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cycle.travel & climbing

2 Mar 2022
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Just a query about this Richard if I may? As I understand it, one of the things your algorithm looks to reduce is climbs (which suits me down to the ground, so to speak). In your talk at the cycle touring festival you mentioned an adjustment to favour scenic routes - I took from what you said that this might make it more likely to come up with routes involving significant climbing... would that be correct? Hope not, but either way, I have been hugely impressed by my use of the site so far.

Comments

Wed 2 Mar 2022, 19:38

It weighs up lots of factors! Scenic appeal is one of them; climbs are another; car traffic and surface quality are in there too.

Generally the climbing gets a stronger weighting, which means that it won’t send you over a massive hill if there’s a good, flat alternative available. If two routes are otherwise equal, it will prefer the more scenic one. The scenery is more like a 10% adjustment to the weighting, whereas a really steep hill might be a 50% adjustment or more.

Sat 5 Mar 2022, 21:52

Thanks Richard (that's a relief!)

Sat 9 Apr 2022, 01:11

Unfortunately, I think the anti-steepness weighting seems to have effectively gone to 100%!

I can no longer route along some of the steep roads up from the A646, no matter how many vias I use

For example, I used to be able to route up Cross Stone Rd on the eastern side of Todmorden but no longer can. The same applies to Church Lane up to Mytholm Steeps on the western side of Hebden Bridge.

I don't mind having to add a few vias to force those selections, but I do need to be able to do it SOMEHOW!  

Sat 9 Apr 2022, 10:48

The weighting hasn’t changed, so either it’s a side-effect of something else or a change in the OSM data. I’ll look into it.

Sat 9 Apr 2022, 15:21

Thanks Richard.

Ironically, I complained a couple of years ago that the software was sending me up those climbs when I wanted to stay on the valley road!

I am planning some very hilly local rides now though, so I want to be able to override the steep hill-avoidance.

Tue 26 Apr 2022, 17:38

For some reason, the software is choosing to avoid a perfectly well-surfaced (though steep) road and go on a long detour involving a descent, climbing back up, and then using a broken up steep footpath.

Here a couple of screenshots. Here it does the right thing...

But here, by starting a few metres below the close to the left, the route is messed up completely...

Tue 26 Apr 2022, 17:58

Yep – I can see where the problem is but as yet not why it’s doing that!

Sun 1 Jan 2023, 17:48

Hi Richard.

I know that you have been busy, and I am looking forward to the Android app, but... has there been any progress with sorting this annoying bug out? 

Thanks.

PS And, could you make it possible to search the forum? It took me 10 minutes to find this thread because I had forgotten the name of it.

Tue 3 Jan 2023, 12:38

Honest answer is I’m not yet entirely sure how to fix it. I’ve done some work but it’s still happening, and the most obvious next step would break routing in other places. I’m still looking at it but haven’t found a solution yet.

Wed 25 Jan 2023, 01:05

Thanks for trying. I know how it is with software... I'm sure that you will think of something!

Sat 11 Feb 2023, 00:04

I just saw this mentioned in the latest newsletter. I haven't exhaustively tested it, but I can definitely route my way up that particular challenging hill now.... Thanks, Richard!

Thu 16 Feb 2023, 15:46

No problem - relieved I finally figured it out!