Trip Routing with Google Maps?

[dedmiston]

I love Google Maps, but I'm looking for a feature that might not exist. Instead of entering in Point A and Point B as my destination, I'd like to enter Point A and then "500 miles from Point A" and have Google give me some options.

~ OR ~

Or I'd be happy to enter Point A and Point B as my destination, but then I'd like to be able to say "break this trip up into three days" and have Google suggest places to break up the trip.

Has anyone had any luck with trip planning like this using Google?

[dedmiston]

I'll have to say that RV Trip Wizard has really upped their game since the first time we used it in 2019. It's not cheap, but I don't mind paying for software if it's decent.

A few things really jumped out at me:

• Instead of the old concentric rings to show distances on the map, it now shows actual distances according to highway travel. The map looks like a blob now, but no more "as the crow flies".
• I didn't use this because I was too lazy and hurried, but it's got an amazing GPS routing feature now. Based on the configuration that you define (especially your height), the maps support an active GPS routing that will keep you off the roads with low bridges.
• The selection of camps seems to be much more advanced now. Very cool.

This still doesn't solve the issue that I was originally trying to conquer, but it's good progress.

My use case was that I wanted to plan a trip from SoCal to Tyler, TX and be able to specify the daily distance I wanted to drive and/or the number of days I was willing to allocate to the trip and have the app give me some suggested stops.

I ended up picking Las Cruces, NM as our first stop and then power through the next day. It turns out that one of the "claims to fame" of Las Cruces is that it's the midpoint between San Diego and Dallas, which coincidentally suited us nicely.

[MORSNOW]

You can add stops into a Google Maps trip, but I think it limits around 8 stops.  I do big circle trips and add destinations into the middle of the trip.  You just add a stop, and then move (drag) the stop from the bottom of the list into whatever order/place you want it.

[Carl_n_Susan]

No luck with Google Maps but RV Trip Wizard does the mileage thing for you. The new version still has a circle radius (which doesn't correlate to actual road mileage) but now has an option for a "range" based on the actual road mileage.

[craig7h]

I am a fan of Google maps, for getting route suggestions from A to B. However I have found the RV LIfe Pro"s trip planner will pretty much do what you are asking for. Once you get used to using it, it will give you driving radius  for either hours or mileage. 

[valhalla360]

I just eyeball it and ask for directions to a city I think is a reasonable distance....then look the mileage. If I don't like the mileage,  I'll pick a city closer or further.  Then with a rough idea of where we want to stop,  I'll look for campsites in that area. 

Google earth will more directly place a circle of a given radius but they have really given up maintaining it so I've gradually shifted to Google maps as there are more and better features.  I do still use it if a mountain pass looks bad as it will show the elevation profile. 

[MNtundraRet]

I prefer Google maps to the one supplied by Microsoft. I have a Garmin GPS in our car.

I will add a few points on Google to force the route my preferred way. There is a big problem currently. Most states, counties, towns, no longer have people keeping these GPS map producers with accurate updated information. Most of these people were eliminated during Covid-19.