The worst vulnerability of the suburbs (my home got hit in a daylight robbery) is quick access to main roads and freeways.
There *are* places in the suburbs that are not close to main roads. I'll bet these guys are avoiding such places like the plague. If so, it shows experience and foresight in criminal activity: either these guys have done it before, or they have been trained. Since the overall pattern is relatively unusual in the criminal landscape, I would place somewhat more emphasis on the latter.
With quick proximity of the crime scene to a major thoroughfare, the criminal does *not* imho need any expert knowledge of the area, he just needs a fast car, although quick familiarization with weekday traffic patterns and local landmarks would be handy. But that can come with a day's worth of driving around before committing the crime(s).
The guys were possibly holed up in a motel, where anonymous comings and goings at all hours are routine. Campgrounds are relatively deserted at this time of year, and if they stayed overnight in their van, they would stick out smell-wise in the general public (and they don't want to stick out at all). I would imagine the motel they would choose would be about a one hour drive to maximize the chance of avoiding a motel check by the authorities-- chance increases with square of distance so the longer drive, the better the investment from their point of view. The motel would be a budget motel so their (working class casual) dress would not stand out there.
I have learned not to take police profiles at face value. I once worked with a guy who was a dead ringer for the Unabomber profile with certain exceptions such as age. I held off contacting authorities just because I believed I knew him well enough that it would have been a false alarm. Later they caught the real Unabomber and he matched my former colleague, including the discrepancies from the official profile. So much for official profiles as far as I am concerned-- one is almost better off developing it from the raw evidence revealed to the public presuming enough is revealed to come up with something halfway decent.