Author Topic: How do people plan their walks?  (Read 3939 times)

GnP

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #30 on: 12:46:06, 03/10/19 »
You can set 'off course' alarms in ViewRanger and on Garmin GPS, maybe others ...  ;)
Yes, I did have that set at one time, must have turned it off....or I realised I was missing unexpected hidden gems by not going off course  O0
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Does the Garmin off course signal work with tracks too?
« Last Edit: 12:49:28, 03/10/19 by GinAndPlatonic »
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sussamb

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #31 on: 13:01:34, 03/10/19 »
No, only with routes.
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ninthace

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #32 on: 13:05:39, 03/10/19 »
No, only with routes.
But you can convert a track to a route in BaseCamp, G&P
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jimbob

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #33 on: 13:17:25, 03/10/19 »
But you can convert a track to a route in BaseCamp, G&P
you can also convert tracks to routes in VR, one click.
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ninthace

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #34 on: 13:52:51, 03/10/19 »
you can also convert tracks to routes in VR, one click.
  Indeed you can and you can do it on the hoof in your phone, whereas to convert a track to a route for an Etrex means coupling to supporting software.  VR also has an off course alarm option that can be set.  As far as I am aware, there is no off course alarm option for the OS maps app.


Edit for spelling
« Last Edit: 14:04:05, 03/10/19 by ninthace »
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jimbob

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #35 on: 13:55:36, 03/10/19 »
  Indeed you can and you can do it on the hoof in your phone, whereas to convert a track to a route for an Etrex means coupling to supporting software.  VR also has an off course alarm option that can be set.  As far as i am aware, there is no of course alarm option for the OS maps app.
O0
« Last Edit: 19:39:32, 03/10/19 by jimbob »
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forgotmyoldpassword

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #36 on: 14:23:10, 03/10/19 »
Some interesting comments here, must admit I used to be the sit on the computer type with obsession over the contour lines (which I still do for longer trips) - but for day trips I realised I don't really need to obsess and ended up grabbing a large scale map to work out 'roughly where' then looking for exciting features to make a loop around.  I'm happy walking 30km+ in a day so I don't much worry about distance, it's more about how big I can make the loop to explore the necessary areas - and over the years I've been less about 'bag as many peaks I can in a day' and moved more into exploring little waterfalls, crags and interesting features. 


Most of the time ViewRanger's app is suitable for route planning (I've got full country OS 25k mapping) so I end up planning a few together and then doing them when I'm close.  Not much of a fan of copying routes other people are doing exactly, but do like getting some inspiration for places to check out on my own!

sussamb

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #37 on: 16:40:04, 03/10/19 »
  Indeed you can and you can do it on the hoof in your phone, whereas to convert a track to a route for an Etrex means coupling to supporting software.  VR also has an off course alarm option that can be set.  As far as I am aware, there is no off course alarm option for the OS maps app.

That's not quite true as all the recent Garmin GPS (from around 2009) use advanced track navigation, see https://garmin.blogs.com/softwareupdates/2009/12/getting-more-out-of-track-navigation.html#.XZYUwk1Ybcs that effectively creates a route from a track.

This has got me thinking that perhaps the off course alarm would work with this, I rarely use tracks so I can't be sure but I'm going to check it out on my next walk  O0
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ninthace

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #38 on: 17:06:56, 03/10/19 »
I think you need a posher Garmin than an Etrex for that.  My Etrex30 dates from 2012/3 and the software is up to date.  I have just tried to follow a walk that I have loaded both as a track and a route.  The start point is some 5 miles distant. The off course alarm goes as soon as I engage the route but remains silent if I engage the track.  There is no menu option in the track menu to create a route from a track.  I think you may need at least an Oregon unit unless I am missing something.
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BuzyG

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #39 on: 19:10:57, 03/10/19 »
When you think about it, it is really no different from following a line, real or imaginary, drawn on a map.  Many people, who do not use gps, imagine people walking along, gps in hand, slavishly following the screen.  That’s not how it happens, in fact rather the reverse.  I only look at the screen occasionally, to check progress or to confirm my line.


I don't draw a route on anything.  I always simply memorise it.  Seems my methods are not as typical as I assumed they were.  I know a number of our group walk leaders who religiously follow a GPS plot once the clag comes down,  even though there is a motor way like footpath 30 yards away going in the right direction.  I guess a lot of it is confidence.  Not worrying about getting lost has it's advantages.   Of course this does mean I get lost occasionally, but that is just part of the fun.  Happily I have never lost the group.  Well not yet. ;)


I just recalled a moment on my first outward bound course on Bodmin moor back in early 1981.   I was navigating for our team.  The staff stopped us and ask me for a bearing to the next way point.  Without thinking about it I simply pointed the compass at it away on the horizon adjusted for mag to grid and told them what it was.  They absolutely hated that and I then had to dig the route plan out and demonstrate that I could also do it their way.


One final point by the time I joined the navy. I had long since fallen in love with OS maps and was a decent orienteer.  I am sure that is where it comes from, learning at a young age.
« Last Edit: 19:22:29, 03/10/19 by BuzyG »

GnP

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #40 on: 19:15:56, 03/10/19 »
But you can convert a track to a route in BaseCamp, G&P
Sounds like a plan....the one thing I dislike about the routes on garmin is the magenta colour of the line...I`ve tried all ways to set them to be black or red.....& when the whole route on the screen is viewed  the preferred colour shows, but when Go is clicked on it always resets to the dreaded magenta colour...
« Last Edit: 19:19:10, 03/10/19 by GinAndPlatonic »
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WhitstableDave

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #41 on: 19:34:12, 03/10/19 »
I'm a big fan of OS online maps. For walks in areas I've not visited before, I plot routes on my PC to copy to my handheld GPS. And like some others, I make good use of Google Maps and Street View to get clues about all sorts of things: whether a footpath looks accessible, whether a road looks dangerous, etc., and to find a car park to start from.

I have to say though that (for me) how I plan a walk depends very much on the region. I've found that getting from A to B (and perhaps back again) in open access areas, such as national parks and/or Scottish highlands and islands, is very different from working out routes in areas like Kent. I find the former far more straightforward!

The reason seems obvious to me. On open access moorland, boggy marshes, hills and mountains, I'll follow a route that looks promising (usually having previously read about the terrain, etc.) - actual paths might not exist and are optional if they do. However, in rural Kent (for example), working out a route can be like finding a way through a maze - with all sorts of obstacles! There might be many ways to get from A to B but I'll usually need to connect a good many rights of way, be they footpaths, bridleways or whatever, to do it. I'll almost never have the luxury of choosing the easiest or most direct route.

The benefit of carrying a GPS has been raised; I find mine invaluable! I walk in woodland a lot (not the pine plantations of neat lines!) where paths twist and turn and branch and aren't where they're supposed to be - or are where they're not supposed to be! I'm suddenly faced with a three-way fork with no idea which is the path I'd planned to take. So I choose one and check my GPS, and within a few yards I can see if I've chosen correctly.
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sussamb

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #42 on: 19:39:05, 03/10/19 »
I think you need a posher Garmin than an Etrex for that. 

Nope, your Etrex should do it.  Do a Where to, select Tracks and select one, then Go, on the map you should see a start and finish flag, and the high/low points. 
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Owen

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #43 on: 19:43:29, 03/10/19 »

The benefit of carrying a GPS has been raised; I find mine invaluable! I walk in woodland a lot (not the pine plantations of neat lines!) where paths twist and turn and branch and aren't where they're supposed to be - or are where they're not supposed to be! I'm suddenly faced with a three-way fork with no idea which is the path I'd planned to take. So I choose one and check my GPS, and within a few yards I can see if I've chosen correctly.


Last week I did a bike ride from Glen Lyon to Rannoch forest cycling along forestry roads, I had a bike computer/GPS with me. Reviewing my route afterwards I was surprised by how far the trace was from where the roads were marked on the map. 

ninthace

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Re: How do people plan their walks?
« Reply #44 on: 19:57:45, 03/10/19 »
Buzy, I find the act of working out my route means that by the time I walk it I already know it too. However, since I am always walking new routes, the gps serves to keep track of progress and comes in handy when encountering paths or features that were not on the map and helps to keep me on the right track.  I find navigating in open spaces such as Dartmoor in decent visibility is relatively easy once you have learnt the major landmarks for the area.  Likewise, navigating in more confined country is not difficult following a planned route provided everything goes according to plan.
Yesterday, I was walking in the North Hill/Sheldon Forest  area.  My carefully prepared plan totally unravelled.  The paths shown on the OS map were actually non existent.  Then I encountered forest tracks that were not on the map at all and the icing on the cake was a "lane" on the map turned out to be two long defunct parallel field boundaries full or brambles and completely impassable.  A full replan was required to get us out of the forest and back to the right road.  In dense woodland you have no real lines of sight and you already know the detail of the map is wrong.  Under those circumstances, a gps is a really useful tool to work out where the path you are on, that is not on the map, is going!
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