Feature Request: Multi-Day Tour Planning Engine with Time, Rest & Routing Constraints

[Michele Skipper]

Hi! I completely understand your concern, and I agree with you: the current day-to-day, destination-to-destination planning works beautifully for standard trips. Simplicity is one of MRA's biggest strengths, and nobody wants to clutter the interface or overcomplicate things for everyday riders.
The vision here isn't to replace or change the current routing system, but rather to introduce an optional advanced tool—like a "Multi-Day Wizard" running in the background.
When organizing 10 or 12-stage international journeys for a group of heavy touring motorcycles, the logistics become incredibly rigid. Coordinating cadenced fuel stops, strict hotel check-ins, and managing group pacing over thousands of kilometers currently requires a massive amount of manual calculation. If one variable changes (like an extended lunch stop or a slower mountain pass), manually recalculating and splitting the routes across multiple days takes a lot of time and energy.
An automated macro-planner would strictly be an extra option for those who need it. Standard users would keep the exact same easy A-to-B interface they love today, while tour organizers get a powerful engine to do the heavy lifting. A win-win for everyone! ️

[[[global:former-user]]]

@Michele-Skipper said:
The vision here isn't to replace or change the current routing system, but rather to introduce an optional advanced tool—like a "Multi-Day Wizard" running in the background.

This would be gold! A wizard that will at least get you close. "Trip number of days, Kms/time in saddle, break times" Go!

[Michele Skipper]

Exactly! You nailed it. That is precisely the goal.
Having a wizard that builds that initial "close enough" draft based on real saddle time and breaks would save us hours of manual calculation. Once the engine slices the macro-route into daily stages, we can just step in to fine-tune the scenic detours and lock in the specific hotels.
It takes the mathematical headache out of multi-day planning and leaves us with the fun part: shaping the ride. Glad we are on the same page! ️

[[[global:former-user]]]

On that page alright! If it's too complex to develop I would love that in the Waypoint list there was a daily Km total , maybe in brackets , along with the total accumulated Distance total. This would help a lot as a guide to adding in lunch and fuel stops etc...

[Michele Skipper]

To add some historical context to this feature request, the exact multi-day scheduling logic we are talking about was actually an industry standard over a decade ago in Microsoft AutoRoute (known as Microsoft Streets & Trips in North America).
For those who remember using it, that software had a dedicated planning module that executed this flawlessly. You could set rigid travel parameters:
Start/End of Day: Defining that you start riding at 08:30 and must stop by 17:30.
Daily Driving Limits: Setting a maximum cap of saddle hours or kilometers per day.
Cadenced Breaks: Instructing the engine to automatically insert a 15-minute rest stop every 2 hours of driving.
Once you set these rules, the software would automatically slice a massive macro-route into manageable daily stages, placing overnight stop markers exactly where your time or distance limits were reached.
Modern cloud planners have evolved immensely in terms of maps, UI, and GPX track accuracy, but this specific logistical engine was somehow left behind. Reintroducing a modern version of that old Microsoft routing logic into MRA's multi-map environment would instantly make it the ultimate, unrivaled tool for anyone planning extensive tours. ️

[Anonymouse]

I think this is a promising set of ideas. But for my trip planning I would be happy with just a first step on the way: more flexibility in how “pauses” are described. I think this is part of what you are seeking.

Currently all I can do is specify how many minutes I will wait at a stopping point. But perhaps I don’t know what time I will arrive, but do know what time I want to leave. Or perhaps it’s overnight. For these cases I need a “depart at hh:mm“ setting, not just a “pause for x mins” setting.

I can choose my own rest stops. So wouldn’t need some of the proposed functions - although a running total of driving hours (or perhaps field in the toolkit “calculator” showing driving hours between points - excluding pause time) would be helpful.

[Maarten van de Wijdeven]

To add to this:
For me it parts would not even be a feature for multi-day trips.
I plan mostly day trips but for every trip I kind of look for rest stops or activities and it kind of follows the same cadence every time.

In the morning, from start location > 1 to 1,5 hours in the saddle > 30 min Coffee break > 1,5 to 2 hours max in the saddle > 1 hour lunch break > 1,5 to 2 hours max in the saddle > destination / end of ride ,usually at a rest stop. And on longer days, an extra stop even to stretch limbs.

So I'm thinking along the line of:

• being able to add a number intervals and specify the time/distance you want to spend at or between each interval
• the interval could be time-based or distance based (number of miles/km between an interval)
• suggestion for a stop marker: get a circle / radius overlay on the interval points which allows you to use a viewpoint (adjusting in zoom) to see /filter points of interest.
  Like: based on your set of intervals, you are around here, and then look for a suitable (or interesting) stop.

[Michele Skipper]

Hi Anonymouse! You hit the nail on the head. Having a "Depart at hh:mm" function instead of just a flat "pause duration" would be an incredible quality-of-life upgrade.
When we are on a multi-day trip, the overnight hotel stop is exactly as you described: it doesn't really matter if we arrived at 17:00 or 18:30 the day before. What matters for the route timeline is that kickstands are up and we are rolling out exactly at 08:30 the next morning. A fixed departure time setting would solve that perfectly without breaking the continuous route calculation.
Your point about the running total of driving hours is spot on, too. Even for those of us who prefer to manually pick our coffee spots and lunch breaks, having a clear metric showing pure saddle time between points—or a running daily total—would eliminate all the mental math.
Whether the developers give us a full automated wizard or start with these highly practical UI tweaks like you suggested, it would be a massive win for all of us planning long-haul tours. Great ideas!

[Don Stauffer]

@Michele-Skipper I think you described well the iterative workflow needed for multi-day trip planning. I do remember Streets and Trips, and may have the CD around here somewhere!

The strength of MRA is the simplicity of point-to-point routing. Expanding this over many travel days is where the real planning work is done, and it requires a lot of effort and auxiliary apps.

Very interested to see where this leads us!

[RainerT]

In my previous job, I used to deal with rota schedules for doctors.
And I wished there was a way to automate the allocation process.
I enjoy programming myself and thought this would be a nice way to spend a quiet weekend. NO! When something is very complicated, automating it doesn’t make it any easier. If anything, it makes it harder, because the almost infinite number of options are almost impossible to organise, even with a fast computer. On top of that, there’s the task of entering the options – that alone is extremely time-consuming.
This year, I’ve planned a 10-day tour. Each leg takes 6–8 hours’ driving time. A bit of copy-and-paste from the Iron Curtain tours.
That worked a treat, thanks in part to the excellent automatic rerouting during the journey via MRA/Here.
In my view, this is a nice idea, but only for a small group of users. There are already plenty of suggestions for the average user that I’d prioritise more highly.
RT

[Michele Skipper]

Haha, finding that old Streets & Trips CD belongs in a museum of digital navigation! It really was incredibly far ahead of its time for travel logistics.
You highlighted a very crucial pain point: the reliance on "auxiliary apps". Right now, anyone planning a serious 10-day club tour usually has an Excel spreadsheet open on one monitor and MRA on the other, just to keep track of accumulated driving hours, hotel check-ins, and daily mileage caps.
If MRA can integrate that "macro-management" layer natively into the platform, it will completely eliminate the need for those external spreadsheets. We get to keep the beautiful, intuitive point-to-point mapping that is MRA's core strength, but we finally gain the structural tools to link those individual days into a cohesive journey.
Fingers crossed the development team can work their magic!