Struggling with Make Me A RouteFORUMS HOME SEARCH FORUMS

We've found a bug in the MapQuest routing that was causing the "Paved" terrain setting to be ignored - this has now been fixed, so hopefully that should help with making road bike routes using the default MapQuest option.

If anyone wants to use the previous version of our 'Make Me a Route' feature, please click on the settings icon in the top left corner of the Make Me a Route panel and choose to use Google for routing rather than MapQuest.  Then choose walking as the travel mode (this was the travel mode used by the previous version - no option was previously available for cycling).  This will make routes in the same way as the previous version.

We plan to keep working on improvements to this feature but are limited to some degree by the routing options available to us by the different mapping providers.  Unfortunately Google doesn't currently offer an option to specify road-bike friendly routes at present, so we can't add that right now, but I'm sure more options can be added over time as these services improve.

John

Please sort the issue soon. I know the upgrade will be for the better in the long run, but at the moment the "make me a route" function was better before the upgrade.

That would be good. Seems to be what the Mapquest routing allows (the "Paved" roads option) so I guess perhaps either trying to include a "Paved" option with the Google routing or an "Allow major roads" option with the Mapquest routing would be the answer to our prayers :-)

I agree with Mark; this is a great facility. There are a few little annoyances from my point of view but being able to make a route is exactly what I've been looking for.

Thanks Mark.  Glad you like the site.  Yes, our Make Me a Route feature did use Google for routing before.  The new version uses MapQuest by default as this offers more options but we wanted to keep the Google option too.  I'll look into how we can restrict the Google option to use roads only - we should hopefully be able to sort that out if it was working that way before.

Is it possible to have an option for road cycling that does not send you down canal tow paths, disused railways, through country parks etc?? So maybe a road cycling option and off road option

I appreciate i am being picky

Mark

Hi,

Have switched to Google maps and appears to work OK. Did the site use Google prior to the upgrade, as I had no problems last week when plotting a route? Does send me down canal tow paths etc which didnt happen previously. Not good on a road bike.

Thanks for the speedy response to the issue, and for a great site

Mark

Thanks for the feedback John.  Unfortunately Google doesn't offer us the same level of control over routing that MapQuest does, that's partly why we introduced the MapQuest option.

You're right aboput the +/- column, that is supposed to be the amount that the route lengths differs from what you asked for but this does seem to be the wrong way around under the Google option - will get that changed, thanks for flagging it up.

John

I've just tried using Google. Had a couple of issues to start with where it got to 26% then said it couldn't finish, but tried again and it went through. It would be nice to have the other options available though :-)

Thanks

John

PS - As an aside (and rather than add another thread), what does the +/- column mean? I assumed it was -x.xxx if the route was shorter than I'd asked for and x.xxx if it was longer. Seems to be the other way round though.

Thanks for the extra info John.  I think it is probably the same problem that Mark's having, where the start point is only accessible via a main road (in your case the A417).  I'll see if there's any way we can provide an option to override that restriction as you suggest.

In the meantime, I've added some information about using Google routing rather than MapQuest as an alternative if no routes can be generated using the MapQuest routing rules.

John

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you!

My settings are similar to Mark's for cycling:

Type = Circular

Terrain = Paved

Uphills = OK

Browser = Firefox (normally)

The start position is John Lee Road, Ledbury.

It gets to 100% and then just shows no details.

FWIW - where you mentioned avoiding main roads, it's quite difficult to avoid the A417, A449 and A438 near where I live so it sounds like I'm probably having the same problem. I think it might be worth adding a setting to allow main routes to be used on the cycling thing but in the meantime I'll try your suggestions.

Many thanks for your help.

John

Thanks for flagging this up and for the info.  I've had a look into it and I think the issue is because it is trying to calculate routes that avoid main roads (one of the 'rules' used for working out cycling routes) and the only way out and back to Wiggins Close is via a main road (the A428), so it can't work out how to get past this road!

I'll have a think about what we can do to overcome this. We might need to relax the routing rules if no routes are found.  In the meantime, there are two alternative options you could consider.  You can choose to use Google rather than Mapquest for the routing - this doesn't give you all the options that the Mapquest routing offers but the selection of roads is more relaxed.  To switch to Google for routing, click the settings icon in the top left corner of the Make Me a Route panel.  Or you could start from another nearby location and then adjust the route aftwards (drag the start point to the correct place then use the REPLOT SECTION feature under the Plot menu (with the AUTO-PLOT set to BY ROAD) to edit the section from the correct start point to the alternative one).

Hope this helps for now but will work on a longer term solution.

John

P.S. I've moved this topic to the Bugs and Problems forum.

I am having the same issue. I am trying to create a circular route (have tried numerous distances to see if this is the issue) the % bar races up to 100% but no routes appear.

My settings are for cycling

Type = Circular

Terrain = Paved

Uphills = OK

Browser = Google Chrome

The start position is Wiggins Close, Rugby

Thanks, 

Mark

Hi John - Can you give me a bt more info and I'll see if I can reproduce the problem?  I've just made some 40 mile routes from my house and it seemed to work fine so maybe it's a combination of location and settings - can you let me know where you're starting from (just the road not your exact address) and what settings you are using please?

Also, can you let me know what happens after it's finished processing?  Does the orange processing bar get to 100%?  And lastly, what browser you are using.

Thanks,

John

Hi

This site looks like exactly what I need, but I'm really struggling to get it to Make Me A Route from my home. I want a circular route, starting here, for cycling around 40 miles. Putting the A icon on the road outside my house and selecting what appears to be the right options then clicking the Make button goes off and looks like it's doing something, but doesn't come up with any routes.

Putting the A at the main crossroads in town made a difference, but I don't want to start there.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks

John