Entire Gorge Mapset?

[Koda]

I’m a huge proponent of open source technology and have historically promoted OS mapping here on this forum but have stopped because of what Adam is saying. Proprietary mapping applications (like GPSVisualizer, and others) have been designed for the average user like me and are mostly intuitive to learn but Open Street Map has terrible topography and is not even functional to an average user. The problem with Open Source technology is they focus first on developing what the community needs most, and right now that’s not topo maps and gpx trails. OS developers tend to focus on the code and because they can’t make money from the software they naturally wait until there is a demand for it in a hardware form, thus they tend to always be one step behind proprietary applications… Open Street map is a great alternative to Google Maps though, like if you want directions to the nearest Starbucks.

[aiwetir]

Sheesh guys, if you go to any of those places you can see there are simple methods to route over OSM



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Example 1: Graphhopper
Graphhopper is the main source for most of the OSM routing data (RideWithGPS.com uses this as does GPSies. They update the most frequently (changes take less than a week to show on Graphhopper's database)

Below I totally randomly created a short route that's editable, try it. They have some limits to this API that I think limits you to 25 intermediate points so it's not useful for super long or complicated routes, but you can certainly use gpsvisualizer to stitch all your GPX files together into one giant trail map.

https://graphhopper.com/maps/?point=45. ... nStreetMap



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Example 2: RideWithGPS
RideWithGPS is probably my favorite route planning software but for the fact they don't update their Graphhopper data frequently enough (for me)

RideWithGPS uses Grapphopper data but only updates from them about once a month or less. So you'll see the trails in the right place, because they update the OSM tiles almost daily, but when you try to route the area, it'll follow the trails from the last time RWGPS updated the routes from Graphhopper.

Here's approximately the same route on RWGPS
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/15598102

You'd need an account and to copy it to your routes to edit it. You must also use the OSM background map for it to route on it, otherwise it uses Google or whatever source you have as the background.



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Example 3: GPSies
Sometimes things don't want to route on Graphhopper or RWGPS due to database errors or someone (me) forgot to connect the short section of the Vista Ridge Trail that runs from the parking area to the T. When I can't get Graphhopper or RWGPS to route, I try GPSies. It's essentially the same experience but you can actually see that they credit Graphhopper in the toolbar on the right when you are creating a route/course

http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=vwnzkagzedpuuykp

That's only viewable, you'll need an account and to hit the "create" link to play around with your own version.



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Example 4: Garmin
Go to https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/create and select OSM as the background layer. You'll be greeted with an unusable map because you can't see the trails. Their routing tools are horrible, but you can at times create a course on Garmin

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/13205200



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Example 5: BRouter-Web
Stumbled upon this the other day. Haven't figured it out yet but it gives you a lot of different types of travel options. I seems hard to use and I can't figure out how to link you to a route/course but it works most of the time.

http://h2096617.stratoserver.net/brouter-web/

[aiwetir]

OSM is the framework that most things are being built on today. You'll likely not find the database of this forum useful for much without the forum software to interact with it. The buildout of the parts is a bit lagging, and some parts are horribly bad, but I believe I've finally found the sleeper mapping software we've been waiting for.

https://www.mapbox.com/maps/outdoors/

It's (generally) got great topography, and shading, but it's limited to just looking at afaict. It works great as a background on GaiaGPS and maybe someone else has licensed it from them for iOS or Android. It's got topography from I don't know where but you can see that parts of it are built on LIDAR topography instead of the hand drawn topo lines we are all used to, but there are certainly a ton of the usual contour lines. The only bad area I've seen is around Saddle Mountain where it seems to have some low res LIDAR stuff, but not the terrible stuff of the other OSM topo maps.

The roads and trails are OSM and they update them almost daily so all the trail work I've been doing shows up when I want it.

[adamschneider]

GraphHopper looks useful, thanks. The problem is that none of us knew about it!

[aiwetir]

Try RWGPS too, the learning curve is a little steeper, but once you locate all the buttons, a bit easier, but a month out of date

[Crusak]

A forum poster!?!? That's all I am now? Not legend EP or something??

Legend yes! And one of the Twin Towers!

[aiwetir]

GraphHopper looks useful, thanks. The problem is that none of us knew about it!

I only learned about it from seeing it on GPSies which I don't really use, just dumb luck.

[aiwetir]

You can also use Garmin Basecamp.

You need the routable maps from here
http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

I use Generic Routable (new style)
There are probably other places to download OSM maps too, but this works for me.

Use the Garmin MapManager for your platform and it should route right in BaseCamp.

One nice feature of BaseCamp is that you can do segments all over the place for one GPX, so it's much more feasible to draw up a "Gorge" mapset that doesn't actually route you back and forth across trails like most online services will do. You have it on your machine, so you can work at your leisure and save it for later, tweak bits at a time that are a bit harder with online services.