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Planning_Your_First_Route

🗺️ Tutorial: Planning Your First Route

Section titled “🗺️ Tutorial: Planning Your First Route”

This tutorial takes you from a blank map to a complete multi-stop route with driving estimates, weather intel, and navigation ready to go.

Time required: 5–10 minutes
What you’ll need: At least two destination ideas (even rough areas are fine)

Step 1: Open the Trip Planner

Section titled “Step 1: Open the Trip Planner”
  1. Open the Spots tab
  2. Tap Plan a Route (the route icon in the toolbar or the prompt in the centre of the screen if no spots are loaded)

A blank map opens with “New Trip Draft” in the navigation bar. This is your working draft — it saves automatically as you add waypoints.

Step 2: Add Your Starting Point

Section titled “Step 2: Add Your Starting Point”

Long-press on the map at approximately where you’re starting from. A dialog appears:

  • Tap Add as Custom Waypoint

A purple pin drops at that location. The name is auto-filled using reverse geocoding — if it says something generic like “Unnamed Road”, don’t worry; you can leave it as-is or rename it from the route sheet.

Your first waypoint appears as a purple “1” circle on the map, and a small bottom sheet slides up beneath the map.

Step 3: Add Your First Destination

Section titled “Step 3: Add Your First Destination”

You can add the next stop two ways:

Option A — Drop a pin manually: Long-press your destination area on the map and tap Add as Custom Waypoint again.

Option B — Pick a Spot from the Vault: If you have a Spot pack loaded, tap any green/teal/red/indigo pin on the map to open its Reconnaissance sheet, then tap Add to Route at the bottom.

Either way, a “2” circle appears and a route line calculates between the two points. The bottom sheet now shows your estimated total drive time and distance.

Step 4: Add More Stops (Optional)

Section titled “Step 4: Add More Stops (Optional)”

Repeat Step 3 for every additional destination. Each new stop is numbered in order and the route extends through all waypoints. The total time, distance, and estimated fuel cost in the sheet header update with each addition.

Tip: You can reorder stops at any time. Expand the route sheet to full-screen, then tap and hold a waypoint row and drag it to its new position.

Step 5: Fine-Tune Your Routing Preferences

Section titled “Step 5: Fine-Tune Your Routing Preferences”

In the horizontal scroll bar at the top of the route sheet, check the routing toggles:

  • Tolls — toggle off to avoid toll roads (text shows with strikethrough when active avoidance is on)
  • Motorways — toggle off to take smaller roads (useful if your van is better suited to slower, scenic routes or if you want to avoid height/weight restrictions on certain motorways)

The route recalculates whenever you change these settings.

Step 6: Scout for Spots Along the Route

Section titled “Step 6: Scout for Spots Along the Route”

Once your route is calculated, tap the 🔭 binoculars icon in the top-right of the route sheet header:

  1. Choose a corridor width — start with Scout 10km
  2. Wait a moment while the engine searches

Vault spots within 10km of your route appear as pins on the map. This is your chance to spot a free aire you can use for the night, or a grey waste dump that fits naturally into your journey without a significant detour.

Tap any scouted pin to open its Reconnaissance sheet and add it to your route if it looks good.

Step 7: Check Route Conditions

Section titled “Step 7: Check Route Conditions”

Tap the Conditions button (purple cloud icon in the route sheet scroll bar) to fetch weather and solar data for your departure point and next stop.

Review the weather cards:

  • Is it going to rain at your next destination when you arrive?
  • What time does the sun set there?
  • Is an unexpected altitude making the temperature misleading?

If the conditions look off, you can add a different overnight stop using the Vault pins now loaded from Scout.

Step 8: Navigate to Your First Stop

Section titled “Step 8: Navigate to Your First Stop”

When you’re ready to set off:

  1. Expand the route sheet if it’s at half-height
  2. Locate Waypoint 1 (your starting point) — it shows the navigation controls because it’s the active waypoint
  3. Tap the → arrow turn circle to launch navigation in your default navigation app (Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze, etc.)

If you haven’t set a default navigation app yet, a one-time picker appears — choose your preferred app.

Step 9: Mark Stops as Visited

Section titled “Step 9: Mark Stops as Visited”

As you arrive at each stop during your journey:

  1. Open the Spots tab and the Trip Planner (your draft is saved)
  2. Find the waypoint you’ve just reached in the route sheet
  3. Tap the 🏁 flag + checkered circle to mark it as visited

The waypoint turns green, the route advances to the next stop, and the navigation controls move to the next pending waypoint.

Step 10: Save Your Draft (Optional)

Section titled “Step 10: Save Your Draft (Optional)”

Tap Save Plan in the navigation bar at any time to save the draft with its current state. You can rename the draft at the top of the sheet to something memorable like “French Riviera Loop” before saving.

You’re Done!

Section titled “You’re Done!”

You now know how to build a complete vanlife route from scratch. As you use the Spots Vault more and import datasets, the Trip Planner becomes even more powerful — your entire curated database of park-ups is instantly available as Scout results and browsable pins whenever you’re planning a journey.

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