DTownDave22

I’ve been fairly happy with the following:

GPS: Garmin Edge 810
Maps: I’ve been using are OpenStreetMap (OSM)
Route creator: Ride With GPS (RWGPS)

I’m not entirely sure what RideWithGPS.com (RWGPS) did with their offerings, but I believe the now free version has even fewer features, so maybe that is where this problem in part lies (I was told essentially their Basic subscription service offers a feature where the cues do not change)—so there would be some incentive to cause some sort of disruption on their part—this is beyond my technical knowledge. It just seems odd that a basic but essential aspect of this technology could find a way to mess up. Granted, there are three parties here--Garmin, RWGPS and OSM.


The problem:

• I will create a route (typically export as a .TCX) on RWGPS. No problems there. The cuesheet on the website will be good.
• When I am riding though, I will notice the turning cues/text will display “Right onto Path” or “Left onto Path” instead of using the street name in some cases.

I’ve typically been riding routes where I know where I’m going for the most part, so I’ve not paid close attention. I’ve grown frustrated enough that I’ve decided to look into it as it’s been a problem for at least a year or so.

DTownDave22

Extra info and my thoughts/best guesses.

Furthermore, this is can be more problematic with two extra variables: riding speed and laggy readings (like in a downtown area). If I’m riding more than about 10 MPH, and time is of the essence to know where to be turning next, my current location shown on the GPS screen appears to be inaccurate (not unreasonable) but what is unreasonable is a basic, essential function is not able to work properly--telling me the street name to turn on! Given the lack of the proper geo location, it’s difficult to determine what street the “path” must be if my shown location is lagging behind my actual location.

RWGPS: Not so sure I want to pay a fee (if I recall correctly, $5/month for their basic service). Their basic sub. claims that the cuesheet will be the same on the GPS as shown on their website.

OSM: My guess as well as the tech support of RWGPS, is it's due to OSM. I suspect the culprit may be where too much data is perhaps a problem. Maybe Garmin chooses to route onto what is deemed a "bike path." OSM has data of sidewalks and those sidewalks have features, including bike data, like bike access.

Not sure if the best alternative/fix would be to do what I avoided initially doing, which is buying Garmin maps (City Navigator).

I'm a little perplexed I can not find anyone having this same problem in my initial searches, but my lack of technical knowledge means my searching terms are likely not quite matching what's out on the web as I tried looking around already.

Not sure there are any real fixes here. It would seem I'd be able to go into a program like BaseCamp and change the cuesheets but that program is awful overall but it's just a thought/guess.

mibike

Do you have a link to a route on RideWithGPS you are having a problem with? If so I'll take a look at it and see if I find anything.

unterhausen

I thought it showed you the cue sheet that is next to the route? I have to admit that the shortcomings of my garmin have me trained to just look at the map, so I'm not sure about the other data fields

I finally upgraded because I wanted to modify the cue sheet and add POI. Which for some reason* means I have to pay the highest rate. But their guidance works well.



*I believe they think only ride organizers want this functionality. That's why I want it, but I never charge for a ride, so it's a bit annoying.

njkayaker

The cuesheet items in RWGPS get added to the TCX file as "course points". The "Right onto Path" stuff is from "turn guidance".

The Garmins calculate the "turn guidance" instructions using just the track points in the file (the course points are not used for this at all). The big white arrows are from "turn guidance".

You can enable or disable the use of "course points". When they are enabled, they popup as text in small black squares.

"Course points" are more intended for the Garmin units that don't use maps (those that can't calculate "turn guidance").

The issue is one with map data. It looks like the turn-guidance is picking side paths, which don't typically have names (hence "path").

It might be helpful if you provide a link to the route and pointed out a specific place where you saw the issue.

No, BaseCamp won't help you. BaseCamp doesn't support course points and your problem is elsewhere anyway.

njkayaker

"It"?

The Garmins can show a "course point" page (what people often call the "cuesheet"). You have to swipe to see that page (it's after the map page).

In any case, the OP's issue appears to be with "turn guidance" (which has nothing to do with "course points"). If you are using "turn guidance", you can get the list of those turns by clicking on the text at the top of the map.

If navigation is the goal, then "looking at the map" is pretty-much essential. Even with things working perfectly, it's easy to miss the announcements. If looking at the map is part of your routine, you often know that announcements are upcoming.

People who don't look at the map and rely on the announcements will likely not be happy.

It's one's own choice not to look at the map but it should be clear that not looking compromises navigation.

Looking at the map is helpful when using a GPS in a car.

unterhausen

I suppose that raises the question about the OP's settings. He might be happier if "turn guidance" is set to "on". I'm assuming it's not, since off is the default.

njkayaker

It seems the OP has "turn guidance" on. That's where the "right on path" messages are coming from (they aren't coming from course points or rwgps).

The issue is that the OP thinks the "turn guidance" messages are related to "course points" (when they aren't).

(These discrepancies don't bother me.)

unterhausen

I'm not sure what you mean by that either, maybe you could point to a snippet of a .tcx file, it's plain text after all.

njkayaker

You can do that yourself with one of your own routes. The course points are at the end.

The labels for course points are like 10 characters.

Keep in mind that the OP is seeing "right on path" instead of what he has for the cuesheet item in rwgps. It would be quite bizarre for the label to change completely. (Truncation is common.)

Rwpgs doesn't create course points with labels like "right on path". Turn guidance does.

The OP is seeing things generated by turn guidance that he thinks is from course points (rwgps).