ROUTES!!!!

I found the Routes dropdown as well.... but did you find a way to enter routes???  Oooo... this is gonna be SO coooool.....

(BT always has the BEST stuff...!  Mike and Ron, you guys are awesome, you know that don't you?)

you may find some good stuff if you were to check out Marma's  log..... 

StartingToTri - 2007-01-28 5:56 PM You are SO SMART! Thanks for the hint.

a smart-a** maybe  LOL  Glad to be of some help 

I found the same thing.  I know my route is hilly, but...

Still, this is kick a$$!!!  Way to go Ron & Mike!

We still have some remaining issues (hence no easy way to get to it yet).  Hopefully in a day or two. 

The climb data should be accurate when you are actually viewing your route...the blog report of climb data is the bad value we are trying to correct.

In pseudoyams case, http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/map.asp?routeid=248 when viewing the actual route it's only 1800 feet of 'total climb' instead of the 5000 feet reported in his blog.

We hope to have some updates in the next few days...

Thanks Ron!!! About the climbing, something mustve gotten fudged up.  Even 1800 ft for that route is too much.  When I made another route, which includes the original one, the climbing distance only came out to about 60 ft, which seems about right.

One other thing I noticed when editing a route is that they all seem to be categorized under swims.

Thanks again for the hella awesome new feature!!!

-Rob 

We're aware of it. The climbing data is going through a 'meters to feet' conversion after it's already in feet.

 
You now have a new Globe image next to the mini-calendar in your training log.

Click it, see what happens. We think you'll like it.  

I know this is coming or maybe already there and I cant figure it out. 

Can / Will we be able to share routes with others? 

Thanx, this is an awesome feature.

Adios
Dave
 

 I do!

However, elevation is not working for me (I know I'm not imagining those hills) and the "out and back" also does not seem to work today (used it yesterday successfully).

Can you describe how it's not working?

One thing to be aware of: You have to click on any hills to get the elevation data to show up. If there's a hill between points A and B and you only click on A and B, the map has no way of knowing about the hill in the middle and so it won't add the elevation change.

                 * *
               *     *
              *        *
      A     *           *         B
*** |* *               * * * |

A good rule of thumb is: the hillier the route, the closer the points should be. Click more in areas where you know there are hills.

There doesn't seem to be any good way around this. The way it works is, every time you click on the map we connect to a separate system run by the US. Geological Survey, give it the coordinates for the point you clicked, and it returns the elevation for that point. We then calculate climbing etc from that number.

The program could be coded to get the elevation for points in between A and B if they're greater than a certain distance apart, but because we have to connect to that other server over the internet, it could slow the process down considerably.

AWESOME!!

OK, dumb question time re: uploading.  Do they come from MotionBased?  Or the 305 itself?  If the 305, how do I access those files?

I also have a number of routes saved in routeslip.com, usews the exact same gmap software (apparently). Any way to import those?

This is the question of the day. I don't have a Garmin so I've been working kind of blind on this. i don't thing the 305 will export .gpx files, you have to get those from Motionbased. the bear sent me a file that doesn't upload. I think I'll have it working tonight.

We are looking into a way to just import directly from the GPS unit. I don't want to give a date right now because I honestly have no idea what will be involved.

Thanks for the info on the "clicking"--good to know for future reference.  I'm not getting any elevation changes at all though.  And it doesn't do the "back" after I've finished plotting the "out" (looks like it does something, but no change in distance and no new points).  But let me try this stuff out at home this evening.  I have the feeling that my browser at work does some funny stuff (still won't ever finish loading one of the pics in my log) so the problem may just be on my end.

Here's a bit about the Loop and Go Home buttons: they work similarly.

Imagine that you ride a route in the shape of the letter P starting at the bottom. When you return to the point where the loop closes (point X below), click on that point. The Loop and Go Home buttons will become active. Click on Loop to make a right turn and go around the loop again. Click on Go Home to make a left turn and return to the starting point.

Another use for this:

Before going out on a ride or a run, leave the route up on your monitor with the distance markers active. This will let people at home know where you intended to be and in what direction you were headed. 

Cool features

Mike, I edited my post perhaps before you responded, is there any way to import routes that are created in another program using the exact software?  I've a lot of routes in routeslip.com, and wonder if they could be brought over, or if they have to be redone?

Again, awesome, and another reason to go gold here