Draw it, say it, ride it: what's new in VéloCore, September 2026
One finger stroke on the map, or a sentence like “an easy 40 km loop towards Namur”, and your route is ready. This month, VéloCore makes planning as fast as an idea, and finally makes your offline maps dependable.
One freehand stroke, and VéloCore snaps it to the roads of your profile.
A sentence in plain language, three suggested loops with distance, climbing and time.
Your downloaded areas show up without any network, even weeks later.
The same full planner on iPhone and Android, with polish everywhere.
Draw your route with one stroke
You have an idea in mind: out through the valley, around the woods, back along the ridge. Now you open the full-screen map in the app, or the “✏️ Draw a route” block in the web planner, and you draw your ride in a single stroke, with a finger or a mouse. No need to be precise: it's a sketch, not a survey.
VéloCore does the rest. The stroke is smoothed and simplified, waypoints are placed roughly every 2 km (12 at most), and the BRouter routing engine snaps everything to roads according to the profile you chose: Safe, Fast, Touring, Flat, Sporty, Gravel, Forest & trails, E-bike optimised, Cycle routes or Max climbing. You draw a line around the woods, VéloCore lays it on the quiet lanes. If your stroke comes back near the start, it understands it's a loop and closes it on the starting point.
Draw in several strokes if you like: each new stroke joins the previous one, “Undo last stroke” removes the last segment, “Clear” starts over, and the length updates live while you draw. On the web, Enter computes the route, Escape leaves drawing mode, Ctrl+Z undoes the last stroke, and the “Move the map” mode lets you pan without drawing. The small detail that changes everything: when a point of your sketch lands off-road, a classic router forces an out-and-back along the same street. VéloCore detects it and removes it on its own, pulling the waypoint back to the junction, without ever making your route longer.
The result is a normal VéloCore route: start, waypoints and finish move by dragging a point, the elevation profile appears, distance, time and climbing are computed, and you can export the GPX, save the ride to your account or launch it straight in the app's cockpit.
- With a finger in the apps (full screen), with a mouse or a finger on planner.html.
- Snapped to roads by BRouter according to your ten profiles, loop detected automatically.
- Several strokes, undo, live length, 500 m minimum, then an editable, exportable route.
“Describe your ride”: one sentence, three loops
Don't feel like drawing? Write what you want to do. “An easy 40 km loop towards Namur.” VéloCore works out the distance, the route profile, and whether you want a loop or a destination. For a loop, it offers three ranked circuits, each with its distance, climbing and estimated time. For a destination, it computes the route straight away.
Behind the sentence sits the loop generator, which you can also tune by hand: target distance in 5 km steps from 5 to 180 km, surface type (road and asphalt, mixed, tracks and gravel, trails and forest, greenways and RAVeL, safe), a “Maximise climbing” option, and a start area set with a single click. Every suggested loop loads with its waypoints on the route: you tweak it, export it, and go.
On the website, the AI asks you to be signed in to your VéloCore account; without it, a local keyword mode remains available. In the apps, it is part of Premium. And the website's “Describe your ride” module has been rebuilt: fixed layout, aligned field and square button, Enter to send.
- A plain-language sentence, three ranked loops or a route to your destination.
- Adjustable generator: 5 to 180 km, six surface types, “Maximise climbing”, one-click start.
- Web: VéloCore account needed for the AI, local keyword mode otherwise; apps: included in Premium.
Offline maps that stay put
You downloaded the map of your holiday area three weeks ago, you switch to airplane mode at the pass, and... the map is blank. We took that scenario seriously. In the update now rolling out on iOS and Android, the tiles of downloaded areas are stored under a stable key that no longer depends on the map provider's revision (OpenFreeMap). The result: your areas display without any network, even weeks later. No more “0 MB” areas, no more blank map in airplane mode.
Areas you already downloaded are refreshed automatically, once, over Wi-Fi. The offline maps screen shows the real size of each area and the download progress, and offers “Resume” and “Re-download”. Offline maps are part of Premium.
- Your downloaded areas display without network, including weeks later.
- Old areas refreshed automatically, once, over Wi-Fi.
- Real size, progress, “Resume” and “Re-download” on screen.
One planner, on iPhone and Android alike
The planner is now the same on both platforms: start, loops, drawing, AI, stages, destination, bike, preferences and specialist. Two finishing touches along the way: profile badges now sit in a row, and in the cockpit the compass and the summary button no longer overlap.
Where and when to try it
The website is live right now: mouse drawing and “Describe your ride” are waiting for you on planner.html, nothing to install. The app features arrive in the update now rolling out on Google Play and the App Store. Premium, which includes the AI and offline maps, comes with a 14-day free trial, then €5.99/month or €39.99/year.
Try it now
Mouse drawing and “Describe your ride” are already live in the web planner, nothing to install.