Wow.
That was an extensive list.
I used the app link to register yet another Tom Tom activity. I managed to plot a route and transfer it to the Tom Tom. What confused me again was it then asked did I want winding roads or fastest route.
Hopefully going out Monday day to try following a fabulous loop in Normandy.
Thank you Wapping. I will have another look at the links later.
Assuming that the TomTom route creation software works in a similar way to Garmin’s own, I guess you have several options available to you:
1. Ask the software / device to give you a route from A (your start point) to B, to C, to D (your end point) which it will according to certain pre-set conditions. For example:
a. Fastest time, not necessarily the shortest distance between the four points
b. Most direct, which will be the shortest distance between the four points but not necessarily the quickest. Nor indeed perhaps the roads that you had in mind at all
c. Twisty or windy roads; roads which it imagines a motorcyclist might want to take. Not necessarily the fastest, nor the most direct
2. That probably accounts for the three most common choices. I guess (as I do not own a TomTom) that there may then be options where you can ask the software to exclude or favour some roads over others. For example, exclude motorways or toll roads or narrow roads or roads with seasonal closures. In short, you fine tune the software’s algorithms to suit your preferences.
3. There will then probably be a basis whereby you force the route creation software to take only the roads you, not the computer, chose to take. If TomTom works like Garmin, you either click on each road in sequence (fine tuning as necessary) or ask it for A to D and then drag or rubber band the offered up route, so that it follows exactly the roads you want to take. Using this method it’s sometimes easier if you turn all your preference settings off. You don’t need them on, as you are dictating your preferences to the software by choosing the roads you want to take. In that sense, it’s no different to highlighting the roads on a paper map.
If, after 10 years, you are familiar with Garmin devices and software (BaseCamp and Mapsource) TomTom’s can’t be much different, surely?
See how you get on on Monday.
PS Many bods on this site swear by MyRoute app for all their route creation needs, whether TomTom or Garmin. Sometimes this is down to nothing more than the app using Google maps, which they are familiar with. Sometimes it’s down to the ease of transfer of the route between the computer and their device. Sometimes it’s down to them wanting to run the route on their phone. Sometimes it’s just down to nothing more than they have read (or their mate’s mate has told them) that Garmin / TomTom’s software “Is well shite, mate”. Sometimes it’s something else, too.
Try it out. Experiment. Find what works for you. It’s free and you really can’t break it.
If nothing else, ask Google. Rest assured you will not be the first person to wonder (in English) how to do something. Google has the ability to find things in (very often) just three words. I found all the ‘extensive list’ by typing: TomTom create and export route. OK that was five words but I guess you’ll get the idea; dropping the ‘and’ will bring it down to four. I made it five as you had two questions, how to create a route and how to get it onto your device. So I asked Google both questions at once, five words instead of six. Then flick between ‘All’ and ‘Video’ in the tabs until you find what you want to do. As I say, you can’t break it. Find something you like or does the job? Great. Maybe save it to save yourself time next time. It’s all free.