Long Routes

[jfheath]

That is correct - almost !

The limit is a total of 31 Via Points - which includes the start and finish.

You can make a route with more Via Points but it will be split at the 31st Via Point. The 31st will become the end point of one route and the beginning point of another route. If your route has say 200 Via Points. then this will happen many (7) times. Most of the starts and ends are duplicated - each end being the start of the next.

So the 29 comes from the number of Via Points between start and end.

Note that this limit is on Via Points. It is not a limit on Waypoints. Garmin uses a definition for Waypoints that they made long before other routing software came on the scene. It is common to hear people refer to Waypoints as if they are any point on a route. They are not.

As long as they know what they mean, then that is OK. But here on Zumo User Forums we use the term in a much more precise way.

A waypoint is a location that has been saved for future use - maybe in a route, maybe not. IT will have the lat/long coordinates, a name and perhaps an address, postcode and telephone number. It may also have a particular icon associated with it.
I sometimes use the term 'Saved Waypoint' to emphasise the fact that it has to have been saved first.

In Basecamp you create these using the Waypoint Flag tool.
When they get sent to the Zumo, they are stored in 'Favourites' (UK) or in 'Saved' (USA).
In the XT, Waypoints are the only locations that are guaranteed to keep the name that you give them. The XT will use the coordinates, and look up the name of the place that it has assigned to somewhere near those coordinates. It may also move the point slightly.

The points that make up a route are often referred to simply as route points. But specifically, they have to be either shaping points or via points. They have to be one of these. Saved Waypoints can be used in a route - when they are they retain their properties - name, position, other details, but they still have to be set as either a Shaping Point or as a Via Point.

Via Points announce as you approach and arrive when navigating a route. They are route points that you 'must' visit. They appear as an orange flag on the Zumo screen.

Shaping points do not announce as you approach and arrive. Their only purpose is to pin the route to a particular road. If you miss a shaping point, the Zumo will still try to get you to visit it. If you continue to ignore the instruction but rejoin the route after the shaping point, it won't bother to to tell you to go back.

There is a limit in the XT of 125 shaping points between Via Points.

But if you are using that many shaping points, you are making life difficult for yourself. You are pinning the route down so tightly that the XT will not be able to come up with an alternative. But some people like to do this.


Not many programs use Waypoints in the same way as Garmin

MyRouteApp uses the term waypoint to mean any route point. They do have POIs - which are stored locations, but they do not get transferred to Favourites in the Zumo. Via Points (Hands) and Shaping Points (Tear drops) behave in the same way as Garmin's. MRA creates different types of gpx file. One includes all via and shaping points, but the route that it calculated between the points is not transferred, and the Xt has to calculate it. The other includes the calculated route, but strips away the shaping points - so if the XT has to recalculates, it only has via points to work with. But it does create tracks that can be displayed on the zumos in addition to routes.

Kurviger Creates waypoints that will be transferred to Zumo Favourites / Saved app. Shaping Points and Via points seem to be used in the same way as Zumo too. From some basic tests, kurviger registers every single point as a Waypoint - so they are lodged in Zumos Favourites or Saved App - whether they are set as shaping or via in the route.

Google myMaps Doesn't use Favourites, Via or Shaping points, let alone waypoints. It can create a track in KML format, which can be converted to a GPX file using other programs including Basecamp. This seems like a long way of doing things - but if you like the Google mapping interface, and all you want is a track - this is a pretty good solution.

Garmin Explore Creates Waypoints, which can be accessed from the XT. Explore doesn't create routes - it creates tracks. In the XT these can be converted to give navigable instructions (Garmin call this a trip). But although it has a magenta line and a start and a finish, it has no intermediate route points. But doesn't need them.