Route types and Route Subtypes

Table of contents

• Four types on the highest level
• The subtypes
  • Walking and hiking route
  • Cycle route
  • Car and motorcycle route
  • Other route types
• How to indicate the subtypes
• For the moment we recommend you to use the alternative for subtypes: groups
  • Why using this and why not subtypes?
• Where do I see the subtypes?
  • So what can you expect?
  • What will happen with the characteristics?
• Why you should give a specific route type, rather than a general one

Four types on the highest level

The following types for routes are recognized:

1. BIKE (Cycle route)
2. WALK (Walking and Hiking route)
3. MOTOR (Car and Motorcycle route)
4. OTHER (Other Route Types)

You can search for this type of routes via the search.

You can link more information to route via groups (read more about linking groups to routes)

The subtypes

Per type, it is possible to enter sub-types.

Walking and hiking route

1. Hiking (=more sportive type of walk)
2. Jogging
3. Nordic walking
4. Recreational walking
5. Rock climbing
6. Snowshoe walking

Cycle route

1. Gravelbiking
2. Mountainbiking
3. Racebike cycling
4. Recreational cycling

Car and motorcycle route

1. 4x4
2. Oldtimer
3. Default car
4. Caperroute
5. motorroute
   1. Off-road motorbiking
   2. Scooter
   3. Recreational touring

Other route types

1. Ice skates
2. Inline skates
3. Public transport
   1. Bus
   2. Metro
   3. Tram
   4. Train
4. Horse
5. Alpine ski
   1. Alpine ski
   2. Cross country ski
6. Boat/Kayak/Canoe

How to indicate the subtypes

The only way to indicate the subtype of a route is:

• [help]Edit your route[/help]
• On the Edit page of you route, you will see subtabs: select the Subtab "Description"
• There you can indicate the Route subtype
• Don't forget to confirm

For the moment we recommend you to use the alternative for subtypes: groups

The alternative for subtypes for the moment is to attach characteristics to your route. The advantage of using groups is that you can attach multiple characteritics to a route: e.g. a cycling route can also be suitable for inline skating and jogging. That's not possible in the hierarchical Type and sub-type structure.

Why using this and why not subtypes?

• Because the search uses already the characteristics and not yet subtypes(read more here)
• Because we didn't fully integrate the subtype principle yet (see below) and that will still take some time.
• For the moment you don't have any functional direct benefit (unless we did a specific engineering project with you) to make use of these subtypes

Where do I see the subtypes?

As mentioned, the subtypes are not yet fully integrated so far, but we will do this in the future.

So what can you expect?

• We will indicate the subtype of a route by means of slightly different icons
• We will extend the search with an option to finetune your search based on subtypes
• You will be able to enter your type and subtype when you submit a route in the RoutePlanner
• Also all our widgets and web services will be able to deal with the subtypes

What will happen with the characteristics?

When we switch completely, we will automatically translate the characteristic groups to subtypes where possible. These characteristic groups which have a subtype substitute will disappear in time. So you will not have to do any work. And we will inform you wehn we change this by mail.

Why you should give a specific route type, rather than a general one

Suppose you make a cycle route that is suitable for a race bike (road bike). Which type should you give your route?

  Option A-General: You can specify the general type "bicycle", which includes "race cycle", "recreational bike" and "MTB".
Option S-Specific: You can specify the specific type of "race cycle"

But what is the best practive and why?

Best Practice! Give a specific type to your route, rather than a general type.

This has the following advantages:

• If someone searches for the general type of bicycle, then also the specific types such as racing cycle, recreational bike and MTB are included because we use a hierarchical model of types on RouteYou (see above)
• If someone is looking for a race cycle route, then we do NOT include the general type of bike because it may contain routes that are not suitable for race cycles. So users will not find your route if you provide the general type of bike.
• If you indicate the general type of bicycle, a user must still read in your description if it matches her / his expectations (perhaps it is about a cycle route that goes through fields and unpaved paths).
• If we inform you about cycling routes (e.g. recommended) but you indicate that your routes are of the general type "bicycle", then we will also give you information about the underlying types (eg MTB) that you may not be interested in.

Some users want to indicate that the route is suitable both as a racing cycle route and as a recreational cycle route. They conclude that the general type "bicycle" is the bes choice. But for the reasons mentioned above, that is not a good method. If you still want to indicate the route is suitable for both, choose one of the two types that you consider most suitable, and place the info in your description. Or if you want to make it explicitly clear that the route is suitable for both types, then save the route again under the other specific type (read more about "save route as").