Mapping on my tablet
- Thread starter MOguy
- Start date
plh
Explorer
Check out the App: HERE Works great off-line (off cell) for me. Maps are downloadable in geographic areas (Global available I think)
I tried Google Maps off line a while back and thought setup was cumbersome. HERE is simple.
MOguy
Explorer
Once it is downloaded will HERE work with GPS only, no internet connection.
My Tom Tom died, I have a nice GPS for trials, an MP3 and CDs for music, a camera for pictures but I would like a one contraption that does it all, music, pictures, mapping etc. I want less stuff on the dash and trying to consolidate.
Would a tablet like this work?
plh
Explorer
Yes. I use a Lenovo Tab 2 A8 exactly this way with HERE.
I've been using HERE for off-line navigation, and have had a lot of luck with it. As long as you offline the maps you need in advance, it does a great job for the turn-by-turn navigation, and actually has been successful in navigating forest service roads on Vancouver Island. Once offlined, it only requires a GPS signal for the turn-by-turn navigation. I'm from Canada, and I've used it offline in the U.S, France, Switzerland, Austria and Germany with great success without any data packages on my cell phone.
I also use Backcountry Navigator to track our travels. Again, saving the map offline in advance gives you the availability without data. This, combined with paper maps gives us a really solid combination for determining our routes off road.
I haven't tried Google's offline options yet, simply because the HERE app works so well. It's also nice to be able to log into HERE.com and plot points on a laptop/desktop, and have them sync to the phone.
I also use Backcountry Navigator to track our travels. Again, saving the map offline in advance gives you the availability without data. This, combined with paper maps gives us a really solid combination for determining our routes off road.
I haven't tried Google's offline options yet, simply because the HERE app works so well. It's also nice to be able to log into HERE.com and plot points on a laptop/desktop, and have them sync to the phone.
AdidasCJ
Observer
Im also researching how to setup my Dell venue 7 for my GPS etc in my Jeep. And even for me the AMOUNT of different information is a tad overwheling....
Ive been playing with Navmii but it doesnt have the best for offroad trails... The Dell Venue 7 has GPS that works without Wifi/Cell service.
Ive been playing with Navmii but it doesnt have the best for offroad trails... The Dell Venue 7 has GPS that works without Wifi/Cell service.
theksmith
Explorer
i'll second the vote for Copilot USA for on-road navigation (turn by turn, POIs, routing, spoken prompts, etc.). you perform a one-time download of an entire country's map and then you're good offline (about 2GB for USA).
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alk.copilot.namarket.premiumusa&hl=en&gl=us
i've found Backcountry Navigator to be the simplest full-featured off-road GPS/mapping app for most folks to use. it will show a variety of maps (topo, aerial, etc.), record tracks/waypoints & export them, as well as import tracks/waypoints from GPX/KML files. however, with this or any similar app, you must pre-plan for where you are going... you can't download an entire large area of these map types.** instead, while you have internet, you select an area maybe about the size of a typical US county or smaller and let it save the area for you. then you can use that map offline within that area. the download can take from a few minutes to overnight depending on how big of an area you are saving. you're only limited by the size of your device's storage and your time/patience for downloading each area.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.crittermap.backcountrynavigator.license&hl=en
**actually now that BCN supports the Mapsforge format, it is feasible to get an entire state's topo map. however those vector maps look a lot like a typical old-school GPS unit, versus the detail-rich raster/tile based maps that take so much more storage & download time. always a trade-off!
the OpenAndroMaps vector maps are also free: http://www.openandromaps.org/en/
rayra
Expedition Leader
I'm trying out a piece of Android freeware called 'Offline Maps and Navigation', it looks and works very much like my wife's Garmin Nuvi. And the pay version seems to add a lot of other nice features and of particular note a 'HUD' option whereby you can lay it on your dash and the display switches to reversed so you can see direction cues reflected on your windshield. It will even alert you when you are 10% over the speed limit for the road you are on, if you want that.
Tangentially, does anyone know how to force Backcountry to download / cache offline map info to my added memory card? I've found how to shunt the apps themselves, trying to free built-in memory, but Backcountry keeps wanting to pull down my huge selected data set to the system memory and I can't find any option to tell it to put it on the microSD instead.
Tangentially, does anyone know how to force Backcountry to download / cache offline map info to my added memory card? I've found how to shunt the apps themselves, trying to free built-in memory, but Backcountry keeps wanting to pull down my huge selected data set to the system memory and I can't find any option to tell it to put it on the microSD instead.
I have been playing around with Here for a few days. One thing I have noticed some of the sat views of areas I have checked the sat views are old. One sat view was in Oklahoma. The section I looked at the sat view was over 5 years old. It didn't show a new road that was built 5 years ago and there were a couple of new houses not shown. I know the houses were 5 years old. I looked another area over in the UP of MI. That sat view was over 2 years old.
Anyone else noticed this problem???
Anyone else noticed this problem???
MOguy
Explorer
Is free for on road turn by turn or more suited for off road?