Frequently Asked Questions
Help! Cuesheet entries are wrong!
You may notice a right turn should actually be a left, east should be west or other such inconsistencies. This is unfortunately a common problem, however the issue is not with our software. What is most likely happening is this: you are happily mapping along some road, and you are coming up on a turn and click on the intersection of the turn before clicking along the new street. What happens is Google misinterprets the click in the intersection and routes you past your turn. This will cause Google to think you need to then turn around in order to make your turn, which causes the direction to say right instead of left, or left instead of right. This also can happen when you are just traveling straight along a street: clicking near an intersection can cause Google to think you want to turn there, which will cause an extra unnecessary entry in the cuesheet as well as a little blip on the map. To keep this problem from happening, draw your route while zoomed in closer, which will allow you to easily see when these 'blips' occur, letting you know to undo the last click and try again. Also, when mapping a turn, instead of clicking the intersection of the turn, click past the intersection in the direction you wish to turn.
Remember, always double check your cuesheet before saving a route -- we don't want you or someone who finds your route making erroneous turns! It only takes a minute or so to double check a cuesheet and remove any unnecessary entries. This problem is not unique to us, even Map My Ride announced it in a recent newsletter. Here is what they said:
Elevation Accuracy
Many people contact us to tell us our elevations are not the same as they see on their altimeter/GPS units, Garmin Connect, MMR, etc. Unfortunately, this is always going to be the case because no one actually has 100% accurate elevation information. In reality, there is no sure fire way to exactly calculate the gain/loss of a particular route! However, we can get as close as possible to accurate, which is a difficult task. Currently, we are using some complex signal processing analysis to smooth out elevation data recorded from either your GPS unit, or from the USGS elevation dataset we use when mapping a new route. We believe we have the most accurate elevation data of any online mapping service, however, we are always wanting to improve it. Please contact us if you have experience processing noisy datasets using signal processing techniques or statistical analysis and have any ideas that could help. We would love to hear from you!
Speed/Gradient Colors
Many people have suggested we colorcode speed and gradient when showing the route on the map as well as the graph. We are planning on implementing this, so stay tuned!
Cue sheet printing
Printing a cuesheet can be done for routes with cues. If you view the route and there is a list of directions to the left of the map, you should see a link in the upper-right corner of that list, saying "Print". Clicking the link will open a new window which you can use to print out the directions. We are aware our current cuesheet printing is sub-par, and are actively creating a high quality map and cuesheet PDF generator. You will be able to either save the PDF or print at your leisure. Keep checking back for this feature!
Deleting a route or trip
You can delete a route or trip by being logged in and viewing the route or trip. On the ride sidebar, select the "Overview" tab (located at the top of the sidebar). You should see a link to delete the route or trip near the bottom of the information. You can also delete routes or trips from the activities or routes sections of the site. Select the "My Profile" drop down near the top of the page, and go to either "Routes" or "Activities" to see a list of your items. You can delete them from this screen (more efficient for bulk deleting).
Direct interface with Garmin Devices
We realize many people enjoy being able to interface directly with their Garmin devices on both bikely and MMR. This is in active development, and should be brought online within the coming weeks.
This feature was added in 1.0.4, in the main menu, titled "Garmin Sync"
Where is the auto-complete (there and back) feature when drawing a map?!?
Yeah I know, we suck. However, this feature is under development and should make it live within a few weeks.
Mouse wheel zooming on map
We know you want it, so this feature should be up within a couple weeks.
Update: we added this feature in 1.0.3
Embeddable Maps
To the right of the map, when viewing a route or trip, you'll find the sidebar with the route information in it. If you have the 'Overview' tab selected, there is another tab-box showing in that sidebar with three tabs, 'Comments', 'Share' and 'Export'. Click on 'Share' and you'll see a link called 'Embed code'. This is what you copy/paste into your website to embed a map.
Fullscreen Maps
To view a map fullscreen, click the fullscreen button located towards the bottom of a map. The button has what appears to be a small triangle in it, and is located at the bottom of a map, just above the elevation profile.
Why don't the keyboard controls work in fullscreen mode?
This is a limitation imposed by Adobe Flash to prevent hackers from hijacking your computer with a fullscreen window and keyboard controls
Help! I created a route when I was not logged in
Unfortunately, there is no current ability for a user to claim ownership of an anonymous route. We are exploring options to keep this issue at a minimum, and may elect to allow a logged in user to claim ownership of any anonymous route. Keep checking back for updates on this issue.
How do I edit a cuesheet?
Either while mapping or editing a route, you can delete cuesheet points by selecting the point to the left of the map, then clicking "Delete" on the window that popsup on the map itself. Adding a cuesheet point (coursepoint) to the map can be accomplished by clicking the "Add Course Point" link to the right of the map, then selecting the location on the map to put the point.
How do I draw along a bike or multi-use path?
You may have noticed, auto-following roads does not work on multi-use paths. This is an attempt by Google to avoid lawsuits -- I can hear the police statement now: "Google directed me to drive down this path!". To get around this, you can use walking/cycling mode. Enable cycling mode by clicking "Cycling" to the right of the map as you are planning your route. An annoying popup will display on the map warning you to be careful. Close this and map away!
How do I draw straight lines?
Select 'Draw Lines' to the right of the map. This turns off the auto-route feature. Re-enable auto-routing by selecting 'Follow Roads'
Why are there two friends on my profile?
When Zack and I were first exploring relationships on the site, we realized new profiles looked very blank. By automatically adding both of our accounts as default friends to new users, the new user had two immediate examples of how to use the site. We understand if you don't want to be friends with us (we are programmers, a tough personality to get along with), so you can remove the friendships easily. Just navigate to our respective profile pages, and underneath our pictures you should see a link to remove the friendship. It was nice knowing you :(
How do I delete a route or trip?
There are several ways to delete a route or trip. The easiest is while actually viewing a route or a trip. To the right of the map, you should see both an 'Edit' and 'Delete' link. Clicking on 'Delete' will, of course, delete the trip or route. Additionally, you can delete routes and trips by viewing the 'My Routes' and 'My Trips' pages (found under the 'My Profile' section in the navigation bar).
What do I need to use this site?
We require Flash Player 9 and any modern browser with javascript enabled. The site is tested in Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Internet Explorer 7 and up. Internet Explorer 6 is being phased out.
Do I need a GPS unit to use this site?
No, our site is useful for everyone interested in route planning. The advantage of having a GPS unit is that you can use our analysis features that reveal all sorts of cool statistics about your rides.
How do I download tracks from my GPS unit onto my computer?
For Mac users: Try GPS Babel or Ascent.
How do I draw a route, and put it on a Garmin 605/705?
Creating a route with ridewithgps.com for a Garmin 705
Thanks, Brian Heiland
How do I resize the cue sheet sidebar?
Click and drag on the very edge of the cue sheet sidebar. It's not immediately apparent that you can do this, but if you click and drag on the sidebar's shadow, that usually does the trick.