MRA Routeplanner using by default gravel roads

[Thomas Scharrer]

Hi,

I have used the MRA Routeplanner a lot this season and generally I love it for planning tours.

However I noticed during this riding season that very often when I drive a route I have planned here in Scandinavia or Norway, that the route contains gravel roads. Since I am riding a street bike it is really not optimal for me to ride on gravel roads.

I have the feeling that MRA does maybe not recognize gravel roads? If I would plan a similar tour with google maps, google is normally avoiding gravel roads but I think MRA is always trying to use the shortest route and then it happens that it takes a shortcut from the "real" roads and you end up on gravel.

On a day tour of some hundred kilometers this can easily happen several times if you are not extremely careful how you plan your tour. If you for example select the next way point and the route between the way points contains some turns etc then it is very likely that MRA will choose some gravel road parts to get to the next way point.

What I have to do now in order to avoid this, which is quite an annoying job, is when I plan a tour I am checking in parallel every every road part MRA is choosing in google street view to see if it gravel or not.
This takes quite some effort and it would be nice if this extra work could be avoided if MRA would recognize gravel roads as google etc is.

I hope you will look into this anyway because I assume this is maybe not really a problem in central Europe, its probably easier to find gravel roads up here in Norway but I would really appreciate if this could be improved since I like the MRA Routeplanner a lot.

Regards,
Thomas

[Dave J 0]

@Thomas-Scharrer Hi Thomas. I presume you have selected 'unpaved roads' in the avoid section found in the toolkit menu?

[Thomas Scharrer]

@Dave-J-0 thanks a lot for the information but unfortunately I dont have the same option in my toolkit
Is your above picture from the web / browser version of the route planner?

Edit: I have checked these option also in the app now even though I am not using that for planning tours because its not convenient but I have the same options as in my picture also in the app meaning unpaved roads is not an option I can choose.

[Nick Carthew]

@Thomas-Scharrer You should be planning your routes with the HERE planning map because the navigation app uses the HERE map.
You will also find that the HERE toolkit contains the Avoid unpaved roads option.

[Thomas Scharrer]

@Nick-Carthew no problem to use the here map for planning but even when I select that I have only the same options as in the above picture

[Thomas Scharrer]

@Nick-Carthew sorry I managed now to get this option, I had only changed the layer to HERE, thnaks

[Nick Carthew]

@Thomas-Scharrer Also in the app. When you have a route loaded for navigation, before you press the Start button, scroll up to see Allowed roads and un-select Dirt roads.

[Lluis Arasanz]

@Nick-Carthew

I've got Here Map (not layer) 'couse I'm Navigator life and when I use Here map I can't use any avoid. The Web tells me that I must be "gold user" to use Toolbox

Is that a bug on planner?

Regards

[Nick Carthew]

@Lluis-Arasanz said in MRA Routeplanner using by default gravel roads:

@Nick-Carthew

I've got Here Map (not layer) 'couse I'm Navigator life and when I use Here map I can't use any avoid. The Web tells me that I must be "gold user" to use Toolbox

Is that a bug on planner?

Regards

If you are using the HERE planning map you will have access to the avoid tools.
The HERE planning map is available for Gold and Nav users. See my screenshot.

[Lluis Arasanz]

@Nick-Carthew

Yes, I have access and use Here Map, but if I want to use avoid in "toolbox", at the moment I select "avoid tunnels" (as a example), then the planner indicate me that this is a gold feature and is necessary a suscription. This happens for any of items inside avoid when using Here Map.

If I use Openstreet map, then the features works fine.

So... I'va got access to Here map but not to Here avoid features.

Regards

[Nick Carthew]

@Lluis-Arasanz Please forgive me, I have made a mistake. Your Navigation subscription gives you access to the HERE map but not all of the HERE tools.

You can see and compare what each subscription has in the MRA shop.

https://www.myrouteapp.com/en/shop

[Thomas Scharrer]

@Nick-Carthew I have tested now a little the HERE map for planning routes and yes it is better with respect to recognising gravel roads but otherwise I see unfortunately only disadvantages with this map compared to google maps because it is just a lot more basic. For example it cannot even find or recognise a gas station, meaning you are not able to search for s specific gas station with it. As you can see in the below picture compared to google maps, obviously it doesnt even now this gas station exists there.

I think I will soon give up with MRA or maybe start again in a couple of years when it is more useful. For motor bike trips I can anyway not use it since voice guidance is not working and my car has google maps implemented so its jut a lot more complicated and inconvenient to use MRA. It is still a good route planner with google maps map though

[Nick Carthew]

@Thomas-Scharrer This is why the overlay maps are available to use. Plan on the HERE map and switch between different overlay maps. Google is good for finding Cafes, restaurants, fuel stations etc. Michelin has the scenic roads indicated by a green line. OpenStreetMap has an incredible amount of detail when you zoom in, especially in towns and cities and you can see different types of roads including gravel roads.
Don’t give up, just invest a little more time in getting to know all of the tools and maps to use. There is no better RoutePlanner than MRA.

[Thomas Scharrer]

@Nick-Carthew thanks for encouraging me not to give up. I have tried hard the last couple of weeks to stay positive and use the HERE map for route planning.

Unfortunately I have to say that the HERE map is not working at all for me and I am seriously loosing it with this map. It might be that this map works well in central Europa but here in Scandinavia its just not usable at all.

The reason why it is not usable is because its cannot connect tow way points as you want them to be connected to create your desired route.

Here the explanation, please note that I had many cases like this when I used the HERE map but I am showing here only one example.

Picture 1: shows that the point 6 and 7 are very close together but the HERE map will NOT connect them and finds long ways to drive around.

Picture 2: is just a zoomed detail view to show the problem. As you can see there are only some meters between these points.

Picture 3: shows what happens when you switch to open street map. It immediately and automatically connects the the two points as it should be. However when switching back to the HERE map it is messed up again.
This is the reason why I am not able to use the HERE map for route planning, this is crazy.

Picture 4: shows that you can actually move these points together extremely close but it will still not connect them and will find the craziest ways to drive around.

I guess you will argue now (as defence) that this specific piece of road is a gravel road and I have selected to avoid gravel roads but that is not the case. I have been there before and I can assure that this is not a gravel road. I can also send proof from google street view if you like.

So unfortunately my conclusion is:

• Either you accept to have some gravel roads in you tours but you are actually able to plan tours with open street map
• or you dont have gravel roads but you have totally crazy and unusable route planning system.

EDIT: please note that the pictures ended up in opposite order

[Nick Carthew]

@Thomas-Scharrer Are you using the HERE planning map?
When I replicate your route I do not see a problem.

[Thomas Scharrer]

@Nick-Carthew yes I am using the HERE planning Planning map, that is the whole problem. If I change the planning map to open street map it works perfectly fine.

Maybe this is then some bug only I am experiencing but I had similar cases quite often now when I forced myself to use the HERE map as planning map.

It seems that in my here map it doesnt recognise that this is a possible turn so its always trying to avoid it

[Nick Carthew]

@Thomas-Scharrer Can you share this route with me please and I might be able to find a solution.

[Thomas Scharrer]

@Nick-Carthew I had deleted this route because I never managed to create it. I tried now to recreate the same and for some unexplainable reason it worked now in this position even though I tried everything before to make this work without success. Maybe there has come an update on the HERE map since I tried to create it?

I will let you know when I notice the next case like this

[Nick Carthew]

@Thomas-Scharrer It could have been a road closure that affected your route when you first planned it.

[Thomas Scharrer]

@Nick-Carthew thats hard to believe but I have no other explanation. You can see from my screenshots that it was impossible to to connect these two points