The Measure tool measures as the crow flies. Is there any way to measure road distance between two points without creating a route. i.e. a measure tool for road distance?
Yes, having a measuring tool would be much easier for certain tasks.
Examples:
I want to create a route of, say, 400 miles. I can create a route of what I think may be 400 miles then add bits on and/or take bits off until I get a route I'm happy with. Or I can use a road distance measuring tool to drag out from my starting point for 400 miles then vary it, still using the measuring tool, until I find where I want to stop then ask Basecamp to create a route.
I'm a tourist based at a particular point. I want to plan some routes for different days that are each, say, 300 miles. I use the road distance measuring tool to measure 300 miles then swing it in a circle/arc until I find somewhere I want to ride to and create a route. Repeat.
(Since posting my question I've discovered Autoroute 2013 has something similar to this - a Drivetime Zone which measures time instead of distance but that would work for both the above examples and may actually be better for the purposes above.)
I have a 1500 mile route but know I need to stop for fuel every 230 miles or so. I have a starting point and I use the road distance measuring tool to find where 230 miles from my starting point is, look for a fuel station in that area, create a waypoint and add it to my route. I then use that fuel station as a starting point for the next segment to find my next petrol stop and so on.
Perhaps you could use the "New Route" tool to progressively create a route. At each via point, the total route distance and time are displayed in the status bar. When you have found your desired destination, you can hit Ctrl-Z to progressively delete the newly created route.
Perhaps you could use the "New Route" tool to progressively create a route. At each via point, the total route distance and time are displayed in the status bar. When you have found your desired destination, you can hit Ctrl-Z to progressively delete the newly created route.
That would be certainly easier than what I have been doing for example 1, which was to create a route then modify it. It also resolved another issue I was struggling with. I used to create routes in Mapsource using the New Route tool and could see in the Routes column how long the route was and how long it would take to ride as I was building it. I'd completely missed it was being displayed in the footer in Basecamp. I wish it was similarly displayed there, or in a tool tip, when I hovered over or clicked on a route in a list...or have I missed that being displayed somewhere as well?
Or do what I do. Create the full route then look in the route properties box to find locations at certain distances.
I was about to ask "How?" then I expanded the route properties dialogue box and saw it contained a Total Distance column in the Directions tab. I had no idea that was there. So that's example 3 taken care of.
The answer to my opening question must be "No" which is a shame as I think a road distance tool (or something similar to Autoroute's Drivetime Zone) would make doing both of those things easier but in the absence of one those suggestions have certainly eased my workflow, thank you both.
No, but you can set a circle at whatever distance you want from a waypoint, although it clearly takes no account of the roads, don't know if that would help you or not.
Open waypoint properties and input the distance in the 'Proximity' box.
