Using Scenic on a proper distance, multi-day ride for the first time
Quote from MLH on 06.07.2026, 23:33I’ve done a number of long rides, usually with a Garmin GPS. Last month I took my first trip away with Scenic and a Carpuride W712 unit as my guidance system.
TL;DR: it was fine.
I rode from Lincolnshire to Cambridge to meet a friend. I’d worked out a route that meant I could largely stay off the A1, but messed up the settings on Scenic so that it didn’t notify me (that I saw anyhow) and just recalculated when I missed a waypoint. Quickly fixed in a lay-by (once I realised what was going on)👍
From Cambridge to the Chunnel worked absolutely fine. From Calais to the Alps, via several camp sites and the house of a friend in Switzerland, no problems. From the Alps, including an unexpected change to the intended routing, no problems. And the same for the loop over to Normandy, back to Calais and home. 2,200 miles; only one real problem with Scenic & that was a user error.
I did notice that the mapping seems to quite often have little accurate idea about speed limits, especially in France & particularly re: 50 & 30 kph changes. I suspect the speed limits are varying faster than contributors can update the maps.
Actually, it did go off completely one day, mid afternoon near Dijon. Hardly Scenic’s fault - the iPhone overheated in my tank bag because it was 40oC+ that day! Once the iPhone cooled down (I put it in the pocket of my Knox vented jacket), all resumed fine.
Consider me pleased and impressed 🙂
I’ve done a number of long rides, usually with a Garmin GPS. Last month I took my first trip away with Scenic and a Carpuride W712 unit as my guidance system.
TL;DR: it was fine.
I rode from Lincolnshire to Cambridge to meet a friend. I’d worked out a route that meant I could largely stay off the A1, but messed up the settings on Scenic so that it didn’t notify me (that I saw anyhow) and just recalculated when I missed a waypoint. Quickly fixed in a lay-by (once I realised what was going on)👍
From Cambridge to the Chunnel worked absolutely fine. From Calais to the Alps, via several camp sites and the house of a friend in Switzerland, no problems. From the Alps, including an unexpected change to the intended routing, no problems. And the same for the loop over to Normandy, back to Calais and home. 2,200 miles; only one real problem with Scenic & that was a user error.
I did notice that the mapping seems to quite often have little accurate idea about speed limits, especially in France & particularly re: 50 & 30 kph changes. I suspect the speed limits are varying faster than contributors can update the maps.
Actually, it did go off completely one day, mid afternoon near Dijon. Hardly Scenic’s fault - the iPhone overheated in my tank bag because it was 40oC+ that day! Once the iPhone cooled down (I put it in the pocket of my Knox vented jacket), all resumed fine.
Consider me pleased and impressed 🙂
Quote from Guido on 07.07.2026, 10:53Thanks for the report. Great to hear that Scenic served you well on this trip.
Regarding the speed limits. It's not the fast variation. It's actually a deeper problem. Scenic's maps come from Open Street Map (OSM). OSM has notoriously bad speed limit coverage. I am planning to enrich the Scenic data with a 3rd party provider but that will probably be for next year.
Thanks again and regards,
Guido
Thanks for the report. Great to hear that Scenic served you well on this trip.
Regarding the speed limits. It's not the fast variation. It's actually a deeper problem. Scenic's maps come from Open Street Map (OSM). OSM has notoriously bad speed limit coverage. I am planning to enrich the Scenic data with a 3rd party provider but that will probably be for next year.
Thanks again and regards,
Guido
Quote from MLH on 07.07.2026, 13:26Quote from Guido on 07.07.2026, 10:53Regarding the speed limits.
[…]Scenic's maps come from Open Street Map (OSM). OSM has notoriously bad speed limit coverage.
Yeah, I’ve noticed that when using them on a cycle computer gps thing.
I am planning to enrich the Scenic data with a 3rd party provider but that will probably be for next year.
Marvellous, I’ll look forward to that 👍
Quote from Guido on 07.07.2026, 10:53Regarding the speed limits.
[…]Scenic's maps come from Open Street Map (OSM). OSM has notoriously bad speed limit coverage.
Yeah, I’ve noticed that when using them on a cycle computer gps thing.
I am planning to enrich the Scenic data with a 3rd party provider but that will probably be for next year.
Marvellous, I’ll look forward to that 👍
