Route3D 3.0.10
Copyright © 2023 Eastridge Technology
All rights reserved
info@e-t.com

Route3D is a three dimensional mapping program intended for outdoor activities such as hiking. Maps are displayed in perspective, the better to appreciate elevation changes. Routes can be animated along with their elevation profile.

The current position on the map is shown by a blue ball cursor in the center of the screen. Drag the screen to move the map. Press the screen with two fingers and pinch to zoom, twist to rotate, or drag to tilt.

There are three different implementations of Route3D: Web browser (https://route3d.com), Android, and iPhone; some features vary by implementation.

The File menu is used to load and save GPX (GPS Exchange Format) files, which contain routes, tracks, and waypoints. A waypoint is a point defined by a name, latitude, and longitude in the WGS84 datum. A route is an ordered series of points describing a plan of travel. A track is similar to a route, but is made by GPS tracking of actual travel.

Route3D always has a current file, called the workspace. The contents of the workspace is preserved when you exit Route3D.

New removes all routes, tracks, and waypoints from the workspace.

Import prompts for a local GPX file and imports it into the workspace, first prompting to remove all existing routes, tracks, and waypoints.

Export outputs workspace contents to a filename such as "untitled.gpx" in the download area.

Print (Web only) creates a high resolution PDF of the current screen. To avoid depth distortion you may want to issue the Edit... Flatten command before printing a map.

Route manages workspace routes. A new route can be created, staring with the current cursor position, or existing routes can be opened for editing. Routes can be renamed, deleted, duplicated, or appended to the current route or track.

Track manages workspace tracks. A new track can be created, or existing tracks can be opened for editing. Tracks can be renamed, deleted, duplicated, and appended to the current route or track.

Waypoint manages workspace waypoints. A new waypoint can be created at the current cursor position. Map repositions the map to the waypoint location. Distance displays distance to waypoint from current map position. Waypoints can be renamed or deleted.

Show all displays each waypoint name on the map. Keyboard shortcut 'w' creates a new waypoint. Hide all turns off waypoint display.

The Edit menu is used to edit the current route or track.

Play starts animation of the cursor along the current route. Pause will pause the playback. Playback speed is a function of zoom distance -- zooming out will increase playback speed.

Rewind resets the route to its beginning.

Step advances one route point.

Back backs up one route point.

Add adds the cursor's position to the route. Right click on the mouse also does this.

Delete removes the current route point. The Delete key also does this.

Profile displays an elevation profile of the current route and draws a red line of the route on the map. Each rectangle of the checkerboard pattern is 1 mile wide and 1,000 feet high, with height scale exaggerated. Clicking the profile moves the map to that position in the route and zooms in on the profile. The profile cursor can be dragged as well.

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Markers temporarily labels the route with mile or km markers.

Reverse the current route or track.

< Trim front of current route or track to this position.

> Trim remove rest of current route or track from this position.

Flatten flattens the map and displays it with North up; press again to turn off.

Link (Web only) copies to the clipboard a web link that will play back the current route with the current settings. The link can be pasted from the clipboard into an email or web page. This web link is permanent and can be published for playback by anyone. Some browsers limit the size of a url, which may truncate longer routes.

Video (Web only) starts playback of current route and saves the playback to video. For best results use the Chrome browser; Firefox also works; Safari does not. The map is resized to 1920x1080 pixels, which is 1080p video resolution. The playback may pause during recording while a full frame is being assembled, but the pauses are not recorded in the video. For long videos you may need to turn off any screen or energy savers if they disrupt recording. When Video is pressed again, or the route is paused or ends, a file named with the route name and extension .webm is downloaded to the browser's download directory. This video file is recorded in the .webm format, and may be played back by the browser that recorded it. The .webm file format is also supported by YouTube.

brings the view closer to the map (zooms in). On touch screens a pinch gesture also changes zoom.

moves the view further away (zoom out).

tilts the map up towards an overhead view. Pressing 'a' is the keyboard equivalent. On touch screens dragging two fingers or dragging blue sky also change tilt.

tilts the map down towards the horizon. Pressing 'z' is the keyboard equivalent.

The Locate menu provides ways to set the current map location.

Coords shows the UTM and WGS84 latitude and longitude of the cursor, as well as its elevation in feet. New coordinates can be entered as either decimal latitude and longitude or UTM.

Find is used to find a named place, such as 'new york,ny' or 'paris,france'. The % character can be used to match a sequence of characters, e.g. 'new %' matches all names that begin with 'New '. Note that only the first 50 matching results are returned.

GPS is used to turn on Global Positioning System tracking. When on, the map cursor moves to the position reported by the GPS. Note that some browsers require a secure connection for this feature, e.g. use https://route3d.com. Since GPS uses battery it should only be turned on when needed. Note that with most phones GPS works in airplane mode, which conserves battery use.

Track is used to turn GPS tracking on and off. If a track name is entered then tracking will begin to that track name. Cancel stops tracking. Note: only the iPhone version can track continuously in the background.

Compass is used to turn compass tracking off and on. When compass tracking is on the map rotates to face the direction facing. This works best in conjunction with GPS. Since compass uses battery it should only be turned on when needed.

PDFs (Web only) displays a list of USGS GeoPDF maps that intersect the current displayed map.

The Map menu selects the type of map being displayed. There are three types of maps: Photo, consisting of aerial or satellite photography; Street, showing street level details; and Topo, topographic maps with elevation contour lines.

Bing: maps provided by Microsoft. The photo map in particular has good detail.

Esri: maps provided by the Esri organization and their collaborators.

NAIP: National Agriculture Imagery Program from USDA covering the continental USA.

US Topo: the latest topographic map from USGS covering the continental USA.

USGS 24K: 1:24,000 scale historical topographic map of the continental USA. Dubbed historical because USGS stopped updating these maps after 1980.

USGS 100K: 1:100,000 scale historical topographic map of the continental USA.

FS Topo: US Forest Service topographic map.

GC Geology: Grand Canyon geologic map.

Names searches for named places near the current location and displays them on the map.

Cache controls multi-level map cacheing. Cached maps can be zoomed in and out offline without internet access.

When the Cache menu is expanded the map is dimmed. Tapping the map highlights a 7.25 minute quadrangle and begins cacheing all map resolution tiles within that quad. Tap again to select more quadrangles to be cached. The cache operation is complete when the percentage shows 100%.

Only the current map type is cached; switch map types to cache each map desired. Press Cache again to collapse the Cache submenu and turn off cache mode.

Route selects all quadrangles in current route to be cached.

Clear erases all cached map data.

Bing Photo and Street maps provided by Microsoft Bing Maps. Copyright © 2019 Microsoft and its suppliers. All rights reserved. This API cannot be accessed and the content and any results may not be used, reproduced or transmitted in any manner without express written permission from Microsoft Corporation.

Esri World Imagery Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User Community.

Esri World Street Map Sources: Esri, HERE, Garmin, USGS, Intermap, INCREMENT P, NRCan, Esri Japan, METI, Esri China (Hong Kong), Esri Korea, Esri (Thailand), NGCC, © OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS User Community.

Topo maps and elevation data courtesy of USGS.

National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) courtesy of USDA.

Find data licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license from geonames.org.

Some icons derived from Google Material Design Icons.