After decades of development, we're almost ready to launch the new OUTDOORSmagic Routes System and we'd like you to help us iron out some of the last remaining wrinkles.

Our aim was to create a member routes system where you can share routes complete with OS mapping and downloadable GPS data for free, upload images of the route, start forum threads and, in time, review routes you've walked and rate them.

You can add routes in a number of ways - by simply uploading a GPS file, by tracing the route on a clickable map or simply by describing the legs of the walk. The system can handle both walking and scramble routes and will soon have all the routes from the existing routes system added.

All we ask is that you bear in mind that while the system is broadly finished, it's still going to have a few minor bugs.

If you add a route - and please feel free to play with it, you don't have to add serious ones at this point if you don't want to - please put TEST at the start of the title.

If you don't want your route to be publically viewable, use the save to My Routes Page option in the submission process.

Once you've saved your route, for your own personal use, you can access it, along with your public routes at www.outdoorsmagic.com/members/myroutes.aspx.

As far as feedback goes, you can either add it to the thread here being as specific as possible or send a message to our man Sean - Message Sean

Anyway, have a play, see what you think, tell us about it

www.outdoorsmagic.com/routes

Jon,

have you used the mapmyrun website? You might get some ideas from there...

> Memory Map will, however, directly import GPX files

and GoogleEarth...

I tried uploading a route to the Routes system, and it took it without trouble.  Couldn't be bothered doing all the descriptive stuff, though...  Sorry...

Thanks Martin, we'll look into it

GPX routes are supposed to be a standard format, but it's honoured as much in the breach as the observance, as they say. There are different flavours of GPX routes and tracks, and Tracklogs apparently only understands its own.

MM will import GPX files exported from Tracklogs et al, but Tracklogs will not import GPX from MM (or any other program that I've found). I was hoping the latest Tracklogs 3.12.03 might have the necessary updates for other GPX flavours, but it doesn't.

OK, Geoff, more an oversight or lack of compliance with the Tracklogs application side of things. I have imported gpx routes to Tracklogs in the past. I continue to fail to pay for 'GPS Utility' (and so remain at the limited trackpoint free version) which does a nice job of conversions; having spent so heavily on Tracklogs I would have expected it to handle the conversion well enough.

Anyway, a great new service on the forum, many thanks for that. I'm sure it will just keep getting better.

Once you've saved your route, for your own personal use, you can access it, along with your public routes at www.outdoorsmagic.com/members/myroutes.aspx.

Creating a route using clicking on the map only appears to work with the Google maps display, I can't do it on an OS map display. Also, even when trying to do this I could not zoom in sensibly, the display went all over the place.

I'm assuming uploading stuff from mapping apps works, but the creating your own seems a long way off ready?

Zubald wrote (see)

Creating a route using clicking on the map only appears to work with the Google maps display, I can't do it on an OS map display. Also, even when trying to do this I could not zoom in sensibly, the display went all over the place.

Tracing directly onto OS maps is on our wishlist but that's potentially a very expensive proposition, so we're starting with the Google and  file-upload options.

Could you possibly be a bit more specific about the zoom going all over the place, then we can look into it? We've just added a search box to help you zoom directly in to your route location, if that's what you mean?

> Creating a route using clicking on the map only appears to work with the Google maps display

Try Where's The Path?

;-)

It works really well. You have saved me a job. I started to write something similar to this a couple of months ago after getting fed up with the other sites on the internet not quite offering what I wanted or charged for using them.

The only thing this is missing from what I was planning to do, is I was adding all the hills into my backend database so that I could then search for walks containing a hill.

I had hoped that I could make an intelligent guess whether a walk had contained a hill by how close the route was to the hill. This could then be used as a peak bagging tool. Maybe that is more than you intend to do, but seemed like something really usefull and interesting to do.

The only reason I stopped was due to some big projects at work taking up all my time. I even registered the domain. Anyway this is looking excellent so far

Here's one for you. I've just mapped a route from Glossop to Hope, a linear one, and although there's a miles/km toggle, it just doesn't seem to work properly if you try to change it during the editing stage. So, when I attempted to change the default km and metres of ascent units to miles and feel, it simply:

1. Transposed the km distance into miles - gross over-estimate.

2. Took the ascent in metres, divided it by the conversion factor between feet and metres and then quoted it in metres.. so, if the ascent was 300 metres, it was approximately divided by three and came up as 100 metres...

I'm confused. And I'm the site editor. Using Firefox on a Mac