navigation programs

[tom3130]

I was wondering what computer navigation program people perfer i was looking at trucker copilot also how do these programs work as in how the get there signal and is there a monthly fee

[EasyRolln]

tom3130, programs such as copilot and micrsoft streets & trips get their signal from a GPS receiver that you can hook up to your computer or PDA. They connect either by a USB port or by Bluetooth (wireless). I'm thinking about getting copilot myself. Check out their website - http://www.alk.com/copilot/truck_lpt.asp

[Malaki86]

I've got CoPilot, Microsoft Streets & Trips 2006 and DeLorme Street Atlas 2006.

CoPilot is nice, but has some drawbacks (major ones). I came through Columbus, OH yesterday with a non-hazmat load on I-71 heading south. It initially had me routed to take the loop around, but I went straight through. It kept trying to re-route me off the interstate, constantly. In fact, it'd tell me to take an exit ramp, then get right back on the same ramp. The 3-D view is the best feature of the program.

Streets & Trips is great, but the driving part isn't that great. The new version, due out next month, is supposed to have a full screen driving view. Can't wait to see that.

Delorme, I've only used once. I don't like the layout of the program, and sure as hell don't need 3 maps of the exact same thing open, which it does by default.

All 3 of the programs use a GPS receiver that comes with the software, and there is no monthly fee.

[mike3fan]

I use Microsoft streets and maps 2006,for just over $100 it works fine.

[nobotox]

any programs out there for macintosh G-4 os 10.3.9 ?

[Toothpick]

Streets and Trips is all you need. Supposedly CoPilot has truck routing, but more than a few people has told me that their truck routing is not very reliable at all. Hence, I just use Streets and Trips for a small fraction of what CoPilot cost.

Initial setup for Streets and Trips w/GPS is around $100 via amazon.com, and then you can buy the new program each year when it is released for around $25 to $35, which is a small fraction of what CoPilot will cost you.

If your company provides routing, then great! Just sync up Streets and Trips to match up with your company routing and you are ready to go. If your company doesn?t provide routing and you have any questions regarding specific routes, then always check them against your Motor Carrier Road Atlas.

Finally, for final directions to the shipper or final directions to the consignee, a GPS software solution just can?t be beat, and Streets and Trips for a small fraction of what other GPS solutions cost is a wonderful program to have.

[Toothpick]

CoPilot is nice, but has some drawbacks (major ones). I came through Columbus, OH yesterday with a non-hazmat load on I-71 heading south. It initially had me routed to take the loop around, but I went straight through. It kept trying to re-route me off the interstate, constantly. In fact, it'd tell me to take an exit ramp, then get right back on the same ramp. The 3-D view is the best feature of the program.

I used to have the same problem in Columbus with Streets and Trips, except Street and Trips always wanted to route me through Columbus instead of around it and when I would drag and drop the route to fix it, you had to be very careful or you?d end up with a route that would tell you to take an exit ramp, then get right back on again, or more or less the same problem you had.

The way I fixed that problem was to draw a big square right through the heart of Columbus and designate it as an area that I didn?t want to route through, then I saved it in my default map. It worked perfect. I have since used that same trick to prevent the program from routing through the cities of Atlanta, GA and Washington, DC as it always wanted to do it in those two cities also, and anytime I want to go through those cities or inside them, I simply remove the square in the working map that I happened to be working with at the time.

[Toothpick]

I've got CoPilot, Microsoft Streets & Trips 2006 and DeLorme Street Atlas 2006.

CoPilot is nice, but has some drawbacks (major ones). I came through Columbus, OH yesterday with a non-hazmat load on I-71 heading south. It initially had me routed to take the loop around, but I went straight through. It kept trying to re-route me off the interstate, constantly. In fact, it'd tell me to take an exit ramp, then get right back on the same ramp. The 3-D view is the best feature of the program.

Streets & Trips is great, but the driving part isn't that great. The new version, due out next month, is supposed to have a full screen driving view. Can't wait to see that.

Delorme, I've only used once. I don't like the layout of the program, and sure as hell don't need 3 maps of the exact same thing open, which it does by default.

All 3 of the programs use a GPS receiver that comes with the software, and there is no monthly fee.

Hey...would you say that CoPilot is worth the extra $200 -$300 more than it cost for Streets and Trips and which one of the three would you say is the simplest and easiest to use overall?

[tom3130]

Thanks for all the Imput just bought microsoft streets and trips 2006 with gps locater got brand new on ebay 86.00

[syl77dar]

goodluck

[hamboner]

I have a Tom Tom Go 300 for my personal truck, and it works awesome. Anything and everything is in the software. Only thing im not sure it has truck routing. I may have to get on the tom tom site and see if I can download that routing software into it. I will let you know what i come up with. It is def the shiznit though. It will tell you exactly how far you are from uf destination, it pulls up all service centers, restraunts, stores....you name it it does it. hell...it even has the phone #'s to the places in there for ya.

[PsyWiped]

i have copilot truck and it works great for me. i have used streets and trips as well as delorme. microsoft sucks it has send me on some realy bad roads for trucks, and on one because of the route i ended up hiting the retaning wall on a switchback. delorme did better but copilot is the best so far for truck routing they do make mistacks on some roads but for the most part it works great

[GRB53]

Toothpick:
If your company provides routing, then great! Just sync up Streets and Trips to match up with your company routing and you are ready to go.

How would you go about "syncing up"?
Thanks,
Randy

[Toothpick]

microsoft sucks it has send me on some realy bad roads for trucks, and on one because of the route i ended up hiting the retaning wall on a switchback.

That's not the software's fault, that's your fault. Since ,you tell the software what kinds of roads you prefer to travel on and the software routes you on those kind of roads according to your preferences.

If you didn't configure your software correctly, then it'll send you on some really bad roads where if you don't watch it, you may end up hitting another retaining wall while doing a switchback.

[Toothpick]

Toothpick:
If your company provides routing, then great! Just sync up Streets and Trips to match up with your company routing and you are ready to go.

How would you go about "syncing up"?
Thanks,
Randy

Well normally when I get dispatched I receive a designated fuel stop along with routing. The routing that I receive with the fuel stop is intermediate, meaning that it will contain the recommended roads that you should travel on, but not the specific directions to and from the shippers and consignees. For that, I request specific directions via the qualcomm and the system sends them to me.

In MS Streets and Trips, I first right click my current location on the map and designate it as the start. Next, I input the shipper?s address, find the location, and then route the software to the shipper?s location. Once I do that, I compare the software generated routing to the directions to the shipper that I have since received back from the system to ensure that they are one and the same and that the software generated routing and directions match up.

If there is a difference between the two, I usually drag and drop the routing to match the directions that I received via the qualcomm, because I know that if I receive directions via the system that in all probability those directions are going to be adequate and safe for big trucks.

To drag and drop a route, simply click the route with the left mouse button. While keeping the button depressed, simply drag the routing to the route that you would prefer, then release the mouse button.

After I got the directions to the shipper taken care of, I next input my fuel stop. When I receive my fuel stop and routing, the information contained therein will usually give me specific location information for the fuel stop, i.e., city and state and hwy and exit information for the location of the truck stop that has been designated as the fuel stop. I then either locate the specific location on the map and right click it to add it as a stop or in my specific case since I have most of the truck stops already loaded into my default map file, I simply find the specific truck stop, right click it, and add it as a stop.

The next thing I do after adding my fuel stop is to add the location of the consignee. To do that, I do it the same way that I did for the shipper. You first enter the address of the consignee, click add to route, the software then finds and locates it, then click get directions and the software routes you to the final destination.

Again, I compare the software generated routings to the directions I received from our system and if there are any discrepancies, I simply drag and drop the routes to match the ones that I received from my company and that way I know that they are safe for traveling via a big truck.

Once all of that has been completed, I next look over the entire route that now has been generated and compare it to the routing that was sent along with my fuel stop information. If there are any differences, I simply drag and drop the routing to match the same roads and highways that were contained in the company generated routing.

Once everything is synchronized and matches up totally, I next save the map using the load assignment number. I set up folders for each month and save the trips that I do each month in those folders. That way if I ever have questions or need to go back for any reason, all I have to do is look it up by month and then by load assignment number.

I?d say that about 90 plus percent of the time, the routing generated by MS Streets and Trips will match up with the routing supplied by your company and you won?t have to do any drag and dropping. Additionally, a lot of the time when there is a difference between the two, if you look it over good, the routing generated by MS Streets and Trips will often times be shorter and faster. So it all kind of depends.

Also, in order for MS Streets and Trips to generate routes comparable to the routing you receive from your company and that closely matches it, you?ll first have to play around and experiment with your preference setting which you are able to setup and configure from inside MS Streets and Trips.

Wallah?there you have it in a nutshell, and I promise you that I can plan and route a trip much faster than I can type this reply.

I bought streets and trips with GPS off EBAY for $48.00

[Malaki86]

Microsoft Streets & Trips 2007 will be out on Oct 12th.

The new features I saw mentioned:

GPS receiver is the StarFi III
Full screen driving mode
Internet lookup for business/info
and, I think, a huge database similar to the Delorme Streets Pro (or whatever it's called)

I'll probably pick it up when it comes out. Even though I use CoPilot most of the time, I still prefer S & T.

[Toothpick]

Microsoft Streets & Trips 2007 will be out on Oct 12th.

The new features I saw mentioned:

GPS receiver is the StarFi III
Full screen driving mode
Internet lookup for business/info
and, I think, a huge database similar to the Delorme Streets Pro (or whatever it's called)

I'll probably pick it up when it comes out. Even though I use CoPilot most of the time, I still prefer S & T.

You wouldn't happen to be hanging around the GPS Passions forum would you? There should be a review of the new product along with screen shots up there by Sunday or Monday. Can't wait to see what they look like also.

[GRB53]

If there is a difference between the two, I usually drag and drop the routing to match the directions that I received via the qualcomm,...

First of all thanks very much for all of that!!!
One question though, how can you drag and drop from the Qualcomm to your laptop, do they physically link up via USB or something? Sorry I have a feeling that's a dumb question but I've read that a GPS can read from a text file but don't understand the Qualcomm part.

Thanks for your patience Toothpick,
Randy
Oh BTW, I passed my CDL driving test this morning...yee-hah! Should get my very first truck sometime next week...hoping it's not a POS

[Longsnowsm]

Something to remember is none of these tools is perfect. I have a Garmin that sits on the dash with turn by turn directions and I cannot tell you how many times it has given me a route that was completely screwed! If I hadn't looked at a map before hand and knew the best route to start with I would have been in a pickle.

Any routing solution you get should be looked over on a motor carrier atlas to verify the route is the best route to take, and that your not going to be hitting roads with bridges with low clearances, or weight restrictions. That way when your routed by the computer or GPS you should be already familiar and know if that sounds correct or not.

As always the more sources of information you have at your fingertips the better. I also have Trips and Streets, along with my Garmin so I can compare routes and perform different route calculations based on shortest, fastest, road types, speed, fuel solutions etc. If you have internet access at the time you can compare the route from an online mapping source with whatever other mapping resource you have.

BTW, you can place a preorder for Trips and Streets 2007 on Amazon right now and it will ship for free as soon as it is available on the 12th. BOL

Longsnowsm