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Avoiding Gravel and Highways


2scooters

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Good Day All!

 

This past summer we have started geocaching and scootering!

 

As we are still learning both, I use my GPS to route us to the cache's. I have the GPS (Garmin 60c with detailed maps) set to avoid Highways and Gravel roads.

 

Even with this on, the darn things sends us down gravel and highways all the time. I would rather the GPS drive us around the earth to get to the cache as long as it avoids Highways and Gravel. I understand if it cannot get to the location without sending me down either but on many occasions I know for sure I can get there without having to.

 

Is there something I am missing? Has anyone ran into a GPS that does do this well? I am willing to upgrade if need be!

 

Thanks for any help or input!

Edited by 2scooters
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Your software works from information coded about the road. If they don't get that it's gravel coded the GPS doesn't know and will hapily send you down the road. It's a common problem in one form or another.

 

The easy solution is to wiz on by the gravel road or highway and force it to recalculate. As long as you have a general bearing it will eventually figure out that you don't want to go there and route you a new route.

 

That said it would be nice if you could

 

a) Tag the road yourself so for all future routings it knows it's gravel.

:( Tell the GPS to never use this road again until re-set. Maybe a "I hate this road" button.

c) Tell garmin or whoever that the road info is bad.

 

Start with C and suggest a and b as well.

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I can see why you want to avoid gravel roads. I also use a Big Ruckus to Geocache, which is a great scooter but you must be careful with the stock tires on gravel. We traveled across Iowa from Sioux City to Dubuque last summer in our little van on a paved highway but most of the caches were off on gravel roads which of course was no problem for the Road Trek RV. Most were well maintained and could have been ridden safely with the Big Ruckus. Good luck and have fun with your scooters.

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Has anyone found a certain type of GPS with more up to date road maps compared to others? (Maybe automobile GPS's compared to handheld)

 

Unfortunately, due the the labor intensive processes involved in collecting and organizing this ever changing data, most (all?) of the mapping software manufacturers (and online mapping services) get their data from the same source: Navteq. If you go the route of reporting errors you find, you'll be better served reporting it to Navteq directly, since they're the ones who will need to make the changes.

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I use the 76C on my Big Ruckus, which is about the same as the 60C. I live here in the PNW in Bremerton, WA. We have plenty of blacktop roads even in logging roads. You have two great scooters that are capable of staying up with traffic on the Freeways and lots of BR riders commute on them. I am 81 and would like to extend my life a few more years so I stay off of them. As mentioned by others if I don't like the route they want me to take, I go where I want to and let it recalculate.

I really don't think you are going to get any GPS that is going to route any better than your 60C. Good Luck. Dick

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Looks like Navteq in turn gets most of its data from state agencies where available and have in addition some local reviewer.

 

As for all database system, the biggest part is not only getting the data but to keep them up to date and accurate. Here in addition, it is a manual process.

 

The devil is in the details ! :D

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Last summer my daughter and I went on a motorcycle road rally in South Dakota and used my old Magellan Meridian Gold for street mapping. While it worked pretty well, it had us zooming along nice paved county roads which abrupty turned into gravel (not fun on a fully loaded Goldwing). About a month ago I bought a Garmin Streetpilot 2610 and I noticed that gravel roads are displayed with dashed/ broken lines- which is also true on the computer mapping program. You can also tell the GPSr to avoid gravel roads too when routing. This may not be the case in every situation, but it's a start.

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Thats handy seeing them as gravel before you get to them, the 60C does not, maybe a Streetpilot is in my future.....

 

I try to just pass them if I notice they are gravel but it is sometimes harder with another scooter behind you as you wan to give them notice if you are turning or not.

 

Thanks for all the help everyone!

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Hey whoa, hold on a sec, when did this turn into a bash Iowa thread?

 

And nobody told me? :)

 

Dumb Iowa Laws

# Kisses may last for no more than five minutes.

# One-armed piano players must perform for free.

# A man with a moustache may never kiss a woman in public.

# It is a violation of the law to sell or distribute drugs or narcotics without having first obtained the appropriate Iowa drug tax stamp.

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Good Day All!

 

This past summer we have started geocaching and scootering!

 

Gravel is a good deal less terrifying if you stand on the pegs, relax the arms, and let the bike wallow around underneath you. Takes practice but I am told it can eventually feel like fun. :-)

 

There is a gravel road off to the side on my way to work and I take that little detour every commute to keep my gravel skills building.

 

Here is a ratty cameraphone pic of my bike in a field during a recent geocaching adventure... I had a Legend mounted on the handlebars. Wouldn't roll without it.

Picture378_21Oct06.jpg

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Yeppers, eventually I may feel good on gravel but not yet....

 

I got my hands on a cheap Maio c310 GPS. So far it is working great, sends me down some great roads and ignores gravel roads. I have also figured out how to add hundreds of caches to it, and just whip the Garmin out when I get close to the cache. So far so good!

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