Technological Evolution: Measuring & Planning Routes in the 21st Century
Posted October 11th, 2006 at 4:00 AM by Trish Monks
Section: Running & Training, Gear & Apparel, Miscellaneous
TFS is proud to welcome our newest writer - Trish Monks. She is our first writer from our neighbor across the Atlantic. Although Brits might speak a little differently and make us laugh from time to time - we still love them and we love Trish’s writing. Enjoy!
Back in the olden days, when a string vest was considered suitable race wear and over-pronation didn’t exist, measuring the length of your training routes was fairly torturous stuff. Depending on your preferences, it usually involved fiddling about with a bit of string on a map, driving around your route in a car (tricky if you like a bit of the muddy stuff!), or pushing a trundle wheel ahead of you: not ideal.
These days your options are rather more sophisticated. There are a plethora of gadgets available to take with you on the run, designed to tell you how far you have gone and how fast you are going (I have a Polar S625x which is a fabulous bit of kit - I’ll tell you about it some day!) or, as an alternative, software which can be used as a sort of “virtual” piece of string.
Despite owning a distance measuring gadget, I still use map measuring software (mainly for route planning - especially those “long, slow distance runs [LSD’s] during marathon training!) on a reasonably regular basis and I think it’s great.
For years I used Accuroute - a most excellent bit of software that lets you measure your route on maps that you either scan in from your cartographic collection or download free from the Internet. It claims to be 99.9% accurate and I had no complaints at all. Things change, however, and although Accuroute was one of the first on the scene, others have followed - giving us products that are now generally free, web-based and more featured packed than ever!
The most popular, and the one is now my measuring method of choice, is gmap-pedometer. Using Google Maps, this web-based programme allows you to measure any route using either a standard map view or, where available, satellite pictures. You can save or print your route, switch between miles and kilometers, and, if you are in the US, show the elevation profile (It’s really quite amazing).
To get started you need to select your location by filling in the name of your town, or a post/ZIP code, in the “jump to” box at the top of the screen. If you are in China, Japan or the UK you need to also click on the “other options” link which will then give you an additional drop-down box where you select your country.
Once you are centred on your starting point, click on the “start recording” button on the left of the screen - now you are into it! To mark your start position, double click where you want it to be and then repeat the double clicking (to put down waypoints) all the way around your route to the end. Your total mileage is shown on the left of the screen, and you can toggle between metric and imperial measurements to your heart’s desire.
If you click on the “Save Route” option you will be given the URL of the route that you have just marked, so you can bookmark it for another day, or send it to your running buddies, so they can see where you ran last Sunday, or where you plan to take them next week! Here’s one I prepared earlier - my Sunday run.
Also, on the site there is a support forum, where people post routes that they have already marked out - so if you were heading somewhere for the weekend, you might pick up some tips on good places to run/walk/cycle, and have the route ready to print out and take with you. How cool is that?
The only downside is that (inevitably) the route you measure is never as far as you thought it was, which is always a bit of a disappointment! On the upside though, it does mean that you have the distance and route information available so you can better plan your training, monitor your pace or show your other half where you are going to be for the next hour!
I think this is a great piece of software! Never has route finding/planning and distance measuring been so easy and available.
One can only imagine how technological evolution will continue to aid runners in their training.
Anyone want to buy a trundle wheel…………..?
Picture from: [Delta Education]
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Tags: gadgets, gmap pedometer, google maps, Google pedometer, long slow distance, marathon training, measuring software, polar s625x, pronate, pronation, technology, trundle wheel
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The Final Sprint