Kurviger - It works

Importing GPX files from Kurviger into a Garmin device shouldn't be too complicated.

What I found was that if I create a route, the resulting .gpx, opened with BaseCamp gives a very "loose" route, in that it does not follow the road, just near it.
If I export as a track, it sticks to the road in BaseCamp. :nenau
 
I think I had a problem with the Garmin not recognizing that I had removed and then re-inserted the uSD card. After rebooting it sees the .gpx file and converts it to a trip, but then is unable to save it for some reason.

But I just got the Kurvinger Android update. Using the new export option as Garmin ShapingPoint and exporting as a route seems to work. Garmin recognized and converted it to a route using the Trip Planner thing. I'll give it a try for real soon but already it looks promising.

Thank you Kurvinger chaps :beerjug::thumb
 
I have just been mucking about in Kurviger and this popped up:

This input allows you to load a tourcode. Every tourcode loads a marvelous motorcycle trip. Tourcodes can be found in different motorcycle magazines, e.g., MOTORRADSTRASSEN, MotorradFreizeit, and in different motorcycle road atlantes found at LOUIS

I haven't tried it yet but I guess if you find a route and its associated 'tourcode' in either of the magazines (MotorradFreizeit, is available on the Readly app) or on the Louis website you just copy the code and pump it in.

If it works, it'll be great.

PS If Kurviger and RiDE magazine could get together to display RiDE's routes, it would be very good.
 
Kurviger.de

Following on from post #23 I have tried it on an iPad and it works.

Here’s a sample:

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In addition Kurviger is now starting to host bikermate friendly hotels.

Not so many at the moment but I guess it will grow.

e6352d5a8488d174cd98f0202a6235cc.png


Want to know a bit more about the hotel? Easy. Search for the hotel’s website, look on Tripadvisor, look on Google maps. In short, use your imagination; it’s free.
 
Kurviger - Nav VI - A problem?

As I trial run I asked Kurviger to create me a route from St Omer (France) to Bouillon (Belgium) which it duly did.

I downloaded the route onto my Mac and into BaseCamp, all without any problems. I then, using BaseCamp’s standard shaping tool, amended the route very slightly, just to miss out a couple of small roads and to include a lunch stop in Chimay, the town center of which Kurviger had routed me past. All very straight forward. Happy with the route, I sent it to my Nav VI, where it loaded and displayed perfectly.

On leaving St Omer I ran the route, which went fine until I suddenly noticed that the route froze, the magenta line vanished and then reappeared again. It all looked OK, until I spotted that the mileage to destination and estimated final destination times had both rocketed. What were previously say an mileage estimation of 130 miles had become 280, whilst the arrival time had gone from 16:30 to 20:30. Obviously something has suddenly gone very awry.

I zoomed the map out, where I could see my route displayed, just as it should be with its lots of little blue dot shaping points and the correct start point (St Omer) and end point (Bouillon). But for some inexplicable reason the route now had extra magenta loops in it, all joined to the proper route but with no blue shaping points in them. This explained the sudden jump in mileage and time.

I stopped the route and restarted it again. All was well, until it happened again. And again.... and again.... In the end I just gave up restarting, so I just rode along zooming the map in and out out to follow the blue dotted magenta line, ignoring other magenta lines that now span off it.

The device is working perfectly well otherwise. This I ensured to be true as I ran several other ‘non-Kurviger created’ routes over the two days without the slightest problem. Something about running the Kurviger route is causing the device to crash and then to recalculate the route, adding in lots of additional chunks in the process.

I think I am pretty good at Garmin GPS devices and can understand / fix most glitches on the fly without too much panic. However, I cannot for the life of me fathom why this problem is happening. My only guess is that a Kurviger created route - even one that’s been amended and recalculated in BaseCamp - brings with it other ‘stuff’ that confuses the Nav VI’s operating systems somehow, causing a crash and a bizarre recalculation each time each time it crashes.

Anyone with any ideas?

Richard

=====

Device: BMW branded Nav VI, in otherwise good working order, fully functional

Software version 5.5

GPS firmware 6.50.01

Mapset: CN Europe (north and south) 2019.20 both functioning perfectly

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Edit: I might have found the answer. I think I exported the journey from Kurviger into BaseCamp as a route, not as a track. Odd though that a Kurviger route that had been worked and recalculated on in BaseCamp brought problems with it when run in my Nav VI
 
In addition Kurviger is now starting to host bikermate friendly hotels.

Not so many at the moment but I guess it will grow.

e6352d5a8488d174cd98f0202a6235cc.png


Want to know a bit more about the hotel? Easy. Search for the hotel’s website, look on Tripadvisor, look on Google maps. In short, use your imagination; it’s free.

Nutty will love that.
 
As I trial run I asked Kurviger to create me a route from St Omer (France) to Bouillon (Belgium) which it duly did.

I downloaded the route onto my Mac and into BaseCamp, all without any problems. I then, using BaseCamp’s standard shaping tool, amended the route very slightly, just to miss out a couple of small roads and to include a lunch stop in Chimay, the town center of which Kurviger had routed me past. All very straight forward. Happy with the route, I sent it to my Nav VI, where it loaded and displayed perfectly.

On leaving St Omer I ran the route, which went fine until I suddenly noticed that the route froze, the magenta line vanished and then reappeared again. It all looked OK, until I spotted that the mileage to destination and estimated final destination times had both rocketed. What were previously say an mileage estimation of 130 miles had become 280, whilst the arrival time had gone from 16:30 to 20:30. Obviously something has suddenly gone very awry.

I zoomed the map out, where I could see my route displayed, just as it should be with its lots of little blue dot shaping points and the correct start point (St Omer) and end point (Bouillon). But for some inexplicable reason the route now had extra magenta loops in it, all joined to the proper route but with no blue shaping points in them. This explained the sudden jump in mileage and time.

I stopped the route and restarted it again. All was well, until it happened again. And again.... and again.... In the end I just gave up restarting, so I just rode along zooming the map in and out out to follow the blue dotted magenta line, ignoring other magenta lines that now span off it.

The device is working perfectly well otherwise. This I ensured to be true as I ran several other ‘non-Kurviger created’ routes over the two days without the slightest problem. Something about running the Kurviger route is causing the device to crash and then to recalculate the route, adding in lots of additional chunks in the process.

I think I am pretty good at Garmin GPS devices and can understand / fix most glitches on the fly without too much panic. However, I cannot for the life of me fathom why this problem is happening. My only guess is that a Kurviger created route - even one that’s been amended and recalculated in BaseCamp - brings with it other ‘stuff’ that confuses the Nav VI’s operating systems somehow, causing a crash and a bizarre recalculation each time each time it crashes.

Anyone with any ideas?

Richard

=====

Device: BMW branded Nav VI, in otherwise good working order, fully functional

Software version 5.5

GPS firmware 6.50.01

Mapset: CN Europe (north and south) 2019.20 both functioning perfectly

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Edit: I might have found the answer. I think I exported the journey from Kurviger into BaseCamp as a route, not as a track. Odd though that a Kurviger route that had been worked and recalculated on in BaseCamp brought problems with it when run in my Nav VI

Have had this problem when I first started using kurviger. They do say export to BC as a track and then convert to a route. Since then it has come up with some v good curvy and v curvy suggestions. Even when avoidances are set the same on kurviger, BC and NAV V it is best to check out the route before riding it. Have found that it sometimes says a route is unpaved, when in fact it is just a few metres of cobbles through a farmyard. On checking the route on google, OSM, kurviger, BC and Swiss topo sometimes they have different ideas about the nature of the surface. The round trip feature is good if you just want a blast on a sunny afternoon. Dial in how many kms you've time for and go
 
Indeed the problem revolved around my downloading the Kurviger route being ‘a route’ as opposed to ‘a track’.

I had checked that the suggested route offered up by Kurviger matched where I wanted to go / went along roads I wanted to go down. Similarly, I had amended it in BaseCamp where it didn’t. I’d checked it as far as I could. It displayed as a magenta line on the Nav VI quite normally.... right up to point in the journey when it forced a crash and a bizarre recalculation.

I now know why and (hopefully) won’t make the same simple mistake again.
 
not used Kurviger much, but the first time i downloaded a route from them and opend it with basecamp all i got was the usual straight lines from waypoint to waypoint, from then on all i did was download the track and as above used BC to convert to a route no issues from then on.
 
Hi Lee,

When I downloaded the route, it was the usual straight lines too. On a Mac, I then noticed that BaseCamp was defaulting to its ‘Direct’ mode. I then switched BaseCamp into ‘Motorcycle’ mode, which snapped the straight magenta lines to follow the roads, just like a conventional route. This route I then amended, dragging it around a bit using BaseCamp’s routing tool and then sent it to my Nav VI.

In hindsight, I should have simply downloaded a track, not a route, from Kurviger. Had I done so and then created a route from that, all would have been well. I’m kicking myself for not doing so originally.
 
Just a note to iOS users, I’m sorry if this has been mentioned before.

There is no Kurviger app for iOS, but Kurviger have gone into partnership with the Scenic app for iOS , which is again, a bike specific navigation app. This now allows you to import your Kurviger routes directly into it and run them without any loss of features.
 
Wappers thanks for the Kurvinger heads up. Used it last night for the final leg to Soest, as per your thread, and really rate it. A bit of a faff to download the route, user error though, and after reading the simple instructions on the second attempt it fell into place. I'm going to use it tonight to see what route it suggests for heading back to Zeebrugge from Soest using the mildly wiggly option and the super wriggly option :beerjug:
 
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Great that the Kurviger app worked.

Its algorithms seem to be pretty well designed but they do sometimes force the route (particularly on the highest ‘wiggly roads’ setting) down some pretty small roads or along silly detours just to miss out a few miles of straight road.

My tip is to flip between the settings to watch how the routes move, easier done on a PC or large iPad than on a smart phone. My other tip is to always check the route that the app offers up by zooming in.

Other than that, for getting ideas on how to get from A to B or A to E, via B, C and D it really is good. That it also links to routes suggested in some of the very good European touring magazines is also a bonus.
 
To some degree the same holds true with any route planning software / nav device.

I always do a bit of "spot checking" of routes, I prefer to use My Route App and the pro version allows Google, Garmin and Tom Tom calculations, plus you can calculate with one using the map overlay of another...

...All have advantages, but I find Tom Tom and Garmin (Here) maps are much better at distinguishing between road types, with Google a perfectly decent road can be indicated with a narrow white line which is identical to how a single track lane (or even dirt track) is shown, Tom Tom and Here both distinguish these far better. The ability to change the overlay in a click of the mouse makes My Route App pro worth every penny.

...And street view allows me to do a sanity check on any I am unsure of - not forgetting some of the best roads can be singe track, and some of the worst!
 
Copied from another thread. The posts add quite neatly to this thread

Kurviger is great but even if you have selected avoid "unpaved" in it and again in BC after transfer, you may still find yourself on the muddy and rocky. BC talks to Garmin better than any other route planner but is still not infallible. Once you have the route in BC you can right click on it and ask it to "play" the route for you. You can adjust the speed of the play, so it doesn't take long, but it allows you to check you will stay on the metal. Of course, you may like to be surprised.....

As always, it’s more a matter of how and why people want to use their GPS devices.

Some, like me, want to plot their own routes from A to D, via B and C. Though I am not beyond using third party sourced routes, too. For my purposes, BaseCamp and / or Mapsource work perfectly well. Similarly, all my Garmin / BMW branded GPS devices have worked pretty well too, once I understood them. That understanding took effort, often through making mistakes and through finding out why something happened. This forum and the internet has been useful in helping that learning process along.

Others, do not want to do any plotting at all. They just want to ask their GPS device to take them from A to D (maybe via B and C) and are not fussed how it does it, providing it does not take them along motorways, or into the middle of towns that they have chosen and (sometimes) providing it does not route them along a goat track that you wouldn’t take a horse along. These people do not need BaseCamp, Mapsource or any other route plotting software. They don’t even need a home computer, other than to maybe update a map. Now that some devices allow for wireless updating and the transfer of routes via Bluetooth, their need for a PC is almost reduced to zero.

Somewhere between the two float the people who want to plot their own routes but outside of Garmin’s generic two route plotting pieces of software, Mapsource and BaseCamp. It’s often them that struggle most, encountering the glitches and foibles that come from mixing two or more different systems together.

Into this happy mixture lob, preference settings, route avoidances, detours, automatic recalculation, road closures, petrol stations that are shown on a map but have gone, roads that are not shown on the map, prompted recalculation and no recalculation, waypoints and shaping points, the sun shining on the screen and mates who say “YOU are going wrong, as MY device says....” and you have an unholy mess.

Then, right on the outside are those that refuse to learn how their expensive and now very powerful GPS devices work, so used are they to plug and play. That they’ll not have a map as a back-up and not the slightest idea of where they are, how they got there or where they are going, is just a bonus. But nobody really cares about them.
 
Kurviger is really good for suggesting curvy or v curvy routes as well as quicker ones.

Use it regularly to plot back road routes between two towns 130kms apart as the crow flies. It produces different suggestions each time, which at the moment I load into Scenic on the phone, RAM mounted on the handlebars. Scenic will bluetooth verbal directions to your helmet.

If you just want a blast it will produce roundtrips of whatever length you want and in which approximate direction.

It can also transfer routes to BC for verification and thence a Garmin device.

Worth a look if you don't already know it.
 
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