quick question

Try this sitexxxxxxxxxxxx The site is free as far as I know. I tried a couple of trips out on it and it gave me the best route.

Good luck.

 

I used to use Delorme with GPS and then pull up an image of the area with Google Earth - the new version will let you search by address and overlays road names on the photo imagery.

 

Guess I need to reread the site rules.

Look, just google "trip directions for truck drivers" and several sites will pop up. Browse til you find what you need. I personally have Microsoft Streets and Trips and it has never been wrong. Used in conjunction with a motor carrier atlas, to make sure you stay off truck restricted routes, it will be accurate.

Everytime you plan a trip with it, and you are connected with the internet, it will update construction info. But, you have to buy the program.

For something free try my suggestion

 

My wife just bought me the latest version of Delorme. They now offer imaging downloads to go along with the regular mapping But they do charge extra...first one is free.

I grabbed the latest images of my local Game Management area LOL. You can easily spot the large hardwood plots/groves for hunting

To the original poster: If you have a laptop, use the advise provided so far. If not, get a cheap GPS unit, a refurbished is only about $200, and use your road atlas for low clearance and truck restrictions.

 

Ok my two cents -- Mapquest sucks, Google maps are better!

I look at this way, yes a laptop and or personal navigator is expensive, but then so is piece of mind. The tools allow me to focus on my driving and not having to keep checking a map book or my route planning sheet. Nor do I have to spend that mental energy at making sure I am hitting the right exit ramp and then knowing where I am going after that, especially off the interstate. I dont have to worry about whether I have gone too far and missed where I needed to be or a turn. The mapping tools are providing real-time feed back about where I am and where I need to go.

I use a laptop running both Delorme and MS Streets, as well as a personal navigator. Streets is best to find a specific location and routing from Point A to Destination quickly. Delorme is a much more complicated tool to use, that is until you have used it for a bit and learned how the program works. It is by far the best out there. The feedback it provides is excellent. (I am glad I was out on the road when I first got Delorme, but I found it to be quite frustrating when compared to the simplicity of Streets. Had I been at home, I would have returned it to the store. But being out on the road for an extended period allowed me the time to get better accquainted with Delorme, and soon mastered the learning curve. You cant get me to give it up now!)

I know I can get Streets to run off my Delorme receiver (Delorme has a free download that will let you do it), I am not sure, but believe you can get Delorme to run off a Streets receiver. If you have one it is worth the extra few dollars to get the other. They use different mapping systems; what is not on one, may be on the other. Or sometimes it is more easily found on one, and then you can locate it on the other once you have some points of reference; especially true with some new industrial parks.

The problem with laptops is that you usually cant locate them in the truck in such a way so that you dont have to take your eyes off the road to read the maps. That is where the personal navigator comes in handy.

I happened to win one so I was lucky and didnt have to spend the extra (precious) money. However, now that I have used it till it (Delphi Nav200) broke, I found it to be invaluable, and will spend the money to buy a new one (HP Ipaq RX5915). Yes it is pricey, but you can get it for about $300 on Ebay or about $350 on Amazon, and other vendors. I like that because, it is not just a personal navigator but a fully functioning PDA as well, and the maps will interact with your contacts, so you can load in terminals and/or other routine places that you go to.

Using the Personal Navigator, allows you to put your map in front of you without blocking the view of the road and not having to look away from the road to see the map. It tells you about turns before you miss them. They will give you a picture of the road ahead so that you will know what you are doing. And if you do screw-up which sometimes is not hard to do, they usually will reroute you.

Another advantage to using these devices is the database of points of interest. Want to find the nearest Wal-Mart to where you are or where you are going to be? Easily done (with Delorme). Need to go to a hospital for something while enroute as I did one day, no problem in finding the nearest one and a quick call to security told me where I could easily park the truck and then find the emergency room.

The drawback to using any of the above is that they were designed for everything smaller than a big truck, so yes they can route you under a low clearance, or on a road that you dont belong. That is where you come in. You are the professional driver and have to know where you are going at all times. So check the routes against the map book and make sure you are comfortable with the route, if not do what it takes to change the route. Delorme is much easier to accomplish this with than Streets, and I havent received my new navigator yet to tell you.

ONE WORD OF WARNING: If the device you use stores the route you traveled along with the time that you were at certain waypoints, make sure your logbook is in synch with it. A DOT or state patrol officer can sieze your computer or device as evidence. So if your logbook says anything different, and of course it never will, right? LOL, delete the data before the officer has a chance to see it. (Yes, I know they can do a forensic analysis and recover the info, but unless you not only urinated in his Wheaties but did a #2 as well, it is unlikely that they are going to go after you in that manner.)

Co-pilot is too expensive, so until they get real, and price it for the individual driver to use, we will have to do the workarounds with the other products.

And yes the truck manufacturers need to recognize the electrical needs that the 'modern' driver has, and provide for it so that some bozo doesnt try to wire in a 1200 watt inverter using small wires and burn his truck down. (NO, no I didnt do it, the company I work for will wire it in for the driver so it is done correctly and safely...not all companies are like that though!)

 

If you like google maps, try local.live.com. It's a microsoft site and the maps are based on streets and trips.