Discover – Plan – Travel
Track of the day was developed to enable future travel destinations to be explored virtually. A very important feature is that all research results can be saved on the local computer as a point of interest or POI for short. Thanks to efficient search functions, you can find all marked sights again even after weeks or months using an integrated database.
Through the close integration of web offerings such as Google Maps , Google Street View, Google Earth, Komoot, Calimoto, MRA, extensive information sources are brought together in a single application. Instead of always switching back and forth between different web applications, notes and maps, you always have everything in view. In contrast to web applications, which always run in just one browser window, Track of the day allows you to utilize the full performance of a high-performance computer with multiple monitors. This turns a simple planning window into a professional planning cockpit that combines a wide variety of information and planning steps and can present them at the same time.
All tutorials for version 6
A playlist with all tutorial videos for the new version can be found here:
Many of the videos in this playlist are also available with English audio. All videos also have subtitles in German, English, French, Italian and Spanish. All tutorials are available in 4K resolution.
User profile
Track of the day continuously incorporates user feedback so that TD has developed into a highly functional system that is unique in the world. But sometimes one man’s joy is another man’s sorrow. Users who are new to the TD family are sometimes initially overwhelmed by the variety of functions. Therefore, since version 5.17 there are user profiles: beginner , advanced and expert . These user profiles can be selected in the application settings. In addition to the fixed setting of a user profile, a dynamic selection is also possible. If you cannot find a function that is described in a tutorial, this is usually due to the user profile you have set. All tutorials so far have been created with the Expert user profile.
GPX file format
The heart of Track of the day is the GPX file format, which is an international standard supported by all common navigation and planning systems from many manufacturers. The GPX standard defines tracks, routes and waypoints. Tracks reflect the exact course of a trip or hike and are often recorded along the way. The current position is determined at short intervals and appended to a GPX track in a GPX file. Tracks can also be calculated before the start of a hike and make it possible not to lose orientation in confusing terrain. It is important that a track can only ever be displayed as a line on a map. A track does not allow navigation with turn-by-turn directions . To navigate with a track, you must be able to display your own position and the track at the same time. This is the only way to know whether you have strayed from the planned path.
For real navigation with turn-by-turn directions you need a GPX route . Routes are calculated based on electronically available maps. These maps are basically complex databases and are called vector maps . It is important to understand that you can only calculate routes based on vector maps.
Map material
Because of the complex structures, software is needed that can make small sections of vector maps visible. This process is called rendering . Rendering vector maps creates a raster map in JPG or PNG file format. These grid maps consist of many small tiles, called tiles . So that map material can be displayed quickly and does not have to be rendered again and again, there are so-called tile servers on the Internet that provide raster maps in a wide variety of designs.
Track of the day offers 25 preset grid maps. Apart from the three standard cards, all other cards can be personalized and changed freely.
Route calculations
Once the discovery is complete, you can start planning a trip. During planning, routes are usually created that later have to be exported in GPX file format to a suitable system for navigation. For all route calculations, Track of the day calls on Microsoft routing services. These services work with Microsoft’s own vector map. The three standard Track of the day grid maps are created from this map material. In collaboration with TomTom and other providers, thousands of vehicles worldwide record all changes in the course of roads. Every new roundabout and every new bypass is promptly incorporated into the standard Track of the day maps .
Microsoft Routing Services can take historical traffic data, current traffic conditions, traffic jams and closures into account. The options are extremely diverse and sometimes a bit confusing. To make things as easy as possible for Track of the day users , there are the routing profiles and the garage . In the garage you can manage a virtual fleet and assign a standard routing profile to each vehicle. These profiles can be changed freely at any time. If you change them while creating a route, the respective route profiles are automatically linked to the associated sections of the route.
For editing tracks and routes there is the track editor and the route editor . If a track or route is selected, the editor can be called up with the keyboard shortcut CTRL+E
Plan routes correctly
The route planners available on the market basically only have a reason to exist because the displays on telephones or navigation devices are usually very small. These small devices are hardly usable for detailed research and real planning because of the tiny displays. All available route planners are basically just a tool for creating a few route points along a route on a larger monitor and later transferring the finished route to your navigation device. If you don’t know the landscape through which a route takes you, you plan blindly and don’t really know whether you have created a wonderful panoramic route or whether it will take you along boring main roads.
Instead of blindly creating a route, many users rely on route planners such as Kurviger , MRA or Calimoto , which are based on the swarm intelligence of many thousands of users. Routes that are frequently driven by other users are used to generate motorcycle routes that often meet the needs of the users. Instead of discovering things yourself and planning your own adventures individually, when you use these services you rely on the preferences of other users and what the algorithm makes of them.
If you want to experience maximum driving fun during an expensive trip and avoid stress when looking for restaurants and hotels, you have to think about your travel destination. Hardly any offer is better suited than Google Streetview . For this reason, Google Streetview is an elementary planning component of Track of the day .
If you press the CTRL+S key combination while planning your route , Google Streetview will open in a split window. The first time you have to accept the Google terms and conditions, after that you can explore the world visually. If you also log in to Google Maps, you can use the globe view and an interactive 3D map for planning.
How all this works in detail is explained in a tutorial video.
