Google maps for route planning?
03-01-11 | 02:18 PM
#26
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,709
Likes: 22
From: Raleigh, NC
Bikes: Downtube 8H, Surly Troll
I've been planning short, 4 day, 3 night tour, and I've been using Google Maps to figure out a route. It has its flaws, and there data you might want to have (like elevation) that you'd have to get elsewhere, but it seems like a perfectly reasonable starting point.
Really it's not a question of Google Maps vs. paper maps, because they don't do the same thing. Google give you a route. A paper map shows you all possible routes and leaves you to figure it out. So really the question is: let Google plan my route, plan my route myself on paper, or use some other tool? I like the fact that when Google does a bike route, it tries to move you off of really busy roads. The data it uses may be incomplete or occasionally incorrect, but to my mind it beats tracing every potential alternative route with your finger and trying to see if it takes you where you want to go. For my part, I expect to plan my route on Google Maps, download it into my GPS program, but still have a paper map as a backup. I love my gadgets, but they are not infallible, and a paper map is a great, just-in-case thing to have. Still, I hope to not have to use it. I've done a few day trips now using my iPad, and it is great. No more trying to find road signs and then find those roads on the map where the roads may or may not be named the same and may or may not be where you think they (and you) are. The map pops up, shows a dot where you are, and if you've loaded your route in, it shows you your next move. Part of me feels like a touring/camping trip should be about simplicity, and high-tech electronics have no place in that, but the part of me that has spent time scratching his head, staring at maps and street signs, and cursed at discovering that his "best guess" sent him miles in the wrong direction says, "To hell with paper. Give me a GPS and a glowing blue dot, so that a missing street sign won't make me cry."
That said, like emor said, I like a good atlas. I enjoy the Delorme Atlas and Gazetteers. They are not sized for convenient bike traveling, but the level of detail is great, including scenic areas and campsites. Once Google has given me a route, I will probably trace that route through the atlas to see if there are any detours I'd like to take or and campsites that Google failed to mention. Also, living in the city I sometimes think that wireless access is never more than a mile away, and cell phone coverage will help when it's not, but once out of the city, you can't count on those things, and when your phone is telling you that it can't find a tower, and your Google Map printouts don't seem to show your current crossroads, a good, detailed, paper map will be your best friend again.
Really it's not a question of Google Maps vs. paper maps, because they don't do the same thing. Google give you a route. A paper map shows you all possible routes and leaves you to figure it out. So really the question is: let Google plan my route, plan my route myself on paper, or use some other tool? I like the fact that when Google does a bike route, it tries to move you off of really busy roads. The data it uses may be incomplete or occasionally incorrect, but to my mind it beats tracing every potential alternative route with your finger and trying to see if it takes you where you want to go. For my part, I expect to plan my route on Google Maps, download it into my GPS program, but still have a paper map as a backup. I love my gadgets, but they are not infallible, and a paper map is a great, just-in-case thing to have. Still, I hope to not have to use it. I've done a few day trips now using my iPad, and it is great. No more trying to find road signs and then find those roads on the map where the roads may or may not be named the same and may or may not be where you think they (and you) are. The map pops up, shows a dot where you are, and if you've loaded your route in, it shows you your next move. Part of me feels like a touring/camping trip should be about simplicity, and high-tech electronics have no place in that, but the part of me that has spent time scratching his head, staring at maps and street signs, and cursed at discovering that his "best guess" sent him miles in the wrong direction says, "To hell with paper. Give me a GPS and a glowing blue dot, so that a missing street sign won't make me cry."
That said, like emor said, I like a good atlas. I enjoy the Delorme Atlas and Gazetteers. They are not sized for convenient bike traveling, but the level of detail is great, including scenic areas and campsites. Once Google has given me a route, I will probably trace that route through the atlas to see if there are any detours I'd like to take or and campsites that Google failed to mention. Also, living in the city I sometimes think that wireless access is never more than a mile away, and cell phone coverage will help when it's not, but once out of the city, you can't count on those things, and when your phone is telling you that it can't find a tower, and your Google Map printouts don't seem to show your current crossroads, a good, detailed, paper map will be your best friend again.
