Export feature not working correctly?

[tim myers]

Great thread and exchange of ideas here

[timjet]

Originally Posted by tim myers

Great thread and exchange of ideas here

I like maps and mapping programs. I've spent way to much time messing with BaseCamp and Google My Maps but I enjoy learning this stuff.
Google My Maps is the most versatile mapping program available that I've used, and it's free. I've use it for flying, boating and of course driving.

If you wish to learn more about BaseCamp and or Google My Maps there are forums that discuss these programs.

[BlueBird13]

I know this is an old thread, but since I got here looking for a solution to this problem, I want to chime in.

This was brought up nearly a year and a half ago as an issue. RVlife has no intention to fix it ("it's not a bug, it's a feature!")

The problem is, even though they have KNOWN this wasn't going to change for well over a year know, they have not updated the EXPORT instructions....any and everyone using the tutorial for exporting RVTW maps to Google Maps thinks something has gone terribly wrong, because the newly imported file seems to have calculated the "as the crow flies" route.

To make things worse, the tutorial doesn't explain that when you export the route, you give up the very thing you pay for with RVTW - the RV safe directions! It is reasonable to think that the route you export (which was RV safe) will be safe when you import to Google Maps. Why would anyone think it changes? If so, it would be easier to just start in Google Maps in the first place!

This happened to me with nearly disastrous results on my way to Gettysburg when I found myself nearly stranded on an 11% uphill grade in my 35-year old Class A. She a good old bird but she doesn't like those steep hills. I use RVTW to avoid those gradients (Side Note - a feature where you can avoid routes with gradients over a specific grade would be AMAZING - I have to look at the gradient and drag the route to see if I can make it better now)
When I imported and finally got a route in Google, I assumed it was the route I THOUGHT I exported.

I had to do a 6-point turn in a 16-ton, 35 foot bus on a two-lane road with no shoulder, blind corners, and an 11% grade. (PA likes to put grade warnings at the TOP of hills, but not at the bottoms!)

FIX THE RVTW EXPORT INSTRUCTIONS so they reflect what happens when someone exports please!

[cobia6620]

I gave up trying to export RVTW routes to anything after trying many years.

Now have a 38 ft Tiffin pulling a jeep wrangler so I'm very cautious what roads I travel on.
We are full timing senior citizens that travel 8 months of the year so trip and route planning crucial
I always have mental route pictured while driving and have paper map close buy if GPS fails.
We stay almost exclusively at state parks where roads are iffy with many low hanging trees.
Campground, campsite selection and route planning a challenge. Most of the time I do ok but not always. Turning this thing around on narrow roads not easy
Planning gas stops and jeep disconnect and connect locations also very important not being able to back this rig up connected to the jeep

What works for me:
---- Have a rough idea of what campgrounds I want to stay at
---- Travel only 3-5 hours per day
---- Stay at campgrounds 2-4 weeks at a time-- Monthly stays less than $500
---- Use campground photos, youtube, and anything I can find to pick
campsites that I fit and are easy to back into for each campground
---- Use RVTW to review each campground and let it chose routes
---- Alter route to avoid large cities and small roads
---- Select fuel stops close to destination so I have full tank while camping
---- Here I use google maps, google earth and street view to review all turns
and stops
----- Once a campground is selected for each night I make reservations on
phone if possible. Mississippi- you have to call campground to get
monthly rates
---- After a campground is confirmed for each night I use a Garmin RV GPS
to see what route it selects then shape the route as required to match
what I created on RVTW, if possible
---- Save route in GPS and have ready when needed
---- Have found zoom function not as precise while shaping route as it is
when reviewing route on map???

Love Garmin RV GPS 890 but it's not perfect. If it malfunctions I have Iphone 12 with RV Life app to take over and get me to my destination. If no phone service and Garmin down back to paper maps
Will never use google map route driving a motorhome and never totally rely on electronic anything

[RcknRbn]

I stumbled on this thread doing a search for "why does my download only show straight black lines", and was surprised to see its an "undocumented feature" from 2+ years ago. I'm not sure if RV Life folks are still monitoring this or not, but here goes.

I am new to RV'ing, so I've been looking for ways to make things easier during my "learning curve". One thing I learned pretty quick - know where your gas stops are. Ended up rolling in to refuel with nothing more than fumes left, because I didn't know how much more gas i'd be using pulling this thing.

So for my next trip that is coming up - I decided to look in to planning options. On the surface,TW seemed like a great solution. I could set my mileage, tank size, and reserve - it would tell me where i needed to get gas, then I could see the stations close to that. So that was BRILLIANT!!

Except - not. I have an older truck that did not have navigation, so I opted to update the radio with an aftermarket solution that had CarPlay and AndroidAuto. Which the RV Life Pro app does not work right on. So everywhere on the web it says "download your gps/gpx file and import to a Google Map". So today, I signed up my free trial for TW and spent a while creating my route, my food stops, gas stops, etc. - only to find out I am not going to get a turn by turn in Google Maps without a lot of extra effort. Which is what I was thinking I would avoid if I paid for RV Life Trip Wizard.

More and more new vehicles are coming with CarPlay and AndroidAuto as an alternative to the "old" gps nav systems - so for the life of me I don't understand why RVLife programmers have not given alternate download options for people using Google Maps. You can have your fancy "new code" for gps systems, and go back to the way that worked for Google users. THAT would encourage me to fork over the money for a paid subscription. Otherwise, its just not worth it for me to have to do double the work.

Fix that, and you would have more than a few new subscribers. Until then, its a pass.

[Sue46]

When you have questions like this you should really contact support as we have the current information.


If you are going to export for Google Maps please use csv rather than gpx format.


We do support CarPlay and have for quite a while.


You receive 5 products with your single subscription (called RV LIFE Pro bundle):

All products come with a single subscription and all use the same logon credentials.

Once you have subscribed, ignore any additional requests for payment and logon with your credentials.

#1, #3, #4, and #5 are websites that you access from your web browser. #2 is our mobile app.

1) RV LIFE Trip Wizard, a web-based Trip Planning product accessed from your web browser at www.tripwizard.rvlife.com . This can be accessed from any device that has a web browser and internet connection. RV LIFE Trip Wizard is used to find campgrounds, fuel stops, points of interest, and plan your route.

2) RV LIFE app, a mobile app that will allow you to do real-time RV-friendly turn-by-turn offline navigation. This can be downloaded and installed on your mobile device from your phone store. RV LIFE usage and download is restricted to Canada, US and Mexico for legal reasons.
Remember, plan trips in RV LIFE Trip Wizard on the website, then access them via the RV LIFE app.

3) RV LIFE Maintenance, a web-based application that allows you to record and get maintenance reminders for your RV. Logon at https://maintenance.rvlife.com/

4) In addition, we have RV LIFE Campgrounds at www.campgrounds.rvlife.com, a crowd-sourced review of over 25,000 campgrounds. There is no cost for this product. You can use your RV LIFE Trip Wizard credentials to login here as well.

5) RV LIFE Masterclass: Online learning courses where RV experts share the best tips about purchasing your RV, transitioning to full-time in your RV, boondocking, and more.

The link below will take you to RV LIFE Masterclass, where you’ll be asked to set up a Teachable username and password—this is NOT the same username and password you use for your RV LIFE Pro account login.

https://courses.rvmasterclass.com/pu...uct_id=3939163


Videos that will demonstrate our product.

Creating Your First Trip with RV LIFE Trip Wizard
https://youtu.be/K9UFRiwHJeI


Driving Radius-RV LIFE Trip Wizard
https://youtu.be/FYzepkJRcbs

Using the RV LIFE GPS & Campgrounds App - RV LIFE Pro Product Training
https://youtu.be/8B5ubNvlLqM


Please contact support at support@rvlife.com if you have additional questions.


Safe Travels!!!!

[Mike8253]

Originally Posted by Sue46

When you have questions like this you should really contact support as we have the current information.


If you are going to export for Google Maps please use csv rather than gpx format.


We do support CarPlay and have for quite a while.


You receive 5 products with your single subscription (called RV LIFE Pro bundle):

All products come with a single subscription and all use the same logon credentials.

Once you have subscribed, ignore any additional requests for payment and logon with your credentials.

#1, #3, #4, and #5 are websites that you access from your web browser. #2 is our mobile app.

1) RV LIFE Trip Wizard, a web-based Trip Planning product accessed from your web browser at www.tripwizard.rvlife.com . This can be accessed from any device that has a web browser and internet connection. RV LIFE Trip Wizard is used to find campgrounds, fuel stops, points of interest, and plan your route.

2) RV LIFE app, a mobile app that will allow you to do real-time RV-friendly turn-by-turn offline navigation. This can be downloaded and installed on your mobile device from your phone store. RV LIFE usage and download is restricted to Canada, US and Mexico for legal reasons.
Remember, plan trips in RV LIFE Trip Wizard on the website, then access them via the RV LIFE app.

3) RV LIFE Maintenance, a web-based application that allows you to record and get maintenance reminders for your RV. Logon at https://maintenance.rvlife.com/

4) In addition, we have RV LIFE Campgrounds at www.campgrounds.rvlife.com, a crowd-sourced review of over 25,000 campgrounds. There is no cost for this product. You can use your RV LIFE Trip Wizard credentials to login here as well.

5) RV LIFE Masterclass: Online learning courses where RV experts share the best tips about purchasing your RV, transitioning to full-time in your RV, boondocking, and more.

The link below will take you to RV LIFE Masterclass, where you’ll be asked to set up a Teachable username and password—this is NOT the same username and password you use for your RV LIFE Pro account login.

https://courses.rvmasterclass.com/pu...uct_id=3939163


Videos that will demonstrate our product.

Creating Your First Trip with RV LIFE Trip Wizard
https://youtu.be/K9UFRiwHJeI


Driving Radius-RV LIFE Trip Wizard
https://youtu.be/FYzepkJRcbs

Using the RV LIFE GPS & Campgrounds App - RV LIFE Pro Product Training
https://youtu.be/8B5ubNvlLqM


Please contact support at support@rvlife.com if you have additional questions.


Safe Travels!!!!

Great summary! Should be helpful to all not familiar with all of the aspects of RVLife.

[timjet]

Originally Posted by RcknRbn

Snip
So everywhere on the web it says "download your gps/gpx file and import to a Google Map". So today, I signed up my free trial for TW and spent a while creating my route, my food stops, gas stops, etc. - only to find out I am not going to get a turn by turn in Google Maps without a lot of extra effort. Which is what I was thinking I would avoid if I paid for RV Life Trip Wizard.

Though you may have read you can download a gpx file created in a program like RVTW and have it display on Goggle Maps, that is not exactly correct. I started this thread several years ago and can't believe it has resurfaced. But anyway you need to understand how Google Maps, Garmin GPS's and other specific to a certain user mapping devices work. Google Maps is probably the most versatile mapping program available to the average user. But when you import a gpx route created in another program like RVTW, Google Maps uses the origination and destination points to create its own route between them completely ignoring the route created in the program you imported to Google maps.

So while a route created in RVTW that is RV friendly will import to Google Maps, the RV safe route will not. So the Google maps route may look very different than the RVTW route, as it should as Goggle maps is programmed to route a car, not a RV.

This question comes up a lot when trying to download a route created in RVTW to a Garmin GPS. The Garmin GPS uses it own routing algorithm to create a route that is RV safe. That's why you bought the GPS after all.

[JohnBike]

I’ve never understood the insistence on exposing oneself to the frustrations of making incompatible software apps play together. I have never had a problem exporting a trip from RVTW to GPS.

It’s easy. I plan the trip in RVTW. Then I input the day’s destination in the GPS.

It may be 2023, but sometimes the HCI* works better than the alternative.

*Human-Computer Interface.

[timjet]

Originally Posted by JohnBike

I’ve never understood the insistence on exposing oneself to the frustrations of making incompatible software apps play together. I have never had a problem exporting a trip from RVTW to GPS.

It’s easy. I plan the trip in RVTW. Then I input the day’s destination in the GPS.

It may be 2023, but sometimes the HCI* works better than the alternative.

*Human-Computer Interface.

^^^^ This


After several years of trying to understand why the route created in RVTW would not show up exactly the same as in my GPS, I finally now understand why. You bought a RV friendly GPS, why on earth would you want your GPS to display a route that may not be RV friendly. And folks that's exactly why you will never with any consistency be able to download a route from RVTW to a Garman GPS or Google map and expect it to display the route you created in RVTW.

[Alan_Hepburn]

The thing most people don't understand is that the gpx file does not include a route - all it includes are coordinates of each stop/waypoint. It is up to the routing engine used by the GPS/mapping app to determine the route taken between those points.

[cobia6620]

We now have been full timing 2 years with 9 months each year on the road. Route planning and navigation that works for us:
plan the trip in RVTW identifying gas and rest stops along with what campgrounds to stay at each night
MANUALLY recreate the trip and stops in a Garmin 890 that does enable shaping of a route
this works MOST of the time

just last week the Garmin failed to notify us of a turn until after we passed up the turn then it immediately told us to do a U turn on a small two lane road. It was impossible. I took the next side road which was a mistake as the Garmin told me to turn on a dirt road. With a 38 ft motorhome towing an extended cab jeep wrangler one must be cautious what roads are traveled.
Luckily I ignored the Garmin and was able to get back on the route safely.
It could of gotten very ugly

lesson relearned again: do not trust electronics 100% of the time

For 40 years I traveled the USA on a motorcycle using paper maps and all went well. Just relearned the lesson to memorize the route each morning and don't relay totally on the Garmin or any electronics

[Alan_Hepburn]

Originally Posted by cobia6620

just last week the Garmin failed to notify us of a turn until after we passed up the turn then it immediately told us to do a U turn on a small two lane road.

This is the main reason why I simply turn off the voice commands - it's a LOT easier to glance at the screen and see that your turn is coming up in 100 feet rather than relying on a noise-maker guiding you.

[tim myers]

Originally Posted by timjet

^^^^ This


After several years of trying to understand why the route created in RVTW would not show up exactly the same as in my GPS, I finally now understand why. You bought a RV friendly GPS, why on earth would you want your GPS to display a route that may not be RV friendly. And folks that's exactly why you will never with any consistency be able to download a route from RVTW to a Garman GPS or Google map and expect it to display the route you created in RVTW.

Actually there is a reason that this feature should work, at least in theory. I travel to the UP of Michigan every year for the Labor Day weekend. I am driving a 36' Winnebago Diesel pusher towing our CRV behind us, Almost 60' and 30,000#.

The last three years Munising and Marquette have been rebuilding their roads to include multiple round-a-bouts. Our friends that we visit in the UP always report on the condition of the roadways through those areas, and we have developed an alternate route that takes us around those construction areas.

RVTW routes us through those cities, but by using the "Drag Route" feature I can plan our trip in RVTW avoiding them.

Trying to export/import these custom routes is painful as my Garmin RV760 doesn't know what to do with the data from RVTW. The funny thing is that RVParky's exports worked perfectly for me for years before I subscribed to RVTW.


I agree fully that I should not be trying to usurp the safe routing my Garmin gps offers. If RVTW could simply input the waypoints, my 760 should handle the rest. Is that too much to ask?


When I have asked, I have been told I should be using the RVTW GPS routing module. Now I ask, why would I want to squint my eyes to see my phone when I have a Garmin GPS with voice command and a much bigger screen? Least of all the fact that the RVTW GPS app is painful to use.


I am sure it sounds like I do not like my RVTW app, that is simply not true, I absolutely love it, I teach others how to use it more fully on my discord server, and think it is a fantastic app. It is just lacking in this one area, and I will continue to try to figure out how to make it work.


For now, I will plan my trips in RVTW, and simply put my destination into my Garmin RV760 for true navigation.