Truck Stops Plus

Truck Stops Plus

I just came across a new website, which actually still appears to be under construction. It seems to be run by a fan of Laptop GPS World, because I see there several links pointing back to this site (thanks !).

The site's purpose seems to be to sell Streets & Trips templates containing many thousands of truck-related POIs. In addition to that, the site provides tips and other valuable information.

As of today, December 15, 2007, some pages are still under construction.

Truck Stops Plus www.truckstopsplus.com

Are you undecided if to go with a laptop or a stand alone GPS unit? Make sure you read the whole "Streets & Trips" page on the website. I very much agree with everything that's written there. The "Tips" section is full of great stuff, too.

Good luck with the website!

Hi Marvin,

Well I check out this site earlier today and was impressed with it. The site seems to be close to completion, and they will be selling a add on for Microsoft Streets and Trips showing over 1300 truck stops, rest areas, scales, and other things of interst to truckers and RVers. It's not open for business yet, but by some fluke I was able to purchase the Truck Stop Plus package that they are selling. It's AWESOME! I highly recommend it to anyone that drives a big rig or RV!

rasmith1959, thanks for the info. The day after I found his website I exchanged e-mail with him. He said he was not happy with the website yet, and he was actually going to redo it. He was going to use a different website software.

It's good to hear that the website seems functional now .

Happy New Year Marvin and everybody else,

I just want to let everyone know that we are finally opened up for business. If any of you guys haven’t visited the site yet, please do. I feel very confident that all of you will be very impressed with the product, as it is not only the most comprehensive data base of this type ever developed, it is also very accurate and professionally designed as well!

Altogether, the Truck Stops Plus 08 contains more that 7250 stops, including more than 3700 truck stops, more than 2800 independent truck stops, plus all the major franchise truck stops, more than 1500 Wal-Mart Supercenters, more than 1600 rest areas, turnpike service plazas, and picnic/parking areas, and 380 state weigh stations. Moreover, if you are a truck driver, the Truck Stops Plus 08 will also give you the new capability of checking for restricted routes and low clearances right from the convenience of your laptop screen, making it not only much easier, but also much faster as well.

Happy New Year everybody!

Hi Brian,

Welcome to Laptop GPS World.

The following are three screenshots of the complimentary Truck Stops Plus file I just received:




I wish we could hear from a truck operator who uses Microsoft Streets & Trips, and who tried some of the free POI files available on the Internet, and then tried also Truck Stops Plus. It would be interesting to hear a real user comparison. Anyone out there ??? rasmith1959 ???

I downloaded Truck Stops Plus a few nights ago. So far so good on my test runs.

Gonna give it the full workout in a day or 2, hitting the road for 3 weeks.

So far it looks like it will be a big benefit to me and other truckers out here.

I've found a couple of minor mistakes so far, I'll be writing the creator later on and letting him know.

Will keep you informed on how it goes.

Peter, thanks! It seems first impressions are good . Please, do give some more feedback after (or during) your 3 week long trip. It may help Brian and his potential customers.

For the past couple of months I've been attempting to create my own version of Brian's Truck Stops Plus map template using the files available from the major truck stops web sites Petro, TA, Pilot, and Flying J. Couldn't find an acceptable file available for Love's on their site so I had to skip them. Then I came across Marvin's message about the Truck Stops Plus web site and so I checked it out. It is AWESOME! It's everything I was trying to accomplish and more.

Though I did find a few minor problems with the template like a few Wal-Mart stores not listed. But considering the size and scope of this project and the fact that Wal-Mart stores are popping up around here like weeds in a garden, I've found this map template to be reasonably accurate. I've been driving OTR for the last 2 years, and I'm mainly in the Southeastern part of the US. Though I do occasionally go up into New England, Chicago, and out to California. I've found that the areas I'm most familiar with are resonably accurate. I would recommend this to anyone who drives an 18-wheeler or RV!

Day 3 of my shakedown of the TruckStops Plus program and so far it's working as advertised.

Other than a few minor mistakes, all the truckstops that I've passed have been on the add-on. A few of the Walmarts have been missing but they build a new store every time one turns around.

The only thing I can think of at this time that needs to be added is a way to click on the truckstop icon and have a page come up (whether being online or off) showing how much parking is available, what kind of amenities are available and so on. Kind of like the way the Low Clearance and Restricted Routes are set up. I haven't had a chance to look into how to do that in the last day or 2.

One other thing that kinda bothers me is that when I load the program up, I get a message saying that the files are the older version of the map and to click here to convert them to the new format, I'm thinking maybe I missed a step in the installation, something else to look into when I find the time.

After playing with my Christmas presents (laptop stand mounted to my passenger seat, and S & T 08 with GPS) for almost 2 weeks now, I wonder how in the world I went the last 20 some years driving without this!

Hi Pete...

What you forgot to do was save the map template back into your template folder once Streets & Trips 2008 has updated the 2007 formatted template. To do that after S&T has updated the map template, click on Files - Save As then in the window that pops up be sure to change the file type at the bottom to the map template format (*.stt instead of *.est). Then just make sure it's pointed to your S&T template folder which is typically C:/Documents and Settings/User Account/Application Data/Microsoft/Templates/. Just substitute User Account with whatever your login name is for your laptop.

Your new laptop stand, which one is it the Cyber Trucker? If so it's a great little stand, I've had one for almost 2 years now. Sure beats setting the laptop on the passenger seat where it could fall off.

Hey petetrucker379…did you know that you could right click any truck stop on the map and when the quick menu appears choose show information? When the show information text box appears it will contain the pertinent information regarding the particular truck stop that you right clicked on.

For instance, it will tell you the name of the truck stop, it’s location information, whether it is a small, medium, or large truck stop, whether it has a scale or no scale, whether it does major repairs, minor repairs only, or no repairs at all, and also the city and state. Also, if you read the Read Me.txt file again, it contains a truck stop letter code key, making it easy to decipher the codes. After a couple of days, you should have the letter code key down flat!

With respect to being able to show amenities regardless if you are connected to the Internet or not, sorry but unfortunately that was beyond the scope of what was capable. Therefore, because of that limitation, you must be connected to the Internet first in order to be able to check for services and amenities by clicking on the hyperlinked icons. Believe me if there were any way possible to set it that up, I most certainly would have. While this limitation will not be that big of a problem for those drivers with aircards, for drivers without aircards, unfortunately, this will remain an impediment.

As for as the message that comes up when starting the Truck Stops Plus goes, I replied to your email message regarding this problem with instructions for you to implement. Apparently, you must never have received the email. Nevertheless, I will resend it shortly. So check your email inbox and please let me know if you don’t received it.

Finally, thanks for your positive feedback! I really appreciate it!

Let me make a small confession guys on the Wal-Mart Supercenters. Not every Wal-Mart Supercenter in the country is contained in the Truck Stops Plus 08 template. In fact, the Wal-Mart Supercenters were added to the Truck Stops Plus template last and sort of as an after thought. To be honest, I almost didn’t add any at all as the work to add them is very involved, extremely tedious, and very time consuming as you can imagine. Hence, I grudgingly made the conscious decision to add a little over 1500 of them feeling like a little over 1500 of them would be sufficient to get started. I will in future releases of the Truck Stops Plus template continue to add more and more as I go along.

Thanks for the positive feedback guys, and thanks for your wonderful website Marvin.

Yeah, I got the Cyber Trucker. A little pricey for adjustable tubing but the cooling fans are (almost) worth it IMHO. My poor 4 year Dell needs all the help it can get. I just need to put a inline on/off switch for the fans to keep from having to plug and unplug from the lighter when I'm not using it.

I had to do some minor modifications to make it fit in the cab of my Pete and to keep it far enough from the gear shift, I would still like to get it a little bit lower than it currently sits.

A big thanks to you and Brian for getting me set straight on changing the format on the files, I thought I did that step in the read me file , I'll give it a try the next time I get a chance to fiddle with it. I did get your email today Brian so I have all that info, thanks!

And Brian, another for me for not noticing the truckstop info by right clicking and scrolling across the info window for the truckstop size, something else I missed in the Read Me file!

I can only imagine the time and effort that went into something of the magnitude of this program, the truckstops alone must've been a nightmare, adding Walmarts, well...

Thanks!

I've bought yesterday the program and so far so good. I'm very peaky with the accuracy and all i can say is ...wow. BrianR from Truckstop Plus did he's homework tremendously and with passion. Now I'm back in business having my Streets & Trips 2009 with all the POI for truckers. Is giving me confidence and peace of mind driving 18 wheels and knowing that all the places that I'm interested in are right at my right hand.
If i understood correctly the Canadian add-on will be ready soon and actually the whole map is growing every day. But that will see and I will check the website with regularity.

Good luck drivers and drive safe,

Moose

I quite agree with Moose_Master. As a Owner Operator for over 20 years I took to GPS like a duck to water. I have spent hours making my own maps of interest with the info available online and such. Brians map is WELL WORTH the money and VERY time saving. I look forward to any new maps he comes up with and would love to help him with verifying and obtaining new info.

He's also very good at dealing with "Challenged" Customers