Truck Stops Plus Tips & Tricks

Truck Stops Plus

Tips & Tricks

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Tip:

Personalize your Truck Stops Plus 2010 template by setting up your shippers & consignees locations, company terminal locations, drop lot locations, low weight limit bridge locations, restricted route locations, low clearance locations, etc. Download the Shippers & Consignees Instructions.pdf. Don't worry when you upgrade in the future to a later version of the Truck Stops Plus template, it is very easy to import your personalized database into the newer versions of the Truck Stops Plus template.

To export your personal database out of your previous versions of the Truck Stops Plus templates, open up the Legend and Overview pane in your previous Truck Stops Plus template version, right click a data set that you want to export, for instance a data set you may have named shippers and consignees, when the quick menu appears, choose copy from the quick menu.

Next, go to the Truck Stops Plus 2010 template that you should also open up in another separate window, click the Edit menu and then Paste to import the data set into the Truck Stops Plus 2010 template. Repeat as necessary depending on the number of data sets you need to import.

Once you have imported all of your data sets, make the changes permanent by saving the Truck Stops Plus 2010 template as a .stt template file per the instructions contained in the Truck Stops Plus help file that you can easily access via the H icon in the Atlantic Ocean. The customized data sets you created are now imported into the Truck Stops Plus 2010 template and will be accessible the next time you open up the Truck Stops Plus 2010 template.

(If you also set up avoid area boxes that you also want to keep, send us an email at info@truckstopsplus.com and we will email back step-by-step instructions for you.)

Tip:

When in navigation and guidance mode, switch to the “use dynamic turn view” feature anytime you are within less than 50 miles away from your next stop or final destination. However, whenever you are farther out than 50 miles, set the display to “keep position centered” and then zoom in to between 10 and 20 miles, with 12 to 15 miles generally being the best settings depending on your personal preferences. This will make viewing the POIs that you are approaching as you are driving, like truck stops, rest areas, turnpike service plazas, weigh stations, etc. much easier to view but at the same time you will also still be able to see them for many miles out ahead in advance.

Tip:

New! You can hide specific data sets of POIs or hide all data sets of POIs simultaneously, but you must update to the 2010 version of Microsoft Streets & Trips or MapPoint in order to have this new capability.

To hide specific data sets of POIs, in Streets & Trips or MapPoint open up the Legend and Overview pane, in the Legend and Overview pane double click the data set of POIs you want to hide or alternatively right click the data set of POIs and choose Properties from the quick menu to bring up the properties dialogue box. When the data set properties dialogue box appears, place a check mark in the "hide this pushpin set" check box and click OK. The data set of POIs will now become hidden.

To unhide the data set of POIs, in the Legend and Overview pane, double click the data set of POIs you want to unhide or alternatively right click the data set of POIs and choose Properties from the quick menu to bring up the properties dialogue box. When the data set properties dialogue box appears, remove the check mark from the check box for "hide this pushpin set" and click OK. The previously hidden data set of POIs will reappear.

To hide all data sets of POIs simultaneously, open up the Legend and Overview pane, at the top of the Legend and Overview pane right click where it says Pushpins, a "hide all pushpin sets" menu option will appear, click it and all the data sets of POIs will simultaneously disappear and be hidden from view. This is a very useful feature for when you want to check over your routes.

To unhide all data sets of POIs simultaneously, open up the Legend and Overview pane, at the top of the Legend and Overview pane right click where it says Pushpins, a "show all pushpin sets" menu option will appear, click it and all the data sets of POIs will simultaneously reappear and no longer be hidden from view.

For those of you still using the earlier versions of Streets & Trips or MapPoint than the 2010 version, you can download our Creating Customized Maps.pdf. to learn how to create customized maps.

Tip:

Do you know that you can multitask? Open up several instances of the Truck Stops Plus 2010 template and leave the ones that you aren’t using minimized and running in the background until you need them. For instance, you may open up a couple of instances of the current .est trip file that you are currently working with and a couple of instances of blank and unsaved .est trip files and leave them minimized and running in the background. Then if you should need them in the course of a day for any reason like in the event that you have to make an unexpected detour, or if you want to check mileages between two points real quickly, or if you want to locate a truck stop real fast, or if you want to decide to accept a preplan or not, then they are readily available, so thus all you have to do is maximize them and at the same time you won't disturb the current .est trip file you are using for navigation. Hence, you can multitask and do several jobs at the same time simultaneously and you can't do that with a portable GPS standalone unit.

Tip:

Find, locate, and route to the nearest truck stop with truck scales far easier and in a fraction of the time that it takes using a truck stop guide and Motor Carrier Road Atlas. Maximize one of the blank .stt templates that you should always keep minimized at the bottom of your Windows desktop for such chores. Just right click on your current location or a location that you anticipate being at, when the quick menu comes up, select Route, and then click Add as Start from the sub menu. Next, right click on the same spot again and when the quick menu comes up, click Find Nearby Places. Instantly, the Find Nearby Places Pane will appear on the left side of the display with an alphabetical listing of every point of interest located within a 50-mile radius. Just open up the listings, go through the listings, the truck stops in the listings are sorted from nearest to farthest, and when you find a truck stop with a truck scale that will work for you, right click it, from the quick menu choose Route and then click Add as Stop or Add as End from the sub menu, depending on the situation, and bam you are in business. Next, just right click it again, select Route from the quick menu and then click Get Directions from the sub menu to create a route. Now you are ready to go!

Tip:

You can quickly and easily add truck stops, rest areas, turnpike service plazas, etc. to your route that you want to stop at by simply right clicking them on the map and when the quick menu comes up, choosing Route, and then clicking Add as Stop from the sub menu. After the stop has been added, then right click it again and choose Route from the quick menu, then click Get Directions from the sub menu. The route is now recalculated with the addition of the new stop that you added.

Tip:

Learning to use avoid area boxes can really be very handy and you can use them for a variety of situations to force Microsoft Streets & Trips to route the way you need it to. For instance, anytime Microsoft Streets & Trips routes you through the center of a city but instead you really need to travel around the perimeter of the city, add an avoid area box to the center of the city to force Microsoft Streets & Trips to route you around it. Then save it permanently in your Truck Stops Plus 2010 template. Next time you route through that city again, Microsoft Streets & Trips will route you around the perimeter.

Tip:

Use avoid area boxes to prevent Microsoft Streets & Trips from routing down HOV lanes. Use avoid area boxes to prevent this nuisance from happening again and then save them permanently in your Truck Stops Plus 2010 template. You can also use avoid area boxes to prevent Microsoft Streets & Trips from routing down restricted routes or to avoid known low clearance locations and also save them permanently in your Truck Stops Plus 2010 template.

Tip:

Use avoid area boxes anytime you pickup or deliver to a particular shipper or consignee repeatedly but because of its location you can only take one truck specific route in and out of that particular location. In that situation, you can use avoid area boxes to block off all other routes in and out in order to force Microsoft Streets & Trips to always route you via the truck specific route only and then save it permanently in your Truck Stops Plus 2010 template. Next time you have to go back to that particular place again, Microsoft Streets & Trips will only route you via the truck specific route that you created.

Tip:

An easy way to find avoid area boxes that you need to remove for whatever reason is to switch the display to night view and the avoid area boxes will then glow yellow in the dark making seeing and finding them very easy.

Tip:

To save avoid area boxes permanently in your Truck Stops Plus 2010 template, configure them as needed first. Then after they are configured and have been tested, save them permanently by clicking File to open up the File Menu and when the File Menu comes up, choose Save As. When the Save As dialogue box comes up, change to the .stt (map template) file format in the “save as type” box by clicking the down arrow and choosing the .stt (map template) file. Next, migrate to the location of your Truck Stops Plus 2010 template file at C:\Program Files\Truck Stops Plus 2010\Truck Stops Plus 2010.stt and then click the Save button. The avoid area box will be permanently saved in your Truck Stops Plus 2010 template.

Tip:

To remove avoid area boxes from the Truck Stops Plus template, click any open spot inside of an avoid area box to highlight it, the curser changes into a square four pointer curser indicating that you can move the avoid area box in any direction. Hit the delete key and the avoid area box is deleted. Alternatively, you can also right click in any open spot inside of them, when the quick menu comes up, remove the check mark from the Avoid Area menu selection by clicking it. This will leave darken lines outlining the perimeter of the avoid area box on the map. Click anywhere on the darkened lines and then hit the Delete Key on your keyboard. The darkened outline will disappear. Then if you want the changes to remain permanent, save the Truck Stops Plus 2010 as a (.stt) map template file to make the changes permanent using the same process as described above.

Tip:

To make large avoid area boxes that appear too bright during night view navigation less bright you can change its color by clicking on any vacant spot inside the avoid area box to select it, then from the drawing tool bar below, click the down arrow on the “fill color” tool. (The “fill color” tool is the bucket icon on the tool bar that appears to be about to pour out paint.) A color pallet will appear above the “fill color” tool after you click on the down arrow, select the darkest shade of green. The avoid area box will then change to the same shade of green that you selected on the color pallet. Then if you want the changes to remain permanent, save the Truck Stops Plus 2010 as a template (.stt) file to make the changes permanent using the same process as described above.

Tip:

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