PLANNING AN A TO
In order to plan a trip which contains a ring, you should follow the steps below as this is the easiest and quickest method of planning this sort of route.
The Trip Outline
The trip we are going to plan is from Whittington on the Coventry Canal, up to the Trent and Mersey, round the 4 counties ring, and back to Whittington again.
How We Go About It
Using the Route Wizard: A-to-B Routing Wizard we follow these steps.
Step 1 - Configure the route name and default settings.
Here a meaningful name for the route has been entered and default speeds have been selected.
Step 2 - Start Location
The start location is chosen, using the find function.
Step 3 - Via Locations
In order for the program to accurately capture the ring as part of the route, you should enter 3 or 4 via locations at approx every 1/4 of the ring.
So in the 4 counties ring example, and because I will be entering the ring from the south east corner (on the Trent and Mersey), the following locations would probably work fine:
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Nantwich
- Penkeridge
Step 4 - Finish Location
As we are planning to return to our starting point at the end of our trip, and because we have specified at least one via location, we can set the finish location to be the same as the start location.
Step 5 - Results
The program will then go away and search for the quickest route from Whittington Br.80 via Stoke-on-Trent, via Barbridge Junction via Penkeridge and ending up at Whittington Br.80. You should be aware that the route calculations take slightly longer when Via locations are added in.
As you can see from the results one suggested route has been returned. A quick glance at the accompanying map indicates that the route has taken us around the 4 counties ring.
... and that is how you use A-to-B route wizard to plan routes involving rings.