Kurviger.de

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Whilst I remain a committed fan of BaseCamp and / or Mapsource, I must say that Kurviger.de does make a very decent: "Tell me how to go from A to E via B, C and D, no motorways, all twisties and it needs to be easy to download to me Garmin, mate" alternative.
 
Hmmm.
Have had a look.
Zeebrugge to Troyes comes out at twice the time as all other mapping wotsits - over 6 hours and avoids autoroutes even when no avoidances are checked.
So does Troyes - Lyon.
 
I find it’s easiest to export the route from Kurviger into BaseCamp as a track. I then convert the track into a route from with BaseCamp and zoom in. Any obvious odd (and to me unecessary) deviations down small lanes, any unecessary cutting of corners or avoidance of perfectly good ring roads around towns or even motorways, I then just edit out.

I then correct the start and end points as necessary, adding in any waypoints along the route that I fancy; again all within BaseCsmp. Similarly, I convert any Kurviger announced shaping points into unannounced points.

That’s it, job done.
 
Hmmm.
Have had a look.
Zeebrugge to Troyes comes out at twice the time as all other mapping wotsits - over 6 hours and avoids autoroutes even when no avoidances are checked.
So does Troyes - Lyon.

That is odd, I agree.

As a small experiment, I asked it for Boulogne to Calais, which using the ‘fastest route’ took me - as I’d expect - straight down the motorway. Choosing the first ‘wiggly’ route option, took me off the motorway entirely (as I’d expect) and ran me up near enough parallel to the motorway, again as I’d expect.

I then tried, London to Northampton, logically straight up the M1, which was OK but it took me off at the Bedford / Milton Keynes exit and up the wiggles of the B526 for the last stretch, when of course it’s fastest to stay on the M1 all the way.

I’m guessing that the Kurviger algorithm is heavily biased towards avoiding motorways, where possible, irrespective of the setting. It doesn’t trouble me that much as I would always check the routes the software throws up, irrespective. Either way, I have asked the Kurviger help desk forum the question

b0fc841b78fff0701e1995508903ab1c.jpg


.... Let’s see what the answer is.
 
..... and here’s the answer:

841d43ff0c7ecbb768cc539923fd7b75.jpg



https://kurviger.de/about/en


As I guessed in post #4, there is a big bias towards getting bods off motorways at the earliest opportunity. It’s a moot point as to whether ‘Fastest route’ really describes the result that’s handed back but once it’s understood, then all is well. Just use Google maps’ routing tools to give the true ‘fastest’ option between two or more points.
 
Cheers.
Easier to stick with one program - Occams razor and all that.
 
Hi,

This is Robin from Kurviger, I just got pointed to this thread.

As noted before, the fastest route option of Kurviger is not intended as a competition to Google maps or similar offers that work with live traffic data. I also use Google Maps myself if I have to get to a destination as fast as possible. If I want a nice ride (even with a car), I choose Kurviger.

The intention of the fastest route is to have a mode to travel to your riding destination fast, but still providing some fun. Usually Kurviger drives of the highway if the detour is a nice ride. I think no one enjoys riding on the motorway for hours or through cities, especially if a slightly longer detour would be heaps more fun.

Cheers,
Robin
 
Robin,

Thanks for the post and the help you gave me last night via the Kurviger forum, much appreciated. By heart I’m a traditional paper map user, augmented by Garmin BaseCamp / GPS device on which I plot and run my own routes. Kurviger though is a very useful tool for quickly looking at suggestions for going A to E, via all the letters inbetween. It’s certainly the most user friendly app I’ve come across, particularly as it integrates so well with BaseCamp and Mapsource via the .gpx transfer. If you could find a way to display the routes / tracks against Michelin’s generic maps, it would be all but unbeatable.

Richard
 
Specifically it would be interesting to compare a Kurviger route to a Michelin “scenic” route where one exists
 
Was a map man with directions on back of an old envelope in the tank bag until two years ago. Friends fell off their stools when they saw a NAV V on my LC. Got into Basecamp, a steep learning curve to begin with, but first class once mastered. Have just acquired a lighter 2007 F650GS for town and more local runs. A very different animal but full of character in its own way.
This has presented the question of how to navigate on it. Sticking the NAV V in the small cockpit not practical. Searching here turned up kurviger.de and after a good browse it looks very impressive. It has an app but only for android phones. However it is linked to another app, "Scenic Motorcycle Tour" for iOS devices. Have downloaded this onto iPhone and they seem to integrate well. Routes can be planned in kurviger and either exported to Basecamp for editing or sent directly to SMT.
The phone can be put in the tank bag or on a RAM mount. This poses the long term question: do we really need dedicated GPS. With google maps and the likes of kurviger and viamichelin why duplicate. OK the toggle wheel with the NAV V is convenient but not essential. Big bikes with TFT screens will have navigation built in along with other distracting info. My iPhone knows where I am before I ride out of the garage whereas I'm 5 miles down the road before the NAV V does. For a long time to come the best computer is still in our heads.
 
Put the Pocket Earth app on your iPhone, create your curvy route on IPad, PC or Mac and export it to Pocket Earth - seems to work well although it will arrive as a .gpx track not route
 
Was a map man with directions on back of an old envelope... Searching here turned up kurviger.de and after a good browse it looks very impressive..... For a long time to come the best computer is still in our heads.

Certainly modern phones (which are now just phones bolted onto infotainment systems) are pretty powerful. Their limitations are:

1. The cost of data outside of your home country, though that is coming down fast

2. Their robustness and their ability to resist going into a terminal sulk when wet

A good quality purpose built GPS will reliably outperform a phone, most of the time. That these too have morphed into home entertainment systems in their own right is (for some bods at least) a bonus
 
I then tried, London to Northampton, logically straight up the M1, which was OK but it took me off at the Bedford / Milton Keynes exit and up the wiggles of the B526 for the last stretch, when of course it’s fastest to stay on the M1 all the way.

.

Northampton is always best avoided :augie :D
 
Specifically it would be interesting to compare a Kurviger route to a Michelin “scenic” route where one exists

I might just do that.

Here’s a side by side screen shot from a large iPad Pro of Calais to Dijon, which is a pretty good day’s ride from the coast to halfway down France. To make it reasonably fair, I asked Kurviger for its ‘Curvy roads’ route and for Michelin to avoid motorways, tolls and to use its ‘Discovery’ option.


ba68a144a2a6d099be32fcaa13336b6e.jpg



7bcfacdc785160c6b77a65e1d5397da9.jpg


You would need to zoom in on the results to see what roads each of the two app’s offered up and then chose / amend the one that suited you best. The great thing is not so much that the routes offered up are the same or even that they are different; it’s the speed - and ease - with which they were calculated that’s really impressive.

My suggestion to anyone would be to play around in as many app’s and websites as you can, to find one that suits, both day-to-day and / or for just occaisional use. They are free or just a few pounds for a ‘Pro’ version and you really can’t break them.
 
Thanks so much for your feedback, we highly appreciate it. Regarding Michelin maps you probably refer to their highlighted roads (IIRC green)?

If yes, we unfortunately cannot use Michelin maps due to incompatibility with terms :(.

Happy route planning and riding,
Robin
 
My suggestion to anyone would be to play around in as many app’s and websites as you can, to find one that suits, both day-to-day and / or for just occaisional use. They are free or just a few pounds for a ‘Pro’ version and you really can’t break them.

Having done that for several years I always return to Mapsource. Its intuitive and fast, and when viewed in Google Earth you can even do Streetview.
Nothing else is quite so simple and elegant.
 
I’ll have a look at Kurviger and see where it tries to send me for a few trips but I’ll still rely on my normal seat of my pants navigation where I use a map on top of my tank bag for an overview then just ride around until about 4pm when I’ll use booking.com to find a hotel and my Garmin satnav to take me there.

It’s a shame they haven’t got it available as an app for an iPhone as well as making it available on Android but I could always use an old Android phone and hot spot it from my iPhone if the benefits were worth the minor hassle.
 
........... It’s a shame they haven’t got it available as an app for an iPhone as well as making it available on Android but I could always use an old Android phone and hot spot it from my iPhone if the benefits were worth the minor hassle.

I ditched my Garmin some years ago (along with the PC) and now the Pocket Earth app on my iPhone does the job. It uses preloaded and very compressed mapping so no need for a data connection
 
I can't seem to get the hotel icons to appear! I've tried deleting all other search icons and look for hotels en route only but I still can't get any to appear. Am I missing something obvious?
 


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