Motorhome Parking Database Software Full Version 4.0a

Available from 1 March 2009

Pre-Word

This software tries to help direct camper van, motorhome, and RV users to good parking locations so that they can break up their journeys at location they have already planned to stop at and feel are safe and good places. Location that are proven places often used by other motorhome owners.

If you have ever used a Point of Interest (POI) set that's lead you to strange places via your sat nav that resembles nothing like the location you expected to visit then try instead using this Motorhome Parking Software.

The Motorhome Parking Database I hope will make planning your next journey from home or out and about a simple task. It should reduced time, help you decide on a location prior to arrival, and may even help you save money by using suggested free parking locations. Each location can be viewed via 'Google Earth On-Line' so that you can see the suggested car park and general location. Ground view pictures held in the database taken by normal camera of some of the locations are available. A UK graphic picture of each location with indicator is also available on a UK outline map within the database.

Every location apart from dealer location should have a written review including types of road in and out, suggested motorhome size etc., and each location has a general safety rating.

If your staying at a camp-site and have a laptop or notebook running XP or Vista you can view all the car parks from your current camp-site location with a 360 degree view then select a location for a day trip to a beach, town or countryside location near your camp site. With over 500 locations you should find several locations near you.

When reviewing a car park I have tried to identify who owns the car park and how suitable the car park is for motorhomes. This research takes a very long time and I have had different success rates. This I hope to continue to improve in future versions.

These locations are designed with camper van, motorhome and RVs in mind but if you are visiting a new location in a car or on holiday and staying in a hotel this is an excellent piece of software and really does try to point you in the direction of good car parking locations in that area..

PLEASE SEE BELOW HOW YOU CAN GET THIS PARKING DATABASE FREE OF CHARGE

  • Over 500 Day, Night, Dealer and now Campsite (£10.00 or less) locations to park your Motorhome
  • 360 degrees graphical view of locations from zero to hundreds of miles away
  • Country -Wales, England and Scotland Search, County Search, Place Name Search, Lat, Long Search.
  • Real Time - GPS - shows nearest parking locations to current position (Need GPS Dongle - Not Included)
  • Location Description (Suggested Motorohome Size, Type of Bays, Roads In and Out , Lots more
  • All locations are Defaulted Night Stops until a (USER) reports Day Only etc.
  • I predict whether Pay or Free Parking on different types of information collected including (USER) feedback
  • The database currently holds some pictures but these are limited to only a few locations
  • If you can access Wireless Hotspots or Mobile Broadband use the one click Satellite Location View
  • Add your own Private locations or convert them to the public location area in the database.

You can purchase a ONE YEAR licence to use this software. After ONE YEAR usage please renew the licence. The software must be updating on 1 March 2011 at this point it will stop working and you will need to download a new version. In other words although the licence is for 1 year in practice you could use the software for up to two years. However renewing the software each year will give the latest and most accurate location information.

Why only £10.00? I understand this is very cheap considering the wealth of information but I hope that motorhome enthusiasts will when on-line send updated information for any locations visited and some updated pictures. This can be done via the software.

Requirements:

To use this software you will need the following minimum items (not supplied) :

  • Desktop (FOR PLANNING ONLY) Running XP 32 bit or Vista 32 bit operating system (Non Mobile Use)
  • Laptop or Notepad that Run XP 32 bit or Vista 32 bit operating systems (Mobile Use)
  • GPS Device like Tom Tom - that allows you to enter latitude and longitude (Most GPS allow this but check)
  • This software might run on XP OR Vista 64bit operating system but has only been tested on 32 bit systems.
  • Does not run on Win 2000 or older NT operating systems.

PLEASE READ ALL THE INFORMATION BELOW SO YOU FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THE PARKING DATABASE SOFTWARE DOES.

Licence Fee is £10.00
Please support this Database Parking Project

PLEASE READ BELOW ALL INFORMATION BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO DOWNLOAD THIS SOFTWARE

Windows Vista and XP only Supported

1) Pay the License fee
2) You will be sent to a download link Page
3) Enjoy Planning your journeys.

Please note that this software is Copyright protected you are not allowed to redistribute this software. Your license agreement is for use only on your own personal computers only. Therefore if you have a PC and say Two laptops you can put it on all computers without breaking the license agreement. Please note this project is a hobby only and is not connected with any business.

How to get a free copy of this software.

I am willing to provide people with a free copy of this software if they are willing to take pictures and improve the descriptions of about 50 areas in their location, then via the software send me the updated review and pictures (I am really looking for people interested to help if 50 areas are not achieved but you update those areas you do visit that is fine) or while out and about or on holiday. If you wish to apply for your free version please e-mail me at anything@motorhomelist.co.uk. IF YOU HAVE ALREADY CONTRIBUTED TO THIS PROJECT BY SENDING INFORMATION WITH A VALID E-MAIL ADDRESS AND HAVE NOT YET RECEIVED YOUR FREE COPY PLEASE CONTACT ME AND I WILL GIVE YOU A FREE COPY OF THIS SOFTWARE if you continue to help update the software.

You can still get involved even if you only have a desk top computer and do not have a laptop or notebook. First Download the free motorhome parking database to your desk top computer. Then when your out and about in your motorhome and you find a good location to stop write down the following information (Place name, Road name if known, County if known, Country Wales, England Scotland, how safe you think the location is, is the parking free or pay and display, road suitable for what type of motorhome e.g. Camper van, motorhomes or if coach bays RVs, and when you get home just send it to me via the motorhome parking database software. If you have a GPS like Tom Tom also write down the Latitude and Longitude. However if you just wish to use the software please purchase a copy via paypal above its only £10.00.

Currently the free version only uses activation software that locks the free version to your computer (for legal reasons the condition of activation is that you agree to allow information to be sent and received via the activation software that is ONLY required to activate the software no personal or non activation information is ever taken from your computer)

Why I have decided to charge for this database software

I would like to have a dedicated web-site for this project so any money made will go to help me pay for continued web-site space I would like to enlarge the amount of allocated space on a new web-site. I would like to upgrade the programming software that does not come cheap etc. PLEASE THEREFORE SUPPORT THIS PROJECT BY PURCHASING A LICENCE.

IMPORTANT GOOGLE EARTH IMAGES

I have been in contact with google earth for some time now trying to get an agreement to use their images, they have now confirmed that I CANNOT use their copyright images. Therefore I cannot supply you with these images nor can I accept any google earth images. However I will continue to build our own database of images and have already generated an approximate viewable location image for each location. To compensate for this I have improved the location descriptions information.

This is the approximate viewable location image, the red cross gives an approximation of the car park location.

About Me

I do this in my spare time its just a hobby, I have written this parking database on my own and no one else is involved, I am not sponsored for the parking database and certainly do not do this on behalf of any company etc, I created this parking database for myself, I find it difficult to park specially in the summer time. If you go somewhere new I find that you can be looking around for ages to find a parking space and most annoying one that will cost the earth when just up the road there is another place that all the locals know that is much better than where you have spent the day and usually free or cost less.

This software is not intended to replace your GPS but to be used in conjunction with it. Its really used for planning your next weekend or day trip. Maybe your already on holiday its great just to pull your laptop or notebook running xp or vista out and get a 360 degree view of all the parking locations available. This great feature is the graphic view because wherever you are it will display parking location going away from you in a 360 degree view and show the general direction they are in relation to your current position. You can search and find the description of that location and view any pictures of that location if available.

I CURRENTLY DO NOT HAVE MANY PICTURES BUT YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE BY TAKING UP TO FIVE PICTURES OF THE CAR PARK AND SENDING THEM VIA THE UPDATE FACILITY THAT IS BUILT INTO THE SOFTWARE. ON THE NEXT RELEASE THEY WILL BE ADDED.

Why I do this

I HAVE HOLIDAY IN SOME PLACES FOR YEARS AND STILL NEVER BEEN TO SOME OF THE PLACES VERY NEAR BY THAT I NOW KNOW ABOUT BECAUSE SOMEONE HAS SENT IN THAT LOCATION.

Philosophy

It works by inclusion not exclusion. Therefore I list lots of places that are suitable for many different types of Motorhome. There are locations suitable for RV Motorhomes and at the other end of the spectrum there are locations only suitable for Small Camper-Vans. I allow you to choose by providing you with descriptions of each location, suggested type of motorhome suitable for that location and helpful tips if available. You will then be able to decide things like, type of road you will have to use to get to the location, whether there is enough turning circle for your van etc, ultimately the decision is yours, therefore use your common sense.

PLEASE NOTE MOST OF THE LOCATIONS HAVE NOT BEEN VISITED BY MYSELF, I RELY IN PART ON THE JUDGEMENT OF PEOPLE WHO PROVIDE THESE LOCATION, PLEASE NOTE PEOPLE CAN GIVE LOCATIONS COMPLETELY ANONYMOUSLY. I ALSO MAKE JUDGEMENTS BY VIEWING IMAGES OF THE LOCATION, THESE JUDGEMENTS MAY NOT ALWAYS BE CORRECT BUT GIVEN THE ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF JUST A SET OF POIs (Point of Interest co-ordinates) you can see why so many have downloaded the parking database software.

THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS SOFTWARE IS THAT YOU CAN ALSO EDIT AND PROVIDE ME WITH NEW LOCATIONS AND SEND THEM IN VIA THE SOFTWARE SO I CAN DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT TO INCLUDE THEM IN THE NEXT RELEASE. ALSO PLACES CHANGE, SOMETIMES THEY BECOME UNAVAILABLE BECAUSE OF DEVELOPMENT ETC. PLEASE LET ME KNOW BY UPDATING THAT LOCATION WHEN YOUR ON-LINE.

VERY IMPORTANT I CURRENTLY HAVE LESS THAN 10% OF LOCATIONS WITH PICTURES MOST OF THE TIME YOU WILL HAVE TO RELY ON THE LOCATION INFORMATION THAT I HAVE FOR EACH LOCATION APART FROM DEALER LOCATIONS. IF YOU HAVE MOBILE INTERNET THEN YOU CAN VIEW THE LOCATION AND SURROUNDING ARE VIA GOOGLE EARTH, PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME ANY GOOGLE EARTH PICTURES BECAUSE I CANNOT PUT THEM IN THE DATABASE BECAUSE OF COPYRIGHT.

Features:

Please note all locations are found when out and about using latitude and longitude so you will need a GPS Device like Tom Tom or another make. Most GPS devices allow you to enter Latitude and Longitude like Tom Tom.

Each location will have a good description this is taken from one location - Example:

PARKING SUITABILITY
This is a great place to stop, it is suitable for larger motorhomes and maybe even small RVs. However it goes into a car park that you can use to turn your vehicle. There is no through road so the traffic is light. The houses are large and it is a very good area. Motorhomes stop here all the time.
ROADS IN AND OUT
Roads in and out are great
GENERAL PARKING CONDITIONS
Very nice place to stop and great walks along the sea coast.
TYPE OF PARKING
Night - yes but remember that this is somebody's neighbourhood therefore only stop 1 night if necessary.
Note : Where it states night parking this is also suitable of course for day parking.
COST OF PARKING
Free

GENERAL AREA – BEACH – CITY – TOWN
Beach and peer.
OTHER KNOWN PARKING ISSUES
No parking issues great place
OTHER
Great walks specially if you have a dog.

Do not park overnight in the car park around the corner because it states no overnight parking.

Security Advice if your staying in a location overnight make sure you have a mobile phone signal.

Search Features

These are many general features like search by place, county or country etc. I have not listed all the features but only the main things that the software tries to achieve. But to give some idea of the power of the search facility, you can search in four main ways. Latitude or Longitude, even if you have only a couple of the digits it will show all location near that location. Place name search again even if you do not know the place name but believe it starts say CA it will find all locations starting with CA and narrow the search the more letters are used. You can also search by county by pulling up a list of all counties. Finally you can search via country for example Wales, England or Scotland.

Accuracy
How accurate is the data? The Latitude and Longitude is checked so this is very accurate and needs to be because it is what you will need to enter into your Sat Navigation system like Tom Tom. Because of the different ways different Satellite Navigation Systems Calculate Latitude and Longitude it is suggested by some that there is a maximum difference of upto 30 meters. To put this into prospective if you always tried to use the nearest post code to the car park location you could be out by miles specially in the country side where the nearest house could be a mile or two from the car park location. Data like county and country are generated automatically to map reference points. Therefore if a point is near a boarder or the border is defined differently from my point definition system or a county boarders been redefine you may find that one county may find itself in another near by county. This is also true for place locations for instance if your in a village then try entering near by town locations. However saying all this, there are so many ways to search it will be impossible not to find a location.

Image and Information view - I have a UK image showing the general location for each location in the database. I use the word general because I have found translating from GPs latitude to longitude difficult to achieve to a picture of a map graphic. However the locations displayed on the map are reasonable in their proximity.

View and Picture Enlarger

Now Cut and Paste Your Own Photos

If you have taken photos of a parking location you can now cut and paste it into the parking database. You can also send those non copyright images to me to help improve future releases. I intend when possible to visit some of these locations and take pictures so I can improve future releases.

Web-Site Cut and Paste

When using pictures from websites you must be careful not to breach their copyright. Most web-sites will allow you to cut and paste images for personal use as long as you do not give them to anybody else. If you do this please do not send me any of these images (YOU CAN ONLY SEND ME IMAGES YOU HAVE TAKEN PHOTOS OF YOURSELF.) However I have a NEW feature that allows you to connect to a web-site and cut and paste the photo into your personal (private) part of the database. You will notice that the database is divided up into private and public areas. Private areas you can EDIT while public areas you cannot edit. You can at any point convert private to public if you wish to send me that information.

GPS - You can use this software with your standard GPS dongle and with some GPS devices that can be attached and used with the computer laptop (Please note no gps dongles come with this software you have to purchase them separately yourself. I do not provide gps dongles. The advantage of using a GPS dongle is that where ever you are your location is instantly displayed within the software. This means that all parking locations in the database are displayed in nortical miles, therefore you can see how far they are away from your current location.

Without a GPS Connected dongle - You may only have a standard GPS device that cannot directly be connected to the computer. First you can still use the four main search methods, Latitude and Longitude, Place Name, County and Country search. Within these you have Day, Night, Dealer and now new Campsite locations (£10.00 or Under). Apart from this you can still manually enter your latitude and longitude from your GPS device. In short you can do just about everything without a GPS Dongle

Graphical View - This is a great feature it gives a graphic view of all the location working away from your current position and how far away they are. It also will give the general direction they are in relation to your current position. It will show you how many nortical miles its away from your designated location and the type of parking available, day, night or dealer. To view detailed information you just click and select a graphical location then click view this location. This will then take you to a one click view of all the information for that location in the database.

On-line

Online - there are many online features, of-course you have to be online to use them. The newest feature is the Connect Schedule feature. The idea is this, say your going somewhere in June 2009 you can upload this to a public list that includes your E-mail address if another Motorhome is going to be in that area you can Safely and Securely arrange to meet using the software by sending someone a reference number via E-mail. They enter the reference number into (Search Ref )and you can both view the location. You can do this with a complete strangers or use the reference search to arrange to meet your friends. If your going to meet someone new you would normally take the usual precaution and arrange to meet in a well used Car Park or festival location and always in the day time.

If you would only use it to meet friends then exchange E-Mail address and enter (Friends Only) or E-Mail outside of using the public list and just use the (Reference Search function) to agree the location you are going to meet them at.

Reporting location - You can report useful information not yet in the database, if you go to a location and see that its changed to say pay and display not free, you can now update this information by (if off line) creating a private location and entering the new information, then when you next (on line) send that private location information to our public database (JUST CONVERT IS FROM A PRIVATE LOCATION TO A PUBLIC LOCATION). You can send pictures of the parking location and surrounding areas if not already in the database. We will update those pictures in the next release.

On-line Wireless Hotspot and Mobile Internet (Take It anywhere)

One of the new features in the full version 4.0 is to (View Location via Wireless or Mobile Internet) using Google Earth (via a web-page therefore this does not breach copyright, but you MUST NOT COPY these images if you do then you may well breach copyright - see google earths terms and conditions for private use). If your on holiday and you connect to a Wireless Hotspot or Mobile Internet then you can now view any of the car park locations within the database from Google earth at a click of a Button. This will give you a satellite view of the location. You can also view my ground photographs taken of that location stored in the database. Therefore you get best of both worlds satellite and ground picture which are stored for that location in the database.

Help

There is an on-line help available in-side the software. Because the help is on the server I can update the software so the help can be improved on e-mail request if any function is hard to understand. However saying this the software is very easy to use indeed.

Forum Help

You can also access the forum via the software that will give help also with any problems when downloading or using the software etc. The software will be completely supported for the licence period.

Copyright

This software, Images and Data are all copyright protected under UK law see (Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and updates), please note that you are only allowed to enter the Latitude and Longitude manually into your GPS and if saved on your GPS your not allowed to pass it onto anybody else. By sending information, pictures etc to me you agree that I become the owner of that information pictures etc. and that the copyright is mine and that no signature is require to transfer free copyright ownership to myself..

Rejected car parks

Sometimes I reject car parks that have been suggested to me for several reasons other times I have included a car park and asking for more information. Many thanks for all the car parks you have suggested. I also have a back log of car parks I have not even looked at and because of this they are excluded for the time being until I have time to evaluate them for inclusion or exclusion in future versions.

May I thank all those who have said how much they like the software.