Route Planning Software

[SmithSwede]

I’m hoping to do more long distance trips in 2021, even if they have to be solo with no social interactions. 

Any recommendations for route planning apps or software?

I still tend to use paper maps.   My navigation software just gives me the fastest route.   Surely there is some program that would give you various options for routes, tell you gas station locations, etc. 

I’m looking to brainstorm trips, not direct route between two defined points. 

[LowRyter]

I've been trying to figure out that as well.  A couple of things I've learned, if you have a nav app, pick the bicycle route.  It's almost always back roads.  My Beeline app has bicycle route which is identical to the route I built from my house to Jasper Ark.

The other thing is, if I build a route with an app, the first step shouldn't be start and finish (end point), I need to build it up point by point.  Start, then go to point 1, 2, 3, etc.  It's a little time consuming, but I find the nav software and mouse just get all squirreled if you try to  back engineer it from the end point. 

Since, I've struggled with this, I'll certainly look attentively to better ideas.

[Wildroamer]

I use the Rever app and also have Roadtrippers. I really like Rever quite a lot. Twisty roads option is excellent.
Roadtrippers is cool to find POI's.

[Canuck750]

I don't usually use a GPS but back in 2019 when my wife and I toured Europe for a couple months on two wheels the Garmin was indispensable. I set the GPS to avoid highways and look for scenic routes, it was great for the most part but on two occasions sent us onto tiny dirt trails in Germany and Turkey. Using Garmin with filters is a good starting point,. Each morning we just picked a direction, then looked online with trip advisor for highlights to try and see along the way. We had not real plan at all, just avoid rain and head for Istanbul.

[Rochey42]

I usually go paper for longer trips as well, but occasionally I will use an app called Waze.  Google Maps works as well.  There is a motorcycle specific app called Riser which will find the curviest roads to a particular destination, although I don't think its helpful for things like gas stations, restaurants, etc..  I've only used that a handful of times, but I thought it was interesting.

[jrt]

Do you want to use a phone or a stand-alone device (like a Garmin)?

[Perazzimx14]

I use the Rever app and also have Roadtrippers. I really like Rever quite a lot. Twisty roads option is excellent.
Roadtrippers is cool to find POI's.

Rever  Even the free version is great. Easy to use and and works great. I actually going to break down and buy the App so that I can get audio.

[Paul_Tim]

I've used Kurviger a lot in the past.

[sickora]

I use an app called Scenic.  For automatic routing, it allows for fastest, shortest, or curvy.  You can customize to avoid highways also, if you'd like. The best part though is that you can create your own route, and it will follow that.  I haven't done interstate trips with it yet, but if I want a nice scenic route around me, I can plot the entire thing in the app. It will also import files from FurKot or a GPX file, if you like to use that.

It isn't perfect,  sometimes on a custom route I'll get rerouted to 'fastest'  The developers are responsive though, and in posting in the forum for the app, this appears to be a unique issue with me, not a known bug, so take this feedback for what it's worth.

[kirby1923]

I fly aircraft that can fly themselves but  fly  manually on routine trips to stay in touch with hand flying the aircraft. We use electronic gizmos to navigate for sure because its hard to do otherwise in the clouds and at night at 400 mph.

When traveling on the road I don't like to rely on anything that takes a battery and prefer to use charts and research of the areas and of course the compass is handy. I do carry a hand held small GPS (Garmin) in my tank bag so as to tell someone where I am by lat/long  if I crash or need help.

Nav software leaves part of the experience out cold.

Nav skills  are lost quickly if not used.

[Ncdan]

I have 0 navigating skills so I depend on the internet apps for assistance when needed. I’ve found WAZE to work well. It’s is audible and breaks in on music when a direction change is necessary. You can program in desired routes, like shortest or fastest.
I hope this is on the subject at hand👍

[Daniel Kalal]

indispensable

We keep using that word.   I do not think it means what we think it means...

I think "indispensable" is an appropriate word (it was used in the context of European travel).

Let's say you're at point A (north of Lugano, Switzerland) and you want to ride to Point-B (Mandello del Lario) and take the ferry across Lake Como.  That's a a straight-forward enough route, and not very far.

The scenic route (shown in green on Michelin maps) is called Via Cantonale in Switzerland and SS340 in Italy.

Will you be able to ride through Lugano and find the correct road? 

There are no signs that say "Italy this way", nor will you see any road numbers (there are no route numbers).  You might get lucky and see a sign for the next village, but Switzerland likes to list only Swiss towns, so at best you might see a sign for Gandria, which isn't much more than a wide spot and you can hardly memorize every wide spot along the way.  In any case, there are not enough Gandria signs to get you through Lugano.

Yes; it can be done (I've done it), but having a GPS to guide you will save you a great deal of trouble.  It's indispensable.



A can-opener is indispensable to open a can of tomato soup, but that doesn't mean I still can't open the can some other way.  Using a GPS device doesn't make you any less a rider nor incapable of navigation without it, it just makes things easier.

[Wildroamer]

Lannis's post got me remembering... Anyone else remember having to pass all of those "Basic Competencies" back in school? I remember one was giving someone directions. 

[kirby1923]

Yes without doubt trying to find your way in Europe (rural) using route numbers and signs like you do in the US is prone to failure.

On the continent and in the ME,N Africa etc.. you have to study the map and pick land marks like small towns and villages which there are usually signs pointing the way at intersections (sometime very  small) just like our for fathers navigated across the USA in the 19th century, land mark to land mark.

Once your used to this method and understand how it works its not so bad.

One very bad ejection event from the sun or a substantial EMP event and the vast majority of those folks under the age of 50 will be  LOST!

[kirby1923]

No sun in sight
or at night
Look for satellite (dish direction= south +/- a few degs

  compass!

:-)

[Guzzistajohn]

I went on a trip out west with a guy a few years back who spent a LOT of time either riding and jacking with his phone or beside the road doing the same thing. We were going WEST and then North. If I have to spend very much of my time on some gadget, to accomplish a simple task I'm not interested. I realize all trips are different but we weren't going from Lugano to Bellagio. I use GPS for work all the time, I don't mind throwing cation to the wind now and then on vacation.

[RinkRat II]

Look for satellite (dish direction= south +/- a few degs

  compass!

      Old Fakawi Trick! 

    Paul B

[SIR REAL ED]

I might as well have been speaking Old Norse.   They had no concept of what I was saying, and repeatedly asked for the GPS address.   I gave them what was available ...

... and they never found it.   Drove for an hour, never found it, never showed up, and went back home.   They were absolutely incapable of understanding directions or finding any place to which they were not directed by the electronic tart inside the GPS device.

It was a real eye-opener for me.   

Lannis

I'm tempted to say "You need to get out more!" but then, remember why we have become more and more reclusive over the last 20 years.   

"Never mind!"

As Charlie would say "Happily living in the past!"

As a friend would say "What part of people are screwed up didn't you understand?"

Heading in the general direction, and turning on to any road that looks interesting has always been worth it.

When the goal is a specific destination, in a short time, software has worked well for me.  Usually mapquest.com since I just haven't spent time looking at options.

[Wayne Orwig]

For shorter motorcycle trips I use Kurviger. You can create the trip online, then easily export it to the phone. If you regularly ride in one area, Kurviger tends to dig out roads that you have not been on before.

For general highway travel I use Waze, to keep an eye on the road ahead. It isn't much good for actual planning though.

For multi-day planning, I have an old copy of Microsoft streets and trips. I then send the plan to CoPilot on my phone. A lot of people like a program called Furkot (I never bothered learning it) for planning.

For just riding around and not following a route, basically just a moving map, I like OSMand on my phone.

[Motormike]

Now that I'm retired, I've tried all the mapping software products out there. (I mean them all! Waze, Scenic, Kurviger, Google maps, My Route, Drive, Here We Go, etc, etc.).  After looking at and sampling dozens of them,  I always come back to "Ride with GPS."  https://ridewithgps.com   It was developed for bicycle riders, but works for motorcycles just fine.  It's by far the simplest to use of any of them that I've found.  For route planning it's the only true "point and click" one.  Don't even get me started on Garmin Basecamp...trying to figure that one out will make you a candidate for a rubber room!

[kirby1923]

"Happily living in the past!"

That's a great one...

I don't use GPS for my personal/recreational ops , not because I don't know how to use it as I use the most sophisticated systems on the planet in my profession both in the vertical and horizontal, I CHOOSE not to.

Its like "Quigley down under" said to Alan Rickman in their last encounter, "Said I don't have much use for one, never said I didn't know how to use one"

I can and do navigate regularly w/o the use of satellites, because I can.

:-)

[usedtobefast]

Now that I'm retired, I've tried all the mapping software products out there. (I mean them all! Waze, Scenic, Kurviger, Google maps, My Route, Drive, Here We Go, etc, etc.).  After looking at and sampling dozens of them,  I always come back to "Ride with GPS."  https://ridewithgps.com   It was developed for bicycle riders, but works for motorcycles just fine.  It's by far the simplest to use of any of them that I've found.  For route planning it's the only true "point and click" one.  Don't even get me started on Garmin Basecamp...trying to figure that one out will make you a candidate for a rubber room!

Have you also tried Rever?  I just heard about that here ... but seems you need to pay $48/year to use it ... which is kind of a bummer as I might need those capabilities like 2-3 times a year, not really worth $50 for that.

Just checked ridewithgps which is also $50/year for their Basic level and Premium is $80/year. 

[j.davis]

I use my phone and TomTom Go app set to dirt roads and no highways or toll ways, and, winding roads. Takes me on some interesting routes.

[Motormike]

Have you also tried Rever? 
Just checked ridewithgps which is also $50/year for their Basic level and Premium is $80/year.

Yep, tried Rever too.  Didn't like it.  I thought Ride with GPS basic was free?  I've been using it so long, maybe they've gone to a fee for even their basic level.  I do like it enough to pay for the Premium service.  It's the only mapping software out there that I would spend my own money on. 

If I lived in Europe, I'd use Kurviger.  Their mapping shows all the passes, gas stations and motorcycle friendly places to stay.  But for the states it doesn't seem nearly as thorough.  Also, I use an Apple phone and computer.  Kurviger is only android based, so they force you to use Scenic on your Apple products, which I also didn't want to do.  As I've said, Ride with GPS...easy-peasy!

[LowRyter]

I find all of these very cumbersome to make my own route.  The pointers, mouse, and fat finger phone just are time consuming.  I'd like to identify the highways and roads and just have the highways connect automatically.   Just like I'd use a outline marker on a map.

Buuuuttt Nooooo........ they can't do it.

[stormshearon]

I highly recommned you all try out furkot - https://trips.furkot.com/. Free to use, can print out paper maps, and can export in various formats for gps.

[Motormike]

I find all of these very cumbersome to make my own route.  The pointers, mouse, and fat finger phone just are time consuming.  I'd like to identify the highways and roads and just have the highways connect automatically.   Just like I'd use a outline marker on a map.

Buuuuttt Nooooo........ they can't do it.

That's pretty much what Ride with GPS does.  (although you do have to use a mouse) Just point to the road, click.  It draws the line. Point to the next road, click it draws and connects the lines. Click, draw, click, draw.  That's about all there is to it.  Only trap is four lane highways.  If you click on the wrong lane it (like every other mapping service I've tried) will assume you want to reverse course!  Opps! 
When your done, just send the new route to your phone and navigate.  The rest all seem to ether have a mind of their own or have too many hoops to jump through.

[ampm7]

I plan my trips by analyzing the maps and routes using Google maps before I take off. Even though I used to navigate on the ocean with a sextant and charts it was a wonderful day when I installed a GPS on our boat. This is in the early days when it wasn't as accurate as it is today. Still, the best thing about it was in the middle of the night in heavy squalls it would indicate how much we had drifted on the anchor to alert us of potential dragging. If it was dragging, then it was outside in the storm and either moving the boat or monitoring the drift. Not fun; but necessary. I always carry a compass on any trip that I do. It is absolutely fundamental in knowing how to use it. It is amazing how many people out there completely rely on electronics. They are great, but you need to have the basic backups in place. So, use the wonderful electronics but know how to use the directions/devices of yesteryear.

[SmithSwede]

Thanks for all the suggestions.  Much appreciated! 

Let me refine my question a bit with a specific example.  I live in the Dallas, Texas area.   I currently have a hankering to go to the Guzzi rally in Suches, Ga the weekend of March 26.  That’s about a 900 mile trip.   

I’d like 2 things from recommended electronic gizmos (or suggestions for best practices).

#1–Assume I’m in no hurry.  Given those start and stop points, what are the good points of interests on or near that route?  Civil War battlefield?  Highest point in Georgia? (Brasstown Bald).  Is there a better, more interesting route than the default one that pops up when you enter starting and stopping locations?  I figured out on my own that hey, why go to Atlanta when I could drop down from Chattanooga?

#2–Assume I’m in a hurry.   No extra time. Want to do this Iron Butt style.   What app would tell me for sure where I can get gas every 165 miles, what the real speed limits are, etc.   So I could sit down and figure out that if I left Dallas at 5:00 am, I should be hitting Texarkana and gas stop No. 1 at 8:17 am, etc.   And that if I adhere to this route, I’d hit Suches at 9:17 pm with an average speed of 56.69 mph?

[Wayne Orwig]

Brasstown Bald is just a short ride away from Suches.
If you are in Chattanooga, and drop south, there is the Chickamauga battlefield.
If you can swing it, at ride over the Cherohalla Skyway is a great thing IMHO.