Self-Guided navigation and tours!

For most touring cyclists the navigation during their trip is vital. Which is the best road surface, which is most scenic, where are POI-s and vital infrastructure for getting water and food! Relaxed city ride is also more pleasant if you can easily navigate between your sights and accommodation. Easy to plan your day and no need to deal with paper maps and ask directions.
As cyclists are different and also their needs. We decided to make for 2024 a lot of digital guides in Tallinn and Estonia.

How do we do them? Here are the steps we have Today:

1. Map work / draft
   We have a route idea we want to present to cyclists. It could be a daily route, it could be a multi-day route. It could be forest trails and it could be an easygoing city ride. We Draw the route into a digital map. It could be done in different map applications, important is to get GPX files as a result. This could be shared and transferred later to different applications/apps. At the moment we use Navicup.com
2. Work on the landscape, actual riding
   On the computer screen all might be easy. Actual riding and corrections on the planned route are important. We prefer to do it on a bicycle. We use a GPX file, download it into the Navicup App and Garmin Edge 1040. We use 2 different devices parallel, to be able to get the most precise data. And the average speed is around 15 km/h per mapping km. Detours, checking alternatives etc.
   
3. Corrections to the route
   Again computer screen and corrections to the map. Sometimes more, sometimes less. And some routes make no sense or are not possible in the actual world and traffic. We might have to start from point 1.
4. Point of Interest (POI) to the map
   As we use the Navicup app we have worked out our Standard operating procedure (SOP) for inserting the vital information to our digital map. Sights, museums, shops, public toilets, bicycle shops and repairs, food and beverages. Every POI can have pictures, opening times, ticket information, and external link. POI-s could be a single object or bigger area (entering the area app will start to speak/show information about the POI). We can also make alerts to guests, to be careful on some sections of the route.
5. Live testing
   Route is ready to be tested. We ride it second time. Hop on a bike, charged phone on a handlebar and let’s ride. How it looks and feels. Corrections needed? Hopefully everything is easy to navigate. Based on the feedback of customers information on the App could be changed daily.
6. We can sell and promote the route
   Spending average 2-3 days per 15 km section of city routes and 3-5 days on 50 km of long distance routes there are costs to be covered. All cyclists can use the routes, locals or visitors. We translate the Audio guide to 2-7 different languages: English, German, Finnish, Swedish, Estonian, Latvian, Russian. And we use AI tools to make it happen. It is a good reason to stay longer and enjoy cycling.

All routes could be seen also before downloading. Example of one route in Tartu: https://navicup.com/event/cycling-welcome-to-tartu
Every route we are going to make, we will also have a free GPX track to be used on your preferred device.
Longer routes will be split into sections, otherwise it will be too large in data volume. Eurovelo route 2-3 days per section, ca. 200 km per section.

See our full list of routes made by March 2024 from here: https://citybike.ee/tours/self-guided Our aim is to get 1 new route every week.

About the Navicup audio guide app:
– enables to use text-to-speech technology or voice-over files.
– the device’s GPS plays the stories at the right place at the right time.
– navigation online or offline.

Do you have suggestions to new routes or ideas to include to our routes? Let us know by mail@citybike.ee