Searching for campgrounds in google maps

mandt

We have a route to Big Bend national park in google maps. Is there a way to search for campgrounds along a route in google maps?

pthomas745

You can zoom in to part of the route you want to search. 

On the map direction page, in the blue box on the left upper corner:

 Click on the X:  "Close Directions".

You will then be back to the search box for the area of the map you zoomed in on.

Type "campground" (or what you are searching for) in the search box, and it will display results on that section of the map.

pthomas745

                                              Click the X in the blue box to "Close Directions."

And you return to the search box for the area of the map you zoomed to.  I suppose it would work for the entire route, too.

blackc2004

I use these two sites to find camp grounds:
http://www.uscampgrounds.info/
https://freecampsites.net

DougH

And apps "Ultimate Campgrounds (UC) Public CG" , "WikiCamps" , and "Park Advisor" ($), along with web site Campendium, and those already mentioned.  Then always Google Maps / Earth to look at the bird's eye closeup for trees, views of nearby lake / mountain / etc.  Then I paste the GPS coordinates into a detailed off-line topographic map app.  Sheesh that sure sounds convoluted just to find a free place to park. 

mandt

I was hoping to see the route and the campgrounds both displayed at the same time.

ChanW

You can use Google Maps' 'search along route' function, by clicking the magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner, after you have set your route and 'Started' navigating.

However it only seems to show the relatively nearby targets, maybe those within an hour?

I think you would have to use the method that @pthomas745 outlined, to get campgrounds listed that are closer to your day's destination.

mandt

Thanks ChanW

ChanW

I've done a little bit more checking with Google maps. it actually works a little bit better than what I said above. It will find the campgrounds at your end-point.

First, set your day's destination city or area, using Maps search function. Then click on 'Directions'. You'll see the place to enter your Destination and Starting Point. Enter your starting point (click the up-arrow/down-arrow icon to flip destination and starting point).

Once you have your Destination and Starting Point set, you'll see the 'options menu' icon (three-vertical-dots icon) right next to the Starting Point that you typed in. 

If you  click that icon, you'll see a selection to 'Add Stop'. If you enter 'campground' as an added stop, it will show all the campgrounds around your destination!

Kinda cool!

MuttonChops

mandt said:

I was hoping to see the route and the campgrounds both displayed at the same time.

Give FURKOT a try.  It is free but does require login. I'm still learning its features, seems very complete and can even output your Travel Plan in a spreadsheet.csv file.

https://trips.furkot.com/ 

mandt

Found an app that does what I want... I think. It’s called Roadtrippers. Shows camping along route. And it is simple to use. 

ChanW

I played with Google Maps a little more. It's actually pretty useful. 

I found that Google Maps will find campgrounds nearby whatever your most recent selected destination point is. 

So if you 'add a stop' of your expected day's end location, maybe for example "Delaware Ohio", and then do an additional 'add a stop' specifying "campground", hit the magnifying glass to search, it will show all campgrounds around Delaware Ohio, on the map!

That seems to be the way it works, whatever you entered as your last stop, it will show search results around that location. 

Pretty handy. There have been many times when we could have used that ability.

mandt

Yeah that is a pretty handy tip. 

Sharon_is_SAM

Google Maps has nice changes for National Parks including a better display of hiking trails and better park navigation.  

https://www.rvtravel.com/google-maps-introduces-game-changing-updates-national-parks-1100b/

elbolillo

I use an app called FreeRoam. It is helpful for finding free spots to overnight along with campgrounds.

bergger

We travel with our Garmin Overlander GPS and it is pre-loaded with iOverlander and Ultimate Public Campgrounds.  It has tens of thousands of campsites, from public boondock sites to KOAs and everything in between.  It's been so useful finding not only pay sites but finding us some awesome boondock sites as well. And it even does turn by turn directions for boondock sites.  You can use iOverlander for free on your computer as well but it's nice having that and the Ultimate Public Campgrounds built into a GPS unit.  It also can show historic sites along your route that you may otherwise drive by.  It's been fun to have for our trips. 

Blueespy

We use RVTRIPWIZARD and in the filters section, select all the various camp sites. 

sportcoupe

I have had hit and miss with searching for "campground" in google maps while traveling.

I changed my search term to "RV resort" and got much better selections, using weeding out the long term type campgrounds. 

Blueespy

We use RVTRIPWIZARD and have been happy with it thus far.  We live in FL and one of our goals has been to visit/stay in every Florida State Park.  When planning trips to accomplish this I found some FL State Parks were missing from RVTRIPWIZARD and some id'd as State Parks are not officially recognized as State Parks (from their website or from the State Parks map/booklet we have).  Learned from tech support that a lot of what is id'd is from users of the app.  You can submit via a form a camp site etc.  It is reviewed and if approved, annotated on the app.  They couldn't answer the question as to why they approved a camp ground as a State Park when it's not.