Customising group visualisation
Table of contents
Access
This feature is accessible to users with a Premium account or higher upgrade.
Customising a group’s visualisation
Group visualisation lets you customise the map view of a select set of routes and/or places of interest based on your preferences.
Where can I find it?
Read more about finding and modifying a group here.
What can I customise?
Show route lines
The RouteYou default is to hide route lines on overview maps. Routes are always depicted with an icon. The route line will appear if you hover over the icon. Why do we do it that way? To keep the map image as clean and clear as possible and avoid a confusing tangle of cluttered lines. It also seriously speeds up and improves our platform’s performance.
As a user, you can create your own collection of routes in a group. It’s also up to you how you visualise them.
The ‘Default’ box will always be ticked when you create a group. Consequently, that means that no route lines will be displayed. However, you are free to toggle the ‘display route lines’ option.
Route clusters
Route clusters are an overlay grid applied to the map where each box in which a route appears also displays how many routes populate that box in total.
The ‘Default’ box will always be ticked when you create a group. Consequently, that means that no route clusters will be displayed. However, you are free to toggle the ‘display route clusters’ option.
Sort routes
This option allows you to prioritise how listed routes are sorted.
- Relevance: this sorts according to a combination of settings. RouteYou filters the content of this combination to achieve an appropriate balance between various parameters, e.g. score, last edit date, views, downloads, the number of characteristics and themes, the number of languages in which the route is available, and so on.
- Alphabetical sorting by Name.
- Most views total, i.e. since the routes were created on our platform.
- Most views this month, i.e. the number of route views this month.
- Most recently created or modified: routes are sorted based on their date of creation or modification, with the most recent at the top.
- Sorting by route score: from high to low.
- Sorting by route length: from long to short.
The ‘Default’ box will always be ticked when you create a group. Where sorting is concerned, default means by ‘Relevance’.
Maximum number of routes
Specify the maximum number of routes to display on the map and related list here. Which routes are included are also determined by your sorting setting.
For example, if you select route length and set the maximum number of routes to ‘10’, then the ten longest routes in your custom set will always be shown.
The maximum limit is 100.
Route link
This gives you the option to enter your own custom link (URL); clicking a route on the list or map will take you to this address. In other words, instead of going to the route’s description page on RouteYou, you will be redirected to the URL you entered.
Several placeholders can be embedded in the link to be replaced by the clicked route’s parameters:
- %id%: replaced by the route ID. This one is highly recommended because it’s the most robust parameter.
- %language%: replaced by the route language.
- %name%: replaced by an URL-friendly version of the route name. Keep in mind that the link may stop working if you change the route name. This parameter is best reserved for when your group only includes routes you control.
POI clusters
POI clusters are an overlay grid applied to the map where each box in which POIs appear also displays how many POIs (places of interest) populate that box in total.
The ‘Default’ box will always be ticked when you create a group. Consequently, that means that no POI clusters will be displayed. However, you are free to toggle the ‘display POI clusters’ option.
Sort POIs
This option allows you to prioritise how POIs are sorted in a list context.
- Relevance: this sorts according to a combination of settings. RouteYou filters the content of this combination to achieve an appropriate balance between various parameters, e.g. score, last edit date, views, downloads, the number of characteristics and themes, the number of languages in which the POI is available, and so on.
- Alphabetical sorting by Name.
(Please note: if you sort by name, then POIs sharing the same location will not be clustered the way they are for all other sorting methods.) Read more about differences between locations and POIs here.) - Most views total, i.e. since the POIs were created on our platform.
- Most views this month, i.e. the number of POI views this month.
- Most recently created or modified: POIs are sorted based on their date of creation or modification, with the most recent at the top.
- Sorting by POI score: from high to low.
The ‘Default’ box will always be ticked when you create a group. Where sorting is concerned, default means by ‘Relevance’.
Maximum number of POIs
Specify the maximum number of POIs to display on the map and related list here. Which routes are included are also determined by your sorting setting.
For example, if you selected score and set the maximum number of routes to ‘15’, then the 15 best scoring POIs in your custom set will always be shown.
The maximum limit is 100.
POI link
This gives you the option to enter your own custom link (URL); clicking a POI on the list or map will take you to this address. In other words, instead of going to the POI’s description page on RouteYou, you’ll be redirected to the URL you entered.
Several placeholders can be embedded in the link to be replaced by the clicked POI’s parameters:
- %id%: replaced by the POI ID. This one is highly recommended because it’s the most robust parameter.
- %language%: replaced by the POI language.
- %name%: replaced by an URL-friendly version of the POI name. Keep in mind that the link may stop working if you change the POI name. This parameter is best reserved for when your group only includes POIs that you control.
Show header logo
This option doesn’t affect a group’s visualisation on the RouteYou platform. Groups can also be embedded in external websites with a plugin. In that case, you could enable a logo to display in the header generated by the plugin.
Text before legend
This option doesn’t affect a group’s visualisation on the RouteYou platform. Groups can also be embedded in external websites with a plugin. Use this text field to enter more text in the legend.
Map bounds
Two options can be configured here:
- Set overview map bounds: This option doesn’t affect a group’s visualisation on the RouteYou platform. Groups can also be embedded in external websites with a plugin. The plugin’s header contains an overview map. You can set which map image displays here.
- Set map borders: allows you to set which map image displays for users landing on a group page on the RouteYou platform or via an external website.
Map background (base layer)
Decide which map background is used to display your group’s routes and/or places of interest. You must select a single option.
The ‘Default’ box will always be ticked when you create a group. For map backgrounds, that means OpenStreetMap is enabled.
Additional map layers (active overlays)
Several separate map layers can be displayed over a map, in addition to the map background. Multiple map layers can be activated simultaneously.
The ‘Default’ box will always be ticked when you create a group. No additional map layers will activate if Default has been enabled.
Route rules
This module allows you to set rules to ensure a dynamic route display.
A wide variety of elements can be customised. First, you define the condition that must be met. Then, you can select the image (icon) and line styles. For instance, if your group includes a mix of cycling and walking routes, then you can configure the cycling routes to appear in blue and the walking routes to appear in orange. Or, for example, you could give all routes longer than X km a thicker line than shorter routes.
There are several different colours to choose from for the image, but you can also upload a personal image by selecting ‘Other’. You’ll then need to enter three URLs for the three states (default, hover & highlight, selected).
You can also define how a line displays under different conditions:
- default: basic route lines (if the route is not ‘active’) are this colour.
- hover & highlight: specifies what colour a route should turn when you hover your mouse over it. Hover to highlight the entire route in that colour so that you can easily pick the route out from any intersecting routes.
- selected: a route turns this colour when you click the route line on the map.
Lastly, you can add a description here. This option doesn’t affect a group’s visualisation on the RouteYou platform. Groups can also be embedded in external websites with a plugin. Use this text field to add another description to the legend.
POI rules
This module lets you set rules to ensure a dynamic POI (places of interest) display.
First, you define the condition that must be met. Then, you can select the image (icon) styles. For instance, you can configure a particular place of interest to pop out or assign all POIs of a specific type a different colour.
There are several different colours to choose from for the image, but you can also upload a personal image by selecting ‘Other’. You’ll then need to enter three URLs for the three states (default, hover & highlight, selected).
Lastly, you can add a description here. This option doesn’t affect a group’s visualisation on the RouteYou platform. Groups can also be embedded in external websites with a plugin. Use this text field to add another description to the legend.