Route Planner

The Road Side feature shifts the route towards the left or right side of the road as you plot it. This can result in more accurate measurements and make routes clearer to read where outbound and return sections of a route overlap.

We recommend that you set this switch to "M" (middle of the road) when plotting on narrow ways, like footpaths or cycle paths and aim near the middle of the road when you plot points with LEFT or RIGHT selected, to avoid accidentally plotting on pedestrian or cycle ways at the side of the road.

The Left and Right Road Side options are available under Plotaroute PREMIUM membership.

You can choose the colour of the detour from one of the following options.

UPDATE DETOUR COLOUR

The Make Me a Route feature will generate a selection of routes for you given a start point and a target distance. To begin click on the map to select the start point.

NOTE: This feature is subject to usage limits so you need to be signed in to use it.

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CONTINUE

The Plot With Waypoints feature enables you to plot a route by placing a small number of waypoints on the map, which you can drag to different positions to experiment with different route options.

To plot a more complex route with many waypoints, close this message, turn on the Auto-Plot switch and plot points on the map.

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CONTINUE

The Combine Routes feature enables you to join together two or more routes.

The start of the route being appended must be near the end of the route it is being attached to. If there is a gap, a interconnecting path will be automatically plotted between the two routes, taking into account the Auto-Plot mode you have selected.

Start typing the name of a route and select from the options listed.

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This will clear the current route from the map so that you can plot a new one. If the route has been saved it won't be deleted (you can do this on the My Routes page).

Please choose whether you would like to clear the current route completely from the map (CLEAR MAP) or leave it on the background map for future reference (LEAVE TRACE). You can temporarily hide Traces using the switches under DISPLAY OPTIONS. To permenently remove all Traces from the background map select CLEAR MAP.

CLEAR MAP LEAVE TRACE

To revisit this route, select My Routes from the menus or use the universal search box at the top of most pages. This is the direct link to your route on plotaroute.com:

The Route is currently Private. If you want to share it with friends, just save the route again and change its Shared status to Public.

SHARE THIS ROUTE CONTINUE EDITING MANAGE MY ROUTES

The BY BIKE auto-plot option will follow any roads and paths that are flagged as accessible for bikes on OpenStreetMap (OSM). You should assume that you will need a multi-terrain bike. Premium members have three additional settings:

• Avoid Unpaved - tries to avoid roads and paths with unmade surfaces that may not be suitable for road bikes
• Avoid Major Roads - avoids the major classes of road where possible.
• Prefer Off-Road - gives preference to off-road routes

These options are by nature more restrictive than the standard By Bike option, so you may need to turn them off if you find that you can't auto-plot a route to your next point.

Routing with both of these options is carried out using map data from OpenStreetMap (OSM). Their effectiveness will depend on the availability of surface and cycling access data in your local area. If you would like to help improve the map data in your area, please take a look at our How-To Guide.

It may sometimes be necessary to dismount from your bike. Please observe local laws regarding right of way.

GO PREMIUM

By default the ON FOOT auto-plot option will follow any roads and paths that are flagged as accessible for pedestrians on OpenStreetMap (OSM).

Premium members have the option to refine this by selecting Prefer Off-Road. This will give priority to waymarked trails and other footpaths, while trying to avoid roads, particularly busier ones. Obviously this will depend on the availablity of suitable trails and paths in the area. It works best if there is a bigger distance between the points you plot, as there are then more alternative routes to consider.

Please be careful to observe all signs for rights of way when following routes you are not familiar with, as we cannot guarantee that they are safe for your chosen activity or that they do not cross private land.

GO PREMIUM

Our Auto-Plot feature enables you to plot a route very quickly, as it fills in the gaps for you every time you click on the map. It does this by calculating a route from the last point you plotted, based on your chosen Auto-Plot option.

If you find that you are unable to auto-plot on a road or path you see on the map, it usually means that the route engine couldn't find a viable route between the last point you plotted (the origin) and the one you are trying to plot (the destination). Route calculations are made using OpenStreetMap (OSM) maps, so this problem means that one or more of the origin, the destination or an unavoidable road in between are not tagged on OSM as suitable for the Auto-Plot mode you chose (BY ROAD, ON FOOT or BY BIKE). To overcome this you can temporarily change the Auto-Plot switch to another setting (ON FOOT usually has the widest access) or turn it off to plot manually. Deselecting any of the Auto-Plot sub-options (e.g. Unvoid Unpaved, Prefer Off-Road) can also sometimes help, as these options are by nature more restrictive.

You can also contribute to improving the OSM maps by adding missing access tags, as OSM is a community project where anyone can make edits. See our guide on correcting map errors for more details on this. Changes you make on OSM will flow through to plotaroute.com as we implement regular updates.

It is also worth noting that the exact positions of roads and paths can vary between map providers, for example some intentionally move map features very slightly to make their maps clearer to read. So, if you are plotting a route on a non-OSM map, you may occasionally find that the route is not perfectly aligned with the map. However, any discrepancies will not be visible if you then share your route, as routes are shared using OSM maps.

Please be careful to observe all signs for rights of way when following routes you are not familiar with, as we cannot guarantee that they are safe for your chosen activity or that they do not cross private land.

Select the tags you would like to assign to this route.

This tool shows the most popular roads and paths near here, to help with planning new routes. For ready-made routes in the local area, please use the Route Finder tool instead.

Select an activity type to continue.

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