Waypoint

[Anders 5]

I understand that a shaping point is not strictly visited if you go off route and that a via point must be visited.
What is a waypoint ?

[Reinhard-32]

@Anders-5 A waypoint can be both, a shaping point or a via point. A via point is for a stop for visit this point. It can be a restaurant, a viewpoint, ore something else where you want to stop. A shaping point does wat the name says, it forms the shape of a route and ist not for a stop and must not be visited or passed.

[Drabslab]

@Anders-5

Waypoints are "points" or GPS coordinates on the map, they come in various types:

A "Point of interest" like a landmark, a statue, or otherwise interesting place to visit. They come in lists like "all the hotels in France, or all the KTM garages in Italy.

A sub category is the favorite: a set of your own personal POI including e.g. your home, a hotel, a museum you would like to visit ...
Although some may disagree that POI are to be considered mere waypoints.

Then there are "hard points" in a route. These are the places you really want to visit during a trip. Depending on you GPS it will stubbornly send you to the next "Hard point" even when all goes wrong. In current MRA slang these are called "Via points".

And of course soft points that only serve to shape the route and instruct the GPs to followe a certain route without really having to visit those points and, again depending on the stubbornness of your GPS, can be missed to some degree. Soft points are called "shaping points" in MRA slang.

Note: on this forum, and many other sites you will find all kinds of defintions of points and it can sometimes be rather confusing. As one example: via points can be called shaping point, formation point, training point, itinerary point, soft waypoint ... It takes a bit of getting used to.

[Steve Lynch]

@Drabslab

There was a post some time ago, I think by @PAD-0, where he was suggesting that MRA should decide on a standard naming convention within MRA for Via Points and Shaping Points. (I personally use these as they seem the most descriptive of their actual function).

That would certainly go a long way to alleviate the obvious confusion that arises from the multiplicity of terms that @Drabslab has identified above.

[Anders 5]

So when I click on the map and add a waypoint, is this a via point or a shaping point?

Apologies for my lack of knowledge.

[Nick Carthew]

@Steve-Lynch We within MRA refer to via points and shaping points colloquially as route points and not waypoints. But I'm being a little pedantic really

[Nick Carthew]

@Anders-5 said in Waypoint:

So when I click on the map and add a waypoint, is this a via point or a shaping point?

Apologies for my lack of knowledge.

The first and last route points will alway be via points (hand shaped) everything in between will be a shaping point (balloon shape) unless you choose to change it.

[Anders 5]

If a waypoint is only essentially a shaping point, why is there a skip option.
Surely, if it's a shaping point then it will be ignored if you miss it?

[Nick Carthew]

@Anders-5 said in Waypoint:

If a waypoint is only essentially a shaping point, why is there a skip option.
Surely, if it's a shaping point then it will be ignored if you miss it?

It allows the route to be shaped the way you want it. For instance, some ferries are not recognised in some maps. Add a route point to each side of the crossing and choose skip on the far side. This effectively switches off routing but will draw a straight line allowing you to plan your route the way you want it.

[Herko ter Horst]

@Nick-Carthew said in Waypoint:

@Steve-Lynch We within MRA refer to via points and shaping points colloquially as route points and not waypoints. But I'm being a little pedantic really

Are you sure? Maybe someone should tell MRA about that...