo.gl/maps/ph3AT4Fsbfsu5kbf8

The northeast tile looks easier - it is about 150m along the edge of a field once you hop over the fence at the side of the byway.  A somewhat dated photo is here:  https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2356485

NB  I am not suggesting that this is a sensible idea!
If anyone were to take the risk, would it be sportsmanlike to share the .gpx file, so that others don’t have to?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 01 February, 2022, 10:25:45 am
I can't read the small print but the signage at the entrance to that byway isn't exactly welcoming:  https://goo.gl/maps/ph3AT4Fsbfsu5kbf8

The northeast tile looks easier - it is about 150m along the edge of a field once you hop over the fence at the side of the byway.  A somewhat dated photo is here:  https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2356485

NB  I am not suggesting that this is a sensible idea!
If anyone were to take the risk, would it be sportsmanlike to share the .gpx file, so that others don’t have to?


NO!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: tom_e on 01 February, 2022, 10:52:51 am
Personal choice what rules you're playing by.  But to my mind you need to visit the square yourself.  Anybody half-decent on a computer can probably fake a .gpx file, but it isn't the game we're playing.

Of course that still leaves the question of how you're allowed to visit.  Bike is fine, on foot or kayak generally seems deemed fine.  Flying over the top in a light aircraft?  Is the rule human-powered ?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 01 February, 2022, 03:30:28 pm
Is the rule human-powered ?

That's my rule... Kayak, Bike, walk, swim all valid.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 01 February, 2022, 04:45:17 pm
Drummy Wood on the Langdyke Road, you can see the other pic of the mud at the other end if I post the image.
Doh forgot I'd asked, it had been closed since the storm at the start of December so was a bit surprized it's was still shut mid January, I've stuck to using Kettle Hill so not been to check

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 02 February, 2022, 09:49:42 am
Personal choice what rules you're playing by.  But to my mind you need to visit the square yourself.  Anybody half-decent on a computer can probably fake a .gpx file, but it isn't the game we're playing.

Of course that still leaves the question of how you're allowed to visit.  Bike is fine, on foot or kayak generally seems deemed fine.  Flying over the top in a light aircraft?  Is the rule human-powered ?
On foot is fine of course. It's a useful option, but generally bike is best.

For Porton Down you'd need a human powered aircraft. They do exist! There might also be some flight restrictions up to a certain altitude... Perhaps a glider, although that's pushing "human powered", it's not motorised.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: salar55 on 02 February, 2022, 11:41:26 am
Personal choice what rules you're playing by.  But to my mind you need to visit the square yourself.  Anybody half-decent on a computer can probably fake a .gpx file, but it isn't the game we're playing.

Of course that still leaves the question of how you're allowed to visit.  Bike is fine, on foot or kayak generally seems deemed fine.  Flying over the top in a light aircraft?  Is the rule human-powered ?

How about a glider?  After all a bike can be pushed along by the wind or down a hill by gravity, a kayak going along with the tide and wind ,to be fair foot or swim must be the only way :demon:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 02 February, 2022, 02:34:13 pm
Personal choice what rules you're playing by.  But to my mind you need to visit the square yourself.  Anybody half-decent on a computer can probably fake a .gpx file, but it isn't the game we're playing.

Of course that still leaves the question of how you're allowed to visit.  Bike is fine, on foot or kayak generally seems deemed fine.  Flying over the top in a light aircraft?  Is the rule human-powered ?

How about a glider?  After all a bike can be pushed along by the wind or down a hill by gravity, a kayak going along with the tide and wind ,to be fair foot or swim must be the only way :demon:

I've already suggested that:  https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=108374.msg2497728#msg2497728
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 02 February, 2022, 03:14:07 pm
@citoyen  I thought this was my last Kentish tile, but have now discovered another 2, so another trip is needed, but I am almost there.  Then there are two that will involve a night time trespass, one of which is on an explosives range!

You're a lot more adventurous than me!

Fortunately, I have quite a few more accessible tiles to worry about before I need to think about those ones.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 03 February, 2022, 09:56:57 am
Personal choice what rules you're playing by.  But to my mind you need to visit the square yourself.  Anybody half-decent on a computer can probably fake a .gpx file, but it isn't the game we're playing.

Of course that still leaves the question of how you're allowed to visit.  Bike is fine, on foot or kayak generally seems deemed fine.  Flying over the top in a light aircraft?  Is the rule human-powered ?

How about a glider?  After all a bike can be pushed along by the wind or down a hill by gravity, a kayak going along with the tide and wind ,to be fair foot or swim must be the only way :demon:

I've already suggested that:  https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=108374.msg2497728#msg2497728
There are a couple of gliding aerodromes in the area... https://pngc.co.uk/trial-lessons/ (https://pngc.co.uk/trial-lessons/) is the closest, based at Middle Wallop. Also https://armyglidingclubwyvern.com/trial-lessons-2/ (https://armyglidingclubwyvern.com/trial-lessons-2/) from Upavon.

Middle Wallop really is perfect, though...
(https://i.ibb.co/PgstLrN/image.png) (https://ibb.co/RcG7Fg9)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 03 February, 2022, 12:31:22 pm
How about a glider?  After all a bike can be pushed along by the wind or down a hill by gravity, a kayak going along with the tide and wind ,to be fair foot or swim must be the only way :demon:
A glider is entirely wind/thermals powered, so very different from a bike or kayak. Both of which can be stymied as much as helped by wind or tide. As for freewheeling DH, you had to pedal up the hill to start with.
A glider is also launched by being dragged by another plane or winch. So very much not even close to being human powered.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 03 February, 2022, 12:47:56 pm
I'd accept a hang-glider as human-powered, if you carry it up the hill yourself and don't go chasing thermals.  Requires a suitable hill.

True human-powered aircraft require a very fit recumbent-trained rider to get off the ground.  Staying in the air is hard work.

Attempting to fly over Porton Down using either would be a Mk 1 Bad Idea.

I'd suggest that storing human power (using anything other than gravity and the mass of your vehicle) isn't in the spirit of such things.  Not that charging an electric aeroplane or glider winch or motorboat with a turbo trainer sounds like anything other than Type 2 Fun.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 03 February, 2022, 12:49:38 pm

Attempting to fly over Porton Down ... would be a Mk 1 Bad Idea.


I love this forum
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 03 February, 2022, 12:51:47 pm
Your best bet is probably to contract a rare disease in suspicious circumstances.  Persuading them to give you your GPS receiver back left as an exercise for the reader.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 03 February, 2022, 12:57:20 pm
I'd accept a hang-glider as human-powered, if you carry it up the hill yourself and don't go chasing thermals.  Requires a suitable hill.

True human-powered aircraft require a very fit recumbent-trained rider to get off the ground.  Staying in the air is hard work.

Attempting to fly over Porton Down using either would be a Mk 1 Bad Idea.

I'd suggest that storing human power (using anything other than gravity and the mass of your vehicle) isn't in the spirit of such things.  Not that charging an electric aeroplane or glider winch or motorboat with a turbo trainer sounds like anything other than Type 2 Fun.
What about e-bikes? As for the air, a human powered airship, where lift is maintained by buoyancy, but propulsion is either wind or human thrust... that's not really any different to a bike then.

Your best bet is probably to contract a rare disease in suspicious circumstances.  Persuading them to give you your GPS receiver back left as an exercise for the reader.
Nah, if you developed a such a disease, you'd be taken inside. The tile with the main buildings in isn't even hard to get!
(https://i.ibb.co/8MK9MM9/image.png) (https://ibb.co/Pxmgxxg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 03 February, 2022, 01:20:35 pm
Your best bet is probably to contract a rare disease in suspicious circumstances.  Persuading them to give you your GPS receiver back left as an exercise for the reader.

There is a bit of an implicit assumption that the open grounds of Porton Down are some sort of anthrax-soaked death zone. Actually, it is an SSSI with a lot of conservation/natural interest. (Seems like military ground is often well-conserved because us public *don't* go there!!). So I think the really best strategy is somehow to get an invitation through Natural England to study the grassland/butterflies/lichens/fungi etc. I presume you'd have to be well-qualified in your field to get an invitation. c.f. https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/PDFsForWeb/Citation/1003140.pdf 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 03 February, 2022, 01:47:08 pm
What about e-bikes? As for the air, a human powered airship, where lift is maintained by buoyancy, but propulsion is either wind or human thrust... that's not really any different to a bike then.
It certainly is.
Wind and battery power are definitely cheating here
As for air transport, you are above the tile, not in it.  :P
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 03 February, 2022, 02:35:29 pm
I can't read the small print but the signage at the entrance to that byway isn't exactly welcoming:  https://goo.gl/maps/ph3AT4Fsbfsu5kbf8

The northeast tile looks easier - it is about 150m along the edge of a field once you hop over the fence at the side of the byway.  A somewhat dated photo is here:  https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2356485

NB  I am not suggesting that this is a sensible idea!
I think I found the small print.
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.1224998,-1.6355641,3a,15y,300.68h,83.6t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sneBz-xvg2UHC9HgOFBmG_A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 (https://www.google.com/maps/@51.1224998,-1.6355641,3a,15y,300.68h,83.6t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sneBz-xvg2UHC9HgOFBmG_A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192)

Designated site under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, so trespass is as illegal as at Chequers or Faslane.

Unclear whether following a public right of way would constitute "trespass" for the purposes of the act, though, so it might "just" be the MOD bylaws that you're breaking...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 03 February, 2022, 04:28:15 pm
What about e-bikes? As for the air, a human powered airship, where lift is maintained by buoyancy, but propulsion is either wind or human thrust... that's not really any different to a bike then.
It certainly is.
Wind and battery power are definitely cheating here
As for air transport, you are above the tile, not in it.  :P

I'd say ebike is not a valid way of bagging tiles.

I have noticed a few people have got tiles in .NL by wind surfing. Not sure how I feel about that.

But then I've got tiles by parking up in a layby, walking the length of the layby with my phone tracking me, and getting back in the car, and being driven off. Which is on the edge of reasonable.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 03 February, 2022, 04:46:13 pm
But then I've got tiles by parking up in a layby, walking the length of the layby with my phone tracking me, and getting back in the car, and being driven off. Which is on the edge of reasonable.
To me, for my veloviewer adventures that's not on the edge, it's way past it. You didn't get that square by human powered means at all. But your vv map so your rules and there's no reason for you to give a rats arse about my opinion ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 03 February, 2022, 05:12:06 pm
I have noticed a few people have got tiles in .NL by wind surfing. Not sure how I feel about that.
Not human powered. Shouldn't count. Use a kayak if on water.

Quote
But then I've got tiles by parking up in a layby, walking the length of the layby with my phone tracking me, and getting back in the car, and being driven off. Which is on the edge of reasonable.
I doubt anyone else would think that.

I have two tiles I missed out in the Peak that I may park in area and then grab tiles as part of a 5km run. Which as a non runner will be very hard work.
They are also on a sketchy road I was trying to avoid, hence why they ended up getting missed in first place. Safer to run towards traffic than have it skim past bike at 60-70mph. There's another single tile I missed because rights of way were very confusing at that point. So have planned a 10km walk in area to also take in the tile I missed by 10s of metres.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 03 February, 2022, 05:46:15 pm
I'd say ebike is not a valid way of bagging tiles.

Electric assist cycling seems fine to me; you're still cycling.  Certainly more so than using a train or car to go some of the way and then ride/walk/swim, which seems to be standard practice.

I'm not sure if I've actually visited any tiles by e-bike that I haven't been to by human power, but I'm less concerned about their legitimacy than the handful that I've bagged by driving to a racing circuit and riding round in circles.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: perpetual dan on 03 February, 2022, 07:13:19 pm
I'd say ebike is not a valid way of bagging tiles.

Electric assist cycling seems fine to me; you're still cycling.  Certainly more so than using a train or car to go some of the way and then ride/walk/swim, which seems to be standard practice.

I'm not sure if I've actually visited any tiles by e-bike that I haven't been to by human power, but I'm less concerned about their legitimacy than the handful that I've bagged by driving to a racing circuit and riding round in circles.
I feel pretty comfortable about taking a train and then having a day or several out, or going somewhere for a race or audax but not getting myself there / back. The rail network in the uk isn’t so dense as to allow an impressive cluster by walking up and down the platform, getting back on for another stop and repeating. In a similar way, I’m assuming that the tracks you ride round only give a very small number of tiles each.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 03 February, 2022, 07:50:46 pm
I have noticed a few people have got tiles in .NL by wind surfing. Not sure how I feel about that.

But then I've got tiles by parking up in a layby, walking the length of the layby with my phone tracking me, and getting back in the car, and being driven off. Which is on the edge of reasonable.
When a tile can also be bagged in another way then I would consider it rather lame. For example, there's a few places like you describe on the A28 (like between Nunspeet and 't Harde, and just West of Wezep) that can also be bagged with some off-roading. And the tile near Tjeukemeer on the A6 can be done with a kayak (then, while you're at it, bag the rest of Tjeukemeer as well  :D).

I think wind surfing still takes skill, effort and possible hardship and therefore ok (unlike regular sailing boat); but I've never been on a board, so maybe it's way easier than I think it is.

As for military ranges not secured by 2 meter high fences topped with barbed wire: Sundays work best I think. Dress in hi-viz like you belong there ;-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 03 February, 2022, 08:34:36 pm
Electric assist cycling seems fine to me; you're still cycling. 
Except you are doing it with power assist.
eBikes make cycling, particularly on the hills silly easy. So very definitely cheating in context of a human powered challenge.

Quote
Certainly more so than using a train or car to go some of the way and then ride/walk/swim, which seems to be standard practice.
Not at all, the challenge is getting the tiles under human power. In places where there are vicious hills, a rarely any flat spots and lots of offroad, riding somewhere to then tile isn't really an option. It's not as if getting the tiles is any easier. It's very slow going regardless. Currently I'd have to ride somewhere, stay overnight, tile, stay overnight again and then ride home. Expensive in both time and money. Plus many of my off road tiling rides are only 25-50km and usually way harder than 150km rides I've done on roads. They can be like cross country trials riding on occasions. I have spent two+ hours in first gear on a tiling ride before now now. A fantastic ride, I should add, but not exactly quick. It took almost three hours to get to the planned 9km marker which ended up being 16km of riding with backtracking and diversions.

Quote
I'm not sure if I've actually visited any tiles by e-bike that I haven't been to by human power, but I'm less concerned about their legitimacy than the handful that I've bagged by driving to a racing circuit and riding round in circles.
How often do folk tile just a race circuit? Which would be a handful of tiles at very most.
Should I be doing something like a race track, it would be part of a longer ride anyway. 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 03 February, 2022, 08:37:11 pm
I think wind surfing still takes skill, effort and possible hardship and therefore ok (unlike regular sailing boat); but I've never been on a board, so maybe it's way easier than I think it is.
The main difference is that you stand up when windsurfing. Both are wind powered endeavours that take real skill, but are definitely not human powered.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 03 February, 2022, 08:42:23 pm
I always thought it took a lot of arm-strength (and also core now that I think about it) to handle the sail; unless using a harness of course. Not so?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 03 February, 2022, 08:48:51 pm
As for military ranges not secured by 2 meter high fences topped with barbed wire: Sundays work best I think. Dress in hi-viz like you belong there ;-)

The problem is there is a difference between a citizen of a country being caught trespassing on a military property, and a citizen of a foreign nation doing so. This changes the equation of risk vs reward. No tile is worth getting deported over.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 04 February, 2022, 11:01:56 am
I'd say ebike is not a valid way of bagging tiles.

Electric assist cycling seems fine to me; you're still cycling.  Certainly more so than using a train or car to go some of the way and then ride/walk/swim, which seems to be standard practice.

I couldn't disagree more. You're on a motorised vehicle. Just because you pedal while it's powered doesn't (in my mind) count.

But your vv map so your rules and there's no reason for you to give a rats arse about my opinion ;D

^^That.

Windsurfing is windpowered but controlled by human muscles, no motors. Kite buggies and hang gliding would be OK for me, too. I'm not pedalling 100% of the time on a bike.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 04 February, 2022, 11:26:21 am
But your vv map so your rules and there's no reason for you to give a rats arse about my opinion ;D
^^That.

^^ yup...
saving that...

I'd say ebike is not a valid way of bagging tiles.

Electric assist cycling seems fine to me; you're still cycling.  Certainly more so than using a train or car to go some of the way and then ride/walk/swim, which seems to be standard practice.

I couldn't disagree more. You're on a motorised vehicle. Just because you pedal while it's powered doesn't (in my mind) count.


I'm happy to see people exploring places they've never been before, and I know the essence is 'under human power', but that's a compromised argument from the beginning, unless we walk/swim everywhere.

The conflict and disagreement only really arises when it all gets competitive. If it doesn't matter who has the biggest square or cluster, but if instead we can celebrate that our friends are exploring by the means most suitable to them, then I'm happy.

Copying someone else's GPS file and pretending you've explored somewhere you haven't is just sad.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 04 February, 2022, 07:56:32 pm

Attempting to fly over Porton Down ... would be a Mk 1 Bad Idea.


Agreed.

The Porton Down Danger Area is outlined in the image below along with the 'tricky' tiles.  It extends from surface to 12000' amsl.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51862791645_0795be1df6_z.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: CrazyEnglishTriathlete on 04 February, 2022, 08:47:07 pm
Having read Alistair Maclean's "The Satan Bug" at an impressionable age, I'd stay well clear of Porton Down, although I have cycled past the entrance gate.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: TimC on 06 February, 2022, 03:39:37 am
I’ve been in and had a guided tour, many years ago when I was based just up the road at Lyneham. Don’t remember very much of it now; it was mostly lots of Maycrete huts with various nasty things going on in them. They used to try and convince us they were researching the common cold, and we could volunteer to be subjects. We were not persuaded.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 11 February, 2022, 09:52:37 pm
Building on some good forward planning (a ride down to Macclesfield for the start of a 600 a few years ago formed the spine of my cluster down to Cheshire, for example), my cluster is now pretty impressive. Graeme described it as like the spread of a virus ;D I'm sure a tight square is the most efficient way to get a big cluster number, but I quite like having a breadth of places where I can add to it. Not that I'm likely to be riding round Shropshire or Cheshire anytime soon, mind. I think the tiny line heading up to Moffat at the NW edge is quite pleasing.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51874985622_dfa66e855f_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2n31RVQ)

Just back from filling in a few gaps north of Eskdale and around Whitby. Back to pushing out the square in spring, audax duties permitting.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 12 February, 2022, 08:36:25 am
It's nice to see that expansion of your Max Square involves riding near me. Looking forward to exploring those areas with you.

Building on some good forward planning (a ride down to Macclesfield for the start of a 600 a few years ago formed the spine of my cluster down to Cheshire, for example), my cluster is now pretty impressive. Graeme described it as like the spread of a virus ;D I'm sure a tight square is the most efficient way to get a big cluster number, but I quite like having a breadth of places where I can add to it. Not that I'm likely to be riding round Shropshire or Cheshire anytime soon, mind. I think the tiny line heading up to Moffat at the NW edge is quite pleasing.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51874985622_dfa66e855f_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2n31RVQ)

Just back from filling in a few gaps north of Eskdale and around Whitby. Back to pushing out the square in spring, audax duties permitting.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 12 February, 2022, 02:30:57 pm
Building on some good forward planning (a ride down to Macclesfield for the start of a 600 a few years ago formed the spine of my cluster down to Cheshire, for example), my cluster is now pretty impressive. Graeme described it as like the spread of a virus ;D I'm sure a tight square is the most efficient way to get a big cluster number, but I quite like having a breadth of places where I can add to it. Not that I'm likely to be riding round Shropshire or Cheshire anytime soon, mind. I think the tiny line heading up to Moffat at the NW edge is quite pleasing.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51874985622_dfa66e855f_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2n31RVQ)

Just back from filling in a few gaps north of Eskdale and around Whitby. Back to pushing out the square in spring, audax duties permitting.
Love this cluster Deano… years of effort there! Also it really shows to me how extending the concept of max square to cluster was an essential thing to do. Squares are boring compared to that!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 27 February, 2022, 10:03:51 am
Yesterday's ride was the first bit of gratuitous tiling that I have done for a while.  The forecast was decent and, after last weekend's abandoned ECE, I needed a 200k to keep my RRTY alive so I set off on something that I plotted ages ago.  This followed a fairly established route through the Atherstone/Nuneaton gap to Meriden and then on to Balsall Common which is on the southern edge of my max square.  The southerly wind really sucked the life out of my legs.

The zigging and zagging then commenced aiming to put a border of at least two tiles along that edge and also to break through to my mini-cluster to the west of Warwick.  As is usual the route had a lot of variety - from waterlogged bridleways (see below) and slippery towpaths, through Coventry's cycling infrastructure to sections of busy A-roads.  There were only a few dead ends (and these weren't included in my 200k declaration) so it flowed fairly well.

Having 'done' Rugby I then headed for Catthorpe interchange and another standard route home through the centre of Leicester with the tailwind that I had earned earlier in the day.  The Tigers had been playing and various sets of temporary lights meant that there was mile after mile of slowly moving traffic.  I wasn't in a particular rush so just cruised cautiously past with a smug grin on my face  :smug:

I'm sure that taking the towpath north of Leicester seemed like a good idea when I plotted the route last summer but it didn't seem quite as sensible in the dark while trying to dodge various bits of debris that had been left by recent floods.

Veloviewer initially 'missed' one of my tiles but clicking into the ride sorted that out and I bagged 56 with a cluster increase of 119.  Just hoping that the 200k is validated in spite of me avoiding the footpath and the dodgy underpass that I had carelessly included on the route declaration  ::-)


(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51905803867_b48bb1392f_z.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 07 March, 2022, 12:24:55 pm
45 new tiles on @FifeingEejit 's Och-Hills 200 on Saturday  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 07 March, 2022, 09:04:09 pm
45 new tiles on @FifeingEejit 's Och-Hills 200 on Saturday 
I got no new tiles, not even on the ece, I must try harder

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 13 March, 2022, 01:24:43 pm
Is the Veloviewer tiles Strava mapper plugin on the blink for other folk too?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: FifeingEejit on 13 March, 2022, 02:39:53 pm
Having realized I can't ride Talla Ho! next weekend, I spotted a gap in the rain forecast over East Lothian and draged myself along to catch the first train of the day to Edinburgh.
Note to self, it's a Saturday, you can get home at midnight there's no need to get up at 5.

Needed a few loops to get the distance up and didn't allow for the wind... That wasn't fun.

Anyway filled in a few gaps, and rode Townhill out of Dunfermline and ocer Loch Glow for the first time since around 2007 (LEPRA ride) so added some new tiles close to home.
The wind destroyed me but a F&D Fudge Doughnut and bag of fridge raiders in Kinross sorted me out for the last 50km

Before:
(https://i.ibb.co/ZgwhX0r/275289806-380255087280413-8593504466068345979-n.png) (https://ibb.co/ZgwhX0r)

After:
(https://i.ibb.co/VgFMs9n/275222844-1075391706526425-3926531637964662693-n.png) (https://ibb.co/VgFMs9n)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 13 March, 2022, 02:44:04 pm
Is the Veloviewer tiles Strava mapper plugin on the blink for other folk too?
It is for me - has been since Strava added the “points of interest” option. I’m seeing two of those and if I click the second one it toggles VeloViewer mode!

Haven’t checked if Ben has done an update yet
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 13 March, 2022, 04:10:18 pm
Ah yeah, cheers the 2nd "PoI" button does the tile grid here too, I'd not noticed. It was working as normal for me until yesterday, so not the first PoI that made an issue anyhow.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 14 March, 2022, 09:09:26 am
5 new tiles from Saturdays 'Newcastleton and back' due to a route change because of a road closure.

10812 tiles
Max square 18x18 (still)
Max Cluster: 845
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 25 March, 2022, 09:43:16 pm
First increase in the max square for a while. 32 new tiles, square up to 23, cluster up to 2083  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 26 March, 2022, 06:23:57 pm


Had a friend visiting from the ok, they had a Brompton with them, so we decided to do a bit of an infrastructure safari from Culemborg to Utrecht via Houten. Bagged 4 new tiles. Added a bit to my cluster. And I have another 29x29 square...


Before
12153 tiles
Max square 29x29
Max Cluster: 2099

After

12157 tiles
Max square 29x29
Max Cluster: 2109

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 26 March, 2022, 08:43:12 pm
Todays DIY200 (slightly over distance at 222km) resulted in 159 new tiles and added 305 to the cluster.

Cluster is now 9999  ;D

No, I didn't plan this (would have gone for a nice round 10k)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 27 March, 2022, 11:10:49 am
Todays DIY200 (slightly over distance at 222km) resulted in 159 new tiles and added 305 to the cluster.

Cluster is now 9999  ;D

No, I didn't plan this (would have gone for a nice round 10k)

That sounds impressive. Gotta pic?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 27 March, 2022, 12:58:28 pm
Ask and ye shall receive  ;D

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/7p3e6odm0uutnz3/cluster_9999.png?raw=1)

Also showing last ride from Enschede and the tiles it brought me.

From Groningen to Enschede and back was 5 hours by train, for a 10 hour ride (including pizza, moving time was 9h)... Yeah, I take this way too serious  :) It sure pays off to have a 34 euro/month railcard that gives you free travel during the weekends (and the bike rides for free too, as it "folds")

Unlike last week when getting the last "restricted" tiles of the "Wehrtechnische Dienststelle für Waffen und Munition" area there was no comedy off-road involved this time. It did have plenty of gravel, forest roads and other unpaved tracks though. The worst are the ones that are somewhat paved with fist-sized pebbles, those are bone-jarring even with 38mm tyres! But that is also the charm of tiling  :D

(blue square = 58 in case you wonder)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 27 March, 2022, 04:29:32 pm
Looks like you're about to make a big jump.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 27 March, 2022, 10:53:56 pm
Good going, Zed43, five figures is impressive.

I had the chance to ride around the Lammermuirs and took it, it was awesome, not least how visible the damage from Storm Arwen in December still is - I had to drag my bike past about a quarter-mile of trees which had been completely flattened.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51965483519_98d1c5123c_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nb1FNp)

And today, one of the odder conversations I've had while square-bagging. I had to nip up a track near Alnwick which looked pretty private, and pretty active, there were a few caravans and cars about. Anyway, I walked up, waved hello to the lads outside the caravan, and one of them said in his finest Geordie "the track is private, you'll need to waak on the grass". I shrugged and did as I was asked.

Anyway, cluster is up to Edinburgh (and beyond - nearly Falkirk, and my selfie by the Denny road sign the other week caused quite a stir in a mate's family WhatsApp group) and 7,700, I might be within striking distance of Ivo ;D

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51964199342_a1dc7cf925_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2naU74q)
Title: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 29 March, 2022, 09:09:13 pm
I went to bag this tile yesterday in the Gosport, Portsmouth area ::

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220329/7e490e8f8045f56c269b9925633345cd.jpg)


The description on RideEveryTile suggests the below ::

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220329/1b0ba98f6d32f5b2f40a174f54250f9f.jpg)

I wanted to advise that it actually wasn’t so bad. You’re dealing with the kind of caper below. With the tide out, a short walk, ducking under the trees will do it ::

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220329/22ab69a35cfa9cb2216cafa6f5cb81d2.jpg)

Hope it helps.

Stats? :: 3858 tiles, Max square 29x29, Max Cluster: 1542
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: RobertW on 30 March, 2022, 08:18:14 am
I remember getting my feet a little muddy walking out onto the salt marsh to make sure I got that tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 30 March, 2022, 07:56:47 pm
I remember getting my feet a little muddy walking out onto the salt marsh to make sure I got that tile.
Ha, so did I, but looking back at it now you can stay to the sand (beach?) ducking under the trees!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 07 April, 2022, 10:43:01 am
145 new tiles from Sundays Delightful Dales

10957 tiles
Max square 18x18   still
Max Cluster: 845   still
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 07 April, 2022, 10:45:17 am
145 new tiles from Sundays Delightful Dales

10957 tiles
Max square 18x18   still
Max Cluster: 845   still
That’s a huge number of tiles! Do you have a screen grab to share?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 07 April, 2022, 11:51:45 am
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51988119766_4f2f7926a7_b.jpg)

I have a few others in Spain too
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 07 April, 2022, 10:33:29 pm
A busy few days' working on my max square this week (and fitted in a social ride too, shockingly).

The square is now up to 54x54 - I think there are five overlapping squares. I think I could have got that extra row south, but I'd have had to ride a few miles along the ridge atop Ilkley Moor, then back into the wind... And I don't mind going back to Ilkley Moor to mop up the rest. Potential for expansion on three sides!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51989170431_9ea2512a87_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nd766r)

Some photos from inbetween the showers. Bike was a mess after the ride up to Weets Top (just east of Gordale).

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51988167027_b43d6e4261_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nd1WPn)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51989462604_5558fd97c9_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nd8zWU)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51988170687_40837b42b1_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nd1XUt)

Overall scores - 24062 tiles, and the cluster is up to 7881, which puts me ahead of Ivo  :smug: (temporarily, I'm sure - I don't think I'll be making any additions for a wee while, he'll leapfrog me soon)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 11 April, 2022, 09:53:23 am
I picked up an additional 11 tiles on yesterdays gravel ride in Craik / Eskdalemuir forests

10968 tiles (+11)
Max square 18x18 (still!)
Max Cluster: 848  (+3)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 11 April, 2022, 01:05:47 pm
Walking to the end of Southend Pier and back bagged one new tile  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 11 April, 2022, 07:06:12 pm
Walking to the end of Southend Pier and back bagged one new tile  :thumbsup:
I did that yesterday!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 11 April, 2022, 07:54:27 pm
Haha we might have crossed paths. The new green train looks good.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 19 April, 2022, 03:17:03 pm
A non-max cluster extension in the Peak District yesterday, picking up 72 new tiles overall.

Before:
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/6c3215ea-4574-458a-b473-a218d0320e53-jpeg.640752/)
After:
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/df1f05b2-6c60-4dab-a12b-c7616f11ccc3-jpeg.640753/)

This takes the current situation to this:
(https://i.ibb.co/cLBLjMj/IMG-1353.jpg) (https://ibb.co/X8Q8qNq)
Yes, the reaching down south was no accident. I'm looking to eventually connect that mini-cluster up with my main cluster. I can do it in two large, but not completely insane, rides.
(https://i.ibb.co/mXTR9Ct/Capture1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/nnmw7sf)
(https://i.ibb.co/ZdnmhCK/Capture.jpg) (https://ibb.co/0qgtf3Z)
Yesterday's peak excursion was 110 km with +2000m elevation.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 19 April, 2022, 03:26:16 pm
Friday's Easter Arrow route (Edinburgh - York) got me an additional 7 tiles

10975 tiles (+7)
Max square 18x18 (still!)
Max Cluster: 848 (still!)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 19 April, 2022, 05:48:25 pm
Having done hardly any riding at all for soooo long, I finally got out on my bike on Friday for a 94km ride that left me absolutely spent. I only picked up one tile, but it was a good one - St Margaret's Bay, just north of Dover. Somewhere I've visited numerous times in the past but surprisingly never with GPS. The main reason I've not ticked it off before is that it's a dead end at the bottom of an insanely steep drop, so not one you ride unless you fancy taking on the climb back out of the bay... it's the road Thanet RC use for their annual hill climb event. Actually, it's not as bad as I remember it, only took me 7 minutes according to Strava (course record is 2 minutes or thereabouts).

Getting the tile does nothing for my max cluster or square but was satisfying to tick off none the less. Just wish I'd remembered there was another one I needed further along the cliff top path that I could have bagged while I was down that way...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52015678931_2785d81d6e.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nfrX9x)
St Margaret's (https://flic.kr/p/2nfrX9x) by citoyen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/103760266@N08/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: telstarbox on 19 April, 2022, 11:02:54 pm
I've just had a similar miss at the far end of the Isle of Sheppey :)))
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: citoyen on 20 April, 2022, 10:55:05 am
I've just had a similar miss at the far end of the Isle of Sheppey :)))

If you mean Warden Point, the best way to get that one is to go into the campsite. The road just misses it, unfortunately.

If you mean Shell Ness, that entails going a fair way along a muddy path - though it might be a bit less muddy now, since we've had hardly any rain lately.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 22 April, 2022, 01:28:57 pm
Tiling on foot last night. 20 km, and for the last 13 km there was no escape. Do, or do not, there is not try.
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/1650612404418-png.641203/)
(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/lb15dZJh9to4b5X-yHZ2FSydpWBzCHihIHewW9F0q-k-2048x1536.jpg)
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/capture-jpg.641204/)
(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/FLcx3M856c_qox_wjIf7yiIFL82wOggAl1U9KKLsYcc-2048x1536.jpg)
Portland bringing a whole new meaning to "the end is in sight".
(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/Y3IozSVN1jTXI6oZRtsLrnPnCuo2gvOLR4cbwn0uxQo-2048x1536.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 22 April, 2022, 07:56:43 pm
Tiling on foot last night. 20 km, and for the last 13 km there was no escape. Do, or do not, there is not try.
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/1650612404418-png.641203/)
(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/lb15dZJh9to4b5X-yHZ2FSydpWBzCHihIHewW9F0q-k-2048x1536.jpg)
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/capture-jpg.641204/)
(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/FLcx3M856c_qox_wjIf7yiIFL82wOggAl1U9KKLsYcc-2048x1536.jpg)
Portland bringing a whole new meaning to "the end is in sight".
(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/Y3IozSVN1jTXI6oZRtsLrnPnCuo2gvOLR4cbwn0uxQo-2048x1536.jpg)
A valiant effort, chapeau


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 25 April, 2022, 08:05:40 pm
A tale from today of seeking a seemingly-simple tile:-this is the one in question, on the southern tip of Southsea, Portsmouth:

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220425/366bcc4f97a69694c499d4a632834006.jpg)

What I thought was a simple stroll along the coastal path was met with this:

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220425/775a8fc4a8f173dc8420a970ca4c822a.jpg)

#1 Attempt :

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220425/8b1a3b13c718e71540cf79cb93e36820.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220425/7cc909e09b0d48575d7b1a168ff088a8.jpg)


#2 Attempt :

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220425/1f8eb542c103f4d23bbb9182d0a79799.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220425/981ad75810d9282dafb9cccebee1fd5f.jpg)


..and FINALLY, on the third time of asking in the same afternoon, ha :

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220425/3ec6675d9e267a7c2f1e727115af1703.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220425/accb9643095a8adfb1c1965e3fa0e8fc.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: moderdye on 30 April, 2022, 10:23:28 am
Hi, I've been slowly gathering tiles for a while with a keener tiler cycling pal who I regularly wind up about tiling  :P

Having recently moved to Angus I've got a whole new world of tiles to grab so I've upped it a gear and yesterday claimed my first unvisited tile in the centre of the Montrose Basin....

https://youtu.be/ciRAFiYUfng (https://youtu.be/ciRAFiYUfng)

Was an enjoyable mission :D

Hmmm.... Don't seem to be able get a photo of my map to show. Using Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 30 April, 2022, 01:40:35 pm
I'm "the pal" and had just come to post links to the videos you did when I was down to visit you!
My first time cycling in Angus, so all new tiles, but as we were both easing back after some wear and tear issues it was more about nice rides than optimal tile gathering.
It has set me up nicely to get things covered next visit though ;-)
You can see the videos of some of our rides on the YT channel above.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: moderdye on 30 April, 2022, 02:22:07 pm
Haha! Cheers!
You've got a world of pain catching up down here and you've still some challenges un-met in Shetland (Vementry, Fair Isle, Foula, Papa Stour, Noss....cough cough).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 03 May, 2022, 07:56:26 am
I have been putting off attacking Brum for a while but reckoned that yesterday's Bank Holiday was as good a time as ever to have an urban tiling session.  It was 56k to the first tile on the eastern edge of Sutton Coldfield.  The route then headed south(ish) until just shy of Earlswood before shifting a couple of tiles to the west and heading back north to harvest a stripe with a minimum width of four tiles.  The last tile was a lonesome one just northeast of Shenstone before a 60k ride back home.

The high road density meant that it was relatively easy to plot an efficient route and I only used one 'spike'.  I had tried to avoid the really large roads but there were still one or two that I wasn't particularly comfortable on.  Cycling under the middle of Spaghetti junction was certainly novel!  Traffic didn't seem too bad but the centre of Small Heath was gridlocked - it may have been a Bank Holiday but it was also Eid.  There had also been a large fire earlier in the day at a recycling centre in Tyseley but the fire brigade were just winding down operations so I managed to get through the road closures.

The day's haul was 73 tiles increasing my max cluster by 83 and bumping my max square to 52.  Hopefully this also sorted out May's RRTY (STV).

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52045801182_363c472c19_z.jpg)Brum pavé

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52046845696_43ebcbbc6f_z.jpg)The underworld

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52046896633_185ea11cd1_z.jpg)Bluebells  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 12 May, 2022, 10:26:19 pm
Now done my first explorer ride for almost exactly a year.   :)  Couple of pics from heading out west to Malmesbury, some lovely lanes...  I had a p*ncture, but really struggled to get the tyre off - skinned my finger etc.  Then, I realised that despite an impressive rush of air as tyre deflated, the inner tube had still been partially inflated, doh! 

Re using a Garmin Edge for tile bagging - this was my first explor with Edge 830. I find the 'turn by turn' directions worked pretty well, though I made the mistake of not tagging all the 'deviations' with course points, so missed a square - ho hum.  With the Etrex (Vista HCx) I used to set waypoints with prox alerts.   I gather the edge doesn't do proximity alerts, but wondering if one can make a course point 'pop up', in a 'here I am sort' of way.  Is Garmin Connnect website the easiest (or only) way to add in course points to a route?  I tried doing in Ridewgps, but for some reason the points didn't transfer.  Any other tips?


(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52069212556_5107c75e13_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nkbjQ5)Pond Lane (https://flic.kr/p/2nkbjQ5) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52069697400_f737c4cba2_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nkdNXs)Malmesbury_Abbey (https://flic.kr/p/2nkdNXs) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr




Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 13 May, 2022, 06:12:29 am
When I add course points in Garmin Connect they do indeed pop up. It will also include them in the “distance to next” calculation field on screen which is nice.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 13 May, 2022, 07:24:11 pm
When I add course points in Garmin Connect they do indeed pop up. It will also include them in the “distance to next” calculation field on screen which is nice.

Thanks, which Edge, and do you have 'turn by turn' nav on? CPs didn't pop up on my 830, perhaps there's a key setting I have off.  Maybe this function is a victim of 'progress'.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 14 May, 2022, 07:12:16 am
I have the Edge 1000 but I don’t use turn by turn, I just follow the purple line, but coursepoints pop up as I cross them. Maybe this isn’t what you are looking for.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 14 May, 2022, 08:48:52 am
Thanks.  I'm used to simple track following with waypoint flags on Etrex Vixta HCx, so I'll set 'turn guidance' off on the Edge and test how I get on with inserted course points (via Garmin Connect).

ETA...   I've noticed course points (coloured circle on map) do 'pop up' for about 10secs, at the bottom of the screen, whether 'turn guidance' on or off.  On the data screen one can also set distance to next course point, which seems to work OK.  I don't think any 'advance notification' works e.g. notification 30 metres prior, so it looks like course points need to be set where one actually wants a notification.  Actually the alerts are easy to miss anyway.   I tried a test navigation without turn guidance, and it seems fine, esp with dist to course point.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 16 May, 2022, 01:45:11 pm
Saturday's Reiver Fever 300 bagged me a few more tiles

10988 tiles (+13)
Max square 18x18 (still!)
Max Cluster: 848 (still!)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 22 May, 2022, 10:46:52 pm
Did a 75km ride down to Burbage today, and picked off 3 long term tiles, to increase max square by one to 40.

For one of the tiles I needed to go approx. 50-100m south of the Kennet river (Axford), but I was so distracted by the river, that I forgot the additional bit, turned around, and eventually got to near the top of White's Hill (W of Ramsbury) before something made me thing 'hang on, that tile...'  Cue 5km round trip to go back & actually bag the tile...  ;D ::-)    Nice bridleway up the hill East of Ramsbury Manor....

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52091036027_66fac943a5.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nn7bbP)3tiles+ (https://flic.kr/p/2nn7bbP) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52092214054_c04b98c55c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nnddnC)PXL_Kennet (https://flic.kr/p/2nnddnC) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52092214219_2a92664e7a.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nnddqt)PXL_Bwy (https://flic.kr/p/2nnddqt) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52090922672_27db7d1edd_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nn6Auq)maxsq (https://flic.kr/p/2nn6Auq) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr



Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 27 May, 2022, 03:42:29 pm
After.
12157 tiles
Max square 29x29
Max Cluster: 2109

Have done a few tile hunting rides, as well as a training camp in Luxembourg (no cluster gains here, just raw tile numbers). But today I had to take to the water to get two tiles. In a kayak this time.
 
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTxFW9nWUAIPmHV?format=jpg&name=large)

It was bonkers windy, 25+kph plus gusts, which made for a lot of wrestling the kayak. The kayak I had hired was not especially great, I was very cramped in the cockpit, and was having a lot of issues with numbness in my feet. Which coupled with the weather meant it was mostly an out, get the tiles, and return to shore, rather than a relaxing explore of the nature reserve.

I did hear a Bittern booming, as well as a cuckoo. I also saw what was possibly an otter diving into the water.

Before:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTxE_ZoXEAAKCdR?format=jpg&name=large)

And after:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTxE-E1WYAAYdgF?format=jpg&name=large)

Tile numbers are now:

12500 tiles
Max square 29x29
Max Cluster: 2194

Have one more tile in this area that needs either a kayak, or a very cold winter so I can skate...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sum_of_marc on 29 May, 2022, 11:37:34 am
There's now a global heatmap live on VeloViewer with options to filter by number of visits (for anyone, or just by you), and number of athletes. https://veloviewer.com/explorer
 (https://veloviewer.com/explorer)
I understand that GDPR may be linked to why the version on RideEveryTile.com was taken down. Understandable, but I did like the ability to see exactly how somebody got into a tile!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 29 May, 2022, 12:01:10 pm

The thing that map is missing is the notes that the ride every tile map had :(

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: wfb on 30 May, 2022, 01:31:45 pm
There's now a global heatmap live on VeloViewer with options to filter by number of visits (for anyone, or just by you), and number of athletes. https://veloviewer.com/explorer
 (https://veloviewer.com/explorer)
I understand that GDPR may be linked to why the version on RideEveryTile.com was taken down. Understandable, but I did like the ability to see exactly how somebody got into a tile!

I wonder how often this is updated - it's showing no visits for a square that I completed last Friday (5/27).

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 30 May, 2022, 04:29:16 pm
https://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-explorer-tiles-global-heatmap/
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: wfb on 02 June, 2022, 12:02:04 am
Cheers - so currently every few days but potentially soon daily. And I do now see my visit to 8039 5513. Thanks.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 04 June, 2022, 10:27:14 am
A 2 1/2 week camping trip through Sweden caused my raw tiles count to finally break the 40.000 barrier, I'm at 40.151 tiles now. Square is still at 56 and cluster at 8099.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 15 June, 2022, 05:41:55 pm
Grabbed a couple of awkward tiles that were difficult to get without using the A466 (Chepstow to Monmouth).  I know a lot of people think it's a nice road but personally I think it sucks donkey balls.  One was gained by doing the Wye Valley Greenway then round to t'other side of the Wye for a heave over Gaer Hill (near St Arvens).  First 1000m ride in a very long time.  My total for the year is now a rather pathetic 401km but that's 401 better than it was this time last year so I'm looking on the bright side.

7.14% (239/3348)
Now 9.74% (332/3409)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 16 June, 2022, 12:41:37 pm
Grabbed a couple of awkward tiles that were difficult to get without using the A466 (Chepstow to Monmouth).  I know a lot of people think it's a nice road but personally I think it sucks donkey balls.  One was gained by doing the Wye Valley Greenway then round to t'other side of the Wye for a heave over Gaer Hill (near St Arvens).  First 1000m ride in a very long time.  My total for the year is now a rather pathetic 401km but that's 401 better than it was this time last year so I'm looking on the bright side.

7.14% (239/3348)
Now 9.74% (332/3409)
I grabbed a couple of tiles that are awkward to get without using the A31 on Monday evening. I did it by, well, using the A31. Which, with a 2019 AADF of 66,000 is 3x as busy as the M48 and only marginally less traffic than the M4 at the bridge.  :) (It's the direct continuation of the M27).
(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/6DcrsIfKY-yAlOxPjrTP3yHYkc5LQzhQvsOXbQC3Pl8-2048x1536.jpg)
(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/v9GLn93t_ntE-pNTpzChokW-KSdrej4YguA6x37ziik-2048x1536.jpg)
(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/eAxSbaxHAciUTQgUHu37vNyrTJxQ_KuU7ie-aEE7v18-2048x1536.jpg)
Ah, see, I had a very cheeky trick up my sleeve! I nipped on just before they closed it off.
(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/cIWH3TIoET8TAmA3OjolLyVZxx6snnsG6d4f2TSgx-k-2048x1536.jpg)
(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/Mbveraf5Q2QZFoB1v6A2tZiKLsfa-ipltFQcAcn_j-c-2048x1536.jpg)
(https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/1655278326348-png.649038/)
It was the tiles around Stoney Cross that were the main concern. Hard to get to, at least efficiently, by other means.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 16 June, 2022, 05:17:10 pm
Ah, see, I had a very cheeky trick up my sleeve! I nipped on just before they closed it off.
(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/cIWH3TIoET8TAmA3OjolLyVZxx6snnsG6d4f2TSgx-k-2048x1536.jpg)
It was the tiles around Stoney Cross that were the main concern. Hard to get to, at least efficiently, by other means.
Nicely played.   :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 16 June, 2022, 08:52:47 pm
Cheeky, in all the good ways. Well played indeed  :thumbsup:

(Wierd, I've never had the slightest envy of someone riding a dual cabbageway 'till now)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 17 June, 2022, 11:54:22 am
For 'live' tile bagging on an android phone is there any alternative to osmand+VV helper?  OSMand seems to work ok but VV helper is a bag of <expletive deleted>*. 


* First it turns on Virtual Rides in the vv update process.  Fuck off with that, they are off for a reason (which ought to be obvious).  Second it gets stuck in a loop constantly splatting two 'updated' messages across the screen.  The only way I could stop it was to uninstall
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 17 June, 2022, 12:48:38 pm
I use Explorer helper for VeloViewer on my Android phone and it seems pretty decent.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: tom_e on 17 June, 2022, 01:21:17 pm
For 'live' tile bagging on an android phone is there any alternative to osmand+VV helper?  OSMand seems to work ok but VV helper is a bag of <expletive deleted>*. 


* First it turns on Virtual Rides in the vv update process.  Fuck off with that, they are off for a reason (which ought to be obvious).  Second it gets stuck in a loop constantly splatting two 'updated' messages across the screen.  The only way I could stop it was to uninstall

Yeah, it seems to be "prototype quality".  But I paid nothing for it and I'm not volunteering to fix or replace it, so ...

After running the vv update, I use the android task switcher and throw the task upwards to kill it, then re-enter and use.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: wfb on 20 June, 2022, 10:46:39 pm
For 'live' tile bagging on an android phone is there any alternative to osmand+VV helper?  OSMand seems to work ok but VV helper is a bag of <expletive deleted>*. 


* First it turns on Virtual Rides in the vv update process.  Fuck off with that, they are off for a reason (which ought to be obvious).  Second it gets stuck in a loop constantly splatting two 'updated' messages across the screen.  The only way I could stop it was to uninstall

Tile Hunter? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.squarehunters&gl=US

I use the iOS version and it’s a little quirky but does the job.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 21 June, 2022, 07:53:15 am
The weekends 'Tour of the Borders and Galloway 600' bagged me a few more tiles, (all in Galloway)

11061 tiles (+73)
Max square 18x18 (still!)
Max Cluster: 849 (still!)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 25 June, 2022, 11:27:07 am
This week I rode King Alfred's Way

3661 tiles (+252)
Max square 13x13 (+0)
Max cluster 332 (+0)
Explorer ratio 9.07% (+0.67% I put that as a 'plus' even though the percentage is numerically down because exploring)

Thanks wfb, I'll try that.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 26 June, 2022, 11:18:56 am
My pal moved down to Angus, so I've had a couple of trips down there for the first time. Some general riding about and some more attention to tiling routes has got me a corridor down there from Aberdeen now, and a little photodump.

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLXwGDao4NTVniCdeVAwkvXM_tCQ9D-7AA4Q4F1iE6drizphDnmOTIM-y_H6mYUT9Vh4ABFJ7kQl3jokMryn5JtRpjz7Ttldb9UI1F5ukPo0rRTb_I0WxI5CWETeJ0O7bpiU0pIryFnDQ0yhyiaSL0mg=w876-h806-no?authuser=0)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLX6ucayIRzVGYSfDIchup8T_JyEJg1mzRYrF9OhO4zRtEBW7R-DarzsNc1gEP5GpArdYqkXVDQdh_gG-7_vnH6MO5fY7X9KB3zkiMzcMNF57276aARCL1frybHm0P56GIMNR1CTJ9mFiumsNfn1WxCy=w871-h788-no?authuser=0)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLWO-0J4JvgA5Kj-H8veJ4s3_2eNSz9oHzlVN4WN5zsnGoRiPrxGs_7RAoiLelP4PxZBoxJoGv0ZfxB9B2GME5AjHzXbP4Fc7i_fSIYK-XxQzkWp-NKo8J8LBD-5ICPBR_Iqhz-xWv6XSsZHnEKRJhH-=w1920-h555-no?authuser=0)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLUe-r49p3bAOW5DXnEwJWc8ifpYfEmVdjkFDKA5TEjjAl8nvN7bDk9xYT14HFdVhUbfmxBUMq9Vrs5AAsCA6061JuP11NqW6zaPN2pClHxJzQO_KL2uFdfHO27VbvZGEPOotzxADNY8HJIpel3mo1JH=w1920-h721-no?authuser=0)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLUDGu7C2tGEeQtJEFttAWeO61OOliSuHUsiSXN5d0r8OyeQerd4mU98MPVF2ZgwY4zD-SzURx-v4d1gYfk2tCg-2un7opHe-_guzpVQQ6cvxeT0fSKGRV1xazywK1Ui2bSV_Z3Wy0XaBm6NkVLwBmyP=w1920-h699-no?authuser=0)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLVG1fkcuJYieKqZTGvtwaE3lQhjuVrXl2eSQzNKqaqj99b9qHi8sc12iLOiNOf0o5uaUdid4e2GUdngzrH6aNkoyREc0KplbBSTDVQSmhVowwpa_PKHfc8zMBGG2B2LHnkBYsE_e6PB9741nrQMIsAT=w1920-h762-no?authuser=0)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLXFwZn1wyNB9PezhrkbNztf25HJ76LojD7kn8CK6KjGMW3MihqgJo8NEgkqPxX19ICccJvDWNbwge_kKtSFxzZHvfqvWvuRhnOD4g8L3ZInoLmBr1Jpfc6qF1niOKqqjE8NJRpq63tjDxCYREB_0FNQ=w1920-h666-no?authuser=0)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLVS_cebguSpv74bJbMFxCugu10rQYeI7XMEyCenVZ4_QJnqxLPw6qeFBVFUo8CNMkO2qvvsbYLfN-JWqDP_gbxs_jIopiPgXryvO8_BiCK20LsihYCjnjiZj2E5hubWhgiKTs63VVXuEnTGb_HKp3aY=w1920-h597-no?authuser=0)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLU7PMJjkr3A2QSUkyL4egEdOjM3_ZvQbBzy5efVeM_CsJTsywRTyB07EQOFsA25sg2Ruqtjl9eAOmHgGmIxlNaqqpesaaI5mB6xfm8RRcLmccz2pXc-UEuoDhBXvlHU6V4mL4NxDkPK1Hq1zEMEiYJQ=w1920-h827-no?authuser=0)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLXfESCIncKwK8P4U6LjiPnih2JpvTCamX805AnotZrFanG3zcbK7yE5LLjtsMV5xUc77QX7ebCufe49YWg4kdZuseIL8jiwkBHccXLu3OZHmqKko-vyHq3pjXBh_HMa62ZOWr83dMjbofH2SY36BzM1=w1920-h756-no?authuser=0)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLV4ympCZztcXGiDAwO0ioIVNWzg-_DBki03EAgSiTXKoR5elk-pzuGuJHPiE1jC7_UHnYUi4gfYjEHUb-HF9vMCWsfwGPZCIwL-OMBsI1lcLnv-fB4T7Z9M-RKjmTjOTl5SP1TShSGLdnCm4z7VxN-j=w1920-h876-no?authuser=0)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 26 June, 2022, 04:26:45 pm
 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 02 July, 2022, 10:13:12 am
Jonathan France now working up my little Dundee-Aberdeen stretch.... after putting his corridor up the whole east coast from Norfolk to get there  :o
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 02 July, 2022, 12:05:21 pm
My pal moved down to Angus, so I've had a couple of trips down there for the first time. Some general riding about and some more attention to tiling routes has got me a corridor down there from Aberdeen now, and a little photodump.


(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLVS_cebguSpv74bJbMFxCugu10rQYeI7XMEyCenVZ4_QJnqxLPw6qeFBVFUo8CNMkO2qvvsbYLfN-JWqDP_gbxs_jIopiPgXryvO8_BiCK20LsihYCjnjiZj2E5hubWhgiKTs63VVXuEnTGb_HKp3aY=w1920-h597-no?authuser=0)

Nice pics
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 05 July, 2022, 09:27:45 pm
Nice pics
Cheers :thumbsup: Just iphone pana and 60s of slider play these days. Used to be DLSR and an hour+ of photoshop per image.

Halfday MTB slogging about today - the tiles I have left are all single things stuck on the coast somewhere hard to get to :facepalm: +3 tiles, +3 cluster.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 06 July, 2022, 01:25:46 pm
Don't forget a tripod with special head.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 06 July, 2022, 08:41:42 pm
I never went deep enough into panoramas to have the special tripod head, but I spent a lot of time doing timelapses  ::-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 22 July, 2022, 07:32:43 pm
Five new tiles today in the Northron Wastes bumped the cluster up to 2116. Max square is still 23 but I now have four of them instead of just one.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 24 July, 2022, 11:51:57 am
The weekends 'C2C2C 300' bagged me a few more tiles, in Northumberland and Cumbria.

11129 tiles (+68)
Max square 18x18 (still!)
Max Cluster: 849 (still!)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 24 July, 2022, 05:48:05 pm
The past two months have been a frenzy of tile bagging, spurred by the 9-euro ticket that allowed unlimited travel on German (non-express) trains for an entire month. (as an aside: this offer is also available for August, if you're interested).

3000km of cycling in two months in a total of nine rides: one 400km BRM and eight dedicated tile bagging rides with four of them over 400km. A grand total of 1929 new tiles. I need another ride to connect those to the cluster, but this I can do starting from a Dutch railway station. Which was the point of these two months: getting all the "far away" tiles for a 100+ square.

Random selection of pictures:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/221pfm1fy86633b/IMG_0387.jpeg?raw=1)
With a total area of about 192 km² the Bundeswehr Technical Center for Weapons and Ammunition (WTD 91) is huge. Fortunately most of it is publicly accessible (most of the time).
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/6nlewdblaexq8kb/IMG_0398.jpeg?raw=1)
Serious rain was predicted for the night. I didn't want to rely on finding a (bus or picnic) shelter to lay my bivvy and brought my Lofoten tent. Modus operandi on these 400+km rides was to find a somewhat secluded spot after 11:30pm or so then sleep until 4am.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/q09s27vnkci55ax/IMG_0417.jpeg?raw=1)
Breakfast. Bakeries must be the staple of German society. Even on Sunday they open early (often at 7am) with freshly baked stuff and coffee.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/6aevxlx3cux7k1x/IMG_0418.jpeg?raw=1)
Schützenfesten during the month of July; traditionally festivals or fairs featuring a target shooting competition, it's very much a social thing (drinking beer...). To maximise the fun each village organises their's on a weekend different from the neighbour's so they can visit each other.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/621jn4lgqmuyyt3/IMG_0431.jpeg?raw=1)
Taking a few hours rest in the changeover from forest to arable land under the whooshing sound of slowly turning windmills.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/5i40gurpa92d103/Frame-24-07-2022-04-23-47.jpeg?raw=1)
A decent effort of blocking this railway crossing, but no match for a tile hunting randonneur. Look thrice, cross once (and live to tell)
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/5qa7fci8kltbo23/IMG_0445.jpeg?raw=1)
Large moors in Northern Germany, I think nowadays they mostly cater soil for plants. Sandy and muddy roads which defeat mudguards.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/jugpomjz4sbvgq3/IMG_0509.jpeg?raw=1)
The road went from paved to gravel, then turned into a farm track which ultimately vanished into a wall of nettles and brambles. I wished I brought a machete. But soldiered on, dressed in a harness of raingear, blazing a trail by crushing the nettles and brambles to the side for some 200m then coming back for the bicycle.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/ri55y8kn9f0nidq/IMG_0523.jpeg?raw=1)
How my feet usually look after a tile ride.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/h407z7ecvfmze2f/IMG_0534.jpeg?raw=1)
Some comedy off-roading on the last ride. There wasn't a track perse, but with the high grass and foliage being freshly cut it it was ridable even though the mudflap scooped up a lot of it.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/45vettwb4xe8ghr/Screenshot%202022-07-24%20at%2018.41.12.png?raw=1)
All the activity of the past two months. The "missing" tiles to the South and East of Münster were bagged in previous years with audax rides.

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 24 July, 2022, 06:04:02 pm
Looks like a fantastic couple of months Zed43. 100+ will be quite some achievement.

I’m currently aiming for about half that, but at the moment all tiles are being obtained by cycling from home. I’ll probably avoid any travel assist until I’m up to 65-70, and then reconsider.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 25 July, 2022, 01:49:22 pm
Well in comparison to that epic tile bagging, so far this year I have only been out twice to get max square tiles.
This was due to finally catching up with family elsewhere after Covid and then having to be at home whilst work was being done on house.
 
The first was  a 9.3km walk, albeit one with 800+m climbing to nab a single tile that I missed last year by a 10m metres due to confusing signage and obfuscation of rights of way paths.
I had wanted to walk that area for ages because the rocky outcrops are very striking when you drive past.
So missing tile gave me a good excuse to finally visit Ramsey Rocks and The Roaches, just above Leek.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52239084697_d3223e74b5_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAbXU6) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAbXU6) by  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/153886060@N03/)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52239030672_dbd3a59122_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAbFQC) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAbFQC)  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/153886060@N03/)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52239031227_567b960abc_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAbG1c) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAbG1c)  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/153886060@N03/)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52240020373_f30fd8a607_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAgL3r) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAgL3r)  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/153886060@N03/)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52239031447_27896692dd_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAbG4Z) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAbG4Z)  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/153886060@N03/)



Only ride I've managed so far regarding my max square was a mere 25km bike ride in silly hot temps to get some moorland tiles near Ripponden that I should have got on a previous ride. One which I had to truncate the diversion from south side because I was already running out of light by time I got there.
See map of tiles missed on that ride below...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51499705671_11f0d58fbb_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msRsgR) (https://flic.kr/p/2msRsgR) by  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/153886060@N03/)

Those two tiles were off road and along quite brutally techy trails at times, so that ate up a lot of the day.
Anytime I ride moorland areas, I assume rides to last an awful lot longer than you would think. And then they take longer again.  ;D

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51500599395_121dde5bab_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2msW2WT) (https://flic.kr/p/2msW2WT)  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/153886060@N03/)

So this was collecting the missing tiles from previous loop. Despite only 25% of route being off road, I correctly guess the MTB was the sensible choice for that day. Whereas the CX was the better choice for above ride despite the rocky terrain in places , due to far longer road miles, which just a drag on a full sus MTB.  Though the newer version of my CX that can take bigger tyres whilst weighing even less, would be the perfect choice for my very mixed on/off road rides.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52240016158_fff96b15cb_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAgJML) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAgJML)  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/153886060@N03/)

Steep Lane was indeed steep. But not even close to the steepest climb on route.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52240057228_a12c526dc5_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAgWZS) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAgWZS)  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/153886060@N03/)

The road up from Triangle past here was a lot steeper

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52240335419_793d35bbf7_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAinGg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAinGg)  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/153886060@N03/)



(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52240335394_33f28241e9_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAinFQ) (https://flic.kr/p/2nAinFQ)  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/153886060@N03/)



Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 25 July, 2022, 02:00:26 pm
3000km of cycling in two months in a total of nine rides: one 400km BRM and eight dedicated tile bagging rides with four of them over 400km. A grand total of 1929 new tiles. I need another ride to connect those to the cluster, but this I can do starting from a Dutch railway station. Which was the point of these two months: getting all the "far away" tiles for a 100+ square.

I had considered using my bikepacking kit to be able to do longer multiday rides, but so many of my rides up until now have been a serious challenge to ride and clamber even unladen, that was simply not an option.
But having finally finished the Peak District and the tough offroad riding that involves, that now may be possible.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 08 August, 2022, 11:59:45 am
https://www.strava.com/clubs/334054/posts/21595809

Just dropping this here
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 08 August, 2022, 12:57:23 pm
I tried that over weekend, but after tweaking parameters to do a more sensible speed animation for my rides, then it always failed to complete.  :'(
Need to file a bug report.

Been waiting for this sort of thing for a very long time. Ben mentioned he may do something a few years back, but I guess he's too busy with all the other aspects of VV.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 08 August, 2022, 01:13:24 pm
No major tiling of late, the last ride I did was a speed focused 200k-class ride up to London.

It feels like sacrilege to do 200 km of old squares, but had I tried tiling I wouldn't have finished.

I did get a nice couple at Popham avoiding the A303:
(https://i.ibb.co/VNWRnm5/image.png) (https://ibb.co/4fZzvd3)
And a few more in Hounslow.

It shouldn't be too hard to tile to London in stages, at least, with the existing rides laying the foundation. But my eye is still set on bridging my Midlands gap, as there's a juicy cluster to join up there.
(https://i.ibb.co/yW2JT6D/image.png) (https://ibb.co/xJZQv1y)

https://www.strava.com/clubs/334054/posts/21595809

Just dropping this here
See if this works:
(https://i.ibb.co/f9gk75c/statshunters-recorded-20220808.gif) (https://ibb.co/HCStQsJ)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 09 August, 2022, 11:16:48 pm
Last week my Belgian max cluster went from this:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52275211626_eef8fa649c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nDo8bb)
belgium cluster before (https://flic.kr/p/2nDo8bb) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr

To this:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52274239982_e73ce8210e.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nDi9kG)
belgium cluster after (https://flic.kr/p/2nDi9kG) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 10 August, 2022, 09:23:17 am
Last week my Belgian max cluster went from this:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52275211626_eef8fa649c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nDo8bb)
belgium cluster before (https://flic.kr/p/2nDo8bb) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr

To this:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52274239982_e73ce8210e.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nDi9kG)
belgium cluster after (https://flic.kr/p/2nDi9kG) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Problem with continental clusters is trying to join them up.
(https://i.ibb.co/60c8JBv/image.png) (https://ibb.co/HTLCpdN)
Maybe you could talk Eurotunnel into allowing a charity ride through the service tunnel? Still quite a lot of swimming, though.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 10 August, 2022, 12:37:54 pm

Kayaking is also a valid option...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 10 August, 2022, 12:48:17 pm
SUP is the watersport of the moment.

(I'm not sure how any of these options would be viewed in what used to be the world's busiest shipping lane.)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 10 August, 2022, 12:59:57 pm
I'm not sure how any of these options would be viewed in what used to be the world's busiest shipping lane.

I expect there's a risk of the home secretary trying to sink you, at the very least...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 10 August, 2022, 02:31:05 pm
I'm not sure how any of these options would be viewed in what used to be the world's busiest shipping lane.

I expect there's a risk of the home secretary trying to sink you, at the very least...

Depends which direction you go in...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 10 August, 2022, 11:09:58 pm
The way things are going, folk will start heading away from UK in search of a better life...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: DuncanM on 11 August, 2022, 08:29:09 am
You guys do mega miles! I was quite pleased that on the weekend I got my max square up to 11x11!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 11 August, 2022, 09:16:00 am
SUP is the watersport of the moment.

(I'm not sure how any of these options would be viewed in what used to be the world's busiest shipping lane.)
I know the French are hot on permits for cross-channel swims, and it's similar with Kayaks - I was thinking you might need three crossings to do it, and thus you could do a modified triathlon. But it's actually fairly easy with a ride through the Chunnel and then a swim or kayak or whatnot back.
(https://i.ibb.co/41jKYdF/image.png) (https://ibb.co/PD5F9Qr)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 15 August, 2022, 08:57:27 am
Spot of MOD trespass and I'm up to 29x29.

Next up: swimming in Hartlepool Bay.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 18 August, 2022, 09:32:34 pm
Just catching up on the world of tiling, seems privacy rules have changed several useful things over the summer  :o

Three months of riding lots of coast have been fun but have done absolutely nothing for my Square or Cluster but I have an outline to fill in now  :D

In a complete chance meeting in Thurso knowing we were close, I had a couple of Coffees with the legend that is Jonathon France. He was on his impressive cluster expansion almost to JOG, we had a great chat.
Funnily enough he mentioned expanding into northern France/Belgium maybe seeing your channel hopping discussion.

(https://plumzenduro.files.wordpress.com/2022/08/wheel-final.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 August, 2022, 06:25:41 pm


There's one tile near me that's been bugging me since I started tiling. It's only accessible via water, or creative trespass on some farm tracks.

Every time I've cycled past the gate to said farm tracks has been locked. And as it's not frozen over enough for me to walk this bit. That left only one option. The water.

Fortunately there is a kayak/canoe hire place about 200m from the edge of the tile. Today I persuaded 5 friends to join me on a kayak trip around the nature area that just happened to include the tile. 9km of paddling to get one tile. Tho in theory we could have done about 800m and got the tile. I am very glad I have friends who are ok with enabling my tile hunts.

Before:

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fam_FzsXkAAR4oe?format=jpg&name=large)

And after:

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fam_D3JXgAkEoL_?format=jpg&name=large)


This, along with the riding I did for my failed TCR attempt brings me to:

13231 tiles
Max square 29x29
Max Cluster: 2272

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 23 August, 2022, 05:37:14 am
A Belgian supped across the channel last Sunday in 6h15. Dutch video (https://www.nu.nl/294817/video/belg-supt-40-kilometer-over-het-kanaal-naar-engeland.html) Two more crossings to go!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: wfb on 28 August, 2022, 03:19:35 pm
https://www.strava.com/activities/7676637528
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 28 August, 2022, 04:31:07 pm
Impressive stuff.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 04 September, 2022, 03:07:51 pm

Had to go to a place near Enschede for a birthday party, so took the opportunity to bag some tiles.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fb0NOk6WAAYon2n?format=jpg&name=large)

Cluster now goes all the way from the North sea near Den haag, to the German border at Enschede.

Next goal: The Belgian border.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 12 September, 2022, 03:54:52 pm
Have things changed with how VV talks to Strava? My VV is now missing loads of start/ends etc. and shows Zwift rides (even when I've got them turned off).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: lissotriton on 12 September, 2022, 04:17:41 pm
Strava has added a feature to hide the start/end of rides. Check on your privacy settings. Seems it is set to 200m by default.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 12 September, 2022, 04:23:23 pm
Strava has added a feature to hide the start/end of rides. Check on your privacy settings. Seems it is set to 200m by default.
Has that not always been so? I'll have a look at it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: lissotriton on 12 September, 2022, 04:34:36 pm
Its always had a feature to hide the start/end for specific locations.
The new feature hides the start/end for any rides, wherever they start. And you can adjust it for each ride if you want.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 18 September, 2022, 09:15:42 pm
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220918/3aaac6facb1f7b72505d989a15a752ff.jpg)
Hey gang. I’ll be forever pursuing, but I’ve finally got my max square up to where I want to be for now. A house move West from Brighton last year opened up more exploring opportunities. I’d best move North next, ha.

Max Square :: 31x31
Tiles :: 4054
Max Cluster :: 1801
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sg37409 on 02 October, 2022, 04:36:39 pm
Sneaked up to 14 square on Monday with a quick south-side detour on my way to the pub
Cluster is 790, 8709 tiles
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 17 October, 2022, 08:51:50 pm
Jeez, West Yorkshire is hilly. But I pushed my square up to 56x56 ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 18 October, 2022, 03:52:31 am
Jeez, West Yorkshire is hilly. But I pushed my square up to 56x56 ;D
Wow, can we see it?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 18 October, 2022, 08:19:31 am
Assuming Deano is enjoying a well-earned lie in

Something a lot like this:

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20221018/243bbd9e27b949139dbfa1ec34950b26.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 18 October, 2022, 08:39:39 am
Assuming Deano is enjoying a well-earned lie in

Something a lot like this:

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20221018/243bbd9e27b949139dbfa1ec34950b26.jpg)

Not bad but he really needs to pull his finger out and ride the road from East Witton to Coverham and do a little bit of trespassing just north of Brafferton  :P
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 18 October, 2022, 11:52:52 am
Thinking about getting a cheapo android phone just for the app. There's definitely no Apple version, right?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 18 October, 2022, 06:03:16 pm
I think citoyen had an apple app?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: lissotriton on 18 October, 2022, 06:41:58 pm
There is an iOS version of OsmAnd. Should be able to add Veloviewer tiles as a layer? Maybe this will work. https://vv.fork.pl/
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 18 October, 2022, 07:45:02 pm
For IOS there is Tile Hunter (https://tilehunter.web.app/). I find refreshing of your tiles rather cumbersome and a tad unreliable though. If it's just for displaying I'd recommend just using the statshunters (https://statshunters.com) website on your mobile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 18 October, 2022, 10:13:30 pm
Jeez, West Yorkshire is hilly. But I pushed my square up to 56x56 ;D
Wow, can we see it?

Here we go (I must still have a few squares where my route through is private, hence the gaps when other folk have a skeg):

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52438440503_cb9b4711f4_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2nTNHra)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: imajez on 18 October, 2022, 10:50:01 pm
Jeez, West Yorkshire is hilly. But I pushed my square up to 56x56 ;D
Yorkshire is pretty lumpy in general, bar Doncaster. But Donny is best avoided if possible.  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 24 October, 2022, 10:23:53 am
Trying to colour in East Lothian at the minute, what a fantastic place to ride bikes.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 24 October, 2022, 10:12:41 pm
East Lothian is superb, lthe Go East Lothian Trail by Markus Stitz is good for getting a lot of tiles between North Berwick aooknd Dunbar. Look out for tiles that are uncovered at low tide too!.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 30 October, 2022, 08:25:29 pm

Went out on another tile hunt. An 86km ride from Breda upto Rotterdam, filling in some gaps. Most importantly around the river. Result is that my cluster now reaches south of the river.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FgV0sVOWIAAlinn?format=jpg&name=large)

I think I'm one ride away from getting my cluster across the Belgian border. Then it will span 3 countries.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 07 November, 2022, 07:02:17 pm
Yesterday's MTB Orienteering event from Sibford Gower has added a significant amount of mud to the inside of my car 11 tiles and created an unattached mini-cluster just west of Banbury.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52484798503_052796a403_z.jpg)

I reckon it would only take 5 more tiles to attach this to the main cluster :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Rod Marton on 13 November, 2022, 01:56:50 pm
A quick update on my progress. My aims this year were to attach my Reading mini-cluster to the main cluster, get the main cluster to over 1500 tiles and the square to 30x30. So:

Not only did I attach the Reading mini-cluster, I also pushed the main cluster out in the other direction as far as Abergavenny. Admittedly it now looks a bit like Mr Tickle, but whatever.

Largely due to the above, my cluster total is now well over 1600.

The square proved to be the difficult one. I was sitting at 29x29 for a long time, and I had a ride planned to push the square out a bit further. One of the roads just brushed the edge of a tile, and unfortunately a bit of GPS wander meant that my track didn't quite get into it. So it failed. Today I have finally been out that way again and went up the dead end on the other side of the tile to make sure it would register. So, 30x30 achieved. Whilst I was out that way I thought I might as well bag another tile to push the square up to 31x31, and after a bit of comedy off-roading along a very squelchy path I have that too. So targets achieved.

Now I just have to think what to aim for next year...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peat on 15 November, 2022, 04:37:15 pm
I have 'cheated' somewhat by moving house to the eastern edge of my original Max Square last summer. (it wasn't the primary motivation, I assure you)

South West corner is bulwarked by Salisbury Plain, North East currently difficult because HS2. Still, I have been able to flesh out the middle and am up to 40x40. Once so big, it definately loses it's luster, i find. The rides take more planning, I often drive out and do a loop rather than trudge over the same old roads there and back, which of itself makes it feel a bit silly.

nevermind, we must press on!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sparklyfish on 26 December, 2022, 09:33:19 am
Greetings fellow square enthusiasts.  :)

I will be starting 2023 with a max square of two 48x48s and am harbouring an aspiration to get to 50x50 by the end of 2023.

(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/Djr--u2qdOKtm-EonCOf_tel14aHcLP7JUYqzl-HJpI-1152x2048.jpg)

not looking forward to Luton, but more Chilterns will be nice! Any interesting square-based plans for the year ahead?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 26 December, 2022, 10:25:47 am
I'm looking forward to working on the tiles in and around Edinburgh, this part of the world seems a cracking place to ride bikes.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 02 January, 2023, 07:24:21 am
2022 was a moderate year for tiling- more walking than cycling, with a bit of kayaking thrown in

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52602105578_9b7c02470e.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2o9gxmN) (https://flic.kr/p/2o9gxmN)

started like this

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52602033825_15f58b0092.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2o9gb2F) (https://flic.kr/p/2o9gb2F)

and ended like this

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52601109607_e4a049f93d.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2o9brhT) (https://flic.kr/p/2o9brhT)

Also got a to 9x9 in Norfolk and about 100 new tiles in France (too fragmented to be more than 4x4)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 02 January, 2023, 07:26:53 am
The state of affairs after my new-years-day DIY

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/mn00w8gtdmc22hc/veloviewer_20230101.png?raw=1)

Cluster now 16008, after visiting 6870 new tiles in 2022.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: psyclist on 02 January, 2023, 08:25:22 am
The state of affairs after my new-years-day DIY

Cluster now 16008, after visiting 6870 new tiles in 2022.

That's impressive. Two more regions to explore and then you'll be jumping up your max square quite significantly.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 04 January, 2023, 01:01:47 pm
The state of affairs after my new-years-day DIY
Cluster now 16008, after visiting 6870 new tiles in 2022.

Thats impressive Peter  :thumbsup:
I make you the top cluster improver of 2022, looks like the 100x100 is on the horizon, great riding.

This might interest you and other Tile hunters, the top dogs.
https://www.strava.com/clubs/279168/posts/23009456
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 04 January, 2023, 01:49:44 pm
Wowza!

Meanwhile this is my state of affairs. I began work on extending my cluster down the spine of the country, it's tantalisingly possible.
(https://i.ibb.co/j4VPWQg/image.png) (https://ibb.co/pXWBRMJ)
But a couple of big rides a long way from home are needed.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 08 January, 2023, 08:03:33 pm
Non been here for a while.  What do people use to plan explorer rides these days?  Did Strava remove veloviewer tile functionality from their route creator?  Can't seem to find it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 08 January, 2023, 08:48:37 pm
Good old Garmin Basecamp, I download unexplored tiles in .kml format from veloviewer.com and import that into basecamp. I double check my routes by uploading the track to statshunters.com and check if I missed a tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: lissotriton on 08 January, 2023, 09:17:05 pm
Non been here for a while.  What do people use to plan explorer rides these days?  Did Strava remove veloviewer tile functionality from their route creator?  Can't seem to find it.
You need to install the Chrome extension.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/veloviewer-strava-plugin/kdgpnlmocdpeckamipkkdblnfcpkgbno
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sg37409 on 08 January, 2023, 10:03:36 pm
Regarding "losing tiles", has anyone noticed VV doing this at the turn of the year ?  Am wondering if VV optimises old rides once/year and that led to my tile total reducing by 59 recently since I last noted it at the end of October
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 08 January, 2023, 11:32:03 pm
Thanks Zed.

Cheers lissotriton, I'd forgotten it was a Chrome thing.

You need to install the Chrome extension.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 09 January, 2023, 12:49:25 pm
Non been here for a while.  What do people use to plan explorer rides these days?  Did Strava remove veloviewer tile functionality from their route creator?  Can't seem to find it.

this site https://vv.fork.pl/ allows you to add a custom layer to different route planners. i use it with the brouter.de site and it works very well
(https://plumzenduro.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/brouter-for-planning.jpg)

I also have signed up with a Veloviewer imitation/inspired site called Squadrats which has a very good plugin that works well with several sites. i use it on RidewithGPS
(https://plumzenduro.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/rwgps-for-planning.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jack_P on 09 January, 2023, 01:01:34 pm
Regarding "losing tiles", has anyone noticed VV doing this at the turn of the year ?  Am wondering if VV optimises old rides once/year and that led to my tile total reducing by 59 recently since I last noted it at the end of October

I took a screenshot of the top tilers overall at the end of 2022, late 31st Dec and comparing to a look just now I would say this is not the case, if it was going to affect anyone it would be these guys who on average gain from 5k to 10K of new tiles per year
(https://plumzenduro.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/total-tiles-compare.jpg)

When this has happened in the recent past it is because of changes the user has made in strava, if you change a security setting (or maybe strava itself as they now cut of the start and end of rides) Strava then flags your rides affected as changed, veloviewer then reimports them and this has appled its latest algorithm to rides and removed tiles. This definately happened in 2021 to several people.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 09 January, 2023, 01:17:36 pm
I also have signed up with a Veloviewer imitation/inspired site called Squadrats which has a very good plugin that works well with several sites. i use it on RidewithGPS
(https://plumzenduro.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/rwgps-for-planning.jpg)

How different are the squadrats, sizewise, from tiles?
I'm loathe to sign up for another one, but I can't stand the Strava route maker, and binning that off would make me happy.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 09 January, 2023, 02:04:14 pm
I also have signed up with a Veloviewer imitation/inspired site called Squadrats which has a very good plugin that works well with several sites. i use it on RidewithGPS
(https://plumzenduro.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/rwgps-for-planning.jpg)

How different are the squadrats, sizewise, from tiles?
I'm loathe to sign up for another one, but I can't stand the Strava route maker, and binning that off would make me happy.
Judging by the map, identical:
(https://i.ibb.co/QdT6cFX/image.png) (https://ibb.co/jRQL5vH)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 09 January, 2023, 08:38:43 pm
Nope, I'm missing a few squadrats where I've them accredited by Veloviewer.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sg37409 on 09 January, 2023, 10:21:33 pm
... I would say this is not the case, if it was going to affect anyone it would be these guys who on average gain from 5k to 10K of new tiles per year

... if you change a security setting (or maybe strava itself as they now cut of the start and end of rides) Strava then flags your rides affected as changed, veloviewer then reimports them and this has appled its latest algorithm to rides and removed tiles. This definately happened in 2021 to several people.

Thanks for this - seems likely.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 10 January, 2023, 03:18:27 pm
Non been here for a while.  What do people use to plan explorer rides these days?  Did Strava remove veloviewer tile functionality from their route creator?  Can't seem to find it.

this site https://vv.fork.pl/ allows you to add a custom layer to different route planners. i use it with the brouter.de site and it works very well
(https://plumzenduro.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/brouter-for-planning.jpg)


I also have signed up with a Veloviewer imitation/inspired site called Squadrats which has a very good plugin that works well with several sites. i use it on RidewithGPS
...

Thanks for this.  :)  Just tested it out with Brouter.  I can get the basic grid, but no colour coding / cluster data is shown.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 10 January, 2023, 03:32:46 pm
Non been here for a while.  What do people use to plan explorer rides these days?  Did Strava remove veloviewer tile functionality from their route creator?  Can't seem to find it.

this site https://vv.fork.pl/ allows you to add a custom layer to different route planners. i use it with the brouter.de site and it works very well
(https://plumzenduro.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/brouter-for-planning.jpg)


I also have signed up with a Veloviewer imitation/inspired site called Squadrats which has a very good plugin that works well with several sites. i use it on RidewithGPS
...

Thanks for this.  :)  Just tested it out with Brouter.  I can get the basic grid, but no colour coding / cluster data is shown.

Did you feed your VeloViewer ID into the vv.fork.pl page, set the access permissions and press the 'Refresh Explorer Stats' button?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 10 January, 2023, 05:53:38 pm
Did you feed your VeloViewer ID into the vv.fork.pl page, set the access permissions and press the 'Refresh Explorer Stats' button?

No, that'll be why.  :thumbsup: OOI if one shares VV data with vv.fork.pl, does that mean one can only revoke access (if desired) by fork.pl, by revoking access to VV in Strava.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 16 January, 2023, 11:06:30 am
Nope, I'm missing a few squadrats where I've them accredited by Veloviewer.
As far as I can determine I'm missing one.
(https://i.ibb.co/XYQ34Lf/B7-F94554-7-EAA-4568-9-E1-B-9142341-BFAF8.jpg) (https://ibb.co/GH6tJpf)
The grid itself has to be identical, otherwise more would be missing. The culprit is the algorithm.

But being able to plot VV tiling routes in RidewithGPS is unaffected by that, and Squadratinhos make for a fun side quest locally.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 16 January, 2023, 09:15:16 pm
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230116/ebc3b2d0885bc48e74c551197de00a18.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 16 January, 2023, 09:16:11 pm
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230116/ebc3b2d0885bc48e74c551197de00a18.jpg)
I feel I have southerly bias. 2/3 of my max square is south of my home.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 17 January, 2023, 08:06:39 am
I still don't live in my square.

Have you seen those County Durham moors?  :hand:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: NorthumberlandNick on 19 January, 2023, 10:35:00 pm
Is there a problem with the Strava Veloviewer extension in Chrome? It doesn't seem to come up any longer when editing routes for me.
Looks like Strava have changed the route edit page a bit - I`m guessing this might have messed it up.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 20 January, 2023, 07:15:16 pm
Is there a problem with the Strava Veloviewer extension in Chrome? It doesn't seem to come up any longer when editing routes for me.
Looks like Strava have changed the route edit page a bit - I`m guessing this might have messed it up.
I concur. Was working last week. Just going to plan some title grabbing over the weekend and it has disappeared.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 20 January, 2023, 08:17:06 pm
I'd been trying out the Statshunter plugin and that is still working on Strava.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Davef on 21 January, 2023, 11:18:07 am
I thought I would try the stats hunter one and before I got it working…. Veloviewer is back ! (As personal heatmap).
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kamoshika on 25 January, 2023, 09:51:29 am
I mostly lurk (fairly infrequently) on here, but just wanted to post to say thanks for the Sqadrats tip. It's taken it a few days to import all my Strava activities, but now it's done it's great. I've long used Ride With GPS and the Squadrats Chrome plugin that works with that is fantastic. I also really like the Sqadratinhos which will make my (whispers quietly) running more interesting, trying to fill the gaps in my grid locally.

I've only noticed one tile that VV gives me but Sqadrats doesn't, but to be fair I think the road that I've used many times doesn't actually pass through the tile, and it's only GPS wander that's caused VV to credit me with the tile, so I'll revisit that and take a road that definitely passes through.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kamoshika on 27 January, 2023, 03:23:58 pm
Tile hunting on a slightly bigger scale: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/26/chartbuster-cyclist-rides-7000-miles-across-every-ordnance-survey-map
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: The_Mikey on 27 January, 2023, 07:34:57 pm
Taking cost of parts into account and the time it will take, (I'm estimating based on my own experience of servicing my own bike, I don't work in a bike shop and some of those jobs I won't do since I don't have the tools and patience to do,  I'm more likely to buy replacement components in some circumstances than service the existing ones )   I'm thinking between £250 - £300.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 03 February, 2023, 10:27:04 pm
I can't find the veloviewer grid option in Strava routes on Chrome any more.  My VV extension seems all in order.  I note there's been some recent issues.  Has it disappeared?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 04 February, 2023, 06:58:24 am
same here- personal heatmap no longer shows tiles
**update***  VeloViewer twitter says there was another change to the Strava Route Builder yesterday morning.  Ben has rolled out a change to his Chrome extension and it should be released on Google within 24 hrs.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 04 February, 2023, 01:42:24 pm

The chrome extension for the strava route planner works for me. I didn't do anything so dunno if it updated automagically or not.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 05 February, 2023, 09:05:03 pm
Caught on military grounds ✅ on foreign soil ✅

Most likely my last "naughty" tile for a 100 square, and the only that might have gotten me in trouble. Luckily it was a forester and not the MP, and he was mostly perplexed that someone would still wander into an area with "Danger of Deth, here be unexploded ordnance" signs repeated every 100m at the perimeter. (I don't have a death wish, it was 300 meters on a well maintained and clear track with recent tyre marks)

Fortunately my German was good enough to apologise and blame my GPS and bad enough to be dismissed as Another Dumb Dutchman  ;). Already on my way back to the perimeter and dressed in hi-viz clothing may have added to the story of an innocent dimwit and I soon was sent on my way with a parting "schönes Wochenende"

The adventure of tiling  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 05 February, 2023, 09:53:08 pm
Caught on military grounds ✅ on foreign soil ✅

Most likely my last "naughty" tile for a 100 square, and the only that might have gotten me in trouble. Luckily it was a forester and not the MP, and he was mostly perplexed that someone would still wander into an area with "Danger of Deth, here be unexploded ordnance" signs repeated every 100m at the perimeter. (I don't have a death wish, it was 300 meters on a well maintained and clear track with recent tyre marks)

Fortunately my German was good enough to apologise and blame my GPS and bad enough to be dismissed as Another Dumb Dutchman  ;). Already on my way back to the perimeter and dressed in hi-viz clothing may have added to the story of an innocent dimwit and I soon was sent on my way with a parting "schönes Wochenende"

The adventure of tiling  ;D

It's amazing what you can get away with if you blame Google maps. That's saved my arse a couple of times.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 06 February, 2023, 09:44:42 am
Caught on military grounds ✅ on foreign soil ✅

Most likely my last "naughty" tile for a 100 square, and the only that might have gotten me in trouble. Luckily it was a forester and not the MP, and he was mostly perplexed that someone would still wander into an area with "Danger of Deth, here be unexploded ordnance" signs repeated every 100m at the perimeter. (I don't have a death wish, it was 300 meters on a well maintained and clear track with recent tyre marks)

Fortunately my German was good enough to apologise and blame my GPS and bad enough to be dismissed as Another Dumb Dutchman  ;). Already on my way back to the perimeter and dressed in hi-viz clothing may have added to the story of an innocent dimwit and I soon was sent on my way with a parting "schönes Wochenende"

The adventure of tiling  ;D

It's amazing what you can get away with if you blame Google maps. That's saved my arse a couple of times.

J
I don't think I'd have got away with that for the Lulworth one, given, y'know, the padlocked gate.
(https://i.ibb.co/jf0zVbF/image.png) (https://ibb.co/NCDr1tz)
(https://i.ibb.co/3BWVW25/image.png) (https://ibb.co/862G2qn)
But there was nobody around  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 06 February, 2023, 12:49:16 pm
Caught on military grounds ✅ on foreign soil ✅

Most likely my last "naughty" tile for a 100 square, and the only that might have gotten me in trouble. Luckily it was a forester and not the MP, and he was mostly perplexed that someone would still wander into an area with "Danger of Deth, here be unexploded ordnance" signs repeated every 100m at the perimeter. (I don't have a death wish, it was 300 meters on a well maintained and clear track with recent tyre marks)

Fortunately my German was good enough to apologise and blame my GPS and bad enough to be dismissed as Another Dumb Dutchman  ;). Already on my way back to the perimeter and dressed in hi-viz clothing may have added to the story of an innocent dimwit and I soon was sent on my way with a parting "schönes Wochenende"

The adventure of tiling  ;D
Which bit of DE was that?

I failed in Niederkrüchten and unless I take up golf I will not get that tile.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 06 February, 2023, 02:05:26 pm
Ah, the former RAF base near Brüggen :) The good news for that tile is that (AFAIK) it will be developed into industrial or housing.

My tile was just North of the village of Lavesum, near Haltern am See.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 06 February, 2023, 09:27:56 pm
Caught on military grounds ✅ on foreign soil ✅

Most likely my last "naughty" tile for a 100 square, and the only that might have gotten me in trouble. Luckily it was a forester and not the MP, and he was mostly perplexed that someone would still wander into an area with "Danger of Deth, here be unexploded ordnance" signs repeated every 100m at the perimeter. (I don't have a death wish, it was 300 meters on a well maintained and clear track with recent tyre marks)

Fortunately my German was good enough to apologise and blame my GPS and bad enough to be dismissed as Another Dumb Dutchman  ;). Already on my way back to the perimeter and dressed in hi-viz clothing may have added to the story of an innocent dimwit and I soon was sent on my way with a parting "schönes Wochenende"

The adventure of tiling  ;D
Which bit of DE was that?

I failed in Niederkrüchten and unless I take up golf I will not get that tile.

I already failed 3 times at RAF Brüggen. Waiting for the redevelopment (or when someone de-fenced it)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 07 February, 2023, 11:21:50 pm


https://youtu.be/31vE4FbKna0

Well that's one way to get the tiles in the channel...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 13 February, 2023, 08:06:45 pm
That Squadrats plugin is great for plotting in RideWithGPS, I like it, except it's alerted me to a missing square smack bang in the middle of my max square  :facepalm:

Back down to 11x11...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 06 March, 2023, 01:18:53 pm
@FifeingEejit 's 'Tour of the Ochils' got me 25 new tiles

11230 tiles
Max square 18x18 (still!)
Max Cluster: 848 (seem to have lost one somewhere!)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 14 March, 2023, 11:49:07 am
That Squadrats plugin is great for plotting in RideWithGPS, I like it, except it's alerted me to a missing square smack bang in the middle of my max square  :facepalm:

Back down to 11x11...
That might just be the ride is private, worth reviewing.

Once going through privacy settings I haven't spotted a single mismatch with VV.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 15 March, 2023, 03:22:24 pm
That Squadrats plugin is great for plotting in RideWithGPS, I like it, except it's alerted me to a missing square smack bang in the middle of my max square  :facepalm:

Back down to 11x11...
That might just be the ride is private, worth reviewing.

Once going through privacy settings I haven't spotted a single mismatch with VV.
Nope, I actually haven't been through it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 02 April, 2023, 08:45:55 pm
Upped the square to 106x106 today.

(https://www.fiets.nl/forum/download/file.php?id=17737&t=1)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 02 April, 2023, 09:37:56 pm
Wow
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 02 April, 2023, 10:13:56 pm

Seriously impressive @Zed43!!

And on page 106 of the thread too...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: slugbait on 04 April, 2023, 09:25:13 am
Upped the square to 106x106 today.


If I count quickly, it's 51 tiles south until you hit the impossible tile near Brüggen. Is there anything else (except logistical and time issues) that's stopping you to reach 157x157?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 04 April, 2023, 04:38:24 pm
Hopefully, by the time I reach Brüggen re-development will have started and that big fence torn down :)

The main obstacle until Brüggen will be Truppenübungsplatz Senne, the huge military training grounds North of Paderborn (31 tiles away). Some roads crossing it are public when there is no live fire, but that still leaves some pretty deep incursions to get all the tiles. And I know from a ride report on Strava that there is active patrolling, even on Sunday... And there could also a few "difficult" military and industrial tiles North-West of Bremen. It's a bit difficult to judge, with Germany banning Google Streetview  :(
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: slugbait on 04 April, 2023, 08:55:58 pm
So time to start canoeing the IJsselmeer and Waddenzee to avoid those obstacles  ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 04 April, 2023, 09:54:47 pm
I honestly think there's more risk in that than in trespassing on military grounds  :-\ Big open water is not to be taken lightly. Maybe, if the weather is really really calm and stable I'll try to get (some of) the islands into the cluster.

But after filling that hole East of Arnhem I'll give rest to increasing the square for a good while. First PBP qualification and getting used to the new bike (anxiously awaiting it), doing a few more BRM (Maastricht 1000 is on the wish-list as is a German 600) and maybe a little cluster expansion in Holland and in the South in between.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Salvatore on 13 April, 2023, 12:10:46 pm
At the weekend I added 13 new tiles to the east of my main cluster round Woking. My square/cluster extends further to the west of my home than to the east - it's just more pleasant cycling to the west than to the east.

(https://imgur.com/mhYrBf1.png)

A couple of years ago I managed all the military ranges round Aldershot, Bisley etc without getting arrested. Or shot.

Next week I'm going to try to fill in some missing tiles in my secondary cluster on the Machars peninsula,

  (https://imgur.com/1nu1qwol.png)
 (https://imgur.com/1nu1qwo.png)

including this one, which should be doable without getting my feet wet if I time it right.


  (https://imgur.com/hmBisQ2.png)
 (https://imgur.com/hmBisQ2.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 14 April, 2023, 04:48:28 am
At the weekend I added 13 new tiles to the east of my main cluster round Woking. My square/cluster extends further to the west of my home than to the east - it's just more pleasant cycling to the west than to the east.

(https://imgur.com/mhYrBf1.png)

A couple of years ago I managed all the military ranges round Aldershot, Bisley etc without getting arrested. Or shot.

Next week I'm going to try to fill in some missing tiles in my secondary cluster on the Machars peninsula,

  (https://imgur.com/1nu1qwol.png)
 (https://imgur.com/1nu1qwo.png)

including this one, which should be doable without getting my feet wet if I time it right.


  (https://imgur.com/hmBisQ2.png)
 (https://imgur.com/hmBisQ2.png)
Well done Salvatore, your square is pretty-much my target for the next few years! I have completed from Eastbourne, in the South East, up to the South West tip of your cluster basically.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 14 April, 2023, 04:02:11 pm
Extended my max cluster from Sunderland up to Alnwick the other day. It got a bit too adventurous in places tbh.

(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/dUgcJgeSZUGsDvBM_n54j42HYwR7NFXTX_FZtAR2jz8-1536x2048.jpg)

(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/LCU33tyuLwA8g1mdZw-60PYifQr-FOjQh0lz7KE6DlU-2048x1536.jpg)

(https://i.ibb.co/kHTT3Z2/Screenshot-2023-04-14-at-15-59-25.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 15 April, 2023, 06:45:20 pm

Today I decided to take the train to the North of Noord Holland, and cycle south until I got hungry, then get on a train. 48km later, I was annoyed at myself for not having a better breakfast. But I did manage to extend my cluster to the north of Noord Holland at Den Helder.

(https://social.v.st/system/media_attachments/files/110/204/036/022/874/502/original/d2e1a018409cf41b.png)

Am happy with that.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: alfapete on 16 April, 2023, 08:45:53 am

(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/LCU33tyuLwA8g1mdZw-60PYifQr-FOjQh0lz7KE6DlU-2048x1536.jpg)


Did you take your phone out of your pocket with just one hand just to get that picture? Can see a few potential perils in that manoeuvre!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 16 April, 2023, 09:29:49 am
I did the 'To the Chapel' 300k audax from Alfreton yesterday.  The outbound route ran along the top edge of my max square and with a few tweaks it was easy to fill in some gaps and put a two tile border on it.  I had decided that I would probably stick with the groups from the start instead of doing my own route but a puncture at 10k changed all that and I was pleased that I had also loaded the tiling version.

After the first control at Newark I reverted to the official route and was happy to collect whatever tiles it passed through as these were almost entirely new roads to me.

187 new tiles increased my max cluster by 35.

To increase the max square now needs a bit of work between Newark and Sleaford.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 16 April, 2023, 07:22:21 pm
Nice weekend of cycling, bringing the Pioulou (https://tipik-tentes.fr/tentes/Pioulou_DT) for an overnighter at a campsite. 416 kilometers and 284 new tiles bringing the square to 114x114.

It'll have to do for a while, I've been lured by The Dark Side and need to practice for PBP  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 16 April, 2023, 08:12:20 pm
Well done, Zed.

Back amongst the mere mortals, I've hacked my cluster up to Fife, down to Wanker Newark, and over to Pickering a wee bit, which gives me chance to expand the square on three sides (for now, at least). Should really put a bit of effort into the southern edge of the square, the western edge will be proper hard work.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52821668537_da0e83371f_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2otERM4)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 16 April, 2023, 11:18:43 pm
Finally got Fife done, quite a few tiles with no paths, never mind roads, but good practice for beyond!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52822101407_37ac869300_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2otH5sk)fife (https://flic.kr/p/2otH5sk)

Tiles 4534, Cluster 1706, square 20x20.   Next targets
1) to increase the square.
2) Cluster Coast to Coast
3) Cluster to Berwick
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 17 April, 2023, 12:04:07 am
 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 17 April, 2023, 04:43:44 pm
Finally got Fife done, quite a few tiles with no paths, never mind roads, but good practice for beyond!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52822101407_37ac869300_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2otH5sk)fife (https://flic.kr/p/2otH5sk)

Tiles 4534, Cluster 1706, square 20x20.   Next targets
1) to increase the square.
2) Cluster Coast to Coast
3) Cluster to Berwick
How did you manage to get your cluster over the Queensferry crossing? I'm working my Edinburgh/East Lothian cluster east and down for now, but thinking for the future. Dean went the long way via Kincardine, but that's miles away.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 17 April, 2023, 09:44:27 pm
Quote
How did you manage to get your cluster over the Queensferry crossing? I'm working my Edinburgh/East Lothian cluster east and down for now, but thinking for the future. Dean went the long way via Kincardine, but that's miles away.

Paddleboard.  Hoping to use it to get the whole of the Inner Forth.  But am very much a fair weather paddler, so will need to wait for a perfect day.  There are a few muddy tiles accessible on foot at very low tides in the vicinity of the bridges. 

But Kincardine is doable and I had done that first before getting across the QC.  The paddleboard also enabled me to do Loch Leven which means I could up my max square a lot.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: CarlF on 18 April, 2023, 08:31:06 am
Looks like you've had the board out on the inner Tay around Errol as well? That's what's blocking the South-East corner of my meagre square. Impressive effort!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 18 April, 2023, 10:58:11 am
Quote
How did you manage to get your cluster over the Queensferry crossing? I'm working my Edinburgh/East Lothian cluster east and down for now, but thinking for the future. Dean went the long way via Kincardine, but that's miles away.

Paddleboard.  Hoping to use it to get the whole of the Inner Forth.  But am very much a fair weather paddler, so will need to wait for a perfect day.  There are a few muddy tiles accessible on foot at very low tides in the vicinity of the bridges. 

But Kincardine is doable and I had done that first before getting across the QC.  The paddleboard also enabled me to do Loch Leven which means I could up my max square a lot.
Ah, gotcha. I’ve got a few paddle board squares and I know a couple of people who kayak in the Forth, might have to go do that then
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 18 April, 2023, 10:58:50 am
Did you take your phone out of your pocket with just one hand just to get that picture? Can see a few potential perils in that manoeuvre!

Got to get that content.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peat on 18 April, 2023, 02:54:23 pm
Topp Tiling, comrades.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 19 April, 2023, 10:53:32 am
Looks like you've had the board out on the inner Tay around Errol as well? That's what's blocking the South-East corner of my meagre square. Impressive effort!

No, everything there is accessed by land only.   I'm not sure about the Tay by board - bigger flow, fewer access points, a lot of mud... There is one tile I have my eye on near Errol which I should be able to access at Low tide.  If I can get that it adds two tiles to the eastern boundary of what will be my max square.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: CarlF on 20 April, 2023, 04:21:37 pm
Looks like you've had the board out on the inner Tay around Errol as well? That's what's blocking the South-East corner of my meagre square. Impressive effort!

No, everything there is accessed by land only.   I'm not sure about the Tay by board - bigger flow, fewer access points, a lot of mud... There is one tile I have my eye on near Errol which I should be able to access at Low tide.  If I can get that it adds two tiles to the eastern boundary of what will be my max square.

Ah, I can see that now on a bigger screen. Those reed beds make it hard to tell what's land and what isn't on the satellite view. There's a few tiles along there that look like they might just be possible by getting your feet wet but I've not been right down to the shore to investigate. Will be interested to hear if you manage it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: smileydave on 21 April, 2023, 08:35:41 am
25 new squares by commuting back from London to Bedfordshire last night. Some of them "new" because they're from the pre-GPS North London stamping ground.
(no image, cos I'm computer stupid)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 21 April, 2023, 09:54:29 am
25 new squares by commuting back from London to Bedfordshire last night. Some of them "new" because they're from the pre-GPS North London stamping ground.
(no image, cos I'm computer stupid)
I’ve been adding in a few pre-GPS rides recently, tours and such. I like being able to see them all on a map. I know it’s not the game, but I’m unlikely to ever be bothering the leaderboards, so I’m ok with that.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 02 May, 2023, 08:53:28 am
124 new tiles on Saturday's Stumped an Dented 200

Now up to 11392
Cluster remains at 848
Max square remains at 18x18
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quilkin on 05 May, 2023, 10:16:38 pm
Spent the last two weeks in April extending my cluster up to beyond Shrewsbury . It was only Land's End to Bristol before.
(https://quilkin.co.uk/shared/tilesApr2023.jpg)
Next project is to get a bigger square in Devon than my current 27x27 square which is mostly in Cornwall, and can't be extended (on land)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 07 May, 2023, 07:16:00 pm
I have plans to venture to the damp side. I figure this should be transportable by bike:
(https://i.ibb.co/b7YDxT8/image.png) (https://ibb.co/pnN5gc9)

An obvious target is crosssing the Severn, should just be a reasonable paddle downstream when the tides are favourable.
(https://i.ibb.co/mcPrQtF/image.png) (https://ibb.co/vjMC2mv)
(https://i.ibb.co/rGKPxTy/image.png) (https://ibb.co/jv9KyB4)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 07 May, 2023, 10:02:58 pm
Good luck. I'm hemmed in by several squares up the estuary.  I'd like to get them all down to the 2nd bridge but I'm not certain I'm brave enough, search for sea kayaking and there's plenty about with a notable lack of it in the lower reaches of the Severn.

When are you planning to do this?  Schedule conflicts permitting happy to head down with a pair of binoculars & a mobile phone!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 07 May, 2023, 11:10:17 pm
Good luck. I'm hemmed in by several squares up the estuary.  I'd like to get them all down to the 2nd bridge but I'm not certain I'm brave enough, search for sea kayaking and there's plenty about with a notable lack of it in the lower reaches of the Severn.

When are you planning to do this?  Schedule conflicts permitting happy to head down with a pair of binoculars & a mobile phone!
I think that's something I'd work up to, as someone who has only taken to the water a couple of times. I'm pretty sure I'll be setting the groundwork on either side of the estuary before the big day, but I'm not much inclined to go up as far as Sharpness to cross a cluster over.

Fortunately, I live somehwere where it'll be easy to get a fair old bit of practice.
(https://i.ibb.co/w6zYW9Q/image.png) (https://ibb.co/WK2sybz)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 08 May, 2023, 12:29:02 am
but I'm not much inclined to go up as far as Sharpness to cross a cluster over.
You can 'cross' the Severn a couple of rows south of sharpness:
(https://soretween.altervista.org/misc/MidSevern.jpg)
The problem squares shown above North to South are
There is one square on the West bank further South with zero visits on the VV heatmap that can be obtained perfectly legally and safely.  Useless as the river is too wide to 'cross' that far south.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Rod Marton on 08 May, 2023, 09:10:42 am
Rather you than me when it comes to canoeing on the Severn Estuary. I'm sure it's been done, but as a novice kayaker I certainly wouldn't. There are some vicious tidal currents, and I suspect your chances of ending up where you want to be a quite low and where you don't want to be quite high.

Concerning the Slimbridge Swamp tile: it has been done by at least one person but I suspect that this was some time ago. Google maps shows an inviting track at Purton leading in the right direction: nowadays this has a locked gate with barbed wire over it. The same for the track from the Slimbridge side. On land, this leaves access from the canal: I suppose this could be done but would involve fording drainage ditches and forcing your way through hedges. On water a quick paddle from Purton at slack water may be possible, but as I said above: rather you than me.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 08 May, 2023, 02:23:25 pm
but I'm not much inclined to go up as far as Sharpness to cross a cluster over.
You can 'cross' the Severn a couple of rows south of sharpness:
(https://soretween.altervista.org/misc/MidSevern.jpg)
The problem squares shown above North to South are
  • Two squares East of Etloe:  the only land in that square is right up against the fence of Slimbridge.  Requires extreme trespass and not giving a sh1t about disturbing the birds which do not understand the concept of a fence so will be outside Slimbridge just as much as inside.  A few bellends have that square that way.  A vigorous paddle along the West shore from Salmon Putchers shortly before high tide might get it safe-ishly.
  • Shepperdine Sands.  There's rocks there visible at low tide East side (use the satellite view on VV) and even some kind of light out on them. However, there's a good yardage of mud/sand between the bank & the rocks even at the narrowest point & low tide, I was there to check last week :-), see the tick right to the shore in the Shepperdine square.  Another square for bellends only, the rescue teams have better things to do. A rapid paddle out & back from Plusterwine?  Maybe.
  • Beacon Sand Not hard to figure out who owns that patch of shore.  Knock & ask permission or be a bellend.  As you can see I've done neither.
  • East of Beacon Sand, Narwood Rocks and several more obvious ones south of the above screenshot - full on aquatic only.
There is one square on the West bank further South with zero visits on the VV heatmap that can be obtained perfectly legally and safely.  Useless as the river is too wide to 'cross' that far south.
The Sharpness route was indeed my original plan for making a crossing, and certainly are still an option. However, the logistics of getting a cluster up that far on both sides make it a bit of a faff. Maybe less of a faff than sorting out somewhere to park the bike, boat downstream, and then get back to the bike, but maybe not.

There's also the consideration that Southampton Water and Portsmouth harbour may become accessible - opening up a couple of "impossible" tiles like Fawley.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: smileydave on 09 May, 2023, 12:20:33 pm
I've added a few of these myself, but only the ones where I can remember the route. I've got one Dunwich Dynamo on there, but not the second one where we went off route and picked up some more squares...
Fortunately I'll pick most of the north london ones eventually anyway as I've still got to get home somehow. Just need to get my speed back up so I can get home before it gets too late

25 new squares by commuting back from London to Bedfordshire last night. Some of them "new" because they're from the pre-GPS North London stamping ground.
(no image, cos I'm computer stupid)
I’ve been adding in a few pre-GPS rides recently, tours and such. I like being able to see them all on a map. I know it’s not the game, but I’m unlikely to ever be bothering the leaderboards, so I’m ok with that.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 09 May, 2023, 08:51:29 pm
With an inaugral kayak I managed to nab an acquatic Squadratinho.
(https://i.ibb.co/dLRdcYj/image.png) (https://ibb.co/P9d7YHF)
Nice proof of concept, the boat didn't deflate, and I didn't capsize. Eventually I felt comfortable enough to move a little way away from the shore.

But it sure is a long way from this (not today, obviously!):
(https://i.ibb.co/NNmwY6t/image.png) (https://ibb.co/94VRY9c)
To this:
(https://i.ibb.co/8Bhhnj3/image.png) (https://ibb.co/4fQQwjy)

It may well prove more expedient to bridge the gap at Sharpness, but long term prospects of filling in further downstream are nice.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 09 May, 2023, 09:05:31 pm
Spent the weekend camping in Drenthe and doing day rides. I now have a nice cluster formed between Assen and Groningen. Added over 80 tiles to my total count.

Now I just need to work out how to connect it to my main cluster...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 10 May, 2023, 02:04:04 pm
Having never used it, I just asked Veloviewer if it's possible to get "Explorer" fields, things like max cluster, max square etc. in the signature image thing. Squares this year would be good too I guess. We'd all use it, right?

Filled in a couple of squares yesterday, in Dalkeith just outside of Edinburgh, and it reminded me why I like this squarebagging so much. It's somewhere close enough with a bunch of urban fiddly type riding to it that I could easily have went a long time without ever cycling there. Plotted a 30km route and had a wonderful time. Back alleys, cut throughs, field margins, nettle stings, the remains of a 17th century tower, bluebells. It were great.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 16 May, 2023, 07:54:18 am
Set out to fill a gap yesterday evening after work.
(https://i.ibb.co/7jRjh4v/image.png) (https://ibb.co/k595Z1K)
(https://i.ibb.co/2ZJt73T/image.png) (https://ibb.co/J3Z7Rj9)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: smileydave on 16 May, 2023, 01:07:32 pm
Delighted to report, after a number of attempts, that I'm marginally less computer-stupid than previously. (perhaps computer-ignorant is kinder). Plannign to pick a further four up tomorrow night, on a shorter route home.

25 new squares by commuting back from London to Bedfordshire last night. Some of them "new" because they're from the pre-GPS North London stamping ground.
(no image, cos I'm computer stupid)

(https://i.ibb.co/M7fB4jc/squadrats-commute-home.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 18 May, 2023, 12:18:57 am
Another train catalysed outing, starting at Winchester this time.
(https://i.ibb.co/vJX9vjJ/image.png) (https://imgbb.com/)
(https://i.ibb.co/VwNLrg8/image.png) (https://ibb.co/NT3FQ9z)
However, all that off roading on Monday seemed to have loosened a couple of bolts, so for my first order of business I had to nip via Halfords to get them tightened up. Only, navigational dunce that I am, I headed completely the wrong direction. Oh well, a couple more tiles.
(https://i.ibb.co/6B021jK/image.png) (https://ibb.co/X8x93cn)
(https://i.ibb.co/k0c4Qk8/image.png) (https://ibb.co/ft0k4Bp)
Ruh roh. I don't remember seeing the A34 on the advertisement. Oh, and I had to take the rightmost exit from the roundabout  :o

In contrast, the planned section of the route was excellent.
(https://i.ibb.co/Qd140t9/image.png) (https://ibb.co/4d5Hk3W)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: smileydave on 18 May, 2023, 08:29:45 am
I amended my planned commute home that would have picked up four tiles, and without too much extra distance picked up 17. Expanded the cluster by 25 by virtue of filling a couple of gaps. Endless red lights, and three road closures added interest
My main problem now is that given my current speed, making the commute home longer starts pushing it beyond what is reasonable to do on a weeknight. Fifty miles is probably the limit at the moment.

(https://i.ibb.co/2n5YfLT/squadrats-2.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 18 May, 2023, 08:55:44 am
Got a loan of a Brompton and used it on the commute the other day, jumping off the Metro early and riding in via track that has more "Private" and "No Entry" signs per kilometre than any other track I've cycled down. Which was interesting.

Anyway, that got me a couple of fiddly squares near my max cluster, looking forward to the summer when I can get some proper squarebagging done.

(https://i.ibb.co/CtKhr4M/IMG-5616.jpg)

(https://i.ibb.co/FDN0X1r/Screenshot-2023-05-18-at-08-51-13.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 18 May, 2023, 09:37:44 am
I did that track in summer. It's a rollercoaster even in the dry.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 18 May, 2023, 09:42:35 am
Yeah, nice to find the limit of the 16 inch wheels though. The Strava Heatmap shows people do ride the track, but the signage suggests they shouldn't be. Nice little track to know about though, even though they do train police dogs there at times.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sparklyfish on 18 May, 2023, 04:03:11 pm
I did Luton last week. Turned out it had some quite nice bits:

(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/WVUdkBJJCI4x6Det6xrxLoKWtoLBJEEW8DvCXK-7HpY-2048x1536.jpg)

(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/A_817o4Nu_ckKs6kJZcOwkE1rSG7Jp7bQSLiyoax9Uc-2048x1536.jpg)

Max square will probably stay on 50x50 for the rest of this year:
(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/hrf36VKdActyKUInsq2tzHinsKQ9YEP-FYDeXNAk7bw-1152x2048.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: smileydave on 19 May, 2023, 04:11:38 pm
The busway is very nice. If my trains aren't running it's a lovely ten miles home along the busway, greenway then backroads on the brompton. It's the towns at each end that are the problem. I got a double puncture after coming off the busway early one sunday morning on a (sadly aborted) tilebagging mission. Booting the tyre and replacing tubes on the high street early on a sunday morning was like being on safari. Now I've got all the tiles I avoid Luton if at all possible.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sparklyfish on 19 May, 2023, 08:45:30 pm
Now I've got all the tiles I avoid Luton if at all possible.

That's my plan too  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Steve Orchard on 21 May, 2023, 11:07:19 am
Does anyone know how I can get rid of straight lines on Veloviewer when the red line should follow the road riden. See middle of pic. This example doesn't change anything but I suspect it might change things elsewhere.

Thanks (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230521/b9c8bc2cb8388146b1b56413351a74dd.jpg)

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 21 May, 2023, 11:16:52 am


Click on it. That will open the detailed view.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 21 May, 2023, 12:37:02 pm
Also, on your activities page you can add a "Tiles calculated" to only show rides that have not had their precision updated. Click on all rides in that list to prevent surprises later on.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Steve Orchard on 21 May, 2023, 01:25:58 pm


Click on it. That will open the detailed view.

J
I have done that and can see the proper trace of the ride but the tile map in Veloviewer still shows the straight lines.
I tried editing the Strava activity and then doing an update on Veloviewer but it still shows straight lines rather than following roads.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Steve Orchard on 21 May, 2023, 01:32:14 pm
Also, on your activities page you can add a "Tiles calculated" to only show rides that have not had their precision updated. Click on all rides in that list to prevent surprises later on.
This creates a very, very long list.
I have clicked on rides that have shown straight lines which brings up an accurate map of the individual ride but does not change the tile map after refreshing
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: smileydave on 24 May, 2023, 07:59:28 am
13 new squares, cluster up 27. now up to 3x35 squares from just 2. Tilebagging in London in rush hour really is slow work. Only one out and back spur, and one missed turn
(https://i.ibb.co/jbfRvFL/squadrats-3.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 24 May, 2023, 08:58:38 am
A semi tile in London, 27 new tiles, 1 more for my C. London minicluster.
(https://i.ibb.co/c86JqRx/image.png) (https://ibb.co/s1Kj7ct)
(https://i.ibb.co/h2KbsxQ/image.png) (https://ibb.co/5s5mTXp)
(https://i.ibb.co/2q8jHsB/1436161-D-9779-4955-86-C1-2-FDA1844-E923.jpg) (https://ibb.co/zs8SD7w)
Well, this bridge was about to be closed, with the most ridiculous diversion I've ever encountered (saying something!), which you can see ready to be put in place...
(https://i.ibb.co/fpJy2Nq/4-C225-FD7-D016-4950-AAD0-624-E7925601-A.jpg) (https://ibb.co/7WhZXpj)
(https://i.ibb.co/YDYj474/629-F9-DDA-C049-41-A4-B1-CC-92-E8-A5241-D92.jpg) (https://ibb.co/N1QYg6g)
 ::-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 25 May, 2023, 07:55:52 am
Also, on your activities page you can add a "Tiles calculated" to only show rides that have not had their precision updated. Click on all rides in that list to prevent surprises later on.
This creates a very, very long list.
I have clicked on rides that have shown straight lines which brings up an accurate map of the individual ride but does not change the tile map after refreshing

I think that the tracks on the 'tile map' on the Activities tab are simplified to speed up processing.  This seems more noticeable on the longer rides so there may be a limit on the number of points displayed per ride.

A bit of a 600k on the Activities tab:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52923499837_433418af2c.jpg)


...and the same bit on the individual ride page:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52924238369_d2bebdf40e.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: smileydave on 30 May, 2023, 08:27:36 am
Wife and kids are away for half term, so dropped me off on their way for 42 squares, filling in most of the east bank of the Cherwell.
(https://i.ibb.co/2MYdhM0/Islip.jpg)
Found this when I stopped to put more air in the tyres. whoops. Premptively booted it and it made the forty miles home
(https://i.ibb.co/7kXLd96/Whats-App-Image-2023-05-29-at-19-54-12.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 30 May, 2023, 09:27:13 am
Insubstantial, but a couple of walks while visiting family made a new mini-cluster in Glasgow.
(https://i.ibb.co/Z2VwfWQ/image.png) (https://ibb.co/Drt615B)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Steve Orchard on 30 May, 2023, 09:33:24 am
Also, on your activities page you can add a "Tiles calculated" to only show rides that have not had their precision updated. Click on all rides in that list to prevent surprises later on.
This creates a very, very long list.
I have clicked on rides that have shown straight lines which brings up an accurate map of the individual ride but does not change the tile map after refreshing

I think that the tracks on the 'tile map' on the Activities tab are simplified to speed up processing.  This seems more noticeable on the longer rides so there may be a limit on the number of points displayed per ride.

A bit of a 600k on the Activities tab:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52923499837_433418af2c.jpg)


...and the same bit on the individual ride page:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52924238369_d2bebdf40e.jpg)
Thanks. I was worried about claiming tiles that I shouldn't have. After lots of checking I found one that won't effect my max square or cluster. See pic. I was on the road so should have the top right tile instead of bottom left.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230530/a129a657b1fed40dbaa752338b1dba68.jpg)

Sent from my SM-T830 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 30 May, 2023, 09:55:31 am
Open the activity page for that particular ride (click on it in your activities list). Veloviewer will then use the complete gpx not the abridged version to calculate your squares.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 30 May, 2023, 10:18:38 am
Thanks. I was worried about claiming tiles that I shouldn't have.
What Pingu said. Not sure how you checked, but when I set up Squadrats it scanned my entire history and alerted me to a couple of weird ones (see reply #2635!)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 01 June, 2023, 01:58:35 pm
Yesterday, a loop of new tiles along the seafront of the New Forest.
(https://i.ibb.co/HBDpTcF/image.png) (https://ibb.co/LYzhdTk)
Today, I plan a figure 8 loop to fill the interior.
(https://i.ibb.co/82DPN39/image.png) (http://'https://ibb.co/mtChbs4')
(https://i.ibb.co/VNYjnnh/image.png) (http://'https://ibb.co/YWBRnnK')
Yes, I do have designs on the IOW...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 01 June, 2023, 02:01:53 pm
Yesterday, a loop of new tiles along the seafront of the New Forest.
(https://i.ibb.co/HBDpTcF/image.png) (https://ibb.co/LYzhdTk)
Today, I plan a figure 8 loop to fill the interior.
(https://i.ibb.co/82DPN39/image.png) (http://'https://ibb.co/mtChbs4')
(https://i.ibb.co/VNYjnnh/image.png) (http://'https://ibb.co/YWBRnnK')
Yes, I do have designs on the IOW...
Nice one, I did Hurst Point very recently. Just need some more Isle of Wight riding to connect it all up now!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 01 June, 2023, 04:26:03 pm
Nice one, I did Hurst Point very recently. Just need some more Isle of Wight riding to connect it all up now!
It isn't quite that straightforward to jump the cluster across, as this tile here is key:
(https://i.ibb.co/MGcyjwr/image.png) (https://ibb.co/F05kfZ2)
Should be a fairly straightforward Kayak from Norton, but this is the Solent we're talking about...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 01 June, 2023, 05:10:25 pm
Nice one, I did Hurst Point very recently. Just need some more Isle of Wight riding to connect it all up now!
It isn't quite that straightforward to jump the cluster across, as this tile here is key:
(https://i.ibb.co/MGcyjwr/image.png) (https://ibb.co/F05kfZ2)
Should be a fairly straightforward Kayak from Norton, but this is the Solent we're talking about...
Oh blimey ok thanks for pointing that out, I thought it was possible via the three tiles in a reverse L-shape below
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 02 June, 2023, 08:50:00 am
Swim. Or wade when the tide's out.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 02 June, 2023, 08:51:20 am
Oh blimey ok thanks for pointing that out, I thought it was possible via the three tiles in a reverse L-shape below
The fundamental problem is that it's just not quite wide enough.
(https://i.ibb.co/7bhjfHL/image.png) (https://ibb.co/R78YF1d)
But a 400m out-and-back Kayak from the beach resolves that. Still means going 200 metres from the shore, which is a little way out! You can reduce it to 180 metres a little further west.
(https://i.ibb.co/gSRtwrk/image.png) (https://ibb.co/fkxrtXj)

Did fill out the interior yesterday evening:
(https://i.ibb.co/R3Drh0w/image.png) (https://ibb.co/St3YQnC)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 02 June, 2023, 09:54:18 am
Lovely part of the world.  Lived in Southampton in my pre-tiling days and while I didn't like the city, the New Forest was a lovely escape- especially out of season.

Good luck with the paddling - safety in numbers a good bet- a VV kayak trip would be a good idea :-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 02 June, 2023, 11:48:50 am
Lovely part of the world.  Lived in Southampton in my pre-tiling days and while I didn't like the city, the New Forest was a lovely escape- especially out of season.

Good luck with the paddling - safety in numbers a good bet- a VV kayak trip would be a good idea :-)
May well be, definitely one to work up to as a beginner!

As for the Isle of Wight itself, not too hard. There's probably a more efficient route, but :):
(https://i.ibb.co/C1pgdBT/image.png) (https://ibb.co/HFL6v7k)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Deano on 02 June, 2023, 11:53:34 am
Swim. Or wade when the tide's out.

It's Row Vs Wade all over again.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peter on 02 June, 2023, 12:52:59 pm
 ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 03 June, 2023, 06:25:31 pm
Well, having made moves on Salisbury from the south, I turned my attention to the west. One minor problem, a distinct lack of roads.
(https://i.ibb.co/dWjpcMT/image.png) (https://ibb.co/Bzc6P3p)
Roads?  Where we're going, we don't need roads!
(https://i.ibb.co/XFhHDc3/image.png) (https://ibb.co/P17kMq9)
The Old Shaston Drove ridgeway...  that's just awfully convenient for tiling, isn't it. Except I feel like I'd need a mountain bike. Oh wait, I have one that needs a real maiden voyage.
(https://i.ibb.co/FhGz68f/image.png) (https://ibb.co/tHyDBYN)
(https://i.ibb.co/YZJtcS9/image.png) (https://ibb.co/TLJH4GX)
(https://i.ibb.co/RpGwVDq/image.png) (https://ibb.co/TBD3Fgs)
Once up the initial climb, it was pretty much plain sailing.
(https://i.ibb.co/qRnGcb3/image.png) (https://ibb.co/D7bXv3H)
Unique perspective on the Fovant Badges:
(https://i.ibb.co/pb8VNbF/image.png) (https://ibb.co/tQtjnQr)
(https://i.ibb.co/SstMc7C/image.png) (https://ibb.co/w0SP7rm)
Short spur to pick up two more tiles:
(https://i.ibb.co/92Rf83W/image.png) (https://ibb.co/y5LMfBq)
Main job done.
(https://i.ibb.co/wsjMx6w/image.png) (https://ibb.co/dgxGzKL)
But since trains were... sparse today, I had a bit of time to kill, so after a well deserved drink (or two - coke and alcohol free cider), I nabbed two tiles to the north of Salisbury. And ended up passing the Skripal House.
(https://i.ibb.co/2trLWP9/image.png) (https://ibb.co/85wRN2C)
(https://i.ibb.co/NCbFB6N/image.png) (https://ibb.co/YQwNs7d)
(https://i.ibb.co/nBg1nbG/image.png) (https://ibb.co/VxjCQt1)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 06 June, 2023, 09:44:27 am
247 new tiles while taking part in TransScotlans23

11641 tiles
Max square 18x18 still!
Max Cluster: 848 
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 06 June, 2023, 09:49:20 am
247 new tiles while taking part in TransScotlans23

11641 tiles
Max square 18x18 still!
Max Cluster: 848
Nice one, looked an interesting ride. Would you mind linking to your profile? I'd really like to see how you've coloured in the Borders.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 07 June, 2023, 11:27:23 am
247 new tiles while taking part in TransScotlans23

11641 tiles
Max square 18x18 still!
Max Cluster: 848
Nice one, looked an interesting ride. Would you mind linking to your profile? I'd really like to see how you've coloured in the Borders.

Let me know if this doesn't work

https://veloviewer.com/athlete/206361/activities?o=0:1&f=0:-1000000|1000000,1:All,5:-1000000|1000000,6:-1000000|1000000&c=0,0,5,6,9 (https://veloviewer.com/athlete/206361/activities?o=0:1&f=0:-1000000|1000000,1:All,5:-1000000|1000000,6:-1000000|1000000&c=0,0,5,6,9)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: D.A.L.E. on 07 June, 2023, 12:20:58 pm
247 new tiles while taking part in TransScotlans23

11641 tiles
Max square 18x18 still!
Max Cluster: 848
Nice one, looked an interesting ride. Would you mind linking to your profile? I'd really like to see how you've coloured in the Borders.

Let me know if this doesn't work

https://veloviewer.com/athlete/206361/activities?o=0:1&f=0:-1000000|1000000,1:All,5:-1000000|1000000,6:-1000000|1000000&c=0,0,5,6,9 (https://veloviewer.com/athlete/206361/activities?o=0:1&f=0:-1000000|1000000,1:All,5:-1000000|1000000,6:-1000000|1000000&c=0,0,5,6,9)
:thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 07 June, 2023, 04:51:55 pm
247 new tiles while taking part in TransScotlans23

11641 tiles
Max square 18x18 still!
Max Cluster: 848
Nice one, looked an interesting ride. Would you mind linking to your profile? I'd really like to see how you've coloured in the Borders.
I've coloured it in not very well, there's not many roads, and i can't be arsed hiking through fields
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 11 June, 2023, 10:20:51 am
It's taken a while this year with one thing (weather) and another (dentist) but I finally got a tiley, bikepackingy trip to "the mainland".
Sorting things at the last minute as travel and the weather came together I just did an Aberdeen-Angus-Perth-Angus-Aberdeen base, with a few rest days at my pal's house.

That made it not too hard to tidy up a lot of the missed tiles on the way and clear the whole Fetteresso Forest squares, and the Perth out and back pushed the corridor down there.
One of the "rest days" ended up being a Tarfside-Aboyne-Tarfside drove road loop (Firmounth and Fungle roads), which as it turns out isn't really gravel bike territory  :facepalm:

Before/After tiles and a photodump selection. Let me know if the photos don't show up - I don't do this often enough to remember the coding very well  >:(

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nS0i70xURF7veLkeAaZb7E8OdChmUk_Jz9mPHOWEqg-2pyyL9a62wMt5G3H-c51A27B3zu8vx6nJa02sjG-q2yLsEqEh8KbQq5FF89ZHrP_1yORDlA63V6XlnTweLNIUZ-6khrSs-w=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1fQd4HPjwvMOyPAE2f2oCH8g5MlHq5GdtfMDWVeMNxO1QpC3bxX0Mo089CFLhfgX6VF1mfFW9pkwWDo77JCF2qkg_IdaK4iOEX6vzuPg-8hghcTlexwk90DldLAfVLWkMemQv2A3Qw=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/z43rug_cY3n8D9uTU92CKHIOkqtrXBTW6f-WZrGastZvLg1PEhoSwd-dkVnEzPwc7WdE7HAPhv13ah-LTwe6fMZi-MPly-3TRwijwZO1lRTCBWHDqvSt_006NjFZCwFrxlXIu92qyw=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rfDikqz3poj1cag9r73FVkEJNgxmjvjbNCru4p0T9qUk_ZnBrtoHYsRwF6ChwUh12rntNYdYDRMlLuep7xglnqHUK5yyYzkqv2X06x6xs0b94NBJsSUda24J-UNlV-sHlHww7EcYNA=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4-XJvqkVqafrKbFRdrVPWuX-_MeuM2Twu8AzMjvFoTrgI_xCLUUj8y4bn8kZps27YzYg0cxz5Ka7LiIWZYSn1YnMM1UQRDiLUR7xZUOPDcvS8BwNOXBqJlInc4ePuCDwuZkSTTnP6g=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/alaqMzmaOdPx_akCXGvrN93ShG6ay_qQqwrAp-aO1D8q9qTYTuUg1yG4YzvmHHdy8Wu1OKi-Tdj6oFTimuU-L91bFnUrsg0pZwbegRwetuj1sP3IrAYq8PVccmcDdt3q5OoyRJV_vA=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/azTlMa9tJ9lJJkN8W8wXhCvImhxc4mrnoEx9Xcsun2zsYXU8Psl6ufrDJ1vMoy4i7PBdNi2i47h586Zsx3QS28O_EeUuaXw2BYtD-1j-k6y3a3bPhKp5lkLJ3QgBuk2MXYU_KrzYhw=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1DBZmOBGri5NzYhV8JP-l4ri5Aesdp1E0pxH317ne3H2Tk3BMrgg-ygsWiV5zWMz_FVfB0fmew9usySd1VBEfz7L1UOWOhe4vagV2CaUnOg2H2c-AETDi-MtbsFoqE-fcL_TCtYmZA=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/m1uS6KaOTtdcy1RORtaaT5ItYFEl00Axno2KUJ9WTvPKlfGJWzVc1Fyn-jXKyrdwttKqfW2SR0ze4wB98YVkpIOiqHI1oaZz9Z_tqXZjsHlroXCLbqtUebEEN7Rljqn1jYiSZH0tlA=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tQifj2nb5f2cIaXztAN4pvmmMjhHqFsCcjuf7oAiBMbqwlex5Vbn5IMesbYyWTQDEZJlo91c1ra47vlGdBedDcT9IQCccA_H8BZjTLLfaIKp3GbL0ziSA-iEPIeyCr2ZFl3etgTfyQ=w2400)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 11 June, 2023, 10:45:28 am
Well done  :thumbsup: And lovely panoramas! (I especially like the 2nd and 4th one)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 11 June, 2023, 12:11:20 pm
Before/After tiles and a photodump selection. Let me know if the photos don't show up - I don't do this often enough to remember the coding very well  >:(


Photos aren't working for me :(

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 11 June, 2023, 02:45:37 pm
Before/After tiles and a photodump selection. Let me know if the photos don't show up - I don't do this often enough to remember the coding very well  >:(


Photos aren't working for me :(

J

+1
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 11 June, 2023, 03:23:36 pm
OK, iIve tried a different another way.... Seems hopeful... works here signed out and in incognito, but Google Photos sure puts up a fight :S
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 11 June, 2023, 03:39:55 pm
 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 11 June, 2023, 03:44:47 pm


Works now.
J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 02 July, 2023, 11:17:39 pm
Looks like you've had the board out on the inner Tay around Errol as well? That's what's blocking the South-East corner of my meagre square. Impressive effort!

No, everything there is accessed by land only.   I'm not sure about the Tay by board - bigger flow, fewer access points, a lot of mud... There is one tile I have my eye on near Errol which I should be able to access at Low tide.  If I can get that it adds two tiles to the eastern boundary of what will be my max square.

Ah, I can see that now on a bigger screen. Those reed beds make it hard to tell what's land and what isn't on the satellite view. There's a few tiles along there that look like they might just be possible by getting your feet wet but I've not been right down to the shore to investigate. Will be interested to hear if you manage it.

So went back today and faced a battle to get through 30-40m of dense chest-high (I'm 6'5") nettles and thistles to even get to the reed beds.  So, after a lot of stings in the first 10m, discretion being better part of valour, I retreated and hope that November in tights and a long sleeve jersey may be better.

Got all tiles apart from that to join up Dundee and Perth on the N Side of the Tay.  Also got what I believe is a first for the tile S of Kingoodie- there is a private house with fenced off access, but also a short walk through a gate to the headland to the SE which was just about accessible at low tide by moving rather inelegantly along a seaweed covered rock structure
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: CarlF on 03 July, 2023, 10:03:41 am
Yes, I think long trousers & sleeves plus a low (spring) tide after a period of low rainfall might be needed to get far enough out into the reed beds.  Was being at Kingoodie at low tide by accident or design?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 03 July, 2023, 11:01:33 am
Was being at Kingoodie at low tide by accident or design?

By design.  I do try to get low tide tiles when one is available.  If it had been a high tide weekend, I'd do an inland route.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 03 July, 2023, 11:46:44 am
Yesterday I got the two "inaccessible" tiles on the Den Helder navy base, gotta love fleet days  :) I did "get lost" to grab the 2nd tile, but no-one bothered to ask what I was doing way off the quays that were open for the public  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 03 July, 2023, 09:17:00 pm
I had a look at that Errol one from the path too, but I was hoping for something just a bit more welcoming!!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 14 July, 2023, 07:36:34 pm
First max square and cluster action for ages! 8 new tiles today increased the cluster by 24 to 2140. The max square remains at 23 and I have 4 of them still.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 15 July, 2023, 06:36:30 pm


Finally some progress. A single 70k ride connected my cluster up to get it all the way to Belgium. My cluster now spans 3 countries. (Getting to Luxembourg for a fourth will be quite a challenge). Woo.

(https://social.v.st/system/media_attachments/files/110/719/288/426/642/839/original/19efeb4afde31237.png)

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 16 July, 2023, 09:19:40 pm
First max square and cluster action for ages! 8 new tiles today increased the cluster by 24 to 2140. The max square remains at 23 and I have 4 of them still.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53050499836_f89f44153e_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2oPTFmh)
vv_230714 (https://flic.kr/p/2oPTFmh) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: smileydave on 25 August, 2023, 08:17:38 am
an extended commute home from the office. 60 miles through the depths of North West London, added 38 tiles. Did a bit of freestyling to pick up a couple more that I'd not planned into the route, but turned off the A40 cyclepath too early and missed the Greenford tile. Question now is do I plan that one into another big tile bagging route, or pick it up on a short commute home?
(https://i.ibb.co/Tr02w4Q/ruislip-etc.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 27 August, 2023, 09:58:46 pm
Went on holiday without bike to Galicia and Porto.  Walked around a lot getting 85-90 tiles.  The interesting thing was noticing the difference in size of the tiles- took 20 mins to walk across a tile rather than 15 in Scotland.  Good thing was that there were roads/paths in all the tiles I visited- very different to where I am targeting in Scotland.

Also have a cluster of about 150 in Norfolk after another visit, square there is 9x9 and tiling is much easier there, though Marham will soon put a stop to expansion to the SW.

Main totals are tiles 4854, square 20X20, cluster = 1786
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sparklyfish on 28 August, 2023, 07:26:47 pm
RAF Marham isn't an impossible tile, is it? Hah, but it is in line with RAF Lakenheath...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 29 August, 2023, 08:34:06 am
RAF Marham isn't an impossible tile, is it? Hah, but it is in line with RAF Lakenheath...
Presume you mean this one.
(https://i.ibb.co/jMRKj9K/image.png) (https://ibb.co/3NzXP5X)
It's actually pretty easy, although I'm not speaking from experience. But look here -
(https://i.ibb.co/bvnYpN3/image.png) (https://ibb.co/5jVCqs9)
(https://i.ibb.co/Xpr0WL3/image.png) (https://ibb.co/wCFGdgw)
The corner of the tile is outside the perimeter fence.
(https://i.ibb.co/HP7kvfx/image.png) (https://ibb.co/jwh1KPW)
Ride up here, walk to the fence at the right point, walk back, job done.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 29 August, 2023, 10:21:25 am
As for me, a moderate ride yesterday finished a cluster join I'd been working on.
(https://i.ibb.co/zQhqzpk/image.png) (https://ibb.co/KbjTJd1)
Et voila, Lon-Done.
(https://i.ibb.co/ns1wcDG/image.png) (https://ibb.co/sv1gwFf)
If you want to put a metric on this endeavour, I'd suggest the greatest straight line distance contained in a cluster (the straight line doesn't have to be entirely within the cluster).
So this one's at 218 km, from Uplyme to London Cannon Street.
(https://i.ibb.co/hsrc391/image.png) (https://ibb.co/PxJMqjz)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 29 August, 2023, 10:45:33 am
On the Dutch cycle forum we use the distance calculated by google maps using shortest "walking" path as a metric for this. example (https://goo.gl/maps/5WXwbSzZJFvz4X1o6)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 30 August, 2023, 01:34:20 am


I'd say number of countries your cluster includes would be a good metric too...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 30 August, 2023, 08:24:30 am


I'd say number of countries your cluster includes would be a good metric too...

J
Do the nations of the United Kingdom count?

Also a walk around Rome could easily make a 2-country cluster :) Then a spindly thing could nab San Marino, Monaco, France...
(https://i.ibb.co/kcRkNmc/image.png) (https://ibb.co/vz7g0Xz)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 30 August, 2023, 12:07:31 pm
I did a 3.country ride.with my daughter around the Eastern end of the Bodensee. Could easily add Liechtenstein and have just created  a  200km there and back route from Lindau that creates a cluster over 4 countries.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 30 August, 2023, 02:30:04 pm

Ah, but those aren't your max cluster are they ?

In the multi country rides. My max currently is 4 in one ride (lu, be, de, NL). I recently tried to do 5 in one, but scratched at 165km cos I was fed up and didn't fancy another 90km it headwinds in the rain. I plan on a second attempt tho.

But it take a bit of work to get my cluster firstly down the Limburg, then across the Ardennes to Luxembourg. So I think for now 3 is good going. I'm guessing Ivo has 4. And I can't remember where Zed's cluster stops...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 30 August, 2023, 08:49:58 pm

Ah, but those aren't your max cluster are they ?

In the multi country rides. My max currently is 4 in one ride (lu, be, de, NL). I recently tried to do 5 in one, but scratched at 165km cos I was fed up and didn't fancy another 90km it headwinds in the rain. I plan on a second attempt tho.

But it take a bit of work to get my cluster firstly down the Limburg, then across the Ardennes to Luxembourg. So I think for now 3 is good going. I'm guessing Ivo has 4. And I can't remember where Zed's cluster stops...

J

I have 3 countries at the moment (NL, DE and BE), but are only 2 tiles short of France.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 31 August, 2023, 12:25:35 pm
My cluster stops in Antwerp (so NL / DE / BE). I did have a week planned this spring to extend to Dunkirk but my (winter)shoes got thoroughly soaked on the first day and I abandoned while I still had an easy "escape" to a Dutch train station.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 01 September, 2023, 01:07:08 pm
Is there a tool to tell you how many tiles a planned GPX will yield?  I don't need to account for already obtained tiles, just a simple 'this GPX crosses X tiles'.

I could upload it of Strava & VV then delete afterwards but I'm wondering if there's an easier way.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 01 September, 2023, 01:32:10 pm
You can upload a GPX here: https://veloviewer.com/routes/0

I think you will have to count the tiles manually.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 01 September, 2023, 02:58:02 pm
statshunters.com (https://statshunters.com/) will count the (new) tiles of a route you upload.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 01 September, 2023, 02:59:15 pm

Ah, but those aren't your max cluster are they ?

In the multi country rides. My max currently is 4 in one ride (lu, be, de, NL). I recently tried to do 5 in one, but scratched at 165km cos I was fed up and didn't fancy another 90km it headwinds in the rain. I plan on a second attempt tho.

But it take a bit of work to get my cluster firstly down the Limburg, then across the Ardennes to Luxembourg. So I think for now 3 is good going. I'm guessing Ivo has 4. And I can't remember where Zed's cluster stops...

J
This would be a challenge. But, I mean, not completely impossible. ;D
(https://i.ibb.co/RTg2Ks4/image.png) (https://ibb.co/zVmsgBH)
Now, just need to talk Eurotunnel into allowing a sportive through the service bore for a significant anniversary.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 01 September, 2023, 03:43:12 pm
don't bother, no GPS signal in the tunnel  :P
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 01 September, 2023, 03:48:34 pm
don't bother, no GPS signal in the tunnel  :P
Nothing a distance sensor and the little python script I made for showing simulated virtual rides on the route loaded wouldn't fix  :)
(https://i.ibb.co/QknVd0H/image.png) (https://ibb.co/68bSBQt)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 01 September, 2023, 10:19:44 pm
You can upload a GPX here: https://veloviewer.com/routes/0

I think you will have to count the tiles manually.
Perfect thank you.  (a route I have in mind should give me ~350 new tiles)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 September, 2023, 11:31:34 pm
don't bother, no GPS signal in the tunnel  :P

Just swim... or kayak... :p

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 01 September, 2023, 11:35:05 pm
don't bother, no GPS signal in the tunnel  :P

Just swim... or kayak... :p

Gossamer Albatross tactics?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 02 September, 2023, 10:11:55 am
don't bother, no GPS signal in the tunnel  :P

Just swim... or kayak... :p

Gossamer Albatross tactics?
Far too much effort. Kayak is prime option, although it would be really fitting to have some kind of pedalo.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sg37409 on 03 September, 2023, 12:03:23 am
170 tiles today on the Insch by Insch 200. I've ridden most of the roads before, just before strava  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: smileydave on 04 September, 2023, 02:27:30 pm
A Bank Holiday outing to Shrewsbury let me fill some gaps around Banbury. Annoyingly I missed the circled one, due to a combination of the garmin throwing random straight lines across a field, then as a result telling me I was off route / off the end of the spur too early, and a lady jogger, who I'd overtaken, then spun around in front of, using the excuse of a wrong turn, then feeling uncomfortable going back and circling around her in case i'd missed it... Always leave something out there for next time, right? it'll only add 2km to the next ride picking up the lower gaps.
Made poor time on the way, over heating and hills, so had a massive sulk and cut the route short by 6 miles or so, which meant I missed out on unifying and expanding the Shrewsbury clusters but I did unify two and expand from 5-11
(https://i.ibb.co/xJbjJkZ/banbury.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 08 September, 2023, 08:37:36 pm
(https://i.ibb.co/kc6YhTP/image.png) (https://ibb.co/Hgpmry9)
(https://i.ibb.co/bWgwWmn/image.png) (https://ibb.co/7YJMYCF)
Woop! Now just need to fill in a tiny gap closer to home...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 09 September, 2023, 06:39:07 am
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230909/9b064fb1471de1a88a78c8608571edd5.jpg)
Explored a North West corner of my tiles yesterday and unexpectedly got up to 32x32
!
Can you see what I’m building here? 60+ square before I retire, ha
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 10 September, 2023, 05:47:38 pm
Mission fully accomplished this afternoon.
Distance: 14 km
New tiles: 10
Max cluster increase: +318 (1800 -> 2118).
(https://i.ibb.co/LJD4LCN/image.png) (https://ibb.co/8dnFWjY)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 10 September, 2023, 07:13:34 pm
A couple of updates.
This one was a day trip to the island of Unst, which is about 2 hours drive and 2 ferries from home.
I'd never ridden there before, so all new tiles, but a fair bit of off road tracks and random wanders about in the hill to get the tile coverage.
In the end I ran out of time to do the SE corner, so another visit still needed, but it was great riding on and off road, with hardly a car moving.

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc9uGkqQ8PTOTbH9-aE-sppRbkE_zdozWR9nDSb_sya6BnI7MyGu2QvRNYHjEsy4N9Jgxu8kp1BWcS2U3PoPGn9ck2MNHp953Hx-hVd8cqq8dPlUedA=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_mfcBpa1nLt2fIvL5y12AZSuqFb5vEGnoKM9ROvF_oaZY1ztQxS4j0lYgD3pViWkkDJQ8TU3npaU6KvCA-SmsTNsivd6XcNkl67hNgl_A3EfBB49A=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_INUBSroGCGpjYz2GWyM1B1xON7ms1L7SI-McxrVVJAQng-hm3KL51YFmz5EUQO2qeftJ-qOM7ZxO3FZh4-HT2yjErOcJWo-Oel8lsrYNMotcs4FY=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc8YxAJIQCYqzrAk50T17T5QP_4izqPRiyWArJqFZt2TR4eGuLaX3T_KQ4gneCpdQbININeZGU7BJMU7QowqStwHdmAM1226QLIYCWYKICu6P8IJO9Y=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc9wdXeru4TGWj6uRu9pZSJRWjSrClbQ0RzS5sxoM2YRiw2pHzaRcrUE9dHYi7Bhu3w3HH5WTlfhHUWKLQmfbxk8zkKUfpP-460uHlq28ISVfOhE8GQ=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc-8d4IRpTXE2xgDRWj-dEC7V3W37V85hBrsI4Bqzrw1XONnV5sH-vVVPLhlpj57ct7_bWZGI-H-TBk5nwMo8h_UM_iri3eaZfI8DM5fLgl5Inolhak=w2400)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 11 September, 2023, 11:11:22 am
Brilliant photos.  Looks like there are 2 tiles allowing you to join Yell cluster on to Unst.  But maybe a struggle to link the cluster between Yell and the mainland without taking to the water?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 11 September, 2023, 11:37:18 am
Thank you carlosferreiro - love the pictures.

I also love the finite challenge your islands offer. You are going to have to get in that water though...

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 11 September, 2023, 03:27:19 pm
Yes, Unst to Yell joins no bother right along the sound, but Yell to the mainland means a small boat trip to the uninhabited islands of Bigga and/or Samphrey for some little walks. Fetlar can be joined to Yell with the same kind of trip to Hascosay and then one short swim/paddle too.

I'm not taking to the water by kayak etc myself, so I'll see what random opportunities come up.
Quite a bit of Yell tiles away from roads means not that interesting peat bog hikes, which again are not so much my thing....
My interest has shifted to easier gains on new ground on mainland Scotland, more to come in the next update ;-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 12 September, 2023, 08:50:55 am
Took to the water myself at the weekend. Used the paddleboard to get the tile under the Queensferry Crossing.  Will aim to complete the inner Forth over the coming months.  Cool to see the bridges from underneath

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53182407440_1415426898_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2p2xJTj)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53182429115_34bb82d6cf_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2p2xRk2)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53182484613_3ee7131f55_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2p2y8PT)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53182173974_9287486631_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2p2wxu3)





Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 13 September, 2023, 08:44:57 pm
And my other bit of action lately, a ferry trip to Aberdeen and a 5 day tour round the north east - Aberdeen - Portsoy - Elgin- Elgin - Portsoy - Aberdeen
Route planning was a surgical out and back parallel putting a corridor all the way through to Nairn, but things didn't quite work out, with a couple of missed tiles and Culbin forest not turning out to be so easy to navigate, but mostly putting in a shortcut on the Portsoy to Aberdeen return as there was a strong southerly wind and I wanted a bit more buffer to make sure I caught the ferry.

In the end though 5 great days riding over a big mix of surfaces, mostly on road but a fair bit of forestry and coastal paths and the random farm tracks cutting across from road to road, and blazing sun every day, fully maxing out my sun tan  ;)
This is more where my interest is at the moment, playing join the dots of places by interesting corridors on little holiday trips.

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_1ii5G1UcbNNsgmtlF3p0oKXF9sPQPVxyRp6Jxysfv5uwp7Ez_nBCsHd_WrUr-EzKTsTAIGa2uaNdG0CBVUyLKsrSdsXyDYxnaMU5fiwfrdTbSr_0=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc-iKTtR6qKqcvRZO1rOOBUb7qr2HQfMYXOj5CRbdNe0egGEIR1pNUPQNZm4ikBGF99rnL4ayV12Ix5wLRgh0LtP9qdhE-39SMlS0e9X6efmhUumOLQ=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc9W3YxzATaHeGUiWh373ttEM1V9p-HQMDT6poyYzdGH76dGev-7NzoHsHybyAkq3lDjTcV4d3KksiAeTih_kVQXLfY1uI0noCU8_6fPC22oKdkUU8s=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_ASc9onS7aRMIf792Ns7DjV2aRer1kinM80wmq_dMTbESAMrMduuCvR-EE8U0v9W1Hfw8m1e9lilFP2FascpP-Z0ulWiJSbO6W-5U16KYacM5Wc9M=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_XlggrYXqug5yr7-n1oLUO5K5a1JYaP2h_45yZqLDy8Jkg-PTDeIFgihzv4mhvQ3FVo_XHIhJLnPnIioWsf0U_15CYpM_GPa2Oe4UbVLKmSm9Or2A=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc-LXb_Cb9i1a_QVaHiyubxSyNMKuPyH-ol4K2ZFMOkiL_Y2cf0HH-RO3LFeKmWmUlIGrrUaAlusLKV5AXIM6k1PdzAp2yfY4cXM7XaS_Of_kIy77zc=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_e56E9QZXjbLUq00yiSeGBBtlgYrovH510ZCeg541plMbE8yd-V1Mi6ytfGK3AQ6_uqA3xBw4xuYxITejfeC-JiiUfPO6dbuMmMeuWm0D_YPZokUI=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_3u3qIKOP0_25k9yYasYDZJb2ycG131WVhHyJhyhF6Ylu5LJkaZboPrvsgvGi6pw-KOH-mwIShFJRdqzNjfxIK0ekNQ2FE6D-JEXuqppG0DG44knk=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_rEHDVz0iNokuXDUGA_HbwcjL_q1YHQiyyJkEVOgri4wyLIZRGlI14XlRA_m4hrqjSJDDErZbdYCsPxNAAxnA85paORneuMejMiNY_42E4TN1gn7k=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc-BlM_5nlFFBDcFgjP9dmpM3Iqbt4tS1-Ux8cuF6l4gV2XrGwVPEfpf2fMZPax-Do-sc4KoXfNrMhua1N5J9Z__XT3gMMvlWVOd_2QZLwvtre2RiRs=w2400)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 13 September, 2023, 09:54:37 pm
 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Steve Orchard on 14 September, 2023, 07:31:58 am
And my other bit of action lately, a ferry trip to Aberdeen and a 5 day tour round the north east - Aberdeen - Portsoy - Elgin- Elgin - Portsoy - Aberdeen
Route planning was a surgical out and back parallel putting a corridor all the way through to Nairn, but things didn't quite work out, with a couple of missed tiles and Culbin forest not turning out to be so easy to navigate, but mostly putting in a shortcut on the Portsoy to Aberdeen return as there was a strong southerly wind and I wanted a bit more buffer to make sure I caught the ferry.

In the end though 5 great days riding over a big mix of surfaces, mostly on road but a fair bit of forestry and coastal paths and the random farm tracks cutting across from road to road, and blazing sun every day, fully maxing out my sun tan  ;)
This is more where my interest is at the moment, playing join the dots of places by interesting corridors on little holiday trips.

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_1ii5G1UcbNNsgmtlF3p0oKXF9sPQPVxyRp6Jxysfv5uwp7Ez_nBCsHd_WrUr-EzKTsTAIGa2uaNdG0CBVUyLKsrSdsXyDYxnaMU5fiwfrdTbSr_0=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc-iKTtR6qKqcvRZO1rOOBUb7qr2HQfMYXOj5CRbdNe0egGEIR1pNUPQNZm4ikBGF99rnL4ayV12Ix5wLRgh0LtP9qdhE-39SMlS0e9X6efmhUumOLQ=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc9W3YxzATaHeGUiWh373ttEM1V9p-HQMDT6poyYzdGH76dGev-7NzoHsHybyAkq3lDjTcV4d3KksiAeTih_kVQXLfY1uI0noCU8_6fPC22oKdkUU8s=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_ASc9onS7aRMIf792Ns7DjV2aRer1kinM80wmq_dMTbESAMrMduuCvR-EE8U0v9W1Hfw8m1e9lilFP2FascpP-Z0ulWiJSbO6W-5U16KYacM5Wc9M=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_XlggrYXqug5yr7-n1oLUO5K5a1JYaP2h_45yZqLDy8Jkg-PTDeIFgihzv4mhvQ3FVo_XHIhJLnPnIioWsf0U_15CYpM_GPa2Oe4UbVLKmSm9Or2A=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc-LXb_Cb9i1a_QVaHiyubxSyNMKuPyH-ol4K2ZFMOkiL_Y2cf0HH-RO3LFeKmWmUlIGrrUaAlusLKV5AXIM6k1PdzAp2yfY4cXM7XaS_Of_kIy77zc=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_e56E9QZXjbLUq00yiSeGBBtlgYrovH510ZCeg541plMbE8yd-V1Mi6ytfGK3AQ6_uqA3xBw4xuYxITejfeC-JiiUfPO6dbuMmMeuWm0D_YPZokUI=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_3u3qIKOP0_25k9yYasYDZJb2ycG131WVhHyJhyhF6Ylu5LJkaZboPrvsgvGi6pw-KOH-mwIShFJRdqzNjfxIK0ekNQ2FE6D-JEXuqppG0DG44knk=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc_rEHDVz0iNokuXDUGA_HbwcjL_q1YHQiyyJkEVOgri4wyLIZRGlI14XlRA_m4hrqjSJDDErZbdYCsPxNAAxnA85paORneuMejMiNY_42E4TN1gn7k=w2400)

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc-BlM_5nlFFBDcFgjP9dmpM3Iqbt4tS1-Ux8cuF6l4gV2XrGwVPEfpf2fMZPax-Do-sc4KoXfNrMhua1N5J9Z__XT3gMMvlWVOd_2QZLwvtre2RiRs=w2400)
Great photos. Inspiring

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 22 September, 2023, 12:14:20 pm
Hi folks,

Love this ongoing thread :-). I am trying to write down the history of tiling as best I remember it. What I have so far is at https://rideeverytile.com/history-of-tiling but there's likely important bits I'm missing. If you have any thoughts/remembrances/ideas for the article (or, indeed, the site) please let me have them!

Thanks, Pete.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: lissotriton on 22 September, 2023, 06:31:52 pm
Hi folks,

Love this ongoing thread :-). I am trying to write down the history of tiling as best I remember it. What I have so far is at https://rideeverytile.com/history-of-tiling but there's likely important bits I'm missing. If you have any thoughts/remembrances/ideas for the article (or, indeed, the site) please let me have them!

Thanks, Pete.
What about things that came before? eg the Degree Confluence Project, and Geograph. Maybe they helped to inspire tiling.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Rod Marton on 01 October, 2023, 11:39:43 am
My first new tile for three months!

Unfortunately I have been a victim of circumstance. Came off the bike at the beginning of July, which gave me a minor fracture which was sufficient to keep me from cycling for a couple of weeks. Managed a few days riding, when I had a major and non-bike related accident, which has kept me off the bike for a couple of months. Since getting back on I've been trying to build up the strength and stamina again, and today managed the 60km round trip to the most accessible unbagged tile (Berkeley power station, if anyone is interested).

I'm sure that more will follow in due course.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Peat on 04 October, 2023, 04:06:57 pm
Up to 42 x 42 today. Nothing as aspirational as the adventures above.

Got Bicester knocked off which I had been putting off for ages for obvious reasons.

Getting to 43x43 is going to take some planning/cunning as i'm hemmed in by HS2 currently.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: PeteBart on 13 October, 2023, 08:31:18 am
Up to 42 x 42 today. Nothing as aspirational as the adventures above.

Got Bicester knocked off which I had been putting off for ages for obvious reasons.

Getting to 43x43 is going to take some planning/cunning as i'm hemmed in by HS2 currently.

Interesting you mention HS2. In 2018 Jon France cited potentially getting blocked by HS2 was one reason he did his crazy 100x100 year - he wanted to get them all done whilst the countryside was still there. Are there any really tricky tiles due to HS2 now? I think I've got most of them and am always surprised by how huge an area the construction sites are. Will be tidied up when they finish I suppose.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: hippy on 19 October, 2023, 10:42:09 am
I wasn't going to bother doing this because I don't want to pay for Strava or Veloviewer. Squadrats (free) made me have a look though.

In August I started with a mess of random training rides and races and a "massive" 9x9 square :D
(https://lfgss.microcosm.app/api/v1/files/063364118361384624c6055910a1e23823f38260.png)
(https://lfgss.microcosm.app/api/v1/files/146e0ccf618c64bb0fb4b96ff2c6eec157742e64.png)

A month later, with some Strava backfilling and local lunch rides (no long rides as I've been overseas) I'm now in top 20 in Squadrats and Squadratinos
(https://lfgss.microcosm.app/api/v1/files/01732e1db0104c8194560244746132135683e443.jpg)
(https://lfgss.microcosm.app/api/v1/files/29f00166d0d2fcbf7e13ebe10a4a4fd67ea04bab.png)

Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 23 October, 2023, 12:13:18 pm
Mountain bike excursion yesterday to mop up some tiles around Salisbury. First max square increase in a long time, from 25x25 to 26x26.
(https://i.ibb.co/1JfkJrH/image.png) (https://ibb.co/93973bR)
(https://i.ibb.co/hLrxSQT/image.png) (https://ibb.co/rFqKV8X)
(https://i.ibb.co/7QYTmTX/image.png) (https://ibb.co/PMmbHbN)
(https://i.ibb.co/KLzKwSq/image.png) (https://ibb.co/Sd7frGn)
That faint track is the Roman Road :)

This kink was to avoid a massive valley. Funny to see the point at which the roman engineers thought "to hell with the straight lines, I'm going around that"
(https://i.ibb.co/0h1JgFW/image.png) (https://imgbb.com/)
(https://i.ibb.co/jgJFd1B/image.png) (https://ibb.co/t8L5SWk)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: hippy on 23 October, 2023, 12:18:56 pm
I did a couple of rides on the weekend, totally about 230k and added 54 tiles and 4 to my square taking it to 24x24.

I think I'm stuck in most directions with private land so my squadratinos lunch explorations are probably going to move towards increasing yardage.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 23 October, 2023, 02:29:25 pm
I paid to get into Raby Castle Deer Park (again) only to find I couldn't reach my desired square, the gates were locked and I am not fit for climbing over fences.

I made Mr Smith drive me a couple of miles to 'attack' it from the other direction.  ::-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 24 October, 2023, 12:40:11 pm
I did a couple of rides on the weekend, totally about 230k and added 54 tiles and 4 to my square taking it to 24x24.

I think I'm stuck in most directions with private land so my squadratinos lunch explorations are probably going to move towards increasing yardage.
They ought to be possible around there, Jonathan France managed an absolutely humongous max square.
(https://i.ibb.co/XVqPHrD/image.png) (https://imgbb.com/)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 24 October, 2023, 06:21:38 pm
That’s basically the Max Square that I’m aiming for before retirement! So incredibly impressive
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 25 October, 2023, 09:03:36 am
That’s basically the Max Square that I’m aiming for before retirement! So incredibly impressive
I don't have a hope with square, being confined by the coast on two sides and Porton Down on a third, so it's clusters for me.
(https://i.ibb.co/LJxNPCC/image.png) (https://ibb.co/mX9NBHH)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 30 October, 2023, 09:12:17 am
45 new tiles on Saturdays Halloween Hundred

11696 tiles
Max square 18x18
Max Cluster: 848
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sg37409 on 01 November, 2023, 05:28:20 pm
Ticked over 10,000 tiles today.

10,010 tiles
779 max cluster
14*14 square
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: hippy on 02 November, 2023, 10:36:45 am
Anyone else having issues with the Squadrats plugin and RWGPS? Chrome Canary won't even render the website map and both Chrome and Canary have stopped showing the purple button. I've pinged the dev an email but I might have to go look for an alternative for route planning w/ tiles.

I've used stathunter, but it doesn't do the little tiles I don't think - any alternatives?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 02 November, 2023, 10:51:32 am
The button shows in the preview but not in the main planner... Hmm.

You can still get the squadrats button in Garmin Connect (https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/create) but then you're on the Garmin Course creator and all the joys that brings.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: hippy on 02 November, 2023, 10:58:05 am
The button shows in the preview but not in the main planner... Hmm.

Are you having the same issue then?

It works in Komoot it seems, so definitely looks to be a RWGPS+Squadrats issue. Weirdly though my Canary browser seems to have shat the bed with regards webGL at the same time. I wonder if a Windows update or browser update broke both at once.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 02 November, 2023, 11:20:55 am
The button shows in the preview but not in the main planner... Hmm.

Are you having the same issue then?

It works in Komoot it seems, so definitely looks to be a RWGPS+Squadrats issue. Weirdly though my Canary browser seems to have shat the bed with regards webGL at the same time. I wonder if a Windows update or browser update broke both at once.

Yes, same issue here- and it's just today as I used it yesterday.
I don't have Komoot or Strava premium but it's working in Garmin, so agreed, probably a RWGPS issue.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: hippy on 02 November, 2023, 11:23:21 am
I've linked him to this thread and I've emailed examples of a route with the issue so it's over to him now I guess.

Double annoying though is that Chrome Canary has stopped rendering webGL stuff. I wonder if the latest release stopped supporting my onboard Intel 530 HD chipset?
I don't really want a new machine but I might have to add an external video card if they're going to break my kit.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: hippy on 02 November, 2023, 12:00:27 pm
Looks like if you set the map type to Google Maps in preview and then click edit, it will work.
Other map types though are broken.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 02 November, 2023, 12:55:38 pm
RWGPS also not been showing the Statshunter tiles layer for me for a few weeks.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: hippy on 02 November, 2023, 01:03:40 pm
There's been a change to Google Maps within RWGPS where it won't let you Street View unless you're already in Google Maps. It used to work in OSM etc.

I guess Corps are going to crack down when it doesn't suit them but it's a pity it always negatively impacts the users.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: hippy on 03 November, 2023, 10:06:10 am
It's still a bit flakey but it's definitely working again in Canary.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: smileydave on 06 November, 2023, 08:54:49 am
The Upper Thames 200 delivered 91 more tiles and increased the cluster by 11. I took the west bank of the Thame from Chalgrove to Wheatley to pick up 6, but missed one because a previous GPS funny made me doubt myself, so I ignored the turn.... A couple more excursions from the route on the drag up to Chipping Norton. Slightly kicking myself for not picking up the Soho Farmhouse one, which would fill a gap. I'd planned to pick it up on another ride, but now that I've been past it, I should have done it. It would have only added a km or so to the route.
Then one final off route excursion to fill a gap in Wychwood Forest. Down a muddy bridleway, the GPS beeped to say I was off route, went a bit further, hung around for a wee, then got home to discover that I still hadn't quite caught it, by a matter of feet, I expect. Frustrating...
Also, if I'd followed the diversion to avoid the flood near the start I'd have had two more tiles AND dry feet
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 12 November, 2023, 12:32:22 pm
Just passed the 3000 tile mark for my largest cluster. I think I'd like to focus on the roads out towards Liverpool, and see if I can join the coasts together as others have done before me.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 14 November, 2023, 12:56:53 pm
I've been stuck on 40x40, 1800 max cluster for a while now.  Possibly because I've developed a bit of an intolerance to 'drive n ride', and the req'd rides are getting longer.  Plan to do some more train 'n bike...

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53331738303_4f63b51b0e.jpg)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jeff E on 23 November, 2023, 08:35:47 am
“Intolerance to Drive and Ride” !!!!!      The whole point in creating a Max Square, is surely, the achievement of EVERY ride (Apart from Races or Events) being from your HOME.     The further the achieved Tile is from home, the greater the sense of achievement and ride enjoyment.      200-600km+ are regularly ridden as Audax DIYs, so you have MANY Rides yet to look forward to, and enjoy.         Obviously Water based Tiles cannot be ridden by Bike, so transporting a Canoe etc is just acceptable Common Sense
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 23 November, 2023, 10:06:07 am
“Intolerance to Drive and Ride” !!!!!      The whole point in creating a Max Square, is surely, the achievement of EVERY ride (Apart from Races or Events) being from your HOME.     The further the achieved Tile is from home, the greater the sense of achievement and ride enjoyment.      200-600km+ are regularly ridden as Audax DIYs, so you have MANY Rides yet to look forward to, and enjoy.         Obviously Water based Tiles cannot be ridden by Bike, so transporting a Canoe etc is just acceptable Common Sense

Well, that's one point of view.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 23 November, 2023, 01:56:10 pm
“Intolerance to Drive and Ride” !!!!!      The whole point in creating a Max Square, is surely, the achievement of EVERY ride (Apart from Races or Events) being from your HOME.     The further the achieved Tile is from home, the greater the sense of achievement and ride enjoyment.      200-600km+ are regularly ridden as Audax DIYs, so you have MANY Rides yet to look forward to, and enjoy.         Obviously Water based Tiles cannot be ridden by Bike, so transporting a Canoe etc is just acceptable Common Sense

'The whole point' for me at least is enjoying exploring different areas* by bike...  :)  If for some rides, I start cycling somewhere distant from home via car, or train - so be it; not too worried about not being overly 'hairshirt' Audax about it.  In any event many people actually drive / train to the start of audax events...   ;)

* not forgetting the almost 'philatelic' accrual of map tiles...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: SoreTween on 23 November, 2023, 04:56:47 pm
“Intolerance to Drive and Ride” !!!!!      The whole point in creating a Max Square, is surely, the achievement of EVERY ride (Apart from Races or Events) being from your HOME.     The further the achieved Tile is from home, the greater the sense of achievement and ride enjoyment.      200-600km+ are regularly ridden as Audax DIYs, so you have MANY Rides yet to look forward to, and enjoy.         Obviously Water based Tiles cannot be ridden by Bike, so transporting a Canoe etc is just acceptable Common Sense

'The whole point' for me at least is enjoying exploring different areas by bike...  :)  If for some rides, I start cycling somewhere distant from home via car, or train - so be it; not too worried about not being overly 'hairshirt' Audax about it.  In any event many people actually drive / train to the start of audax events...   ;)

The trouble with driving to ride is that if you project the concept to the extreme you get people stopping in a layby, walking round their car and driving to the next tile.  It's a ridiculous extreme I've not seen done but it's what is at the bottom of the drive to ride slippery slope.  How far towards that point you are prepared to go is entirely up to the individual.

Personally, I'll carry on driving to audax because I was doing that before I started on veloviewer.  I've taken public transport to/from holidays and was driven to the start of one this year.  I'll do a ride out from somewhere I was going anyway such as visiting relatives.  But drive just to ride is out.  Drive to walk to a square that cannot be obtained legally by bike is in my rules but I have to connect the walk to somewhere I've ridden to, I've filled in a few gaps that way.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 23 November, 2023, 05:54:25 pm
The trouble with driving to ride is that if you project the concept to the extreme you get people stopping in a layby, walking round their car and driving to the next tile.  It's a ridiculous extreme I've not seen done but it's what is at the bottom of the drive to ride slippery slope.  How far towards that point you are prepared to go is entirely up to the individual.

Personally, I'll carry on driving to audax because I was doing that before I started on veloviewer.  I've taken public transport to/from holidays and was driven to the start of one this year.  I'll do a ride out from somewhere I was going anyway such as visiting relatives.  But drive just to ride is out.  Drive to walk to a square that cannot be obtained legally by bike is in my rules but I have to connect the walk to somewhere I've ridden to, I've filled in a few gaps that way.

Yes, the 'slippery slope' argument is often considered fallacious though...  ;)  One of my 'recent' drive to ride for explorering was to Waddesdon, from where I did a ~100km (6hrs elapsed) of maximised tile bagging.  Otherwise would have taken a long time, doing familiar roads.  I've also trained it to Banbury / Moreton in M, and cycled back bagging tiles.  At least tile bagging is not a standardised event with 'rules'*, or a competition, but on occasions when I have used alternative transport to get to a start, it's always been for a decent ride.
As I've said, this is changing for me, but personally, I'm unlikely to start doing DIYxGPS 200/300/+ kms to bag tiles...

*apart from the human powered aspect etc...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 23 November, 2023, 06:53:55 pm
I took the train to ride in not yet  covered area's long before I had a GPS, so long before I started tile hunting. And I still do it. And I see no problem with doing a short lap collecting multiple tiles if I have 1-2 hours between 2 trains. The aim is to ride as many area's you wouldn't ride otherwise, not to create restrictive rules.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 23 November, 2023, 07:03:20 pm
The trouble with driving to ride is that if you project the concept to the extreme you get people stopping in a layby, walking round their car and driving to the next tile.
Tile 8454 x 5345 requires a kayak or you can take your car on the A6 motorway (in the Netherlands), stop at the parking area, walk around and bag the tile. I've seen it done.

Silly? Sure.

I did use the kayak to bag that and other water tiles in the area but burned in excess of 15 litres of petrol that day.

Silly? Sure.

But it was a nice day out with the 2CV and on the water  :)

For the past three years most of my DIY200 rides (close to a 100) did start somewhere remote at a train station. A monthly subscription that allows free travel during the weekends and a bicycle that masquarades as a folding bike (those travel for free on Dutch trains) does make this financially doable. There's also a bunch of official BRM rides that did add to my cluster/square and did start no where near my home.

For the "only rides from home count"  argument I would suggest to add that only a true Scotsman can bag tiles  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 23 November, 2023, 07:42:37 pm
This "ride from your home" idea is just a slippery slope! People can move houses! All rides should have to start within 50m of where you were born!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 24 November, 2023, 08:09:42 am
This "ride from your home" idea is just a slippery slope! People can move houses! All rides should have to start within 50m of where you were born!

Hell, you shouldn't even leave your home. Only rides on zwift should count!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 24 November, 2023, 08:22:16 am
This "ride from your home" idea is just a slippery slope! People can move houses! All rides should have to start within 50m of where you were born!

I've moved home twice purely to extend the cluster I can ride, and looking at moving again in a couple of years. I didn't know this was against the rules.
 O:-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Jeff E on 24 November, 2023, 10:36:58 am
Of course there aren’t any Written Rules……….     The original Tilers all seem to have ridden from their homes, and that made sense to me when I started.    I have only ever ridden for the pleasure of cycling and exploring new areas, and when younger, really enjoyed 3-600s.    I only became fully aware of Tiling during Lockdown, and enjoyed increasing my square up to 47x47 before the combination of illness and old age made it hard to improve.

  I can fully understand the mindset of those that like to be competitive.  And there is NOTHING wrong with that (I always got extra satisfaction from being the first one back on Audaxes).   But to me, Cycling (as a Runner then as a Walker in my case) is all about the Journey of visiting New places.   

 Driving etc to far away places to experience well organised Audaxes along really well thought out routes creates the best memories, but nothing beats the added experience of cycling to and from the Start/Destination.  It all just depends on how much time you have available.    I therefore apologise, to those who may be time-poor, who should still be applauded for making full use of their own available time to explore
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 24 November, 2023, 06:25:17 pm
This "ride from your home" idea is just a slippery slope! People can move houses! All rides should have to start within 50m of where you were born!

Hell, you shouldn't even leave your home. Only rides on zwift should count!
I did think through an open world zwift-a-like where you could explore onwards forever, maybe with some terrain being harder to ride/navigate etc to get that tile.
I guess ideally you'd want a 1:1 real world geography and include needing to find food and places to sleep....  :P
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 24 November, 2023, 07:25:27 pm


The trouble with driving to ride is that if you project the concept to the extreme you get people stopping in a layby, walking round their car and driving to the next tile.  It's a ridiculous extreme I've not seen done but it's what is at the bottom of the drive to ride slippery slope.  How far towards that point you are prepared to go is entirely up to the individual.

I know someone who's done that. The tile is in the middle of a military camp and the only options are walk down the layby. Or cycle through the military camp (to which is illegal, tho at least 1 forumite has done so).

I've taken the train to do rides. A lot. I wouldn't ride as much if I didn't. And as you can't easily include only certain rides in veloviewer, it all counts.

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: lissotriton on 24 November, 2023, 08:53:53 pm
I've taken the train to do rides. A lot. I wouldn't ride as much if I didn't. And as you can't easily include only certain rides in veloviewer, it all counts.
Veloviewer can filter by name/description. So could add a tag for anything starting from home.
Or StatsHunters can filter by start location.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Ivo on 24 November, 2023, 09:21:46 pm
This debate sounds so German for me....
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 25 November, 2023, 12:36:44 am
This debate sounds so German for me....

Only including rides that start in, finish in, or otherwise visit Germany puts island dwellers at a very distinct disadvantage...

Incidentally I assume the only including rides that start and finish at home, does that also apply to canoe trips to get the waterborne tiles ?

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 30 November, 2023, 08:30:29 am
This "ride from your home" idea is just a slippery slope! People can move houses! All rides should have to start within 50m of where you were born!

Hell, you shouldn't even leave your home. Only rides on zwift should count!
On the plus side makes them motorway tiles much easier  ;D
(https://i.ibb.co/FBg4zmx/image.png) (https://ibb.co/GVcQRnx)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 17 December, 2023, 06:11:20 pm
A walk in Glen Tanar increased the max cluster by 3 to 2144.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Flâneur on 19 December, 2023, 12:35:37 pm
A walk in Glen Tanar increased the max cluster by 3 to 2144.

Right behind you Pingu on 2142...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Rod Marton on 20 December, 2023, 10:55:40 am
Success! My target this year was to get the cluster to over 2000, but I thought this would be unreachable when I had a major injury in July and spent a couple of months unable to ride. However some determined riding over the last month has seen me add over 200 tiles to the cluster, and I've now reached 2040. A little way to go to catch Pingu and Flaneur, but I certainly could do so if I manage to connect my satellite cluster at Hay on Wye to the main cluster. Although knowing the roads and terrain around there, that isn't likely to happen until the summer.

Rather less success on the square, which has increased over the year all the way from 31x31 to 32x32. Main reason for this is the presence of the Almost Inaccessible Tile on the nearest edge, so I've been concentrating on the cluster rather than the square. Though even this is going to get difficult from now on, as distances are increasing.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Hofnar on 20 December, 2023, 09:27:52 pm
Managed to link up my secondary "holiday cluster" with the main cluster getting it from just shy of 3K to a bit over 4K à hospital stay on the edge of my cluster did help quit a bit with the gap filling too near the end of the year.

Some gap filling and a well planned summer holiday in the mountains upped the square from 33 to 42, close to adding a couple extra but might aim for 50x50 next  but that will have to wait for winter. Bit stuck with a military camp on the edge where I missed the only limited acess day of the year.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: smileydave on 02 January, 2024, 09:00:34 am
Christmas Mk2 at my father-in-law's provided the opportunity to extend the 45 mile direct route, and pick up 39 new tiles and extend the cluster by 55 to 2122.
A break in the weather meant that there was no lashing rain (just a few light showers before dawn), but just the vicious headwind, which was (mercifully?) consistent, rather than terrifyingly gusty. Slow going, therefore, but once my overambitious breakfast (6 weetabix, slightly stale, pint of tea) had gone down, not too terrible. I had the rather unwise idea to cross the Thames at Duxford ford. "Do not cross in high water" the sign said, but without any indication of how to judge the height. My feet were wet anyway, from a flooded footpath earlier, so I gamely shouldered the bike and strode out into the current. Four paces later, and with the water over my knees, I gamely turned around. There was, I knew, a footpath to a bridge I could follow, so that's what I did. It was fine, if a little muddy until it was flooded. I gamely shouldered the bike and strode out once more. It, too, was fine. The next flooded bit was fine too. Then they began to become less fine. One was distinctly sketchy - I climbed up the bank and walked along the field margin. I began to lose count of the flooded portions. At one point the crown of a freshly fallen tree blocked the path entirely. Unwilling to return without a fight I snapped branches off until I'd made enough of a gap to post the bike through sideways, with only cosmetic damage to a shifter...
All of these shenanigans slowed me down somewhat, and a quick map check revealed that smileywife and smileyboys were imminent, so I cut off the planned loop to get the 8 tiles to the northwest of Standlake. Still got there before they did, and only knocked about 7km off the route in total, so I should have just stuck it out. Would have added a further 21 tiles to the cluster with that as well. Ah, well, there's always next time. Nevertheless, it was a good adventure.
(and, unrelated, the next day we spotted an audaxer on the Cumnor Road. I was more excited by this than my wife was. I didn't think it was likely to be an audax, but turns out it was the Festive 500 ride from Bristol to Cambridge and back)
(https://i.ibb.co/v4S1SvC/squadrats-4.png)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 04 January, 2024, 04:21:15 pm
My VV infographic for 2023.  I completed Fife mainland and also explored around Dundee while my eldest had weekly 90 minute climbing lessons.  A few more tiles added Crieff and Bathgate to my main cluster and I also have a minicluster in Norfolk of about 165 around my in-laws' place.  No very long rides but a lot of walking and the odd paddleboard trip. 

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53442150911_9d960da68e_w.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2pquZz2) (https://flic.kr/p/2pquZz2)

On NYE I had a final attempt to get over 5000 tiles in 2023, but came up against unforecast black ice and ended with a nice bruise on my leg as I hit the handlebars on my way down.  The cluster now looks like this

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53442169891_68cdd01f88_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2pqv6dg) (https://flic.kr/p/2pqv6dg)

My tile total is 4990, my cluster 1844 and my square 20x20.

Planning on a few longer rides in 2024 to get the tile count up- not sure whether cluster will rise much but would be nice to get it over 2000.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: CarlF on 04 January, 2024, 06:39:35 pm
That's impressive paddyirish.
Looks like it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to add Glasgow to that Cluster, working your way up to Aberdeen might be a more worthy challenge :thumbsup:.

Have you got all of Clackmannanshire and Kinrossshire as well as all of Fife?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 05 January, 2024, 12:14:24 am
That's impressive paddyirish.
Looks like it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to add Glasgow to that Cluster, working your way up to Aberdeen might be a more worthy challenge :thumbsup:.

Have you got all of Clackmannanshire and Kinrossshire as well as all of Fife?

I'd guess yes to Kinrossshire, but no to Clacks - there are a few Ochils tiles south of the watershed that I may have to get.  I have one to get in City of Edinburgh (behind a 8ft tall fence, so will need to access by sea). and am pretty sure I have City of Dundee complete now)

In terms of goals I ultimately want to extend my cluster in multiple directions.
1) Coast to Coast- thinking of tiling across to Arrochar
2) To Glasgow and beyond to the Firth of Clyde
3) To Berwick on Tweed
4) To Inverness via the A9 corridor
5) To Aberdeen
6) To Carlisle
7) To Mallaig
8) To Iona- that would be epic - I'd have to cluster across the Sound of Mull at Lochaline.

Achieving a few of those in 2024 would be fun!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 05 January, 2024, 08:48:03 am
Nice goals Paddyirish.
I'm looking at going the other direction, venturing down through Fife and a Forth loop maybe, depending how "holiday" trips work out this year.

You'd have no bother with a coastal-ish corridor up to Aberdeen, it'd be practical in a single out and back if you were willing to do the usual zigzags as needed.
I've only had a few quick looks but haven't seen the A9 corridor to be so easy, unless you are looking at some real hill walking added in there too.

For me I have lots of things rough routed, but not sure what will end up getting done in which order. And also depending, I might just chip away at some, rather than do a full part in one go....

1) NE coastal corridor extended round to Inverness
2) Aberdeen to Inverness via Aviemore
3) Dava and Speyside Way corridors
4) Fife coastal and Forth loop, getting Stirling linked into the cluster
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: paddyirish on 05 January, 2024, 04:35:29 pm
Similar Carlos, your's look great- Shetland must be approaching peak possibility. If you have any questions on Fife, feel free to PM me.  Lots of coastal tiles that only become accessible at low tide too!

I think the A9 requires a lot of hillwalking around Drumochter- that will be pleasurable enough for me, in most cases at least :-)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: carlosferreiro on 05 January, 2024, 06:03:15 pm
Yeah, most of the tiles left on Shetland are long out and back walks over rough moor to a single tile at some random point, so I'm not feeling so enthused.
Joining the north isles would be cool but is a logistics/small boat bit of work.

My first definite trip "south" is for the Aberfeldy "Grand Old Dukes" gravel in May, so current plan is a 2 day tootle of Stirling-Glenrothes-Dundee on the way home, so that will make a first mark for the Fife tiles. If my pal comes to meet me we'll more likely do the Pilgrims trail that time.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Flâneur on 08 January, 2024, 11:16:17 am
I have one to get in City of Edinburgh (behind a 8ft tall fence, so will need to access by sea)

If it's the one in NW Granton, I got in from Heron Place one Saturday when the builders weren't around a few years back. Of course, if you are taking to the water, you can easily also get the water based tile between there and Cramond Island as well, which is one that's been bugging me...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 16 January, 2024, 03:19:27 pm
Christmas Mk2 at my father-in-law's provided the opportunity to extend the 45 mile direct route, and pick up 39 new tiles and extend the cluster by 55 to 2122.
A break in the weather meant that there was no lashing rain (just a few light showers before dawn), but just the vicious headwind, which was (mercifully?) consistent, rather than terrifyingly gusty. Slow going, therefore, but once my overambitious breakfast (6 weetabix, slightly stale, pint of tea) had gone down, not too terrible. I had the rather unwise idea to cross the Thames at Duxford ford. "Do not cross in high water" the sign said, but without any indication of how to judge the height. My feet were wet anyway, from a flooded footpath earlier, so I gamely shouldered the bike and strode out into the current. Four paces later, and with the water over my knees, I gamely turned around. There was, I knew, a footpath to a bridge I could follow, so that's what I did. It was fine, if a little muddy until it was flooded. I gamely shouldered the bike and strode out once more. It, too, was fine. The next flooded bit was fine too. Then they began to become less fine. One was distinctly sketchy - I climbed up the bank and walked along the field margin. I began to lose count of the flooded portions. At one point the crown of a freshly fallen tree blocked the path entirely. Unwilling to return without a fight I snapped branches off until I'd made enough of a gap to post the bike through sideways, with only cosmetic damage to a shifter...
All of these shenanigans slowed me down somewhat, and a quick map check revealed that smileywife and smileyboys were imminent, so I cut off the planned loop to get the 8 tiles to the northwest of Standlake. Still got there before they did, and only knocked about 7km off the route in total, so I should have just stuck it out. Would have added a further 21 tiles to the cluster with that as well. Ah, well, there's always next time. Nevertheless, it was a good adventure.
(and, unrelated, the next day we spotted an audaxer on the Cumnor Road. I was more excited by this than my wife was. I didn't think it was likely to be an audax, but turns out it was the Festive 500 ride from Bristol to Cambridge and back)
(https://i.ibb.co/v4S1SvC/squadrats-4.png)
That reminds me of my massive cluster expansion ride in the same area, although it was much more scattered gap filling:
(https://i.ibb.co/Y0Sz7b7/image.png) (https://ibb.co/6XS3RNR)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 11 February, 2024, 10:33:37 am
MTB excursion featuring the Roman Portway and flanking the North side of Porton Down Danger Area.
(https://i.ibb.co/ZHyps0c/image.png) (https://ibb.co/1sHtVkR)
(https://i.ibb.co/WndWrNK/image.png) (https://ibb.co/F6fbQk7)
(https://i.ibb.co/Y2ChDfP/image.png) (https://ibb.co/H7SqNGB)
(https://i.ibb.co/cbMC5FR/image.png) (https://ibb.co/bHq2hBY)
(https://i.ibb.co/4fcF0n8/image.png) (https://ibb.co/GJXdr4W)
(https://i.ibb.co/QpGtwP1/image.png) (https://ibb.co/k5FvC4W)
(https://i.ibb.co/xsSxg40/image.png) (https://ibb.co/ZJ6qgZP)
(https://i.ibb.co/jkqDHFr/image.png) (https://ibb.co/F4czntD)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: CrazyEnglishTriathlete on 18 February, 2024, 08:57:15 pm
Have finally given into the temptation, so am just starting to fill in the gaps in rides that criss-cross the country from years of Audax, club runs, trips to my caravan in Selsey and commutes.  It has already enticed me down a few dead ends that I've left behind.  There are a few squares like the one in Hackwood Park that will have to wait until April or May when the gravel tracks have dried out and are no longer knee deep in water - so I expect that my max square won't get much bigger than 12x12 until then.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sparklyfish on 18 February, 2024, 10:26:29 pm
welcome to the square side! We have... ummm... squares. But they're very lovely and squarey.  ;D
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Joe.B on 19 February, 2024, 09:14:34 am
Mine isn’t as impressive as most on here, 17x17, 495 cluster & 5310 individual tiles.  In my defence though I only started routinely recording my rides 3 years ago when I bought a Garmin watch. Prior to that I sporadically used an old Garmin 705. When I plugged it into the PC for the first time in 10 years most of my rides, (and all of the long rides), had been overwritten and lost.

Anyway, went out last night for a Sunday evening ride, bagged 7 troublesome tiles and timed it to arrive at Mrs B’s work for Midnight and ride home with her.  I also discovered that in Blyth and Bedlingtion quite a few of the usual types still own recently banned devil dogs. They seem to bring them out for walkies very late at night.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53538941910_ec2698b960_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2pz45am)veloviewer Feb24a (https://flic.kr/p/2pz45am) by Joe B (https://www.flickr.com/photos/84858164@N02/), on Flickr
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Owen on 20 February, 2024, 04:03:05 pm
Have finally given into the temptation, so am just starting to fill in the gaps in rides that criss-cross the country from years of Audax, club runs, trips to my caravan in Selsey and commutes.  It has already enticed me down a few dead ends that I've left behind.  There are a few squares like the one in Hackwood Park that will have to wait until April or May when the gravel tracks have dried out and are no longer knee deep in water - so I expect that my max square won't get much bigger than 12x12 until then.

I have also started to take notice of my squares. I only started cycling about 5 years ago and up until I found Audax hadn't cycled out of my home town.
Thanks to sparklyfish, felstedrider and psyclist's encouragement ( I am so easily led :facepalm:) I have now gone from 12x12 in December to 20x20 now. 

Off to bag another 4 tiles after work today ;D

Owen
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Revolution9 on 04 March, 2024, 08:29:31 am
98 new squares on @sg37409 's Roseneath Randonnee on Saturday.
Now at 11810 squares, and still 18x18 max square
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sparklyfish on 09 March, 2024, 09:12:27 am
Squaredax in Herts this week - Hemel Hempstead routing fail...

(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/bYeMsZvd628YiXkMTlEcz0y6DMCKoCy39j1mVGVnQ7o-921x2048.jpg)

but max square pretty good - now on two 52x52:

(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/yekUBb7rf05BCU_Z-adxWFLOOmXkmHj0FoSS_DVEMBs-921x2048.jpg)

I've started collecting BCQs at the same time as squares, so ticked off most of the Hertfordshire BCQs on the same ride. Fun fun fun!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Bilfred on 09 March, 2024, 09:28:36 am
Squaredax in Herts this week - Hemel Hempstead routing fail...

(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/bYeMsZvd628YiXkMTlEcz0y6DMCKoCy39j1mVGVnQ7o-921x2048.jpg)

but max square pretty good - now on two 52x52:

(https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/yekUBb7rf05BCU_Z-adxWFLOOmXkmHj0FoSS_DVEMBs-921x2048.jpg)

I've started collecting BCQs at the same time as squares, so ticked off most of the Hertfordshire BCQs on the same ride. Fun fun fun!

BCQs??

Lovely square by the way, mine nearly butts up to yours from the South West, so would look great combined!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig on 09 March, 2024, 10:09:29 am
https://www.cyclinguk.org/british-cycle-quest
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: bhoot on 09 March, 2024, 10:13:02 am

Lovely square by the way, mine nearly butts up to yours from the South West, so would look great combined!

And I have a square due south (ie London!)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sparklyfish on 09 March, 2024, 10:26:07 am
ahhhh, imagine a combined YACF max square...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 09 March, 2024, 11:39:31 am
ahhhh, imagine a combined YACF max square...

This really ought to be a thing.  No, I'm not offering to do it.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Solocle on 12 March, 2024, 09:06:09 am
ahhhh, imagine a combined YACF max square...

This really ought to be a thing.  No, I'm not offering to do it.
It wouldn't be too hard to patch together some KML exports.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 12 March, 2024, 05:11:26 pm
The YACF max cluster might be interesting...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Arminius on 13 March, 2024, 08:17:35 am
The YACF max cluster might be interesting...

Maybe we could ask Ride Every Tile to add a Club filter to the heatmap...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 13 March, 2024, 08:49:01 am
The YACF max cluster might be interesting...

Maybe we could ask Ride Every Tile to add a Club filter to the heatmap...

I thought that the heatmap had disappeared so I Googled it, found it (https://rideeverytile.com/heatmap) and didn't really understand what I was looking at as it was showing blank tiles in my max square.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 13 March, 2024, 09:29:28 am
I think that site is no longer being updated. Can you see this from Veloviewer (https://veloviewer.com/explorer)?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Arminius on 13 March, 2024, 09:41:52 am
I think that site is no longer being updated. Can you see this from Veloviewer (https://veloviewer.com/explorer)?

I can, yes. It doesn't seem to have an option to filter, sadly. It also turns out my data is not public, so isn't being included.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 13 March, 2024, 09:54:37 am
I thought that the heatmap had disappeared so I Googled it, found it (https://rideeverytile.com/heatmap) and didn't really understand what I was looking at as it was showing blank tiles in my max square.
I think you must manually upload your rides to rideeverytile.com There appears to be no sync with Strava  >:(
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Zed43 on 13 March, 2024, 09:56:19 am
The YACF max cluster might be interesting...
Maybe we could ask Ride Every Tile to add a Club filter to the heatmap...
Statshunters can theoretically create a heatmap for a club. I gave up after waiting for an hour for something to appear.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 13 March, 2024, 01:00:11 pm
I am moving from Android to iPhone. Is there an app yet?
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 14 March, 2024, 07:59:28 am
I know that it isn't quite what people were talking about but...

I got bored and downloaded the tiles of the top 10 Uk-based, non-private, YACF clusterers (Deano to Graeme).  This is what it looks like:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53586760111_bf9b4302a3_c.jpg)

That white blob east of Oxford is Luton which seems understandable  ;)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: L CC on 14 March, 2024, 08:28:30 am
I should be in that but I'm private. I don't think I add anything though..
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Graeme on 14 March, 2024, 02:54:55 pm
Brilliant! We've still got a bit of work to do. I reckon I need to spend some time in the Preston to Liverpool area, which would also take my cluster coast to coast.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Pingu on 14 March, 2024, 03:49:25 pm
 :thumbsup:

If mine was included then more of NE Scotland would be filled in  :)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Salvatore on 14 March, 2024, 04:59:58 pm
And if mine were included it would include nearly all a lot of the Machars peninsula in SW Scotland (one across from the Mull of Galloway)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53587762218_fa977c4f46.jpg) (https://www.flickr.com/gp/johnspooner/K3d012xz79)
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 14 March, 2024, 05:54:59 pm
I'm really proud of my little squiggles round Pembrokeshire and Exmoor [/Slartibartfast]

My legs didn't exactly enjoy creating them.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Kim on 15 March, 2024, 12:43:42 am
I think I'd usefully fill in the horrible bits of the Wet Midlands, so nobody else has to.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: fimm on 15 March, 2024, 09:47:29 am
I'm sure I'm not the only person who can contribute bits of East Lothian, but I may be more useful for bits of the Highlands usually accessible only on foot.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: andyoxon on 15 March, 2024, 10:09:36 am
I've possibly done some of the missing tiles north of Oxford, but my data still private.  I do have routes made to fill in gaps below Banbury.  Oxford area to Banbury return train  is <£8 to enable max riding in the area...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: quixoticgeek on 15 March, 2024, 10:12:39 pm

Would be good to include the YACFers on this side of the water too. I'm curious how much of .NL Ivo, Zed43, and myself cover...

J
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: Auntie Helen on 16 March, 2024, 06:28:01 am
I’ve done some long rides in NL too (up to Dronten), including a tour round NL.
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 16 March, 2024, 07:04:44 am

Would be good to include the YACFers on this side of the water too. I'm curious how much of .NL Ivo, Zed43, and myself cover...

J

If only your VV data was public...
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sparklyfish on 18 March, 2024, 07:13:13 am
I know that it isn't quite what people were talking about but...

I got bored and downloaded the tiles of the top 10 Uk-based, non-private, YACF clusterers (Deano to Graeme).  This is what it looks like:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53586760111_bf9b4302a3_c.jpg)

That white blob east of Oxford is Luton which seems understandable  ;)

Coo, that is impressive! I'm particularly impressed at filling in the Fens... My data is private too (I got fed up with local men I don't know asking to follow me and giving kudos). Otherwise I could contribute Luton.  ;D

The Luton-Dunstable old railway line is now a busway path and is rather nice! Thanks for the piccie Jon, that's excellent.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: JonBuoy on 18 March, 2024, 07:55:52 am
Coo, that is impressive! I'm particularly impressed at filling in the Fens... My data is private too (I got fed up with local men I don't know asking to follow me and giving kudos). Otherwise I could contribute Luton.  ;D

The Luton-Dunstable old railway line is now a busway path and is rather nice! Thanks for the piccie Jon, that's excellent.  :thumbsup:

There are different kinds of 'private'.  I suspect that you are talking about your Strava data whereas I need access to your VV data to create the map.  People seem to randomly set one, the other, or both to private.  You need to be a member of the YACF Strava 'club' to appear on the YACF map too!
Title: Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
Post by: sparklyfish on 18 March, 2024, 08:10:31 am
oh, I thought the VV data privacy settings were based on the Strava privacy settings. Thanks for the explanation, will have a look at that later.