Trip Planning Software

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Poppys 5th Wheel

Poppys 5th Wheel

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Posts
165
Location
Carlsbad, Ca
Are there any software programs anyone is using to help plan trips that caters to RVers? I was day dreaming about a trip from Southern California to Banf National Park and I couldn't even get google maps to get me there. There must be something other than going to AAA.
 
Are you just looking for trip routing software or wanting information on things to see and do along with the trip routing?

There are several mapping programs, such as Microsoft Streets & Trips, Delorme Street Atlas and I use the Garmin Mapsource to route my trips on the computer and download the route to my Garmin GPS. You can load special "points of interest" (POI's) such as museums, restaurants, amusement parks, etc with the Garmin and I suspect you could do the same with the others too. If you have AAA you can also go to their office and they can give you the tour books with a lot of information on any particular place you are interested in.
 
I use Microsoft Streets and Trips. It allows you to select different types of places that you would like to experience along the way. It allows you to add stops and assign how long those stops will be, departure and estimated arrival times. If you know you want to overnight every 300 miles you can input that and then check for and add places in that area to camp for the night. Too many features to list but you can download a trial version to determine if it's right for you;
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=54a1adb4-7884-4d2d-ac85-f1059de9858d&displaylang=en

Dar
 
Thanks. I found Streets and Trips just through a google search along with some others including Garmin's software. If I had a Garmin, I may choose that because the idea of loading your trip into the navagation is cool but I have a different nav system. I am going to download the trial version of Street and Trips and check it out.

Thanks for the info.
 
If you have a little netbook, you could use Streets & Trips for planning and with an inexpensive GPS antenna also use it for navigation. My netbook (Asus 10 inch) has about 8 hours of battery time. Worried about low clearances? Well, then you can download low clearance data from http://www.lowclearances.com/index.html and upload it into S&T or a Garmin.
 
Must it be a netbook? Can I just use my laptop? I have a laptop stand in the cab. I have an aftermarket stereo/Navigation unit also. Maybe there's a way to download into it. I did download the trial version. I just need to go through it and see if I can figure it out.
 
I installed Copilot on my phone and it seems like it's going to be good. It had a RV option so it doesn't take you down a pig trail in a 36 foot RV
 
Poppys 5th Wheel said:
Oh, I've gotta check this out!
Click to expand...

Yep, I failed to mention that vital piece in my list of abilities. We use our Sprint dongle as the GPS antenna and as good as MS S&T navigates, it's only as good as your connection. Unfortunately our Sprint connection fails to acquire a connection in some places and therefore we have the Garmin that never seems to fail. It's awesome having the large map view for navigation on the laptop.
 
We bought the Streets&Trips that came with a GPS antenna and it worked great with the laptop.  It worked great.  We no longer use it but we do use S&T for trip planning. 
 
I just ordered the GPS antenna for $19 from Amazon. How cool is this technology stuff! So, even if I don't have cell coverage I will have navigation. Pretty cool.

I'm going to start work on our 2012 retirement cross country trip plan!
 
FWIW, when we bought our MS Streets and Trips, I elected to not get the version with the GPS; but instead bought an upgrade GPS which works fabulously!!  Lots of satellites and excellent coverage in big cities with lots of buildings.  Of course I do try to avoid the big cities with lots of buildings; but it works none the less.  Now I need to get the upgrade for MS Streets and Trips for our next trip.

Marsha~
 
If you can wait a week or two, the 2011 version of Streets & Trips should be available. It will have updated maps.
 
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