GPS type program for laptop?

I’ve been using Streets & Trips for the past 5 years. I just input the truck routes my company supplies at dispatch and the final directions to the shippers and consignees, review them so there will be no surprises, and then save them using the trip number.

Streets & Trips is much better than an MCRA because it has street level mapping for every city and town in North America. Hence, you can follow your final directions to the shippers and consignees on the map before you ever drive them and determine beforehand if they are correct or wrong, instead of learning the hard way that they are wrong while you are driving to them and then having to scramble to find the shippers and consignees. That’s how accidents and illegal U-turns happen.

Additionally, with the Streets & Trips Bing map feature, which gives you access to aerial photos and bird’s eye views, you can easily determine if your final directions are right or wrong and if they are wrong, a lot of times you can use those aerial photos and bird’s eye views to find those shippers and consignees.

In other words, nothing beats Streets & Trips when it comes to trip planning because you can manipulate the routes you plan to take in any kind of way you so desire. Thus, I don’t need a truck specific GPS unit because my company already supplies the truck routes it wants me to take, and I can simply input those truck routes into Streets & Trips.

In stark contrast, you can’t manipulate the routes that are provided with those truck specific GPS units. Which means you can’t follow your company supplied truck routes and/or company or customer supplied final directions to your shippers and consignees because you have to accept the routes the GPS unit gives you.

In my case, with Streets & Trips I like having complete control over the routes I plan to drive because I’m the captain of my truck who determines where it goes. With truck specific GPS units, on the other hand, the GPS unit is the captain of your truck because you either blindly follow the routes it provides or otherwise you are on your own, and that is a degree of control that I’m not yet prepared to relinquish to an electronic device which is also plagued by tons of problems and bugs.

I also use the Truck Stops Plus add-on for Streets & Trips because it provides a pinpoint accurate and searchable truck specific POI database that is very easy to use and that also lets me check for restricted routes and low clearances from the convenience of my laptop screen. I also like being able to see all upcoming POIs for miles ahead in advance while I’m driving.

Thus, I agree that you should always use GPS technology with a good healthy dose of common sense, especially when using one of those truck specific GPS units that doesn’t allow for the easy manipulation of the routes they supply, not to mention all the bugs and problems they are all also plagued with. However, if you use Streets & Trips that allows for easy manipulation of your routes, there won’t be many surprises unless you don’t know what you are doing and fail to plan accordingly.

Hence, those drivers getting into trouble today are the ones blindly putting their faith in a GPS unit, truck specific or otherwise, which is something I absolutely refuse to do, which is why I stick with Streets & Trips only as opposed to one of those glorified truck specific GPS units. That and I also appreciate the much larger display and perspective that you can only get with a much larger laptop screen.

 

I can do the route adjustments with Mobile PC as well. I simply shape the route to match exactly with what I need to, and off I go.

 

I adjust my routes all the time with Co-pilot Truck 9. Very easy and convenient

 

I've been plotting making my own but found it's cheaper and easier to buy one.You'll spend more than $45 trying to make this on your own unless you already have the materials....you'll spend $20 just for a sturdy piece of plexiglass.Flex conduit isn't strong enough to hold

 

If you are still interested in free, Roadnav is a free program.

http://roadnav.sourceforge.net/index.php

 

how does it know where i am or do i have to buy a sattilite antenna or something?

 

you would need some type of gps unit.

 

For anyone considering Truck Stops Plus, there is a free POI set that has a LOT more.

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[URL]http://www.laptopgpsworld.com/2595-poi-mega-file-pushpin-collections-truckers-rvers-other-travelers[/URL]