what trip planning software with RV camping database

Rookie Rv'er here.  30' Winnie Aspect.

Wife and I will be doing our 1st long distance trip this June MN to Tampa FL and back.  No hurry.  Wondering if there is a software package for route planning that includes RV camping in the database, preferably one with ratings.

thx to anyone taking the time to offer advice.

mark in MN

I use RVParky.  App store and online. Log in and build your route.  It shows some fuel stops, Flying J/Pilot, and Walmarts.  GasBuddy is good, too.

campendium.com is a good directory.  KOA and Good Sam sites are helpful.

The two really good planners are gone. Both S&T and SA could be loaded with overlays of all kinds of things, and then be used as an enroute navigator to boot.  This gave you just one device/software/system to fight and learn. 

There are several good campground databases to use and other things as well, but if you don't carry wire (Old geek for have traveling internet capability) then they are only of use when you have the crampground WiFi. 

I know that with the Garmins (all I know about), you can load additional data, but planning on that little screen is just not comfortable.

Matt

We really like RVTripWizard.  Easy to use, do "what if" scenarios, and look at campgrounds by ratings and accommodations. 

thelazyl said:

We really like RVTripWizard.  Easy to use, do "what if" scenarios, and look at campgrounds by ratings and accommodations.

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X2

I also really like RVTripWizard.

RV Trip Wizard is the most comprehensive RV Planning tool available. This routing program will allow you to route according to your vehicle size and weight and show campgrounds along the route along with other POI's.
User defined distance rings will indicate overnight areas to start looking for CG and entering your MPG will show where to fuel along with truck stops or gas stations.
It is internet based with a subscription, I believe about 35-40 bucks a year.

Sorry in advance for the hijack - I donwnloaded RVTrip Wizard and have looked at the demo.

I have a question about exporting to GPS - Does the app or software output waypoint names and addresses directly to either google maps or iPhone maps or just lat/long coordinates?  I currently have a trip planning software I like but after planning I have to create a new route in the phone GPS to actually navigate the route.

RVTrip Wizard has a lot of cool features but the demo version won't allow me to see POI or anything like that. My current planner has a huge library of places and a very good layering, filtering function - Is RVTW "good" to "excellent" on waypoints or are some/many things not found. My current planner has found everything I have asked it for and searched for.

Thanks in advance...

- Is RVTW "good" to "excellent" on waypoints or are some/many things not found. My current planner has found everything I have asked it for and searched for.

Thanks in advance...

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I would say RVTW has excellent way points. A couple of other apps we use in route, but not for planning are Allstays and The Next Exit. Allstays will give you real time information as to where you are and what's around you. It will also tell you how far to any point in the distance. I don't use The Next Exit App, I bought the book instead. It will tell you what is at every exit on US interstate highways, including rest areas. I find it very helpful when looking for someplace to eat or gas up or whatever at the next exit.

Dragginourbedaround said:

I would say RVTW has excellent way points. A couple of other apps we use in route, but not for planning are Allstays and The Next Exit. Allstays will give you real time information as to where you are and what's around you. It will also tell you how far to any point in the distance. I don't use The Next Exit App, I bought the book instead. It will tell you what is at every exit on US interstate highways, including rest areas. I find it very helpful when looking for someplace to eat or gas up or whatever at the next exit.

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Thanks for the reply. I guess the main question is will RVTW track location and do navigation real time. If not what is the export to GPS function like.  y current software only exports lat/long which iMaps pukes all over...

Marvin, there is a lot to RV Trip Wizard, much more than you're asking. When you export to GPS a file is created in your downloads folder that contains the coordinates of the route you created in RV Trip Wizard. If you routed to a POI, that coordinate is downloaded but not a symbol indicating it's a POI.
Trip Wizard is not a driving program and is internet based however the folks at RV Life have a companion app that does give driving directions and uses the data and routing you created in Trip Wizard and does not need an internet connection. That app cost extra.
Once you have downloaded your trip and it's in your downloads folder on your PC you can then import that trip to Garmins Base Camp, Goggle My Maps, or any other routing program. I've found downloading the trip to my GPS works best if first the route is downloaded to Base Camp then to the GPS. Base Camp is Garmins routing software and integrates well with Garmin GPS's. Base Camp has a much steeper leaning curve than Trip Wizard.

Trip Wizard will also export your trip to an excel file. Very handy to have a hard copy of your trip, especially if it's a long one with many stops.

One important issue to note when exporting a trip to your GPS; the GPS uses it own avoidance's you configured in your GPS to created a route. The result is that you may not see the same route on your GPS that you created in Trip Wizard or any other routing program. There are ways around this but the procedure to accomplish that is beyond the scope of this thread.

Trip Wizard has a robust set of POI's that can be filter to your specs.

There is an active RV Trip Wizard forum here: https://www.irv2.com/forums/f287/

@timjet - Many thanks for taking time to explain the features. Very useful info. Sounds like a multi step process for sure... I did Route 66 with my current tool and am already completely familiar with it. I will definitely check out the RVTW forum before deciding to pay for the subscription - I definitely like the RVTW focus on RV travel and the cost tracking and so on.

The POI functions are largely disabled in the demo version so that was a concern as well.

I thought Trip Wizard has a 7 day free trial with all functions available and if not cancelled you are billed.

timjet said:

I thought Trip Wizard has a 7 day free trial with all functions available and if not cancelled you are billed.

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Hmm could be.  I briefly looked around the tool to see how to do like a one month trial but didn't look that hard.

I saw some of your posts on IRV2.com and you were right it's pretty active over there. I did read though a few threads about POI and then some threads about how to get the route into a navigation software. I am really familiar with Roadtrippers and while it doesn't have specific RV routing the POI interface I really love.  So I am gonna stick with that for now.

My habit is to lay out a whole trip in RT and then every travel day I lay in a multi-destination route in the phone/iPad using the named destinations.  It really only takes a few minutes. That's what we did with the R-66 trip laying in 300-400 mile days with 4-5 things we wanted to see each day along the way.

I guess stick with what you know and are comfortable with for now. RV use is gonna be "point to point" until I retire anyway and I don't have any "epic" trips planned for a while.

For RV sites I downloaded "campendium" which seemed to have a lot of great reviews so that might help find the unique (and cheap) RV destinations.

If you are a AAA member, their website is very helpful IMO in planning. You can put in some filters.
Good luck, hope you have great adventures.

Yes, RV Trip Wizard offers a 7 day trial period.
They sent an email out recently talking about a new feature dealing with GPS type activity. I haven't had a chance to check that out, yet.

I think that the 7 day trial period is too short for a newbie. The learning curve is a bit steep when first starting out.
But then, I am one of those that has to play with it for a while, and get into the weeds before going back to read the manual.

Once you get the hang of it, it's a very good planner.
I used it to plot our last two trips, and they turned out near perfect.