This comes up all the time and we haven't figured out how to do it (reconstructed transcript of actual conversation):

Well, yes, you can do something like what you are talking about.

For instance, you can decide approximately where you will be in four hours (of your example) either by consulting the driving directions or just eye-balling the map. There are other ways, too, but I will leave that aspect alone. Then you can insert waypoints (stops) into your route plan that represent the nearest you would want to depart from your itinerary and the fartherest and re-calculate the route. See the example, "Baltimore to Akron Hotels" file that I have attached. Next, open "Find nearby places" and set the search parameters to be Around: [these two new points you have created above, in the example "10 to 48" representing the turnpike exits]. Set the distance from your route you want, in the example 0.5 miles, and how you want it sorted, by distance or alphabetical. Select the categories you want spotted, in this case "Hotels and motels" and click on "Refresh." This will give you a list of the POIs for that category. If you click on the POI that you fancy, the icon will show on the map with a balloon full of information that may include the telephone number. If you can get a reservation to your liking then right-click on the icon and add it to your route and recalculate and resume navigating.

Attached Files

Baltimore to Akron Hotel.est (191.0 KB)

Note that the Search Around parameters will give you all of the legs (stop to stop) of your itinerary in a drop-down list and it might be more convenient to just select one of the existing legs rather than artificially creating a new leg.

Thank you! We'll try that; drop two waypoints to create a leg/segment that's in the approximate area we want to stop in and use the pulldown for that as the "Near" option.

I also seem to remember seeing somewhere about a way to draw one of those boxes and search near that. When we get our 2010 software we'll see if we can figure that out as well.

One thing I always found annoying in my Ford Sync nav system was dropping waypoints (in Sync's case, to change our route). When I dropped a waypoint on the PA Turnpike, it happened to drop it on the Westbound lanes (Eastbound? Westbound? Who could tell at even the finest zoom level?). So, we get into PA and it's taking us off the turnpike (hassle) and sending us back Westward so we could be right on that waypoint! We had to hunt around for another exit (hassle) and get back on Eastbound (hassle)! I'm hoping that the handy drag-to-change-route feature in Streets & Trips won't make those kinds of troubles for us.

That's still a problem with Streets & Trips 2010 and I don't see it being easily resolved. It seems to arise from the fact that the two opposite-direction lanes are so close to each other that one can easily miss and wind up on the wrong side or, even worse, off the Turnpike altogether. That's why I zoomed in to the exit I was targeting and actually clicked on the the little exit (with its number) indicator to add that to the route. For this sort of thing, I would avoid dragging the route. After all, you are trying to mark a place that is already on your route rather than creating a major deviation.

In any case, it usually is a good idea to review changes that the program makes to your route if that is possible and convenient to make sure you "buy" the changes.

Thank you for the advice.

One thing we've experimented with is drawing some "no-fly" boxes to nudge the software into finding our preferred route. One example is that we like driving the scenic route up 81 and 76 to get from Georgia to Philly. We don't like the I-95 corridor. That was a no-brainer: just draw a big box around DC and Baltimore and click "yuk".

The one problem I've encountered with that on my old Street Pilot was that I FORGOT that I had designated an area around the dreaded Shopping Mall as a "no-fly" zone and it made for some pretty hilarious trip plans when I later needed to go INTO that zone! :rofl"

I was expecting Streets & Trips to associate the "no-fly" zones with a particular saved trip, but I don't think it works that way.

Yes, it should work that way. If you open a new map (ctrl+n), the "avoid area" will no longer be present (unless you previously saved it to your default template).

If you wish to make certain you will not experience the same "mistake" during your travels again, you may change the color of your "avoid areas" to red, or some other color of your choice. That way the "no-fly" zone will be more difficult to overlook.

To change the color of an "avoid area", click on it to select it, and then select the desired fill color on the drawing toolbar. You may then right-click the avoid area again, and from the menu that opens up you may select to "Send behind roads".

Marvin,
Thank you for taking the time to explain that! I'm delighted about the option of saving a "no-fly" zone globally or just as part of a trip. I also love the color-coding!

I'll try to restrain myself from further questions/suggestions until I get our 2010 version in the mail (I felt compelled to uninstall the old 2009 version as part of our deal to get that upgraded, so I'm operating here solely from memory!)

Can't help myself: I had a thought about how to avoid the Northbound/Southbound problem when adding waypoints. How about adding an option for when you draw a little box to make THAT a waypoint? Whenever S&T adds a box as a waypoint, it won't add it as a stop, but will just work the best route that goes through the box? Kind of like an inverse "no-fly" zone!

Way back in the previous century when I got my pilot's license, there was an inverse "no-fly" zone directly over LAX. If you wanted to fly your dinky little cessna anywhere near LAX, you had to fly through this "tunnel" they had defined directly over the runways.

NOW I'll stop putting my 2 cents in... I promise (sort of).