Help - Options
Elevation Data
Elevation data is retrieved from a web service as each point is created. If elevation data is not of interest to you then
uncheck the 'Use Elevation Data' checkbox. Normally elevation data is retrieved almost instantly, however there may be
occasions when it takes a long time to retrieve the data, or it is not possible to retrieve the data at all. If elevation data
can not be retrieved for a point, the point will be given the same elevation as the previous point. You can see
when elevation data is being retrieved as a progress bar is displayed in the top left hand corner of the window.
Time
The estimated time to cycle the course can be calculated by the application and used for the Virtual Partner. You can specify
whether an average speed should be used or whether the speed should slow down on hills.
Speed On Flat is simply the speed that you normally cylce on a flat road with no wind.
Climbing Speed is the number of meters you climb per minute when going uphill not including the time it takes to move forward.
e.g. if you normally cycle at 30kph on the flat and it takes you 6 minutes to cycle up a 1km hill with a 10% gradient then
your climbing speed is 25 meters/minute. It would take you 2 minutes to cycle 1km on the flat at 30kph, so the hill adds
4 minutes to your time. A grade of 10% means that you will climb 100 meters over 1km so 100 meters / 4 minutes =
25 meters / minute.
Currently the speed on the Virtual Partner is not increased on downhill sections. Downhill speed is more complicated
to estimate than uphill speed. However it is planned that this feature will be added to BikeRouteToaster.com in the future.
In the mean time it is possible to speed up the virtual partner on downhill sections by increasing the 'Speed On Flat' setting
temporarily. This setting only applies to the next point you create, so you can increase the speed while plotting
downhill sections and then return it to your normal flat speed at the end of the descent.
Add Course Point Warnings
Course Points are a great navigational aid as they can tell you when you have make a turn at a junction. Many GPS units
will create a popup message when you arrive at a Course Point. However sometimes this popup message doesn't appear until you
are right on top of the Course Point, or sometimes even after you have passed it. This reduces the usefulness of
Course Points for navigation.
By selecting the 'Add Course Point Warnings' checkbox you can add Course Point Warnings to the GPS file that is created.
When you use this option nothing new is shown on the screen while creating your course. However when the completed course
is downloaded aditional Course Points will have been added before the Course Points that you specified in your course. This
means that your GPS will now warn you when you are coming up to a course point.
Warning Distance
When using the 'Add Course Point Warnings' feature you can choose how far ahead of the Course Points you would like the
warnings to created. This can be from 1 to 1000 meters or 1 to 3000 feet.
Warning Prefix
When Course Point Warnings are added to your course they are given the same name and type as the COurse Point that they
are warning you about. This can be confusing as you may not know if you have arrived at a Course Point or have only just
arrived at the warning for that Course Point. By adding a prefix you can easily distinguish between Course Points and
Course Point warnings. For example if you create Course Points Warnings 200 meters before each Course Point you could
add a prefix of '2h' or '200' so that when you see the warning you will know that you are 200 meters from the Course Point.
Saving Settings
If you click on the 'Save Settings' button your current settings will be saved in a cookie and then automatically loaded the
next time you use BikeRouteToaster.com. The current map location is also saved when you click this button.
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