# Who Uses Google Maps To Plan Trips???



## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

Curious how many of you use Google Maps (or equivalent) to plan your trips? Wife and I are planning our vacation to the Grand Canyon next summer, with numerous stops along the way on the scheduled one month trip. We know nothing about we were are going, what campgrounds to stay at, what the local areas look like, etc. We live in Upstate New York so it is a pretty big planning adventure for us. However, using the Woodall's guide, the Google search engine, and Google Maps, you can get a really good idea of what the you can expect at each of the campgrounds along the way.

The satellite view on Google maps is simply amazing!!! You can see where the campground is in relation to other area attractions (such as cement factories), how far they are off the road, how tight the spots are, the number of trees, etc. You can also correlate the campground map to the satellite view in Google Maps and determine which sites look the best, which sites have shade, which sites have negatives (such as a path running to the bathroom next to it). You can also see if you have a place to put your dogs so they won't bother the neighbors!! You know, stuff like that. It is not perfect, but it is slick as can be!!!!

Now, you take all that and then add the "Point of View" feature in Google Maps that allows you to actually walk down the streets of the places you are going!! You can actually walk down the highway in front of the campground, see what the entrance looks like, etc. I am already intimately familiar with every place we are planning on staying. I know what the highway looks like, where to turn to get into the campground, how to recognize if I have gone too far ...... etc. OMG!!

To be honest, I don't know if I should be totally psyched out about the technology or scared to death!!!! Don't get me wrong, I see the value in all of this, but WOW!!!!, this is scary!!!


----------



## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

I use this and mapquest everyday just about.

I haul rvs for a living. I use these to check out walmarts for secure parking at night. Stopping at odd ball fuel stops I find on gas buddy to see if my rig will fit. I also use it to see if I can park at a dealer and sleep till they open, and what driveway would be correct to be in the correct place to make my rv delivery.

I look at neighborhoods around dealers and walmarts to make sure my where I park dosent get me robbed, shot, or something stolen.

Yes Im a bit anal about where I park for the night. Oh well we live once and I do all I can to cover myself in this cruel world we live in.

I love, love these services and feel much safer parking in strange places around the country and being able to see the whole area around where I may be sleeping for the night.

Carey


----------



## rdrunr (Oct 23, 2009)

TwoElkhounds said:


> Curious how many of you use Google Maps (or equivalent) to plan your trips? Wife and I are planning our vacation to the Grand Canyon next summer, with numerous stops along the way on the scheduled one month trip. We know nothing about we were are going, what campgrounds to stay at, what the local areas look like, etc. We live in Upstate New York so it is a pretty big planning adventure for us. However, using the Woodall's guide, the Google search engine, and Google Maps, you can get a really good idea of what the you can expect at each of the campgrounds along the way.
> 
> The satellite view on Google maps is simply amazing!!! You can see where the campground is in relation to other area attractions (such as cement factories), how far they are off the road, how tight the spots are, the number of trees, etc. You can also correlate the campground map to the satellite view in Google Maps and determine which sites look the best, which sites have shade, which sites have negatives (such as a path running to the bathroom next to it). You can also see if you have a place to put your dogs so they won't bother the neighbors!! You know, stuff like that. It is not perfect, but it is slick as can be!!!!
> 
> ...


It sounds like a great idea to me and I have actually used it to check out places that we are thinking about going to before I have made reservations or sometimes after, I tend to use Priceline and stay at hotels for usually about $30-50 per night. If you have never used Priceline, you know that it is like a grab bag and part of the fun is when your bid gets accepted and you find out where you will be staying. I have thought, when looking at the maps, that I really hope I wasn't peeing off from our deck when they were taking the pics of around our place!!


----------



## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

rdrunr said:


> It sounds like a great idea to me and I have actually used it to check out places that we are thinking about going to before I have made reservations or sometimes after, I tend to use Priceline and stay at hotels for usually about $30-50 per night. If you have never used Priceline, you know that it is like a grab bag and part of the fun is when your bid gets accepted and you find out where you will be staying. I have thought, when looking at the maps, that I really hope I wasn't peeing off from our deck when they were taking the pics of around our place!!


You should go beyond the actual maps, you can actually walk down the street where the hotel is located and check out the local restuarant, the interstate exit, etc.

My wife is English and she said the local townspeople where she lived in the UK actually chased the "Google Car" out of the neighborhood. For those who do not know, the "Google Car" is a vehicle fitted with an array of cameras that drives around and films the roadways. Google then correlates these film images with the GPS coordinates and allow anyone in the world to basically look at your house, your neighborhood, etc. Extremely powerful,it allows you to check out any place where you might travel ahead of time. Generally only major roads are included, but as time goes on, more and more streets are being added. The home I grew up in is online, as is my parent's house. My current house is only available in satellite view, but I am sure the world will be able to look down my driveway soon. It is only a snapshot in time, but.............









DAN


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Street View is great. I can actually see my wife drive her car down the road and into the drive way.


----------



## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

CamperAndy said:


> Street View is great. I can actually see my wife drive her car down the road and into the drive way.


And your wife can watch you drive down to the bar!!!


----------



## W5CI (Apr 21, 2009)

I use PCMiler and DeLorme. i am a retired truck driver and this is the prefered programs for the truckers.


----------



## SaveFerris (Sep 19, 2009)

It is a great tool for sure. I do think sometimes that it takes the adventure out of things, knowing exactly what it will look like before you get there. Still, for us planner-types, it gives us some much appreciated piece of mind before we hit the road.


----------



## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

danny285 said:


> I use PCMiler and DeLorme. i am a retired truck driver and this is the prefered programs for the truckers.


I do a ton of logging using mapquest and google. Yes there distances are pc miler based. One can pretty much run a log book off of mapquest and google anymore.

Lol even the cops use google based programs to try to catch us.

Carey


----------



## gzaleski (Aug 29, 2009)

TwoElkhounds said:


> Curious how many of you use Google Maps (or equivalent) to plan your trips? Wife and I are planning our vacation to the Grand Canyon next summer, with numerous stops along the way on the scheduled one month trip. We know nothing about we were are going, what campgrounds to stay at, what the local areas look like, etc. We live in Upstate New York so it is a pretty big planning adventure for us. However, using the Woodall's guide, the Google search engine, and Google Maps, you can get a really good idea of what the you can expect at each of the campgrounds along the way.
> 
> The satellite view on Google maps is simply amazing!!! You can see where the campground is in relation to other area attractions (such as cement factories), how far they are off the road, how tight the spots are, the number of trees, etc. You can also correlate the campground map to the satellite view in Google Maps and determine which sites look the best, which sites have shade, which sites have negatives (such as a path running to the bathroom next to it). You can also see if you have a place to put your dogs so they won't bother the neighbors!! You know, stuff like that. It is not perfect, but it is slick as can be!!!!
> 
> ...


Download Google Earth, it's even better than google maps.


----------



## sunnybrook29 (Oct 7, 2009)

We use the DeLorme for planning, but when on the road we use a Tom Tom. Last week in Cairo ,Ga we came to a stop lite and the machine said turn right . I did, it said go one block and turn right. I did, it said go one block and turn right. I did, and it said go one block and turn right, I did. After several hours of going in circles I finally figured out that something was wrong. We picked up our Wal-mart map book and found our way to Calvary ,Ga the old fashioned way. At the festival I told this story several times to other travelers and they said it was common to have errors in the system!
One thing that I thought was cute, a group of 29 covered wagons drove mules for ten days from Tifton, Ga to Calvary and several had Tom Toms mounted on their dashboards.That would have put the old wagonmasters out of business!


----------



## MJRey (Jan 21, 2005)

I use the maps and satellite views frequently to figure out routes and places to stop. When taking a long trip with the trailer I especially like to check out places to get fuel and eat. If you haven't been to an area before it's frequently impossible to tell if it's an area where you can safely navigate with the trailer. One of my biggest worries when traveling with the trailer in tow is pulling into an area that I can't get out of. Last year on a trip to the beach we pulled off at an exit where there was a Wendys to get the kids some food. As I drove by it was obvious there was no way I was going to get into or out of the parking lot. I ended up having to drive 2 miles from the freeway and going parallel to it for 5 miles before I found a way back onto the freeway. If I had just prechecked places to stop I would have avoided the hassle.


----------



## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

MJRey said:


> One of my biggest worries when traveling with the trailer in tow is pulling into an area that I can't get out of. Last year on a trip to the beach we pulled off at an exit where there was a Wendys to get the kids some food. As I drove by it was obvious there was no way I was going to get into or out of the parking lot. I ended up having to drive 2 miles from the freeway and going parallel to it for 5 miles before I found a way back onto the freeway. If I had just prechecked places to stop I would have avoided the hassle.


I think we have all had some sort of issue like this. A couple years ago we were driving through New Jersey at night an my son had to go to the bathroom. I pulled off at the next exit so he could use the trailer toliet. Only problem was that there was no access back onto the highway!! At that time we had no GPS, so we had to wing it down side streets without a detailed map. Never made that mistake again.


----------



## OBcanOB (Aug 23, 2007)

We use Google maps all the time to do our planning. We also have "Streets & Trips" software with GPS for travel and the Garmin Nuvi. Sometimes I think we over plan, but we haven't had any problems in the past three years. Most of the time we are able to drive without anything but the Google directions, only bringing out the 'big guns' when we're looking for someplace specific, like a campground.


----------



## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

I was looking at the new Verizon Droid that includes Google Maps with GPS, Street View and navigation. Looks like a great system to use. I'm hoping that US Cellular gets one this year. For planning, I've got Microsoft Streets and Trips (2006) and use google Earth, and a search engine to look for places to stay and things to do. In the truck I use a Garmin Nevi 500, but I don't trust it for the whole trip, it has lead me astray many times and their maps are far from up to date. I find it terrible to spend $300 on a GPS unit only to be told to make a Left hand turn in the middle of the bridge to be able to get onto the old bridge that is no longer used. Here every other mapping program on the computer has up to the minute changes and even the new update that I paid $60 for still has 3 errors in the first 10 miles of my trip north. Guess that goes to show you that there still is a need to pre-plan trips.


----------



## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

Like someone else said download Google maps.... or Bing maps!!

I use them to check out campsites all the time!!! Best way to know whether your site is as pretty as the "brochure picture" or whether you back up to a train or highway....

Definitely a great tool to use in planning your trips and destinations!!

Technology is amazing!!


----------

