Camille showed us on Saturday a new feature on USATF’s web site: a running route map drawing and distance-measuring tool.  I tried it, and its quite neat.  You can draw any running route on a map.  The software sets start and finish markers, mile markers, you can add water stops, and it shows the total distance.  You can also name and describe the course and save it on the USATF web site for other people to use.

I have used Microsoft’s Streets & Maps for this purpose before.  There are pros and cons for both solutions, i.e. MS S&M resides on your PC, no internet connection necessary (comes in quite handy if you are in a hotel room with no online access); you can draw in MS S&M similar to USATF, even easier, but because it is a auto mapping software, you can’t draw against one-way roads (I tried it with the Boston Marathon, there is a one-way road shortly before the finish line, that messed up the whole map); USATF sets mile markers, you can set water stops, and if it is an out-and-back course it draws the backside of the course for you atomically; since MS S&M resides on your PC you can store and modify your files any time and as often as you want to, with USATF you can store the route, but if you want to make changes you have to email the webmaster, he will delete the route, and you have to start all over again; you can’t use the whole screen for the map on USATF, that makes working with the tool sort of cumbersome, etc.

Nevertheless, I believe this is a great tool.  There are certainly a lot of improvements possible in the future, but this is a great start.  There are already several local running routes on the USATF server.  I just finished the Fleet Feet – Cherokee Park – Seneca Park route yesterday.  I made a mistake, emailed the webmaster, received a very fast response (this will probably not be possible if the service gets adopted by a lot of runners), and I started all over again today.

The tool is based on Google’s “Local” mapping service.  The maps can be displayed as traditional road maps, as a satellite image, and as a hybrid.  Take a look at this cool new feature at http://www.usatf.org/routes.  Play around with it, and create a lot of new running routes.  It will be interesting to try them.

Manfred