Yes have worked that out as she says on the video. She uses the 'insert icon' and this is an issue for me too as when she moves the point to the place she wants to now go to it changes the whole route, not just a small detour, up to where she wants to additional visit. So is it possible to keep the route as it is but alter a small section so the routing only changes for the 'new place' before rejoining the original route?
The trouble with the written word is that it is sometimes difficult to imagine what the circumstances are but let's see what we can do to help.
1. Start by turning all the preferences off. Why? That way we will all know how you have your computer configured.
2. Get used to starting the creation of any route by using method (2) in post #5. Why? It's the easiest way when learning and we'll all know which method you are using.
Is it possible to use method (1)? Yes, but not yet. Always start with the easiest method first.
3. You talk about the whole route jumping. Yes, depending on what you are doing, the length of the route you are working on and the settings you have asked the software to use, it may well jump. Imagine if you will, a route created using method (2) post #5 from Northampton to London. The single magenta line first offered up by the software will probably go: Northampton > M1 motorway > London, as that is the quickest, direct route. If you then decide to go from Northampton to London via Ipswich and then drag (shape) the route using the shaping tool, then yes, the route will jump quite considerably to cater for the three points: Northampton > Ipswich > London.
4. In the example above I purposely chose two places (Northampton and London) as they are both towns most people will have heard of and will know where they are geographically. Similarly, I added in Ipswich too, for exactly the same reason. It's so much easier than reading something like "I have a route that goes from (insert tiny village in France) to (insert tiny village in Spain)" as most people will struggle imagining the route in the first place. When learning, try to keep things on a manageable scale at first. Once mastered, the methodology and 'tricks of the trade' learnt on a small scale will work just as well on a big scale, trust me.
5. Now let's go back to shaping a route:
(a) Always start by using method (2) in post #5
(b) If you do so, the computer will generate one single continuous line between your start and end points, complying to the preferences you have asked it to use. If you have set your preferences to exclude motorways, then the route offered up will not go down the M1 but may well take the A5 south. Turning all the preferences off, removes that variable.
(c) When shaping a route, try to imagine what you are asking the the software to do. In the Northampton to London route, it is A to B. This is easy. You then added in Ipswich, again it looks easy as it now goes A (Northampton) to B (Ipswich) to C (London) but you added in quite a complex jump for the computer to make, all the way out to Ipswich and then back to London.
Every time you drag a route to shape it, you make it more complicated. The software can do it, do it very well very quickly but you have to imagine that it is often very bright or very stupid. If it shapes the route exactly as you would like it to, it is very clever. If it shapes it some other way, it is suddenly very stupid.
Imagine, A to B again. Now imagine shaping that route, to go via an intermediate point, Ipswich in my example. It now goes: A to B via C. All that the computer has done has done is take on board that you've changed your mind and want to go via Ipswich. The computer does not care why you have done this, it will simply follow your instructions to do it.
Now imagine that you do not like the way it has chosen to take you from Northampton to Ipswich, but you are happy with the route from Ipswich to London. You need to shape between Northampton and Ipswich, so you shape it a bit to take the ring road around Cambridge. The computer will do it, in a fraction of a second. If you like what it offers up, it (and you) are a genius. If it doesn't, you have to think why and help it a bit.
Your route now goes Northampton > Cambridge ring road > Ipswich > London. Every time you added in a shaping point (Cambrige's ring road and Ipswich) your computer said to itself, "Aha, you want to go there, to do that I'll change the route I had offered up". In other words, the act of shaping adds in a variable. Here's how to help it along when you are learning:
(a) Always start A to B, your complete journey' post #5 method (2). Why? Because that is easiest and those are first and only 'Must do' points of your journey. In other words, you know that you want to go, Northampton to London, so start with that as it's easiest. Then.... once you have done that and nothing else.... start your shaping.
(b) Make your most significant route alteration to your next 'must do' point first. In my example, Ipswich. Try to make this point as close to half way as possible. Why? You have started the shaping process by giving your route it's simplest basic shape. It now goes A , via B (shaping point) to C (end point). Now shape your route again, roughly half way between the points you want to shape. This way you help it along. You will notice that each shaping point never moves, but the line between them might and does. That is because the computer is having its own"Aha" moment, so you might have to fine tune it at each stage a bit. Choosing points roughly halfway is a good way to help and to learn.
After a while you'll get quite good at choosing points to shape to, trust me. You'll also get pretty proficient with using different scales of the map and the amount of detail shown, trust me again. You'll also get used to using the 'undo' and 're-do'commands, trust me.
Be patient. Take a break from time to time. Don't just slam the keyboard and call it crap, it really isn't. Look at the routes I have created in the Travel section. These are not, "I am a genius" routes; I am not. I just learned - and am still learning - how to do it. I was forced to as I was taking bods on this site away on jaunts, so I had to learn. I had no choice. Suddenly, it all clicked into place. The first big Eureka momonent was when I stopped using method (1) in post #5 and started using method (2) getting used to shaping. This was a method I had never used in Mapsource. Once I had made that jump, the second Eureka moment was when I turned off all the preferences.... the software was no longer able to choose roads it wanted to take, roads that made no sense to me.... I now controlled things and had removed a variable. Now that I am used to how preferences work, I do sometimes turn some on, just to save some time. But, when I've finished, I turn them all off again. In other words, I dictate to the software what I want it to do, not the other way around.
