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Apps for planning trips?


nmucat

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I am looking for an app for iphone to plan a trip. I saw that TomTom has a motorcycle specific gps unit that allows you to pick different types of routes to your destination. Anyone know of any? Free is better, but willing to pay a small amount.

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howworkclutch

Hang a big map on the wall and throw a dart at it. Pick the most interesting roads. Put a piece of masking tape on your tank. Write the route on the tape with a sharpie. I'd you anticipate rain put clear packing tape on top of the masking tape.
 
Peel it off and stick it to the wall when you get home.
 
When a buddy wants a good ride give him one of the pieces of tape and tell him to bring it back when he's finished.
 
I know I'm terminally uncool. I don't even care.

-HowWorkClutch

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For route planning, Google Maps and Google Earth by far. On the computer you can map out and save routes and then send them to the app on your phone. I think Apple's new maps app does this as well. The experience is top notch on an Android phone, however I can't speak on how good it is on an iPhone. I do know it's available on iOS though.
 
If you have a standalone GPS unit (like a TomTom or Garmin) use Google Earth. You can save it and send the route and waypoint data to many newer GPS units.
 
For venue planning, I like Yelp and Google Field Trip (not sure if they have Field Trip for iOS yet?). Trip Adviser can be hit or miss, I don't much care for it. There are also a ton of other available travel guides available if you just look in the app store. I've heard good things about TouristEye by Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet is one of my favorite sites for planning places to visit when I travel.
 
Gas Buddy is a great app for finding nearby gas stations, along with typically well updated info on prices. I'd say that one is a must-have on a road trip.
 

Life is good on 2 wheels!

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Its not about planning a route perse is about planing the most curvy route. Wonder if I can upgrade the software in my old tomtom to the rider one the sell for a bunch

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  • 2 weeks later...
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I like the idea, not very techie though.
 
 
I'm a tech burnout. I've been on the Internet so long that I've grown sick of it. I got my first computer when the Atari 400 came out. I had an iPhone early on. Played with Linux before red hat existed. Was the first to get hardware accelerated 3d card (voodoo card and it was sweet) in my state. I beta tested docsis cable modems when they first came out.
 
Either I'm getting old or technology is. Either way: I just don't care to digitize things anymore. I want tangible records of my adventures. I don't want a bunch of fragile tech clutter mucking up my trip. Laptops fall off. iPhones fall off. Waterproof gps gets rained out. Headphone wires fall to pieces. Batteries go dead. Devices die in the hot sun. Screens shatter because if temperature changes. Yeah man no thanks. I get tired of electronics failures on the road. My piece if tape is cheap and easy to replace.

-HowWorkClutch

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  • 2 months later...

GreatestRoads on the iPhone is free and a great way to find good motorcycle roads.  You can add your own routes to the database.
 
Northern California and Oregon has lots of great roads.  There's a book and map, Destination Highways, that shows all the great roads and ranks them with descriptions. My wife and I have done several extended weekend trips with it as our guide.
 
Good luck.

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  • 1 month later...
For route planning, Google Maps and Google Earth by far. On the computer you can map out and save routes and then send them to the app on your phone. I think Apple's new maps app does this as well. The experience is top notch on an Android phone, however I can't speak on how good it is on an iPhone. I do know it's available on iOS though.  
If you have a standalone GPS unit (like a TomTom or Garmin) use Google Earth. You can save it and send the route and waypoint data to many newer GPS units.
 
For venue planning, I like Yelp and Google Field Trip (not sure if they have Field Trip for iOS yet?). Trip Adviser can be hit or miss, I don't much care for it. There are also a ton of other available travel guides available if you just look in the app store. I've heard good things about TouristEye by Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet is one of my favorite sites for planning places to visit when I travel.
 
Gas Buddy is a great app for finding nearby gas stations, along with typically well updated info on prices. I'd say that one is a must-have on a road trip.

 Question: how are you able to use the navigate feature on Google Maps once you've opened a saved route that you made on the computer? This past weekend I used maps.google.com to create my own route (using my computer), and then I shared the map to my Google+ account. I was then able to open the route on my Android phone (using the Google Maps app) but when attempting to make the map navigate to that route, it would just take me on the most direct route (Interstate traveling) as opposed to sticking to the back highways like I did when I made the route. It appears there is no way to actually save a route in Google Maps and navigate the same route on your phone. Any help is appreciated. 
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I've tried a few options now. My current favorite is CoPilot for the iPhone. You can let it plot a route from A to B or plot your own specific route if you want to go via specific roads. During the trip it then works as a turn by turn GPS. It also finds nearby points of interest.
I have my iPhone mounted in a LifeProof case so it's totally waterproof.
 

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I've tried a few options now. My current favorite is CoPilot for the iPhone. You can let it plot a route from A to B or plot your own specific route if you want to go via specific roads. During the trip it then works as a turn by turn GPS. It also finds nearby points of interest. I have my iPhone mounted in a LifeProof case so it's totally waterproof.

I'll second Copilot. I have started using that and I am really liking that a lot. I spent the $10 on it. I like it because I don't have to have data signal to be able to use the maps. I can map out trips on my phone just as easy as google maps on my computer but then I can actually save them on my phone unlike google maps.
 
Now the PoI on Copilot is not quite as good as google maps but I didn't have to much of a problem this past weekend to find a place to eat or a gas station.  Just takes minute to figure out the search feature on copilot.
 
Copilot does the voice navigation that talks through my Sena headset so I don't have to watch the phone screen. It works every bit as good as a gps as my old TomTom One did.
 
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USMCFieldMP

I usually just use Google Maps and find the side highways that I want, but this year I've been using Roadtrippers.com to plot out my summer road trip. There's an associated app that goes with it.
 
They're pretty new, and a little bit buggy at times, but it's a real nice platform, imo. Destinations along the route are categorized, have ratings and reviews specific to the site, and you can search out interesting stops within X amount of miles of your planned route.
 
Here's my plan for this year, as reference: https://roadtrippers.com/trips/rt15-2/6995802

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I usually just use Google Maps and find the side highways that I want, but this year I've been using Roadtrippers.com to plot out my summer road trip. There's an associated app that goes with it. 
They're pretty new, and a little bit buggy at times, but it's a real nice platform, imo. Destinations along the route are categorized, have ratings and reviews specific to the site, and you can search out interesting stops within X amount of miles of your planned route.
 
Here's my plan for this year, as reference: https://roadtrippers.com/trips/rt15-2/6995802
Wow that looks like a really fun trip.  I'm not too far way from where you travel through Oklahoma at the beginning. Almost want to take off work to join you on that little trip when you go. :) 
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