Reply to Data discrepancy between the "Mileage Chart" and the .CSV Download

Hello, and thank you for this excellent planning tool> Highly useful and generally excellent quality tool.
I did ‘discover’ what looks like a serious discrepancy in the results using different parts of the Web-tool:
If I use the Mileage Chart and look, for example, at the distance between Buffalo and Medina, the result displayed is 51.4 miles.

If, on the other hand, I use the Trip Planner Tab and download the underlying data ("Download your planner info in Excel-ready CSV format: planner csv file”) the facility farthest along the Trail from Buffalo to Medina is 44.3 miles. That’s a big difference!

So for planning purposes (daily mileage), which number is accurate?

I really appreciate the option to download the full data set of Trail facilities. I’ve used this to create a planning too that really helps us (similar to what we did when planning the GAP-C&O Ride). Once I got the data arranged, I just input the ‘Day number’, and copy that number down until I get to our preferred mileage (~40 miles). Then I increment the Day Number, and repeat.

Anyway, this is overall a great utility. I will look forward to your explanation on why the Mileage Chart doesn’t seem to agree with the downloaded .CSV file.

This past June 14th, my brother and I began our Erie Canalway Trail bike tour and started from the Hampton Inn in downtown Buffalo. We ended that day at the Hart House Hotel in Medina. My 'Ride With GPS' App showed exactly 51.9 miles. Most of the other daily rides, when compared to the Planning Tool on the website, differed from between 2 and 8 miles, with some being right on the money. I'm not sure how the mileages were calculated, but some of them are not exact and you should be prepared for some discrepancy. All in all, it was a fabulous tour and I plan on doing it again. Have fun!

Hi Gordon, thank you for reaching out about the Trip Planner. I always appreciate anybody pointing out issues with the website like this, so I can get it fixed.

But with this issue I can't reproduce the problem. When I do a trip planner for Buffalo to Medina, the Medina businesses are all showing up with mileage in the low 50's, as they should be. I also tried Medina to Buffalo, and a few other combinations with other towns, but it's all looking correct.

Do you happen to still have the CSV file that you created? If so, could you please email me a copy to ray@bikeeriecanal.com - this might help me see what was going on at the time it was run.

Again, thank you for saying something about this - we'll get to the bottom of it!

Ray, would this old explanation that you sent me explain the difference? Sorry, you'll have to scroll down a bit.

https://bikeeriecanal.com/talk.aspx?tid=334

Hey Bill, you have a better memory than I do, I had forgotten about that issue!

Thank you for the suggestion - that would have been a good explanation, but it was fixed quite a while ago - all mileage measurements go to the trail's end in Buffalo, so no discrepancies.

It looks like the trip planner is also giving the right mileage. I haven't heard back from Gordon, but all the numbers coming out of the planner are currently correct: 50-ish miles from the trail start in Buffalo to Medina.

Again I appreciate anyone pointing out anything that doesn't look right, but at this point it's all working correctly to the best of my knowledge.

As always, thanks for running a great site, Ray.