Mapquest to Iphone works - EDITED WITH RIDE REPORT

[RoaringTodd]

Just discovered that you can plan routes on Mapquest, and send it to your iPhone. Apparently you can also save favorite routes.

Still playing with this...

While I love google maps, this looks like a reasonable alternative especially since you can send routes from the computer to the iphone.

RT

[RoaringTodd]

save favorite routes

Apparently you can't save it right on the app, but you can send yourself an email message, file the route in your mailboxes, and access the route on the iphone. It will automatically open the route on your phone.

If any of you use this on the Cannonball, All I ask that credit be given...

[ericalm]

You've no idea the hoops I go through with GPS and iPhone maps to do routing!

Will it provide turn-by-turn?

Might still need to use dedicated GPS or Navigon for Cannonball to avoid data charges while in Canada, but this could be a BIG help for our group rides!

[RoaringTodd]

You've no idea the hoops I go through with GPS and iPhone maps to do routing!

Will it provide turn-by-turn?

Might still need to use dedicated GPS or Navigon for Cannonball to avoid data charges while in Canada, but this could be a BIG help for our group rides!

I spent some time playing with it today, and so far, yes. It does give turn by turn, and you can email the custom route to everyone. If they have the mapquest app on their iPhone (don't know about android) the route automatically opens on the app. You need to play with it a little to get a sense of it.

Tips - don't select "avoid highways". It didn't send the right route to my iPhone.

Google maps is still the king of scooter ride routing, but without the ability to send to iPhone, it's diminished functionality for me. Mapquest graphics interface is meh but I love being able to come up with convoluted and scenic routes and actually following it turn by turn.

[PeteH]

Over in the Stella forum (viewtopic.php?p=328776#328776 ) I mentioned some success going from the RouteConverter tool (Google maps click-and-drag functionality under the hood) to the iPhone & CoPilot. Yep, hoops to jump, multiple tools, and it's waypoint transfer rather than true routes, but it's matched up pretty well so far. Since my phone is really a company device, I don't like to run up data charges, so I'm using a GPS app that stores maps on-board rather than a map-over-cellular like Google or Mapquest apps.

Some enterprising vendor is going to come up a well-integrated solution with solid route planning, phone transfer, on-device maps, and turn-by-turn in an easy-to-use package and will hopefully make a lot of dough.

[RoaringTodd]

What I liked about mapquest was that it seemed you could just drag your route, send it to your phone via email or text, and go. Good for a quick ride.

[ericalm]

Going to try this out ASAP! Thanks!

I kind of have a love/hate relationship with my Garmin, without the love part. It's a great unit for a car, but doing custom routes is insane.

[PeteH]

Yup. I've got an old Garmin 255w and a RAM mount for it, but it's as dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to pre-planning. I may play with the Mapquest solution just for kicks and see how much data it eats.

[TVB]

Tips - don't select "avoid highways".

That would defeat much of the point for me. :/

[RoaringTodd]

No, Todd. You can do custom routing, but when doing that, don't have the "avoid highway" option clicked or when you send the route to your iPhone, it'll be messed up. Unclick " avoid highway" before sending.

[RoadRambler]

Somehow, the convenience of all of this is escaping me !

[BootScootin'FireFighter]

Thanks for the suggestion Todd! I'll have to field test it a little bit and see how well it goes. My only hiccup during cannonball is that halfway on my trip out to Hyder, I plan on "going dark" and disabling my data feature so I don't end up with a $2000 bill from Verizon. Somewhere near Minot ND when I cross into Saskatchewan. I never used mapquest on a ride, so I'm not sure how much storage space I'll need for downloaded map data to use when offline. Fortunately, the route through Canada is easy enough not to even need a GPS, using primary highways for almost the entire stretch except for 1 or 2 wierd checkpoints. It gets much dicier in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Oklahoma where this will help a lot.

[ericalm]

Thanks for the suggestion Todd! I'll have to field test it a little bit and see how well it goes. My only hiccup during cannonball is that halfway on my trip out to Hyder, I plan on "going dark" and disabling my data feature so I don't end up with a $2000 bill from Verizon. Somewhere near Minot ND when I cross into Saskatchewan. I never used mapquest on a ride, so I'm not sure how much storage space I'll need for downloaded map data to use when offline. Fortunately, the route through Canada is easy enough not to even need a GPS, using primary highways for almost the entire stretch except for 1 or 2 wierd checkpoints. It gets much dicier in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Oklahoma where this will help a lot.

Navigon app preloads so you can use with data turned off. Loading the maps to the Navigon may be a pain, though I hear it works okay with Google routes converted using an online utility.

[RoaringTodd]

Tested it out on the way to Grandma's for some turkey.

Pro-

routed easily from computer to iPhone.
you could use a scooter icon for your location


That's pretty much it.

Cons-

Meh graphics. Hard to see from a distance. I've attached a snapshot.

In some places, instead of a route number, MapQuest used the actual street name. I usually rely on the route number because those signs are actually more visible. You would need to be either very attentive to the iPhone or somewhat familiar with the route before you leave.

I would recommend reviewing the route in Google maps, getting familiarized with the route numbers and way points, and then going over to MapQuest and routing your route from there.

[ericalm]

I didn't work out so well for me in my first attempt but I'm going to tweak the map a bit and try again. I had "Avoid Highways" checked (oops).

Turn-by-turn was trying to send me past waypoints that weren't on the map, odd side streets, places where I had not dragged points. The map itself was clean.

For getting the map link to my phone, I just paste it into the Notes app and it syncs via iCloud. FTW!

I had a friend try the direct link to a Garmin unit and it apparently didn't work at all. I'm still hopeful this will work well in iOS!

[RoaringTodd]

I didn't work out so well for me in my first attempt but I'm going to tweak the map a bit and try again. I had "Avoid Highways" checked (oops).

Yeah, I've seen that it throws the system off. Have you tried doing a clean start, selecting beginning and ending points, and then customizing the route?