
Layout and calculate routes
A route is a concatenated selection of tracks. You can layout routes manually or let TrailRunner calculate routes for a given distance.
What you should need to know first
Introduction to TrailRunner
If you are new to TrailRunner you might want to read this introduction to basic concepts first.
Manual layout
To plan a route manually, follow these steps:
Press New Route in the toolbar.
A new layout route pane will show up on the left.
Now add tracks to the route, either by selecting the next track that is directly adjacent to the route built thus far, or by selecting a distant waypoint.
In the latter case TrailRunner will find the shortest route to that waypoint (backspace always deletes the last added track, escape aborts the whole process).
As soon as you have reached your finishing point, either press the close route button in the layout route pane or double-click the last way-point.
Click outside the current network of tracks to start an intermediate track layout. As soon as the track is finished it will be added to the route.
During the whole process the status area at the bottom of the main window displays the current length of the route under construction.
Additionally you can add intermediate tracks while you are in the layout route process.
To split a track, ⌘-click at the location where you want to place a crossing-point. The route will be extended up to this way-point.
To indicate, that you want to start an intermediate track, click nearby the edge of the route in the direction of where the new track should go into.
Layout the track by normally clicking through it's course.
To close the intermediate track , either end on an existing way-point or ⌘-click to split an existing track.
The intermediate track will be added to the routes end and you are back in layout route mode.
Automatic calculation
An alternative to the manual layout route process is the automatic route finder. The route finder will send out a small armada of virtual ants that try to present the best route suggestion they are able to find.
To create routes automatically, first start to lay out a route manually to indicate in which direction the route should head into. Then follow these steps:
In the layout route pane on the left, enter a desired distance into the Distance field.
Enter a target pace in the pace field. This will also calculate check point times during the workout.
Press the calculate button.
TrailRunner will now check almost every possible route combination to match the given distance and will choose the route with the highest "quality".
The route quality is measured by a number of factors: a high number of highly rated tracks, revisiting waypoints as little as possible and "psychological valuable routes". Psychological valuable routes are routes that traverse around on the outward leg and then return directly on the homeward leg.
Please note that TrailRunner defaults to using a track only once in calculated routes. Should you want to use a track twice, the track must be set to multiuse. This can be done in the info pane for any selected track. During the layout route process, you can enforce this directly by clicking on a track adjacent to the end of the current route fragment.
Modify the course of a route
After a route is created and added to the routes list on the left, several commands in the Routes menu allow subsequent manipulation.
To manipulate a route, select the route in the table.
To duplicate a route, select Edit > Duplicate.
To automatically expand or shorten a route select Route > Expand or Shorten.
To adjust the pace of a route, open the info pane and change the speed.
Two techniques are available to alter the course of a route. To remove tracks from a route Select Route > Adjust and press the backspace key to remove the last track from the route.
Another technique is to reroute or modify the course of the route in it's middle section.
Select a waypoint on the route and drag the way-point onto another way-point you would like to also visit.
The route will now change it's path to include the new waypoint.
To remove parts of the route or make a shortcut, drag the way-point at the crossing before the disliked way-point onto another way-point, making a short-cut around the disliked way-point - if possible.
The command Route > Include Selection is very similar to the rerouting described above.
Modify the direction of a route
The command Route > Reverse Direction reverses the order of way-points the route will visit. This might be the case for the whole route if the starting and the end point are identical or if the route has a loop within. To reverse the direction from a certain way-point on, select the way-point and apply the reverse command.
For example, if you have a route from A to B to C to D and back to B and A and you apply reroute on B your route will then go from B on over D and C.
All techniques described above enable you to first create a draft for a route either manually or automatically and then manipulate the route until it meets your expectations.
Where to go from here
Building Ping-Pong Routes
Routes that have a course that goes forth and back need their tracks to be multiuse.
Journalize with the diary
After you have accomplished a workout, add personal notes in the diary.