Cannot Map Highways

What do I need to need to be able to select highways in creating a course using connect.garmin site?

You won't be able to. Garmin Connect uses Google's routing implementation. maps.google.com offers 4 options for mode of travel: car, public transit, walking, and bicycling. Only car and public transit allow you to create a route on a limited access highway. Walking and bicycling are the two options that are built into the Garmin Connect site. I suspect that Garmin did not want to risk someone planning their run on the Interstate.

Interesting... went to google maps and establish directions using the bicycling option. It does try to avoid highways, but did end up including some. I also found that I could drag the route to the highway and it would stay. If I try this in Garmin connect, it just jumps to the closet road. It would be great if connect.garmin is using maps.google.com, if it could allow us to make the same modifications as we can on the site.

What other options are out there that provides the ability to create courses that includes highways, shows elevations and allows one to add any missing road or bike trail?

Have you tried Bike Route Toaster?

Interesting... went to google maps and establish directions using the bicycling option. It does try to avoid highways, but did end up including some. I also found that I could drag the route to the highway and it would stay. If I try this in Garmin connect, it just jumps to the closet road. It would be great if connect.garmin is using maps.google.com, if it could allow us to make the same modifications as we can on the site.

Apparently Garmin has adjusted it to be even more conservative. Can you give me an example of a road you're trying to ride on that Garmin Connect won't allow?

The Bike Route Toaster looks like an awesome site. It is interesting that using the google data does not allow you to route on the major bike trails, such as the Sammamish River Trail near Redmond or the Interurban Trail that runs north of Seattle to Everett. When I switched to using the OpenStreeMap data, I was able to include the trail in the route. It is also nice feature that you can program your virtual partner for different speeds (flat vs hills) and add warnings.

Here is a sample of the highway challenge. One is allowed to ride from Airport Rd to 526.

http://connect.garmin.com/course/1286711

Here is another example of trying to go north out of Stanwood and every time I click the highway, it pops to side roads. If I go way up, it creates a one big loop out, where I want to be on the highway. There is also no way to drag the course back to where I want, like you can using google map, even when it was set to cycling.

http://connect.garmin.com/course/1286768

I will continue to experiment with Bike Route Toaster and report back my results. Thanks for all the help and the lead!

I have found one place in Bike Route Toaster where the OSM data doesn't have two roads connecting, where the google does. I also have on this route a bike trail. Can I use the OSM data for part and the google data for the other part by just switching it back and forth?

To see, go to E Casino Rd and 7th Ave SE in Everett WA. You will see you can pick up the Interurban Trail off of 84th St SE. For some reason with OSM, I can’t get from E Casino RD to 84th St SE.

I have created some courses using Bike Route Toaster and will test in the next few weeks. This appears to be a great site. It has great additional features, such has being able to send the elevation and cue sheet to your device so you can see it there. You can also set the virtual partner to have different speeds for when you are on the flat or climbing a hill. The editing of the route and route information is the best have tried so far. The only thing left to confirm is the turn-by-turn navigation. I will report back my results soon!

I am sure this is a very easy question, but so far I have not been able to find an easy answer. When using connect.garmin site to create a course, I am unable to select a highway. The connect.garmin site wants to force the course to be on back roads.

What do I need to need to be able to select highways in creating a course using connect.garmin site?

I may have found a solution to the connect.garmin not allowing you to route on highways. When you want to force it along a highway, uncheck the "Stay on Road," add enough points to keep it close to the highway (as it will be a straight line between points) and then when you return to a non-highway, click "Stay on Road" to make routing easier.

Here is an example...
http://connect.garmin.com/course/1336404

Still need to test navigation, but will report back.

Sure that will work, I do at all the time for trails where there is no known road. You just aren't using the auto-routing feature at all for that stretch.