PatrickGSR94

We all know there are tons of iPhone apps that will track your bike ride using the GPS sensor and plot it out on the map. But what if you want to map out a route first, and then have the app tell you when to turn at various streets, etc?

I use RideWithGPS all the time to map out various routes, but they don't have a smartphone app, surprisingly. iPhone 5 with iOS 6 Maps does turn-by-turn navigation, but it's pretty much impossible to plot out your own route on there. Is there anything that will do it?

jaydubu

I just got an app called "cue sheet" (free) that looks like it does it but it looks like you have to push the "next" button as you go as I don't think it works automatically. But I haven't tried on the bike yet. It works well with "ride with gps".

PatrickGSR94

Is that in the Apple App Store? I searched for "Cue Sheet" and only a couple of unrelated apps came up.

tpolley

map my ride

01 CAt Man Do

I hate it when you write out a prolong response to someone's inquiry only to find that the bike forum website lost or expired the token. Then when you go back to try to find it you find out they deleted everything you just spent 20 minutes writing. What a drag.

PatrickGSR94

huh? I looked through my MMR app and did not see any way to load a route and have it prompt you when to turn.

*edit* n/m looks like you can map a route on the MMR website and then load it into the MMR app.

Looigi

The Cyclemeter app does this, or at least did it when I tried a year or two ago. According their website, it still does.

"Import a route or virtual competitor by simply clicking on a GPX or KML link or file in Mail or Safari. Export complete summaries of your workouts, or detailed CSV, GPX, or KML files for use in maps, graphs, or social fitness sites."

https://www.abvio.com/cyclemeter/

01 CAt Man Do

I became interested in "Cyclemeter" a while back when I read that the app does verbal turn by turn and planned route navigation. Unfortunately it seemed only to be created to work with Iphones. It seems there might be an Android version which I have yet to check on which is suppose to work with Google map/Open street maps...( and others) Supposed to have verbal and textual prompts. I just never got around to trying it because I don't use "Open street maps " on my Android. Someone else might want to look it over and let us know if it's the holy grail for Android GPS apps.

Links> Bikeroute- cyclist Satnav for android devices
Open street map tool for Android

bonnev659

my friend has both Cyclemeter or map my ride (route planner part) for his bike and enjoys it not to sure how good the programs are if you are on the trails but works for us right now

01 CAt Man Do

Today I was looking at some of the different GPS / route apps for Android. I ran into an app called, "Run,Bike Route". Similar to the "Cue Sheet" app but unlike the Cue Sheet app you can plan the whole route right on the Android ( no need for an outside website ). You can also export the route onto another device or mapping website. Price is $1. Reviews were all very positive. I went ahead and bought it with the hopes that it will track faster than "Cue Sheet". I'll try it out tomorrow to see how well it works. Unlike the cue sheet app it doesn't have the actual "cue sheet" on a separate drop-down menu but since you have the map really no need for a cue sheet. Keeping my fingers crossed hoping it's better than "Cue Sheet". If it works well it could well replace the Garmin. Nice being able to modify a route even when you are already riding a set route. That feature could come in real handy.

01 CAt Man Do

Sadly today I found out that this app is nothing like I thought it was going to be. It seems it doesn't do any "real time" tracking of the route at all. It does offer a "momentary GPS" feature which can help you figure out where you are on the route but you have to keep turning it on/off to get your position. Basically you just get a map with a route. There are no cues or distances given for the turns at all. You get total distance of the route and that's about it. IMO you're better off with the "Cue Sheet" app.

And speaking of the Cue Sheet app; I found out it seems to track better if you zoom the map out to get a bigger over-all picture. Still not the ideal situation but at this time I can't find anything better.

yankhor

you can convert your RWG map to KML and open it on ORUXMAPS.

I used this on my last randonneur ride and worked fine.

njkayaker

There's no indication that the cyclemeter app provides turn-by-turn directions.

njkayaker

Does it provide turn-by-turn directions? (It doesn't seem to.)

njkayaker

GPS programs like Google Maps and Apple Maps generate routes and cue sheets and provide turn-by-turn directions from those cue sheets.

What's odd is that there is no way to upload a cue sheet to these programs instead of having the app produce it.

(There are many apps that let you upload tracks and show your position on a map displaying the route.)

Edit:

It would be fairly easy to have a navigation app use an uploaded cue sheet. The problem is what the app should do when you go off course. The standard approach used by navigation systems is to recompute the route/cue-sheet. You wouldn't necessarily want it to do that while cycling (especially for rando rides that require you to keep to the route) or you wouldn't want it to do the same thing it does for cars.

Keep in mind that the navigation apps compute a route between two separate points. Typically, a bicycle route starts and ends at the same point on arbitrary route.

01 CAt Man Do

....ummm....now that you mention it, I thought it did but after I read the product description there is no mention of "on route GPS turn by turn tracking prompts". It will track you while you ride a new route and save the route but that is not the same thing as guiding you while you ride a planned route.

njkayaker

It's apparently hard to do and has another problem for cycling (what do do when you go off course).

Apparently, the Garmins can warn you about upcoming turns using an uploaded route.

Many, many apps do this (it's easy to do).

Here's a fairly-recent review of some available apps. None which do what you are looking for.

https://www.bikeradar.com/gear/articl...cycling-35227/

This appears to do what you want. It's for Android.

https://www.appszoom.com/android_appl...heet_ztjo.html

procon

Here's an iPhone app, Co-Rider, that claims to do turn by turn with imported route maps:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/co-r...538095358?mt=8

After getting very turned around on a ride yesterday, I'm excited to try it.

Update: I tested it on the trip I took yesterday. With caveats it looks like it may suit my needs.

The bad news is that the bike directions were pretty terrible. For example, it took me next to a dedicated greenway. But, the good news is I could import google's bike directions, which were good. I haven't tested the turn by turn, that's next.

In case you're interested in trying it, I created a route in google maps and then exported a .kml file into dropbox, which I then opened in my phone with Co-Rider.

njkayaker

You'll have to provide a review!

It seems that the ability to follow uploaded routes is a new feature (it seems it was added 11/12).

https://www.appliedphasor.com/co-rider

procon

Definitely-- I'll try it on my ride to work and see how it goes.

01 CAt Man Do

I posted this in another thread but since not many people seem to know about it yet I just thought I would spread the word that the Cue Sheet app has been undated.

The free version is supposed to run better but if you purchase the "Pro version" you get the verbal turn by turn prompts. The Pro version is available when you do the download for the updated free version. When you start the app the prompts will ask you if you want to purchase the "Pro version". I mention this because I kept reading about the pro version and didn't know where to buy it. Hopefully this info will save someone time searching the web.

I haven't tried mine yet but only because I didn't want to remove the Garmin mount on my bike. I'll probably do that though and report back on how well it works. I do know that it does have voice because I turned it on after I downloaded it and it started talking to me after I loaded one of my local rides.

Basically this is an Android app. Not sure if there is an IPhone version.

PatrickGSR94

Nope, no iPhone version unfortunately. Have some App Store credit so I'll see what Co-Rider is like. The reviews say that the routes in the app itself sometimes aren't all that great, but I think I would most likely use it with imported routes from RidewithGPS.com and the like.

Wonder what battery life would be like on my iPhone 5 if I had both this and Strava running at the same time.

PatrickGSR94

Okay so I just went out for a ~8 mile ride that took me 40 minutes on the dot. I had both Co-Rider and Strava running at the same time. Battery life is pretty good on my iPhone 5 as it was 91% when I started, and around 80% or so when I ended.

The bad part - the prompts. HOLE LEE CRIZZAP the damn prompts made me want to chuck my phone into the lake!! It prompted me on EVERY SINGLE slight change in direction of the road, nevermind if I was actually turning or not. And for every "slight right" or "slight left" it signaled at least 3 prompts - 2 in advance and 1 right at the "slight turn". Many times it was overlapping itself on prompts. Massively annoying, I could not enjoy the ride one little bit.

Plus the voice is that of a British male, and I think a female voice would be easier to hear due to the higher frequency (I was just using the phone's speaker from my jersey pocket, no headphones).

I may try contacting them to see if there's a way to reduce the number of prompts. One prompt just before the turn (an ACTUAL turn as in, change what road I'm on) is really all I need.

*edit* oh and the other SUPER annoying part is that it basically plays spoken ads in your ear or through the speaker while you're riding. ON THE PAID VERSION!! For instance when there's not another turn for another several thousand feet, it will sit there and talk about how the app uses Open Maps by MapQuest and to visit the Open Maps website, gives the URL, yadda yadda. NOT what I want to hear during a ride.

njkayaker

Oy! Thanks for taking the bullet!!

I was a bit suspicious of "co-rider" because it didn't really detail the "turn-by-turn for uploaded routes" feature.

If you are interested in how it would work (and a little bit technical), plot a route on "ridewithgps" and download the "gpx route" (not "gpx track") and look at it in a text editor.

Basically, the "gpx route" is a list of turns (gps coordinates with turn instruction text). All an app would need to do is know where on the route you were (using the current gps coordinates) and read/display the labels for the next point on the route. It doesn't seem that hard (ridewithgps does the most of the hard stuff).

I suspect that the Android "cue sheet" app does it reasonably well.

PatrickGSR94

Yeah I tried several different versions of route exports from RidewithGPS. GPX Route did as you said, but if you zoom in close you could see all the control points, sometimes 2 or 3 points at a single corner, and it gives you a prompt for every one of those control points. GPX Track was all screwed up. It supposedly just used the cue sheet directions, but it had several turns missing when I loaded the route, with the route just showing straight lines between turns, not even following roads. I also tried the export made for Google Earth, but it was similar to GPX Route with numerous control points.

Now there was an update last night on the App Store for Co-Rider which I downloaded, and it said as part of the update that it supposedly reduces the prompts to where you only actually need them. So I guess I'll need to give it another shot.