Tool for finding good running routes

ronancremin

I made this web app for myself but others might find it useful also.

Basically you give it a start point and it finds routes of the desired length that start and end at or near that point. It doesn't know how nice a given area is so some human oversight is still useful, but it's not a bad way of checking what that options are, particularly if you're in an area you're not familiar with (e.g. while traveling).

You can use the KML export to get the routes into Google Maps. This lets you take the route with you on your phone.

https://routespinner.com

Comments / criticism welcomed.

rom

Allow miles and km. Meters is kindof pointless.
Finding the start point should be available by address also like https://www.gmap-pedometer.com/
Give the ability to save/share routes and plot elevation. If this could be married with strava heatmap (though I think that would be hard) it would be a winner.
Save the home address as it reset each time I refresh the page.
Give errors if javascript or an ad blocker is preventing it loading.
Give a percentage + or minus in respect to the routes. Like I am not going to loose my mind if I need to do another 400m in a loop route than I planned.
Not working for me on latest Chrome on mac. The out and back just shows 8 but I can't see or select any routes.
Super imposing well known race routes on top of it would be great also like dublin/cork/limerick etc but that is a rabbit hole

ronancremin

Thanks for the feeback rom.

Finding the start point should be available by address also like https://www.gmap-pedometer.com/

It is but perhaps a little too well hidden—it's the magnifying glass on top right. I think I need some kind of a help walk-through.

Didn't know about gmap-pedometer. Useful set of tools!

Give the ability to save/share routes and plot elevation

The save/share thing is something I've been thinking about but have avoided for now just because it means storing routes etc. I tried to duck having to do this with the Google map export but maybe I need to rethink this.

Elevation shouldn't be too hard.

Save the home address as it reset each time I refresh the page.

Good idea, silly that I haven't already done this.

Give a percentage + or minus in respect to the routes. Like I am not going to loose my mind if I need to do another 400m in a loop route than I planned.

Yep, you're right, this would be a good thing to do. Right now the tolerances for a match are -5% to +10% of target distance.

Not working for me on latest Chrome on mac. The out and back just shows 8 but I can't see or select any routes.

Looks like the out & back routes are not working on any browser! I must have broken something. I'll fix it. I tend not to focus on these routes too much since I far prefer loops, if available. Thanks for the bug report.

Super imposing well known race routes on top of it would be great also like dublin/cork/limerick etc but that is a rabbit hole

Do you know if there is a database of these somewhere?

robinph

ronancremin wrote: »

Super imposing well known race routes on top of it would be great also like dublin/cork/limerick etc but that is a rabbit hole

Do you know if there is a database of these somewhere?

Try here for a bunch of GPX of various routes:
https://www.boards.ie/b/thread/2055603562/18?

snailsong

I've been playing with this and have to say I'm very impressed. It obviously needs a bit of refinement but the concept is great and already it works pretty well. I've tried it out with routes from where I regularly run. Some of the routes take in busy roads with no hard shoulder but that's probably hard to fix. It has suggested a route I've never tried and with a bit of modification I might head that way on Sunday. It might even be more useful on finding cycling routes where the road type is less critical. Also it doesn't seem to have greenway or trail paths. Could that be included by using different open source maps?

All in all though I can see the making of a very useful app and one I would use.

snailsong

I've been playing with this and have to say I'm very impressed. It obviously needs a bit of refinement but the concept is great and already it works pretty well. I've tried it out with routes from where I regularly run. Some of the routes take in busy roads with no hard shoulder but that's probably hard to fix. It has suggested a route I've never tried and with a bit of modification I might head that way on Sunday. It might even be more useful on finding cycling routes where the road type is less critical. Also it doesn't seem to have greenway or trail paths. Could that be included by using different open source maps?

All in all though I can see the making of a very useful app and one I would use.

Krusty_Clown

I like the controls and UI (bar the bugs!), but unfortunately it's not producing any results for me. Might be worth taking a look at Garmin Connect's mobile app implementation, which works well, but isn't quite as customisable as your implementation (can configure distance and heading only before routing, with some further options after routing).

For creating routes, I use OnTheGoMaps, because you can turn on the Strava running/cycling heatmaps, and see where the popular running areas are. Really handy when planning a run in a foreign city. If you could integrate the Strava heatmaps (as data rather than visual cues) it would really set your site apart - though that's probably a pretty significant undertaking.

hillsiderunner

Have been involved in something similar in the past (about 10years back!), though it never made it to a fully-fledged app ... and by coincidence I now have someone working on something related over the months ahead.

I will test out some examples of your link, but going to drop you a PM too .

ronancremin

robinph wrote: »

Try here for a bunch of GPX of various routes:
https://www.boards.ie/b/thread/2055603562/18?

Thanks robinph. I need to find a more global version of that—don't want to limit any new feature to just Ireland.

Separately, I didn't realise that GPX was the format of choice for this kind of thing. I must add an export option for that.

ronancremin

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

I like the controls and UI (bar the bugs!), but unfortunately it's not producing any results for me. Might be worth taking a look at Garmin Connect's mobile app implementation, which works well, but isn't quite as customisable as your implementation (can configure distance and heading only before routing, with some further options after routing).

For creating routes, I use OnTheGoMaps, because you can turn on the Strava running/cycling heatmaps, and see where the popular running areas are. Really handy when planning a run in a foreign city. If you could integrate the Strava heatmaps (as data rather than visual cues) it would really set your site apart - though that's probably a pretty significant undertaking.

Thanks for the feedback! Could you tell me (either here or PM or email (see help/about on routespinner)) in what locations it didn't work? I'm always looking for issues that I can address.

Separately, if the Strava data is openly useable I might have a look at that also. That said, one of my main drivers in making this was to find something quickly that suits me right here, right now i.e. without having to first go to a start point somewhere else.

snailsong wrote: »

I've been playing with this and have to say I'm very impressed. It obviously needs a bit of refinement but the concept is great and already it works pretty well. I've tried it out with routes from where I regularly run. Some of the routes take in busy roads with no hard shoulder but that's probably hard to fix. It has suggested a route I've never tried and with a bit of modification I might head that way on Sunday. It might even be more useful on finding cycling routes where the road type is less critical. Also it doesn't seem to have greenway or trail paths. Could that be included by using different open source maps?

All in all though I can see the making of a very useful app and one I would use.

The busy roads thing is tough. On one hand I could avoid the bigger roads but this tends to result in more complex routes (more turns) so it's a balancing act. Open Streetmap does have data about whether there is a foothpath on roadsides but it's too spotty to rely on—in some cities this information is solid on one block and absent on the next.

Ultimately, the way I use this is to get a sense of the rough options open to me, and sometimes tweak its output to (say) take a parallel side road rather than a main one. But I'll keep tweaking it to make it better. As you noticed, it quite often comes up with routes you hadn't thought of yourself.

Cycling/greenways: I do consider these if they are in the Open Streetmap data (which they usually are) but routes that loop them in often get complicated (too many turns) so they tend not to show up. I need to think about this more to find a better solution. I think most people would favour a route that incorporates greenways etc., even if the resulting route is messier.

ronancremin

Just to let you know, I've fixed lots of bugs and added some new features. The overall result is that it is finding more routes now than before. Would love if you could give it a spin again.

Thanks,
Ronan

skyblue46

ronancremin wrote: »

Just to let you know, I've fixed lots of bugs and added some new features. The overall result is that it is finding more routes now than before. Would love if you could give it a spin again.

Thanks,
Ronan

Nothing seems to work for me. No map, no routes.

ronancremin

skyblue46 wrote: »

Nothing seems to work for me. No map, no routes.

What are you seeing? Just a blank screen? To help me work this out, could you tell me what browser you are using? Mobile or desktop? Do you have any ad blockers installed?

skyblue46

ronancremin wrote: »

What are you seeing? Just a blank screen? To help me work this out, could you tell me what browser you are using? Mobile or desktop? Do you have any ad blockers installed?

iPad 2, safari browser. No ad blockers. I see a grey checkered area where the map should be. Neither of the two icons in top right corner react to touch. The loop etc buttons react but say no routes available. Slider will not change from 5000. I have location switched on.

skyblue46

Here's a screenshot

ronancremin

skyblue46 wrote: »

iPad 2, safari browser. No ad blockers. I see a grey checkered area where the map should be. Neither of the two icons in top right corner react to touch. The loop etc buttons react but say no routes available. Slider will not change from 5000. I have location switched on.

Thanks for the reply and the screenshot! I have an iPad 2 also so I'll be able to check this tomorrow. I didn't even think of trying it on the iPad 2 to be honest—it works on my iPhone and a later iPad just fine.

Note that iOS stops long-running JavaScript from running ("A problem ocdurred with this page...") so iOS isn't the best platform in any case. It works much better on desktop browsers or Android.

skyblue46

ronancremin wrote: »

Thanks for the reply and the screenshot! I have an iPad 2 also so I'll be able to check this tomorrow. I didn't even think of trying it on the iPad 2 to be honest—it works on my iPhone and a later iPad just fine.

Note that iOS stops long-running JavaScript from running ("A problem ocdurred with this page...") so iOS isn't the best platform in any case. It works much better on desktop browsers or Android.

Great, I'll try it on desktop so. I'm a non conformist (the iPad isn't mine)and using Windows phone so I'll try it on that too.

skyblue46

I tried it on desktop using Firefox browser. I selected 18,000m. I increased the number of turns allowed to maximum. I saw it highlighting roads and foot ways. When the search ended it found 0 Loops and 0 Out & Back....

TFBubendorfer

I just had a look. The biggest issue for me is that it only looks at roads. When running in Dublin I try to run in parks as much as possible as opposed to roads, and none of that shows up as an option.

E.g. I tried to find a route through South Dublin and it gave me 4 out-and-back options, all very similar. However, if I run in that area I would always choose to follow the route I (manually) outlined in red dots instead, away from traffic.

ronancremin

Skyblue,

Thanks for all of the details. You've helped me to find and fix a bug.

I should explain. From my point of view the search you were doing looks like this:

Screen Shot 2017-12-13 at 23.22.30.png

The different colours represent different road & path types.

You can see that there are ample roads to try near the search start point but north of the M50 they thin out really rapidly. To the south as you get towards the city center there are more and more roads to pick from, but the complexity increases a lot i.e. routes of the correct length tend to involve too many turns. This makes them unappealing because they're hard to follow/remember.

The bug I found was related to over-counting turns which meant I abandoned candidate routes too early.

Now it's finding some routes near your start point but only you can judge if they are any good or not.

Screen Shot 2017-12-13 at 23.32.39.png

I use the routes this tool finds as a starting point/getting a rough sense of options—and then tweak. That said, I often find them good enough as-is and it often comes up with routes I would never have thought of myself, which is cool.

iPad: haven't checked this yet. A likely cause of the failure is that one of the libraries I use doesn't support iOS 9.x (which the iPad 2 is stuck on).

rom

Try
browsershots.org

ronancremin

Forgot about that tool, thanks!

skyblue46

I tried this again last evening. I was in unfamiliar territory and planned an hour run from Ballyboden. Six suggested loops were all largely based on one loop with some small changes. South of my starting point was not really an option due to the geography of the area but many options starting to the east (including the run I did) were not listed. I'm not trying to be critical, I'm trying to help and would love to use it when fully operational 😊

ronancremin

The constructive criticism is very welcome, thanks.

I need to do a better job of filtering out similar routes. I already do this, but clearly not well enough.

I'll keep at it.