Mapping Software for Making Map and Cue Sheets - Recommendations?

Steve Sr. said:

Hello,

I am looking for suggestions for mapping software for making route
maps and cue sheets.

My only experience so far has been Microsoft's Streets and Trips which
I find to be slightly better than nothing. This program appears to be
built around it telling you where to go rather than the other way
around. To get it ot route where you want it to you have to drop
breadcrumb "destinations" to guide it for your chosen route.

Another annoying characteristic is it seems to know only street
addresses so that if you try to put a destination bread crumb at a
road intersection the directions tell you to go to that address which
may or may not exist.

Anyway, what do the rest of you use to generate route maps?

Thanks,

Steve

Try this: http://www.routeslip.com/

"Steve Sr." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I am looking for suggestions for mapping software for making route
maps and cue sheets.

Someone is bound to suggest Topo - stay as FAR away from that crappy program
as possible. Although the core of the program isn't bad, the user interface
is the most useless and frustrating piece of work I have seen in my 35 years
of working with computers.

I simply cannot see how anyone with an ounce of commonsense and any
education whatsoever could have come up with an interface that will open
windows with no discoverable way of closing. What's more making the program
actually do anything useful is almost impossible.

If we could get enough people who purchased Topo together to make it
worthwhile I know a lawyer that will open a suit against these jackasses.

Steve Sr. said:

Hello,

I am looking for suggestions for mapping software for making route
maps and cue sheets.

My only experience so far has been Microsoft's Streets and Trips which
I find to be slightly better than nothing.

The WVCF used a product from National Geographic to generate:

* a topo map of the route
* a cue sheet of the route
* an elevation profile of the route

The Nat'l Geo. software is $99 per state.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/topo

The routeslip website is also there, but realize that it's in beta
testing right now.

--
Chris BeHanna

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Per Steve Sr.:

Quoted message said:

Anyway, what do the rest of you use to generate route maps?

www.topofusion.com

Caveat: You'd better have broadband to use it. I started using it with dialup,
but the response time was pretty frustrating. With broadband, though, it's
like a dream come true: unlimited topo maps of the USA at whatever scale you
want.

It even does GPS way point overlays.
--
PeteCresswell

"Steve Sr." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Anyway, what do the rest of you use to generate route maps?

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/
http://www.bikely.com/

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

In article <[email hidden]>,

Tom Kunich cyclintom@yahoo. com said:

Someone is bound to suggest Topo - stay as FAR away from that crappy program
as possible.

I believe there are several mapping software products with the word "Topo"
in their name. Which one are you talking about?

"Steve Sr." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I am looking for suggestions for mapping software for making route
maps and cue sheets.

Anyway, what do the rest of you use to generate route maps?

Thanks,

Steve

I have use Delorme maps in the pass. Now I use MapSource. Howto is here.
http://www.billcotton.com/quest_on_bicycle.htm Samples of cuesheet made in
this method are here
http://www.billcotton.com/Bill%20cotton%20cue%20sheets.htm

In rec.bicycles.misc Steve Sr. <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Hello,

: I am looking for suggestions for mapping software for making route
: maps and cue sheets.

: My only experience so far has been Microsoft's Streets and Trips which
: I find to be slightly better than nothing. This program appears to be
: built around it telling you where to go rather than the other way
: around. To get it ot route where you want it to you have to drop
: breadcrumb "destinations" to guide it for your chosen route.

: Another annoying characteristic is it seems to know only street
: addresses so that if you try to put a destination bread crumb at a
: road intersection the directions tell you to go to that address which
: may or may not exist.

: Anyway, what do the rest of you use to generate route maps?

For a recent scout bike trip, we rode it first, uploaded points out of my
Garmin, then used GPSBabble to convert it into Sporttracks. Sporttracks
laid out the route nicely along with distances.

http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/

--
John Nelson
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicago Area Paddling/Fishing Page
http://www.chicagopaddling.org http://www.chicagofishing.org
(A Non-Commercial Web Site: No Sponsors, No Paid Ads and Nothing to Sell)

It _does_ have a learning curve, but I've not had nearly the problems
Tom has.

DeLorme also makes a non-topo product I often use as well.

They also make a little GPS unit about the size of a match box. The
logging is hit-or-miss, but when it works, it will plot your route for
you and give you a cue sheet

Tom Kunich said:

"Steve Sr." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I am looking for suggestions for mapping software for making route
maps and cue sheets.

Someone is bound to suggest Topo - stay as FAR away from that crappy program
as possible. Although the core of the program isn't bad, the user interface
is the most useless and frustrating piece of work I have seen in my 35 years
of working with computers.

I simply cannot see how anyone with an ounce of commonsense and any
education whatsoever could have come up with an interface that will open
windows with no discoverable way of closing. What's more making the program
actually do anything useful is almost impossible.

If we could get enough people who purchased Topo together to make it
worthwhile I know a lawyer that will open a suit against these jackasses.

richard <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

It _does_ have a learning curve, but I've not had nearly the problems
Tom has.

Same here. I don't have the windows problems he has. Unfortunately, I have
found nothing better out there. It works fine for me in planning out a
route and produces accurate mileages; although there are still some roads
that it does not have and doesn't have bike trails and some parks and
campgrounds. I use it with SADtoCue and MS Excel to create a cue sheet. The
printed maps, however, aren't of much use to take with you on a ride. A
photocopied, marked-up map works better. The elevation profile is nice, but
the cumulative elevation gain is way over reality.

The 3d feature is glitz but useless to use on a ride. Similarly, those web
based maps showing a satellite view are gee wiz stuff, but you can't use
them on a ride either.

--
Mike DeMicco <[email hidden]>

Bill Cotton said:

"Steve Sr." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I am looking for suggestions for mapping software for making route
maps and cue sheets.

Anyway, what do the rest of you use to generate route maps?

Thanks,

Steve

I have use Delorme maps in the pass. Now I use MapSource. Howto is here.
http://www.billcotton.com/quest_on_bicycle.htm Samples of cuesheet made in
this method are here
http://www.billcotton.com/Bill%20cotton%20cue%20sheets.htm

Bill,

So what is mapsource? A program? A web site? I didn't see it on your
above mentioned page. Could you please provide a link?

Thanks,

Steve

On Thu, 31 Aug 2006 21:58:26 -0400, Steve Sr. <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I am looking for suggestions for mapping software for making route
maps and cue sheets.

My only experience so far has been Microsoft's Streets and Trips which
I find to be slightly better than nothing. This program appears to be
built around it telling you where to go rather than the other way
around. To get it ot route where you want it to you have to drop
breadcrumb "destinations" to guide it for your chosen route.

Another annoying characteristic is it seems to know only street
addresses so that if you try to put a destination bread crumb at a
road intersection the directions tell you to go to that address which
may or may not exist.

Anyway, what do the rest of you use to generate route maps?

Thanks,

Steve

Thanks for everyones suggestions. I guess I should have mentioned that
I don't have a GPS or high speeed internet. This rules out a lot of
the suggestions as Google Maps, etc. won't work on dialup. It always
leaves out blocks of the map.

I was hoping that there would be something better than Streets and
Trips. I have seen some routes for local rides done with Topo USA and
was hoping that this might be the answer. But it sounds like the user
interface has some issues. Streets and Trips also has some user
interface issues which makes it even harder to use since there is no
written documentation and you have to extract everything out of the
help file.

Steve

The easiest way to produce cue sheets is to use MapSource from Garmin to
draw a route. It is by far the best program for bicyclists. You can
simply mark a couple of points and then drag the route until it goes
exactly where you want it to. The fact that it was developed for GPS use
is neither here nor there.

It costs about $120. It comes on the CD which contains the North
American maps: GARMIN MapSource City Navigator North America v8 DVD.
You install MapSource on your WINDOWS computer and then load the maps
from the CD. I have bought several things from
http://gpsnow.com/gmmap60cxacc.htm
and found them prompt and reliable, but caveat emptor.

Once you have drawn a route, you can cut and paste the directions into a
cue sheet making program running in EXCEL, edit them if you like, and
then choose a cue sheet style to produce a finished product.

Here are two cue sheet making programs, both are free. CueSheetMaker is
an EXCEL add-in. See
http://www.bobwheeler.com/bicycle/Cue_Sheet_Maker/cue_sheet_maker.html
Map2cue is an EXCEL sheet with macros. See
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ibikealot/

Do read the directions.

Steve Sr. said:

On Thu, 31 Aug 2006 21:58:26 -0400, Steve Sr. <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I am looking for suggestions for mapping software for making route
maps and cue sheets.

My only experience so far has been Microsoft's Streets and Trips which
I find to be slightly better than nothing. This program appears to be
built around it telling you where to go rather than the other way
around. To get it ot route where you want it to you have to drop
breadcrumb "destinations" to guide it for your chosen route.

Another annoying characteristic is it seems to know only street
addresses so that if you try to put a destination bread crumb at a
road intersection the directions tell you to go to that address which
may or may not exist.

Anyway, what do the rest of you use to generate route maps?

Thanks,

Steve

Thanks for everyones suggestions. I guess I should have mentioned that
I don't have a GPS or high speeed internet. This rules out a lot of
the suggestions as Google Maps, etc. won't work on dialup. It always
leaves out blocks of the map.

I was hoping that there would be something better than Streets and
Trips. I have seen some routes for local rides done with Topo USA and
was hoping that this might be the answer. But it sounds like the user
interface has some issues. Streets and Trips also has some user
interface issues which makes it even harder to use since there is no
written documentation and you have to extract everything out of the
help file.

Steve

--
Bob Wheeler --- http://www.bobwheeler.com/
ECHIP, Inc. --- Randomness comes in bunches.

Steve Sr. said:

So what is mapsource? A program? A web site? I didn't see it on your
above mentioned page. Could you please provide a link?

Mapsource is the mapping program provided with Garmin GPS units; you can
get various map databases from Garmin that will all share the Mapsource
interface.

"Steve Sr." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bill Cotton said:

"Steve Sr." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I am looking for suggestions for mapping software for making route
maps and cue sheets.

Anyway, what do the rest of you use to generate route maps?

Thanks,

Steve

I have use Delorme maps in the pass. Now I use MapSource. Howto is here.
http://www.billcotton.com/quest_on_bicycle.htm Samples of cuesheet made in
this method are here
http://www.billcotton.com/Bill%20cotton%20cue%20sheets.htm

Bill,

So what is mapsource? A program? A web site? I didn't see it on your
above mentioned page. Could you please provide a link?

Thanks,

Steve

MapSource is Garmin map program that is use with Garmin GPS.
http://www.garmin.com/cartography/

Quoted message said:

Steve Sr. said:

Hello,

I am looking for suggestions for mapping software for making route
maps and cue sheets.

Take a look at:
topofusion.com
If nothing else, you can play with the demo version to see whether it
might suit your needs.

DR

Steve Sr. said:

I have seen some routes for local rides done with Topo USA and
was hoping that this might be the answer. But it sounds like the user
interface has some issues.

I use Topo USA all the time to build route sheets and profiles. It
works fine, once you get used to the less-than-standard interface.
--
terry morse - Undiscovered Country Tours - http://udctours.com

Terry Morse said:

Steve Sr. said:

I have seen some routes for local rides done with Topo USA and
was hoping that this might be the answer. But it sounds like the user
interface has some issues.

I use Topo USA all the time to build route sheets and profiles. It
works fine, once you get used to the less-than-standard interface.

If what you want is primarily a way to generate accurate cue sheets, then
try http://www.routeslip.com/ . The routes are all stored on the server,
which may or may not be a good thing, but to generate a cue sheet you just
click on the map. Make notes at each turn. Mileage and profile are
generated automatically. I've been trying out some of my regular rides,
and it works very well.

Ideally, I'd like a cross between this and the old MapBlast, before MS
took it over and ruined it. MapBlast would also generate little maps of
turns. The idea would be to have a cue sheet with trickier turns mapped
out.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | When you are up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember
_`\(,_ | that your initial objective was to drain the swamp. -- LBJ
(_)/ (_) |

In article <[email hidden]>,

Terry Morse said:

I use Topo USA all the time to build route sheets and profiles. It
works fine, once you get used to the less-than-standard interface.

I really don't mind the GUI for Delorme Topo USA. What I hate about this
program are:
1. maps are unreadable when printed out (much worse than Google maps)
2. cumulative elevation gain number is extremely inaccurate (up to 100% wrong)
3. redrawing the map (after scrolling or resizing) is extremely slow
4. printed route directions are very confusing and sometimes inaccurate
(compared to Google or Yahoo driving directions)

The only reason I tolerate DeLorme Topo is that the elevation profile feature
is very useful when planning routes (as long as you ignore the cumulative
elevation gain number).