PC Software for Route Planning?

[Green Jello]

Hey guys. I'm new here and this is my first post.

Anyway, I've been looking for some mapping software that is good for planning bike routes. Does anyone know of any? A nice extra bonus would be if it can do elevation profiles like this:

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a79/dwald...dTElevation.gif

Thanks

 

[ttopaz]

Some nice mapping services online:

http://www.mapmyride.com/
http://www.bikely.com/

Both can generate elevation profiles. They also can generate cue sheets from comments you enter.

mapmyride now has very nice 'Follow Roads' feature.

 

[Skoorb]

mapmyrun.com is the best I've found. Most/all of these now do elevation, but they seem to do it badly. They will tell you the elevation between two points only, so if you want to properly map a hill, you need to have an almost infinite number of points that you manually put in place so that it will properly represent the hill. mapmyrun is different--it will put these points in yourself. Go to a hill you know of and put a point between its start and its finish and map my run will properly show its profile. Most other sites will simply show no elevation change, because between the two points as the crow flies there isn't one.

Mapmyrun tops out at 50 miles, unfortunately, so you may need multiple "runs".

 

[Green Jello]

Wow. Those are really cool. Thanks a lot. I'll play areound with them more in depth at home tonight.

Does anyone know if mapmyride.com has length restrictions?

 

[dhk2]

Delorme Topo. You pay for the software, but it's a great product once you learn it. Includes profile features like grade, avg grade, total elevation gain, etc.

You can create and store route files, cue sheets with exact route mileage and directions, print maps, plus save them as .bmp files for email. Also it's easy to create a GPS route by clicking waypoints on the map, then export those to your handheld GPS device via a USB cable so you have a route file on the handlebars.

 

[Green Jello]

I played around with mapmyride.com and although it has a few minor bugs and quirks, I think it will work great. The "follow roads" feature is the best part and the main thing I wanted. Thanks all.

 

[Felt_Rider]

Both of these require a quick account setup, but are free (at the moment)


http://www.allsportgps.com/Default.aspx

http://cc2.bradculberson.com/course_creator/cc2

 

[clackerz]

I use Bikely as you can view the elevation as well.

I also import this into Sporttracks (although is much easier if you have a GPS as it will upload into the program) after some conversions.

 

[WIGGUM1]

Does anyone know if these softwares will download info from your GPS such as elevation change and such? I used a software a while back but was not satisfied for that reason, cannot remember the name though.