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#11
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Sustrans website and cycle maps - is there a better alternative?
"Niall Wallace" wrote in message news "Peter Fox" wrote in message ... (though this may be sticking in mind having passed Scene of Crime officers and the coroners (Jaguar Estate) car just north of balloch.) Coronors should have been Fiscals. (No such thing as Coroner here) Mentionedi n otdays P&J http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/dis...pNodeId=149221 |
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#12
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Sustrans website and cycle maps - is there a better alternative?
On Apr 8, 5:07 pm, Patter wrote:
On 7 Apr 2007 15:43:58 -0700, digitaltoast wrote: Have you tried the OS maps site?http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/ Couple of other people have suggested this - I don't see the cycles routes on that site anywhere. I don't see hi-res photography and easy scroll and pan that lets me follow a route along so I can guage the quality of the path. I don't see the "community layer" I was talking about. For example, this took me less than a minute: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...1d85550c605ff5 Actually, I just found a very basic version of what I was talking about: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...015,1.2854&t=k That, combined with distances and waypoints, would be just what I was looking for. In fact, I was able to get a fairly good guide to the distance of the ride I'd planned in about 2 minutes, just by typing towns along the river into google: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=e...0.37815,1.2854 If Sustrans adopted the google maps option, not only would there be no charges to sustrans, but anyone could follow it with any browser, and turn on a "community layer" option. That said, yes, the OS maps gives a little more detail, but I'd rather have the actual info! It was a thoroughly enjoyable ride in the end - the Pewsey end of the canal path is a little rough, but the rest is excellent. Some pics http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/digita...istolCycleRide |
#13
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Sustrans website and cycle maps - is there a better alternative?
On Apr 8, 10:49 am, Peter Fox
wrote: IMHO The crunch is "is a sustrans route particularly better than alternatives" I suspect the answer is "rarely". It might be different or if lucky a well designed, well maintained, well signposted and really useful cycle specific facility - but really it's just "we've picked some roads going in a general direction". Hmmm... what I don't see Sustrans as, yet, is what it was designed for, ie: to be an alternative to road use. (I almost don't appear to have mastered readable sentences yet - I know what I mean!) I use Sustrans just to plan an amiable day out. Unfortunately, as a later poster points out, mindless dickheads seem to enjoy turning the signs round to point the wrong way. I correct the ones I can, not wanting anyone else to waste the same 2 miles I often do, but sometimes it's clearly been a several-chav effort to lift a large post. |
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Sustrans website and cycle maps - is there a better alternative?
On Apr 8, 6:18 pm, "Pinky" wrote:
"digitaltoast" wrote in message To be honest my comments do not just apply to Sustrans but to the general lack of cleanliness of our countryside.-- and it is not just the beer can chucking driver -- it is also the litter chucking pedestrian and cyclist as well. Yeah - what the HELL is with drivers chucking cans at cyclists?? Several cycling friends have had the same. Usually, the drink or chips or whatever miss, but one time it was raining already and I was miles from home when I felt the pain and "splosh" of a can of something, launched from a passing car, hitting my back. I lost it, pedalled like hell and caught them in some traffic, keys at the ready, BIG scratch down the side, smashed the wing mirror on the way past. (Bruised my hand as well, the *******s!). I didn't glance back, but the explosion of noise and cursing behind suggested that I'd done a good job I know a friend who carries a pocket of marbles for the cars that never seem to see cyclists at a junction in Windsor. Not entirely sure I'd risk doing that if there wasn't a good getaway path! |
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Sustrans website and cycle maps - is there a better alternative?
Following on from digitaltoast's message. . .
I use Sustrans just to plan an amiable day out. Unfortunately, as a later poster points out, mindless dickheads seem to enjoy turning the signs round to point the wrong way. I correct the ones I can, not Tip for ALL sign erectors. Put a self-tapper through the band and post. Adds another level of difficulty. -- PETER FOX Not the same since the submarine business went under www.eminent.demon.co.uk - Lots for cyclists |
#16
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Sustrans website and cycle maps - is there a better alternative?
Following on from Niall Wallace's message. . .
"Niall Wallace" wrote in message news "Peter Fox" wrote in message ... [NO I DIDNT - Your email mincer is telling lies] (though this may be sticking in mind having passed Scene of Crime officers and the coroners (Jaguar Estate) car just north of balloch.) Coronors should have been Fiscals. (No such thing as Coroner here) Mentionedi n otdays P&J http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/dis...9664&command=d isplayContent&sourceNode=149490&contentPK=1706501 0&folderPk=85696&p NodeId=149221 -- PETER FOX Not the same since the deckchair business folded www.eminent.demon.co.uk - Lots for cyclists |
#17
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Sustrans website and cycle maps - is there a better alternative?
"digitaltoast" wrote:
I emailed them about 6 months ago to suggest using a googlemaps mashup system, which would be totally free [...] and would lock out lots of browsers who google just doesn't care about. For example, tubejp.co.uk does nothing here. The sustrans system is imperfect, but it's better than google. There's a real gap for a killer web mapping system still, years after the likes of streetmap.co.uk and multimap.com first appeared and started stagnating. The problems with signs are probably partly due to tiny council cycle route signing budgets (under 20kpa for cycle signs, barriers and bollards in Norfolk - and guess which of those takes priority?) and the second-class approach to cycling signs (for example, I've been told that they should make cycle route sign lettering smaller to make cyclists slow down at junctions). Cycle route signs should be funded properly and use the same principles of making route-finding easy as main road signs - it is stupid to build so many cycle tracks and bypasses and then sign them so badly that they're annoying to use. -- MJ Ray - see/vidu http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Webmaster/web developer, statistician, sysadmin, online shop maker, developer of koha, debian, gobo, gnustep, various mail and web s/w. Workers co-op @ Weston-super-Mare, Somerset http://www.ttllp.co.uk/ |
#18
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Sustrans website and cycle maps - is there a better alternative?
On Apr 7, 11:43 pm, "digitaltoast" wrote:
I consider myself to be fairly technical, but I find the sustrains site incredibly difficult to use! OK, I know they want you to buy the "proper" maps, but why is there online mapping system so difficult to use? I emailed them about 6 months ago to suggest using a googlemaps mashup system, which would be totally free, but they didn't reply - I guess they must have paid a whole wad of cash for the rights to use those 'orrible static maps. It seems that people have mashed up everything from starbucks locations to The Underground (http://tubejp.co.uk/) and with the new "anyone can use" mapmaker (http://maps.google.com/help/maps/userguide/ index.html) allowing easy adding of placemarks, lines, shapes, notes, pictures etc, I was wondering if anyone had set about making something more user friendly? If not, I might even give it a go myself! But I feel sure that someone MUST have made a decent version of the routes - I just can't find it Have you tried the CTC's system at http://www.ctc-maps.org.uk/? It uses a variety of mapping methods including the Google Maps interface and text entry of route sheets. Lots of routes are building up in there but I couldn't find anything directly relating to Sustrans routes. I think you may need to be a CTC member to use it. -- Dave... |
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Sustrans website and cycle maps - is there a better alternative?
digitaltoast wrote:
On Apr 8, 10:49 am, Peter Fox wrote: IMHO The crunch is "is a sustrans route particularly better than alternatives" I suspect the answer is "rarely". It might be different or if lucky a well designed, well maintained, well signposted and really useful cycle specific facility - but really it's just "we've picked some roads going in a general direction". Hmmm... what I don't see Sustrans as, yet, is what it was designed for, ie: to be an alternative to road use. (I almost don't appear to have mastered readable sentences yet - I know what I mean!) I use Sustrans just to plan an amiable day out. Unfortunately, as a later poster points out, mindless dickheads seem to enjoy turning the signs round to point the wrong way. I correct the ones I can, not wanting anyone else to waste the same 2 miles I often do, but sometimes it's clearly been a several-chav effort to lift a large post. i suppose if what its suposed to be alternative for ie lesure or commuting. the two do not nessarly meet. all the times i've met sustrans the impression was not one of a well run orgnisation. roger |
#20
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Sustrans website and cycle maps - is there a better alternative?
"Peter Fox" wrote in
message ... Following on from Niall Wallace's message. . . "Niall Wallace" wrote in message news "Peter Fox" wrote in message ... [NO I DIDNT - Your email mincer is telling lies] Correct, You didn't... I did though. Not sure if its OE or my crap editing though Niall |
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