What route planning website is the best.

I have 15 shops to do later on this morning and i was looking for a good route planning website. Most of the websites I visited to don't actually plan the route but just give directions from one stop to another another. I don't want to backtrack while i'm out because gas is getting outrageous. I do have a GPS and will be using it as well but I need to get the most bang for my buck. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

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I like Google Maps. You can add several stopping points and then change their order around to plan out your trip. You can also easily change a route if there is a particular road or area you would like to avoid by clicking on that road and then moving your route to another road. Works great for me!

Steve...

Fresno, CA - and shopping all over the middle part of the state!

Thank you, I decided to go with Map Quest Route Planning. Map Quest has a feature that optimizes your route and automatically rearrange your stops so you want go in circles.Its really awesome Its set up just like google maps but has a few more features. Thanks you again for taking the time to respond to my post.

I use Mapquest but honestly haven't sought out any others. I'll check out Google Maps to see how it works for my next route. I set routes up on Mapquest by listing each location. I plug them in by zip codes and then I can manipulate them to get them in a straight line. I haven't looked for the optimizer function. Will do that next. Thanks for the tip.

Today I Will Choose Joy!

"Finally, whatever things are good, true, noble, lovely, of good report...if there be any virtue, if there be any praise...think on these things." ....It's a command, not a suggestion!

Once you put in the addresses then click on 'let Map quest rearrange stops' it does all the work for you. If you put your home address at the beginning and at end it will make a 'round trip' route.

I will always have a soft spot for Mapquest because it was the first one I used that allowed mapping multiple destinations. I almost exclusively use Google maps now for both the drag and drop feature to reroute and for the street view. There are time savings and added safety by 'driving like UPS' and trying to make only right turns. Here "right on red after stop" can cut a fair amount of time off your route by moving you on through stoplights pretty quickly. None of the mapping software readjusts itself for road work or 'tourist season', and there is plenty of that around here, so the drag and drop to alternative routes to avoid it is great.

That's good to know about mapquest having route optimization. I had a gps a few years ago made by lowrance that would do that. A very handy feature. I believe Lowrance got out of the automotive gps business though. I haven't looked into whether any models of Garmin, TomTom or Magellan which is definitely the big three of automotive gps. We used to use route optimization to look at several properties in one day in the Real Estate business.

I prefer Google Maps because I use an Android phone and it streamlines things, but for routes of more than a few addresses, Mapquest has the edge with their awesome routing tool. I love it!

I prefer to use software, Microsoft Streets and Trips. I can import routes from Excel and optimize my route, plan my stops and plan the hours I want to work. I always know where I will be each night and how long the route will take with a very high degree of accuracy using this software.

Does that software check online for traffic and road closures?

I forgot to say earlier, too, that MapQuest will let you import spreadsheet data or paste in a list of addresses.

I am not sure if the version that includes a GPS does that. If your version is updated, it does tell you about road closures that are for extended periods, but it does not do live traffic. I still rely on my Garmin for that.

I will try that out Porhammer

GregP Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have 15 shops to do later on this morning and i
> was looking for a good route planning website.
> Most of the websites I visited to don't actually
> plan the route but just give directions from one
> stop to another another. I don't want to backtrack
> while i'm out because gas is getting outrageous. I
> do have a GPS and will be using it as well but I
> need to get the most bang for my buck. Any
> feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I've been doing this kind of planning for awhile now and I had been using Google and my GPS but on my last one... both Google and my GPS had failed me.

I then tried BING and it is more current than Google.

I havew found it helpful to use both google maps and mapquest. I think google maps is good when traveling from one city to the next, but if you are traveling from one shop to the next in the same city mapquest works best because the maps seem to show more detail.

"Evolve thyself and lose all hate...." Orphaned Land

I use my Garmin GPS unit. After I type in all the shops it lists them by closest to furthest distance.

Sometimes the old fashioned way works best. I layed my map of Kentucky out on my scanner and copied southeastern KY. Then I used the "map it" link offered in each of my gas shops on my route. I found the place on my paper map and circled the city and marked down how many stations I have in each city. Most down there are only one or two shops in very small towns. Now when I go down along the Tennessee border, I just have to program my GPS to find the town. Most of those places only have a gas station and a few houses. We're talking Pine Knot, KY and Gray, KY lolol. They are a spit on the road. But Pine Knot has a Shell and a Marathon. lol Maybe even a Dairy Queen. But I shouldn't have too much trouble finding them.

Still using Mapquest when I need a paper copy of a trek through a town with 7 or 8 places to stop. Sometimes the GPS fails me and I rely on the locals to help me find places.

BTW...I did 28 of my 72 so far and got 5's on all of them! Ready for another batch this weekend.

If you put in 10 addresses in your Garmin GPS and then view them in the recently found list it will always show the closest one but it isn't necessarily the most optimum route because it doesn't do routing.

I use both Mapquest at home before taking off, and Garmin in the car - when driving to unfamiliar locations, and to optimize mileage. Satellites are not always acquired on GPS (for who knows what reason) and still have occasionally routed me to a dead end. Driving around without a clue is no fun. Two birds in hand are worth, um, saved time/miles on the road?

I've started programming my next ten locations into the Garmin so I can easily hit "recently viewed" while driving. I use the Mapquest to get all the locations in a single city into a somewhat efficient route inside that town. Then if I can find one of the locations, I can use the map if the garmin fails.

GPS doesn't always work. It also helps if the MSP gives you the right address. It took me to ever to find one station that was located on the county line. They changed their address 7 YEARS ago and MSP gave me the old address which even had different city name! It took me several passes to find the location.

Also, the Garmin took me to a boat ramp and told me to keep driving 4 miles. State had flooded a location to turn it into a recreational lake. lol Map wasn't current enough.

Anyone use a good GPS app on the iPhone?

I really like Motion X GPS Drive on my iPhone. I got rid of the TomTom and just use the iPhone with GPS Drive. It's constantly updated and does a great job!

Steve...

Fresno, CA - and shopping all over the middle part of the state!

Thanks for the iPhone suggestion!

I was just trying to sift through apps and figure out which ones are best.

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