Claude is struggling:
Let’s see what it offers up…..
Let’s see what it offers up…..
Using AI to plan your routes. Yes or No?
- Thread starter stickywicket
- Start date
It’s better (it now has less motorway) but far from perfect.
It was though interesting (after a fashion) to engage either Claude, to see if I could help it along. Who knows, maybe it learned something, too:
Here’s the final offering Claude made:
https://www.myrouteapp.com/en/social/folder/16117311?mode=share
I guess I could try asking Claude for shorter routes…. Something I stress the importance of when bods load single routes of thousands of miles into their Garmin devices and are disappointed (or downright angry) when they don’t work.
PS The owners of Claude, need to give it some much better maps!
It was though interesting (after a fashion) to engage either Claude, to see if I could help it along. Who knows, maybe it learned something, too:
Here’s the final offering Claude made:
https://www.myrouteapp.com/en/social/folder/16117311?mode=share
I guess I could try asking Claude for shorter routes…. Something I stress the importance of when bods load single routes of thousands of miles into their Garmin devices and are disappointed (or downright angry) when they don’t work.
PS The owners of Claude, need to give it some much better maps!
I thanked Claude and here’s its reply:
I have taken up Claude’s suggestion of giving a thumbs down and notified Claude’s keepers.
You’ve found out what it does, by the looks. I never got a perfect route and either just did it myself or modified the Claude routes.
I did get it to create a downloadable gpx file.
But it will do things like find hotels along the way, if you give it good criteria, and also suggest things you might want to see, again with good criteria.
For the trip we are just finishing I gave Claude the GPX routes, my TripIt itinerary, the BF booking form and the hotel confirmations.
I then asked it to create a brief document for the trip.
1) table of the distance and destination for each day and an elevation profile
2) the hotel board basis and costs each day
3) suggestions for things to do on days off the bike, including restaurants
4) a précis of each days route with things to look out for.
I did get it to create a downloadable gpx file.
But it will do things like find hotels along the way, if you give it good criteria, and also suggest things you might want to see, again with good criteria.
For the trip we are just finishing I gave Claude the GPX routes, my TripIt itinerary, the BF booking form and the hotel confirmations.
I then asked it to create a brief document for the trip.
1) table of the distance and destination for each day and an elevation profile
2) the hotel board basis and costs each day
3) suggestions for things to do on days off the bike, including restaurants
4) a précis of each days route with things to look out for.
Thank you.
At least I now understand Claude’s limitations when it comes to producing a GPX file of a route. It’ll (understandably) struggle if it doesn’t have a suitable base map to work from and, worse, if the route segments are long.
It’s an interesting use of AI, to submit a GPX file (created yourself in say MyRoute or BaseCamp) and ask it for ‘stuff’ (to use the popular catch all term) along the way.
At least I now understand Claude’s limitations when it comes to producing a GPX file of a route. It’ll (understandably) struggle if it doesn’t have a suitable base map to work from and, worse, if the route segments are long.
It’s an interesting use of AI, to submit a GPX file (created yourself in say MyRoute or BaseCamp) and ask it for ‘stuff’ (to use the popular catch all term) along the way.
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I’ve just tried Claude, I’d used Chat GPT before
Here are the results, I’ll edit the bits that are not interesting, this was my prompt:
“I need a route, around the outside of France, on a motorcycle, staying as close as is practical to the coast or border, using paved roads, avoid balcony roads with sheer drops”
Updated memory
Motorcycle trip planning around the outside of France (coast and border), paved roads only, avoiding balcony roads with sheer drops
Here's a mainland loop that hugs the sea and the border wherever the roads are sensible. The Pyrenees and Alps are the exceptions, where hugging the border means high passes and balcony roads, so the route uses valley and foothill roads there instead. Total is roughly 5,000 to 5,500 km, comfortably 12 to 16 days.
Direction tip: I've written it anticlockwise. In France you ride on the right, so on coastal roads heading anticlockwise the sea and any cliff edge are on the far side of the oncoming lane. Clockwise puts you in the lane next to the drop.
5. Alps, kept to the valleys
Geneva → Annecy → Albertville → Grenoble → Gap → Digne → Castellane → Grasse. The Route Napoléon (N85) is broad and well-engineered. Skip the Galibier, Iseran, Col de Vars and Col de la Bonette, which are the classic sheer-drop passes.
6. Riviera
Grasse → Cannes → Nice → Menton. Take the Basse Corniche (N98) at sea level, not the Grande or Moyenne Corniche, which are true balcony roads. Continue west via Saint-Tropez and the Maures on the D559, which has some sea cliffs but is guarded and modest.
7. Provence and Languedoc coast
Toulon → Marseille (use the Côte Bleue if you like, D5 has low cliffs) → Camargue (Saintes-Maries, Aigues-Mortes) → Sète → Narbonne-Plage → Perpignan. Avoid the Route des Crêtes (La Ciotat to Cassis), which is a serious cliff road.
I replied:
“Galibier, Iseran, Col de Vars and Col de la Bonette Are not sheer drop balcony roads”
Added to memory
You're right, I lumped those four in with genuine balcony roads and shouldn't have. They're high, open alpine passes rather than roads cut into a cliff face. Col de Vars is one of the gentlest big passes in the Alps. Including them also gets you much closer to the Italian border, which suits your brief.
Here's the revised Alps leg, replacing step 5:
Geneva → Annecy → Albertville → Bourg-Saint-Maurice → Val-d'Isère → Col de l'Iseran → Modane → Col du Galibier (via the Télégraphe) → Col du Lautaret → Briançon → Guillestre → Col de Vars → Barcelonnette → Col de la Bonette → Tinée valley → Nice, then on to Menton and the Basse Corniche as before.
Some points to check:
Here are the results, I’ll edit the bits that are not interesting, this was my prompt:
“I need a route, around the outside of France, on a motorcycle, staying as close as is practical to the coast or border, using paved roads, avoid balcony roads with sheer drops”
Updated memory
Motorcycle trip planning around the outside of France (coast and border), paved roads only, avoiding balcony roads with sheer drops
Here's a mainland loop that hugs the sea and the border wherever the roads are sensible. The Pyrenees and Alps are the exceptions, where hugging the border means high passes and balcony roads, so the route uses valley and foothill roads there instead. Total is roughly 5,000 to 5,500 km, comfortably 12 to 16 days.
Direction tip: I've written it anticlockwise. In France you ride on the right, so on coastal roads heading anticlockwise the sea and any cliff edge are on the far side of the oncoming lane. Clockwise puts you in the lane next to the drop.
5. Alps, kept to the valleys
Geneva → Annecy → Albertville → Grenoble → Gap → Digne → Castellane → Grasse. The Route Napoléon (N85) is broad and well-engineered. Skip the Galibier, Iseran, Col de Vars and Col de la Bonette, which are the classic sheer-drop passes.
6. Riviera
Grasse → Cannes → Nice → Menton. Take the Basse Corniche (N98) at sea level, not the Grande or Moyenne Corniche, which are true balcony roads. Continue west via Saint-Tropez and the Maures on the D559, which has some sea cliffs but is guarded and modest.
7. Provence and Languedoc coast
Toulon → Marseille (use the Côte Bleue if you like, D5 has low cliffs) → Camargue (Saintes-Maries, Aigues-Mortes) → Sète → Narbonne-Plage → Perpignan. Avoid the Route des Crêtes (La Ciotat to Cassis), which is a serious cliff road.
I replied:
“Galibier, Iseran, Col de Vars and Col de la Bonette Are not sheer drop balcony roads”
Added to memory
You're right, I lumped those four in with genuine balcony roads and shouldn't have. They're high, open alpine passes rather than roads cut into a cliff face. Col de Vars is one of the gentlest big passes in the Alps. Including them also gets you much closer to the Italian border, which suits your brief.
Here's the revised Alps leg, replacing step 5:
Geneva → Annecy → Albertville → Bourg-Saint-Maurice → Val-d'Isère → Col de l'Iseran → Modane → Col du Galibier (via the Télégraphe) → Col du Lautaret → Briançon → Guillestre → Col de Vars → Barcelonnette → Col de la Bonette → Tinée valley → Nice, then on to Menton and the Basse Corniche as before.
Some points to check:
- Exposure is worth a look, not a veto. The upper hairpins on the Galibier's north side and the top loop of the Bonette have some stretches with low or no barriers. They're open slopes rather than cliff faces, but check a satellite view if that matters to you.
- Seasonal closure. The Iseran, Galibier and Bonette close with the first snow, usually sometime in autumn. Since it's late September, check the current opening status before committing.
- Bonette descent. The Tinée valley road down to Nice has a few narrower stretches cut into the valley wall. The Gorges de Daluis, a balcony road near there, is the one to avoid.
It’s interesting what AI can do, along with seeing its mistakes. The ‘lumping in’ is a clear example. I assume that it reads something high as having steep drops. In a way, it’s correct of course. Some people don’t like even the well trodden passes and gorges, for fear of going over the edge.
It’s interesting too that it explains its working, giving examples of low (or no) walls, suggesting that these might not be suitable.
I’ve been (mildly) chastised for taking bods down a bumpy road or two in the Ardennes…. Me on an HP4, them on Adventure bikes. They’d doubtless swear at Claude for doing the same.
It’s interesting too that it explains its working, giving examples of low (or no) walls, suggesting that these might not be suitable.
I’ve been (mildly) chastised for taking bods down a bumpy road or two in the Ardennes…. Me on an HP4, them on Adventure bikes. They’d doubtless swear at Claude for doing the same.
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