

Tell HN: If you like to run, walk, or bike check out my latest weekend hack - akmiller

I really got into running this year and after using several different tools online to map out routes around my neighborhood I got frustrated and built my own.<p>This was built over a few weekends and I'm continually trying to refine it, yet keep it simple and focused on one small thing (creating and sharing routes).<p>The advice in the HN community is second to none so if you have any feedback at all, positive or negative, I'd love to hear it!<p>http://sketchroute.com<p>Thanks!
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klous
It took me sometime to figure out you just start single clicking to set
markers. (Had to read the about page to know this) A little note to the effect
of: "just start clicking to add markers" would have been helpful.

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akmiller
Easy enough, that will go to the top of my list!

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udfalkso
1) Hitting the ENTER key on my keyboard should submit the search form on the
right. Right now I have to click on the Go button with my mouse or tab -
space. (FF on Mac)

2) The elevation map is nice, but it would be great if I could click on a part
of it and it would show me exactly where on my route that elevation
corresponds to. A flashing marker in that spot for a second perhaps.

3) I've seen other similar services place mile markers along the routes. This
is a nice feature that won't detract from the simplicity of your site at all.

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aquark
I like the simplicity of the interface, but second an option to have km's. I
always prefer running in km's the numbers are better!

What would be really cool is the ability to set a start point and ask for a
circular route of N kms (miles) and have the site create one. No idea if that
is even remotely possible with the google map API though ...

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mattlong
Circular route calculation would be definitely be the coup de grâce of route-
plotting apps for me. I've never tried an online route-plotting app before and
was expecting/hoping that yours would be based on generating circular routes.

For most users, I think finding a circular route is the latent need. Being
able to plot a route manually is the next-best solution.

Overall, great work! Keep it up and let me/us know when you figure out
circular routes. :-)

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theycallmemorty
Pretty cool!

1) It would be good if you gave some instructions about what to do. something
like 'click anywhere to map out a new route'.

2) It would be enhanced if you did some geo-location to automatically figure
out what city I live in.

3) It would be cool if you could convert the 'miles' counter to kilometers
just by toggling a radio button or something.

But this is a great tool and I'll be sure to use it. The elevation graph was
particularly interesting.

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stravid
Im from Europe and not used to miles so I would also appreciate a button to
toggle between miles and kilometers!

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akmiller
Absolutely, I will get that in there ASAP!

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proee
very cool. I've been using gmaps-pedometer for this exact thing.

<http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/>

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kmano8
They added a feature about a year or two ago that will lock your routes to
roads so you don't have to create little vertices around curves. This would be
a helpful feature.

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jim_h
I noticed it this week. I wish the lines hugged a little closer to the
building and on the sidewalk though. I use it to measure my jogging distance
and having it measure the street instead of the sidewalk can add a mile to my
routine, which is usually around a big block. I just do it manually now. I
can't complain, the site have been really usefully over the last few years.

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dpapathanasiou
I use a stationary treadmill or elliptical machine every morning, so how about
a feature that lets me input my total watts or calories, and measures a map
radius of how far I could have traveled if I were running outside?

Even better, let me chain those lengths end-on-end, so I can simulate running
across country to to distant cities?

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Super_Jambo
Running on a treadmill is significantly easier due to lack of wind resistance.

Although you probably know this already it bit me pretty hard training for run
without doing much outdoor running!

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dpapathanasiou
I'm not preparing for an outdoor run.

I just think this would be a cool way to track my progress, in addition to the
other cardio metrics I already maintain.

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Aaronontheweb
This looks cool - I use <http://www.everytrail.com/> and its iPhone app for
when I go mountain biking.

As for your service - it'd be cool if you could provide some stock routes just
as an example to see what's possible. Maybe do some big hiking routes or
something.

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Scriptor
Nice job! Here are some suggestions:

Though it might break the simplicity of the app, it'd be nice if it could plot
a road-based route between two points. It'd save a lot of clicks. :)

Also, make the markers smaller and try to detect whether there are any
existing plotted routes nearby. My route has a lot of overlaps and it can be
hard to differentiate them. Another option is that if you click on an existing
marker it will merge the route into it. To diverge from it, you could click
the marker you want to diverge from.

Make markers draggable and update distance and height metrics while I drag
them. That would be a good way to check for better variations of an existing
route.

Show regular distance intervals. So that you'd be able to see the literal
milestones of your route.

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dugmartin
Agreed about the route between two points. DailyMile.com does this very well.

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Scriptor
Someone also mentioned Gmaps Pedometer: <http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/>

It has most of the things I want in a route planner. I'll also check Daily
Mile out, thanks for the link!

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iamdave
Hey cool! I was just telling myself the other day that I need to start living
a healthier lifestyle, part of this was getting out and going walking,
building up to jogging. I've always wondered about just a barebones, downright
simple point and click route system, this does it. Bonus points for the
elevation widget, and even more points for the "Link to this Route" function.

Great job!

edit Just had an idea, if you have any plans on sharing routes and letting
multiple people define courses, maybe color coding I can easily see this
turning into a nice tool to coordinate city wide scavenger hunts, or even
useful as an aid for geocaching

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akmiller
You can share a route by generating a public link then send it to whomever
you'd like.

I like the idea of being able to define multiple routes and color-coding and
thought that would also be beneficial for events putting on races that have
different routes. I'll add that to my list as well.

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loumf
I run a lot and have tried out many of these tools and have settled on
DailyMile with Garmin GPS integration for a few reasons.

1\. I got bored running the same thing over and over, but re-entering a route
is a pain

2\. I like DailyMile so I wanted integration with it (otherwise I have to
enter the route again)

That being said, your UI is nicer than most that I used except you don't
follow roads. If I didn't use Garmin's GPS, I'd consider it if it exported to
DailyMile.

To make it easier for those who have lots of routes, let me edit a past route
-- would love if I could just drag/drop like Google's driving route editor
lets me do.

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eventhough
I use gmap-pedometer to route all of my runs. I probably use it about 2-3
times a week so I've been waiting for someone to build something a bit more
versatile and possibly even let me create routes from a mobile phone (this
would be a cool feature and differentiate for you).

I've been staring at your site for the last 2 minutes and I can't figure out
how to create a route. I think I glanced at one of the comments here and they
said single click to drop a marker.... I'll give that a shot. But if I can't
figure out how to create a route within 5 seconds you need to find a better
way to communicate it.

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eventhough
Okay I just created a typical route I usually create in gmap-pedometer using
single clicks. Feedback:

1\. The routes don't follow the street...this is good when I go off the road
but not so good when I am 100% roads. I like how gmap follows the street as
much as possible until you switch it to "off road" which lets you route
wherever you want.

2\. I really like your elevation chart. Nice job. What would be even better is
if the elevation chart had an X-axis that mapped the elevation to the current
distance in the run. That way I know that the hill will hit me at mile 4, etc.

3\. Public link to route should automatically highlight and copy for me.
(click to copy)

Additional ideas for features:

-let me drop a note at a certain place along the route to share info -let the community specify areas of high traffic, tourists, etc. -share routes with the community, get feedback

-one problem which I haven't thought about too much yet. when we share routes with each other, everyone has a different "starting" location. it would be good if your site knew my starting location and then when I viewed someone else's route it would automatically re-route and re-calculate the fastest way for me to join his route and at which point to join.... I hope that makes sense.

great work overall.

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davidwparker
I agree with everything eventhough wrote. I normally use gmap-pedometer and
the number one issue keeping me from using your app was 1) on eventhough's
list: I need the route to stick to the roads unless I choose otherwise.

Other than that, great work.

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TGJ
Clearing the map is kind of annoying since it reloads the page yet I can clear
the markers by clicking clear last marker multiple times without the page
reloading. Plus the clear option resets my map selection and I really only
want to clear the markers.

I'd like to be able to draw my route with the mouse.

The elevation chart is nice. How about an estimated travel time?

How come the elevation limits are different for terrain and the others?

Nice page. Goes in my Interesting Sites folder.

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stoney
The elevation plot is fantastic - it will help avoid any unpleasant surprises
when I'm planning new routes! Would be even better if you could somehow link
the elevation plot to the position on the route - e.g. if I hover over a point
on the elevation chart (or click on it) it will highlight that bit of the
route.

I used to use mapmyrun.com for this kind of thing, but they've added so many
adverts to it that it's practically unusable now. This is much better.

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zackola
I like it. The elevation graph is great. Needs a 'Complete there and back
route' option. and saving seems pretty slow to me.

<http://sketchroute.com/routes/4c51da384790ce3314000025>

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akmiller
Thanks for the comments everyone.

I added the ability to switch to Kilometers as many have suggested as well as
a some getting started text.

I will be improving this over the next several weeks I hope you all will
continue to check it out.

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Super_Jambo
My route is basically - run to park, run around the park x times.

not sure how you can make a UI that easily allows creation of loops and
exiting them at arbitrary points, but would be a useful feature to me...

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jmg
right-clicking to remove a marker would be awesome.

having accounts would be nice, too. and being able to upload data from gps
watches. but one step at a time. this is really cool, thanks for sharing.

~~~
akmiller
I don't make it clear enough, so I definitely need to address that, but you
can register and once you've done that you have the ability to save and view
your own list of routes.

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ekarisor
I use <http://www.mapmyrun.com> It gets the job done but I find it a bit
clunky.

It's nice to see some lightweight but no less functional alternatives.

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callmeed
I like it a lot. One thing: I like how this site:

<http://www.mappedometer.com/>

Links two points by actual roads. It would be a cool option.

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sulls
Nifty. I've been using gmaps pedometer for the same, but this is much
smoother. The big missing feature for me though is the ability to export to
gpx so that I can import on the dailymile.com.

~~~
akmiller
I will look into adding export to GPX. As a simple tool for routing I
definitely want you to be able to get your data out of it for use with other
tools so this will be high on my list of things to do.

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JoCoLa
Nice! I walk a couple times a day, but I take shortcuts and routes through
parks and woods that are off the map, so to speak. Now I can finally figure
out just how far I'm walking.

Good job!

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stoney
Out of interest - how accurate do you think the distances are? Between my bike
computer, Garmin footpod and Google Maps I get three different distances.

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photon_off
Please let me drag existing markers to move them.

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sprout
Google's bicycling directions automatically highlight bike paths. You should
try and integrate that.

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vinbarnes
The "follow road" feature of Daily Mile's route creator is a time-saver. Check
it out.

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there
+1 for having an option to snap routes to nearby roads.

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sandal
Awesome, I've been looking for something like this as well. Thanks for sharing
it!

