RV camping software

[MikeFromMesa]

I have been wondering if there was any rv camping/routing software available. I used to buy the Campground Navigator software sold through CampingWorld and still have a copy of it on my computer, but it is now 4 years old and getting increasingly less useful since there are new campgrounds that are not listed.

I know there are chain listings (like Good Sam or KOA) on the internet and I know there are phone-based apps as well as listings on GPS devices, but the nice thing about the Campground Navigator was that you could route out a trip before you left and see what campgrounds were available along or near the route in a natural map-based fashion. GPS devices don't do that and the phone apps, while helpful, don't give me the chance to see possible places and check them out on the internet before we go.

Does anyone know if there are any decent mapping programs available? Thank you.

 

[Ned]

We've used the DeLorme Street Atlas products for many years and haven't found any other program to be as flexible and useful.  I can plan the trip offline and then getting a moving map display on the road with a GPS attachment.

 

[steve407]

The Good Sam web site has a mapping tool that I've used. So far it's been pretty accurate, shows you campgrounds along your route (up to about 50 miles away if you want - it's adjustable) plus other things like Flying J/Pilot stations, rest areas and points of interest.  It shows, I guess, mostly only GS rated camp grounds, so if you are looking for a KOA or something not GS rated you have to do additional searching, but you can set a way point near it to have a good idea of mileage, driving time, and fuel used.  It won't be precise, but it comes pretty close.

Steve

 

[scottydl]

From what I've read, RV Parky and Allstays seem to be the two most popular mobile apps for finding campgrounds on-the-go... but they also both have the same listings on websites.  Just add .com to the end of either name.  Comparing and contrasting those databases with your planned route would give you some options, although it would not be integrated into a single program (which may be what you are wanting) and would require some back-and-forth referencing. 

I always like to consult multiple sources on park locations, reviews, etc. anyway, since they all use different sources for their information.  In fact, I recently discovered that our favorite campground in Michigan (a public village-owned facility) isn't even listed on RV Parky, as if it doesn't exist.  Allstays has it listed, but only rates at 2/5 stars... but we absolutely LOVE almost everything about it!  So you can't believe everything you read online. 

 

[Larry N.]

... GPS devices don't do that and the phone apps, while helpful, don't give me the chance to see possible places and check them out on the internet before we go.
..

Not a mapping program, per se, but we've found the Allstay's Camp & RV app to be a major aid. We can look up campgrounds in a given area (state, city, etc.), see a map of where it is, get phone numbers (it will even place a call for you), and can even have driving directions via Google maps. It provides all manner of info on each campground (# of site, amenities, etc.), and you can even filter by type (Forest Service, BLM, Nat'l or State Park, KOA, Independent, etc.) of campground. Between it and my Garmin GPS I have all I need enroute. And the Mapsource software for my PC that came with my Streetpilot (I still get updates) is great for planning from home, when used with Allstay's.

 

[MikeFromMesa]

From what I've read, RV Parky and Allstays seem to be the two most popular mobile apps for finding campgrounds on-the-go... but they also both have the same listings on websites.  Just add .com to the end of either name.  Comparing and contrasting those databases with your planned route would give you some options, although it would not be integrated into a single program (which may be what you are wanting) and would require some back-and-forth referencing. 

I always like to consult multiple sources on park locations, reviews, etc. anyway, since they all use different sources for their information.  In fact, I recently discovered that our favorite campground in Michigan (a public village-owned facility) isn't even listed on RV Parky, as if it doesn't exist.  Allstays has it listed, but only rates at 2/5 stars... but we absolutely LOVE almost everything about it!  So you can't believe everything you read online. 

I knew about the Good Sam stuff but I was trying to find a source that would list all of the parks, not just the Good Sam parks.

As an aside I have always wondered what criteria was needed for an RV park to make it into one of the guide books. We used to carry both the Woodall's and Good Sam books but occasionally came across nice RV parks that were not listed in either. When I wrote to ask why I never received a response so I guess there are some hidden criteria for listing. The listings are supposed to be free (as compared to the advertisements) but perhaps there are some costs that are not mentioned and perhaps some places that refuse to pay just don't get included. I don't really know.

 

[MikeFromMesa]

Not a mapping program, per se, but we've found the Allstay's Camp & RV app to be a major aid. We can look up campgrounds in a given area (state, city, etc.), see a map of where it is, get phone numbers (it will even place a call for you), and can even have driving directions via Google maps. It provides all manner of info on each campground (# of site, amenities, etc.), and you can even filter by type (Forest Service, BLM, Nat'l or State Park, KOA, Independent, etc.) of campground. Between it and my Garmin GPS I have all I need enroute. And the Mapsource software for my PC that came with my Streetpilot (I still get updates) is great for planning from home, when used with Allstay's.

I have RV Parky on my phone but did not know there was also an online site. We are planning a trip through some of the more isolated parts of Texas and I had not found any places near our route, even using google, but did find some places on the RV Parky website. Thanks for the pointer. Live and learn ...

 

[Sr Fox]

We use rvparkreviews and iExit extensively while travelling. We also check on the others mentioned here previously.

 

[ArdraF]

I have always wondered what criteria was needed for an RV park to make it into one of the guide books. We used to carry both the Woodall's and Good Sam books but occasionally came across nice RV parks that were not listed in either. When I wrote to ask why I never received a response so I guess there are some hidden criteria for listing. The listings are supposed to be free (as compared to the advertisements) but perhaps there are some costs that are not mentioned and perhaps some places that refuse to pay just don't get included.

Yes, Mike, there are advertising costs.  Contrary to popular belief, the campgrounds are charged for their listings and, of course, for their larger ads.  We've had campground owners ask us which resources we use because their rates had gone up and they were trying to make the either/or decision.  This happened several times after the 2008 economic downturn.  Their businesses had dropped off and their advertising rates were going up so they needed to know where to put their advertising dollars to reach the largest number of users.  Some dropped all advertising.  We've found some gems by stopping at state visitor centers when crossing into a new state.  The larger ones often have campground brochures for the various regions of their states and that may be the only place the campground advertises.  They might belong to the state campground owners association and be listed in their brochure as well.  I assume you know that Good Sam has combined their own Trailer Life Campground Directory with the Woodall's directory and the combined volume is now called Good Sam RV Travel & Savings Guide.

By the way, it's not the type of software program you asked about, but we use the POI Factory and download to our Garmin GPS a file called "20,350 Combined US Campgrounds."  Since adding it we've found every campground we've looked for, including a few that were difficult to find previously because their street address was a highway number which seems to confuse GPS systems.  There's also one for Canadian campgrounds.

ArdraF

 

[bailer6334]

Good Sam has a guide as stated above. How I plan my trips is by using Microsoft Streets & Trips, Then use Woodalls.com camping guide to get "most" campgrounds in a area. Sign up to Woodalls is free. I also use Trip Adviser to give me feedback on the campgrounds I'm thinking of using.

 

[MikeFromMesa]

By the way, it's not the type of software program you asked about, but we use the POI Factory and download to our Garmin GPS a file called "20,350 Combined US Campgrounds."  Since adding it we've found every campground we've looked for, including a few that were difficult to find previously because their street address was a highway number which seems to confuse GPS systems.  There's also one for Canadian campgrounds.

I also have a lot of POIs for my (Rand McNally) GPS and the GPS itself contains a lot of campgrounds. I know I have the pieces in that I can route with one piece of software and use the GPS to look for campgrounds when I decide where I want to stop, but I was looking for a single combined computer based application that would allow me to both route and display available campgrounds near the route. The old Campground Navigator did exactly that, but Undertow software stopped issuing new versions several years ago and either is out of business or out of that business.

The irony is that although I carefully plot a route, including campgrounds, we almost never actually conform to the plan. We stop places we did not plan on stopping at, we don't stop at other places we did plan to stop at and often don't even end up going to the same destination, so all of my pre-planning turns out to be unnecessary. Still I do like to have it all done before we go, just in case we do go where we planned.

I guess there just is no such software anymore.

Thanks for your info.

 

[Ned]

Street Atlas, along with the numerous draw files available from the Discovery Owners web site will do just that.  That's exactly how I plan our trips.  I put the various draw files for the campgrounds and truck stops, etc. on the map and I can see exactly what's there at any point along the route.

 

[legrandnormand]

I'm still using my old 2013 Streets & Trips on my laptops with the GPS option that my wife uses on the mh dash mounted desk and I'm still getting updated POE files that I add to that program.
On a day to day usage, I follow my onboard TOMTOM GPS on which I add the daily trip from my computer.

 

[Mtn Mike]

Lately I've really enjoyed the site: www.campendium.com/. It's a small but growing review site that reviews all kinds of campgrounds; RV resort to Walmart parking lots. I like how strait forward it is. They rely on user campground reviews and put them in an easy-to-use, geographically based format. I have no connection to the site. Just throwing in my 2 cents.

 

[MikeFromMesa]

This thread has been very helpful to me. Apparently there is no current single computer-based application like Campground Navigator that does what I want, but some of the suggestions were very helpful. In particular I was surprised to find that there was an internet companion site to the RV Parky phone app and, using that, I found an RV park along my route, pretty much exactly where I needed one, that is not listed in my RV GPS, on an internet search, at the POI factory or in my old version of Campground Navigator.

The next surprising thing I found is that there apparently is no way to add a new RV site to the campground listings on the GPS. Oh, I can add it to my address book (and I did) and I can download the campground POIs from the POI Factory website, add it to that listing and add the file as a custom POI set to the GPS (and I did that), but there is no way to actually upgrade the built-in campground listing. Since campgrounds come and go frequently this seems like an ability that ought to exist.

Thanks for all of your help.

 

[beaverfever]

good old google maps. rv parks near xyz. i find rv parks that are not on any of the programs i have used .
some times they are listed in a nearby community that i miss when i put the major city in rv parksreview ect.
this especially true when i start planning a trip in canada.

 

[legrandnormand]

As canadians, we do have problems to find accurate data for our own country using different well known softwares such as Streets & Trips (the last was 2013 version). Since we are a very small populated country comparing it to the USA, the data just reflects it.

 

[Mopar1973Man]

None of the above tend to work for me. Being I'm a boondocker I've got hiding holes in the US forest that are not listed. So what I do is made a day trip with the pickup and find different places to be. If I can camp there I mark my GPS with a favorite. Most of the mobile apps don't cover the Federal Campgrounds hidden out in the USFS or Dept Of Lands. If is got camp slots closer than 100 feet I typically skip the site and move on.

 

[cymro]

We boondock as much as possible and use freecampsites.net as one of our tools.

 

[Stephen S.]

but there is no way to actually upgrade the built-in campground listing. Since campgrounds come and go frequently this seems like an ability that ought to exist.

If this were available I can see a few sleazy campground owners deleting other campgrounds near them. It's bad enough that they can post nasty reviews now.