How Surrli works

What is Surrli?

Surrli is your cycling map and tour guide for Switzerland. The map also works without an internet connection. Surrli navigates you to your destination and, on selected tours, tells you stories about the sights along the way.

Four terms come up again and again in Surrli:

• Route: navigation to a destination you choose yourself.
• Cycle route: a signposted Swiss cycle route from SchweizMobil.
• Round trip: a ride suggested by Surrli that starts and ends in the same place.
• Tour: a guided ride with stations where the captain tells you about the sights.

How do I switch between the map and the tour view?

Surrli has two views: the map and the current station of a tour. Switch between them with the dots at the bottom of the screen; outside the map you can also swipe sideways. The speedometer icon on the left of the map opens your ride data: elevation profile, distance ridden, average speed, riding time and elevation gain. The map stays visible.

How do I add a stopover?

During a route, press and hold the spot you want on the map. Surrli marks it with a diamond and recalculates the route. Stopovers are ordered automatically so that the detour stays as small as possible. Tapping a diamond removes the stopover; “Undo” brings it back. The button with the backward arrow removes all stopovers. Stopovers you reach drop off by themselves. You can add at most 20 stopovers, but not on tours and cycle routes. You can also search for a place at the top and tap the plus in the results: it is added as a stopover.

Can I ride a tour from Komoot or Bikemap?

Yes, as a GPX file. Export the tour from Komoot, Bikemap, SchweizMobil or another app as GPX and open the file with Surrli, via “Share” or “Open with”. Surrli asks “Load the route from GPX?” and guides you from where you are to the start of the tour and then along it.

Between the points of the tour, Surrli calculates the way itself. The route therefore follows the GPX track closely, but may deviate slightly in places. If the tour ends where it starts, you only arrive after the whole loop. Surrli only rides tours in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

How do I share a route?

During a route, tap the top bar, then «Share route». Surrli sends a link to surrli.app: anyone with Surrli loads the route with «Load» and starts from their own location; without Surrli the route opens on the computer in the browser. Your location is not included, only stops and destination; for cycle routes, tours and round trips the route itself. A tour from a GPX file is also shared as a file.

Why does Surrli offer me stairs?

Surrli normally guides you without stairs. If the way over stairs is at least 500 m and 10 % shorter, Surrli shows it in grey, the stairs with cross lines, and asks “… shorter via stairs”. On the stairs you carry your bike. “Take it” switches to that way; with × you stay on the route without stairs.

How does Surrli calculate the route?

Directly on your phone, even without internet, as soon as the path network is downloaded. Surrli downloads it (about 190 MB) by itself over Wi-Fi. As long as it is missing, or if Surrli’s own router finds no way, the online service openrouteservice calculates the route.

The Swiss path network comes from OpenStreetMap and official data: bike permissions for footpaths (City of Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Fribourg), traffic lights at junctions and gradients from the swisstopo elevation model swissALTI3D. On top come the current closures from SchweizMobil and ASTRA, which the route avoids. The path network and the map also cover Liechtenstein; closures, accident junctions and official bike permissions are not available there.

How do I see my ride without opening the app? Android

While riding, Surrli shows an ongoing notification with an arrow: distance to the next turn, arrival time and remaining distance, and from 200 metres before the turn also the direction. You see it in your notifications and on the lock screen if your phone shows notifications there. With “Send turns to my watch” under “Rides › gear › Announcements”, Surrli also sends every turn to your watch. While Surrli is in the foreground and a route is running or you are riding, the screen stays on; when you stop without a route, it may turn off after three minutes.

How do I see my ride without opening the app? iPhone

While riding, Surrli shows the distance to the next turn and the arrival time on the lock screen and in the Dynamic Island, and from 200 metres before the turn also the direction. While Surrli is in the foreground and a route is running or you are riding, the screen stays on; when you stop without a route, it may turn off after three minutes.

What is the key button for?

Press and hold the key to lock the display in portrait, even if you are holding the phone sideways. Handy if you put it into the mount sideways and then turn it. Press and hold the key again to release the lock.

What does landscape show?

Turn your phone to landscape with a route and you get an overview: on the left you see the whole route on the map. On the right: length, arrival time, elevation gain, steepest point, surface and safety, where known. Below, the elevation profile, coloured by gradient and with place names, shows where climbs and descents come. Slide your finger along the profile and the pin on the map shows the spot. A saved ride shows only the elevation profile in landscape.

What do the lines on the map mean?

The colours help you read the map quickly:

• Green are cycle paths and cycle lanes.
• Solid red is a closure.
• A wide, pale red band is a signposted cycle route from SchweizMobil.
• Yellow is a junction with many cycling accidents.

Your route has the colour you chose. White dashes in its middle show a main road without a cycle lane, cross lines a flight of stairs. Tap a section and Surrli explains it. The Map legend button on the right of the map shows all lines.

What do the white dashes in my route mean?

White dashes in the middle of your route, like the centre line of a road, show a main road without a cycle lane in your direction of travel. There you share the road with cars. Surrli marks such sections from 50 m in length, except where the limit is 30 km/h. Tap a section and Surrli explains it.

If a section is at least 300 m long, Surrli announces it about 100 m ahead, for example “Coming up: 350 metres of main road without a cycle lane” (switch “Speak turn instructions”). Cross lines across the full width of the route are a flight of stairs. In landscape, the “Safety” line shows its share of the route. All this is only available when Surrli's own router calculates the route.

What does “the cycle lane ends” mean?

If the cycle lane on a main road ends and you ride straight on, Surrli warns you about 100 m ahead, provided at least 100 m without a cycle lane follow. If it is 300 m or more, Surrli adds the length. This is only available when Surrli’s own router calculates the route.

What does the yellow circle with an exclamation mark mean?

It warns you of a junction on your route where at least four accidents with bikes or e-bikes happened in the last five years, while turning in, turning or crossing within 30 m (Swiss Federal Roads Office FEDRO, road traffic accident locations). Surrli announces the junction about 100 m ahead: “Caution, junction with many cycling accidents” (switch “Speak turn instructions”).

Surrli points it out so that you ride especially carefully there, but does not avoid the junction: many accidents often also means a lot of traffic.

What do the red and orange lines at a closure mean?

Closed stretches are solid red, the official diversion dotted orange. Closures and diversions for bikes come from SchweizMobil and ASTRA, and Surrli calculates the route around them.

If a closure is near your route, “Route avoids closure” appears at the top: Surrli has already calculated a way around it. “Closure on your route” means your route still leads through a closed spot. Tap the notice or the line and the map pans there and shows closure and diversion with title and duration. From 400 m before a closure on your route this overview appears by itself.

Where do the station texts come from?

The texts are written especially for Surrli, based on public sources such as Wikipedia and the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland. To see the sources of a station, press and hold it in the station list. If you find a mistake, write to us via the legal notice.

Does Surrli need internet? Android

Not for the essentials: without internet the map and the tours with their narrated texts work, and with the path network downloaded also route calculation. Without a network you can start a tour when you are at its first station.

Internet is needed for search, routes via openrouteservice, the elevation profile, the weather and new closures; the closures loaded last stay saved.

Does Surrli need internet? iPhone

Not for the essentials: without internet the map and the tours with their narrated texts work, and with the path network downloaded also route calculation. Tours also start without a network, then from the first station.

Internet is needed for search, routes via openrouteservice, the elevation profile, the weather and new closures; the closures loaded last stay saved.

How can I send a wish or report a problem?

Under “Rides › gear › About Surrli › Send a wish or report a problem” or on surrli.app. Choose “Wish” or “Problem”, describe it briefly and tap “Send”. Your text, the app version and the language are sent, without a device ID and without your location. Only enter an email address if you would like a reply.