Cycle route planning in Germany with GPS download

Germany is a federal republic and cycle routes are the responsibility of the provinces, so formerly you had to check a number of sites if you wished to plan a cross country route. However those provinces that have online official route planners have got together under the VeRa website: http://www.radroutenplaner-deutschland.de/. Although it is in German it is easy to use. When you open the website there is a map showing the various provinces. Those that are brightly coloured offer route planners that cover the province and a few kilometres over their borders. Click on the map to use its cycling information systems. These programs also offer the possibility of planning routes into other provinces. Using the Baden Württemberg planner, for example, you can work out a route from Basel, Switzerland to Cologne through four different provinces.  

At the time of writing the following provinces offer route planning with GPS download: 

• Baden-Württemberg: German only, iPad Android App available.
• Bavaria: German only.
• Hesse: English available iPad Android App available.
• North Rhine Westphalia: English available.
• Rhineland Palatinate: English available.
• Schleswig-Holstein: English available.
• Thuringia: English available.

Bremen can be accessed via VeRa. The website is in German only with no GPS. It is a very small area.
Berlin also has a route planning program available, but not via VeRa: The http://www.bbbike.de website offers a German language route planner with the option of Android and iPhone apps

Saarland Tourist App

A newish app for cyclists and walkers from from the Saarland Tourist Authority struck us as an excellent idea. The app shows a zoomable 1:25 000 map of every cycle and walking trail in the province with extensive descriptions, profiles, photographs, sites of interest and restaurants/cafés. In addition the happy or not so happy wanderer on finding damaged signs or not finding missing signs can take a photograph and send a message to the tourist authority describing route problems. If gps is turned on, the location is sent automatically. When we find a missing sign, we tend curse and promise to send an eMail when get home, but we often forget. Unfortunately the app is only available in German the moment, but profiles, maps and photographs don't demand much knowledge of the language. You could of course send an eMail to info@tz-s.de requesting a version in English. This type of app would be of use to folk like Sustrans as well. The app is available free of charge from the Apple iTunes store and the GooglePlay store. Check www.tourismus.saarland.de to find direct links and lots of information on the Saarland. The website is in German, English, Dutch and French, but only the German version offers a link to the app.

More and better GPS devices

According to a report in the Südhessen Morgen, 2 April 2013 GPS devices for outdoor use are selling like hot cakes. It is no longer just  nerds who are buying the instruments but also normal cyclists who want to have a quick tour at short notice.  Thomas Froitzheim of the Allgemeiner Deutsche Fahrrad Club (ADFC), the German cycle touring club, pointed out that newer systems offer the comfort of the navigation systems for motorists combined with outdoor touring maps. One enters either a target or a time limit and the GPS device works out a route, often using an audio system to describe which way to go. Obviously there are still buy instruments available where the cyclist or walker needs to work out a route on his or her PC which is then transferred to the GPS device. This stage will be a critical point for us, as a number of these instruments and their map collections only recognise Microsoft Windows® systems, which is not much use for those sensible souls who use Apple Macintosh computers.
The more modern GPS devices help the errant cyclist who leaves the suggested route to return to the path of righteousness, whereas the older systems show the route and  the cyclist's position letting him or her find their way back. However, Thomas Froitzheim thinks that both the older simpler and the newer systems suffer from content quality. There is not yet enough information about the quality of cycle routes built into the system. We think it would be better if cyclists could specify the most scenically interesting route or the one with the best tea rooms, etc. This could be the app the cycling world is waiting for.

GPS, iPad, iPod, iPhone maps

BVA,  Bielefelder Verlag the German Cycle guide and map publishers have converted a number of their regional ADFC maps (1:50 000 or 1:75 000) for the iPad, iPod or iPhone. Other regional maps are in  process of being converted. The app can be downloaded from the iTunes. We don't know when and if the company is going to offer an app for Google phones and produce digital version of the smaller scale ADFC touring maps. We have enquired by eMail at BVA, but have not received an answer.

Cycling information from a motor club?

It is still surprising to realise how mainstream cycling is in Germany. Our local brewery is giving away a cycling map with every crate of beer sold in August. What surprised me most of all, the ADAC the German equivalent of the AA or the AAA announced recently that it is selling an iPhone app through the Apple App Store that can be used to find and follow over 1500 cycle tours in Germany.