Routes

Routes are an ordered series of geographic locations, comprised of an ordered list of route points and/or waypoints.

Creating a New Route

New routes can be created in a number of ways, including being drawn in the map view, created from a list of waypoints, or by converting all, or part of, an existing trail into a route.

Creating a New Route in the Map View

To create a new route, click the New Route button in the EDIT menu bar, choose the Create Route option from the map display right-button menu, or click the New button in the routes Edit Panel.

The application will go into Editing Route mode, showing route editing options in the EDIT menu bar (1) and a quick edit box for any selected route-points or waypoints, (2).

To save the new route, or cancel the new route operation, click either the Save or Cancel buttons (3).

When creating or editing a route, the Route Panel is expanded and the current route is selected (4). A List of route points is displayed, from where route points can be selected for editing or deleted.

Drawing a New Route

The new route can be drawn in the map area by clicking with the left mouse button to create a new route point. Newly created route points are joined either to the closest available route point, or a selected route point (if there is one). By default, each newly inserted route point is selected as it is added, so that the next created route point joins to it. To insert a route point within a route, either de-select the most recently created point (hold down the CTRL key and click with the left mouse button), or select the route-point within the route at the position you would like to insert the new point.

Adding Existing Waypoints to a Route

When editing a route, clicking in open space within the map view creates a new route-point at that location. Holding the mouse pointer over an existing waypoint will highlight that waypoint, and clicking with the left mouse button will add that waypoint to the route.

Route-Points and Waypoints

Routes can be composed of route-points and/or waypoints. Both represent a geographic location, but route-points exist only as part of a single route and have no additional attributes (such as name or icon), and are not shown as part of the global waypoint list.

A route-point can be converted to a waypoint, after which it will behave in the same way as any other waypoint, and appear in the global waypoint list. To convert a route-point to a waypoint, first select the required route-point(s), and then either click the Convert to Waypoint button in the EDIT menu bar, or open the route-point(s) for editing and click the Convert to Waypoint button in the route-point edit window:

The route-point will immediately be converted into a waypoint, with full waypoint attributes, and the edit window will change to that of a standard waypoint:

Creating a New Route from a List of Waypoints

A new route can be created by first selecting a number of waypoints, and then clicking either the Route From Waypoints button in the EDIT menu bar, or choosing the Create Route menu option from the waypoint right-click menu. Note that the order in which waypoints are selected will be preserved in the new route.

A window is shown, showing the selected waypoints and a field in which the new route's name can be entered:

Creating a New Route from a Trail

To convert a trail into a route, select a single trail and click the Convert to Route button in either the trail quick-edit box in the EDIT menu bar, or in the trail right-click menu:

A number of controls are shown during the trail-to-route process, including a field to enter the name of the new route, a field to specify the tolerance of the route points (how accurately the route follows the path of the original trail - see below), and a slider to specify the start and end points of the route. These controls are shown within the EDIT  menu bar (1) and also at the bottom of the map display (3). When the new route has been configured, it can be saved by clicking the Save button (2) at the top-right corner of the map display. To cancel creation of the new route, click the Cancel button.

Trail Start and End Points

If the entire trail is not required as part of the final route, the start and/or end positions of the required route can be specified.

To do this, use the slider at the bottom of the map display (outlined, above). Move the start position by dragging the grey bar at the left of the slide, and move the end position by dragging the bar at the right of the slider. The selected portion of the trail can be dragged moved along the trail by clicking and dragging the light gray centre portion of the slider.

Tolerance

When converting a trail to a route, we typically want to end up with fewer waypoints in the route than there are trail points in the trail, of which there may be many thousand. In order to do this, the trail is simplified by removing trail points that are not required.

The amount of simplification to apply can be specified using the Tolerance field, which is a value (expressed in metres) that the route path is allowed to deviate from the original path of the trail (the blue arrow, above).  In general, the higher the tolerance value specified, the fewer the number of waypoints that are present in the final route, but at the expense of a route that does not follow the original trail as precisely. Note that the number of waypoints that will be present in the generated route is shown to the right of the tolerance field.

Editing a Route

An existing route can be opened for editing by double-clicking it within the map view (with the mouse in Select mode), or selecting the route and choosing the Edit option in either the EDIT menu bar or right-click menu.

Editing a route is a similar process to creating a new route. Existing route-points can be edited, moved or deleted, and route-points can be selected and converted into waypoints. When editing is complete, the Save button commits any changes.