With an Ordnance Survey account you can use the OS website and the OS app to create a route. There is also a very useful facility to snap a route to defined paths, tracks and roads. It makes it a lot quicker when creating a route.
But, as I found on my latest walk, the snap feature doesn’t always do it right! The 1st image shows a map section with a start point. The 2nd image adds an end point and the correctly drawn route created by the route snapping feature. The 3rd image shows what happens if you choose a different end point – the route snapping feature creates a completely different route along non-existent paths!
I was caught out by this because I had failed to notice that the route I was using was as in the 3rd image. So, at the crossroad where I should have veered off eastwards I continued straight on, but because the path didn’t exist I ended up continuing along the path westwards – ie the wrong direction. I didn’t get too far before spotting I was on the wrong path and so after backtracking I picked up the correct path as in the 2nd image.
Memo to self: When creating a route using the route snapping feature, keep an eye on where it’s going. If necessary, make the gap between the current position and the next position shorter.
This is the map with a start point circled
This is the desired route when clicked at the end-point
This is the wrong route when clicked on a different end point
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