TomTom route planning options

[simonDyna]

I had a look but cant see that anyone has posted this before...

Google maps is an excellent tool for planning routes but it doesnt link directly to TomTom devices. I have been using TYRE for sometime now and have found it to be very good. It links in with TomTom devices, integrates with the TomTomHOME and makes route planning and storing in the device, very easy. You can set waypoints onto a google map and then convert it. It also allows you to set POI. I have it installed on XP and Vista.

If using Unix or Linux platforms I use this page to convert the google map link into way points and then upload them to the TomTom device itn directory/folder. It is basic and doesnt allow POI to be set, but this can be overcome by incorporating them into the route.

Finally, TomTom has just released their own route planner which is currently free. I'm not sold on this, simply because it plans a route from A to B without letting you edit it. Maybe the functionality will come in the future but until then, I'll carry on using TYRE.

Maybe these will be of use to someone.

[banquo]

Thanks for that Simon. I have a Rider v2 that has an itinerary planner. Have to admit I'm a bit of a novice with it, and tend to take the easy way of just plugging in where I want to go and letting it take me there (with the joy of arriving in the Peak District at midnight, and being taken along three or four miles of single track, gravel strewn roads, with flocks of sheep sleeping on the tarmac). However, I've noticed after plugging in your route, you can edit it in TomTom Home, and add other points en route, effectively editing the route to what you want. Not as easy as the click and drag on Google, but it seems to work OK...

[grbrown]

I reckon it is possible to spend as long planning a complex route as it takes to drive it!

We took a touring holiday in June, through Holland, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. I learned more about my TomTom while planning our routes than in all the previous years I have owned satnavs!

Simon's link is interesting and I will try it out. In the meantime Banquo, TomToms have an 'Itinerary' feature in which one can enter waypoints, to alter a basic route from A to B, via specific places, junctions, etc. In future when planning a lengthy holiday I will use one Itinerary per day.

In a few years' time I reckon I will have mastered gps - around the time the system goes down (nobody is investing in the next generation of gps satellites)!

[banquo]

Yep. Tried the Itinerary function, but couldn't get the hang of it. Would probably get on better if I read the instructions first.....

[grbrown]

Originally Posted by banquo

Yep. Tried the Itinerary function, but couldn't get the hang of it. Would probably get on better if I read the instructions first.....

Heaven forbid - where's your sense of adventure?