Veloviewer. Who is using it, and what do you get from it?
Discussion
Solocle said:
Yeah, I, umm, have a lot of rides already planned.
I managed to wangle this one so that the two sections on the A37 are generally downhill:
Here's how I deal with the 2 ridgeway tiles I've left to do, along with some of Purbeck:
I do have the Purbecks (OL15) OS map, but I generally prefer to try and assess the surface from Street View or Google Satellite. Still doesn't stop my GPS routes from going down bridleways.... but I'm trying to reduce that.
Soooo need to edit that and lose the gap near the 90 marker. Even if you go 100 yards up a path or somthing...I managed to wangle this one so that the two sections on the A37 are generally downhill:
Here's how I deal with the 2 ridgeway tiles I've left to do, along with some of Purbeck:
I do have the Purbecks (OL15) OS map, but I generally prefer to try and assess the surface from Street View or Google Satellite. Still doesn't stop my GPS routes from going down bridleways.... but I'm trying to reduce that.
Edited by Solocle on Thursday 30th July 10:46
Some Gump said:
Soooo need to edit that and lose the gap near the 90 marker. Even if you go 100 yards up a path or somthing...
Yeah, I did actually hit it in manual mode, but it didn't show when I opened the route in the editor again. There's a few buildings there, if you go up between them, you get the tile.
Finally got around to nabbing the two tiles at the end of the shingle spit out to Hurst Castle today.
33 miles for two measly tiles! Was fun though, struggling out on the shingle, on my £53 eBay bargain Cannondale Backroads. The trip back was gusty too as the cloud had rolled in and the wind speed picked up.
None of it was of any use to my Max Square, but I added 1 tile to my Max Cluster. As far as I can see, that accounts for the coast in it's entirety from an Impossible tile at Fawley Oil Refinery to the Range Walks at Tyneham. Any further south and I'm going to need a boat! I'll get the Range Walks before firing starts again at the end of the month, hopefully.
Expansion now has to go north and west if I want to increase my Max Square, due to the sea and that pesky tile at Fawley. Either that or start again north of the Fawley tile and expand east on the other side of Southampton Water? That could work as I'd eventually be able to join up with my previous cluster based on Farnborough.
I'm still static at an 18x18 Max Square, but as the screenshot shows, I'm close to expanding that if I fill in a few tiles here and there. Next mission? Probably to fill in as many tiles as possible to "colour in" the OS Landranger map sheet 195 (Bournemouth & Purbeck). Then extend from Shaftesbury north to Warminster, where I think I'll begin to meet some off-limits tiles on MOD artillery ranges. Once I've worked out the limit of exploitation that way, I'll fill in tiles heading south and east. Then maybe go east, across Southampton Water, and join my current Cluster/Square up with my old hunting grounds out of Farnborough. I can see the Festive 500 being interesting this year - I'll try to combine it with some VeloViewer tiling if at all possible...
33 miles for two measly tiles! Was fun though, struggling out on the shingle, on my £53 eBay bargain Cannondale Backroads. The trip back was gusty too as the cloud had rolled in and the wind speed picked up.
None of it was of any use to my Max Square, but I added 1 tile to my Max Cluster. As far as I can see, that accounts for the coast in it's entirety from an Impossible tile at Fawley Oil Refinery to the Range Walks at Tyneham. Any further south and I'm going to need a boat! I'll get the Range Walks before firing starts again at the end of the month, hopefully.
Expansion now has to go north and west if I want to increase my Max Square, due to the sea and that pesky tile at Fawley. Either that or start again north of the Fawley tile and expand east on the other side of Southampton Water? That could work as I'd eventually be able to join up with my previous cluster based on Farnborough.
I'm still static at an 18x18 Max Square, but as the screenshot shows, I'm close to expanding that if I fill in a few tiles here and there. Next mission? Probably to fill in as many tiles as possible to "colour in" the OS Landranger map sheet 195 (Bournemouth & Purbeck). Then extend from Shaftesbury north to Warminster, where I think I'll begin to meet some off-limits tiles on MOD artillery ranges. Once I've worked out the limit of exploitation that way, I'll fill in tiles heading south and east. Then maybe go east, across Southampton Water, and join my current Cluster/Square up with my old hunting grounds out of Farnborough. I can see the Festive 500 being interesting this year - I'll try to combine it with some VeloViewer tiling if at all possible...
Edited by yellowjack on Tuesday 18th August 00:40
Very nice! Are you tempted to head over to the Isle of Wight and see if you can colour that one in? Although not sure it'd add to your max cluster! I quite like the idea of basing it on an OS area as a target. I'm thinking of trying to colour in Oxfordshire, but living on the southern edge adds an extra challenge. Long rides with 1 or 2 tiles are getting a bit tedious, so I think I might start doing some longer loops to new areas to start new branches.
I've done a couple of rides to add some loops but not expanded much. There's an easy +50 ish to add to my cluster if I head over to Reading and join up my cluster around Wokingham / Swinley.
Explorer score:
2820 tiles (+8 from 2812 tiles,) average of 6.407 km per tile (+0.53km per tile from 6.354)
Max square 20x20 (no change)
Max Cluster: 645 (+5 up from 640)
Veloviewer Score - 99.456 (+0.026 from 99.430)
I've done a couple of rides to add some loops but not expanded much. There's an easy +50 ish to add to my cluster if I head over to Reading and join up my cluster around Wokingham / Swinley.
Explorer score:
2820 tiles (+8 from 2812 tiles,) average of 6.407 km per tile (+0.53km per tile from 6.354)
Max square 20x20 (no change)
Max Cluster: 645 (+5 up from 640)
Veloviewer Score - 99.456 (+0.026 from 99.430)
Have just signed up to Veloviewer for the year, can see it inspiring me to ride different routes and get out more often. At the moment my max square is 2x2, but have just plotted a route that fills in the gaps to give me a 5x5 - planning to do that after work this evening.
Should be fairly simple to expand from then on.. relatively new cyclist, currently using a hybrid I bought to use on a turbo trainer during lockdown and eagerly awaiting my new bike day (whenever that may be... 1st week in August delivery has now turned to 3rd week in September..)
Should be fairly simple to expand from then on.. relatively new cyclist, currently using a hybrid I bought to use on a turbo trainer during lockdown and eagerly awaiting my new bike day (whenever that may be... 1st week in August delivery has now turned to 3rd week in September..)
Comacchio said:
Have just signed up to Veloviewer for the year, can see it inspiring me to ride different routes and get out more often. At the moment my max square is 2x2, but have just plotted a route that fills in the gaps to give me a 5x5 - planning to do that after work this evening.
Should be fairly simple to expand from then on.. relatively new cyclist, currently using a hybrid I bought to use on a turbo trainer during lockdown and eagerly awaiting my new bike day (whenever that may be... 1st week in August delivery has now turned to 3rd week in September..)
Should be fairly simple to expand from then on.. relatively new cyclist, currently using a hybrid I bought to use on a turbo trainer during lockdown and eagerly awaiting my new bike day (whenever that may be... 1st week in August delivery has now turned to 3rd week in September..)
It comes into its own once you've ridden a bit more. I think you need to make sure you colour in cockinhead though, because i have the comedic standards if a small child
Some Gump said:
Comacchio said:
Have just signed up to Veloviewer for the year, can see it inspiring me to ride different routes and get out more often. At the moment my max square is 2x2, but have just plotted a route that fills in the gaps to give me a 5x5 - planning to do that after work this evening.
Should be fairly simple to expand from then on.. relatively new cyclist, currently using a hybrid I bought to use on a turbo trainer during lockdown and eagerly awaiting my new bike day (whenever that may be... 1st week in August delivery has now turned to 3rd week in September..)
Should be fairly simple to expand from then on.. relatively new cyclist, currently using a hybrid I bought to use on a turbo trainer during lockdown and eagerly awaiting my new bike day (whenever that may be... 1st week in August delivery has now turned to 3rd week in September..)
It comes into its own once you've ridden a bit more. I think you need to make sure you colour in cockinhead though, because i have the comedic standards if a small child
Managed to increase my max square of 2x2 and max cluster of 2 to 5x5 and 26 respectively.
Also buggered about with the GoPro trying to create a time lapse. Not overly happy with it, quite jumpy and the quality is poor. Been a long time since I used the thing & it looks like they've gotten rid of the standard video editing software that I knew how to work. Had to download another bit of software that has many many buttons that I have no clue what they do!
https://youtu.be/n3Xy5_rAQs8
Next trip out gets me 6x6 hopefully...
ukbabz said:
Nice work, it does seem to get quite addictive! Looks like some nice hills to the west (well until you get wet!)
There are indeed! Most of it is covered with good old fashioned boggy grass that's impossible to cycle over.. Think some hikes will be required in order to colour most of that area in. Added a few extra tiles this evening, max cluster now 31. I've gone nuts. Officially.
Yesterday I set off with the bike in the car, planning a ride to tie together some outlying clusters and fill in a few gaps north of Salisbury. Or the alternative plan was to claim a few tiles to expand my Max Square south of the city.
Somehow, though, I ended up near Warminster. I spotted a sign for Shearwater and remembered the lake from when my boys were small and we used to go there for a winter walk and a hot chocolate with toasted teacakes from the cafe there. So off I went, further west than any of the maps I'd brought would cover.
Couldn't park at Shearwater, it was far too busy. But got a space in a small car park on the road between the Safari Park and Center Parcs. And off I went, not always completely certain I was going the right way, but I sniffed out a fair few byways and bridleways and eventually got back to the car without having to ask directions or push the 'Back To Start' on my Garmin (never ever used that feature so far).
Apart from a rude, and quite aggressive farmer type (if you're going to get pissed off with "c
ts" wandering off the bridleways, it might be an idea to stop taking down the signs for them?) and a possibly bent mech hanger (I lost the bottom three sprockets on the cassette when a stick went into the jockey wheels) it was a fabulous day out.
29 new tiles ridden in the end, but they don't touch any existing groups/clusters of tiles. So instead of tidying up my Explorer map, I've made it more messy! Still, it was lovely riding out that way, so I'll have an excuse to go back again. A Strava follower has suggested a route to me that would get me from Warminster to Glastonbury, and perhaps on to the north Somerset coast (if I square myself away the night before and get an early start). I'm tempted to give that a go. Not today though, with the wind blowing like it is.
Anyway, here's the relevant portion of my Veloviewer map...
Note to self: Buy the OS map sheets west of Warminster. Guessing your way around the countryside just leads to annoying "holes" in clusters of tiles. Sheets 183 and 194 would do for a start.
Yesterday I set off with the bike in the car, planning a ride to tie together some outlying clusters and fill in a few gaps north of Salisbury. Or the alternative plan was to claim a few tiles to expand my Max Square south of the city.
Somehow, though, I ended up near Warminster. I spotted a sign for Shearwater and remembered the lake from when my boys were small and we used to go there for a winter walk and a hot chocolate with toasted teacakes from the cafe there. So off I went, further west than any of the maps I'd brought would cover.
Couldn't park at Shearwater, it was far too busy. But got a space in a small car park on the road between the Safari Park and Center Parcs. And off I went, not always completely certain I was going the right way, but I sniffed out a fair few byways and bridleways and eventually got back to the car without having to ask directions or push the 'Back To Start' on my Garmin (never ever used that feature so far).
Apart from a rude, and quite aggressive farmer type (if you're going to get pissed off with "c
ts" wandering off the bridleways, it might be an idea to stop taking down the signs for them?) and a possibly bent mech hanger (I lost the bottom three sprockets on the cassette when a stick went into the jockey wheels) it was a fabulous day out.29 new tiles ridden in the end, but they don't touch any existing groups/clusters of tiles. So instead of tidying up my Explorer map, I've made it more messy! Still, it was lovely riding out that way, so I'll have an excuse to go back again. A Strava follower has suggested a route to me that would get me from Warminster to Glastonbury, and perhaps on to the north Somerset coast (if I square myself away the night before and get an early start). I'm tempted to give that a go. Not today though, with the wind blowing like it is.
Anyway, here's the relevant portion of my Veloviewer map...
Note to self: Buy the OS map sheets west of Warminster. Guessing your way around the countryside just leads to annoying "holes" in clusters of tiles. Sheets 183 and 194 would do for a start.
yellowjack said:
I've gone nuts. Officially.
Yesterday I set off with the bike in the car, planning a ride to tie together some outlying clusters and fill in a few gaps north of Salisbury. Or the alternative plan was to claim a few tiles to expand my Max Square south of the city.
Somehow, though, I ended up near Warminster. I spotted a sign for Shearwater and remembered the lake from when my boys were small and we used to go there for a winter walk and a hot chocolate with toasted teacakes from the cafe there. So off I went, further west than any of the maps I'd brought would cover.
Couldn't park at Shearwater, it was far too busy. But got a space in a small car park on the road between the Safari Park and Center Parcs. And off I went, not always completely certain I was going the right way, but I sniffed out a fair few byways and bridleways and eventually got back to the car without having to ask directions or push the 'Back To Start' on my Garmin (never ever used that feature so far).
Apart from a rude, and quite aggressive farmer type (if you're going to get pissed off with "cts" wandering off the bridleways, it might be an idea to stop taking down the signs for them?) and a possibly bent mech hanger (I lost the bottom three sprockets on the cassette when a stick went into the jockey wheels) it was a fabulous day out.
29 new tiles ridden in the end, but they don't touch any existing groups/clusters of tiles. So instead of tidying up my Explorer map, I've made it more messy! Still, it was lovely riding out that way, so I'll have an excuse to go back again. A Strava follower has suggested a route to me that would get me from Warminster to Glastonbury, and perhaps on to the north Somerset coast (if I square myself away the night before and get an early start). I'm tempted to give that a go. Not today though, with the wind blowing like it is.
Anyway, here's the relevant portion of my Veloviewer map...
Note to self: Buy the OS map sheets west of Warminster. Guessing your way around the countryside just leads to annoying "holes" in clusters of tiles. Sheets 183 and 194 would do for a start.
My OCD would have me filling in all those blanks Yesterday I set off with the bike in the car, planning a ride to tie together some outlying clusters and fill in a few gaps north of Salisbury. Or the alternative plan was to claim a few tiles to expand my Max Square south of the city.
Somehow, though, I ended up near Warminster. I spotted a sign for Shearwater and remembered the lake from when my boys were small and we used to go there for a winter walk and a hot chocolate with toasted teacakes from the cafe there. So off I went, further west than any of the maps I'd brought would cover.
Couldn't park at Shearwater, it was far too busy. But got a space in a small car park on the road between the Safari Park and Center Parcs. And off I went, not always completely certain I was going the right way, but I sniffed out a fair few byways and bridleways and eventually got back to the car without having to ask directions or push the 'Back To Start' on my Garmin (never ever used that feature so far).
Apart from a rude, and quite aggressive farmer type (if you're going to get pissed off with "c
ts" wandering off the bridleways, it might be an idea to stop taking down the signs for them?) and a possibly bent mech hanger (I lost the bottom three sprockets on the cassette when a stick went into the jockey wheels) it was a fabulous day out.29 new tiles ridden in the end, but they don't touch any existing groups/clusters of tiles. So instead of tidying up my Explorer map, I've made it more messy! Still, it was lovely riding out that way, so I'll have an excuse to go back again. A Strava follower has suggested a route to me that would get me from Warminster to Glastonbury, and perhaps on to the north Somerset coast (if I square myself away the night before and get an early start). I'm tempted to give that a go. Not today though, with the wind blowing like it is.
Anyway, here's the relevant portion of my Veloviewer map...
Note to self: Buy the OS map sheets west of Warminster. Guessing your way around the countryside just leads to annoying "holes" in clusters of tiles. Sheets 183 and 194 would do for a start.
good on you!Comacchio said:
My OCD would have me filling in all those blanks good on you!
Every time I set off for a ride I intend to fill in some of the blanks, or extend some straight lines to box in sections to fill in later. But I frequently end up getting distracted by some "interesting looking" byways or bridleways, or like this time I go somewhere "for old time's sake". I'll fill in those blanks eventually, but in the meantime... good on you!..."Ooh, look! A Squirrel!"...
ETA: Many of the "blanks" further north and east are from before I had learned about VeloViewer tiling. So I rode for 6 years (from joining VV/Strava) from Farnborough merrily missing out tiles because I stuck to tried and tested loops, or simply never got around to riding thiose particular roads. If i'd known about tiling before I moved to Bournemouth, there definitely wouldn't be quite as many blank tiles up that way...
Edited by yellowjack on Sunday 23 August 14:14
I went out today with aim of upping my max cluster, was a bit of an odd ride and ended up across a bridleway on a farmers field (cheers Strava routing - paved only but the TCR did alright).
The numbers
28243 tiles (+23 from 2820 tiles,) average of 6.426 km per tile (+0.19km per tile from 6.407)
Max square 20x20 (no change)
Max Cluster: 677 (+32 from 645)
Veloviewer Score - 99.458 (+0.002 from 99.456)
The numbers
28243 tiles (+23 from 2820 tiles,) average of 6.426 km per tile (+0.19km per tile from 6.407)
Max square 20x20 (no change)
Max Cluster: 677 (+32 from 645)
Veloviewer Score - 99.458 (+0.002 from 99.456)
Also out today just trying out different routes. Made a bit of a balls up on komoot and ended up missing a tile right in the middle of my cluster.
Going to start tracking my score etc now too.
VV score: 83.811 (Up from 83.6405)
144 tiles, average of 3.503 mi per tile
Max square: 5x5 (No change)
Max cluster: 40 (Up from 26)
Going to start tracking my score etc now too.
VV score: 83.811 (Up from 83.6405)
144 tiles, average of 3.503 mi per tile
Max square: 5x5 (No change)
Max cluster: 40 (Up from 26)
Starting to get a bit addicted to this, signed up a couple of months ago following a suggestion by a friend. Currently at 511 tiles.
It’s definitely influencing where I ride, I’ve started to try and fill in random missing tiles to help build a bigger square - currently 9x9, 11x11 won’t take much more effort, but then I’m going to have to think about riding in some busier/unattractive areas (Burton on Trent town centre for instance - apologies to anyone who lives there!) to get the square much bigger.
It’s definitely influencing where I ride, I’ve started to try and fill in random missing tiles to help build a bigger square - currently 9x9, 11x11 won’t take much more effort, but then I’m going to have to think about riding in some busier/unattractive areas (Burton on Trent town centre for instance - apologies to anyone who lives there!) to get the square much bigger.
I went out on Sunday morning to fill some gaps, so went from a 5x5 max square to 7x7 with a 100km ride. Getting the max square up does mean daft routing like this:
Have two further rides planned out, though I need one tile which only has the A49 going through it. Typically, at that point it's a 70 limit dual-carriageway, so something I would normally avoid at all costs. One to grab early doors on a Sunday morning I think!
Have two further rides planned out, though I need one tile which only has the A49 going through it. Typically, at that point it's a 70 limit dual-carriageway, so something I would normally avoid at all costs. One to grab early doors on a Sunday morning I think!
Harpoon said:
I went out on Sunday morning to fill some gaps, so went from a 5x5 max square to 7x7 with a 100km ride. Getting the max square up does mean daft routing like this:
Have two further rides planned out, though I need one tile which only has the A49 going through it. Typically, at that point it's a 70 limit dual-carriageway, so something I would normally avoid at all costs. One to grab early doors on a Sunday morning I think!
Yeah you're not wrong.. My next 2 planned rides have a few detours halfway up a road to perform a U turn..Have two further rides planned out, though I need one tile which only has the A49 going through it. Typically, at that point it's a 70 limit dual-carriageway, so something I would normally avoid at all costs. One to grab early doors on a Sunday morning I think!
And
I think these 2 rides will take me from 5x5 to 9x9 if I've plotted the route correctly...
dirtbiker said:
I'd played with the annual summary infographics in the past but have just signed up for the tiles game - sounds like fun!
Hugely entertaining. I only wish I'd joined Strava earlier now, because I have ridden vast swathes of Essex, Suffolk, and North Yorkshire but none of that is recorded on Strava so it doesn't count toward my tiling tally.I also wish I'd signed up to the paid-for version of VeloViewer sooner. Because then I'd have paid attention to filling in some gaps in my cluster based out of my last house before I moved, instead of that part of my tiling map looking like a colander!
As it is, tiling has inspired me to go places I otherwise would never have considered going. And in doing so it's meant I have found some fabulously low-traffic roads which will get me to places I want to ride again far more pleasantly than the 'prime' routes I'd always ridden before.
I will say though, that there are an infuriating number of tiles I've ridden past on dozens of rides, but never actually entered because they are at the end of a 'No Through Road' hamlet or village. So I didn't ride up that road because there was no point as it didn't go anywhere. Now, though, I'll often point my bike up a pointless road, byway, or bridleway on the off chance it'll yield another tile for my cluster! Some I've got planned for future rides are a road to a golf club, the driveway of a grand country house hotel, and a through route that passes the front of another stately home that's now a school. Never bothered with it before as it was signed only for the school, but poring over the OS maps its definitely a PROW and will definitely tick off another tile.
Seriously addictive stuff for an idiot such as me!
I will say, though, that one or two tiles I've ticked off recently have required what can only be described as "mild trespassing" to claim them. No breaking and entering or property damage involved, but passing signs warning of 'No Public Access' etc. Or riding on a disused railway line. Or using a private level crossing. But those tiles I'll only ever visit once - I don't intend to make a nuisance of myself on them.
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