Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Will the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template work with Microsoft MapPoint too?
Q. Will you update the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template in the future?
Q. Can you import your shippers and consignees, company terminals, drop lots, avoid area boxes, and any other items you may have personally added to customize your previous versions of the Truck Stops Plus Template into the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template?
Q. Is not having truck specific routing software a major problem?
Q. What's better a laptop solution or a portable standalone GPS device?
Q. Can’t you download free points of interest readily available on the Internet that will do the same thing that the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template does?
A. The biggest difference between the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template and the several free POI downloads that are readily available on the Internet is the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template is pinpoint accurate because it has been professionally geocoded for precision, whereas the free POI downloads available on the Internet are not even close to being accurate. As a matter of fact, not only does the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template provide the largest, most comprehensive, and up to date truck specific POI database available anywhere today, it also provides the only truck specific POI database that is accurate and professional enough to be relied upon by professional drivers of commercial motor vehicles.
In addition, what other POI database available for download free on the Internet also lets you easily check the names of the trucks stops, their specific location information, whether or not they charge for overnight parking, whether they are a small, medium, or large truck stop, whether or not they have a truck scale, whether they do major & minor repairs, minor repairs only, or no repairs at all, whether or not they have showers, also includes the phone numbers for all truckstops in the USA, Canada, and now also Alaska, and with respect to the major chain truck stops, also indicates the food offerings as well? The answer is none. Only the Truck Stops Plus add-on template does those things and does those things well!
What other free POI database accurately gives the address information, the phone numbers, and the pinpoint accurate locations for Wal-Mart Supercenters, including the ones that allow overnight parking and the ones that do not? What other free POI database accurately gives you the name and location information of all turnpike service plazas, their parking size, whether they have a truck scale or no truck scale, and their food offerings? What other free POI database accurately indexes the address information and phone numbers for independent truck washes, Blue Beacon truck washes, Truckomat "Iowa 80" truck washes, all Speedco locations, and fast food restaurants with truck parking?
Q. Will the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template work with Microsoft MapPoint too?
A. The Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template will work with both Microsoft Streets & Trips and MapPoint. For configuring the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template to work with MapPoint please download the following PDF file: Step-by-step instructions for converting a Streets & Trips *.stt (Map template file) to a *.ptt (Map template file) for MapPoint so that the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template will work with MapPoint. (MapPoint Step-by-step.pdf)
Q. Will you update the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template in the future?
A. Yes the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template is continuously updated on an ongoing basis and then released for sale on an annual basis. The current version of the Truck Stops Plus Template is the Truck Stops Plus 2012 and it will work with the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and later versions of Microsoft Streets & Trips and MapPoint, as the Map Template (*.stt) file is forward compatible but not backwards compatible. Therefore, for those drivers still using the 2006 versions of Microsoft Streets & Trips or MapPoint and earlier, you will first have to upgrade to at least the 2007 version or later in order to use the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template.
Q. Can you import your shippers and consignees, company terminals, drop lots, avoid area boxes, and any other items you may have personally added to customize your previous versions of the Truck Stops Plus Template into the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template?
A. The answer is yes if you set them up correctly using data sets. To export them out of your previous versions of the Truck Stops Plus Templates, please download the Personalize Truck Stops Plus.pdf for step-by-step instructions. Also, please see the first tip on our Tips & Tricks webpage.
Q. Do you have to have Internet connectivity in order to be able to check for Restricted Routes and Low Clearances from the convenience of your laptop screen?
A. No an Internet connection is not required to be able to quickly check for Restricted Routes and Low Clearances from the convenience of your laptop screen.
Q. If you use Microsoft Streets & Trips for routing and trip planning ONLY can you still use the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template?
A. Yes many professional drivers who use Microsoft Streets & Trips for routing and trip planning only and not for navigation purposes also buy the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template anyway because it is a very powerful high tech combination truck stop guide and Wal-Mart Supercenter locator tool, among other things, and because with the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template you can search and route to truck stops, Wal-Mart Supercenters, turnpike service plazas, rest areas, and other trucking specific POIs much easier and faster than you ever dreamed possible.
The Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template will also find truck stops that you had no idea were nearby and then create a route to it at the click of a button, thereby saving you time and money. Every professional driver on the road today will save money and benefit tremendously by using the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template and especially in these days of skyrocketing fuel prices!
Q. Will Microsoft Streets & Trips with the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template give you the ability to do truck specific routing?
A. No the truth is no product currently on the market today can be relied upon entirely to do truck specific routing. Even the ones that today advertise that they do truck specific routing actually do pseudo truck routing and will often times route you down restricted route roads and roads with low clearances. Therefore, no routing and GPS navigation solution sold today can be relied upon totally to do truck specific routing. As a matter of fact, if you set Microsoft Streets & Trips to route primarily via major highways, it will do just as good a job pseudo truck routing as the products that charge a premium price. Therefore, don't waste your money paying for something you are not really going to get.
However, because the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template contains easy to access hyperlinks to restricted routes and low clearances browser web pages, you will have the ability to quickly check your routes very easily right from the convenience of your laptop screen and then to make adjustments to your routes if necessary, making it much simpler and quicker too do than using a Motor Carrier Road Atlas.
In addition, the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template contains the largest, most comprehensive, and the most accurate searchable trucking specific POI database available today, and its POI database is not only pinpoint accurate, it is the only trucking specific POI database that is tailored to provide professional drivers with the pertinent information they need the most. It is also the only solution currently available today that lets you see the exact locations of individual POIs on the map while you are trip planning and also as you are driving down the roads of America and Canada.
Q. Is not having truck specific routing software a major problem?
A. Not really, if it was that big of an issue, then no one would be using routing and GPS navigation software, but the reality is more and more professional drivers are using it everyday as more and more professional drivers come to learn and realize the many benefits. Talk to any professional driver that has been using any of the routing and GPS navigation software solutions on the market for a long time and they will tell you that not having a dependable product that can be relied upon entirely for truck specific routing is not that big of an issue. For one thing, most trucking companies today will supply you with a legal truck route that they want you to follow anyway. So all you have to do is sync the route in Microsoft Streets & Trips with the company supplied legal truck route, save it, and bam you are in business.
Moreover, many owner operators also routinely trim many miles off of the company supplied truck routes via Microsoft Streets & Trips and then checking their shorter routes for restricted routes and low clearances to make sure they are legal for 18 wheelers. With the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template you have a very easy and fast way to quickly check for restricted routes and low clearances right from the convenience of your laptop screen.
Q. With the Truck Stops Plus 2012 Template, how do you check for pertinent information on each of the truck stops and Wal-Mart Supercenters contained in the template?
A. Easy all you have to do is right click any individual point of interest on the map that you are interested in finding information about, when the quick menu appears, click "show name". Alternatively, after the quick menu appears, you can also click "properties". Both menu options will show you the pertinent information that you need for each of the individual points of interest.
Additionally, when searching with the “Find Nearby Places” feature you can access the same information after expanding the data sets and then by clicking the individual points of interest in the “Find Nearby Places Pane” on the left side of the display, which will highlight that individual point of interest on the map making it and its location easy to view and also simultaneously causing a text box to pop up on the map next to each one of the points of interest that you click on containing the pertinent information also. Moreover, you can also hover the curser over each of the individual points of interest contained in the “Find Nearby Places Pane” to quickly see the pertinent information displayed as well, or, finally you can simply make the “Find Nearby Places Pane” wider to easily access the pertinent information as well.
Q. What's better a laptop solution or a portable standalone GPS device?
A. The laptop is a much better solution because besides giving you a much larger panoramic view that you will appreciate and that you can’t get otherwise with a small portable standalone GPS device, it’s also a much more flexible solution because with a laptop you can multi-task by, for example, opening up several instances of Microsoft Streets & Trips simultaneously and keeping the ones that you are not immediately using minimized and running in the background, then use them when the need arises for several different jobs simultaneously. For instance, one job, of course, would be for GPS navigation and guidance, another one might be for quickly figuring mileages between different points, another one might be for creating new routes around unexpected detours, another one could be for searching and routing to truck stops and Wal-Mart Supercenters quickly, another one could be for deciding to accept or decline preplans, and so on. The laptop gives you a level of flexibility and convenience that just isn’t available with portable standalone GPS devices, also making you much more efficient.
Further, you also can’t cruise the Internet, check your email, do instant messaging, watch movies, download music, etc. either with a portable standalone GPS device. Not to mention that you will also want to download a licensed copy of the Drivers Daily Log in order to keep the safety department and the DOT off your back.
In addition, one of the primary justifications for purchasing a portable standalone GPS device cited by professional drivers is so they won't have to purchase a laptop. However, if you buy one of those standalone so-called truck specific GPS devices that only does pseudo truck routing, you also are required to have a laptop and an Internet connection to do the constant updates these units require. Therefore, not only is the justification for going with a portable standalone GPS device thus defeated, but it is also a far more expensive alternative as well because you not only have to have a laptop but you also have to maintain Internet access to receive the constant updates.
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