Elevation Chart Overview🔗
The elevation chart provides a visual representation of the route's elevation profile, allowing terrain analysis and effective journey planning.
Interactive Elevation Profile🔗
- Visual Representation: Elevation changes along the route are shown with distance on the x-axis and elevation on the y-axis
- Color-Coded Segments: Different coloring modes help visualize various route characteristics
- Zoom and Pan: Zooming in/out and panning across the profile can be done for detailed analysis
Display Modes🔗
The chart supports several visualization modes, accessible via the mode toggle button:
- Gradient Mode: The slope gradient is shown with color coding (green for downhill, red for uphill)
- Highway Mode: Color coding is done by road/highway type
- Surface Mode: Different colors for different surface types are shown
- Smoothness Mode: Road smoothness is visualized
- Maxspeed Mode: Color coding based on speed limits is displayed
- Cost Mode: Routing costs are shown (for advanced users and routing profile development)
Hover Information🔗
When hovering over any point on the chart, detailed information is displayed including:
- Distance from start
- Current elevation
- Grade/slope percentage
- Elevation gain (ascend up to the point and remaining ascend to destination)
- Road characteristics (highway type, surface, smoothness, speed limit)
- Routing costs
Selection Mode🔗
- Activate: The selection mode button (magnifying glass icon) can be clicked or Shift can be held while clicking
- Use: Clicking and dragging can be done to select a segment of the route
- Result: The selected segment is highlighted on both chart and map
- Exit: The mouse button can be released or the selection mode button can be clicked again
Waypoint Interaction🔗
- Waypoints are marked on the chart at the bottom
- When clicking on any waypoint marker, the map is centered on that location
Chart Controls🔗
The elevation chart includes several control buttons:
- Toggle Selection Mode: Selection mode can be activated/deactivated
- Reset Zoom: Return to default zoom level can be done
- Zoom to Visible Segment: The map can be zoomed to match the currently visible chart segment
- Cycle Color Mode: Switching between different visualization modes can be done
- Toggle Simplification: (only in debug mode) Profile simplification can be toggled for performance
Resizable Interface🔗
- The resize handle at the top of the chart can be dragged to adjust its height
- The last used height is saved and restored between sessions
Keyboard Shortcut🔗
- When pressing the E key, the elevation chart visibility can be toggled
Basic Usage🔗
- A route can be planned or loaded and the elevation chart can be opened (by clicking the button in the footer, or pressing the E key)
- The terrain can be analyzed by examining the elevation profile
- Hover information can be used to get details about specific points
- Switching between different modes can be done to analyze different route characteristics
Advanced Analysis🔗
- Selection mode can be activated to focus on specific route segments
- Zoom and pan can be used to examine sections in detail
- Different visualization modes can be compared to understand way conditions
- Waypoints can be clicked to quickly navigate to key locations
Tips🔗
- The chart automatically syncs with the map: when hovering over the chart, the corresponding location on the map is shown
- The selection tools can be used to focus on specific segments of the route
- Different color modes provide different insights: the elevation profile works hand in hand with the route analysis sidebar
- The chart remembers the visibility preference and height setting between sessions
Technical Notes🔗
- Elevation data is derived from the route's track points
- Profile simplification is automatically active and helps maintain performance on long routes while preserving key elevation changes. An icon with a warning sign (yellow background) appears when simplification is active. When zooming in until the icon disappears, the original data is shown.