Routing profiles & providers
Routes are calculated by different providers, each with individual strengths: HERE is excellent for car, motorhome and traffic-aware routing. Azure Maps shines with winding 'thrilling' motorcycle routes. GraphHopper covers bicycle, racing bike, MTB, hiking and running. The integrated routing engine works completely offline on your device. Every routing profile combines a provider with a vehicle, optimization and avoidances — pick or build the profile that fits your trip.
See also: Online services & map cache · No signal? Integrated offline routing · Map licences: Azure, HERE — and why there is no Google Maps
Traffic: use it or ignore it
Each profile can take the current traffic situation into account or deliberately ignore it. Ignoring traffic is the right choice when planning routes you will ride weeks or months from now — today's jams are irrelevant then. Shortly before a day trip, recalculate the route with a traffic-aware profile so current jams and closures are considered: Azure Maps and HERE are both very good at this.
See also: Traffic and incidents
Online services & map cache
Routing and map material are provided by services on the internet, so using them requires an internet connection. Map tiles are cached locally and automatically as you browse — areas you have already viewed keep working offline. At the end of a trip you can clear this cache in the settings to free up space.
See also: Integrated routing vs. routing services · Why the maps are streamed live from the internet
No signal? Integrated offline routing
In a dead zone no online route can be calculated or changed — and no detour can be found. Exactly for this case the app contains the integrated routing engine: it calculates routes entirely on your device. It needs special routable map packages that you download per region beforehand. Note: this material is made purely for routing — it cannot be displayed as a visible map.
See also: How the offline maps are built · Integrated routing vs. routing services · Worldwide base map
Integrated routing vs. routing services
There are two ways to get a route.
Routing services (online: HERE, Azure Maps, GraphHopper).
+ Most up-to-date road data and live traffic.
+ Worldwide coverage with no downloads in advance.
+ Specialized profiles (winding motorcycle roads, motorhome, bicycle/MTB) and finer turn instructions.
− Need internet/reception and use mobile data.
− In a dead zone no (re)calculation is possible.
Integrated routing (on your device, offline).
+ Works completely offline (dead zones, abroad without roaming).
+ No data costs and instant recalculation without a network.
+ Better privacy.
− Needs local map material (routing) downloaded per region in advance.
− Maps age between updates and offer fewer profile/traffic subtleties than the online services.
In short: use the online services for freshness and special profiles, and the integrated routing for reliability without a network.
See also: Online services & map cache · No signal? Integrated offline routing
Via points vs. shaping points
Both let you steer a route, but they behave differently.
Via point (stop with announcement): an intermediate destination that is actively driven to and announced. The route leads there (on a recalculation it may even go back, unless 'skip' is active). Order matters.
Shaping point (form point): only shapes the course of the route (pulling it along particular roads), WITHOUT its own stop or announcement. Shaping points you have already passed are skipped on a recalculation by default (setting 'Skip shaping points').
In short: Via = WHERE (an intermediate destination), Shaping = HOW / along which roads.
See also: Shaping or via point? Priority and skipping · Entering a track or route · Routing from pass to pass
Local map material: routing vs. display
For offline use there are two separate downloads with two different purposes. Display packs render the visible map without a network. Routing packs enable offline route calculation. They are downloaded and managed separately under 'Local map material' — for a fully offline trip in a region you want both.
See also: How the offline maps are built
Worldwide base map
The offline map only draws what a downloaded region covers — everything else stays grey. The worldwide base map fills those gaps with a coarse overview of the whole globe. As soon as you switch to the offline map without it installed, the app offers the download once per app start. You manage it under Settings → System settings → Worldwide base map.
See also: How the offline maps are built · Cached map data
Cached map data
Tiles of raster and vector maps are buffered on the device automatically while you browse the map — that saves data and makes the map faster the second time. Under Settings → System settings → Cached map data you can see how much space each map view uses and delete it selectively or all at once.
See also: Why the maps are streamed live from the internet · Worldwide base map