I'm a newbie also, we did our 1st overnight tour last summer and I used Google maps street view extensively to see what roads looked like around hotels, etc. We did a credit card tour on the western Erie canal trail which was almost all on-trail, so viewing the off-trail/on-road sections was very reassuring. I also carried a map, but since we were on a well marked trail that had also been recently marked for the PTNY ride we never needed to consult the map.