Planning routes

[Ray]

In honor of some recent posts on route planning, I thought I'd start the thread. There's already a lot of opinion posted on paper maps, software, phones, apps, and websites. Even insurance companies have an opinion on how to plan your ride.

(Just to weigh in on part of the debate, in the pre-electronic era, I was known to wander with just a compass, but as a modern belt and suspenders guy, you'll find me in Colorado with (the same) compass, pages from the Rand McNally National Atlas, the Colorado Gazeteer, regional Butler maps, a phone, NAV V and solid state computer....)

Route planning was never high on my list when I was young and had a million other things to do. "Just let it happen," was the mantra and "Don't let it happen on the interstate," was the subtext.

Fast forward - too many roads not seen; some planning was in order to keep from riding the same roads from A to B. First Rand McNally, then DeLorme Atlas and Gazeteers, MAD and Butler maps, and online to Google, etc.

The last few years, I've mapped a bunch of routes for the NAV V on the Rever website. (That still doesn't mean I follow them once on the road...; I'm faithful to my wife, but curves of new blacktop and blow-your-mind scenery always seem to lead me astray.)

Like other companies, REVER's matured through the years. Two years ago, they integrated the Scorpio Ride GPS/security system from Aritronix (which I already had) to allow better tracking.

They also teamed with Butler Maps a few years ago, and for those of us who pay the "pro" premium, the REVER maps now carry a Butler overlay that includes some areas not yet on paper maps. Nothing like a day dedicated to riding every Butler Gold colored route between point A and B. (And yes, GG, the the efficiency on the bike goes up considerably compared to the interstate.)

Tonight I sat down to pick out a few routes for the upcoming trip to southern Colorado, when I realized that not only did REVER finish the BMW-specific .gpx download interface, but added the Twisty Road option for route finding. (See below.) Most importantly, I can now develop these routes on my phone, which in turns lays down the tracks in the Garmin.

Those who play with their Garmin's will note that the curvy road option appeared after a software update on the NAV V a few years ago, but I've always been disappointed with the definition of curves in their algorithm. There was a palpable reluctance to take the rider too far from the fastest path; the route always seemed to develop through compromise to a bunch of long sweepers on a high speed national highway. I don't know. Maybe Garmin didn't want the potential liability of dumping a bunch of Harley wannabe's into a dangerous environment that involved brakes and blind turns.

The video is only 70 seconds long, but gives a taste of how the routing works. (If you watch it, you'll catch the fact that REVER is headquartered in Eagle.... I don't plan to visit, though it might be interesting to check out the employee parking lot, well, assuming not everyone in IT works from home.)

(No music with the video, but somehow, Dwight Yoakam and company were in the background of my computer, working the tune Rapid City, South Dakota while I watched. Sometimes, life provides a little extra energy.)

[Grumpy Goat]

Ray, when I saw this new this thread on routing from you I immediately thought here comes a plug for Rever.

Thanks to your previous posts about this app I downloaded it on the phone and accessed it from the laptop. I will admit I did not spend too much time playing with it and gave up, but it does look very interesting. When I got my Klim suit it came with an upgrade to Rever Pro (I believe?) but I did not investigate further.

Now that I have a trip to plan maybe I will invest some time looking into Rever - thanks for the reminder. One thing I do like about Furkot.com is that it also has stuff other than just the routing included (hotels, attractions, stops after a specified number of miles / time, etc.) but its twisty road routing is non-existent and is left up to the user to do manually. So they both have their strengths, and it seems that Rever is very strong on picking routes easily.

I used to use MS Streets and Trips up until they stopped making it (and supporting it with new maps). That was also convenient and had the abovementioned features from Furkot but seemed easier to manipulate the route manually.

For me, any program that allows upload of GPX files to my Navigator and is easier and more 21st century than the awful Basecamp is a contender!

[Olgry1]

Thanks Ray Working with computers has never been my forte. The information you and Wayne have provided has encouraged me to pursue trying out Rever to do some route planning for Colorado. I wiiL let you know how it goes.
Thanks John

[Lee]

Thanks Ray Working with computers has never been my forte. The information you and Wayne have provided has encouraged me to pursue trying out Rever to do some route planning for Colorado. I wiiL let you know how it goes.
Thanks John

To learn how everything works make a simple route near you with only a start and end point, then ride the route to make sure it works.
After that, make another local route but have five or six intermediate points along the way changing roads.
It easier to learn how to use everything at home.

[Olgry1]

Thanks Lee

[Ray]

...The information you and Wayne have provided has encouraged me to pursue trying out Rever to do some route planning for Colorado. I wiiL let you know how it goes....

As noted, I was never big on planning, as in the end, it cut into riding time.

Although I always played with Garmins and Zumos and Google maps, after reading Darrell's posts and pictures of his planning area with the big US map, I decided I should get serious; I moved my US wall map from the shop to my office, sat down at the computer, and realized I could take 5 min at a time to explore and virtually "ride" a bunch of roads I'd never seen before. Planning has become more enjoyable and less of a task. The planning becomes a journey in itself. (Of course as noted, I still refuse to let planning interfere with an opportunity to satisfy my curiosity.)

Although a little expensive (I think I pay about $50/y) the Butler map overlay is probably what I use the most. I figure these are what the local riders would recommend if I took the time to follow the old practice of checking in with the neighborhood shop.

Actually - since the Butler maps run $15 a piece and I essentially get the whole set plus the unpublished regions, plus instant updates on my phone and computer, it feels like a deal..., and would be if I didn't also carry the paper version in my map case, just out of habit.

In your case, I don't need to remind you to have fun.

[Grumpy Goat]

Although a little expensive (I think I pay about $50/y) the Butler map overlay is probably what I use the most. I figure these are what the local riders would recommend if I took the time to follow the old practice of checking in with the neighborhood shop.

I think that would be the main reason for me using Rever - the Butler map overlays.

[Olgry1]

Just back from our little get away today so I will be signing up for Rever this weekend.
Thanks again.

[Lee]

I did a route today with furkot that had multiple intermediate points. It was a little clumsy but I figured it out without reading any instructions and that's a plus for me. I want something I don't use for a year and still be able to use it.
I don't care about the extras like reserving your motels on the route.
That's the main reason I still use Microsoft Streets and Trip.

I need to give Rever a try. If it's easy to use without instructions I might even be interested in the Butler map overlay. I usually avoid yearly subscriptions for anything but I'm a sucker for maps
Does this work on desktops or is it just for mobile devices.
I see MOA members get a 33% discount on yearly subscriptions.

[Grumpy Goat]

I need to give Rever a try. If it's easy to use without instructions I might even be interested in the Butler map overlay.
Does this work on desktops or is it just for mobile devices.
I see MOA members get a 33% discount on yearly subscriptions.

As far as I can tell, you go to the website on your desktop computer, whereas on the mobile device you can do either.

[Olgry1]

I need to give Rever a try. If it's easy to use without instructions I might even be interested in the Butler map overlay.
Does this work on desktops or is it just for mobile devices.
I see MOA members get a 33% discount on yearly subscriptions.
[/quote]

Thanks for the information about the MOA member discounts Lee. I will follow up and let you know how easy/difficult it is for me to catch on to Rever.

[Lee]

Thanks for the information about the MOA member discounts Lee. I will follow up and let you know how easy/difficult it is for me to catch on to Rever.

Scroll down to Rever in this link.

https://www.bmwmoa.org/page/memberdiscounts

[Lee]

I played with Rever this morning and like it. Simple to use like Microsoft Streets and Trips.
No need to read instructions, although it did take me awhile to find where saved trips went
It's a bummer you need to pay a fee to get the GPX file.
For now I may use Rever to make a route so I can look at the route and zoom on a phone or tablet while on a trip.
I may still use Streets and Trips to make my GPX files.
Looks like the yearly fee is $31.68 with the MOA discount.

I'll use Rever for awhile and if I don't notice any problems I may pay the fee to get the GPX files and Butler Map layer.

[Olgry1]

I played with Rever this morning and like it. Simple to use like Microsoft Streets and Trips.
No need to read instructions, although it did take me awhile to find where saved trips went
It's a bummer you need to pay a fee to get the GPX file.
For now I may use Rever to make a route so I can look at the route and zoom on a phone or tablet while on a trip.
I may still use Streets and Trips to make my GPX files.
Looks like the yearly fee is $31.68 with the MOA discount.

I'll use Rever for awhile and if I don't notice any problems I may pay the fee to get the GPX files and Butler Map layer.

Sounds like a plan. I started to look at it last night but to today and tomorrow I will be getting the car clean from our recent getaway. I like black cars but they show everything

[Ray]

...but today and tomorrow I will be getting the car clean from our recent getaway. I like black cars but they show everything

You might have heard me say, black cars and black bikes carry great social responsibility; if they aren't clean, all of society suffers the aesthetic fallout.

Thank you for your service....

[Olgry1]

The car is finally all clean!

Looked at Rever and it looks like a nice product especially for those who use their phone on the bike. At this point I have decided to continue with the gps/map route planing method and forego Rever.

Looking forward to getting lost soon

[Ray]

Looking forward to getting lost

As noted, I have fun using the computer to download to the Garmin from Rever, but ypu're entirely correct in your goals - some of my favorite rides and discoveries have been while "lost" and off the planned route.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Lee]

Test to see if others can see a Rever route I made and if it's possible for them to zoom in and out.

<iframe src="https://a.rever.co/embed/rides/1936119" width="700" height="700"></iframe>

Edit: Looks like the link is for a embedded link.

I'll check to see if there's a way to copy a link for sites that don't allow embedded code.

[Grumpy Goat]

Yes it is HTML script, for a web page.

[BobAin'tStoppin']

Lee. I copied the link to a new tab and a map comes up. I've never seen rever before, so don't know how it works. It looked to me like the map was zoomed in a bit already. The route goes off of the top and bottom of the frame. Couldn't really do anything with the picture. Hope those roads are open for our gathering.