Mapping sites
 

I just got a map created for a tour in Google Maps when it went funky, I had to delete it and start again and now it won't let me add any more than 2 points (I had 6 previously but had to jiggle the route between a couple of them when all heck broke loose).

Maybe it's just a glitch that Google Maps is having today but, just out of curious, are there any other mapping sites that people use to create tour maps?

mapmyride.com does an acceptable job for route planning. However, like most electronic mapping tools, it has limitations.

I'll second the MapMyRide recommendation. Also confirm that Google maps screws up regularly.

You might want to take a look at this site as well:

Scribble Maps : Draw On Maps and Make Them Easily.

Steve Z

I've been using geocontext.org for a different application (finding contours on ski race courses). But I've also played with it for biking.

It's a lot like Google Maps in that you can chart your route by clicking on waypoints.

The great thing about it is that it gives you a profile of the ride, so you can see what you have ahead of you as far as climbs and descents.

The down side is that follows a straight line, so you have to click on every little curve (whereas Google Maps follows the road). Also, it is from Eastern Europe, so make sure you find the 'EN' button on the home page if English is all you speak.

Probably not the perfect bike mapping website, but still fun to play with if you're riding in the mountains.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I've recently revamped the maps on crazyguyonabike. They use Google's API. You can plot routes which follow the road (or not), use driving or bicycling routing, place annotated markers, draw shapes and polygons, upload files (gpx, tcx, kml, fit), and see elevation profiles (I downloaded almost a terabyte of global elevation data). I am still working on the elevation profile smoothing algorithms, but the maps as a whole work pretty well (I think) for route planning. You can even use Google's bicycle overlay to see bike routes. There's also a fullscreen mode if you like to use all of your big widescreen monitor to display maps.

Original discussion: New Google Maps integration

New elevation profiles: New elevation data for maps, improved elevation profile charts, and fullscreen mode

Documentation: crazyguyonabike.com Help

Neil

This sounds phenomenal, I'm looking forward to giving a whirl this weekend.

mapmyride.com is good when at the computer but has limitations in the free version, e.g. no output that you could take with you.
Here is an article on some apps compared.Top Six Bike Route Mapping Tools
I recently came across milermeter.com and like its inteface and thin line style but have not used it much.

I found: Ridewithgps much more user friendly than mapmyride.

Yes. ridewithgps.com.

Here's an overview I wrote in another thread.

And a comment on using it to analyze a climb.

I still use Google Maps for the quick try'em and Ride with GPS is my favorite. But they all mostly use Google Map API 3.0 and it is just how each puts their twist on the user experience.

But I needed something to work with my Wordpress sites so I have built my own map editor plugin. There seems to be a need for the touring cyclist that want to build their own website to have a cookbook and some resources to make make it work effectively for them. More importantly is using open source and non-proprietary resources.

Everything is still pretty raw but I would appreciate feedback on the concept and content. If interested visit here

I prefer a locally installed program Viking. It's an open source program I use in Linux. It claims to be MacOS and Windows compatible as well. The default map source is OpenStreetMaps, but includes Bing Bird's Eye, a few TerraServer options, and USG topos. There's some others that only seem to be relative to Europe. It allows downloading of elevation data to preview climbs.

+1 Agreed 100%, Had great success with RideWithGPS.