Community Forums

dani80 · 01-25-2020, 01:07 PM

When choosing between average speed or routing engine for a trip’s drive time estimates, how exactly does the routing engine calculate the time? Is it from Google Maps? Is it based on posted speed limits on all roads travelled? Is it factoring in stop times (and if so, to what extent)?

I’m trying to limit our driving to under 5 hours a day (not including rest/meal/attraction stops). But I’m feeling like the average speed may not be the best for all legs of my trip. Some legs I expect we’ll be doing 55 nearly the entire time. Others have some segments climbing mountains or with twisty roads where I expect we may be going 25 mph for a bit. But if I put in an average speed then it applies that to everything, making some drives look way longer than I actually think they should be.

Does the routing engine account for that better? Trying to understand what assumptions, limitations, or other parameters the routing engine uses so I can make a better decision on which to use for planning.

Sue46 · 01-25-2020, 06:25 PM

Having 40 years of RVing I have fund that 50 mph avg works great. That takes into account most variables(stops, lunch, gas). Remember this is an avg. speed. Many people use the 50 mph number.

Mike8253 · 01-25-2020, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sue46

Having 40 years of RVing I have fund that 50 mph avg works great. That takes into account most variables(stops, lunch, gas). Remember this is an avg. speed. Many people use the 50 mph number.

Agreed. That's what I use for planning. If you do better, it's to your benefit. Seldom will you have occurrences of very low speeds like 25mph, and when they occur, normally they don't last long enough to materially impact your average. And you always have the latitude if you're going to be in a very hilly/mountainess/congested/etc. area on any given day to manually shorten your drive if you want.

dani80 · 01-26-2020, 08:58 PM

If you’re using 50 mph as your average, what’s the top speed you’re doing with your rig?

Sue46 · 01-26-2020, 09:10 PM

65 is pretty much our max.

dix39 · 01-26-2020, 09:50 PM

I use 50-55, but I run 70 when I can. I would agree, 50 is a good average to use.

We've been RVing about as long as Sue and Tom, coast to coast since '78.

Steve

Bobbafett · 01-26-2020, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dani80

If you’re using 50 mph as your average, what’s the top speed you’re doing with your rig?

Not 50 average. But average 50 miles in 1 hour of driving. highway driving.
Unless they are driving the bus from Speed.

timjet · 01-27-2020, 04:43 AM

Also remember when you're using the distance rings the rings are as the crow flies. Your actual driving distance to a point on those rings will be greater.

I also use 50 mph as my average and set the cruise control at 62. On average I've found the time to a campground to be a little longer than shown on TW.