Beeline has turn into my favorite biking navigation app

I keep in mind being intrigued the primary time I noticed the Beeline Velo, with its uncommon strategy to navigation. As an alternative of displaying you a transferring map, it simply shows an arrow pointing both on to your vacation spot, or to your subsequent waypoint on a route.

On the time, I used to be utilizing a Garmin on my bicycles, however as soon as I switched to mounting my iPhone on my handlebars, that created the query of which app to decide on …

There’s no scarcity of choices right here. Each Apple Maps and Google Maps now have fairly good cycle routes of their database, plus there are many cycling-specific apps, like Experience With GPS.

However I seen that Beeline may now run as a standalone app, with out the necessity for the Velo {hardware}, so determined to provide it a attempt. Whereas there’s a subscription possibility, this solely affords a few additional options which didn’t curiosity me, so the free model does the whole lot I want.

4 modes

The app affords three completely different modes for navigation: turn-by-turn instructions, as you’d get with another app; Compass mode (the place you make a beeline for the vacation spot); or a hybrid of the 2. It additionally affords a pure logging mode, with out navigation.

Flip-by-turn instructions

Flip-by-turn instructions are clearly nice for those who’re in a rush – so need the quickest route – otherwise you wish to make sure that you comply with a cycle-friendly route.

You’ll be able to select between three choices right here:

Quick will take you on major roads; quiet sticks to segregated cycle routes and again roads; balanced retains you off the busiest roads, however is extra direct than quiet.

Whichever possibility you select, the show is very like Apple Maps or Google Maps: A blue line overlayed on a transferring map, with the following flip showing on the prime of the display. The underside of the display shows the estimated driving time, ETA, and distance to go.

It permits a number of waypoints to be included ( you, Apple Maps cycle routing), and intelligently places them into probably the most wise order ( you, Google Maps).

Compass/beeline

That is the characteristic I really like most concerning the app, whether or not I’m biking round my dwelling metropolis of London, or exploring an unfamiliar one.

With this, the app merely attracts a straight line between your place to begin and your vacation spot. Whilst you can overlay this on a map, you’d usually mix it with the arrow show. As an alternative of a map, you’re simply an arrow pointing towards your vacation spot. The arc on the prime is a curved progress bar.

Inside London, I do know town nicely, so don’t usually want turn-by-turn instructions as soon as I do know roughly the place my vacation spot is, and really a lot take pleasure in taking a unique route every time. I’ve a superb psychological image of town as a complete, so know roughly which path I ought to be headed at any given level.

Nonetheless, London’s avenue structure is nothing like the everyday grid structure you get within the US! Roads have curves, forks, U-shapes, you title it. Plus the winding path of the River Thames implies that what you may mentally image as a straight line can simply have a 90-degree curve over its size.

That implies that though my psychological maps will all the time get me to my vacation spot, I could also be taking a much less direct route than I believe – particularly when the shortest route includes crossing the river twice, which is an unintuitive factor to do.

However with an arrow pointing on to my vacation spot, I could make extra environment friendly route decisions even in meandering mode. Even higher, by making an attempt to comply with the arrow as immediately as doable, I get to discover routes I’ve by no means cycled even on journeys the place I believed I’d just about explored all of the doable variations.

That is additionally the mode I most love when exploring an unfamiliar metropolis. I particularly don’t need turn-by-turn instructions, however reasonably the liberty to cycle on what look like probably the most attention-grabbing roads. But when I do have a specific vacation spot in thoughts, then it’s the proper stability between not getting misplaced and nonetheless having the ability to decide my route visually.

Hybrid mode

Technically, there are solely the 2 navigation modes above, after which for every you possibly can select to show both a transferring map or the arrow. But when you choose turn-by-turn instructions, and select to show the arrow, I personally consider that as a 3rd mode.

On this setup, the arrow isn’t pointing to your vacation spot, however to the following flip. A dot indicator (right here on the appropriate) exhibits the path you’ll take whenever you attain the junction – so within the picture above, I’ve 0.1 miles to go earlier than a junction the place I’ll want to show proper.

You’re nonetheless getting all the advantages of the app telling you precisely which turns to take for the quickest or quietest route, however you get much less visible litter. As an alternative of a map, you simply have a look at an arrow pointing to the following junction, with a distance marker telling you the way far to go ’til the following flip, and the dot serving to make sure you’re positioned accurately on the strategy.

For me, that is best for metropolis biking whenever you do should be someplace on time. It’s simple to see at-a-glance the place it’s worthwhile to go, with out risking a taxi pulling out in entrance of you within the time it takes to take a look at a transferring map.

File mode

Lastly, there’s a pure ‘document’ mode, the place you both don’t have a vacation spot in thoughts, or are biking a well-known route the place no navigation is required.

Simply faucet the File button, and it’ll show a transferring map and in addition log the experience. Within the above instance, you possibly can see that I took a direct route for the outbound experience — after I wanted to reach on time — however a extra pleasurable oblique one on the best way dwelling.

Routing is nearly excellent

Each Apple Maps and Google Maps have very variable-quality cycle routes. They’re getting higher on a regular basis, however typically ignore cut-throughs out there to cyclists, particularly in London the place there are numerous one-way routes with a contra-flow cycle lane. Additionally they generally take you on very busy roads which I don’t thoughts however that are positively not advisable for much less assured city cyclists.

Beeline, in distinction, affords nearly excellent routing in every of Quick, Balanced, and Direct. It does often miss a cut-through, however does significantly better at these than both Apple Maps or Google Maps. Quiet mode has by no means taken me onto any highway I’d take into account harmful for much less assured cyclists.

Extra free options

You’ll be able to in fact save locations, as with all mapping app, however may also save routes. That is most helpful whenever you wish to share a specific route with a pal – you possibly can export it in GPX format, ship it to them, and so they can import it.

This means to import full routes can be helpful when taking part in organized rides. Organizers typically share the route in a number of completely different codecs, and as GPX is the bottom widespread denominator for various GPS units and apps, it’s nearly all the time out there.

You get logs of all of your rides, and might convert any of those to a route. So for those who like a specific route you cycled, even for those who weren’t utilizing any navigation options on the time, it can save you it with a view to comply with it one other time. You too can export these as GPX, precisely as you’d a saved route.

Beeline offers you day by day and month-to-month totals on your rides, useful for those who’ve set mileage objectives for your self.

Lastly, it creates a heatmap of your rides, which can provide an attention-grabbing overview of the place you experience most frequently – notably to establish elements of a metropolis you haven’t explored.

Beeline Plus subscription options

The corporate was fashioned to promote the {hardware} units, with the app merely a way of programming your route. However with the app capable of substitute for the {hardware}, it wants a method to monetize that.

Enter the Beeline Plus subscription, at $4.99/month. This affords two further options:

• Audio instructions (by means of speaker or headphones)
• Spherical-trip generator

The primary does precisely what you’d anticipate, studying aloud particulars of your subsequent flip, simply as you’d anticipate from any mapping app.

The second is useful for those who’re out biking for enjoyable, know the way far you wish to go, however don’t wish to give you your personal route. You’ll be able to simply choose a distance – say 20 miles, round-trip – and the app will calculate a roughly round experience for you.

The information it makes use of to do that is influenced by rider scores of specific roads. Every time you finish a experience, the app will ask you to provide it a ranking on a 5-point scale – and also you even have the choice of ranking any particular person highway you might be on on the time. So when the app generates a route for you, it is going to intention to make use of the roads different riders like, and keep away from those they don’t.

Personally, I’m not a fan of audio instructions on a bicycle, and all the time change them off in different apps. The round route generator may be of occasional curiosity, however the overwhelming majority of my biking does have a vacation spot – even when it’s a very arbitrary one – so it’s positively not a characteristic I’d pay for.

For me, then, the app is totally freed from cost. I do suppose the corporate may fairly cost a one-off payment for the bottom app with out the premium options, after a 7-day trial to show its worth, however don’t inform them I mentioned that!

Beeline is a free obtain from the App Retailer. Most customers gained’t want the non-obligatory subscription of $4.99/month. Photograph and screengrabs: Ben Lovejoy.