A stepped routing

The essentials

A “stepped” routing draws steps instead of a smooth line. It happens when the route strays far from the direct route: it ends up on the edge of an isochrone (the line of points reachable in the same amount of time), where the search stops.

Two remedies:

• Increase the “Sweep angle” in “Settings” > “Routing” (visible with Expert mode on). The default value is 220°. If your machine is fast enough, 360° removes the steps.
• Without Expert mode, add an intermediate target placed on the staircase, around its middle, and route to it.

Going further

The sweep angle. At each step, the calculation explores headings around the direction of the target. The “Sweep angle” sets the opening of that fan: from 40° to 360°, in steps of 10°, 220° by default. A wide angle explores more directions and more easily finds a route that strays far from the direction of the target (beating, going around an obstacle), at the price of a longer calculation.

The other exploration settings (“Step angle”, “Max duration”, isochrone steps) are described in Expert mode and Settings.

The intermediate target. By placing a target in the middle of the staircase, you split the route into two shorter calculations closer to a straight line: see Creating a target.