# Opinions please - best source of Aires POIs



## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

As Autoroute enthusiasts we rely quite heavily on pushpins for finding Aires _(and municipals, campsites, supermarkets etc..) _

*But this query is about Aires only please*.

Which do you think is the best source of reliable and comprehensive GPS co-ordinates for Aires in France?

The iCampingCars download seems pretty good, but does anyone know of a better one . . . maybe includes more Aires, more accurate co-ordinates etc.?

_(Not bothered about descriptions - one glance when we get there is usually enough to decide!)_

Thanks in advance.

Dave


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

When embarking on a van continental trip, I am entirely comfortable with just:

1) Latest Camping Car Infos POIs on my TomTom
http://www.campingcar-infos.com/Francais/telechargement.php

2) MHF iCampsites
http://www.mobilecampsites.com/

3) And a single book, Caravan Club Europe.

Anything else is weight, but Alison is more "booky", Road Atlas as well, and I'm more electronic with 2 satnavs & POIs, Google Maps.

Dave


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## JeanLuc (Jan 13, 2007)

CC Infos is my 'bible' for France (and many other countries). I also have the POI set from Bord Atlas but that is no-where near as comprehensive for France.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

I stand to be corrected but I beleive the www.campingcar-infos.com site has the biggest collection.

http://www.campingcar-infos.com/Francais/recherche.php

15807 in total, 6722 in france and 9085 abroad

Dead easy to dowload as well.


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## mr2 (Feb 26, 2009)

Zebedee said:


> As Autoroute enthusiasts we rely quite heavily on pushpins for finding Aires _(and municipals, campsites, supermarkets etc..) _
> 
> *But this query is about Aires only please*.
> 
> ...


Hi Dave

i have 2 sources of info (a) All the Aires from Vicarious Books which have the GPS co-ordinates and I can input individually in my TomTom XL. (b) Download from the TomTom website. So far with frequent visits to France using Aires all the time we have not needed to use any other info to find them.

Barry


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## GerryD (Sep 20, 2007)

We also favour campingcar-lnfos. Don't have any experience of installing poi's to Autoroute. They have a usb stick with full details including gps co-ordinates.
Gerry


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## cronkle (May 1, 2005)

I have the Bordatlas pushpins loaded as well and they appear to be pretty accurate.

I downloaded them from a link provided an MHF member - one of our younger ones I think but I can't remember which. There were seven other types of aire identified (including non overnight parking ones and motorway aires). 

Useful download - maybe the compiler could identify himself?


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## jedi (Nov 22, 2007)

I have also heard campingcar.infos is best. In fact got as far as downloading to my laptop but not yet worked out how to put them on Tom Tom. :? 

Jed


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

I have yet to find a better source of Aires, the Camping Car info.

It seems like all other POI collections are built around this, however they never appear to surpass the quality or quantity


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Thanks to all for your replies.  

I've just had a play with the CC-Infos download, and it does look pretty inpressive. I've checked out a few entries with Google Street View (where possible) and the locations and descriptions are good.

I had been relying largely on Archie and iCampingCars, but I agree with my "advisers" that CC-Infos seems better. :wink: 

Thanks again

Dave


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## joedenise (Jul 20, 2007)

You can load them on to tomtom straight from tomtom home on the down load poi's its called aires verifee [not sure of the spelling]

joe


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## tonyt (May 25, 2005)

I have a spreadsheet of around 1500 Archie aire co-ords.

Before I venture off on my bimbles I invariably check out likely ones on Earth - I reckon 10% of Archies co-ords are not "spot on", sometimes they're "way off".
When I can't see a good fix using Archies, I take a look at Campinrcars and they invariably are very accurate.

I see no point in auto loading POIs if they're not spot on (I don't have a navigator so rely on my GPS to find the spot).


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

tonyt said:


> I have a spreadsheet of around 1500 Archie aire co-ords.


Hi Tony

The CC-Infos database has nearly 7,000 - which surprised me since I was also using Archie mostly.



tonyt said:


> Before I venture off on my bimbles I invariably check out likely ones on Earth - I reckon 10% of Archies co-ords are not "spot on", sometimes they're "way off".
> When I can't see a good fix using Archies, I take a look at Campinrcars and they invariably are very accurate.
> 
> I see no point in auto loading POIs if they're not spot on (I don't have a navigator so rely on my GPS to find the spot).


I do have a navigator, but it doesn't always work very well!! :lol: :lol:

I do exactly the same as you if we want to stay in a particular area, or if we want to do about 150 miles in the day then find somewhere to stop.

Otherwise if we get so far and want to stop (for whatever reason) I like to have the pushpins on Autoroute so we can see at a glance where we are (from the GPS dongle) and spot the nearest aires, municipals or whatever.

Thanks again for the replies. The CC-Infos database does look very good, and certainly better than what I was using. How did I manage to miss it?? :?: :?:

Dave


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## Traveller_HA5_3DOM (May 9, 2005)

No one has mentioned Camperstop. We have one that is a few years old now and is still very good. I tend to replace the books we carry as they get to about three years old. I do use the Autoroute pushpins together with the GPS sensor. Often an Aire will have points from several sources overlaid on each other or very close. I do find the Board Atlas is very very good for Germany and have included the icamping data this year as well.


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Traveller_HA5_3DOM said:


> Often an Aire will have points from several sources overlaid on each other or very close.


That's exactly what made me start searching for a better database. :wink:

My file had developed quite a few of those overlaps, and it's very difficult to remove them if there are hundreds of them spread all over France . . . and you don't know which is the accurate one in the bunch. :roll:

Hence the quest for a single source which has as many entries as possible and (hopefully) is mostly accurate. Presumably the French would be best at cataloguing their own Aires, so with any luck the CC-Infos data will be up to the job.

Dave


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

And dont forget everyone that the CC infos site is not just about France. In fact the majority of Aires / parking spots or service points are in other countries so its a good single source for all of Europe although some countries are thin on the ground.

Their POI files also include motorhome parking which should be a big blue P. this is useful for not only finding somewhere to park up in town but they also signify a lot of unofficial Aires or wild spots often in stunning locations.


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## PaulW2 (May 30, 2010)

I see that they have a Tom Tom-friendly download. Does anyone know how I could download these onto my Garmin?

Thanks
Paul


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

PaulW2 said:


> I see that they have a Tom Tom-friendly download. Does anyone know how I could download these onto my Garmin?
> Thanks
> Paul


Easy Paul.

Download the TomTom ov2 files and convert them to csv files using the Richard Davies POI converter > > >> here<<

Then they will load onto your Garmin using its own POI loader.

Dave


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## PaulW2 (May 30, 2010)

Thanks Dave
Paul


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

PaulW2 said:


> I see that they have a Tom Tom-friendly download. Does anyone know how I could download these onto my Garmin?
> 
> Thanks
> Paul


Paul,

I am a Garmin user (I think they are the best)

Go HERE Choose FRANCE "ASCII" you can then down load 6722 aires in zip format, open it up and you will see the .gpx file that you need


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## tonyt (May 25, 2005)

Zebedee said:


> Hence the quest for a single source which has as many entries as possible and (hopefully) is mostly accurate. .......Dave


Well it has to be your own with precise co-ords from previous visits 

Some listing do quote co-ords for "the far side" of the aire (borne) whereas I prefer co-ords of the aire entrance. I'm gradually adjusting Archie to suit my needs.

I have a proposal - If MHF would like to finance the venture, I volunteer to spend the rest of the year touring La France and collecting very precise co-ords for everyone. How generous is that?


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