Home › Microsoft Streets and Trips › How to force Streets & Trips to follow scenic routes, i.e. Blue Ridge Parkway
I am new to Microsoft Streets and Trips. I have previously used DeLorme Street Atlas and now have Streets & Trips 2010. I am trying to plan a trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway from one end to the other, along with a few stops.
The program refuses to route me along the parkway. It always routes me on Interstates or highways. If I drag to the parkway, it may route me along a segment of it, but as I continue to drag other segments, it reverts back to highways/interstates. I have tried setting the Routes/Route Options/Segments to minimize the use of all four of the road types listed, but it still does not help.
Any assistance you can provide is appreciated,
The program refuses to route me along the parkway. It always routes me on Interstates or highways. If I drag to the parkway, it may route me along a segment of it, but as I continue to drag other segments, it reverts back to highways/interstates. I have tried setting the Routes/Route Options/Segments to minimize the use of all four of the road types listed, but it still does not help.
Any assistance you can provide is appreciated,
Welcome to the Forum, Pierre, and happy motoring!
I am having trouble replicating your problem. I did a simple A-to-B route representing a reasonable start and end to such an expedition and, sure enough, it routed me over Interstates. However, I then added two stops (@+/-1/3 and +/-2/3) along the BRP and it took the cue and routed me BRP all the way. I did not fiddle with the options.
See attached.
I am having trouble replicating your problem. I did a simple A-to-B route representing a reasonable start and end to such an expedition and, sure enough, it routed me over Interstates. However, I then added two stops (@+/-1/3 and +/-2/3) along the BRP and it took the cue and routed me BRP all the way. I did not fiddle with the options.
See attached.
Thank you for your time and quick response. I’m still having problems. Here is a specific example: Starting at Wildacres (35.82650N, 82.10712W), traveling to Pisgah Inn (35.41449N, 8274985W), then to the southern terminus of BRP (35.50506N, 83.0080W. The routing computed by S&T, directs off the BRP and onto regular highways. Using Route/Route Options/Segments/Preferred roads: maximum Dislike Interstate/Limited Access, Arterial Roads, and Toll Roads; and neutral on Other Highways; the first segment is successful. The second segment takes me off the BRP onto US278. If I try to drag the route back to the BRP, It puts me on a circular routes. Changing the setting of Other Highways does not improve the situation. I do better with a Rand McNally paper map. Again, any help is appreciated,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucky Pierre
Thank you for your time and quick response. I’m still having problems. Here is a specific example: Starting at Wildacres (35.82650N, 82.10712W), traveling to Pisgah Inn (35.41449N, 8274985W), then to the southern terminus of BRP (35.50506N, 83.0080W.
Quote:
The routing computed by S&T, directs off the BRP and onto regular highways. Using Route/Route Options/Segments/Preferred roads: maximum Dislike Interstate/Limited Access, Arterial Roads, and Toll Roads; and neutral on Other Highways; the first segment is successful. The second segment takes me off the BRP onto US278. If I try to drag the route back to the BRP, It puts me on a circular routes. Changing the setting of Other Highways does not improve the situation. I do better with a Rand McNally paper map. Again, any help is appreciated,
In summary, if you want to create a route that you already have in mind, it might be better to pick distinct points on that route rather than letting S&T finding the quickest and dragging the route around to suit your needs.
Hey Lucky Pierre,
You are indeed lucky!
Getting Streets & Trips to follow the Blue Ridge Pkwy is no easy task however Streets & Trips 2010 makes it easy so long as you know a couple of tips.
Sure..it is a bit tedious but more therapeutic than a game of Sudoku if you ask me.
Attached is the entire Blue Ridge Pkwy drive without using any extra waypoints. I tossed in the locations of the tunnels for good measure. Hope this helps.
You are indeed lucky!
Getting Streets & Trips to follow the Blue Ridge Pkwy is no easy task however Streets & Trips 2010 makes it easy so long as you know a couple of tips.
- Create your start and end points and generate directions
- Zoom in and follow the route - when it exits the desired route create a small but strategic 'avoid area' to block the route from going that way.
[Note: avoid areas need to include an intersection so pick the first one you come to along the erroneous route.] - In Microsoft Streets & Trips 2010 the route is automatically regenerated after you change it by adding an avoid area - this saves you much time.
- After the route is re-generated the map will zoom out to display the entire route (which is not what you really want in this case) so to get back to the place you were simply press Alt+ left arrow.
- Go back to step 2 and continue until you are done.
Sure..it is a bit tedious but more therapeutic than a game of Sudoku if you ask me.
Attached is the entire Blue Ridge Pkwy drive without using any extra waypoints. I tossed in the locations of the tunnels for good measure. Hope this helps.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry
...Getting S&T to follow the Blue Ridge Pkwy is no easy task...
No fighting, you guys!!
Terry
Terry
Wow, I'm impressed, Larry! Everyone has to see the file you attached!
This morning, right after reading Pierre's post, I spent about 10 minutes trying to place many avoid area rectangles to achieve the desired goal. When I was done, I realized I really only did a small portion of the 500+ mile long Blue Ridge Parkway. I had no time to continue, so I decided to try later. Yours is a masterpiece, though. I love your style. When I opened your file I saw not a single avoid area rectangle! And that's because I'm used to creating large rectangles, unlike you. Yours are as tiny as possible, only covering the bare minimum that needs to be covered.
It's really a work of art, the way you did it, and I suspect Pierre, if he is not familiar with the Avoid Area feature, will have no clue how you did it, and he will stare at the map in amazement wondering why the route goes exactly where it is supposed to!
This morning, right after reading Pierre's post, I spent about 10 minutes trying to place many avoid area rectangles to achieve the desired goal. When I was done, I realized I really only did a small portion of the 500+ mile long Blue Ridge Parkway. I had no time to continue, so I decided to try later. Yours is a masterpiece, though. I love your style. When I opened your file I saw not a single avoid area rectangle! And that's because I'm used to creating large rectangles, unlike you. Yours are as tiny as possible, only covering the bare minimum that needs to be covered.
It's really a work of art, the way you did it, and I suspect Pierre, if he is not familiar with the Avoid Area feature, will have no clue how you did it, and he will stare at the map in amazement wondering why the route goes exactly where it is supposed to!
Success. Thanks to all
Thanks for the kind words Marvin. I think you should make downloading my Blue Ridge Pkwy est file part of the forum registration process. LOL!
I did some of the Blue Ridge once. Too many trees. I must have missed the good parts.
Terry
Terry
Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry
Thanks for the kind words Marvin. I think you should make downloading my Blue Ridge Pkwy est file part of the forum registration process. LOL!
Man this Blue Ridge Parkway looks pretty cool. I’m glad you posted this question Lucky!
I also love Larry’s elegant solution to keeping the driver on the Blue Ridge using the avoid area boxes. Very Clean. Marvin – you should sponsor a contest to see who can come closest to counting the avoid area boxes. My entry is 75.
I approached the solution using a much less cerebral method. Definitely uglier….but since it was my first impulse to solve the problem – I figured I’d share.
When I first looked at the question yesterday, I found that the Blue Ridge is extremely windy (wine-D)…so to first try and find out where it went – I plotted pushpins along the way so I could generally follow the road.
Then I drew a bounding box around the pushpins and chose ‘Add Pushpins as stops’.
The End of the Blue Ridge was shown as my starting point in Route Planner….and since I imagined I’d be starting in VA, I chose ‘Reverse Route’ in the planner.
I then chose ‘Get Directions’…and followed the hilighted Blue Ridge route along the roadway (comparing against the pushpins I had already placed as guides) to ensure I was on the Blue Ridge. Based on the pushpins I had placed – I needed to drag the route back to the Blue Ridge 8 times (note I didn’t adjust hwy preferences at all). While confirming the route, I also adjusted for any pushpins that I had inadvertently placed off the highway, moving them back onto the road.
There’s still a couple of spots I highlighted on the attached map where I get very briefly routed off and back on the blue ridge….but all in all – this was a quick and easy way to accomplish the task.
Hey – as extra credit – I tried to accomplish this task with Bing and Google Maps. Bing was fast and responsive, but stopped letting me drag the route to the Blue Ridge after 10 redirects. Google let me redirect up to 15 times before I just got sick of messing with it because it was very slow on my PC (speedtest.net showed me with a 4.16 Mbps download speed at the time).
Long Live Streets and Trips!
I also love Larry’s elegant solution to keeping the driver on the Blue Ridge using the avoid area boxes. Very Clean. Marvin – you should sponsor a contest to see who can come closest to counting the avoid area boxes. My entry is 75.
I approached the solution using a much less cerebral method. Definitely uglier….but since it was my first impulse to solve the problem – I figured I’d share.
When I first looked at the question yesterday, I found that the Blue Ridge is extremely windy (wine-D)…so to first try and find out where it went – I plotted pushpins along the way so I could generally follow the road.
Then I drew a bounding box around the pushpins and chose ‘Add Pushpins as stops’.
The End of the Blue Ridge was shown as my starting point in Route Planner….and since I imagined I’d be starting in VA, I chose ‘Reverse Route’ in the planner.
I then chose ‘Get Directions’…and followed the hilighted Blue Ridge route along the roadway (comparing against the pushpins I had already placed as guides) to ensure I was on the Blue Ridge. Based on the pushpins I had placed – I needed to drag the route back to the Blue Ridge 8 times (note I didn’t adjust hwy preferences at all). While confirming the route, I also adjusted for any pushpins that I had inadvertently placed off the highway, moving them back onto the road.
There’s still a couple of spots I highlighted on the attached map where I get very briefly routed off and back on the blue ridge….but all in all – this was a quick and easy way to accomplish the task.
Hey – as extra credit – I tried to accomplish this task with Bing and Google Maps. Bing was fast and responsive, but stopped letting me drag the route to the Blue Ridge after 10 redirects. Google let me redirect up to 15 times before I just got sick of messing with it because it was very slow on my PC (speedtest.net showed me with a 4.16 Mbps download speed at the time).
Long Live Streets and Trips!
It seems there are two schools of thought on route planning as illustrated in the Blue Ridge Parkway example: Negative and Positive.
The Negative school says "I know where I am leaving from and I know where I am going to but I don't want to go this way or that so let's mark those areas as Avoids" and computes a nice route.
The Positive school says "I know where I am leaving from and I know where I am going to and I have an idea of the route I want to follow, so let's lay down some waypoints, or Stops in S&T lingo, to make sure we go that way" and computes a nice route.
Which is better? A bit like politics, isn't it? I personally like waypoints against which I can monitor my progress rather than just being told I am xxx miles from the end. I will even go so far as to build in "bogus" Stops along a known route for that purpose.
The Negative school says "I know where I am leaving from and I know where I am going to but I don't want to go this way or that so let's mark those areas as Avoids" and computes a nice route.
The Positive school says "I know where I am leaving from and I know where I am going to and I have an idea of the route I want to follow, so let's lay down some waypoints, or Stops in S&T lingo, to make sure we go that way" and computes a nice route.
Which is better? A bit like politics, isn't it? I personally like waypoints against which I can monitor my progress rather than just being told I am xxx miles from the end. I will even go so far as to build in "bogus" Stops along a known route for that purpose.
The problem with the waypoints on the Blue Ridge Parkway is that it's far too long to actually be successful. I was at 100 and I was not even a quarter of the way through.
Logging the 'Avoid' areas does seem to be far faster.
I did the entire parkway last year, with the Skyline Drive thrown in for good measure.
The first thing I would say is that, as I expected, once you are on the road, it's very easy to follow, its well signed etc. You are not going to get lost. What I used Streets and Trips for was to give me a rough time for how long it would take me.
The drive itself was fantastic, yes there are a lot of trees, but you are driving across the top of the mountains most of the time so the views are exceptional. For me that was great as we just don't have anything like this for this sort of distance in the UK (Scotland has shorter similar drives mind). There was also plenty of wildlife to be seen as well. Deer are everywhere, but I was most impressed with the brown bear that was sunbathing in the middle of the road and seemed thoroughly disgusted with me by making him have to move.
Logging the 'Avoid' areas does seem to be far faster.
I did the entire parkway last year, with the Skyline Drive thrown in for good measure.
The first thing I would say is that, as I expected, once you are on the road, it's very easy to follow, its well signed etc. You are not going to get lost. What I used Streets and Trips for was to give me a rough time for how long it would take me.
The drive itself was fantastic, yes there are a lot of trees, but you are driving across the top of the mountains most of the time so the views are exceptional. For me that was great as we just don't have anything like this for this sort of distance in the UK (Scotland has shorter similar drives mind). There was also plenty of wildlife to be seen as well. Deer are everywhere, but I was most impressed with the brown bear that was sunbathing in the middle of the road and seemed thoroughly disgusted with me by making him have to move.