Alternative navigation providers to BRouter

Forsberg shared this question 3 months ago
Answered

Hey, I have been using Locus Classic as a navigation recently - for cycling ofc.

I had a route from a city through a forest to the lakes. I am using vector maps if that matters.

Vector maps are detailed, there are routes in the forest itself, however BRouter forces me to follow the route by some villages where there is a pave road instead shorter way through the forest and gravel routes.

I tried so many profiles, it is simply refusing to go through the forest for some reason. Tried even advanced profiles and nothing.

Google maps navigates through the forest. No issues.


So I wonder if there are alternative offline route apps as brouter is to be honest bad. My experiece as a whole is below average due to weird routes it can create, sometimes simply not logical.

Google API doesn't work unfortunately so no Google's calculation and no hacks I know work for this. I consider even using online service so gave it a chance.
Any possible update in that matter?


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Replies (3)

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Hi,

could you please send the location of the places between which you want to plan the route? I'll test it, thanks.

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Thanks, I am out of the area can't remember it exactly. I can try to find it on the brouter online.

I have another questions - I dig deeper, and I read that profiles are now hardcoded and no customization is possible anymore. I even tried to copy brf files to locus but no new profiles appear (I modified a profile which I found working through a forest in brouter online). What is weird, a profile "trekking ignore bike pathways" did better than a common "trekking". It leads nicely on a bike route (aslphalt) and then short by the forest - the most logical choice I think.

Another issue is the route recalculation - it is simply not too smart to be honest. I am not sure why if I do some detour then it behaves odd, proposing a weird route.

I know Brouter relies a lot on a profile, perhaps there lies an issue. I find Google Maps logic better, more universal.


I attach a GPX file from brouter online, as I don't remember exactly it is more or less what I remember. Every week I visit another city in various countries so later I may add another places.

Files: Test.gpx
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>I dig deeper, and I read that profiles are now hardcoded and no customization is possible anymore.

Forsberg - external BRF profiles work for me in LM4. I've modified a few myself. They go in a folder sometime like Locus/Router/Profiles2. Then from LM4 Route Planner you select which ones you want to have in its list. It's very well integrated.

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I use LM3 Classic - it has better interface in my opinion. I copied the BRF File to Android/Data/menion.android.locus/files/locus/router/profiles2.On the screen where I adjust brouter settings I see no name of my custom profile.

To see how it looks in LM4 I launched it, and found out they added more options to customize the brouter but as I said I consider LM4 a downgrade unfortunately.

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You will have to get used to LM4. LM3 is only in maintenance mode. No improvements and no new functions. Only bug fixes. And at some point, bugs will no longer be fixed. The exact time.... ?

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Maybe if they fixed maps rotation, as for now text will not be rotated on vector maps and I had hoped a new LM4 would fix this. So even if I wanted to switch, I see nothing worthy in LM4 to do that. A black mode alone is not much to switch the boat considering the price and subscription mode.

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For LM4 it's not just a matter or copying the BRF files - from the Route Planner you go to the profiles then Advanced settings then select which external ones you want to have in its list. It's very well integrated.


URL

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But it doesn't work like that for LM3. I copied profiles to profiles2 folder and Locus won't show this up. I even deleted all files and Locus was still able to show default ones so they are hardcoded without ability to add own user ones.

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Hi,

I've tested BRouter in the area you pointed out with the route sample and indeed, it doesn't lead the way through the forest, even with the MTB profile. Only tweaked profile on BRouter website with the "consider forest" option on does so. Unfortunately, we don't have influence on BRouter profiles as we develop our own routing profiles for LoRouter, which is implemented in Locus Map 4, not in Locus Map Classic.

To use the custom profile, you have to map it on an existing BRouter profile. More at https://docs.locusmap.eu/doku.php?id=manual:user_guide:functions:navigation:settings#offline.

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Not sure it applies for LM Classic as I copied BRF files to profiles2 and no my profile name is available to choose from - neither as icon nor as text inside locus. Does it work with LM Classic?

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@Michal - could you check the BRouter BRF code & improve the LM4 MTB profile by incorporating the "consider forest" logic?

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Hi Andrew, I tested both the MTB profile with all the terrain/surface levels and the gravel profile of the LoRouter and all of them returned what is expected in this area - none of them avoided the forest.

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Michal - what about you previously wrote "it doesn't lead the way through the forest,"? I'm confused.

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Andrew, I wrote "I've tested BRouter in the area you pointed out with the route sample and indeed, it doesn't lead the way through the forest". Then in the reaction to your request "improve the LM4 MTB profile by incorporating the "consider forest" logic" I tested the same area in LoRouter with gravel and MTB profiles and these lead the way through the forest so there is no need to implement any "consider forest" logic.

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my misunderstand - thanks

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