Auto-route
When creating a route, auto-route saves a lot of time but occasionally prevents a route going a particular way (even if that way is safe and legal). OSMaps is the same. When this happens, turning off auto-route then reverts all waypoint links to straight lines (i.e. it’s auto-route for the whole route or none of it). In OSMaps, the ‘snap’ function only applies pro-spectively not retrospectively during route creation.
Comments7
Hugh Hudson
Oct 2
It would also be nice to be able to switch to an aerial photo view while editing, as you can in OS Maps. OpenStreetMap is not very clear when you want to know where the pavement is rather than plotting points in a carriageway or a drive.
Toby Twigger
Sep 25
Hi James,
Thanks for the feedback! I’ve added an ‘off-grid segment’ for this reason. If you click on a waypoint, you can mark it as off-grid. Auto-routing will still handle the rest of your route, but it’ll ignore off-grid waypoints. Here’s an example of what the ‘off-grid’ segment may look like. Let me know if it’s not properly working for you.
James Waghorn
Sep 25
Perfect, Toby. The ‘Off-Route’ option for a waypoint works even better for me than the OSMaps option. One step further towards being converted! As one brought up with OS, I feel familiar with that format but the OpenStreetMap format has advantages as well, especially in built-up areas. Is it expected that we might be able to switch between the two at some time (maybe at additional cost)?
Toby Twigger
Sep 25
Fantastic to hear!
We definitely intend on letting you switch between map types, including OS. In fact, from the ‘Explore’ tab on the website, you can already switch to OS Maps. The reason we’ve decided not to turn this on yet when drawing a route is that using OS Maps data changes the licence under which you can distribute the route, and we want to make sure we’ve got clear and correct licences in place beforehand.
We’ve also got plans to draw our own base maps - OSM is lovely and clear, but it could be better: it gives a lot of space and colour to major A roads, which is less important to see than clear footpaths.
Do let us know any ideas you have, otherwise I expect to have some updates before the new year with regards to base maps.
Toby Twigger
Oct 7
Hi James!
I’ve been updating the off-route option over the last couple of weeks, mostly to help us properly support uploading GPX files. I’d love to get your opinion on the changes if you have a minute - still easy to use?
It should work mostly the same, but you can now toggle off-route per leg of your route, and change modes from auto routing to straight lines as you draw.
James Waghorn
Oct 7
Thanks for taking this concern on board, Toby. I’ve given it a try and it’s still easy to use and exactly does what I need.
Toby Twigger
Oct 7
Fantastic to hear! Thank you for asking for this feature, I’ve found it really helpful.