POI along a route?

[cpd520]

How do you find points of interest along a route??

We are not in a hurry and will stop if we see something of interest.

It would be nice to have an idea what was on your route for the day and set your departure time to accommodate expected stops. Any good sites or apps for this?

[trailertraveler]

Veebyes wrote:
...Oh how did they ever manage before the internet & the GPS?...

And your critizing folks for using technology on an internet forum rather than using Morse Code or a rotary dial phone? :h

[tatest]

Veebyes wrote:
Oh how did they ever manage before the internet & the GPS?

State visitor information centers must have been real busy back then. Now everything is at our fingertips. Search anytown/region/state attractions.

Our source of information used to be billboards. Hundreds of miles of notices approach attractions. Barns got painted: "See Rock City," "Visit Lookout Mountain," "Walnut Bowls" and "Mystery Hill." Then the Interstates started bypassing the attractions, and we got the Beautify America campaign to remove roadside advertising.

The result today varies by state. Missouri allows a lot of roadside advertising for motels, restaurants and attractions. I've been through other states where all there will be are the sponsored little information signs just before superhighway exits. Some states allow the service businesses themselves to put signs on towers, but not usually allowed for tourist attractions.

For the more major things, AAA travel guides.

[Veebyes]

Oh how did they ever manage before the internet & the GPS?

State visitor information centers must have been real busy back then. Now everything is at our fingertips. Search anytown/region/state attractions.

[trailertraveler]

Matt_Colie wrote:
...What I want is a program that I can load a route in and ask it what is along the way...

MicroSoft Streets and Trips will do some of what you want. If you load in POI data sets for the type of attractions you want from places like the POI Factory, Discovery Owners Forum and others, when you click on the find nearby places feature you can select a route or a segment of the route and set a distance from the route. It will then generate a list with the straight line distance of each POI from the route. You can select which of many categories of POIs you want it to search for. Unfortunately Streets & Trips has been discontinued so there will be no future updates of roads, etc; but it still works.

I have never used the other maping programs like Street Atlas so have no idea about their features and capabilities.

[Matt_Colie]

CPB,

This is a problem that has plagued us for years. What used to work best was the AAA TripTik planner. Unfortunately, unless you are carrying internet (wire) as you go, there isn't much that works right.

The TripTik planned still works, but it now includes all the local event and as such is too cluttered to be really useful. It also does not have enough range. EI, unless it is set to maximum range and you are careful, it will not indicate the Gilmore Collection in Hickory Corners MI (betwixt Battle Creek and Kalamazoo) and about a 20 mile diversion from I-94 and should not be missed even if you are not a "Car Person".

What I want is a program that I can load a route in and ask it what is along the way. For example, the Henry Ford in Dearborn MI, Crystal Bridges in Bentonville AK and Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman MY, should each get a tick if your are within 100 miles. But then there are no shortage of museums and attractions that are not worth diverting for you best route to see. I only need to know about those enough to read the reviews.

Reminds me. I need to write another letter to AAA.

Matt

[two_travelers]

In addition to stopping at visitor information centers, campground personnel often have good information. Also, look for signs (usually brown) on side of the road for point of interest. We've stumbled on quite a few things this way. If we don't have time to stop, we keep a record of the POI and it's location so we can look it up on the internet at a later time.

[cpd520]

Thanks everyone. A lot of great info shared.

[trailertraveler]

If you have a GPS or a mapping program, in addition to the POI Factory the Discovery Owner's Forum has a lot of POI and campground files you can download. There are a lot of websites to find both general and specific types of points of interest. Here are links to a few of them:
National Parks,
National Wildlife Rufuges,
State Parks,
Scenic Byways,
National Historic Trails,
Legends of America,
Roadside America,
Ghost Towns,
Slot Canyons,
Pow Wows,
Flea Markets,
Rock Art,
Native American Ruins,
Factory Tours,
Waterfalls,
Scenic Railroads,
State Fairs,
Lighthouses,
Breweries in the United States,
Wineries in the United States,
Trip Advisor,
State Tourism Websites,
Frommers Guide,
Fairs and Festivals,
More Fairs & Festivals,
Scenic USA,
Road Trippers

[Campfire_Time]

The single best way we have found to do what you are trying to do is to do advance research on the web. Books and apps are good supplements to that research.

X3 on POI factory with the warning to check the last update to the POI file you are downloading. The POI files are member generated and are only as accurate as the person who made the file, and many of them are not maintained.

[tonyandkaren]

My favorites are https://roadtrippers.com/welcome and http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g191-Activities-United_States.html.

I went a step further and made Google maps https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zWUSQ5x4Gi9s.k7yY88Lvmo9w&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=45.089036%2C-1... with markers for the things that we were actually interested. All I have to do is check the map in morning and plan our stops for the day.

[vermilye]

When on the road, I'm always looking for interesting photographic opportunities.

Along with POIs & websites, I always visit with campground hosts to ask about what is in the area. Where else, for example, would you find that there is a concrete canoe race going on in the local lake that afternoon?

Another great source, at least in small towns, is to ask at a visitor center. While many centers are just there to lure you into hotels & typical tourist attractions, the volunteers at the small ones will know a great deal about the area & will be willing to listen to what you are looking for & provide valuable info.

[Executive45]

Try clicking on the link below...if you're into weird and interesting stuff...you can search America and Canada......Dennis

Roadside America

[hl_remington]

try this site, Take My Trip.com List things to do in all states

[TucsonJim]

I use my smart phone and do a query based on our interests. For example, we like to visit museums. Let's say I'm going to be in Denver. I'll do a search on "museums in Denver". I'll get a whole list of museums in that area. It works for anything you're interested in such as parks, monuments, art galleries, fishing holes, etc.