Pistol Pete Posted April 3, 2012 Posted April 3, 2012 Another car club I am involved in use a free piece of software call Tyre (Trace Your Run Everywhere) to create an itinerary files of your route that can be loaded into your Sat Nav. This allow blats to be split into several small groups who can run at their own pace and all take the same route. It also allows you to run a very complex route using lots of back roads (the best type for blatting) and then just follow the sat nav without the sat nav trying to take the direct/main road route. You do sometimes get some small variations of route that can result in some fun along the way - like when two groups both headed down a single track road from opposite end and met in the middle! The software uses google maps and looks like this: By inserting Waypoints you can control the route taken. The route is then saved as an .itn file on your computer and copied to the itn folder of your TomTom/Garmin: Or can be exported to Google Maps: Sunday's Essex Blat was planned using Tyre and I shall be posting a copy of the Itinerary file into the Members Only Area for anybody to download and enjoy the route. Quote
Marcus Barlow - Show and Events Co-ordinator Posted April 3, 2012 Posted April 3, 2012 I use this a lot its great ! Quote
chris7273 Posted April 4, 2012 Posted April 4, 2012 Tyre is a very good software. I prefer to use another one because I prefer the Michelin maps, they are great to organise road trips because the best roads are underlined in green. This software is ITNCONV, it's free and it's available here : http://www.benichou-software.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=4〈=en It takes some time to get used to it but it offers a wide range of maps (bing, michelin, google,...) and it supports (read and save) a lot of different itinerary formats (kml for google earth, gpx for garmin, itn for tomtom) and it's also free ! Caveat : the new tomtom models don't offer the itinerary function anymore... One has to use POI (ov2 format) and navigate from one POI to another... Quote
Andy Banks Posted April 4, 2012 Posted April 4, 2012 Ermmm. Just seen this so my post just now in the members only area makes look an A*** But then most members know that anyway... Quote
Captain Colonial Posted April 4, 2012 Posted April 4, 2012 Came in to search for painfully obvious "Blat Nav" joke, leaving disappointed... Quote
greenwood03 Posted April 4, 2012 Posted April 4, 2012 interesting Chris because i'd never heard of that program or using michelin maps....just had a quick look at the maps and unless i'm misunderstanding them the 'green' highlights as far as this corner of the UK is concerned isn't what i'd personally think of as good driving roads, perhaps for a longer trip that may be the case? Either way as you said up at the top Pete driving in with others that have the route in their sat navs through either of these types of Itinerary based programs is the way forward, it takes so much pressure off the need to keep up with teh car infront - because you know soooner or later they'll be back in sight as you're all following teh same path. ( the key is to 'force' the sat nav to take the same route: everyone needs to have it set for teh same/fastest/shortest, and when plotting teh routes stick waypoints near junctions so the device doesnt decide to take a small backroad to cut off a few hundfred yards! )......as you can have up to 48 waypoints on a single TTom itinerary there's no reason not to pop in extra w/points. We've been using it in SKCC for a couple of years now and its really proved a great way to travel, i've driven with other car clubs that don't use it so much and tend to find that one by one cars may overtake a slower moving vehcile only to slow down to wait for everyone to catch up - kind of defats the object of a nice drive if there's a lovely stretch of open road ahead! Goodness knows why TTom are gradually phasing it out, good news is that there's still a few models that have the capability, and of course a high% of the older models have it. (thx for Sunday Pete, good route.....and nice to meet you too Andy )..... Quote
chris7273 Posted April 5, 2012 Posted April 5, 2012 interesting Chris because i'd never heard of that program or using michelin maps....just had a quick look at the maps and unless i'm misunderstanding them the 'green' highlights as far as this corner of the UK is concerned isn't what i'd personally think of as good driving roads, perhaps for a longer trip that may be the case? Michelin maps are quite popular on the continent and I am used to. This is why I was happy to find a software that uses them and offers the possibility to plan an itinerary with multiple points. The green highlightes roads are described as "touristic" and they are often a good option for nice landscapes. Of course, as for any guide, there is no perfection and Michelin maps are dedicated to all the tourist population : small cars, sports cars, motorhome, caravans... but it's a good base to work on when we plan a trip in an unknown area : if it's green + lots of bends + "mountain" area => should be good for a Seven Do you mind if I send you the itn files of our road trip so you can advise me what could be improved or what we will miss ? Quote
greenwood03 Posted April 5, 2012 Posted April 5, 2012 if the comment was diercted at me Chris i'd be pleased to help in the areas that io knwo or know if...emaiul address is info@southernkitcars.com Quote
XTR2Turbo Posted April 5, 2012 Posted April 5, 2012 Caveat : the new tomtom models don't offer the itinerary function anymore... One has to use POI (ov2 format) and navigate from one POI to another... That's a good point. When I bought one a couple of years ago they phased itn out on the basic models so i had to buy an XL. Didn't know they are stopping altogether. I think that is a big negative that will count against them Quote
Blatman Posted April 6, 2012 Posted April 6, 2012 Came in to search for painfully obvious "Blat Nav" joke, leaving disappointed... I don't even use a Satnav... BUT... That's a good point. When I bought one a couple of years ago they phased itn out on the basic models so i had to buy an XL. Didn't know they are stopping altogether. I think that is a big negative that will count against them I'm going to buy one for work. But the TomTom XL is getting patchy reviews on Amazon with reports of difficulty with updates failing, taking waaaaay too long to find a satellite or two, a crap website (haven't actually looked at it myself yet) and even worse customer service. TomTom was my first choice, but now I'm looking at Garmins but I just don't know what to do... Quote
Captain Colonial Posted April 6, 2012 Posted April 6, 2012 I'm going to buy one for work. But the TomTom XL is getting patchy reviews on Amazon with reports of difficulty with updates failing, taking waaaaay too long to find a satellite or two, a crap website (haven't actually looked at it myself yet) and even worse customer service. TomTom was my first choice, but now I'm looking at Garmins but I just don't know what to do... Allow me to confirm that for you. The software is cack, the updates take an eternity, and calling them is like contacting the dead. When it works, it's great, but when you want to update, add, or sort an issue, start praying. Quote
Blatman Posted April 6, 2012 Posted April 6, 2012 Garmin here we come then... unless there are any other suggestions. And no, the satnav feature on my smartphone (HTC Desire S) using Google maps is a non starter. Tried it recently in Genoa and it was properly rubbish... Quote
rocket_rabbit Posted April 7, 2012 Posted April 7, 2012 Whereas the Satnav on my Sony Experia S is bl**** brilliant and very accurate. The Sat Nav on the Galaxy S was shocking so I do have sympathy for you. Quote
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