(LOS ANGELES, January 27, 2005) — Customizing a cross-country driving vacation with personal side trips is now easier for travelers to arrange with AAA's new, first-of-its-kind online mapping tool that allows users to select and add specific roads to their route, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California. The new tool, called Modify My Route, is part of Internet TripTik, AAA's online trip planning program.
"Travelers wanting to drive along the coast or on a scenic mountain road have been limited because online mapping services typically recommend the most direct routes," said Carol Thorp, managing director of public relations for the Auto Club. "The new Modify My Route tool gives Internet TripTik users unlimited flexibility to choose their own roads, so that they can go where they want, when they want."
Modify My Route lets users change their online trip routing to meet personal travel preferences for trips across town or across the country.
"If you want to go from San Diego to Syracuse, you can do it with a couple of easy clicks," Thorp said. "Also local directions, such as helping friends drive to your house in Santa Monica without getting on the 405 can be done easily with Modify My Route."
After logging on to Internet TripTik via www.aaa.com and entering a destination and stopovers, users then click on the Modify My Route icon below the map. The pointer becomes a set of crosshairs that users can place over the road they want to add to change the route. Then, click and Internet TripTik automatically configures a new route that includes the selected street or highway.
Internet TripTik gives AAA members a world-class mapping and trip routing service that incorporates hotel, dining and other traveler information found in AAA's TourBooks and at www.aaa.com. AAAmaps.com is a public site that offers the same trip routing engine as Internet TripTik, but without its full range of content and features.
AAA updates and releases more than 1,700 maps annually for use in online mapping services, AAA TourBooks, TripTiks and as sheet maps and atlases.
The Automobile Club of Southern California, the largest affiliate of AAA, has been serving members since 1900. Today, the Auto Club's members benefit by roadside assistance, insurance products and services, travel agency, financial products, automotive pricing and buying programs, automotive testing and analysis, trip planning services and highway and transportation safety programs. Information about these products and services is available on the Auto Club's Web site at www.aaa.com.
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