gypsies.com - the demise & alternatives

[fatbikerbill]

so gypsies.com has sadly been sold to all trails.com

I know it's different, but first impressions are not good.

How are others finding it & do people have alternatives.

Only a handful of my tracks have been migrated so far but perhaps
I will be able to continue to use it as a GPX state & create routes elsewhere such as walkthelakes.

[ScotRoutes]

I've never used it but amongst alternatives;

Garmin Basecamp
Strava Route Builder
Komoot
Ridewithgps
Plotaroute

[BigdummySteve]

There’s also ViewRanger, although it’s a paid platform it gives real value for money. For instance when I did the Spanish coast to coast in May I took out a monthly subscription to the equivalent of OS 1:25k, downloaded Duncan’s route and was a happy camper

I got royally shafted when OS changed their iOS app and lost access to roughly £250 worth of mapping, ViewRanger is a solid choice and the phone and PC play well together. Previously I used ridewithgps, it’s possibly better than ViewRanger as a garmin substitute but lacks the mapping available to VR. Currently I’m running Strava (only for veloviewer squares ) as a ride logger and VR for navigation, if you’re wanting anything like turn by turn navigational in my experience ridewithgps is the king, for off-road ViewRanger although a free app called UK map is excellent (3D mapping sounds like a gimmick but can be useful as a way of presenting contour information)

I do have to commend ridewithgps for ‘snap to trail’ feature, basically you pull the track between two waypoints and let it ‘snap’ back onto the mapping. It works pretty well for off-road stuff and to be honest I’d dump ViewRanger if they got on par with the mapping options.

It really depends on what you want, if it’s route creation then export to GPX then the options open up, but as a garmin survivor ViewRanger currently has my vote

[In Reverse]

Strava's far and away the best route creator imho Bill. The sheer immense quantity of data they have means their heatmap sh!ts all over every other one out there. It's such a powerful tool for assessing whether a marked trail's actually rideable and for finding rideable trails that don't show up on other maps.

Having said that, Strava's not the best place to store your routes as you can't download the GPX from it onto a mobile. A couple of times I've driven somewhere for a ride then discovered I'd failed/forgotten to upload the GPX file to my Garmin. With gpsies or ridewithgps you can just download the GPX onto your phone then transfer it to an SD card for the Garmin. Not with Strava though.

tl;dr - create a route with Strava then download the GPX onto your computer and upload it somewhere else (OneDrive's maybe the easiest)

[fatbikerbill]

Personally i've only really used gypsies as an archive and easy format converter and that is what I'm still after.

Also never used strava for route creation.

For UK route creation I've always used walkthelakes.co.uk. Full UK 1:25000

[ScotRoutes]

The best archive I've found is Strava - linked with VeloViewer.

[Bearlegged]

I'd echo the recommendations for Strava when plotting routes. I like to have alternative maps on hand while doing so though (usually Bing maps with the OS layer).

Viewranger seems pretty good too when navigating, the free version uses OSM (among others).

[thenorthwind]

Another vote for ViewRanger for general navigation use, though I tend not to use it for creating routes. For that I use one of:

gpxeditor.co.uk (can switch between Google map, Google satellite, OpenStreetMap and OS, and will follow roads and some paths) particularly good if you've got existing routes/bits of routes you want to mess around with: cut bits out of, stick together, etc.)
bikehike.co.uk (OpenCycleMap and OS side-by-side. Will follow roads only)

bikeroutetoaster.com seems to have bitten the dust.

[KamelTrek]

After trying most apps I've settled on Komoot as I find it great at creating off road mountain biking routes. It's seems to be the standard in Germany!

[Charliecres]

I use ViewRanger, having bought OS maps for most of the UK. It’s new route plotting system is really good. It’s a faff to transfer routes to a Garmin, though.

[benp1]

For those plotting routes in strava that might have the odd cheeky but if footpath, will it let you at a route down there or do you switch to the running setting?

[whitestone]

For those plotting routes in strava that might have the odd cheeky but if footpath, will it let you at a route down there or do you switch to the running setting?

I usually switch to manual mode which also helps where OSM hasn't got the correct access rights associated with the RoW. But that's a problem with OSM rather than Strava per se. There's one just down from our house: BW down the hill to a ford then BW up the other side. The ford isn't marked as a BW (it is) so if you try and route along the track it takes you round by the road!

[gairym]

Having said that, Strava's not the best place to store your routes as you can't download the GPX from it onto a mobile. A couple of times I've driven somewhere for a ride then discovered I'd failed/forgotten to upload the GPX file to my Garmin. With gpsies or ridewithgps you can just download the GPX onto your phone then transfer it to an SD card for the Garmin. Not with Strava though.

That's almost but not quite fully true.

If you create a route in the browser version of Strava (annoying as often you have to open a link in a new tab to stop it automatically opening the app) then you can export the route to .gpx

But only at the time of creation. Once it's a saved route that option seems to vanish.

A time consuming work around but can saved my ass a few times in the field...

[whitestone]

That's almost but not quite fully true.

If you create a route in the browser version of Strava (annoying as often you have to open a link in a new tab to stop it automatically opening the app) then you can export the route to .gpx

But only at the time of creation. Once it's a saved route that option seems to vanish.

A time consuming work around but can saved my ass a few times in the field...

Actually once you've saved the route in Strava you've the following options: Print; Export GPX; Export TCX; Edit; Duplicate. From the main activity page go to Dashboard->My Routes then click on any route in your "library" and you'll see the above options as a line of buttons beneath the route's name and above the map.

[gairym]

That's almost but not quite fully true.

If you create a route in the browser version of Strava (annoying as often you have to open a link in a new tab to stop it automatically opening the app) then you can export the route to .gpx

But only at the time of creation. Once it's a saved route that option seems to vanish.

A time consuming work around but can saved my ass a few times in the field...

Actually once you've saved the route in Strava you've the following options: Print; Export GPX; Export TCX; Edit; Duplicate. From the main activity page go to Dashboard->My Routes then click on any route in your "library" and you'll see the above options as a line of buttons beneath the route's name and above the map.

You're quite right!

I hadn't seen that as I use 'desktop view' to create them (so the map is more user friendly) but use regular 'mobile view' to view them (and those menu options don't appear on mine)

[whitestone]

Ah, you're using a phone. I rarely even browse using my phone - even with reading glasses it's just too much of a hassle. Trying to do something as involved as creating a route using a touchscreen would be a recipe for disaster

I create routes on (a real desktop) computer and download them to the device from there. If I'm out in the field I'll just follow my nose. Failing that, find tracks or BWs on the GPS's map.

[gairym]

I do that too unless I'm changing plans on the fly (which happens a lot).

[Asposium]

Also using ViewRanger, although I get all mapping for free.
The software is easy to use, syncs well between PC and phone.
Fairly easy to export a GPX.
Development team is responsive to bugs and suggestions
Have suggested a Garmin IQ app such that a GPX can be exported direct to a Garmin.

Another option is memory map (assuming still around)

[Asposium]

I use ViewRanger, having bought OS maps for most of the UK. It’s new route plotting system is really good. It’s a faff to transfer routes to a Garmin, though.

Let ViewRanger know you think transfer is a faff
The more comments VR get the higher the priority a Garmin IQ app will get amongst the development team.

[numplumz]

Must explore what is changed. i found GPSies was brilliant for allowing you to add waypoints which then convert to Cue points in a TCX file for use on a Wahoo Element, the only other way i have seen to allow this is RWGPS if you pay the $80 a year fee. Also good at converting a GPX with embeded waypoints into a TCX with waypoints.

Just hope this option remains and at not at a premium fee