Whats apps do you use to navigate between trails?

[lmartins]

I've tried Trailforks and Viewranger and either I'm using them wrong, where I live doesn't have too many trails mapped out, or they don't really give you that option. What do you use, if anything, when you're out and about in the middle of nowhere and you want to navigate from one trail to another without really knowing exactly where you are. Is that any options for that?

 

[dobbyhasfriends]

my memory..
ive not found any app that works properly, I use memory maps and digital OS maps to get an idea of where I wanna go but then I generally just use whatever tracks I find when I get there.. the last one I tried was Komoot which was the biggest pile of shit ever.

 

[Zimmerframe]

my memory..

or at least you think you do ....

 

[stiv674]

In the UK at least, OS maps is the best as it's the only one I've used that knows which tracks, byways etc that you can use.

I do currently use Komoot though, generally it's pretty good, sometimes it does try to send you down an incorrect route though, I then use OS maps to confirm. I've actually found some decent fairly local routes from using Komoot.

Ideally there would be a route planner or tracker app that used OS maps as its base map, Viewranger is good for following other users routes or tracking your own but you can't plot a route on it as far as I'm aware.

 

[KennyB]

Yup, OS maps, SILVA compass as back up but just the Sun, hopefully, to give direction. I have a Lezyne micro GPS that gives me height and the lap function gives me distance from a way point so I don't overshoot.

 

[Waynetta]

Just Veiwranger with 1-25000 maps of areas I don’t know, including trips to france. Works brilliant.
go exploring then have a look where you are to get bearings for getting back to car or house.

 

[Doomanic]

Mk1 eyeball and luck mostly. If I miss the trail I'm looking for there's bound to be another one along soon enough.

 

[Timbo]

Viewranger, and pay for the detailed maps.

 

[Jackware]

The OS maps app, which although not perfect when trying to create a route, is easy to download gpx routes and maps for offline use.

 

[Andrie]

Mtb project has the most extensive map here in USA that I know of. Wahoo ELEMNT bolt is great for turn by turn nav at the trail.

 

[SquireRides]

Digital OS Maps. All these fancy new apps fail to point out where the tumuli and strip lynchets are.

 

[F-GODZ]

Viewranger is good for following other users routes or tracking your own but you can't plot a route on it as far as I'm aware.

Viewranger is great for plotting your own routes to follow. Used it for ages (and only last year paid for the OS maps upgrade)

 

[Beekeeper]

We use an app called Outdoor GPS which uses OS maps. Couple of quid a month to have access to entire U.K. we plot and save routes on our couple of old iPhone 6 and mount to handlebars. Can be used to record where you go too. Brilliant!

 

[Jasext]

Memory map on old android, been using it for many years on trail/enduro bikes. I have an older version an have all the uk maps

 

[PhilBaker]

Great question indeed. I was struggling with this topic just this weekend, wanting to explore some new areas to go from a to b but not "knowing" the best off-road trails that the mountain bikers would use with local knowledge. Here's my 2 cents...

KOMOOT: Someone in my group suggested Komoot and it sounded too good to be true, unfortunately I think it is . Using it to plot routes in my area where I have the local knowledge, it tries to suggest road routes (I told it I'm a mountain biker), where there are actually great offroad trails that it should recommend.
I will give it a try though as if you stick a waypoint in the middle of your route in say the middle of the offroad forest, suddenly it routes you through the forest on some good trails so perhaps I just need to give it a chance.

TRAILFORKS: Someone on here suggested this and I have now learnt some awesome new trails that were right under my nose. BUT, it's just a collection of trails with no real value interconnecting them with a nice offroad route. It's just a "hey, if you are here, here is a great trail you may not have known about, enjoy".
Saying that, some people have uploaded routes on there which could be useful, but not really what I was looking for. I'd definitely download it though if you haven't already, to find some great routes you may not have known about.

VIEWRANGER: Great OS maps quality and again, some people may have uploaded routes you can follow, but it's not hitting the mark for me in terms of connecting a route from a to b with as much offroad as possible linking in any known trails. It doesn't know for example some of the awesome trails that exist which Trailforks does. Of the 3 though, this did seem to have the best quality maps so very useful from that point.

OS MAPS: Interface wasn't as good as Viewranger in my opinion, although you could plot your very own detailed route if you had the patience!

So in summary, I'm hopeful Komoot could be useful in connecting a route together for me, although I will need to add some waypoints on route to divert it offroad. If I can put waypoints on route to connect the Trailforks trails together into my overal route then perhaps I have a solution but it will require some effort to create a truly awesome route

 

[wildsau2]

ive tried ViewRanger, Komoot, Garmin connect and TrailForks. Komoot was the best in my region.
But Strava renew their routeplaning with worldwide heatmap. Its not in the App, only Web interface (works easily on a mobile device). Finding trails is easy because of the heatmap. Creating a route and uploading to a Garmin Fenix/Edge device is a second. You can also route with your mobile device

 

[Mcharza]

Great question indeed. I was struggling with this topic just this weekend, wanting to explore some new areas to go from a to b but not "knowing" the best off-road trails that the mountain bikers would use with local knowledge. Here's my 2 cents...

KOMOOT: Someone in my group suggested Komoot and it sounded too good to be true, unfortunately I think it is . Using it to plot routes in my area where I have the local knowledge, it tries to suggest road routes (I told it I'm a mountain biker), where there are actually great offroad trails that it should recommend.
I will give it a try though as if you stick a waypoint in the middle of your route in say the middle of the offroad forest, suddenly it routes you through the forest on some good trails so perhaps I just need to give it a chance.

TRAILFORKS: Someone on here suggested this and I have now learnt some awesome new trails that were right under my nose. BUT, it's just a collection of trails with no real value interconnecting them with a nice offroad route. It's just a "hey, if you are here, here is a great trail you may not have known about, enjoy".
Saying that, some people have uploaded routes on there which could be useful, but not really what I was looking for. I'd definitely download it though if you haven't already, to find some great routes you may not have known about.

VIEWRANGER: Great OS maps quality and again, some people may have uploaded routes you can follow, but it's not hitting the mark for me in terms of connecting a route from a to b with as much offroad as possible linking in any known trails. It doesn't know for example some of the awesome trails that exist which Trailforks does. Of the 3 though, this did seem to have the best quality maps so very useful from that point.

OS MAPS: Interface wasn't as good as Viewranger in my opinion, although you could plot your very own detailed route if you had the patience!

So in summary, I'm hopeful Komoot could be useful in connecting a route together for me, although I will need to add some waypoints on route to divert it offroad. If I can put waypoints on route to connect the Trailforks trails together into my overal route then perhaps I have a solution but it will require some effort to create a truly awesome route

If you like to use some "make my own route" tools, you can always import it into the Komoot. Try these GPXEditor or GPG Generator

 

[Mikerb]

I use Trailforks and anything else that enables export of a gpx file. I upload gpx to Komoot for navigation and I find it excellent. Route planning on any of the apps is hit and miss. If you want to do that orienteering via OS maps is foolproof.

 

[MrBrownstone]

Just my sense of direction and thirst for adventure. Riding 30 years off-road. Never GPS, never trail forks, never strava. No apps.

I ride along and if I see what looks like a trail of some sort, I take it. Sometimes it dead ends, other times it opens up a whole new world. Explored an area this am where I didn’t know if or where I was gonna pop out or connect, but it all worked out and now I have another loop to ride.

gps, strava, trailforks, apps=certainty, and there’s NO adventure in certainty.?

 

[lmartins]

Wow, sorry missed the replies, so many good insights. I've just noticed Strava is now offering the routes and I'll experiment with that. My goal was to find something that could suggest me where to go next when I'm deep into the unknown, but that's probably asking too much from any of these apps. They can help but they can only go so far.

Thank you all for the shared experiences.

 

[Master Link]

I use OS Maps to plan a route. I try to only use bridleways where possible. Once I have planned the route i export it as a GPX file and then import this into Komoot. Komoot then analyses the route and gives the option to import as captured in OS Maps (sometimes the planned route can be a few metres off the trail due to inaccuracies when inputting the route in OS Maps) or default to the nearest 'known' trail. I always choose to default to the known trails. Once imported Komoot will analyse the route and give warnings for things such as no cycling sections (hiking trail - which I ride carefully) and steps. I then load the route into my phone using home wi-fi, this means that Komoot does not even use mobile data when riding the route. Komoot is great because it can be used in the direction of travel and it gives turn by turn directions and clear instructions if you are off course and how to get back onto course. I use my phone inside a top tube bag with a clear window. I have ridden many new routes using this where, before, I would usually get totally lost. And its free for your local area map.

 

[lmartins]

This is awesome! A bit intrigued by the use of OS maps though. I would imagine that the satellite views would not give you a good sense for trails, specially for any area that may have for tree coverage.

 

[Viper9559]

I've tried Trailforks and Viewranger and either I'm using them wrong, where I live doesn't have too many trails mapped out, or they don't really give you that option. What do you use, if anything, when you're out and about in the middle of nowhere and you want to navigate from one trail to another without really knowing exactly where you are. Is that any options for that?

I use Trailforks and AllTrails

 

[Master Link]

This is awesome! A bit intrigued by the use of OS maps though. I would imagine that the satellite views would not give you a good sense for trails, specially for any area that may have for tree coverage.

I forgot that I purchased a paper OS Map for my area (about 8 quid) that has a code that then gives access to the detailed OS maps either on your mobile app or through your web browser. I usually plan the route using my iPad and then export it using the web browser as GPX export is not allowed using iPadOS (Apple limitation I think).

 

[Stuart569]

I use a mixture of Komoot, trailforks and OS maps. I like Komoot for it's sat nav for bike feel. The problem is Komoot is good for known ways but poor for trails. I usually go to trailforks, find a trail I like the look of (sometimes using heat map mode to find the most popular) then click find ways other riders have riden this trail. You can then find a decent looking route and download the gpx to import to komoot. Don't click match known ways when you import though as komoot doesn't recognise the majority of trails. Alternatively I'll do the same thing but with strava. There's a chrome extension you can install in order to download the gpx files from there, I think premium gives you the ability though. OS maps I use for planning big tours as its maps are unrivaled.

 

[MKoskinen]

Noticed that there is no mention of Gaia GPS yet. Tried them all, but Gaia GPS is what I ended up using.

Great for viewing any GPX files I come across, creating my own or just for tracking my rides with multiple different map overlays. Including e.g. topo, OpenCycle maps etc.

 

[MrBrownstone]

Holy smokes does anyone even explore anymore????

 

[Zimmerframe]

Holy smokes does anyone even explore anymore????

Why do you always have to make this about sex !

We live in a world of control ... we either need it or have to have it.

 

[PhilBaker]

Wow, sorry missed the replies, so many good insights. I've just noticed Strava is now offering the routes and I'll experiment with that. My goal was to find something that could suggest me where to go next when I'm deep into the unknown, but that's probably asking too much from any of these apps. They can help but they can only go so far.

Thank you all for the shared experiences.

I tell you what is a good tip for Strava users, once you have ridden a trail it shows you where you are on the leader board (note, you may need to log your ride as a normal bike ride vs ebike as there a lot less 'segments' for non ebikes). You can then click on the other people in the top 10 and see their route that took them through the segment you registered on Strava. You get to see the routes that they rode that day which took them through that particular segment. I've found a few new trails and routes through doing that...

 

[Zimmerframe]

(note, you may need to log your ride as a normal bike ride vs ebike as there a lot less 'segments' for non ebikes)

Make sure you also change it to "private" or you'll temporarily steal everyone's climbing bike KOMs and cause hell.????