Newbie Q; I don't understand Itineraries...

[rpavich]

Hi...
I'm a TomTom newbie; I just got an XL325SE for my B-day.
I've put in a few favorites, and things like that just to get used to it...I've inputted a few destinations using Google maps...that was cool...

Now....I was trying to pretend I was planning a "one day" car trip, with stops along the way for things like rest areas, and lunch about half way through....

Here is my Q: how do I do this?

When i inputted the starting point and ending point...I got stuck trying to figure out how to put in a few rest stops and a restaurant that was along the route. When i tried "POI along the route" it wanted to find restaurants that were right by my house!

Help!!

 

[dhn]

Unless your model is capable of Itinerary Planning, then the best you can do is add just 1 waypoint along a planned route ('Travel via'). If you do have an Itinerary Planning icon on your unit, see here for help:

Using Google Maps For Itinerary Planning

 

[rpavich]

Yes..my unit has "Itinerary planning" but I'm confused.

I put in my starting point, my ending point, but what happens then? What If i'm not familiar with what's on the way or where to stop?

How do I find any good restaurants on the way without first knowing the city I'm going to stop in?

On a related note....what If I get all of this planned..and I want to make an unscheduled stop to do something and then "get back on the main itinerary" ? How do I do that?

thanks,
bob

 

[dhn]

Have you clicked on the link I posted? Answers some of your questions.

 

[rpavich]

yes..I did click the link, in fact, I tried to may an itinerary using Google maps/TYRE...but....

I'm still not clear on a few things,.

I know HOW to make a way point, but if I don't know what's along the way (restaurants, hotels, rest stops) how do I find them?

I can just click on the map at random and make a way point but that doesn't help me....

do you see what I'm getting at?

You're travelling from San Fran Cal, to Reno NV.

you know that you'll want to stop after about 6 hours of driving and eat somewhere....how do you know where to stop? what's available? etc....

 

[enovy]

The itinerary function doesn't actually do a route. It is just a list of points you want to go to in the order you want to go to them in. TomTom doesn't actually do the order; that is up to you once you figure out where you want to go.
To find something along your route, use the navigate to function and put in a starting point and ending point. It will make a route. Then you will be able to use the search near route feature. Once you find something, you can then add it to you itinerary.
It is a multiple step process and not well integrated but you can do it in TomTom.
It is probably easier to put it all together in Google or Tyre and then upload the route from google to your TomTom. And when you are uploading the route, you are still really only uploading the waypoints.
When you follow an itinerary, TomTom only creates a route for the current segment you are on. Once, you have visited that waypoint, it moves on to the next. If you deviate, it will try to get you back on the route you planned.

 

[Arno]

I know HOW to make a way point, but if I don't know what's along the way (restaurants, hotels, rest stops) how do I find them?

For my taste Itineraries are a waste of time.
Use Google maps to get your basic route. Tha hady part is that you can quickly decide on distances for segments.
Make a Custom POI category, using HOME for your TomTom.
Make a custom POI for each point you think you will want to visit on your trip.
Open each POI with TYRE and to the left of the street address line give it a name so you can recognise it easily in a list, type five or more spaces so those names stand out easily.
POIs are not listed alphabetically but by distance from current location, meaning that the sorting order changes while you drive around.

Since the itinerary in your device does nothing different then going to the next place (waypoint) you may as well call the next place by the POI you made.
I drove 9,000 miles last year from Toronto via Yellowstone to Vancouver Island, via Klamath Falls and Durango to San Antonio, New Orleans and the Blue Ridge Mountain home again. My custom POIs for that trip served me extremely well.

TomTom cannot tell you up front where there are restaurants but you can select Show POI on Map and then select the ones from the lists to show up as you drive.

 

[rpavich]

Arno,
thanks very much. I'll give that a try, and I'll try to adjust my expectations about what I'm looking for.

I'm a complete newbie.

 

[Arno]

Bob,

This is a great group with excellent moderators.
Additionally, a lot of we minions have not forgotten when we were newbies ourselves.
I find the search function of the forum software not too accommodating.
If you cannot find what you are looking for with a couple of different search terms just ask your question in a new thread, the same way you started this one.

 

[rpavich]

Arno,
thanks....
I think I just have to get the right mindset and understand what it is a GPS can and cannot do....and then adjust my thinking accordingly.

 

[mvl]

POI along route "should" work as you described, finding POIs near your route for food, etc.

When you search pois without using "POI on route", Tomtom will place a green arrow for POI's on your route and a yellow for POI's near your route. The "search for POI on route" function will find POIs that have that green or yellow arrow.

Problem is that POI on route searching has a slight bug. It only looks within approx 25 miles of your current location and your destination. So if you're on a 200 mile trip, it won't find any POIs between mile 25 and 175.

 

[rpavich]

Oh...interesting...

So the solution is to make several waypoints along the way and search for POI's near them...right?

PS: Is TomTom going to fix this bug?

 

[mvl]

No idea if/when Tomtom might fix it.

My Tomtom only has app 8.351. The latest app in stores is on the XL340S LIVE, with app 8.560.

On that model, I checked one out and "POI along route" only looks near your origin, not even near the destination.

App 9.026 is available as a downloadable update on the 140 and 340 models, with many unspecified fixes. But since I don't own one I can't check it out. If someone here is on app 9.026, can you see if this is fixed?