Route Plotting

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GordonG May 2020 11:24am, 29 May 2020 8,173 posts	0 GordonG I think one of the issues on maps on Fetch (it used to be like this, might have changed though) is that it assumes you're walking. If it gets to a road with no 'legal' way of walking along it, it won't let you create a route down that bit unless you turn off Follow Route.
Windsor Wool May 2020 11:27am, 29 May 2020 4,622 posts	0 Windsor Wool I have this issue too Gordon but again hadn't followed it up with Ian as I'd got the impression we were on borrowed time with the route plotter given the cost to the site of necessary subscriptions to Google.
SailorSteve May 2020 11:32am, 29 May 2020 1,680 posts	0 SailorSteve I believe that we were advised a few years ago by the fetchmeister that switching off “follow roads” saved the site money so I’ve plotted all of mine manually since then as the training log and route plotting are my main reasons for being here.
Nelly May 2020 12:02pm, 29 May 2020 3,990 posts	0 Nelly SS - my recollection is that the increased cost associated with using "follow roads" was only when the route plotter used Google maps. Ian changed the default route plotter to OSM a couple of years ago (which I believe is free, and hence should address WW's concerns about the longevity of the route plotter), but left the option to switch to Google maps available for users if they wanted. In his blog on 15th May (https://www.fetcheveryone.com/blog/3/2020/5#blog406296) Ian described being hit by "a £90 bill last month [from Googles Map services] because of the extra map usage". The option to change from OSM to Google maps in the route plotter disappeared at about this time, which is a consequence of the bill given he also said in his blog "I'm right on top of it now. They won't get another penny".
um May 2020 12:16pm, 29 May 2020 2,524 posts	0 um There's been a few more updates to that ... Ian is currently using a free OSM route plotter option, limited to 4000 hits a day (actually 2 x 2000). (each map click with 'follow roads' is a hit). And yes, lots of OSM route threads on walking routes - some about roads, more about hiking vs walking in mountainous areas & different grading of paths.
GordonG May 2020 12:36pm, 29 May 2020 8,174 posts	0 GordonG [just to clarify, I wasn't advocating Follow Routes or not, just saying that the reason the map sometimes won't follow a route is because that part of the road is for vehicles only and I think the map assumes you're walking/running so it won't 'let' you go down that route if Follow Routes is on]
SailorSteve May 2020 12:38pm, 29 May 2020 1,681 posts	0 SailorSteve Thanks for the clarification all👍
Nelly May 2020 1:44pm, 29 May 2020 3,991 posts	0 Nelly Response from Ian to my feedback:- "I think I've seen the sort of thing you're referring to - and unfortunately I don't think so -not unless I pay to use Google's direction services. One thing I've found that helps is to hit Undo, and then choose a shorter distance for the directions service to deal with. The data we use comes from OpenStreetMap, so another option (albeit a much more painstaking one) is to contribute corrections to their database. Sorry I can't be of more help."
K5 Gus May 2020 8:31pm, 29 May 2020 3,556 posts	0 K5 Gus Thanks for highlighting this Nelly, and feeding back Ian's response. I hadn't noticed the problem, but was easily able to replicate when trying to plot a road bike route it took me across some farmer's fields !! Hmm, I think for me this makes the tool pretty unusable - well what I mean is it obviously is usable if you're prepared to do loads of clicks, but there's plenty other free sites out there that work as you would expect, eg plotaroute.com maps.the-hug.net bikehike.co.uk gb.mapometer.com etc
MsG May 2020 9:45pm, 29 May 2020 1,602 posts	0 MsG Cycle.travel is pretty good but you have to really pay attention as it is very keen on keeping you travelling on quiet routes. Great if that's what you want - sometimes it also favours the Scottish approach of access to land (i.e. ignores that it's a private road).