Can I set country-specific routing properties?

[darklord]

I'm just planning my "quick" trip to Switzerland (Engadin to be more precise) and there are a couple of routes I'd like to avoid.

One was the Fernpass in Austria because it's normally an alpine traffic jam at this time of the year (unless you travel early in the morning in which case it's fantastic). Getting MapSource to avoid that was fairly easy.

However, I'd also like to get it to avoid Motorways in Austria so I don't have to buy the 10-day 'pickerl' which would be a major waste of money for me on account of travelling ~30 miles of motorway in each direction. Maybe I'm missing the obvious here but it seems that I can't do this unless split the route into several country-specific parts and then go tweak the routing settings separately for each and every part of the route.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
T.

 

[Fanum]

I haven't actually tried this and I'm not on a PC with Mapsource installed right now, but I'd have thought that if you select 'avoid toll roads' it may well do what you want....as long as the Swiss M'ways are categorised as 'toll roads'

Otherwise, as you say, you'll need to do it manually....the easiest way is to draw avoid area boxes on those M'way sections.

 

[darklord]

Thanks for the quick response - the problem aren't the Swiss motorways but the Austrian ones. I'll give the 'avoid toll roads' a try, if that doesn't work I'll have to disable them on a road-by-road basis as the non-toll roads I was planning to take run in parallel to the motorways...

Oh well, I shouldn't really need the GPS at that point anyway...

 

[kbada]

'a major waste of money'

Darklord - one month ago I bought a 10-day austrian motorway 'pass' - it cost me all of 4Euros - how can this be construed as 'a major waste of money'

Have a good trip

 

[chasr]

Can you not change the route settings as you add on different sections?

 

[PanEuropean]

Darklord:

If you want to set up a specific road avoidance (e.g. one mountain pass), or a specific area avoidance (e.g. a 5 mile square centered on London Bridge), you can do this very easily with the current version of MapSource. Just read the instructions in the help file (found under the HELP menu) concerning "Working with Route Avoidances", "Working with Road Avoidances", and "Working with Area Avoidances". Once you have set up an avoidance on MapSource, it will stay in memory - you don't have to set it up again each time you create a route. The avoidance will also transfer to your GPSR when you transfer that specific route to your GPSR. If you want to set up the same avoidances on a permanent basis on your GPSR as well, read the instructions that tell you how to do this in your GPSR Owner Manual - the concept is the same as for MapSource.

Do make sure you have the most recent version of the owner manual, though. You can download one free from Garmin. You can also download an 'owner manual' for the MapSource program, in case you prefer that format (written like a book) to the Microsoft style help file that you access from the MapSource HELP menu.

As for the 10 day Austrian motorway vignette, as Kbada already pointed out, it only costs €4 for 10 days for a motorcycle, which is about £2. So just buy one. I think you might have meant to refer to the Swiss motorway vignette, which is only available as a one year sticker, and costs CHF 40 (about £17). I spend most of my time in Switzerland (I'm writing this response from Zurich), and personally, I suggest you buy the vignette. If you don't buy the vignette and you stay off the motorways, you'll just wind up spending an extra CHF 40 on gas over the course of your round-trip transit of the country, not to mention it will take you forever to get across the country. Plus, you'll probably get snapped by a couple of speed cameras as you transit the 246 villages you will encounter between one end of the country and the other...

FYI, I left Zurich this morning at 05:30, attended an 08:30 meeting in Geneva, and got back to Zurich at 13:00, using the motorways. I have done the one way trip between Zurich and Geneva once before without using the motorways (whilst testing the avoidance feature a couple of years ago), and it took me slightly over 8 hours one way. 'Nuff said?

Michael

PS: Fuel is far, far cheaper in Switzerland than it is in any of the surrounding countries - up to 35% less. So, hit the border on the way in with an almost empty tank, and fill up before you leave Switzerland. That alone will probably offset the vignette cost. The same goes for cigarettes, in case you happen to smoke. I bought a carton (200) this afternoon at the local grocery store for £19.

 

[darklord]

Darklord:

If you want to set up a specific road avoidance (e.g. one mountain pass), or a specific area avoidance (e.g. a 5 mile square centered on London Bridge), you can do this very easily with the current version of MapSource. Just read the instructions in the help file (found under the HELP menu) concerning "Working with Route Avoidances", "Working with Road Avoidances", and "Working with Area Avoidances". Once you have set up an avoidance on MapSource, it will stay in memory - you don't have to set it up again each time you create a route. The avoidance will also transfer to your GPSR when you transfer that specific route to your GPSR. If you want to set up the same avoidances on a permanent basis on your GPSR as well, read the instructions that tell you how to do this in your GPSR Owner Manual - the concept is the same as for MapSource.

Yup, managed to do that with a bit of help from Google. Blocking out the Fernpass was indeed very easy once you know how.

As for the 10 day Austrian motorway vignette, as Kbada already pointed out, it only costs €4 for 10 days for a motorcycle, which is about £2. So just buy one.

Well I hadn't realised that it was that cheap for a bike as the last few I had to buy where for a car. On the route I'm planning to take you'll gain about 1//2 hour by taking the motorways so at least at car prices I don't think it's worth it.

I think you might have meant to refer to the Swiss motorway vignette, which is only available as a one year sticker, and costs CHF 40 (about £17). I spend most of my time in Switzerland (I'm writing this response from Zurich), and personally, I suggest you buy the vignette. If you don't buy the vignette and you stay off the motorways, you'll just wind up spending an extra CHF 40 on gas over the course of your round-trip transit of the country, not to mention it will take you forever to get across the country. Plus, you'll probably get snapped by a couple of speed cameras as you transit the 246 villages you will encounter between one end of the country and the other...

. As I'm actually "going in" via Austria the vignette doesn't really make any sense anyway but I'll keep an eye out for the cameras...

PS: Fuel is far, far cheaper in Switzerland than it is in any of the surrounding countries - up to 35% less. So, hit the border on the way in with an almost empty tank, and fill up before you leave Switzerland.

I think I can top that - Samnaun (one of the tax free zones that are dotted around the Alps) is just around the corner from where my mum lives in Switzerland. They've got really cheap petrol up there...

 

[Dellis]

However, I'd also like to get it to avoid Motorways in Austria so I don't have to buy the 10-day 'pickerl' which would be a major waste of money for me on account of travelling ~30 miles of motorway in each direction.

10 day Austrian Road Tax (Vignette) costs less than £5.00

Dave

 

[ebbo]

10 day Austrian Road Tax (Vignette) costs less than £5.00

Dave

Costs £45 if you don't have one and get caught!

I honestly think we should charge the Austrians and Swiss a road toll as they come off the ferry in to the UK

 

[PanEuropean]

...I honestly think we should charge the Austrians and Swiss a road toll as they come off the ferry in to the UK...

Gott in Heaven, don't you think you are doing that already? Have you looked at the taxes on fuel in the UK?

What would you prefer to have on a year-round basis: Fuel at 0.70 pence a litre (what it costs in Switzerland today), and a £17 a year road tax sticker, or no road tax sticker, and current British fuel prices?

Michael

 

[ebbo]

Gott in Heaven, don't you think you are doing that already? Have you looked at the taxes on fuel in the UK?

What would you prefer to have on a year-round basis: Fuel at 0.70 pence a litre (what it costs in Switzerland today), and a £17 a year road tax sticker, or no road tax sticker, and current British fuel prices?

Michael

It’s a complete waste of time trying to work out the economy of this country, what I’d really 'prefer' is to nail those two robbing b*stards to a tree.