Roadbookby Hondo Garage

The manual, in eight screens.

Roadbook has three jobs: get you somewhere, follow a roadbook at speed, and make roadbooks. Everything else is a button you'll find.

1Install and get maps

  1. On the phone, open roadbook.apk, allow installs from that app, Install.
  2. Open Roadbook, allow Precise location. Allow notifications if you want the recording indicator while the screen is off.
  3. MAPS → DOWNLOAD → GET the states you ride. Half a gigabyte for a big rural state. Downloads resume if interrupted.

That is the last time the app needs a signal. Packs overlap and route across state lines.

The download map packs list

2Go somewhere

  1. Long-press the map → ROUTE HERE. Or 🔍 and type an address, street or town.
  2. Every mode you've ticked under MODES is drawn at once: Fast, Towing, Backroads, Dirt, Ride, Quiet, Gravel. Tap a line or a row to choose it.
  3. Long-press elsewhere → VIA to pull all routes through a point. FROM plans from somewhere other than where you are.
  4. GO. Or SAVE to keep it as a roadbook (the turns go in as cues) — see step 7.
Three routes compared on one screen

3The screen while you ride

Heading-up, you in the lower third, the next cue on top. Tap the map to cycle whole route → next turn → close up; pinch to adjust, drag to look around (the crosshair resumes following).

The navigation screen, labelled

4Sound

  • Tap the speaker while navigating. Off by default; remembered.
  • About fifteen seconds out the cue is spoken: "Left. Onto Dry Creek Road." Then short pips rise one octave and quicken as the bar fills. A two-note chime at the turn.
  • A note is read in your words. A danger is announced, then a low buzz at the spot.
  • The voice is built into the app. Pair a helmet headset or stereo; the cues go out as navigation audio.
Night map while navigating

5Off the line

  • Leave the route (gas, a look at something) and nothing changes: the banner shows the direction and distance back; one low buzz if sound is on, a short note when you're back.
  • Nothing recomputes by itself. For a planned route, REROUTE asks the router from where you are. A roadbook can't be rerouted — ride back to the line.
  • END stops. Tap the bottom card for the written turn list and SAVE / SHARE.
Off-track banner with the reroute button

6Record a pre-run

  1. Tap ●. A strip appears with CUE and STOP. Recording continues with the screen off.
  2. At every turn and hazard, stop and tap CUE: pick the arrow, or NOTE / DANGER (severity 1–3), type what to say. One tap on an arrow is a complete cue; words are optional except for a note.
  3. STOP → SAVE (into your folder) or SHARE. One GPX: the line plus the cues.

A crash or dead battery loses at most a minute; the app offers the unfinished recording next time it opens.

The cue picker: arrows, note, danger

7Edit cues on any track

  1. TRACK → pick a GPX → EDIT CUES. (FOLLOW rides it straight away.)
  2. Long-press on the line to add a cue there. Tap a cue to change or delete it. LIST shows the roadbook as text.
  3. SAVE writes over the file, or SAVE AS. FOLLOW starts riding it.
  4. While following, ↳ adds a cue at your position — for the stop-and-note pass on a route you planned at the table.
Editing cues on a track

8The file

A roadbook is an ordinary GPX. Cues are waypoints whose <type> names them; <desc> carries the words. Any GPX editor can write them, and any map app still opens the file.

<wpt lat="46.0201" lon="-112.0000"><desc>onto the ranch road</desc><type>cue:LEFT</type></wpt>
<wpt lat="46.0302" lon="-112.0001"><desc>washout</desc><type>danger:3</type></wpt>
<wpt lat="46.0403" lon="-112.0000"><desc>water crossing</desc><type>note</type></wpt>

Turns: STRAIGHT, SLIGHT_LEFT, SLIGHT_RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, SHARP_LEFT, SHARP_RIGHT, KEEP_LEFT, KEEP_RIGHT, UTURN, ROUNDABOUT. Cues more than 150 m from the line are ignored. A track with cues is followed exactly as written — no turns are invented from its shape.

Recording a pre-run