What online maps do you use for trip planning?

[barryd]

I always just used google maps but its hopeless now. The browser based magic earth alternative is not much better. The main issue I have with google maps is right now loads of the mountain roads I want to add as destinations are closed due to snow and it wont let you put start dates in unless its just one destination. I thought I had posted about this before but if I did I cant find the thread.

So are there any "browser based" mapping apps that are better? Not interested in phone apps. I know Magic Earth is pretty good on the phone but I like to do my planning on the laptop.

 

[Tezza33]

I sometimes use Tomtom my drive, it shows real time traffic flow and you can plan for a camper/caravan or trucks, the route can be exported to a Tomtom satnav if you have one but you can also save it as a .GPX file

 

[Boris7]

None, I don’t like to plan trips, I prefer to just go with the flow.

That said I did spend 40 years driving around Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia for a living so maybe it’s a bit different in my case.

I’ve booked a ferry to Bilbao in July and I’m going to Antibes from there, but that’s easy, get off ferry, turn right, keep the sea on your right and sooner or later Antibes will find you.

 

[barryd]

Nah! I'm a serial nerdy planner. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail!! Its what winters are for! Its a good while since I have done a Euro trip so ill be doing a lot of planning between now and mid June when we leave. To be honest though so far I am just plotting a route to Annecy, some new bits of the deeper and higher French Alps we maybe haven't done before then down to St Lac St Croix, St Tropez area before heading through Provence, Ardeche, Tarn etc then a few weeks in the Pyrenees national park before heading north home. I've done it all before really loads of times so not much of it will be new which is why I am looking at mapping it all out to see new bits but bloody google maps won't let me cos its fecking snowing!!!! It will be 30c when I get there (hopefully).

 

[Norfolk NewBoy]

I'm still using autoroute 2010. Some of the roads will have changed but the vast majority are still there. It allows me to place loads of waymarkers, gives me distances, describes attractions (albeit 15y out of date), etc. I then transfer it to my TomTom satnav and then ignore some of it if I see a sign to somewhere more interesting.
At one time I used a GPS dongle and allowed my co-pilot to follow the route from a purpose-built laptop holder on the dashboard, giving me information about things 20 miles ahead. I did worry a little bit about what would happen in the case of an accident

 

[linkshouse]

It's not web based but I use Road Trip Planner on the Mac. It allows unlimited way points and time setting ("stay for" or "depart at") and can use either Google or Apple maps for its mapping.

 

[colinm]

Nah! I'm a serial nerdy planner. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail!! Its what winters are for! Its a good while since I have done a Euro trip so ill be doing a lot of planning between now and mid June when we leave.

Paper Road Atlas, no problems with road closures.
As for planning, just been checking back on my emails. 20 days before our 7000 mile scandi trip booked the cross channel ferry, about a week later decided on a rough time scale to Rostock and booked that ferry, from then on at most planned two days in front, and half the time those plans changed as we found places we liked that will never be in any guide book.

 

[bdastu]

I use MyRouteApp for planning trips. Started out as mainly for motorbikes but now has the ability to set the route preferences for motorhomes. It is subscription based but there is (or was) a free version. i find it easiest to plan the route on the PC then access it using the app on my phone when travelling. Can also convert to GPX for use on Garmin/Tom Tom. I liked it so much that I bought a lifetime subscription and find it really easy to use for planning routes. Extensive library of routes as well but again mainly for motorbikes, used a couple last year in Germany.

 

[barryd]

I'm still using autoroute 2010. Some of the roads will have changed but the vast majority are still there. It allows me to place loads of waymarkers, gives me distances, describes attractions (albeit 15y out of date), etc. I then transfer it to my TomTom satnav and then ignore some of it if I see a sign to somewhere more interesting.
At one time I used a GPS dongle and allowed my co-pilot to follow the route from a purpose-built laptop holder on the dashboard, giving me information about things 20 miles ahead. I did worry a little bit about what would happen in the case of an accident

I used to always use that for years. I think I may have a 2013 copy somewhere. Had all the CC Infos POI on it as well. Could still be useful I guess for this trip if there is no internet connection. Will have to see if I can get it installed again. Cheers.

 

[r4dent]

Nah! I'm a serial nerdy planner. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail!!

I'm the same, despite my tag line.
Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance !

I still use Google maps.

 

[TJBi]

I rarely plan a specific route more than a few days ahead, and then generally get an overview from a road atlas before using the Location App and/or CCI to seek out suitable locations for overnighting, services, lunch stops, etc., finally inputting these into CoPilot (the Trimble app, not the Microsoft AI tool).

I have yet to try in anger the CCI routeing tool, which is available only on a PC (and only online). I'm not sure whether it will work under operating systems other than Windows. The only user configuration available is inclusion (by default) or omission of motorways, and I do not know whether some "standard" values may already be in place in respect of other criteria such as vehicle dimensions and weight. You can find this routeing tool at https://campingcar-infos.com/view.php?routing=3t8f0ja934ta8fu834t. Click on the icon that resembles an "S" lying on its side, which is found in the lower right corner of the map. This will bring up a sample route (which may or may not be visible, depending on the map area that is displayed) as well as a few additional icons for the routeing tool. You can ignore the sample route and click on your desired start location and then, in the pop-up, on "Départ itinéraire" (or whatever it may have been auto-translated to if you have web pages auto-translated). Then click on your desired end location and on "Arrivée itinéraire". A route will then be calculated and icons will appear representing POIs on or close to the route. You can refine the display of POIs by selecting/deselecting icons in the overlay at the top of the map. The route can be modified by dragging (as you would do with Google Maps) and extended by dragging the end point. Once you have defined the start and end points, a small white square will appear top right, alongside the icon that enables selection of map type. Clicking on the white square displays turn-by-turn instructions for the route.

 

[alcam]

I'm the same, despite my tag line.
Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance !

I still use Google maps.

Never planned a thing in my , somewhat chaotic , life .
Just ask my 5 ex wifes and 17 children !

 

[mark61]

I enjoy planning, I only plan a route though, never places to overnight. Rarely, if ever follow the plan exactly anyway.

Still use google maps. I prefer adjusting the route on screen to typing in added destinations, which means I can set a departure date.

Google sometimes won't navigate along tracks I've got from Wikiloc, unless I change to walking or cycling, and that just makes a right mess of the whole route. Only plan for fun, so couldn't careless.

 

[merl]

Ive gone back to using a large scale road atlas a lot Baz, you can immediately see roads that are potentially too narrow for the van and the alternative picturesque routes too. If I can be arsed or Kim cant be arsed to navigate I then input the route into google maps via a set of waypoints just in case of road closures.

 

[barryd]

I rarely plan a specific route more than a few days ahead, and then generally get an overview from a road atlas before using the Location App and/or CCI to seek out suitable locations for overnighting, services, lunch stops, etc., finally inputting these into CoPilot (the Trimble app, not the Microsoft AI tool).

I have yet to try in anger the CCI routeing tool, which is available only on a PC (and only online). I'm not sure whether it will work under operating systems other than Windows. The only user configuration available is inclusion (by default) or omission of motorways, and I do not know whether some "standard" values may already be in place in respect of other criteria such as vehicle dimensions and weight. You can find this routeing tool at https://campingcar-infos.com/view.php?routing=3t8f0ja934ta8fu834t. Click on the icon that resembles an "S" lying on its side, which is found in the lower right corner of the map. This will bring up a sample route (which may or may not be visible, depending on the map area that is displayed) as well as a few additional icons for the routeing tool. You can ignore the sample route and click on your desired start location and then, in the pop-up, on "Départ itinéraire" (or whatever it may have been auto-translated to if you have web pages auto-translated). Then click on your desired end location and on "Arrivée itinéraire". A route will then be calculated and icons will appear representing POIs on or close to the route. You can refine the display of POIs by selecting/deselecting icons in the overlay at the top of the map. The route can be modified by dragging (as you would do with Google Maps) and extended by dragging the end point. Once you have defined the start and end points, a small white square will appear top right, alongside the icon that enables selection of map type. Clicking on the white square displays turn-by-turn instructions for the route.

Brilliant! I never knew CC Infos could do that routing thing. Useful as it shows you all the stop overs at a glance along a route. Nice one thanks. It was always my bible and I must get to grips with the new version.

I have pretty much planned my route round France now which is basically as said earlier. My only concern is we don't have enough time. 90 days is going to be a bit restrictive. Grrrr! I was going to apply for a French Visa but ill probably wait for next year for that now given that a few people seem to be having issues with it and getting refused.

 

[TJBi]

I always just used google maps but its hopeless now. The browser based magic earth alternative is not much better. The main issue I have with google maps is right now loads of the mountain roads I want to add as destinations are closed due to snow and it wont let you put start dates in unless its just one destination. I thought I had posted about this before but if I did I cant find the thread.

So are there any "browser based" mapping apps that are better? Not interested in phone apps. I know Magic Earth is pretty good on the phone but I like to do my planning on the laptop.

I'm sure that you've posted about the date/destination issue before.
I've never used Bing Maps and not sure that I like it, but it does permit you to put a start date and to add destinations. Tested using Chevaly (Taninges), Ramaz (Mieussy) and Vanne (Mieussy) and the D308 (closed until May 2025, so used a mid-June date).

 

[trevskoda]

No maps required here as i could find my way there blindfolded.

 

[TJBi]

Brilliant! I never knew CC Infos could do that routing thing. Useful as it shows you all the stop overs at a glance along a route. Nice one thanks. It was always my bible and I must get to grips with the new version.

I have pretty much planned my route round France now which is basically as said earlier. My only concern is we don't have enough time. 90 days is going to be a bit restrictive. Grrrr! I was going to apply for a French Visa but ill probably wait for next year for that now given that a few people seem to be having issues with it and getting refused.

It's a feature that is little-known, but mentioned on the CCI forum in December 2022. It should work equally well for other European countries (including UK, ROI, eastern Europe) and Morocco, Tunisia and Mauretania.

 

[zzr1400tim]

I never plan jack shitte .. I am a biker and go with the flow

 

[maingate]

I use MyRouteApp for planning trips. Started out as mainly for motorbikes but now has the ability to set the route preferences for motorhomes. It is subscription based but there is (or was) a free version. i find it easiest to plan the route on the PC then access it using the app on my phone when travelling. Can also convert to GPX for use on Garmin/Tom Tom. I liked it so much that I bought a lifetime subscription and find it really easy to use for planning routes. Extensive library of routes as well but again mainly for motorbikes, used a couple last year in Germany.

I used to use something like that a long time ago. It was originally a free Dutch app with a different name (which I forget). Sounds like the same one.