MapNerd
RVF 1K Club
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2019
- Messages
- 2,298
- Location
- Prince William, VA
- RV Year
- 2020
- RV Make
- Newmar
- RV Model
- Ventana 4326
- RV Length
- 43
- TOW/TOAD
- 2020 Ford F-150
- Fulltimer
- Yes
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I too lean heavily on RVTW for planning. They released a product 1-2 years ago called RV life which includes RV GPS Routing. I like the integration aspects of this which also includes campground reviews. Having one app accessible to the iPhone is way better than having to plan on RVTW and then re-enter on the Garmin. I think the killer feature is advance warning and being able to know what’s ahead with options so you can evaluate is what I look for. I don’t want to know 5 sec before. My issue with rv life is I just don’t know enough about it “under the covers“ to trust it. Inevitably if I had both (Garmin and RV Life) running at the same time and they gave different directions, which one do I choose? The leader in GPS used in airplanes and on boats or a third party app? Once you have been in a near crisis situation, it’s all about trust and dependability going forward. I don’t trust my Garmin 100% either and visually verify everything which takes a lot of time In addition to the data reentry each day From RVTW to Garmin.use RVTripWizard...am happy with its features and capabilities. What additional features am I missing?
That’s for you to tell me! Use your imagination. RVTW would definitely be my competition.I use RVTripWizard...am happy with its features and capabilities. What additional features am I missing?
To be clear, I would be using the same data under the hood as Garmin, except my update integration would be faster and automatic with updates happening automagically every few weeks as opposed to months. No data downloads or update installs. You wouldn’t even need to update the app.Inevitably if I had both (Garmin and RV Life) running at the same time and they gave different directions, which one do I choose? The leader in GPS used in airplanes and on boats or a third party app?
Weather is a good idea and can be done. I’ve done that on other apps before.All the obvious navigation things as well as vehicle specifications for over and under bridges. An additional game changer to put you above the others might be to have a weather conditions along the route option. Have the option of modifying the date and time to see timing's impact? Just dreaming
additional edit: I use basecamp to plan all my routes, then dump them into the Garmin. A computer app to do the same instead of trying to do all that on the tiny screen of a crapple phone?
Finding all of the campgrounds is almost certainly the hardest part. There is no single source of truth other than Google and they will sue my face off if I scrape their data. I could use their API but it’s expensive. I have about 600 campgrounds loaded across the US, Canada and Mexico so far but I know there are many others I don’t know of. I am thinking that if there is a campground you know of which the app doesn’t, I will have a way for you to add it. Initially, only the person who reported the campground will see it but once I have verified it, it will be displayed to everyone. You’ll have to have some basic information about the campground in order to report it though. A name, Address or coordinates, and website or phone number. Other attributes will be available but those are the bare minimum.@MapNerd , my main complaint with RVTW is the incomplete display of campgrounds. Maybe I'm missing a setting/parameter...even when I know there is a campground near my desired destination, sometimes it doesn't show up unless I manually enter it by name. Regarding GPS, I start with RVTW, then double check other sources during the planning phase. Once on the road, I use the coach RMcN and double check (if I remember) with RVTW, Google + others.