Proper way to plan a route?
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After many attempts, I am turning to the community for advice.
In short:
I need to display the distance to the next turn—along with a turn icon—on a single screen to minimize the need to switch between screens. How can I achieve this?Detailed description:
I run in areas with intersections featuring multiple paths. It is important for me to see the distance to the next turn alongside my heart rate on a single screen—a feature the watch supposedly supports according to the documentation. My goal is to avoid switching screens; doing so in a forest—where branches often hang across the path—is unsafe, and stopping to check would defeat the purpose of a run.What I’ve tried (following a recommendation from Suunto support):
- I created a custom sport mode by copying the “Trail” profile and added a data field for “Distance remaining to POI/waypoint.”
- I planned the route using the Suunto Route Planner and disabled “turn-by-turn” navigation for this specific route in the mobile app.
- I attempted to add POIs at intersections, using specific turn icons (e.g., “slight left,” “left,” “sharp left”). However, this doesn’t work—these POIs disappear immediately. Other types of POIs (such as water sources, forest areas, etc.) work fine.
Could you please advise on how to plan a route so that turn indicators appear and function correctly during trail running navigation? I am specifically looking for input from those with practical experience; while it should work in theory, the reality is often different. Another issue I’ve noticed is that on the map screen, every turn is marked with a generic icon rather than one indicating the specific direction (slight right, sharp left, etc.)—does this work correctly for anyone else?
Thanks for any advice.
Suunto Race 2 Titanium
Garmin Forerunner 255 -
@Dusan-Holub my usecase is often the same as yours.
What I do:- plan route in Suunto app
- enable Turn by turn and sync to watch.
- Start exercise (whatever sport mode) and enable your planned route.
- Press middle button to go to map screen.
- press lower button and go all the way down to “data field”
- enable “distance to next turn”
Then you always have the map and the distance to the nect turn in view.
For me this is perfect, as I always know how long I will be going straight until I have to check the screen again.
And at the turn itself, I have the map in view without switching anything. -
Dusan-Holub said:
After many attempts, I am turning to the community for advice.
In short:
I need to display the distance to the next turn—along with a turn icon—on a single screen to minimize the need to switch between screens. How can I achieve this?Detailed description:
I run in areas with intersections featuring multiple paths. It is important for me to see the distance to the next turn alongside my heart rate on a single screen—a feature the watch supposedly supports according to the documentation. My goal is to avoid switching screens; doing so in a forest—where branches often hang across the path—is unsafe, and stopping to check would defeat the purpose of a run.What I’ve tried (following a recommendation from Suunto support):
- I created a custom sport mode by copying the “Trail” profile and added a data field for “Distance remaining to POI/waypoint.”
- I planned the route using the Suunto Route Planner and disabled “turn-by-turn” navigation for this specific route in the mobile app.
- I attempted to add POIs at intersections, using specific turn icons (e.g., “slight left,” “left,” “sharp left”). However, this doesn’t work—these POIs disappear immediately. Other types of POIs (such as water sources, forest areas, etc.) work fine.
Could you please advise on how to plan a route so that turn indicators appear and function correctly during trail running navigation? I am specifically looking for input from those with practical experience; while it should work in theory, the reality is often different. Another issue I’ve noticed is that on the map screen, every turn is marked with a generic icon rather than one indicating the specific direction (slight right, sharp left, etc.)—does this work correctly for anyone else?
Thanks for any advice.
Thank you, this works for me too. My question was a bit different - to have a distance to the next turn AND other running parameter (heart rate). I know I can set fields in the map to show both, but then I must tap the screen to switch. I was hoping for already built-in feature - use a field in custom screen showing distance to the next turn. This is broken and disables to have one screen with HR, pace, time and distance to next turn/POI.
Another story is arrow type in a map view to show correct turn.
So, in a fact, I think there are few things broken:- Field “Distance to next turn/POI” in custom screens does not work.
- Unable to add my own turn navigation points to the track when turn-by-turn navigation is off. Turning off turn-by-turn navigation has been suggested to me by support.
Thanks for your effort anyway.
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@Dusan-Holub The custom data field only shows the distance to the next waypoint, not the next turn. Waypoints and turns are two different things in Suunto-land, even though they look similar when planning a route with turn-by-turn enabled.
I agree that turns should be treated as waypoints for the exact scenario you laid out. It would be nice to have the distance to the next turn available as a data field on a custom data page.
The only solution I’ve found is the same one you discovered: disabling turn-by-turn and creating custom waypoints for turns instead. Except, also as you’ve discovered, there is no POI option for turns. I usually use the “Crossroads” POI with either text directions (“Left,” “Right”) or angle brackets (“< < <,” “> > >”) as the waypoint name. Bonus for this approach is that the notification for an upcoming waypoint is triggered earlier (~50 meters) than the one for a turn (~20 meters). The disadvantage is that now your route has a bunch of waypoints which might screw up the climb guidance zoom levels, or overshadow more important waypoints like aid stations.
It would be nice if either:
A) Turns were treated as waypoints or
B) Suunto added turn arrows as a POI option -
@Dusan-Holub The custom data field only shows the distance to the next waypoint, not the next turn. Waypoints and turns are two different things in Suunto-land, even though they look similar when planning a route with turn-by-turn enabled.
I see. Exact wording of the field description is “Remaining distance to POI/Waypoint”. This might be the reason why support advised not to use turn-by-turn navigation and add my own waypoints. Which would be totally fine for me, if they did not diappear once I add them.
I agree that turns should be treated as waypoints for the exact scenario you laid out. It would be nice to have the distance to the next turn available as a data field on a custom data page.
I agree, I did not uderstood filed name properly.
The only solution I’ve found is the same one you discovered: disabling turn-by-turn and creating custom waypoints for turns instead. Except, also as you’ve discovered, there is no POI option for turns. I usually use the “Crossroads” POI with either text directions (“Left,” “Right”) or angle brackets (“< < <,” “> > >”) as the waypoint name. Bonus for this approach is that the notification for an upcoming waypoint is triggered earlier (~50 meters) than the one for a turn (~20 meters). The disadvantage is that now your route has a bunch of waypoints which might screw up the climb guidance zoom levels, or overshadow more important waypoints like aid stations.
Thanks a million for a great sugegstion!
It would be nice if either:
A) Turns were treated as waypoints or
B) Suunto added turn arrows as a POI optionIt is misleading that it IS possible to choose turn arrow as POI, but, as I said, once you add it, it will not be shown on the map - freshly added POI disappears immediately. You nailed it, your description is much more straighforward than mine. I am already lost in the problem.
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I am already lost in the problem.
Haha! Yeah, I get that. For as great as the Suunto mapping experience is, you’ll find there are a few little inconveniences that can be quite frustrating. Here are a couple of threads about this, among others:
https://forum.suunto.com/topic/15071/several-navigation-issues-feedback
One thing I forgot to mention if you use waypoints for turns is that this obviously won’t work as well for out-and-back routes or routes with sections that double-back on themselves. Using the turn-by-turn feature automatically flips the turn notifications when traveling the route in reverse (lefts become rights, etc.). You lose that convenience with waypoints.
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https://forum.suunto.com/topic/15071/several-navigation-issues-feedback
One thing I forgot to mention if you use waypoints for turns is that this obviously won’t work as well for out-and-back routes or routes with sections that double-back on themselves. Using the turn-by-turn feature automatically flips the turn notifications when traveling the route in reverse (lefts become rights, etc.). You lose that convenience with waypoints.
Thank you so much for important and helpful information!
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