Race Preparation
It is critical that route accuracy is as good as we can possibly make it. The safety of the riders and race convoy is massively improved when the riders have the exact routes on their head units and in the Live app in the cars/motos. The teams will be looking for hazards through built up areas to relay to their riders and the riders will be looking at the maps on their head units on descents and other stages of the race to gauge their speeds and road position. Any mapping errors/deficiencies may have major safety implications for riders and race vehicles. OSM based mapping using a tool like RideWithGPS provides that best quality.
We realise that you will have your own existing processes for creating files which have been adequate for running your race, now that VeloViewer is working with so many race organisers, we need to implement quality and safety standards. If your route files aren’t up to the required quality, we will ask you for new versions plotted out with a more suitable tool. We don’t do this to be difficult, we do this because it is a critical rider safety issue. More on Race Route Quality…
When sending GPX/KMZ files, please DO NOT send the following – the quality will not be good enough and we will not be able to process it:
- GPS recordings (from a vehicle or bike). The routes will never follow the road to the accuracy needed for VeloViewer to work effectively for teams and other stakeholders. Key areas (junctions, descents, built-up areas) are always messy. Files MUST be created by plotting out the route, preferably using RideWithGPS.
- Files with reduced number of data points. Always ensure exported files include all available data points.
- Routing tools to avoid: OpenRunner (always lacks required number of data points); Garmin Basecamp unless you install the OSM maps (Garmin’s roads don’t line up with reality compared to OSM based mapping tools); Some national mapping services e.g. UK’s Ordnance Survey (like Garmin, these tools’ roads don’t match up with actual roads)
(i) Race Routes
- VV will add top level race information from the UCI calendar to your Race Hub and the race(s) will show under Planned Races until the race route files are received.
- Race Organisers will create provisional race route files (type GPX/KMZ). Our preferred software is RideWithGPS as the route exports are higher quality and it is more reliable.
- If you want to stay in control of any route changes in VV whilst you are in the iterative stage of planning, recons and amending a route (even importing or adding waymarkers) then you can use the Training Camps functionality. Using Training Camps is optional and, if you prefer, you can send the GPX files to VV and it will be added immediately to the official UCI race.
- Race Organiser can do recons using VV Live app and revise routes as required. The route change must always be done in the mapping tool used for the original route and then the GPX file uploaded in to Strava if using the Training Camp option else sent to VV for processing.
- If you are using Training Camps then once you are satisfied that the routes are stable download and send VV the GPX file(s).
- VV will upload the routes to the official UCI race then the Race Organiser can import any waymarkers from the Training Camp or from a previous race. It is then advised to delete the routes from the Training Camp (if used) so you do not inadvertently add/update waymarkers on the incorrect version.
- Any route changes from this point need to be made to your own version (e.g. RideWithGPS) and then send the updated GPX/KMZ files to VV and we will upload the changes. This is so we can track any changes in the Notes Log and share with the Teams.