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I'm looking for good software to help me map out routes that I have not done before and create cue sheets and probably also printable maps. I plan to use this for my own rides, planning group rides, and maybe even alleycat routes. Things like elevation profile would be nice too.

Optionally, this would also have a cue sheet viewer app available for my smartphone for reference. It doesn't have to navigate me, just show me a list of turns and notes.

I don't really care if it supports upload of routes from gps units or a mobile app since I'm using it more for future rides than past rides. I rarely do the same ride twice. However, some people find this very useful.

I'm willing to pay money for a good app, so free isn't neccesary, but it's nice. The key thing is it has to be easy to map out a route and generate a cue sheet and add notes.

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    One important feature would probably be that it can follow off-road bike routes. Most web-apps that integrate with google maps probably have this function. – Benzo Apr 30 '12 at 17:11
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    I found Ride With GPS to be the best of the options given due to the ease of creating cue sheets, which is my primary goal. It also has a lot of great map layers and incorporates bike routes. It prints cue sheets very well. – Benzo May 2 '12 at 13:42
  • Map My Ride seems to be a good alternate option, if you're willing to pay for the premium service to allow printing especially with the rather full featured android and iphone apps as well as the ability to generate a cue sheet for a ride uploaded from .gpx files (which mapmyride cannot do). – Benzo May 2 '12 at 13:43
  • Comment cos not printing, but Strava's route feature will give you a moving map display on a phone, with a blue line for you to follow. You can set up the route at home in comfort, then tell the Strava app what route to follow. – Criggie♦ Jul 26 '17 at 6:18
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I mostly use it for tracking rides after the fact, but Ride With GPS has cue sheets and route planning based off of Google maps for their paying members. From the GPS side, it works great, your mileage may vary for pre-planning.

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  • I would add that (at this time) you do not need a membership to use the route planning aspect of the site nor to print a cue sheet of your route. Ride With GPS also syncs with some bike computer/GPS units to provide route maps and turn-by-turn directions. – jcbrou Jul 25 '17 at 16:19
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They do not have an app, but I typically use the Course Creator on http://bikeroutetoaster.com/ to plan new rides. It gives you elevation profile and will allow you to print the cue sheets. You can export the GPX/TCX data to upload to a GPS device for on screen turn by turn cues (depending on your device).

Another good option for finding new routes is to use the segment explorer on http://strava.com although the segments do not make a complete ride, I like to see where the popular riding routes are and have found many new locations and climbs by using the segment explorer in a new area I've not ridden before.

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  • I find strava's activity and segment explorer great for finding other people's rides. However, I find their route builder, to build rides from scratch, one of the worst tools for route planning. – Benzo May 1 '15 at 15:52
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I think mapmyride.com is pretty good for mapping out routes. They do allow you to print routes, although I prefer to use the Android app.

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  • I've had decent luck doing the mapping with mapmyride. The mobile app doesn't seem to let you view the cue sheet though, it only wants to track you via gps. It also doesn't seem to allow you to just print the cue sheet without maps. However, it is a pretty capable tool for planning. I just wind up printing the smallest maps with the cue sheets with 2x pages per sheet (via my printer settings) in duplex and then cutting off the excess borders and maps and folding it to a small brochure shape to make a small, usable cue sheet for on the bike. – Benzo Apr 30 '12 at 17:46
  • I have used MapMyRide and like the features and ease of use, but last time I tried to use it, it failed to print in the middle of my trip. They also start to charge your card indefinitely, rather than allowing one-time use for rare tours. Hopefully these issues will be addressed. – Mark Stosberg Mar 13 '13 at 13:30
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Inkatlas lets you create printable maps in several different styles (including topo styles with terrain). The maps include trails from OSM as well as any GPX tracks and waypoints you want to add. Smaller PDFs (6 pages or fewer) are free.

Full disclosure: this is my project.

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