Two New Great Tools for Creating Maps & Cue Sheets

North Raleigh - La Grange NC

Things happen fast on the Internet, don't they? I've been working on a new brevet/permanent route from North Raleigh to New Bern. That route was chosen to track NC's Mountain to Sea Trail, which currently uses bike routes as it travels east of Raleigh. Friend Kate Dixon, the executive director of the Friends of the Mountain to Sea Trails, is trying to have all 935 miles of the trail covered in October. I've agreed to help with a cycling effort.

But back to the maps and cue sheets. Kate gave me a topo map book where she'd traced out the route. It was easy to convert that into a fixed electronic map and somewaht usable cue sheet, thanks to changes in Google Maps and a program that Branson found. Here's how.

First, I went into Google Maps and set directions from North Raleigh to New Bern. Then I set Google Maps to "Walking Directions." Voila! Google actually routed on many of the roads I'd picked for my Blackbeard Permanent. I used the "drag map" feature to pull the route onto the roads that Kate had selected.

Unfortunately, Google maps must have some limit on the number of map drags you can do. That forced me to split the map into two segments: 1) North Raleigh to La Grange and 2) La Grange to New Bern.

Next, once the map was created in Google Maps, I used the information on this site to generate a cue sheet. All you have to do is click on that bookmark after you've created the map.

Here's the cue sheet from No. Raleigh to La Grange (the spacing among the columns is gone, but you get the idea):


Route: Wakefield Pines Dr to La Grange, N Carolina

Distance: 91.94 miles

Total Distance Directions

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0.00 0.00 Depart from: Wakefield Pines Dr

0.11 0.11 Right: Falls of Neuse Rd

1.60 1.49 Bear Right: Old NC 98 Hwy

1.76 0.16 Left: Thompson Mill Rd

4.72 2.96 Bear Right: Bud Smith Rd

4.79 0.08 Right: Purnell Rd

6.10 1.30 Left: Jackson Rd

7.67 1.57 Right: Holden Rd

9.94 2.27 Straight: NC-1147

11.03 1.09 Straight: Main St

11.80 0.77 Straight: Tarboro Rd

18.72 6.92 Left: NC-98

20.75 2.02 Right: Strickland Rd

22.61 1.86 Left: Old Halifax Rd

23.91 1.30 Straight: Medlin a Ln

24.08 0.18 Straight: Brantleytown Rd

25.95 1.86 Right: NC-39

26.12 0.17 Left: Pine Ridge Rd

28.85 2.73 Straight: Daddysville Rd

29.02 0.17 Left: Old US-64

30.14 1.12 Right: Sanders Rd

30.41 0.27 Straight: Frazier Rd

37.83 7.42 Left: Strickland Rd

41.83 4.00 Right: W Hornes Church Rd

45.91 4.08 Right: Old Bailey Hwy

46.71 0.80 Straight: Lamm Rd

52.99 6.28 Straight: Quaker Rd

54.23 1.24 Left: Downing Rd

54.96 0.73 Right: Shirley Rd

55.69 0.73 Right: Wiggins Mill Rd

56.14 0.45 Left: Boswellville Rd

57.98 1.84 Straight: Lely Rd

58.60 0.62 Straight: Wellons Ct

59.54 0.94 Left: Blalock Rd

60.78 1.24 Right: US-117 Alt

60.85 0.08 Left: Church Loop N

61.65 0.79 Left: Central Ave

61.84 0.19 Right: Mercer St

62.17 0.33 Left: Cemetery St

62.38 0.21 Straight: NC-1628/Woodbridge Rd

63.06 0.68 Right: Frank Price Church Rd

66.33 3.27 Straight: Black Creek Rd NE

66.44 0.11 Left: Aycock Church Rd NE

68.24 1.80 Left: Davis Mill Rd NE

69.17 0.93 Right: Turner Swamp Rd NE

70.94 1.77 Straight: N Church St NE

71.74 0.79 Straight: Faro Rd NE

75.75 4.01 Straight: Old NC-1201

77.02 1.27 Straight: Bullhead Rd

77.26 0.24 Left: Saulston Rd

77.33 0.07 Right: Davis Grove Church Rd

78.46 1.13 Left: Cow Branch Rd

79.35 0.89 Right: Edmundson Rd

81.32 1.96 Straight: Creech Rd/Free Gospel Rd

83.90 2.58 Left: Titus Mewborn Rd

84.98 1.08 Right: Mewborn Church Rd

85.26 0.28 Bear Right: NC-903

91.94 6.69 Arrive at: La Grange, N Carolina

Finally, the cue sheet generator also has a function to add the map to Bikely, which is the map you see at the top of this post.