Sites for manually drawing Running Routes (1/3)
This article is part of a series of 3, where I'm exploring the different options available for runners to create routes and then use them on their running watches.
- In this first article, I am testing the major sites able to draw running routes, with the use case of "drawing the route yourself, from a specific starting point/distance",
- The second article (to be published) will focus on sites publishing "popular routes in cities",
- The third article (to be published) will deal with "route shuffling", or sites that allow creating random routes from a specific starting point.
Preamble
I run a lot. And like any runner, I love not running the same route every time,
and also discovering cities when traveling - this gives a very different
perspective than usual, and as I like running early, cities are almost empty.
(That one was before Covid of course, but hey, hopefully we'll be back to normal
very soon!)
Why?
I was recently on vacation in the French Alps, and I squeezed in some hilly runs. But since I didn't really know the surroundings, I drew my routes on a site, and then imported the GPX into my running watch.
Over the past few years, I used different websites to do that, so I figured out it would be nice to write an article on that, and also looking at sites I am not necessarily using today, to see how they compare with the ones I like!
Different categories of sites
I initially wanted to focus on my use case, which is "I want to start running from my hotel, for 12k".
But while reviewing the different available websites/apps, and asking my fellow runners on Twitter, I realised that a lot of people have other use cases:
- Get a list of nice running routes in a city,
- Get a random route from a specific starting point.
So I decided to create 3 different blog posts, starting with this one - I'll add the links to the 2 other ones once they're published.
Criteria for selection
I initially wanted to test only websites, and not mobile applications, but quickly realised that more and more vendors are discontinuing the web version to focus on mobile only (Hello Suunto!).
Also, for most sites, you'll have to pay a "premium fee" to get access e.g. to the export feature - I am including a comparison table for each site below.
So here we are for the criteria for a site to be included in my list:
Must Have
- Ability to create a route with starting / end point
- Ability to undo a waypoint
- Show distance
- Show elevation
- Have a "run" profile, e.g. to avoid drawing a route on a highway!
- Export to GPX
Nice to Have
- Ability to move waypoints
- Must recalculate the total distance
- Useful when you're aiming for a specific distance
- Show a "heatmap" of where other runners are working out
- "Add return leg" feature, to draw the way back
What if a site/app with the above criteria is not in the list?
I have made a short-list of 5 sites/apps, meaning I am not covering all of them.
If there's a site/app which you feel I must absolutely add to this list, please
let me know on Twitter and I'll consider adding it
(after my own review, of course).
Please also check the 2 next articles (to be published as of March 5th, 2021), as some websites do not appear in the present article, but will appear in the coming ones (e.g. Komoot), as they are not designed to draw routes manually, but rather to suggest routes.
Testing
1. Dynamic.watch
- URL: https://dynamic.watch
- Description:
- Aimed initially at Garmin watches, that's how I discovered the service, when I was using a ForeRunner 235.
- Back then, I picked it specifically to draw running routes and upload them to my Garmin, since this model didn't provide such a feature (while other more high-end models do, using Garmin Connect).
- However, even though you're not using a Garmin watch, you can still use dynamic.watch to draw your route, export it to GPX, and import the GPX file into your non-Garmin watch.
- Pricing for Premium version:
- Yearly plan: $9.99/year
- Endless plan: $19.99
- Some screenshots:
- Summary table:
| Criteria | Free version |
Premium version |
|---|---|---|
| Must have | ||
| Undo a waypoint | Yes | |
| Show distance | Yes | |
| Show elevation | Yes (shows a graph as well) | |
| "Run" profile | Yes | |
| Export to GPX | No | Yes |
| Nice to have | ||
| Move waypoints | Yes | |
| Heatmap | No | |
| Return Leg | Yes | |
| Others | ||
| Website or Mobile App | Website, mobile friendly | |
| Map Overlays | OpenCycleMap, Streets & Trails, Terrain (default), Satellite | |
- My opinion:
- I like Dynamic.watch a lot.
It is super simple to use, allows creating a route on any device (computer, smartphone, tablet) with a lot of options.
And it only does that: creating a route, then displaying it on your running watch. - Of course, it is even more valuable if you're a Garmin user, but even if that's not your case, it is still worth using it, albeit with some additional steps (exporting then reimporting GPX file).
- I like Dynamic.watch a lot.
2. Strava
- URL: https://www.strava.com
- Description:
- Do I really need to present Strava? Initially created for the biking community, it evolved into a tracker for (almost) any kind of workout, including of course running.
- Strava has recently changed its Subscription plan, and moved quite a lot of the basic features to subscription only, to push people to pay - note that I'm not blaming Strava here, I do believe that a good service has to be payed for.
- I won't go into discussions about Strava privacy (to someone who didn't know Strava, I once described it as "Facebook for runners", which says it all).
- Pricing for Premium version:
- Monthly plan: €7.99/month
- Yearly plan: €60/year
- Some screenshots:
- Summary table:
| Criteria | Free version |
Premium version |
|---|---|---|
| Must have | ||
| Undo a waypoint | No | Yes |
| Show distance | No | Yes |
| Show elevation | No | Yes (shows a graph as well) |
| "Run" profile | No | Yes |
| Export to GPX | No | Yes |
| Nice to have | ||
| Move waypoints | No | Yes |
| Heatmap | No | Yes |
| Return Leg | No | No |
| Others (Premium Only) | ||
| Website or Mobile App | Both, but Mobile app only allows auto-generating routes, no manual creation | |
| Map Overlays | Standard, Satellite, Hybrid, Light, Dark, Winter | |
| Segment Explorer | Allows to see Strava segments, if you're into some challenge ;) | |
| Surface Type | Pretty cool feature, gives you a distribution of surface between paved, dirt and not specified | |
- My opinion:
- As you may have guessed from above, I have mixed feelings regarding Strava: while I like using it to see my friends' activities and share mine, their recent track records w.r.t. privacy is not great (in my opinion), to the point that I canceled my Strava subscription and only use the basic features (I'm using Smashrun for analysing my running data).
- But I must admit that creating a route with Strava is really easy and comes with nice options (Segment explorer, Surface type), provided you're using the Website, since the Mobile app has less features.
3. MapMyRun
- URL: https://www.mapmyrun.com
- Description:
- Owned by Under Armour, MapMyRun is comparable features-wide to the likes of Strava or RunKeeper.
- I initially wanted to include it in my 2nd article (sites publishing "popular routes in cities"), but upon checking, I found out that it was possible to create routes as well, hence including it here.
- Pricing for Premium version:
- Monthly plan: $5.99/month
- Yearly plan: $29.99/year
- Some screenshots:
- Summary table:
| Criteria | Free version |
Premium version |
|---|---|---|
| Must have | ||
| Undo a waypoint | Yes | |
| Show distance | Yes | |
| Show elevation | Yes (shows a graph as well) | |
| "Run" profile | Yes ("avoid Highways") | |
| Export to GPX | No | Yes |
| Nice to have | ||
| Move waypoints | Yes | |
| Heatmap | No | |
| Return Leg | Yes ("Out + Back") | |
| Others | ||
| Website or Mobile App | Both, but Mobile app only allows using routes created from website, no manual creation | |
| Map Overlays | USA Topo, World Topo, Map, Satellite | |
| Direction/Notes | Gives you detailed directions (e.g. at 1.66Km, Head east on Route Panoramique toward Route de Champange) | |
- My opinion:
- I included MapMyRun because it's quite popular among casual runners.
- Personally, I don't really like it nor use it, but if you're already in the Under Armour boat, that's an option.
4. Garmin Connect
- URL: https://connect.garmin.com
- Description:
- When I started this article, I wanted to avoid vendor platforms such as Garmin and Suunto, but since Garmin Connect matches all the criteria and can be used by non-Garmin users, I included it.
- Connect is Garmin's broad tool allowing to manage your Garmin device: configuring it (through the website or the Mobile app), creating custom workouts, training plans, and of course creating routes (since that's the topic of this article ;)
- Pricing for Premium version:
- There's actually no Premium version, you can create a Garmin Connect account for free and use all the features.
- Some screenshots:
- Summary table:
| Criteria | Available? |
|---|---|
| Must have | |
| Undo a waypoint | Yes |
| Show distance | Yes |
| Show elevation | Yes (shows a graph as well) |
| "Run" profile | Yes |
| Export to GPX | Yes |
| Nice to have | |
| Move waypoints | Yes |
| Heatmap | Yes ("Popularity Heatmap") |
| Return Leg | Yes ("Out and Back") |
| Others | |
| Website or Mobile App | Both, features parity |
| Map Overlays | OpenStreetMap, HERE maps, Google Maps |
| Loop to Start | Creates a loop for the return leg, rather than just boringly running the same route in reverse |
- My opinion:
- Since I haven't used a Garmin device for 3 years, I hadn't checked out Connect for a while.
- I have been pleasantly surprised by the route creation feature, which has been improved compared to the last time I used it.
- Now some people find Connect too complicated to use, since it does a loooot of things - so maybe if that's your case, Connect is not the best option.
- But to be honest, Garmin Connect is the only one which fulfills all the critera (and beyond), while staying free (even for exporting GPX).
- Also, the Mobile app is on-par with the website: you can create your own routes straight from your phone.
- So definitely worth considering, even though you're not using a Garmin watch to run.
5. Suunto app
- URL: https://www.suunto.com
- Description:
- Suunto manufactures running watches (among other things)
- Same approach as with Garmin: I am including Suunto here for the sake of completeness.
- Suunto users were using the Movescount website to upload their activities - pretty well done, easy to use.
- In 2018, Suunto released a new Mobile app, "Suunto App" (creative, isn't it? ;) and announced that it would discontinue Movescount in 2021, forcing all users to use the mobile app.
- I used a Suunto watch for 2+ years, and a few months ago, you could still use Movescount (which I found more comfortable, especially to create a route on a laptop screen, rather than a smartphone screen), but when writing this article I checked out Movescount again, and while it's still available, there's plenty of errors and you can't look for an address for instance. So you must use the Suunto App today.
- The app keeps being improved, and also allows creating routes and upload them to your Suunto watch.
- It is also possible to export the route as GPX, and use it with another running watch.
- Pricing for Premium version:
- There's actually no Premium version, you can create a Suunto account for free and use all the features.
- Some screenshots:
- Summary table:
| Criteria | Available? |
|---|---|
| Must have | |
| Undo a waypoint | Yes |
| Show distance | Yes |
| Show elevation | Yes (shows a graph as well) |
| "Run" profile | Yes |
| Export to GPX | Yes |
| Nice to have | |
| Move waypoints | No |
| Heatmap | Yes - Running, Trail Running, All trails |
| Return Leg | No |
| Others | |
| Website or Mobile App | Mobile app only |
| Map Overlays | Outdoor, Satellite, Dark, Light, Winter |
| Routing Mode | Free drawing, Any road or path |
| Nearby Routes | Displays popular running routes nearby, when creating the route |
- My opinion:
- As stated above, I really liked Movescount as it made it super easy to create routes (not to mention configuring Suunto's watches displays).
- So when Suunto forced its users to use only the Mobile app, I was initially skeptical, especially since the very first versions were missing some features.
- But as updates appeared, Suunto closed the gap and today the App is almost on-par with Movescount (e.g. last time I checked, you still couldn't configure the display for a profile to disable the touch screen, something you could do with Movescount).
- As for the routes creation, it's very nice and easy to use, includes heatmaps and elevation, so "job done".
- The only downside in my opinion has to do with the size of the screen: obviously a 24 inches monitor (or more, depending on your configuration) is more comfortable to draw a route than a 6 inches smartphone screen, but on the go it's not that bad.
Conclusion
This comparison of 5 platforms for drawing routes is far from perfect: I have not included them all, and as I like to keep my articles short, I didn't want to write a 10-page document for each platform, and went instead for a "table/bullet-point" approach.
Now the order above does not necessarily reflect my preferred platform, and I won't tell you which one I use most often, since the very goal of this article is to give you an un-biased view, so that you can decide by yourself.
Each of the 5 platforms do the job, and won't let you down - maybe there are some features you'd be missing with one platform compared with another, or you prefer the maps used by Suunto compared with Strava.
In any case, I hope you enjoyed this article, and as usual, do let me know on Twitter if you found it useful, and how I could improve it!
Tags: Running