Changing via points into shaping points and visa-versa

[Roger20]

Hi @Wapping

Wow - thanks for your all your recent posts. The reason I didn't reply before now was because I was expecting to see email notifications of thread replies which is the case with other forums I am on. I can't see anything obvious in settings to enable this.

I haven't read all your posts yet but will do so now and then get back to this thread.

I am reasonably familiar with the Garmin XT, having led a few groups around Wales last year using trips created with Trip Planner and these were pretty successful in general because you plot very specific waypoints to force the Garmin to take exactly the route you want.

My more recent concern has been following an imported GPX route such as those downloaded from Ride. I have imported them all now (some 20 or so for our 3 week trip) and what I see on Trip Planner is now exactly what I see on the PC using GPXSee. Originally Trip Planner didn't show all the waypoints, and in particular coffee stops(!!) but now it does. But it also includes a lot of other waypoints which really want, if for nothing else other than clarity, to ideally become shaping points. But not if changing waypoints to shaping points changes the route from the original. Hence my first post.

Now you have replied so comprehensively I will read and hopefully understand a lot more.

We leave on Friday morning so I will need to get my head round this fairly quickly although there is plenty of time over the next few weeks and 3k+ miles..

One of the subsequent posts I glanced at quickly made the very relevant post about ignoring the moaners! Although others have a variety of SatNavs, trying to get them on board to get up to speed with even downloading routes has been somewhat of a challenge!.

It would be quite good to have the odd day off from leading them astray.

 

[Roger20]

Hi @ Wapping

Just picking up on a few points as I read through your earlier replies and in particular your first reply on the 29th.

• Originally, when I imported the Ride routes to the Garmin, via rather circuitous method using Komoot it did import using Tracks which then converted them to Routes. This didn’t then show all the waypoints, just start and finish. My more recent method imported them using Garmin Drive straight from the mobile phone and this went in directly as a Route, without any apparent need for conversion, but now showing every waypoint

• On choosing coffee stops, it’s simply taking the easy way out as a leader in not having to particularly look out for them. If it’s about the right time, stop and see what the rest want to do or just move on. Just one less thing to perhaps have to keep an eye out for. Quite different if there are just a couple of you rather than six.

• Your next point about actually changing some to shaping points even if it does a recalculation. Good idea. Will try this on a few to begin with and then see how it goes. Plenty of time to experiment. I wonder if changing them back from shaping to waypoints brings the original route back again without having to delete and re-import. We’ll see.

• Excellent point about doing updates now (nothing outstanding at the moment). I assume from what you say that it is better just to do nothing at all, not even map updates and then only on return from the UK?

I haven't used the MyRoute app - perhaps a bit late to start introducing that now.

I’ll now go onto your next posts because I see that you have then looked specifically at the Ride routes

 

[Roger20]

Re your post on 30th

MyRoute does look good. The reason I used Komoot originally was because, as a mountainbiker I was familiar with it and using road riding as a discipline it is possible to adapt it to be something like motorcycling. But obviously nowhere near as good as MyRoute

I have several circular day rideout options so it’s good to hear that the XT can cope with this. I did read that you need to allow U Turns because it can confuse the XT depending upon which way it thinks the bike is pointing.

Your change of Point 2 to LEAVE was very interesting because it answers a question which was puzzling me on circular routes as to which direction the route goes when setting off – east/west/north/south. Using MyRoute clearly indicates this as 1 to 8 in your example. Separating start and finish by a distance also makes sense.

Some great subsequent observations on cafe stops, solid white lines (had a plod stop in Spain last year with that very point!) etc – I’ve got broad shoulders so if they don’t like it I’ll invite them to lead next time – probably using paper maps!

I have just installed the MyRoute app (on Android), went to my GPX file in the SD card download folder and then tried to open it using the MyRoute app but it fails – (the something went wrong message). No similar issue using the GPX Viewer app, nor Garmin Drive which was the way I imported into the XT. Any idea why this might be? I can’t imagine the android application on a mobile is fundamentally different to an iphone or were you using the app on a PC? I could take a tablet abroad but don’t really want to.

Just assuming that this is a glitch I can overcome, I can see that doing changes using MyRoute might be very useful but only if it works on the mobile. Are you able to view the Ride routes on a mobile phone rather than PC using MyRoute and then do the sort of changes you have outlined on the phone itself?

If so, having done the changes, and presumably saved them in the app, how do you import them into the XT from your phone – direct or using Garmin Drive.

Thanks for your help so far.

 

[Wapping]

Hello

The XT can certainly run fully circular routes and figure of eight routes. The device knowing which way the bike and rider is pointing, is a problem not unique to circular routes. It can get confused even on simple A to B routes, simply when the device cannot get an accurate satellite fix. Once it sorts itself out, it knows the direction you want to take to ride your route in the correct direction.

Whether or not to allow U-turns is a personal choice, set in preferences.

Your Android phone should open the route in MyRoute, without a problem. I have a Samsung, which manages the job just fine. Is it possible that the route file was compressed or zipped, in which case it might struggle.

 

[Roger20]

Thanks for the reply. Am I correct that there are no email notifications on this forum when you are active on a particular thread or does it rely on looking in new posts to see whether the thread has been updated?

I'm still struggling to get my Ride routes open on the mobile using the MyRoute app. I assume it isn't necessary to have the separate Navigation app..

I can import a GPX file into MyRoute on the PC. On the mobile something is preventing it. Most of my Ride routes in the download folder are in folder format with the actual GPX. extension file within that folder. It is the file not folder I am trying to open with MyRoute. I just get an error message "The GPX file could not be imported correctly". However another gpx.file from Ride will open in the app so I'm a bit stumped as to why now.

The only difference I can see between the two is that the one I can open has the gpx.extension in lower case whereas the one I am trying to open has the GPX.file extension in upper case. When I try to rename the uppercase filename in lowercase it says that it is already in use. All getting a bit beyond my paygrade now - can anyone suggest where I might be going wrong.

 

[Wapping]

Yes, you are correct.

You need the separate Navigation app, if you intend to use your phone as a navigation device.