A very cool new Planning Tool

[Mark Sedenquist]

I meant to post this link earlier, but I forgot -- but it can be a very useful tool for checking your ISP's performance. The way it works, it pings routers in some of the key USA areas and then uploads and downloads a simple text file. It's sorta of fun to see the differences.

Mark

[Mark Sedenquist]

This site provides real time traffic reports for most metropolitan cities in the USA. Click on any of the cities identified and then you can drill down to current congestion points, events that could affect traffic, weather and lots of other cool bits of information.

They are experimenting with a new version of this trip planner -- check out the beta here. They offer a telephone update service and I would love some field reports from you about the efficacy of this kind of service.

Hey! You gotta check this out. One of the tools here is something called "fastest drive now" For a trial, I put in coordinates from my Las Vegas office to a field office in Pasadena, California. I know this road very, very well. Surprisingly, it didn't route the entire way along I-15 (the normal road), but instead chose to go east to US-95 and then back to I-15. Normally, this would be a glaring error -- but it turns out that due to construction work in Mountain Pass + the rain right now --I think the program is probably correct. Very Impressive!

Try it for your local drives and post your results below!

Mark

[Mark Sedenquist]

I am not sure how to use it yet -- but look at TravelSkoot.com -- but it looks like a fun way to share road trip tips with the greater mapping communities out there.

Give it a try and see what you think.

Mark

(A minute after I posted it here and on Twitter, the site went down.... weird).

[Mark Sedenquist]

We decided to more the Bellhop.com's posts into a new dedicated thread -- you can find them here.

Mark

[RalphZero]

This is very helpful.
However:
It has the incorrect MPG for my car. It's assuming the car has an automatic transmission.
I have 5 speed manual transmission. Manual Transmission cars ALWAYS get at leat 15% better gas mileage than an automatic trans. I can get about 33/34 mpg on the highway from this car.

Other things that lower a car's mpg are cruise control, air conditioning and the engine going past 3000 rpms. If I stay at 75 m/h, the engine stays at about 2750 rpms. Driving like this with no cruise or AC, I can get close to 40mpg.

[glc]

Manual Transmission cars ALWAYS get at leat 15% better gas mileage than an automatic trans.

This used to be the case before electronically controlled transmissions with lockup torque converters. It is no longer ALWAYS true, and sometimes automatics get BETTER mileage.

Other things that lower a car's mpg are cruise control, air conditioning and the engine going past 3000 rpms.

A/C and high rpm's - true - as long as you can comfortably drive the car with the A/C off and the windows closed. Cruise? Only if you are very skilled and don't mind aggravating other drivers with constant speed increases and decreases - and the concentration doesn't tire you out. I have a 5 speed in my truck and ALWAYS use the cruise out on the highways. If I didn't, I would get tired a LOT quicker.

[Mark Sedenquist]

The folks from the tourism board for South Carolina have created a resource guide for attractions in South Carolina. It's pretty cool and has some good information for anyone considering travel in South Carolina this year. A part of the promotion is a scorecard-like list of special events -- including a bunch of free ones.

Mark