Course Planner does not display snap-to routes

[riogrande]

I'm a year into using a 66i. When I first got it I played with the Course Planner and it worked as designed - it would snap to roads and trails, using whatever default settings were there at the time. Since then I've not used that feature at all, but the other day had a need to plan a route; don't recall if I've changed any relevant settings since last year. The problem is that I cannot get it to snap to roads and trails, it will display only straight-line segments between my selected map points. Same if I'm using POIs or waypoints. Looking at Routing Setup, I have Direct Routing off, Activity is Auto Driving, Lock on Road is yes, Course Nav is Roads & Trails.

Maps are updated to latest version, firmware is at 9.80.

Any help appreciated!

[Przekątny]

Looking at Routing Setup, I have Direct Routing off, Activity is Auto Driving, Lock on Road is yes, Course Nav is Roads & Trails.

In route configuration - Activity - select the appropriate activity,
(other than the direct route).

[GPSrChive]

Are you absolutely certain the device has routable maps enabled when this occurs?

Which maps?

[riogrande]

I found that the activity "Automobile Driving" is broken as far as snapping to the route.
But the other route/course activities I tested DO snap to map routes, either via manually selected map points, waypoints, or POIs.

These activities that I tried - Cycling, Pedestrian Walking, Hiking, Mountaineering, ATV - all of them snap to the routes (roads or trails, as appropriate).

Some other observations:
- "Prompted" does not work, I am never asked for an activity type; however, the route does snap to roads and trails, whichever algorithm is being used.
- once an activity type is selected I do not see it specified anywhere in the saved Route, so no way of confirming afterwards which kind of routing was done.
- despite selecting Direct Routing => No in the setup, I am asked every time during route/course creation if I want Direct Path or Roads & Trails; this is a UX issue that needs to be fixed, along with the inconsistency of using two words for the same thing (routing and path).

It would be interesting to know if my results can be replicated on others' devices.

[Przekątny]

Attempts to calculate a route with the appropriate settings on the map without the ability
to automatically calculate a route along roads should display the following message:

"Route Calculation - Error - Maps do not have routable routs in this area"

[GPSrChive]

I found that the activity "Automobile Driving" is broken as far as snapping to the route.
But the other route/course activities I tested DO snap to map routes, either via manually selected map points, waypoints, or POIs.

These activities that I tried - Cycling, Pedestrian Walking, Hiking, Mountaineering, ATV - all of them snap to the routes (roads or trails, as appropriate).

'Automobile Driving' routing other than direct path will only work with CityNavigator maps installed (on most devices).

Some other observations:
- "Prompted" does not work, I am never asked for an activity type; however, the route does snap to roads and trails, whichever algorithm is being used.

Selecting 'Prompted' in Setup > Routing > Activity applies only to when you are actually starting navigation.

- once an activity type is selected I do not see it specified anywhere in the saved Route, so no way of confirming afterwards which kind of routing was done.

Lost me here - I don't see where the user can specify specific activity types for saved routes or courses.

- despite selecting Direct Routing => No in the setup, I am asked every time during route/course creation if I want Direct Path or Roads & Trails; this is a UX issue that needs to be fixed, along with the inconsistency of using two words for the same thing (routing and path).

This is because you have 'Course Navigation' set to 'Prompted'.

[riogrande]

Thanks for detailed replies. I had not heard of CityNavigator maps before, but they are def. not anything I'd need on the 66i.

Editorial Comment: in general, portable computer software has too many poorly designed applications. E.g., instead of just silently failing to properly route when "Automobile Driving" is selected, there could be a short msg that it's not supposed to work with the default map. Garmin's online documentation is often not fine-grained enough to cover the kinds of issues I describe here.

>>Selecting 'Prompted' in Setup > Routing > Activity applies only to when you are actually starting navigation.
If that is the case, how would I know that "Prompted" only refers to active navigation rather than to the route than I'm creating, since I'm in the Routing setup screen? BTW my original intent for using the Routing feature was to simply find the driving mileage from a current location to my destination, not to actively navigate along that route; I've not ever tried to navigate a Course.

>>Lost me here - I don't see where the user can specify specific activity types for saved routes or courses.
Setup => Routing => Activity Same as above... I'm in Routing setup (not Activities and/or Recording). Just ran another test: after selecting ATV/Off Road, I plotted a route from a road to the middle of a non-motorized trail, and I got exactly what I expected - a route along streets to the closest trailhead for the trail, but NOT along the trail itself. That great! (Previously having selected Hiking, the route went along the trail, not bypassing it.) Thus since this option is for creating the route, it would be nice if we could see that in the Course data for later review.

>>This is because you have 'Course Navigation' set to 'Prompted'.
Not true, set to "Roads & Trails" throughout all of my tests. Another bug, since Course Navigation can be any of the three options and I'll always have to pick when creating a new Course.

It appears that there's still much improvement to be made in the software interface. I'm a former software designer myself and know how much goes into making applications useful, so I'm perplexed at how some of this made it past user testing.

~Bob

[Przekątny]

I found that the activity "Automobile Driving" is broken as far as snapping to the route.
But the other route/course activities I tested DO snap to map routes, either via manually selected map points, waypoints, or POIs.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the device also has a Route Creation function.

Garmin navigation systems use three formats for recording the driving/hiking track: track,
route (in the gpx file) and course (in the FIT file), although they may look similar on the screen,
they differ in the structure created by the device and the way they work is different.
The matter becomes even more complicated because the route can be a direct route,
which does not mean that it has to be a straight line between points A and B, can be an autorouting route,
the track is a record of hiking/driving (tracking), but it can be a track determined manually,
Course is not a track or a route, therefore, when starting, you can select the method
of determining Direct route or according to roads and trails.

[Nail]

I found that the activity "Automobile Driving" is broken as far as snapping to the route.
But the other route/course activities I tested DO snap to map routes, either via manually selected map points, waypoints, or POIs.

To navigate your car, did you want to use the "route" or "course" option? "Route and Course" should work without any problems on any map with routing. I just tested it with the "driving" profile and it works with OSM and TOPO maps, no CN needed. You have wrong settings in the "routing" menu. Using heading navigation in a car is dangerous. To navigate by car, use the "route" option, which can be recalculated after leaving the designated route.

[riogrande]

Przekątny & Nail: My Route Planner app was hidden, and so as I read your comments I brought it into the main menu. I think this is what I wanted all along - very simple, no options, calculates along roads - and it gives me an estimate of mileage from A to B. Not for driving, just planning.

Only once have I used the active navigation feature while driving, from current location to a selected POI. It's been a while, but I think I created a Course, then in the second (map) screen selected "Go" to get sound prompts at turns while driving to the POI. As I recall it recalculated when I diverted from the previously mapped route, and this feature worked as designed. I do not know what the settings were at the time in Routing setup.

I don't actually have many use cases for most of the Tracking and Course functions; admittedly they take some practice to sort out.

If I may, a question about the first data screen on a saved Course/Activity/Track: Why is there Area? Not applicable for a linear route/course/activity. If it's there in case the route/course/activity is a closed loop, then it ought to be blank for linear recordings. Just tried the Area app, and it also shows an area calculation whether or not the loop is closed. What would be the tolerance for deciding that loop endpoints meet - the minimum distance that the unit currently uses for its GPS data?