Roadtrip Planning -Curvature

[Bobharp]

- PSA -


While researching a college shuttling trip in my GT86 I tripped across this website. (thank you Internet & google)


"Curvature -Find twisty roads"

https://roadcurvature.com/2020/10/04/new-curvature-map/
&
https://roadcurvature.com/map/


A cursory search of these forums did not turn up any hits, so I'm posting it here. Ejoy!

[Ohio Enthusiast]

I've used it in the past and it has indeed led me to some great roads. I would say that the default behavior is sub-optimal, in which that it calculated the curvature of the road in total, regardless of road length. So a road 10 miles long with 10 turns will score the same as a 1 mile long road with 10 turns (barring road segmentation). Obviously the 1 mile stretch would be more fun to drive.

I've tweaked the Python code and added a length normalization handler, as well as experimented with various parameters of the other handlers (such as weights of different curve radii or segment lengths) to suit my personal driving preference.

Even then, though, it takes driving the roads to really gauge how good they are, as well as determining things like lane width, elevation changes, sight lines or paving quality (especially important for the smaller 3 or 4 digit roads). I've been disappointed quite a bit by some of the roads it gave high scores for, but I did manage to find a great combination after several drives and it's now my go-to twisty roads layout for long drives.

In addition, with some more parameter tweaking it's possible to find short twisty roads. This is useful for closer to home roads, where you might be able to discover a slight detour to your regular drives that pass through some nice twists and turns.

Overall a nice place to start, especially to find roads further away from home, where you don't want to spend an entire day driving around on boring roads (that looked appealing on Google Maps).

[Bobharp]

Originally Posted by Ohio Enthusiast

I've tweaked the Python code and added a length normalization handler, as well as experimented with various parameters of the other handlers (such as weights of different curve radii or segment lengths) to suit my personal driving preference.

Even then, though, it takes driving the roads to really gauge how good they are, as well as determining things like lane width, elevation changes, sight lines or paving quality (especially important for the smaller 3 or 4 digit roads). I've been disappointed quite a bit by some of the roads it gave high scores for, but I did manage to find a great combination after several drives and it's now my go-to twisty roads layout for long drives.

In addition, with some more parameter tweaking it's possible to find short twisty roads. This is useful for closer to home roads, where you might be able to discover a slight detour to your regular drives that pass through some nice twists and turns.

Overall a nice place to start, especially to find roads further away from home, where you don't want to spend an entire day driving around on boring roads (that looked appealing on Google Maps).

Excellent points. Yes. Truly an investigative tool.

In some of the roads I've investigated so far there seems to cut through residential areas, so I would want to avoid those. Speed limits would also be useful info.



I just intend to use it to mark some potential side trips along my intended route.