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Routing against one way streets

8 Jun 2024
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The suggested route took a one way street contraflow. I am traveling in a foreign country where I am not familiar with rules, so I assumed that it was legal for bikes, in cities, to ride a one way street in the opposite direction. (I was informed that this was an incorrect assumption by two stern officers...)

Is there a setting we can use to strictly enforce one ways?

Comments

Sat 8 Jun 2024, 09:17

That will be an issue with the underlying data, not with CycleTravel. Any other planner that uses the same data will do the same thing. OpenStreetMap is maintained by volunteers. We can all edit data. What that means is that sometimes street directions change but no-one updates it, or they were created incorrectly in the first place. 

The required setting to be adjusted is within our own minds. No computer generated route should ever be trusted 100%. 

Sat 8 Jun 2024, 12:52

cycle.travel will try not to send you the wrong way up a one-way street.

As Hobbes says, most of the time this is caused by the one-way information being missing or ambiguous in OpenStreetMap (c.t’s source data) – if you tell me where it is then I’m very happy to look at that.

c.t will on rare occasions suggest you push your bike along a one-way street to avoid a long detour. This is marked by a pedestrian symbol in the turn-by-turn directions, shown in the app, and should show up as a direction in a TCX export too. GPX tracks don’t include turn directions, so if you’re following a GPX track you’ll need to keep your eyes out for signs.

Unfortunately it isn’t possible to add more routing options (explained why here).

Sun 9 Jun 2024, 21:06

The street in question is here : https://maps.app.goo.gl/6cEyVgmSfnRv9vmR7

1. Perhaps let me know how to update the openmaps data

2. I read your blurb about routing options. Agree. But if I may - tarmac is what it is, but "gravel" covers a much wider range of surface qualities. Today is was on an EV1 segment that included a long section of *very* rough gravel (had to walk the bike quite a few times, on a 2" wide tire setup) AND a 100M long section of super sticky mud that wreaked havoc with my (rim) brakes and forced me to remove the fenders. (Between Burgos and Castrojeriz).

Not clear what can be done.

But for tomorrow I've generated 2 routes, one "paved only" and one "any". It's for a short distance (55kms), so not critical. Perhaps actually part of the experience...

Mon 10 Jun 2024, 07:49

Gauvins, here is a link to OpenStreetMap. Be warned, it's not straightforward (for some of us, at least :-)) and probably not something to be done on tour without experience. You'll need to register/open an account - completely free.

https://www.openstreetmap.org/

Tarmac isn't a surface option on CT, Paved is. I think you'll find that many 'paved' surfaces can vary just as much as gravel. In my experience, there is a certain 'local character' to these things. There are fabulous gravel roads in Spain that simply do not exist in other parts of Europe. 

EuroVelo routes are something of a bugbear for me - great idea, often inconsistent in practise. Some countries (and Spain is definitely included here) take a slightly laid back attitude to their EV sections. I'd be genuinely surprised if CT willingly chose that option as opposed to being directed to use it by the use of viapoints. I have learned that when CT directs me away from an 'official route' there is normally a good reason for it. 

As for mud, well, weather happens. Especially in Northern Spain.  

I think that you'd be better off treating these little hiccups as being part of the experience. I'm surprised at the Police reaction in Burgos. They are well used to thousands of foreigners traipsing through their town either too tired or too absorbed to pay attention to traffic rules. 

I've had the unbelievable good fortune to cover most of Spain on my bike using CT as my daily planner in 'any' mode. The only issues I had were my own. Once, when I overrode CT's recommendation and stayed on a Via Verde. Mud for several kms had me sleeping beside the thing! Another time, ignoring CT again, I took a 'shortcut' to a campground - along a singletrack MTB route. Not my smartest move. 

Mon 10 Jun 2024, 10:18

Thanks – I can’t instantly see an issue with the one-way data there but I’ll take a closer look!

It’s always worth double-checking via points – if you put one on a one-way road, even if it’s just a tiny distance away from the main road you meant to drag it onto, then c.t will faithfully send you to that road.

Gravel is a hard problem because the source data is less good (and more inconsistent) than for paved roads. EuroVelo routes should in theory be some sort of guarantee of quality but, as Hobbes says, Spain is a bit more laissez-faire about these things than France, for example. But Burgos–Castrojeriz is an interesting example and I’ll give it some thought.

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