In my initial turn by turn Android app search I found MRA Navigator to be the best. Tom Tom Go almost made it, but failed in sight of the finish. I was wondering what was happening, and decided to dive a little deeper. And maybe it would pass this time?
(On the fly I found a way to edit Garmin / MRA Routeplanner generated files in the Tom Tom Planner web app. Yes, this is going to get a little nerdy.)
Reminder
I keep forgetting where the import .GPX function is 😏
1. On the welcome screen click on the 'Hambruger' menu (left of the search box)
2. My Items / Routes / Import GPX file
Split
I'll be looking at both halves of the Tom Tom solution:
- The Tom Tom Planner - the website
- The Tom Tom Go app - the Android app
You'll need the website to properly use the app with pre-planned routes.
Point of reference
First of all, I like the way MRA Navigator does certain things, which are especially important to those trying to follow a route:
1. It's smart when (automatically skipping) waypoints. How good the algorithm is in real life is yet to be seen, but it passed my tests thus far.
2. It shows a detailed track using the track points, and uses the route points to calculate the route. Which is, IMHO, a great way to do it.
The MRA Routeplanner also allows import of .GPX files from other sources, and I can edit them afterward. The Tom Tom Go Planner loads the .GPX files just fine, but wouldn't let me edit them. Why not? Let's find that out as well...
(Whilst fooling around with the different apps I'll add some additional notes on usage, useability and the odd quirks...)
Creating a new file
The first thing I did was re-building my test route inside the Tom Tom Go Planner.
Here's the route in Tom Tom Go Planner and in MRA Routeplanner:
Tom Tom Go Planner offers more screen real estate (hey, MRA, can you please remove that stupid commercial at the top? I already bought the Silver version).
Unfortunately, Tom Tom Planner has a few quirks making it less practical to work in:
- it zooms out to the full track every time you drag / change a waypoint, very annoying!
- it doesn't support Control-Z (undo) although the browser's back button does work... most of the time
However, it IS possible to move a waypoint, and it then automatically reroutes in the planner. So, that's as it should be.
Export and re-import
I exported the route as a .GPX, then imported it again. It then lands as two files in the Tom Tom Planner, one is the 'route' ('fast' in Tom Tom terminology), the other one is the 'track' ('exact' is what Tom Tom calls it).
I could edit the re-imported .GPX, so that means Tom Tom - when importing the MRA generated file - sees some stuff it doesn't like.
Just to doublecheck I imported the Tom Tom generated .GPX into MRA Routeplanner. As expected (sorry) MRA Routeplanner had no problems reading that file. So, the problem lies on the Tom Tom side.
Comparing the files
For those unfamiliar with XML, it's a file format where each 'block' of data almost always starts with <whatever> and ends with </whatever>, unless only a single bit of data is provided, in which case it has the format <morewhatever/>. Inside the file it specifies what 'template' should be used. Apps can try to read XML files and ignore whatever they don't understand, and often get away with it 😁
Note that I'm not an XML nor GPX expert, I'm just trying to apply dumb logic 😇
Time to compare the files. The MRA Routeplanner output isn't nicely formatted, so I first threw it into https://jsonformatter.org/xml-formatter to make it readable.
The default output of MRA Routeplanner appears to be tailored to Garmin devices, as can be seen in all the XML definitions in the header (dark green stuff).
Now the route section (the stuff between <rte> and </rte> shows some more differences:
Tom Tom uses route points (the bits between <rtept> and </rtept>) with an additional field called <type>, and identifies each route point as a type 'TT_HARD', whatever that means 😁
MRA uses route points as well, but uses an <extension> called <trp:Shapingpoint/>'.
So, apparently Tom Tom can recognize and read the MRA generated .GPX file, it just doesn't recognize all the bits and doesn't want to edit it.
Allow Tom Tom Planner to edit Garmin .GPX files
The simple solution? Take out all the <name>...</name> bits, and Tom Tom Planner stops complaining...
So, that's how you can use Tom Tom Planner to edit a Garmin generated .GPX file 😁 Come on, Tom Tom devs, you could do that!
Anyway, I edited the .GPX file, removed the <name>...</name> bits, re-imported the file, and ended up with two entries, 'fast' and 'exact'.
Okay, with that solved it's time to test any (automatic) waypoint skipping in Tom Tom Go! But first I had to get the bloody route into the app on my mobile device. To do so you MUST make an account and use the web part.
You can tweak .GPX files with GPSBabel as well, but I'm not sure how well GPSBabel supports Tom Tom style .GPX files. Older versions of GPSBabel had a format option for Tom Tom devices, but the newest version doesn't seem to do so.
Sharing routes with devices
Tom Tom Go Planner doesn't automatically share routes with Tom Tom devices or the app, probably because some devices might have memory limits or compatibility issues, so you first have to 'share' or 'sync' them.
Interesting... now I have both a 'fast' version and an 'exact' version. As expected the 'fast' version can't be navigated using the app (the Tom Tom Go app wants a track to follow, not a route, this is why it failed during my initial tests, I just didn't know).
Waypoint skipping
Yes, it works! The Tom Tom Go app doesn't navigate routes, but it does navigate tracks.
It somehow keeps track of the tracks (no pun intended) and if you return to a later part of the track it continues from that point. It sometimes tries to return you to the spot where you left the track, but if you steadfastly ignore that it gives in.
Fast versus Exact
I'm still not entirely sure what Tom Tom's intention was with the two variants, but I know this:
1. If you create a NEW route in Tom Tom Planner, you can edit it.
2. If you create a NEW route in Tom Tom Planner, export it as a .GPX and import it again, you will end up with two files: one called 'Exact' and one called 'Fast'.
3. If the GPX was created inside Tom Tom Planner and exported - and then reimported - you can edit both versions, the 'Fast' and the 'Exact' variant, but you may notice the two are a little different, by having their waypoints at different places!
4. When I created a 'cleaned up' version of ANWB's Heuvelrug route using GPSBabel and MRA Routeplanner, exported it and re-imported it in Tom Tom Planner I couldn't edit the 'Fast' version... but I could edit the 'Exact' version. However it didn't use the route points from the .GPS file, but instead it created its own routing points, or so it seems. It also messed around with some parts of the track.
5. When I imported the 'dirty', non-cleaned Heuvelrug .GPX file Tom Tom Planner loaded it without any problem, and only showed a 'Exact' version of the track. It filtered out the GPS tracking noise (the original GPS track data wasn't entirely accurate), smoothed the track, and added some 'routing' points.
My interpretation
Based on the above, I assume the following:
When loading a .GPX file with a track, Tom Tom Planner filters noise, smooth outs the track data and tries to match it to the roads it knows. It then generates a number of 'routing points' which are only used whilst editing the track in Tom Tom Planner. I suspect these and additional waypoints are transmitted to the Tom Tom Go app, and thus it can follow the 'track'. These points aren't exported to a .GPX file, it seems.
In some ways this whole matching mechanism is pretty impressive, and this implementation is great for play back of physically recorded tracks. Correcting a track also isn't a problem, but planning something new is a complete disaster.
Comparison
MyRoute-app
MRA Routeplanner and MRA Navigator is the better combo when it comes to preparing routes, editing routes, and navigating .GPX files with a limited number of route points. That combo costs about 20 bucks for the app plus basic routeplanner, and 30 euro if you take the app plus the Silver package. If MRA Navigator could handle tracks-only-GPX-files better it would be a clear winner.
- MRA Routeplanner and MRA Navigator - Buy them here
Tom Tom Go - app
Tom Tom Go is less suitable for preparing and editing routes. It can't navigate (certain) .GPX files with only route points, but it works very well when navigating .GPX files with track points. If you prefer Tom Tom Go I would combine it with the free version of the MRA Routeplanner, and that would set you back a similar 20 euro. And if you have more than 20 tracks or like the other options, then add a Silver MRA package as well.
- Tom Tom Go app - Buy it here.
- MRA Routeplanner - Buy it here
Kurviger
Kurviger's target user was always the motorbike enthusiast who likes curvy roads, but it works just as well as a 'tourer' aid. To get turn by turn instructions you need a paid version, and to get those instructions spoken (that's not mentioned on the site) you'll have to shell out for the Tourer+ edition which is 30 bucks a year. I like its ease of use, but the management of multiple routes could be a bit better, and it's limited to 200 waypoints per route.
- Kurviger - Buy it here
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