Truck Topics
Finding your way: Routing Software
In a recent EO article, we took a look at a few of the most popular GPS units on the market. They ranged in price from $568 to $1,300, but for what they do, that's not too bad.
The GPS users seem to be very happy with the performance of the devices, but some drivers prefer to use their laptops with mapping software. We thought we'd take a look at some of the products that have been recommended to EO readers and see what's available for the hard-working expediter.
Some of these programs (Delorme, CoPilot, MS Streets & Trips) are expediter favorites and we've included comments from EO readers about the products. It would appear that some other software brands haven't yet found their way into the hearts of the expediting community and there are no reviews available.
Prophesy StreetRouter will Provide you with pinpoint accuracy and unparalleled street level detail. door-to door and turn-by-turn directions.
Supply easy-to-read full color maps with landmarks like schools, hospitals, railroads and bodies of water all clearly marked.
Make searching for specific addresses a breeze with its intuitive, user-friendly street lookup features.
Allow you to easily get street-level driving directions by just pointing and clicking on the map.
Also provide you with all the benefits of Prophesy Mileage & Routing.
No user comments
Delorme Street Atlas USA 2006
The manufacturer says:
DeLorme pioneered consumer mapping software with the first release of this product in 1991.
Street Atlas USA 2006 provides detailed street maps with address-to-address routing for the entire U.S., from complex urban areas to less traveled rural parts of the country. It also provides highway-level maps of Canada to allow trip planning between the U.S. and Canada.
Locate Points-of-Interest's by name and/or category, including restaurants, lodgings, and gas stations...as well as Wal-Marts, Starbucks, post offices, fire stations, hospitals. For Street Atlas USA 2006, DeLorme contacted over 90 nationwide chains for GPS-accurate place-ment of their individual locations.
Street Atlas USA 2006 has been designed to keep the focus on the map, avoiding the cluttering created with multiple overlapping windows.
The new top-of-the-screen EZ-Nav Toolbar makes it a snap to create routes quickly and easily. Use it to open and save map files, create address-to-address routes, share maps via the Web, and establish custom keyboard shortcuts, map display, and GPS settings.
The software determines the quickest or shortest route and provides easy-to-read text directions showing total mileage and drive times. It can also calculate your end-of-day stops and fuel stops, as well as fuel costs.
Laptops
Load it on your hard drive and always have the maps you need while traveling; plan routes from your hotel to appointments and other stops; create address-to-address routes and find more than 4 million places of interest - it's like having your own local expert with you in unfamiliar places; expandable user interface tabs make it easier to type routes and find places of interest using large fonts. ideal for high-resolution laptop screens.
Connect to the USB port of a laptop PC using the Earthmate GPS (available separately for under $100) and track your position in real time it's amazing!
Hear turn-by-turn directions and also issue spoken commands and receive replies to common travel questions.
The users say:
(Based on older editions of this product)
Washington Post
"DeLorme put some thought into making Street Atlas USA easy to use in motion. Once you're rolling, Street Atlas USA works better than MS. Microsoft's directions come in the form of too-small text, coupled with maps that will be hard for a co-pilot to read."
"I prefer the Delorme. Be sure, if you get either that or Microsoft Streets and Trip that the pkg includes the GPS. Right now I have MS S&T w/o the gps. (I thought the gps was sold separately.)"
"The difference is that you just map out the route without it, but it guides you all the way to the door with the gps by updating your map as you go."
"If you don't have a laptop, consider it before a GPS system unless you can afford both. With a laptop you can download games, play DVD's, CD's, and go online. By the time you buy a Satellite laptop (cheap version) and a year long WiFi card from your favorite truck stop you're in range of a GPS system or under, and you have more options for killing time."
Microsoft Streets and Trips
The manufacturer says:
Streets & Trips 2005 with GPS Locator 
Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005 with GPS Locator combines Streets & Trips software with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver hardware component, to create a planning and driving tool that turns your laptop into a real-time GPS tracking device. You can pinpoint your exact location on the map at all times. Comes USB ready with cable, just plug it in and go.
Features include:
Real-time GPS Tracking and advanced GPS features Accurate Destination Routing Customizable Trip Planning 1.8 Million Points of Interest Free online Road Construction Updates Built on MapPoint Technology Import Contacts from Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Excel Patented Snap Routing Includes Pocket Streets for your Pocket PC and Smartphone Customize Maps and Printouts Plot Drive-time Zones See One-Way Streets at a GlanceThe users say:
Cheri1122
"I got MS S&T with the GPS - & I can't really use it driving alone, but I do really like the "Find nearby places" function. Whether you're wanting Chinese food or a golf course, you can get address, phone number, & directions. It's nice to play with whenever you have some free time away from home."
bryan
"Another great thing about MS Streets & Trips is the 'show what's nearby.' This is a great feature when you're broken down or when the consignee is closed and you need to find a place to sit for a few hours."
"Also if you type in the name of a large corporation such as Ford, it will list all the plants and their locations. This feature has helped me get loads in unusual areas."
mvbn 1
"...purchased MS Streets & Trips. I really love the program, it's great. I give it 5 stars!
PC*MILER | Streets
The manufacturer says:
PC*MILER|Streets is the industry's leading commercial street-level routing, mileage and mapping software designed to provide dock-to-dock driving directions over truck-specific routes. It includes all the features and functionality of PC*MILER plus ALK's enhanced U.S. and Canadian street-level network database.
PC*MILER|Streets features maximize operational efficiencies with user customized street-level routing.
Applications:
Truck-specific, turn-by-turn street-level directions, mileages and maps for dispatch, rate determination and quotes, trip cost and time estimates, dispatch, driver pay, fuel tax reporting, driver log auditing, load planning, carrier selection, freight bill auditing and logistics analysis
No user comments
The manufacturer says:
Designed with the professional driver in mind, CoPilot Truck provides voice-prompted, dock-to-dock driving directions to any nationwide address.
CoPilot Truck combines the industry-standard truck routing, mileage and mapping capabilities of ALK PC*MILER Solutions and the in-vehicle GPS navigation and route guidance technology of its CoPilot product line.
This combination creates the first on-board navigation system specifically designed for owner-operators, leased-operators and company drivers.
The users say:
rode2rouen
"Having used CoPilot Truck for a couple of months now, I find it to be a very cool tool. I have found a couple of "dead spots" where it has no clue (Earth City, MO comes immediately to mind), but overall it gets me where I want to be in a most efficient manner."
"I have the map set to display in the 3D mode with the view of the map showing the direction of travel "up" (as opposed to North always being "up") , since this gives a map image that matches what I'm looking at out of the windshield."
"...having the 53' trailer enabled will keep you from getting into "sticky" situations."
"I also like the Detour function. I've used this feature due to construction/accidents a couple of times and it is quite handy."
"I am quite satisfied with the program. I still carry and use my Motor Carrier Atlas for the rough routing on the Interstate system, but CoPilot handles the
detail work."
LDB
"It's an ok product but it needs improvements to really be excellent. It shouldn't snap to until the pointer goes off the screen. It should identify at
least the major chain truckstops. It should have a better filing system than favorites so you can keep track of places to go back to them. It should have options such as avoid toll roads instead of only being able to avoid a specific section of road you select. Eventually you could select all the toll roads in the country but it should let you just say avoid toll roads like MS does."
"I also have MS Streets & Trips, but no GPS unit for it. One thing I will say for CoPilot Truck is that you can set the 53' flag and it won't take you on any low clearance roads and avoids areas that are too tight for big trucks."