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Working with ACA Files

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Get the most out of routes purchased from the Adventure Cycling Association with Ride with GPS. 

Learn more about the Ride with GPS mobile app on iOS and Android.

   

A Premium subscription unlocks route planning tools that allow you to combine an ACA route file with the corresponding ACA Services (Points of Interest) file. Once you've finalized your route, download it to your phone for offline use, navigation, and ride recording.

Overview

The ACA will provide you with two GPX files. One of these contains points of interest for the route, including lodging and resupply options. This file will have "services" in its name. The other file, under the route name, contains the GPS track of the route. You'll need to combine these into a single route in order to navigate the planned trip in our app. Read on for step by step instructions.

Upload, Combine, and Trace

 

  1. Visit www.ridewithgps.com and sign in to your account.
  2. Click the Route Planner link at the top of your Dashboard. 
  3. Click Import Existing, then Upload File. Choose the GPX track file from your computer. 
  4. Choose Upload File a second time, then select the GPX services file from your computer.
  5. Once you've chosen both files here, click Add to Planner. This will combine your track line with your services file, resulting in a route with both the GPS route and the POI provided by the ACA. 
  6. If you want to navigate this route on your mobile phone, you'll next want to trace it in order to populate turn by turn directions. Click the Trace button, and note that this can take a few moments to complete, especially if your route is several hundred miles long. 
  7. Make sure to Save your hard work and give it a memorable name! 

Pro Tips

  • If your route is more than 250 miles (about 400 KM), we recommend that you split the route into smaller portions. Routes longer than this can perform poorly on our mobile app.
  • We recommend downloading your route or routes for offline use so you can find your way, even outside of cell phone range. 
  • If you're syncing an ACA route to your Garmin device, we recommend that you load the route manually to import all POI to the device. Wireless Garmin syncing options are convenient, but will not download this data to your GPS device. 
  • Navigate your route on the go with our mobile app!