Surface and difficulty
Two choices decide how much dirt goes into the route and how technical it can be. Set them once in Settings and, when needed, change them for one ride only.
FreeAlso used when rerouting
Surface: Road, Mixed, Offroad
- "Road": stays on asphalt.
- "Mixed": uses dirt when it makes sense, without chasing it. This is the default.
- "Offroad": looks for dirt.
Where: Settings › Default route › "Surface", or on a ride with "Change surface and difficulty". On a ride it applies to that ride only; your defaults stay in Settings.
Dirt difficulty: Easy, Medium, Hard
This is the most technical surface you accept. With the Road surface the choice is switched off, because it changes nothing.
| Difficulty | What dirt can go into the route |
|---|---|
| Easy | Compacted white roads, fine gravel and gravel. Dirt steeper than 25% is left out, where elevation data exists. |
| Medium | Also: earth, natural ground, pebbles, grass, tracks narrower than 2 m. |
| Hard | Also: rock, mud, sand, paths and nearly impassable surfaces. |
Dirt that OpenStreetMap does not describe is treated as Medium and marked as an uncertain surface. Results tell you how many km are uncertain.
Even with Hard, Polly never uses sections that are impossible on a motorcycle: surfaces tagged impassable, difficult hiking paths (T3 and up), via ferratas, climbing sections, difficult mountain bike trails.
Gradient
Polly works out the gradient from elevation data every 30 metres, over 200-metre stretches. Results show the steepest gradient and the km above 15% and above 25%. With more than 100 metres of dirt above 25% you get a "very steep dirt" warning.
Motorways and enjoyable roads
- "Avoid motorways": works for every surface and also when the app reroutes. Off by default.
- "Enjoyable roads": with the Road surface it turns on the "Scenic" alternative and makes loops prefer bends and minor roads. These loops always avoid motorways. On by default.
For Polly, a bend is a change of direction of at least 35° within 100 metres.
Restricted sections in a route
Sections closed to motor vehicles are not removed from the map: they cost much more, so Polly avoids them when it can. If a route contains some, you see them in magenta and counted in km. This way you are never left without a route, and you decide. Details are on the navigation and restrictions page.
Motorcycle and rider profile
Settings › "Motorcycle and rider profile", or the quick switch at the top of the ride sheet. On first launch there is no profile and everything works as above.
- Maxi adventure (about 260 kg): Mixed, Easy, avoids sand, mud and fords.
- Medium adventure (about 205 kg): Mixed, up to Medium, avoids sand.
- Light enduro / light adventure (about 170 kg, knobbly tyres): Offroad, up to Medium.
- Road motorcycle: Road, Easy, avoids sand, mud and fords.
- Personal profiles ("New personal profile", as many as you like): name, riding weight, tyres, maximum difficulty, conditions to avoid, starting surface and "Avoid motorways".
The profile sets surface, difficulty and "Avoid motorways"; you can still change them for a single ride. If you pick a difficulty above the profile's, you read "Your profile allows Easy". If the route crosses fords, or sand and mud where the map knows, and the profile avoids them, the summary tells you. Weight and tyres help explain the advice: they do not calculate whether a road is rideable.
Defaults
- Mixed
- default surface
- Easy
- default dirt difficulty
- Allowed
- motorways, until you turn on "Avoid motorways"
- 25%
- gradient above which dirt is left out with Easy
What it does not do
- The classification depends on OpenStreetMap: if a section is described badly, its difficulty can be wrong too.
- It does not know what the dirt is like today: rain, landslides and roadworks are not in the data.
How does it compare with Calimoto, Kurviger, OsmAnd, DMD2 and other apps? See the feature-by-feature comparison.