Using a GPS for Planning Cycling Trips

Nick Hyndman has kindly suggested to use a GPS (Global Positioning System) device as an answer to my Cycling Ontologies post. I have meanwhile bought and used such a device, a Garmin Legend. Here are some of my experiences using it for planning trips between 70-150 km.

• Trips to unknown locations are tricky. How many intermediate points (called waypoints) to enter and where to get accurate coordinates from?
• The amount of information for a waypoint is quite small (about 10 characters). For large towns, one needs multiple waypoints. How to code them?
• In the Netherlands there is an intricate system of so-called mushrooms to show directions and distances for cyclists. In Germany, where I do most of my cycling, you can cycle for kilometers without finding a sign to even the closest big city. Germans drive cars not bikes.
• Very recently things have improved significantly (for me at least). There are now very detailed (scale 1:25000) topographical atlases of the Netherlands with GPS coordinates, see www.anwb.nl. These are ideal for planning a trip, although of course you still need to figure out what interesting routes and roads are.
• Even better (for me) there is a site with interesting routes in Nordrhein-Westfalen, the German province just across the border. A couple of weeks ago they included an option in which one can plan a route and download the GPS coordinates. Brilliant. And I probably have to retract my observation about the Germans being obsessed about cars two bullets earlier :-).

I have used the GPS for about a month now and I love it. By far the most useful feature is knowing in which direction (North, East, West, South) you travel. For reasons of security I always take a printed map as well. And cannot remember a single long trip where I did not (have to) consult the map.

A feature that a GPS lacks is predicting the weather. Got soaking wet travelling back from Groningen. Considering mounting a roof on my bike, but then the Germans probably think it is a car at the speeds I bike :-).

Comments

[Quentin]

Hi

I'm now using a Garmin eTrex for planning cycle routes and I've started using Tracklogs software and digital O/S mapping to plan my routes. The system is just brilliant and there is no going back for me. I'm using GPS tracklogs and not GPS waypoints or routes as they use much less memory and I find them far less hassle. Once on the bike just follow the preplanned tracklog by making sure the direction arrow points straight ahead and you're off! The best thing is you get to follow routes you might not otherwise bother with (roads too small, area unknown) and you DO NOT get lost.

Buy one, they are great, you need to invest some time learning the system to get the best out of it but it's well worth it.

Check out: www.tracklogs.co.uk

Quentin.