cyclingovereu

Everyday we use technology to do everything. When we are riding in a unknown place, how we find the right road to reach our goal?

I usually study in advance the route, therefore I use my sense of direction, I follow the signs, and sometime I use the map memorized in my smartphone. However often I lose the route and I have to stop to verify if my choice is right.

Maelochs

You cheat and use maps? You know that that involves a whole lot of technology, right?

seeker333

How do you find the rught route?

Ask Scooby-Doo...

fietsbob

Ordinance survey paper maps are excellent , if You are in the British Isles . Or visiting as I was ..

I got in a Lot of International Touring while GPS was still a classified Program for just the Military.

mstateglfr 

Cell phone google maps. Live if there is a signal, otherwise ill look at saved screenshot maps. I have it on my bars already since its usually playing music, so its right there anyways.
Havent come upon the need to use paper maps, that'd be for the big boy adventures.

mev

In advance, I use technology - particularly a mapping program like Google Maps. I'll even bring along a laptop and have gone through a progression of technology there from my first 80286 running "Automap" in 1992.

While on the road, most often don't use technology. Instead look at instructions I've written down or printed off from my computer program. I'll also have a paper map to look at route. I'll compare those against the signs on the road. Only occasionally when on the road might I consult something else, e.g. my laptop or a cell phone. Also sometimes the route is very simple, e.g. "follow US 50 across Nevada" or something similar where I'm on the same US highway for multiple days so there isn't much route finding at all.

cyclingovereu

I'm sorry, it was a typing mistake!!!!!

Machka 

• paper map
• looking at the signs
• sense of direction


And google maps.

tramptrade 

Pre-trip I study route maps either online or paper maps. During a trip I generally rely on paper maps and hand-written directions. I do own a GPSr, but I tend to use it more for exploration than for navigation. I'm an old school map and compass kinda guy.

Maelochs

Macha is probably biking across the ocean to Russia and navigates by the stars ... around my home, I do somewhat the same though. I study the map, write out directions (not yet smart enough to use Google maps to find landmarks ... ) and about half the time I forget I am supposed to turn and use luck and dead reckoning to get home. keeps my rides from being routine ... but I do have to allow an extra hour or two (plus water and energy bars) just in case.

I will also ask people ... but half the time folks don't know. I've always made it home so far.

When I ride I don't want music, or phone, or GPS .... I have that at home, I could stay home for that. Now, when I do real tours ... I use Google maps, write out turn-by-turn directions, and Pay Attention, because in some areas it is possible to not stumble on the right road through dumb luck, and to get dangerously lost. But I have never toured solo, so there has always been someone who is paying attention if I was not.

seeker333

An inexpensive tablet with a GPS Nav app works great. No cell data plan or wifi connection required for real-time turn-by-turn gps navigation with apps like Osmand (and a few others), which allow one to download map database prior to use when wifi is available. I like Osmand because it permits download of individual US states versus the entire USA or North America, and also permits data to be stored on external SDXC memory, thus freeing tablet memory for other less-flexible apps. A 7-8" tablet is easier to read than a cell phone, and the battery lasts longer, especially if you turn off the tablet when you know you won't need it for 30" or longer, then you can turn back on (by clock or mileage from cyclometer) and resume gps navigation.

https://osmand.net/

This is the least expensive method for technical route planning/tracking, since a tablet with gps can cost less than a few months of a smartphone cellular contract. Tablets are easier for web surfing than smartphones and much lighter and compact with better battery life than a laptop.

bikenh

Prep before leaving for the day with ridewithgps but during the day I just use the hand-written directions. If I get lost generally, unless in CT, it's not hard to get back on track fairly quickly...heck Boston was a cakewalk to get right back on track.

imi

I find a pocket compass useful. I get lost all the time, too much of a day dreamer to keep on track, but I get there in the end

Machka 

+1

A compass does come in very handy.

gerryl

I'm in the map and compass camp - so far so good.

staehpj1

I said all of the above because I have at one time or another used them all, but mostly use paper maps for the longer open road and maybe fire up the smartphone for in town directions or finding some needed service.

On the compass... I use one for hiking and for off road riding, but for on road touring I find that maintaining a more general sense of my orientation to the cardinal points is sufficient and typically easy enough to maintain. Things like which way the light is coming from (even when it is cloudy) and where you are relative to a mountain range, body of water or other feature is generally enough. It isn't like sailing where a few degrees matter since you only need to choose which direction to go on the road the choice is usually binary and a 10, 20, or ever 30 degree error in your sense of direction is usually still OK.

So after carrying a compass for a few thousand miles on tour and never once using it I stopped carrying one. In a pinch I could fire up the smartphone and use the compass app. I don't recall ever doing that on a bike tour either, but the app does not require carrying another item.

wahoonc

Depends on if I am actually trying to get somewhere or just ramble about the country side. I keep a paper county map in my saddle bag in case I get to far astray. I do carry a smart phone, but usually don't bother with it, unless I am looking for something specific. We used to do what we call "quarter rides". Come to an intersection or a fork in the road, flip a quarter. Heads you go right, tails you go left. Led to some interesting rides.

Considering my favorite bike is pretty low tech, my navigation is too.

Aaron

alan s 

I've found relying on locals to be hit or miss. It amazes me how many people have no idea how to get from Point A to Point B. On a recent trip, someone told me it was mostly downhill, but since I was starting at sea level and ending at sea level, it didn't compute. Didn't point out the obvious, and thanked them for the advice.

Erick L

Google Maps for planning, paper maps (not always) and signs en route. When wifi is available, I check Google maps on my phone to find stores, services and my way through towns.

saddlesores

google maps for pre-planning...if the VPN works.
baidu maps if not working.

on the road paper maps and handy compass
dingy bell. make up strip maps along the way
for each day's segment.

try to read the road signs....virtually impossible
in places like myanmar! left goes to squiggles
and right goes to curliques.....

carry a small PAPER phrase book with 5 s.e.asian
languages. actually stop some times and ask the
locals for directions.

so why don't the poll include "stop and ask"?

indyfabz

It amazes me how some people have no sense of direction whatsoever. This summer I was touring in South Dakota. I was in a town campground when a couple pulled up from the south in their car looking for the motel in town. The town is the southern terminus of the Mickelson, which they were going to start the next day. I pointed north up the main drag and told them how to get to the motel. They said "That's south, right?" They had just driven north for hours through Nebraska into South Dakota and thought they were going south the entire time. Got to wonder if GPS is dumbing down people. "I don't need to have any idea of where I am going. I will just feed my destination into this little box and it will tell me how to get there, guiding me every step of the way."

indyfabz

Heh. On the third day of my first ever tour a few of us needed to ride to a town to shop for groceries for the group. A ranger at the state park where we were camping swore up and down the town was 8 miles round trip when the scale on the map clearly showed it was about 8 miles each way. The ranger could not be swayed. We rode to the town and it was, in fact, 8 miles away.

BigAura

Planning: various GoogleMaps tools

Touring: iPhone - MotionX GPS app

I'll also snap photos of local trail maps at visitor centers & displays.

Old-school-disclosure: At times I'll pick up various free paper maps for a lay-of-the-land overview.

DXchulo

Mostly GPS, but I also carry cue sheets just in case something goes wrong. Neither one is perfect. Sometimes the GPS tells me I'm off course when I'm not, and sometimes my cue sheets have mistakes.

Leebo

Asking? Works better with police and fire professionals and mail carriers. All have to know all the roads for work in the area.