Accurately Place DirectionsFORUMS HOME SEARCH FORUMS

We've just released an upgrade of our route planners to support more accurate placement of directions, notes and annotations on your route maps. Previously it was only possible to attach these to existing points on the route, so if a point didn't exist at the exact location where you wanted to place the notes, you would either need to use the Reshape Route tool to create a new point there or place the notes at a different point on the route nearby. With this latest upgrade you can add or relocate directions to an exact location anywhere along the route. And to help you make this as precise as possible, the route planner will now display the distance above the edit marker as you drag it to the location on the route that you want to edit.

Also, as part of this upgrade we're pleased to announce that we've added the new Relocate Directions feature, which we introduced a few weeks ago, to the mobile version of plotaroute.com.

I just tried this on a couple of routes it and I really like this capability. 

I did run into one difficulty. On an out and back segment, that overlaid each other, I could not figure out how to differentiate between the outbound and return path. I was trying to place a marker on the return track and the outbound path was selected.

Hi Michael - that's good to hear. To select the position on overlapping sections on the route you can now use the Playback Slider above the map to move the Edit Marker. 

Use test report. (I suppose other users do add a comment too)

By the distance selector. (I expect a slow forward/return button later).

A. Complex circuit.

Method by distance tool allows free positioned fast creation of extra instructions_info by "Arrows or Symbol" selection even at overlapping trackpaths.

A nice tool best suited for complex (offroad) circuits as well known in MTB (trails).

Notice what I observed in edits by the "free position" select method:

B. Standard circuits.

For standard "civilan" use (+90%) I positioned custom messages mostly on top of already existing trackpoints, so keep a most compact track. 

By free position, even when beeing VERY precise, an extra new trackpoint is created, as the selector resolution is not synchronised with existing trkpt resolution.

IMO (if possible) an existing nearest trackpoint should have a small 'sticky' distance zone on top of wich the instruction is mounted.

Anyway is it worth the technical effort, as it's only polishing the final result ?  This is not causing practical navigation problems in the field. 

Q: Other opinions ? Suggestions ? Sticky trkpt distance (resolution) ? 

Volonteers: You can have a simple test.

- The original file: https://www.plotaroute.com/map/1087832

Has 52 trkpt. Inclusive Straight command at 0.624 km distance. 

- The test file: https://www.plotaroute.com/map/1037884

Has 52 trkpt. No Straight at 0.624 km distance.

To do: Add instruction Straight at 0.624 km distance. 

Als ik een route naar mijn Garmin edge 820 download dan krijg ik minder km dan uitgetekend en een rechte lijn als richtpunt.De lijn volgt dus niet de wegen maar een rechte lijn van punt naar punt. Wat doe ik verkeerd? Heb ik iets slecht ingesteld bij het downloaden?

Gr Paul

Heb je een mogelijks een gpx route gebruikt ? Niet doen dus. 

Ik heb zelf geen 820 maar de instructies voor gebruik met Edge's vind je hier.

https://www.plotaroute.com/tip/1/how-to-download-a-route-to-a-garmin-edge

Merci Willy,het is in orde nu. Bedankt

I tried using the Playback Slider as suggested. I got the marker to the area where I wanted to place directions. It's hard to accurately place using the slider so I grabbed the edit handle to place the directions where I wanted them (on the return of an out and back segment). When I grabbed the edit handle it jumped to the out portion of the segment. It would be better if the handle would stay in proximity to where it was placed using the Playback Slider.

Thanks for that suggestion Michael. The edit marker snaps to the closest point on the route when you drag it, so I'm not sure how easy it would be to confine it to one section of the route. I understand the issue though - we'll keep thinking about ways to improve it. 

Allow very precise exact positioning of the playback glider by extra Slow forward and Slow backward button ? 

Or without redesigning website graphics: By a slow fine positioning move action by keyboard  <   > buttons ?

To say: By ctrl <  >  (= free)    ( < > and shift < >  and up down arrow is already reserved for moving the map)

Good idea Willy, thanks for this suggestion.

We've now added Keyboard Shortcuts that you can use for fine control over the location of the position marker when adding or relocating directions in the route planner (Shift+← and Shift+→). Thanks again for the suggestion.

Hi John.

I had a test on both Mac and by (virtual box) Windows. Using Chrome browser.

I suppose my operation technique is ok, but seems not to give the expected position marker shift result. My mistake ? 

1. Test by Arrow only: Moves the map  2. By Shift + Arrow: Moves the map by bigger steps. Both as was the standard behaviour before.  Suggest pse keep.

 (Ctrl+Arrow is still free) 

Thanks for testing this out. It looks like you need to click off the map for it to work - we hadn't spotted that, i.e. if your last mouse click was somewhere on the map, shift+arrow will move the map, but if your last mouse click was anywhere else on the page it should work fine. We'll have another look at it to see if we can find a way to overcome this. 

This is great inititive, but I also have problem to get shift+arrow to 'grab' the slider (and not move the map).

Sometimes it works and sometimes not, but I've not been able to get exactly when.

If I open an existing route in edit mode, shift arrow can be used to move the slider. After I've resized or moved the map with the mouse, do not move the slider, sh-arrow also move the map.

This is great for adding directions, but I also would like a shortcut for adding an anchor to be able to use the slider better when adding anchors when route passes the same place.

We've made some tweaks - it should hopefully be working OK now.

Yes, now It seems to work all the time.

If I move the slider to one position and then chose '+ Add' in Directionspanel, the slider moves to a an earlier place. Is it possible to have the Add-direction function to adapt the position of the slider?

Or maybe this tool is only available as Premium Feature (Short cuts) ?

Yes, sorry, Keyboard Shortcuts are a Premium feature.