How to Plan a Trip With Google Maps

"Practice Run" map zoomed in on Honey Harbour

Every trip needs some sort of plan, ranging from a vague direction with no restrictions, to deadlines with prebooked hotels.  I fall somewhere in the middle, I think.  My general rule for motorcycle trips is I do not like to prebook anything.  That leaves me free to stop where I feel like at any time, or to move on at any time.  Other than that rule, I do like to plan a trip.  My planning consists of reading maps of where I want to go, and finding places I would like to stop.  Specifically, when motorcycling, I need to find places to sleep, and places to eat, and some interesting things to see or do.

My kind of planning does not seem that complicated, but the more you do it, the more you realize how much work it takes.  This year I have started to use Google Maps, and for the first time I will be taking a computer that I can connect to the Internet.

I will try to run through an example of how I use Google Maps to plan a trip.  I have been using the feature of setting up a "map".  When you set up a map, you can name the map and add to it all the locations you choose.  I have set up a map called "Practice Run"

http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=ca&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=205381343421711334250.0004b9c41a4564aad4d52

The places on this map meet a complex set of criteria that Google could never do alone, so it took me hours to weed through many possibilities and create the map of campgrounds and cafes or restaurants.

When we camp by motorcycle, we don't bring cooking stuff, and we don't bring comfortable chairs.  So when I get up in the morning, and I am not in any rush to get to Vancouver, I just want to go to a nearby cafe, preferably with a view of the lake, and just sit there looking at boats and other scenery. So I chose most of these camping spots because they had waterside cafes nearby.  Everybody has their own preferences, so I don't expect to find a map like this already set up on the Internet for me.

I was looking for campgrounds that have tent sites, that are near cafes and near the Georgian Bay or Lake Huron.  To create this map, I would first search for a town on the lake, say "Owen Sound".  Then click on "search nearby".  A search box opens, and I would type in "camping", and click search. A whole bunch of pins pop up related to camping near Owen Sound.  I click on the ones I think are promising (near the water or whatever).  A new page pops up giving any information Google Maps has about the place, which is usually not much. Then I do a bit of independent research, usually using Google, on that location. Sometimes I use Google streetview if it's available.  If the place looks OK, I will come back to the campground page and click on "save to map".  Then I select my existing map "Practice Run", or "new map" if I want to start another one), and click "save".  Next I click on "search nearby" (this meaning nearby the campsite I have selected)  and enter "cafe" to help me pick some likely cafes.  After I make sure they are the type I like, I click again on "save to map".

When I have accumulated many possible places to go, I can edit my map.  This allows me to change the map name, the location names, to add notes to the map and to the locations, and to even change the shape of the push-pins.  So I chose  coffee cup for cafes and a tent icon for tent camping.  By editing the map I can also delete some places that I am no longer interested in.

None of this planning is perfect, but it helps me to see where everything is. If I had more time, I could refine the map further adding more criteria like "free WIFI" for example.  Next step would be to load up the motorcycles and just go somewhere on this map, for a "practice run".