Previewing an itinerary on TomTom GPS

[Bumpkin]

Not on a rider but a TT Go 730 though there are undoubtedly similarities.

Although a Garmin user on the bike I recently picked up a used TT Go 730 to use as a test bed for something I'm working on that's web based for both TT and Garmin users alike.

Apart from the thing locking up within minutes of my turning it, I had to reset it with a paper clip 'up the butt', the following issue might be real or just me as a TT newbie not knowing what's where... (Google searches didn't find an answer though)

Is there a way of previewing a loaded itinerary? I can preview a route for somewhere that I've set the destination for (as in 'Navigate To'), but trying to do this to a loaded itinerary that's miles away (i.e. in another country) isn't being forthcoming. Having loaded an itinerary pressing 'done' just gives me the option to navigate to the first destination in the route: Yes or No. Yes plots a route from home to the itinerary start point and No cancels and drops me back to the home screen with no route loaded.

Additionally, the UI, to me at least, isn't as intuitive as that on my Zumo660. However, that may well be down to my familiarity with the Garmin product. TBH I can't see that it's any better and the need to cycle through the menu items in one direction is frustrating. I don't think my allegiance to Garmin is going to be swayed

 

[Bumpkin]

Replying to my own thread in case someone has the same question. On the 730 at least, this appears to not be possible. You can, as stated above, plot a route to the start point of the itinerary and it will actually show the route if you zoom in. However, this takes an age to calculate for start points that are 100s of miles away from your current position.

Using TomTom Home you can do it but this is still quite 'clunky'. With the GPS connected to your PC you can operate the GPS remotely with an on screen representation of the UI. Under this there is a button to set your current position, setting this to the start point and then loading a route does what I need. Not an ideal solution and yet another 'Garmin 1: TomTom 0'.

With the facility to plot decent itineraries for TomTom only being possible using 3rd party software and usually the Google Maps API the need to preview routes as the GPS interprets them is pretty important IMHO. Incorporating this into the firmware is surely relatively easy. Maybe TomTom are just pandering to the lowest common denominator and don't want to confuse the majority of users with another button

 

[thomo57]

Hi Bumpkin
I use both Tomtom for car & bike, and I think I'm correct in saying that in the in the car one , the itinerary is listed under Options and called A to B Planning, or something similar.
I often upload .itn route files from the Tyre program to both GPS's.
In the bike model Itineraries is called Itineraries.
Hope this helps.

 

[Bumpkin]

Thanks for the reply. I can load itineraries, created using ITN Converter (similar to TYRE), on the TomTom and if it's local to me can easily see the route on screen though it insists on adding a route from my current location to the start. In fact it will also do this with distant routes, just takes an age to calculate this additional route to the start.

The only way I have found to do what I want is to use the GPS from the TomTom Home program. You can set your current location as the start point and then load the route. A fairly clunky way of doing it but it does work.

My Garmin Zumo has an option to turn off the GPS receiver and then load and run routes in simulation mode. Something the TomTom seems to lack.

Given that there isn't an official route planning app for TomTom, instead one needs to use 3rd party software using the Google Maps API, previewing these non native routes should surely be important given the differences in mapping data and the very limited amount of location data in an ITN file. A Garmin Basecamp generated GPX file has many invisible routing nodes in addition to those set by the user. ITN files just contain a short list of the points as set. The interpretation of how to connect these by Google and TomTom may vary.

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