mtnbud

Has anyone tried the Bikemap app? My latest Trek newsletter mentions it. It's supposed to use bike friendly roads and bike paths when possible along with indicating bike shops and services along the route. Has anyone tried the app? Is it worth downloading?

DrSnuggles

​​​​​​I have the app but never found it very useful. The planning tool available in the browser is great though, and then I export the gpx file to the GPS (no subscription required). If you don't have a GPS, you can import into the OsmAnd app in your phone.

However, for bike touring, I'm using the Komoot app quite a lot. Its really great.

Tourist in MSN

I also use the Komoot app, but it requires a data connection to do routing. Sometimes it picks a crazy route and I will manually force it to include a point to pass through to get it back to reality.

I also have Maps.Me on my phone, I download the maps for my area and can use it later off line. The bike routing option did not seem to pick very good routes last time I tried it, that was last year. Maybe it is better now. I often thought that the car driving routing was better for bike touring if I was not near any USA interstate roads.

I mostly use the routing option on my Garmin GPS (Model 64) using the tour cycling option and minimize ascent option. But when touring I will often compare all three of the above to see which option looks best.

And occasionally I pick a route off of a paper map instead. The routing apps and my GPS routing system often appear to prefer a road that is a state road over a county road and a county road over a local road. But sometimes the local road is perfectly fine for biking and if it is shorter distance I might use that instead.

mtnbud

Thanks guys, I've lived in the same area for over 40 years, so I typically use my personal knowledge for local rides, but rely on paper maps and Google for multi-day trips and rides away from home.

I find the Google bike function often doesn't do a good job of finding bike friendly roads, but will tie in bike paths when appropriate. I have the Osmand and Gaia apps on my phone for times I might need to make quick route decisions or find my way back to my truck when backcountry skiing.

I prefer low traffic volume over high and wide shoulders over narrow. I was hoping the Bikemap app did a better job of suggesting bike-friendly routes than the other apps I already use. It sounds like the Bikemap app isn't all that special. I know nothing beats common sense and planning ahead!

stardognine

I’ll have to give Kamoot a whirl. I’m using both maps.me and google maps now, and neither is exactly perfect. 🙄 Still, any map is better than none, to get a rough idea of what you want. 🤔😉

Tourist in MSN

Like I mentioned above, I use two different phone apps, my GPS and after comparing those I occasionally use a paper map and do something different than any of the electronic algorithms picked. I think the best algorithm has not been invented yet.

When I pick a route that Komoot or Maps.Me gave me, I manually (with paper and pen) pick a few road intersections that the route goes through, then I use my GPS routing to take me to those intersections. When on a bike tour I do not have the means to transfer a route from one device to the other.