While listening to NPR with my parents a few weeks ago, I heard about a gentleman who had, in his quest to change up his bike route, developed a program that would take your starting/ending address and requested route distance and generate a random route over your immediate geography for you.
I’ve been walking my dogs along the same basic route for years now and, every once in awhile, I’d felt the urge to go a completely different route. I was not quite willing, however, to just wander off into random exploration. So when I heard about this website, RouteLoops.com, on the radio, I skipped on over as soon as I was back at my computer.
I was firstly pleased to find that the website offered a free iPhone app which I promptly downloaded to play with later.
My default browser is Google Chrome for Mac and I was a little dismayed to find that for some reason the website would not let me enter a Start/End Location in that browser. I was presented with the same issue in Safari, but it turned out the Firefox could handle it just fine.
So I asked RouteLoops to build me a 2 mile walk/run starting and ending at the Kennedy Plaza bus terminal in Providence, RI and it quickly and dutifully executed it’s function.
From there I had a bit of fun pressing the “Create a Different Route of the Same Length” button, each time being rewarded with a new, random route I could run.
There are a number of options to fiddle around with on here.
-You can choose between a walk/run, bike, or car/motorcycle route.
-You can set the route to run clockwise or counter clockwise,
-start out heading in whatever direction (north, south, north-east, etc.) you want,
-and toggle between miles and kilometers.
-You can even tell it you're willing to take a ferry while on your route.
-They even have options for importing and exporting from/to a GPS unit, including advanced controls for Garmin users.
-You can choose between a walk/run, bike, or car/motorcycle route.
-You can set the route to run clockwise or counter clockwise,
-start out heading in whatever direction (north, south, north-east, etc.) you want,
-and toggle between miles and kilometers.
-You can even tell it you're willing to take a ferry while on your route.
-They even have options for importing and exporting from/to a GPS unit, including advanced controls for Garmin users.
I've been playing with the app (which, I believe, is also available for Android users) a bit on my iPad. I had a little difficulty setting the route length initially, but going back a page and selecting "Create New Route" solved this problem for me. Most all of the other options for the app appear in the preferences tab. The app does not appear to have the same fun little randomizing button, and the user must go back to the Routes page to re-enter the info.
In any case, the app provides you with a map and written directions to guide you along your route and the option to save that specific route to your favorites should you find it particularly pleasing or interesting, or fitting to the level of physical challenge you were looking for from your run or bike.
In any case, the app provides you with a map and written directions to guide you along your route and the option to save that specific route to your favorites should you find it particularly pleasing or interesting, or fitting to the level of physical challenge you were looking for from your run or bike.
Since I'll be house and dog sitting for a family friend during the next two weeks, I'll be testing the app out frequently to change up my walks with their german shepherd mix, Sam.
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