Hikingbook's Route Planner is an online tool that helps you customize your next hike, get details about the planned route, and assess its fitness difficulty. The planned route can be imported into the app to check anytime when you hit the trail.
Route Planner can be used on desktop browser or in the app. We recommend using the desktop version for optimal experience. The following manual will be shown with desktop screenshots.
Two Ways to Create A Route
Import from Templates
The quickest way to create a route is to choose from our route templates. By default, you will see a pop-up window showing all the available templates when you launch the Route Planner page. If you don't want to see the pop-up at launch, you can check the "Don't pop up again" box.
Select the template you want and the route will be loaded on the map. Major areas of information include:
- Schedule & Pack Weight: on the left column you can edit waypoints (and estimated time between each), input pack weight, and analyze the difficult in terms of fitness requirement.
- Basic Info: on the bottom area you can check the elevation change, total distance & estimated time of the planned route.
- Save & Export: on the top right you can save the route, export to GPX or PNG file, and share the route with a link to your teammates.
Create Your Own Route
To create your own route, search a location name (Yushan for instance) or input the coordinates (recommended) and the map will show the location. Click "add" on the location detail card. The schedule column will appear on the left column.
Add a second point by clicking on the map. The system will draw out the route automatically and calculate time & distance. You can click on the downward arrow to add a new day, or add break time between points, to make the total time estimation more accurate.
As with importing from templates, after you finishing creating the route, you can save, export, or share with link to your teammates.