Archie's Camping??

[Woodtourer]

Trying to understand how to use it. It is used in Cycle Travel but how does it work? Does it just show you the location or is there more information available such as contact info? I can't seem to figure it.

[Isotonicake]

The way I've used it, which has been quite successful is to load all the campsites into my garmin as POI's. Each day on a cycle tour, my wife & I will stop off around 3ish for a beer / glass of wine. At that point we will load up archies POI's and decide if we want to go to the site 5km up the road or 20km.

Only had two days/sites which turned out not to exist.

Note we have only used it in France where there is a municipal site every handful of km's...

[yutkoxpo]

Trying to understand how to use it. It is used in Cycle Travel but how does it work? Does it just show you the location or is there more information available such as contact info? I can't seem to figure it.

I'm not sure where exactly your problem exists, so I'll go right back to the start.

Open your route.
Under "Hotels & Campsites" select Camping
Click "Find"
Now you should see green icons showing whatever campsites are along your route, (or section of route if a long one)
Click on the green icon that you want and you get the name of the Campsite and a phone number.

At this stage, if you have online access, you can search the name on Google maps and get more information.
I do not have the app which I presume also gives more information.

If you do not have a route, eg you just want to see what is in the neighbourhood, go to cycle.travel and put in where you are as a startpoint.
Click suggest a ride - you can adjust the length, but that is not so important.
You have 3 route options - choose one.
Now you have a "route" and can:
Under "Hotels & Campsites" select Camping
Click "Find" - You will now see any Archies campsites around you.

Then you can use cycle.travel to navigate there.

[Woodtourer]

I understand how to find lodging and camping on Cycle Travel. Maybe I was expecting more information when I searched for camping.

[Bmblbzzz]

My questions would be about using it without cycle.travel:
So you've downloaded the app and put it on your Garmin.
Will it work with every model of Garmin? And other makes of GPS?
Does it merely give location or other information:
Phone number? Address? Facilities?
Same questions for use on phone, etc.
How comprehensive are its listings? Are many sites not listed? Does it tend to prefer a particular type of site?

[mjr]

Sadly not. The camping database cycle.travel uses seems sparse and it doesn't show the details from openstreetmap.

[Psamathe]

I've found Archies a fantastic resource. I use the gpx downloadable fines which I load to my iPhone & iPad and load into MapOut (offline mapping app). That way it all works offline and is fast. I do also have the Archies app loaded but (on iPhones/iPads) that only works online so is less useful (plus not the best app in the world).

One way Archies could be dramatically improved is to include more information in particular website. But even when introduced it would take a long time to populate the database with new info (I've only found that you have to e-mail in updates and Archies operators then update their database) - I suspect it would become better faster if they had a more online open update system more like OpenStreetMap/Wikipedia/etc. but such a system needs resource, monitoring, etc.

Ian

[Woodtourer]

So I spent some time with this app and am getting a bit more comfortable using it!

[Isotonicake]

My questions would be about using it without cycle.travel:
So you've downloaded the app and put it on your Garmin.
Will it work with every model of Garmin? And other makes of GPS?
Does it merely give location or other information:
Phone number? Address? Facilities?
Same questions for use on phone, etc.
How comprehensive are its listings? Are many sites not listed? Does it tend to prefer a particular type of site?

When loaded on to my Garmin, I just get name & distance away from your current location. From there the Garmin will direct you there. Can be a bit of a pot luck with regard to whether it's a municipal site (most of the time) or a holiday camp with hulahula dancers and quizzes (happened twice).

Nothing stopping you googling the name on your phone though to get more information. With EU roaming charges, it tends no to cost anything to use your phone internet abroad.

[climo]

Download the country (eg UK) as a GPX (or whatever format you need) from the Archies site.
Import it as a GPX file into your mapping program. For me that's Osmand on Android phone.
Turn the GPX file on as a route.
In Osmand this brings up the sites as red stars overlaying your map. Then, if you want, turn on your route GPX file to see which sites are near your route.
Click on red star and you get site name & phone number. More details are on the Archies app so you have to cross reference them.
Archies app needs an internet connection. Osmand with Archies GPX doesn't need one.

[ossie]

I just aim for the nearest big green A at the end of the day on my old Garmin etrex.

Most of the time there's a camp site at the end but if in doubt I have the app on my phone that gives more detail.

Love it, likewise cycle travel.