Strava Route Planner

[JanvdW]

I used to have a couple of "Issues" with strava's route planner, when it was still free.

The first one, that should have been very easy to fix, was the lack of the ability to change a route from one way to two way without having to re-work all the points. It is a minor issue if your route is on a road, but a major pain the backside if you do manual entries on single-track, off road routes.

 

The second issue was, during manual entries, the system at times refuse to take a point that you pick, resulting in inaccurate distances where the route or segment winds down a single track..

 

Can anyone comment on whether strava fixed these issues subsequent to the route planner being excluded from the free version?

 

I currently use komoot  to plan the routes, but if strava fixed the issues I will take the membership option. If they didn't, there is no use for me to go to the pro membership...

[lechatnoir]

I used to have a couple of "Issues" with strava's route planner, when it was still free.

The first one, that should have been very easy to fix, was the lack of the ability to change a route from one way to two way without having to re-work all the points. It is a minor issue if your route is on a road, but a major pain the backside if you do manual entries on single-track, off road routes.

 

The second issue was, during manual entries, the system at times refuse to take a point that you pick, resulting in inaccurate distances where the route or segment winds down a single track..

 

Can anyone comment on whether strava fixed these issues subsequent to the route planner being excluded from the free version?

 

I currently use komoot  to plan the routes, but if strava fixed the issues I will take the membership option. If they didn't, there is no use for me to go to the pro membership...

 

keep going with komoot. one thing i will say is in strava's favour is route planning with segments and heatmap visible. two things then i suppose

 

Edit- but you can always use this in conjunction - https://www.strava.com/heatmap#10.77/18.21247/-32.96664/hot/all

Edited January 11, 2021 by lechatnoir

[RocknRolla]

I tried Strava route planner over december, ended getting all the directions wrong, plotting manually was an absolute PIA, and while riding i kept on getting off course notifications. Perhaps, I am the weakest link.

[JohanDiv]

I used to have a couple of "Issues" with strava's route planner, when it was still free.

The first one, that should have been very easy to fix, was the lack of the ability to change a route from one way to two way without having to re-work all the points. It is a minor issue if your route is on a road, but a major pain the backside if you do manual entries on single-track, off road routes.

 

The second issue was, during manual entries, the system at times refuse to take a point that you pick, resulting in inaccurate distances where the route or segment winds down a single track..

 

Can anyone comment on whether strava fixed these issues subsequent to the route planner being excluded from the free version?

 

I currently use komoot  to plan the routes, but if strava fixed the issues I will take the membership option. If they didn't, there is no use for me to go to the pro membership...

 

The manual points is a liiiitle bit better now in my area.. or at least, more single track are now able to track automatically instead of manually.. still far from perfect though. 

[lechatnoir]

I've been playing around a bit with Komoot trying to plot potential routes in my area and it seems to want to take me past farmsteads etc. Comparing these routes with Google maps (satellite) and the Strava heatmap, I'm not entirely convinced. Don't fancy missioning down a murderously corrugated track to land up at a farmstead I can't ride through

[JanvdW]

I've been playing around a bit with Komoot trying to plot potential routes in my area and it seems to want to take me past farmsteads etc. Comparing these routes with Google maps (satellite) and the Strava heatmap, I'm not entirely convinced. Don't fancy missioning down a murderously corrugated track to land up at a farmstead I can't ride through

Agree 100%...

[Simon123]

Drove me insane trying to plot a ride to write the word F U C K in December.

[milky4130]

I used to have a couple of "Issues" with strava's route planner, when it was still free.

The first one, that should have been very easy to fix, was the lack of the ability to change a route from one way to two way without having to re-work all the points. It is a minor issue if your route is on a road, but a major pain the backside if you do manual entries on single-track, off road routes.

 

The second issue was, during manual entries, the system at times refuse to take a point that you pick, resulting in inaccurate distances where the route or segment winds down a single track..

 

Can anyone comment on whether strava fixed these issues subsequent to the route planner being excluded from the free version?

 

I currently use komoot  to plan the routes, but if strava fixed the issues I will take the membership option. If they didn't, there is no use for me to go to the pro membership...

The second issue is still there, I just attempted to plot a route last week and it refused to take me down the trail I wanted on more than one occasion. Not a big deal this time around for me as we will be riding tails we are very familiar with, it was merely to get an idea of time & distance.

[The Ouzo]

and once you have a route mapped out how do you share it with others ?

I mapped a route yesterday, clicked the share button and tried to share it with 2 of my strava friends. They never got it.

Do they also have to be premium members for this to work ?

[100Tours]

and once you have a route mapped out how do you share it with others ?

I mapped a route yesterday, clicked the share button and tried to share it with 2 of my strava friends. They never got it.

Do they also have to be premium members for this to work ?

 

I've always just copied the url and sent that

[100Tours]

I've persevered with the strava tool (creature of habit?), and I mostly get good results with it.

 

They have added in a 'personal heatmap' toggle recently which I find quite useful when I'm trying to improve on routes that I have ridden before, and I've had some pleasant surprises using the 'most popular route' option. Manual plotting is still a b**ch - especially if you decide to edit a manual route, in which case you're better off starting over.

 

Haven't tried Komoot, but I'd guess Strava has a better heatmap?

[lechatnoir]

I've persevered with the strava tool (creature of habit?), and I mostly get good results with it.

 

They have added in a 'personal heatmap' toggle recently which I find quite useful when I'm trying to improve on routes that I have ridden before, and I've had some pleasant surprises using the 'most popular route' option. Manual plotting is still a b**ch - especially if you decide to edit a manual route, in which case you're better off starting over.

 

Haven't tried Komoot, but I'd guess Strava has a better heatmap?

 

Komoot has no heatmap, and it can choose routes that don't have any Strava heatmap - so chooses routes that have seemingly never been ridden before, according to Strava. That could lead to pleasant or unpleasant surprises. I'd go with unpleasant...

[The Ouzo]

and once you have a route mapped out how do you share it with others ?

I mapped a route yesterday, clicked the share button and tried to share it with 2 of my strava friends. They never got it.

Do they also have to be premium members for this to work ?

So my first attempt was via the website, tried this morning via the app was able to whatsapp the link to them

[Frosty]

I found that all routing software apps have the same flaw; the inability to select relatively new tracks. It doesn't happen so much on tar, but there are a few flaws there too with suburbs that get boomed off and it wants to route you the shortest way. 

 

In December, I rode some single track that has a single direction rule in place, for safety. It picked up on some of it and then refused to pick other tracks despite having a heat map (Strava and Garmin Connect) showing up.

 

As per the OP, selecting manual can work, but then it shows off course when riding it. First World problems I guess.

[100Tours]

I found that all routing software apps have the same flaw; the inability to select relatively new tracks. It doesn't happen so much on tar, but there are a few flaws there too with suburbs that get boomed off and it wants to route you the shortest way. 

 

In December, I rode some single track that has a single direction rule in place, for safety. It picked up on some of it and then refused to pick other tracks despite having a heat map (Strava and Garmin Connect) showing up.

 

As per the OP, selecting manual can work, but then it shows off course when riding it. First World problems I guess.

 

The Strava app will show the heat map, but it defaults onto defined 'roads' to plot a course - i.e. it will not follow a line on the heat map. You switch to Manual mode and then it allows you to plot points freehand, which are then joined by straight lines. 

 

It sounds like a lot of people aren't using manual mode when they're plotting off road routes.

[Fitbull]

Slightly off topic but maybe also other peoples bugbears as well. I can only save the course as a GPX which when downloaded to my Garmin the Garmin 520 doesn't pick it up. Am I doing something wrong and is there a way to save it as a FIT file? Or an easy way to convert it to a FIT file.....