Originally Posted by
deburn
Hi Jim (or anyone else): how do you take a route that you find online and load it onto a GPS? I have an iPhone and a Garmin Forerunner 305. Thanks!
I can answer only for our GPS, a DeLorme PN60. I would imagine Garmin and others are all different.
The PN60 comes bundled with DeLorme Topo North Am and a special cable to connect it to a computer to copy maps, GPS routes, and recorded tracks between the computer and the GPS. To create a GPS route I first create a route in Topo NAm. The process is similar to DeLorme Street Atlas, of which I have been a fan for many years. I enter a starting point, a collection of via's based on the turns specified for the route, and an ending point. I put in enough via's to guarantee that it goes the way I want it to. It computes the turns and routing info in some format and creates a route file. I then just copy it to the GPS. To follow it I just select it on the GPS from the ones stored there, tell it to navigate.
The process requires that I track out on the Topo NAm map the route instructions for the course I want to follow. It can be tedious but it means I have to study the maps of the area, which is good. Sometimes an old route doesn't agree with current road conditions. I've tried entering GPS tracks directly from club routes online, but they are usually 3000 waypoints or something similar, recorded every 50 or 100ft. Topo NAm can follow them but it is way too many for the PN60 to create a route. I learned that the hard way on a similar ride when I didn't understand the significance of the warning the PN60 gave me at the start of a ride. Some miles into unknown territory it suddenly had no more route information! Fortunately it also lets me follow a recorded track, though with less certainty. Anyway, having the maps available means I can always find my own way if necessary. The PN60's user interface is nice but took me some learning time to become fully functional with it.
Originally Posted by
deburn
In fact, the name is Road Biking Massachusetts, subtitled A Guide to the Greatest Rides in Massachusetts, by Tom Catalini. (I checked your link but I don't see any connection to the book.) It was published in 2007 so while it isn't totally contemporary it is pretty accurate. Running the routes through Topo NAm is a good reality check. We've done several rides or partial rides from it. The route we've done from my house (or Bedford) to Nashua, NH was developed from one in that book.