The latest edition of Tourenfahrer magazine has two nice jaunts into Switzerland. Both convenient enough for Lucerne and both downloadable (as usual) from the magazine’s website.
Alpentourer 2/2020 - Lucerne, Switzerland
- Thread starter Wapping
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I looked at that magazine in a German hotel. AFAI could tell its great. Shame you can't get it in english.
There is a method, albeit a bit long winded and you need a subscription to Readly (only about £7/month and gives you access to loads of other mags)
Open Alpentourer (or any other 'foreign' mag) in Readly. Take a screenshot of the page or passage you want to translate. Open in Google Pictures and click the 'copy text from image' pop up. This gives you the option to select the text you want and then gives the options to copy, search or translate.
It's a little clunky but it works reasonably well
Clearly Richard is suffering from insomnia as his original post was made at 4.33am!!!!!!
Yup, I woke up and that was it. Just back from ‘You can’t stay indoors all day VIII, home to Waterloo.
Good tip on the translations. I just look at the pictures.
Good tip on the translations. I just look at the pictures.
There is a method, albeit a bit long winded and you need a subscription to Readly (only about £7/month and gives you access to loads of other mags)
Open Alpentourer (or any other 'foreign' mag) in Readly. Take a screenshot of the page or passage you want to translate. Open in Google Pictures and click the 'copy text from image' pop up. This gives you the option to select the text you want and then gives the options to copy, search or translate.
It's a little clunky but it works reasonably well
I think by the time i got half way through i would have thrown the computer at the wall.
I tried it on an Android tablet, it's not quite as bad as it sounds 
I have looked at the GPS download from the website. It’s pretty good, I must say.
One bit of advice, it’s often best to rely on the track version of any download. Convert the track into a route using BaseCamp (or other software) but do be aware that any mistakes the creator of the route made when creating the track will be replicated in your version, too. My advice would be to trace over the track, which is easy to do in BaseCamp or Mapsource, avoiding any errors, and all should be good. Are you ever likely to use the route exactly as the the person who created it did? Maybe yes, but maybe not. That is up to you.
One bit of advice, it’s often best to rely on the track version of any download. Convert the track into a route using BaseCamp (or other software) but do be aware that any mistakes the creator of the route made when creating the track will be replicated in your version, too. My advice would be to trace over the track, which is easy to do in BaseCamp or Mapsource, avoiding any errors, and all should be good. Are you ever likely to use the route exactly as the the person who created it did? Maybe yes, but maybe not. That is up to you.
Wise words take heed.
By way of simple example, I am just looking at Alpentourer track that runs up the Tremola, the old much more 'wiggly' pass, which is part cobbled that runs parallel to the still nice but much more modern Gothard Pass.
Everything is fine. They go up the Tremola, past the lake at the top (a popular stop) and continue. Just past the lake, they made a mistake, loop around and perform what looks like a U-turn on the main road before carrying on. If you'd have simply copied the track inch by inch, you'd be doing the same. The correct (and much easier way) to join the main road is obvious.
The green line (coloured to make it easier to see) is their track. It looked odd to me, so zoomed in and could see what I think is their error. I asked asked BaseCamp to give me its version, in magenta. As I thought, much easier.
Everything is fine. They go up the Tremola, past the lake at the top (a popular stop) and continue. Just past the lake, they made a mistake, loop around and perform what looks like a U-turn on the main road before carrying on. If you'd have simply copied the track inch by inch, you'd be doing the same. The correct (and much easier way) to join the main road is obvious.
The green line (coloured to make it easier to see) is their track. It looked odd to me, so zoomed in and could see what I think is their error. I asked asked BaseCamp to give me its version, in magenta. As I thought, much easier.
I always zoom in on any routes fairly close and then scroll along them to find these kind of mistakes, and zoom in mega close to each waypoint to make sure it is not a few meters up a side road, or on a road running parallel to a Motorway I am supposed to be on (or it has dropped on the other carriageway - done this a few times, and after the first time and looping up and sown a long section of Motorway I took a load more care!
Once I am happy I use both the Route and the Track, the rotue gives me directions and the track appears on the nav as another line (I use another colour) this can help when your nav decides on a different route to what you saw when planning on the computer, when the two are in disagreement 9/10 it is the Track I want to follow, Garmins love to find little shortcuts down goat tracks regardless of settings - worse of you set to shortest route, but even with fastest it will do this as it will treat a single track lane as faster than an A / B road - in the world of 50mph limits on many A/B roads it is even worse.
I rarely use Basecamp as it is so unfriendly, handy for a waypoint Database (I have about 400 passes in mine) but the drag / drop of My Route App is far easier, and with Pro I can use lots of different maps and route calculation engines (and you can compare them) here is an example, the main route is using the Garmin routing engine (on the Internet) compared to the Tom Tom one;
This does not mean a Garmin will follow the Garmin route shown, or the Tom Tom will follow the Tom Tom one - they are more likely to, but there is a vast difference to how the Internet based server systems work and how the tiny little processor in the Nav device works - hence I use tracks as that will be exactly as shown on the screen. But th compare does at least help you see where routes may deviate if your with buddies using different nav devices so you can maybe add an extra waypoint or two - or get them all to display the track, this is what I do when touring with Mrs, whoever is in front will take the track if there is a disagreement between route and track, it also means we know everyone (even if they lose sight of the rider in front) will (or should) follow the same route, and can easily re-trace their steps until they pick up the track again if they notice they have deviated.
Mountain passes are particularly bad as often there are little side "roads" (Dirt and Gravel tracks) that may shortcut the main road, 99% of the time when planning on your computer it will stick to the "main" road, but if one of these shortcuts does not have to bypass a waypoint the nav will want to use it - sometimes it is obvious you do not want to take the turning and you can carry on and it will recalculate fine, but sometimes you might need to turn down a road that looks a bit "wrong" and failure to do so will lead you on a very long detour - whereas if both route and track are pointing that way it is pretty much certain that is the route you want (or at least the one you selected during your meticulous winter planning)
Once I am happy I use both the Route and the Track, the rotue gives me directions and the track appears on the nav as another line (I use another colour) this can help when your nav decides on a different route to what you saw when planning on the computer, when the two are in disagreement 9/10 it is the Track I want to follow, Garmins love to find little shortcuts down goat tracks regardless of settings - worse of you set to shortest route, but even with fastest it will do this as it will treat a single track lane as faster than an A / B road - in the world of 50mph limits on many A/B roads it is even worse.
I rarely use Basecamp as it is so unfriendly, handy for a waypoint Database (I have about 400 passes in mine) but the drag / drop of My Route App is far easier, and with Pro I can use lots of different maps and route calculation engines (and you can compare them) here is an example, the main route is using the Garmin routing engine (on the Internet) compared to the Tom Tom one;
This does not mean a Garmin will follow the Garmin route shown, or the Tom Tom will follow the Tom Tom one - they are more likely to, but there is a vast difference to how the Internet based server systems work and how the tiny little processor in the Nav device works - hence I use tracks as that will be exactly as shown on the screen. But th compare does at least help you see where routes may deviate if your with buddies using different nav devices so you can maybe add an extra waypoint or two - or get them all to display the track, this is what I do when touring with Mrs, whoever is in front will take the track if there is a disagreement between route and track, it also means we know everyone (even if they lose sight of the rider in front) will (or should) follow the same route, and can easily re-trace their steps until they pick up the track again if they notice they have deviated.
Mountain passes are particularly bad as often there are little side "roads" (Dirt and Gravel tracks) that may shortcut the main road, 99% of the time when planning on your computer it will stick to the "main" road, but if one of these shortcuts does not have to bypass a waypoint the nav will want to use it - sometimes it is obvious you do not want to take the turning and you can carry on and it will recalculate fine, but sometimes you might need to turn down a road that looks a bit "wrong" and failure to do so will lead you on a very long detour - whereas if both route and track are pointing that way it is pretty much certain that is the route you want (or at least the one you selected during your meticulous winter planning)
All good advice from Rasher, which matches problems we often see in the gps section.
Garmin’s delight at sometimes sending you down a little alley as it’s ‘quicker’ or ‘shorter’ to cut a corner, than to go an extra 10 yards on the proper road is well known. I call them ‘Garmin features’. I am not sure that any algorithm could ever remove them entirely, but I am not Bill Gates. I just try my best, as Rasher does, to edit them out by zooming right in. Yes, it takes a bit if time and effort but I think it’s worth it. Failing that, you just have to ignore the instruction to turn down the goat track or into Hookers Alley, the owner being cleverer than the machine..... sometimes!
Rasher is also right that different route creation softwares will very often offer up different suggestions for routes between the same two points on a map. That too is almost inevitable, I guess. Pick the one you like most and / or adjust it to suit, is my only suggestion.
Richard
PS Rasher though is totally wrong about BaseCamp, it is fantastic.... do not believe him! He knows the mountains and even, now, the Ardennes. Though am sure he’ll never love the north east bit France
Garmin’s delight at sometimes sending you down a little alley as it’s ‘quicker’ or ‘shorter’ to cut a corner, than to go an extra 10 yards on the proper road is well known. I call them ‘Garmin features’. I am not sure that any algorithm could ever remove them entirely, but I am not Bill Gates. I just try my best, as Rasher does, to edit them out by zooming right in. Yes, it takes a bit if time and effort but I think it’s worth it. Failing that, you just have to ignore the instruction to turn down the goat track or into Hookers Alley, the owner being cleverer than the machine..... sometimes!
Rasher is also right that different route creation softwares will very often offer up different suggestions for routes between the same two points on a map. That too is almost inevitable, I guess. Pick the one you like most and / or adjust it to suit, is my only suggestion.
Richard
PS Rasher though is totally wrong about BaseCamp, it is fantastic.... do not believe him! He knows the mountains and even, now, the Ardennes. Though am sure he’ll never love the north east bit France
Though am sure he’ll never love the north east bit France
That's the crap bit, right?
I thought you just drew a line East - West about 100 miles South of Paris and everything below that is great, and everything above it shit.
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