Avoiding Highways when Auto-PlottingFORUMS HOME SEARCH FORUMS

Hi - have you seen our video tutorial for the Make Me a Route feature?  This gives a dmeo which includes blocking roads that you want to avoid. Have a look at this and give it another try - hopefully this will help.  You could also try using the Plot With Waypoints feature, whic gives you more control over where you want the route to go - you place a small number of waypoints on the map and can drag them around to experiment with different routes.

John

Hi !

Brand new to this site and to plotting routes in general. Love your site...BUT.... I just want to use the "make me a route" feature for a 5 mile walking route starting and ending on Edgewater Drive at Infusion Tea. (Corner of Guernsey and Edgewater)  AND keep the result from sending me onto MAJOR roads like Highway 50 in Orlando Florida and I-4.

I have checked the "avoid highways" box under "auto plot", " by road" section in the main Simple (free) version of the software. I have selected "walking" under the "make me a route" options but every time it generates results it makes the SE route use Highway 50. I LIKE the SE route (#2 on the list generated) but I don't want to walk along MAJOR Highways for safety reasons. There ARE alternatives but the "make me a route" feature doesn't choose other (non-highway) roads instead.

If this just simply isn't possible, this is a deal killer for puchasing walking route software. I keep trying to find a way to block the roads I don't want the "make me a route" feature to use, but I can't find out how to do that...i.e. nothing in the "how do I" forum under "block roads" or "road block" .... no easy to find button that just says "block road"... no simple explanation that is ANYWHERE easy to find and I've already used 2 on my 3 "credits" to try and create a trial route for me to test out... this is frustrating. I feel sure,(given the thoughtfulness of the way the REST of the software is laid out) that this is a "pilot error" or "user" problem but after an hour of trying, I STILL don't know how to fix the problem. I know that SOMEHOW you CAN block the use of certain roads when you are MANUALLY creating the route (though I can't figure out how to do that either) but I don't know if the "make me a route" feature will let you block certain roads and still auto generate a route.

HELP PLEASE, BEFORE I PULL MY HAIR OUT !

Thanks in advance...

On Advanced, I set to cycling, 100 miles, circular, via=yes, paved, uphills=ok, start point IP5 2HH. Each time I set 'make me a route' it tried to send me via the nearby bridleway and golf course, wherever I put the via point. I did put in some roadblocks which helped, but it still seemed to want to send me this way, so I would need a lot of roadblocks in place. However, when I used the Simple version, using the same distance and via point, it did not send me along the bridleway/golf course (but it did put me back on the A12 in some cases!). Therefore, as things stand, the Simple version is probably slightly better for my requirements. Ultimately, if you can get the By Road feature working on make me a route, this might resolve these issues. Nonetheless, with a bit of playing around I can get a usable route in place and I am finding it very useful.

Not sure why you're getting unpaved paths with the paved options selected - it could be an invalid classification for the path on the OpenStreetMap database used by MapQuest for the routing.  If you can let me know what settings you are using and the approx start point I can look into it further.  However, we would always recommend reviewing auto-generated routes for suitablity though in any case.  A couple of other things you can do...if there are certain roads or paths that you definitely want the Make Me a Route feature to avoid you can also block these by clicking on the map and adding them to the "Avoid" list.  You may also find it helpful to add a Via point, which has the effect of steering the generated routes in a general direction, for example away from a busy town or other area that you want to avoid. 

John

Many thanks for this John. I had a little play this evening, although it was running very erratically and slowly (maybe my broadband connection though). Anyway, using the advanced version seems to have stopped it sending me along the A12, which is good news. Bizarrely though, even though I now have the option to select paved roads only using the advanced version (which I did), it now seemed to be sending me along the bridle way behind my house and across a local golf course, on nearly every route suggestion. Yet it wasn't doing this before and I have no idea why this has changed. I need to try out a few more permutations to see if there is any pattern, but I am away until next Monday so will have another go then. I posted something separately today about keeping to roads only, as you can if you plot manually. If this were possible for the make me a route feature, this would avoid any such problems with bridle ways and cycle paths and avoid the need to check the entire route to make sure this hasn't happened.

Hi Justin - The Advanced Make Me a Route feature uses MapQuest for routing.  I've set your account up with free access for a few days so you can try it out.  You may need to sign out and back in again to activate this.

John

Thanks John. It actually sends me along the A12 whether I am using 'make me a route' or creating my own route. Based on your reply, does the paid option allow the user to change from Google, and if so, might this resolve the issue? I would be prepared to pay for the service if it did this. I think Bike Route Toaster used MapQuest which did avoid dual carriageways like the A12.

Hi Justin - If you are using the Simple Make Me a Route option this uses routing services from Google.  Google doesn't define exactly it classes as a highway but it tends to be major routes with restricted access like motorways.  We don't have any option to restrict it according to how busy a road is at present, so it would he advisable to review an auto-generated route for suitability before going out and following it.

John

Hi, I have just discovered Plotaroute and think it is generally great, however I am not sure what you class as a 'highway'. For example, on routes I have tried to put together it tends to try to send me along the A12, which is a pretty busy dual carriageway. Is there any possible way of avoiding this? It is easier to avoid when planning my own route, but when using the make me a route feature I end up having to go back and replot large chunks of the route.

Thanks Nathan.  You've certainly come up with some good ideas - much appreciated.  We have loads of ideas put forward but try to focus on the ones that we think will benefit lots of users or are either easy to implement and integrate into the site design.  We have more enhancements coming along very soon.

John

Another one of my suggestions implemented!

Maybe I should be charging you guys a consultation fee ;)

Keep the improvements coming guys!

Build it.... and they shall come!

Following a suggestion from one of our users, we have added a new option on our route planner to avoid highways or motorways when using the Auto-Plot "By Road" feature. If you tend to plot points quite near to each other this will not really affect you but if you want to plot points far apart and let the route planner work out the path between them, this will steer you away from roads with limited access like major highways and motorways.

To access this option just click on or move your mouse over the Auto-Plot "By Road" button.  This new option is available on both the desktop and mobile sites.