Planning routes for your own trips can be a lot of fun. There are several websites that allow you to select an area and plot waypoints along a route. Most allow you to add notes for a cue sheet. Some generate the turn instructions automatically. You can print the maps and cue sheets, save your routes to an on line database, and share your routes with your friends.

They all use the familiar Google Maps interface with the ability to zoom in or out on the route. You can switch between viewing the routes on a map, on a satellite image, or on a hybrid view combining both the satellite and map images.

Folks on Spokes provides this gateway to some of the sites with hints to help with your route planning.. Here are some web sites that can help you on your way:

• Info on Bikely.com
• Info on BikeRouteToaster.com
• Info on MapMyRide.com
• Info on Gmap-pedometer.com
• Info on Maps.Google.com
• Info on Terraserver-usa.com

Bikely.com

Click here for a sample map of an alternate route from the Grand Illinois Trail between Lake Le-Aqua-Na and Rockford. Or click here for a sample map of a Folks On Spokes club ride,from the west side parking lot, Cicero Av. and Old Plank Road Trail, Matteson, to Lake Kathrine, Palos Hills.

• The Explore tab takes you through the route waypoint by waypoint.
• The Show tab in the upper left corner of the screen has options for viewing the whole route, the elevation profile, and the cue sheet Take a look at each of them to get an idea of the utility of this site.

Site strengths:

• Provides excellent tools for managing your own on line route database.
• Elevation map shows both total climb and total descend distances.
• The excellent cue sheet feature turns on after you enter 5 labeled points. It provides the following information for each point:
• Automatic Road following can be turned on or off
• Calculated leg distance
• Calculated total distance
• Entered location or note
• Entered action (e.g. Right on Marshall Rd)
• Calculated compass direction for each turn (e.g. SE)
• Calculated compass bearing for each turn (e.g. 135 deg)
• Calculated elevation
• Registering is easy and doesn't cost anything
• Has a tutorial so you can quickly learn how to create your own maps.

Site Weaknesses:

• You must register to if you want to save routes in a database.
• All that power comes at a price. There is a learning curve to use this site.

BikeRouteToaster.com

BikeRouteToaster.com is similar to bikely with less details on the cue sheet. If Auto Routing is turned on BikeRouteToaster automatically generates the turn instructions. This site does not have a database to save the routes.

MapMyRide.com

MapMyRide.com is also similar to Bikely.com. The maps and cue sheets are publication quality, but there is a subscription fee to print the special maps or cue sheets.

Gmaps Pedometer
Gmaps.com

Gmaps Pedometer is one of the first and most widely used mapping programs. This map system is quick, easy and includes street, satelite, hybrid and topographical map views. The topographical map is extremely useful when your route goes through a hilly area.

Site Strengths

• Topographic map views
• Fast and easy to use
• No registration required

Site Weaknesses

• Crude elevation map
• Does not create cue sheet.
• There is no private database. You can save a route, but you must keep track of the route URL yourself

General instructions: Turn on the mapping by clicking on the "Recording" button, then position your cursor where you want to begin and double click for each waypoint. Find the instructions for Gmaps Pedometer by clicking here

Check out a sample Gmaps map
Go to the Gmaps Pedometer site by clicking here

Maps.Google.com

Maps.Google.com is the original mapping site, with new featues constantly being added. Auto routing and the ability to search for points of interest, such as restaurants, hotels, or camp grounds is especially helpful when planning a bicycke tour.

Teraserver-usa
Teraserver-USA

Terraserver-usa doesn't let you draw routes, but the aerial photos show much more detail and have better resolution than the satellite images available on the other sites. It is useful for zooming in for details, such as checking if a road really goes through or not.

Click here for the Aerial Map Viewer

Enter the name of the city in the box at the upper left of the Teraserver home page, or just click on the maps to zoom into an area. You can generally switch between photo, satellite image or map of the area.