Algonquin Route Planner
The Algonquin Route Planner determines one or more canoe routes connecting two selected locations in Algonquin Park and provides statistics about distances and portage. It determines the shortest route between the two points and may provide alternatives.
This application is intended solely to calculate the approximate distance by canoe between locations in Algonquin Park. These data may assist you in planning your trip. The output of this routine is not meant to be taken as route recommendations. The judgement as to the practicality, safety, and suitability of a particular route is entirely your responsibility.
Define Route
Choosing from the large number of possible locations is cumbersome. If your browser supports it, you might find the interface at Algonquin Route Planner (alternate interface) to be more convenient -- or not.
Some points to keep in mind:
Please read the Disclaimer below.
This version of the route planner was released on 2019 November 01.
The route shown on the map is a schematic only. It's sole purpose is to indentify the route. That schematic is not the direct source of the distances calculated; i.e. a smoother drawn track would not result in a more accurate distance. That said, I intend to improve the track representation, but I look on that as a cosmetic detail.
Intermediate locations need to be entered in order (left to right, not up down), but you may leave blanks to facilitate later additions. To edit your route, use your browser's back button.
You may want to specify no backtracking to ensure that no route segments are revisited. This is particularly useful if you wish to easily define a loop; Brent to Brent via Burntroot with no backtracking, for example.
no backtracking is still experimental and somewhat "quirky"; it may break some route requests where backtracking is absolutely necesary -- travel to a dead-end lake, for example. There are also a few other less obvious cases where the problem is how the underlying route segments are defined; Achray to Achray via Greenleaf with no backtracking fails, for example. (However, Achray to Achray via Power Lines (Greenleaf Lake portage) with no backtracking does work.) I will attempt to eliminate these as time goes on but no promises as to when.
In other cases, no backtracking breaks because an alternative segment (green) on the out leg blocks the only return leg. An example would be Kiosk to Kiosk via Shall Lake with no backtracking. However, if we also specify shortest route only, an appropriate loop is found.
Notes
Disclaimer: The maps and overlays are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended for navigation. The base maps tiles and some overlays have been obtained from external sources and have been used without modification or verification. Some feature names have been modified for consistency across this website and with other sources. While these data are believed to be mostly accurate, there are likely some errors. Consequently, any use of this data is not risk free. If you use this data, that risk is entirely your responsibility.
Sources
Map Sources
The Base Map tiles are © ArcGIS.
Algonquin Map tiles (both V4 and V5) are licensed . They are from algonquinmap.com / Jeff's Map LTD and are used with permission and without modification.
The "National Topographic", "Elevation", and "Land Sat7" map tiles are licensed under the © Open Government Licence - Canada.
The Nature Reserve Zones and the Historical Zones are reproduced by mcelroy.ca under Licence with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources © Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2019