Trip planning / routing software

[Gordon-Gang]

Anyone know of in trip planning / map software that you could create a route by just inserting start and endpoints, like similar to Mapquest.com, then it would create a route of waypoints of all your turns for upload to your GPSr?

[D-w-S]

MapSource MetroCity Guide will do this. But I believe there are probably better packages for auto routing - I would look at Delorme Street Atlas, Microsoft Streets & Trips 2002 and if you have big bucks Microsoft MapPoint 2002. Just my .02

 

Thanks,

D-w-S

[+Seay me]

I use MS Streets and Trips 2002. It works great so far. IT is VERY similar to the internet sites maps. You can input the cost of gas/car milage and size of your tank and it will cost the trip for you. You can add stops in your route 'on the fly' and it will reroute immediately. You can hook your GPS up to a laptop and track you position in real time on the map (the software has a 15 second delay in tracking...there is a patch available on the internet that will change it to two seconds).

 

Overall I like it and it's not bad at $40.

 

If you have any questions about it feel free to email me. My address is in my profile.

 

Chip

[Gordon-Gang]

None of the softwares I researched did what I wanted....until I tried PanTerra. This is cool stuff and cheap too. It actually imports the directions you get from MapBlast and builds a route, with turns a waypoints. And with MapBlast, I never have to worry about paying all over again just to get map updates.

[Gordon-Gang]

None of the softwares I researched did what I wanted....until I tried PanTerra. This is cool stuff and cheap too. It actually imports the directions you get from MapBlast and builds a route, with turns a waypoints. And with MapBlast, I never have to worry about paying all over again just to get map updates.

[+Alan2]

I just got Delorme Street ATlas 2003 ($49 + $5 shipping))that creates a route from a start to end location as well as vias and stops between that you can load the created route's waypoints into the GPS. The waypoints seem to be created at each turn so you cannot go over the number of waypoints your GPS can handle for each route. If you do you will lose some of the turns. In that case, you have to divide up the trip into smaller portions and create more that one route.

 

You can also transfer waypoints, routes and tracks from the GPS into SA 2003.

 

The program has all kinds of bells and whistles but since I just got it, I'm stil playing with it and haven't made up my mind just how useful it is. Before, I would create my route using Mapsource on my computer and then download that into my Vista. I'm not sure yet whether Delorme 2003 will become something I'm going to use regularly.

 

Alan