Incomplete Maps for Offroad cycling
Answered
When I asked, prior to buying, about the maps, I was told they were Open Street Maps (OSM).
Even then I checked the Dashboard maps which do show all the OSM details.
However, on receipt of the Karoo these details are severely deficient in the Off road tracks and trails. They do not distinguish between different types of tracks, eg single track (or the track grade), fire roads, maintenance tracks, etc. I have used these details on OSM for many years.
I am dismayed that these are removed from the Karoo maps as they are essential for guiding groups around in the actual mtb parks.
Am I missing something!?
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As far as i know in the OSM all data about roads, heights, buildings, altitude curves and even parking lots and so on are integrated. I also ride lots of MTB and therefore would like to adjust the graphicals of the maps. On the Karoo i need the altitude curves, forest, single trees and cliffs.
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Me too, I would love to get more off-road details into the Karoo maps. Ideally we should get the trails (colored by difficulty) and fire roads from Trailforks and have them on top of the normal OSM data. I believe something similar is possible on Garmin devices, so I'm hoping that the Hammerhead team can look into how they can do that.
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I would not buy this device if I MTB or Gravel Biker!!!
Hello all
I want to take up this discussion again.
It´s now 4 Years ago and the issue is still there . I have contacted the support line several times, I posted pictures to illustrate the issue. I Informed them which OSM attribute they are need to use in there software.
I am Software Engineer, I know this would be simple to solve. But the support line seams not to understand the issue and does not report it to the development team.
I would not have sold this device If I would have been aware of this problem before.
I would like to encourage you to keep sending the issue to the support hotline.
Kind Regards
Rolf
P.S. Expect of this big error the device is really good! It´s do pity that they don´t solve this.
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I still don‘t understand the Hammerhead guys. It started out super, i was involved as kick starti g, bought Karoo 1 and 2. I was alleays told the data for offroad will be implemented. And now years later we are at the same spot: Support doesn‘t hear and understand us! We paid abd got and got told „just eait“ and still waiting.
Whats going on at Hammerhead? -
The Karoo map draws a forest road and a singletrack exactly the same way
On the Karoo's built-in map, a wide gravel forest road and a narrow singletrack look identical: the same thin, grey, dashed line. You can't tell from the map whether the way ahead is a road a car could drive on or a trail barely wider than your handlebars.
For a bike computer, that's the most important thing the map should tell you. It decides whether you can ride a section on a gravel bike, whether you'll be pushing, and whether a shortcut is worth taking.
Why it happens
OpenStreetMap, the source of the map data, labels every way by type: a "track" is a farm or forest road, a "path" is a narrow trail. The information is there.
The Karoo's map style lumps both types (plus bridleways) into one group, and the only thing it looks at inside that group is an MTB difficulty rating. Very few trails carry that rating. Everything without it, which is nearly everything, falls through to one default style. So the map ignores the one piece of information every way has, and relies on one that almost none have.
A possible fix
Because the way type is already in the map data, the map style could simply use it. One option would be to give paths and tracks their own look, for example:
- singletracks as a thin solid line
- forest and farm roads as a thicker dashed line, where the dash pattern could also show how firm the surface is (more broken = looser)
Why I am Upset:
An AI analysed this in about a minute and suggested a fix. But to apply it, you have to access the device with developer options and edit the mtb_v2.xml file yourself. For a Karoo software developer this would be a easy thing to fix. Shame on them. And shame on the support team, who wst able or willig to understand the problem.
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