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how to download routes from Gronze

Shebang

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
2014
How do I download routes from Gronze? I am on an iPhone or a Mac/Safari when accessing the gronze.com site. Sometime back I was able to download an tracketapa*.kmz file from the website. But I can no longer download the kmz file.

If it is no longer possible, what other site provide downloadable kmz files for individual routes?

Thanks for any help.
 
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I don't think you can... at least I never use it that way. You ever try wikiloc?

I use gronze for the route descriptions and places to stay, but never for realtime following the route,
 

Last year I used it in the same way.
Download the file for that day and select the app with which to open it.
Very easy and a great resource.

I think since developing their own mapping app, they took off the file download.

But you can just download the Gronze mapping app, and use them in that way.
On opening the app you will see the routes.

Personally I preferred opening the downloadable file in Maps.me as it had great functionality and additional information.

I started off using the files in Wikiloc and it drove me nuts to be honest. It was somewhat 'bloated' with functions I didn't need making it cumbersome to use. For me at least. Frequently it would also sound an alarm saying I was going in the opposite (wrong) direction when I clearly wasn't. I gave up with it.

Maps.me was much more user friendly.

I haven't used the Gronze maps app yet though, but it looks more than adequate.

And I tend to 'trust' the Gronze tracks. In 1,200 kms last year I never had a problem with them. Up to date and accurate.

The issue I have with Wikilocs and others, is where to source the map files (tracks)
I found myself combing through hundreds of tracks by various people, not knowing how accurate or up to date they were. Was I following an idiot that got lost! Having to read reviews etc etc. To find publishers of 'good' tracks. And with the worry that I was following some persons track that might have included an unintentional detour or whatever. Gee. Why bother?

Whereas Gronze provides one track. the track to take.
And it seemed to be well updated.
Why over complicate things?

But. Not sure if the Gronze maps app works with iphone yet...........
 
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I had no idea Gronze even had an app. People always rave about maps.me. I like wikiloc because it's free and connects to apple health. No doubt there is more than one way to skin a cat.
 
Damien Reynolds said:
I had no idea Gronze even had an app. People always rave about maps.me. I like wikiloc because it's free and connects to apple health. No doubt there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Click to expand...

My cat just saw your post!
He sits in my office watching the screen..........


 
Robo said:
Frequently [Wikiloc] would also sound an alarm saying I was going in the opposite (wrong) direction when I clearly wasn't. I gave up with it.
Click to expand...
I ran into this oddity but discovered that when you start to follow a track with Wikiloc when you are at some point along the track the app makes the assumption that you want to walk the longer segment of it, not that you want to walk in the same direction as the track was originally recorded. I've written about this before (and what to do about it to get your own way) in a thread about Wikiloc oddities. See subtopic 3 in this post:
 
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I found the Wise Pilgrim app. It cost a few dollars and had the ability to show my location and The Way. Thus I knew if I was on the right path or not. It also showed elevations and had links to places to stay.

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Thanks. I have an iPhone which does not have the app and thus I was hoping to get gpx/kmz files for download and input into my other gps apps. I will look into Wise Pilgrim in combination with gronze
Damien Reynolds said:
I don't think you can... at least I never use it that way. You ever try wikiloc?

I use gronze for the route descriptions and places to stay, but never for realtime following the route,
Click to expand...

I use iPhone which does not have the app. I will have to use Gronze in combination with other apps like Wise Pilgrim and others. Since I am more familiar using gaiagps on my hikes, I thought I could import the gronze kmz/gpx files into gaiagps for tracking my walk. The last time I was on the Frances in 2014, I did not even use gps and mostly relied on Brierly... and got lost a couple of times :>)
 
The Gronze map app is not available for iPhone, but you can still use the maps on their web based app. It will require a data connection, but the Android app also requires a data connection to use it.

Gronze Maps | Camino de Santiago | Gronze.com

Gronze Maps es la App de Gronze.com para usar en ruta (on the road). Muestra los tracks y alojamientos en el mapa y la ubicación del usuario en tiempo real. Contiene toda la información actualizada sobre los servicios y alojamientos en conexión con Gronze.com. Funciona en cualquier dispositivo...
www.gronze.com
 
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Robo said:
I think since developing their own mapping app, they took off the file download.

Personally I preferred opening the downloadable file in Maps.me as it had great functionality and additional information.
Click to expand...
I do exactly the same thing and I didn't realise until opening this thread that you can't do it anymore.

The other really useful thing about using Gronze tracks as opposed to (or in addition to) others is that if there are alternative routes, Gronze describes the routes and includes the different routes in the tracks, so it's easy to choose which route to take (as Gronze often has strong opinions!) and then to follow it.

I haven't tried the app but I guess I will next time.
 
I found a lot of sites wherein gpx/kmz files for camino routes could be downloaded. As @Robo mentioned earlier, some gpx sites could be rabbit holes of unknown accuracy. At best the data could be guides on the map on other gps apps, and it would have been nice if the routes dovetailed nicely with the Gronze maps since I do not have the Gronze app on my iPhone.
 
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jungleboy said:
If you get a gpx file from (say) wikiloc, you can convert it to kml here: https://gpx2kml.com/
Click to expand...
I know you are using Wikiloc as an example but actually Wikiloc allows to to download a track in either kml or gpx formats. Of course if you do have a track in one format already it may be easier to use the conversion tool than to find it in Wikiloc again or somewhere else.



Edit: For those who don't know, some apps can only use tracks in kml and kmz formats and other apps can only use gpx format files.
 
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Camo said:
I am wondering if anybody else simply uses the SatNav (Directions) in Google Maps?
Click to expand...
No, because Google Maps doesn't have the actual Camino route on it. I'm sure that there is a way to download the Camino route to Google Maps, but I don't see the need when there are perfectly good Camino apps with offline mapping that runs on GPS and shows your location on the map.
 
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Camo said:
I am wondering if anybody else simply uses the SatNav (Directions) in Google Maps?
Click to expand...
In addition to @trecile's answer of the usefulness of the camino specific apps a large percentage of the non-Google apps (probably including those camino apps) use a map database from Open Street Map and that shows items that Google doesn't. Most importantly in my mind is trails but also places to get water or even bicycle repair shops. Each app determines what information it wants to display and how and when (see the end of this post).

On my last camino on the little used Camino Catalan I used three navigation apps. Most importantly was Wikiloc with the track I wanted to follow. Besides allowing me to see a map with the track and my position on it I could ignore it and just walk and have it beep out a warning if I wandered off track. I would occasionally use the OSMand app also showing the map, track and position but to zoom in and out to get a feel for the surroundings and what was ahead. I could have used Wikiloc for this also but I preferred the OSMand display. The third app was Google and I used this when approaching a town so I could see the things that they were better at than Open Street Map such as shops, bars, sights, tourist info and plazas. Also whether they were open and their hours. This meant that I wasn't just reliant on the facilities visible from the camino route.

Yes, there is a way to put your tracks onto Google and even view other people's tracks too if they have made them public but I keep forgetting how because I find things easier with other navigation apps so I do that.

P.S., I previously wrote a bit about how a few selected apps display maps in this post:
 
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Yes there is a way to configure a route BUT with Caminos my concern is actually finding the "official" route file, if such exists. By that I mean a file that accurately represents the waymarkers on the ground (and get updated for expressways etc). I am used to working with UK National Trails where a govt dept does just that but I am not seeing (I hope I am wrong) any organization(s) doing that for Camino trails. Once that issue is solved for any trail the SatNav part is fairly easy and very powerful as the SatNav doubles as a Virtual Tour (with panoramas) for people like myself who are unable to actually walk the trails.
 
Camo said:
"official" route file
Click to expand...
If you find one let me know but I am confident none exist. The idea of an Official Office doing this has not yet arrived.

¿¿¿ There must be some offices spending Madrid's money managing route maintenance and route changes on the popular routes so they could be asked to also provide klms - good luck with that - but they aren't necessary - just follow the people in front of you ??? It is a free for all on the minor routes.

The best approximation can be the local friends associations that support the Camino route(s) in their region for the less popular routes. I tried a few of the popular apps last year but their style didn't fit my habits for route finding. However they can be very useful for finding accommodation.

This forum has quite a few threads on kml files of course. There is also a Dutch site with a comprehensive collection of route files (of varying vintage) however they are not perfect. But whichever way you go there is no simple quick accurate method.

I have been collecting and editing files for years for my purpose so I can always start a Camino with a quite good and clean edited kml often based on several cross checked sources, with likely accommodation (really useful to avoid meandering around towns loooooking when you are tired).

Every available kml file is usually a bit of a mess with all the idiosyncrasies of the person recording the track - various detours, getting lost, wandering around looking for accommodation, looking for a tree to squat behind etc etc.

I use BaseCamp and GoogleEarth in conjugation with each other.

For last years Camino there were still inconsistencies between the local very active Association's route and reality.

I can recommend Organic Maps. It is essentially the same under the hood as Maps.me but for a few reasons Organic Maps is my preference. Complement it with one of the Apps of your choice discussed elsewhere.
 
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There is a government site that does have KML tracks of the routes. They are provided by the Centro Nacional de Información Geográfica (CNIG). I have put them together into this Google My Maps map of the Caminos. However, I have read some saying that they are not always up-to-date with all of the yellow arrows on the ground. There is no indication on the site how frequently they are checked and/or updated.
 
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Sirage said:
I can recommend Organic Maps. It is essentially the same under the hood as Maps.me but for a few reasons Organic Maps is my preference.
Click to expand...
I agree. I use Wikiloc to record/navigate, and Google maps in the cities, but Organicmaps is where I have an overlay of all route options. It is easy to add flags of interest, lodging contacts and other annotations - my personal marked-up map. I used to do this with maps.me but they have made it more complicated now.
 
David Tallan said:
I think that is the exact URL I linked to in my post above, in the sentence preceding the one you quoted.
Click to expand...
My apologies. My mind went to the unlinked name, pulled up an app that I knew had the link and grabbed that. I've been noticing that lately I'm doing too many things the hard way.
 
David Tallan said:
There is a government site that does have KML tracks of the routes. They are provided by the Centro Nacional de Información Geográfica (CNIG).
Click to expand...
Thanks David for correcting my ignorance on this specifc topic.

There is however a difficulty because that source only has the kml (technically not GPX ) for each stage of the Camino I will be walking. For my purposes I will be downloading all of them, joining them together for this year's walk, then check if edits are needed and upload to Organic Maps. A bit tedious but .......
 
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Organic Maps works with kml formatted files so there isn't a problem that there are no gpx formatted files.

Do you really need to join several tracks into one? I can see that it would be nice but maybe not worth the effort. If the app shows, say, two tracks (and it can show many), one red and one green, that cross each other and you travel to the starting town X that is part way along the green track the app shows where you are. You walk in the direction to get you to the red track and when you get there you turn to get to your destination.

It's pretty much the same as working with a paper road map. I'm on the interstate highway so I'll go west until I see state route 123 and I'll turn there to go north to XYZ City.
 
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You are right about the KML. I had forgotten. I've updated my post to make it more accurate.
 
I had to join several tracks into one with my Google Maps implementation because there was a limit to how many separate track files I could put into one map. I just edited them in a text editor. It was a bit of a pain but not too hard to figure out. I'm glad to hear that organic maps doesn't have that kind of limitation. I'll have to play around with doing something similar with Organic Maps.
 
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Thank you for all those replies and it looks like the files I am using are "as good as it gets" especially for my own purpose which is a hobby making "Virtual Tours" BUT as they are on the web for others to use ON the trail I like to make them as accurate as possible.

I will start from the other end of giving an up and going example and if people find it useful I can explain how the SatNav is set up.

At the bottom is the first walk on Camino Frances and is a good example as it has both routes

As you see I package the SatNav into a "Digital Track Card" along with a FlyOver, Street View panos, Elevation and Notes.

The SatNav is "hands free" so you have your smart phone in your pocket and the nice Google lady says "turn left in 20 meters" etc and at each "control point" (which you configure) she says you have arrived so you take the phone out of your pocket and in the SAME app (ie Google Maps) you go straight to eat and sleep etc possibilities.

This all works for me in Virtual Tour mode but it would be nice to get some feedback from Pilgrims "on the trail" (which right now has to be the one via Valcarlos).

Trackfile
 
I don’t do mapping, I just follow the yellow arrows it’s much more exciting not knowing what is coming next
 
I only use Gronze for finding hostels.

I download tracks for my hiking tours from the internet. I then edit the tracks using the BaseCamp software because I often deviate from the original routes. Nevertheless, I have the original routes on my smartphone (iPhone SE). For this I use the app Mapy.cz, which is available for Android and iOS. This app has many pre-installed hiking routes, including most of the Ways of St. James. There is also a website. The website and app can be set to different languages.
 
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