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Navigation on the phone is great - as long as you have a workable 3G/LTE signal. Try to drive across continent like that. Google maps and similar will not allo
by janoc 9y ago
Navigation on the phone is great - as long as you have a workable 3G/LTE signal.
Try to drive across continent like that. Google maps and similar will not allow you to pre-cache that much data and once you are out of cell phone coverage, you are stuffed. And by Murphy's law it will be in the middle of nowhere where you need the GPS the most.
I am driving about 3000km back and forth across Europe every summer - from France to Slovakia and back, i.e. crossing France, Germany and Austria before I arrive in Slovakia. One would say - civilized countries, no problem. Except in many places you don't have even 2G signal on the motorway, even less 3G/LTE.
Oh and I am not even mentioning the roaming charges for data. Until recently it was exorbitant - the above mentioned trip would have costed me about 300 euro only in roaming charges if I have used a phone. It is less now after the EU forced the networks to lower the charges but it is still isn't free.
My TomTom doesn't have any of these problems. I certainly wouldn't buy a car with a built-in satnav, that's a pure waste of money and a colossal ripoff on map update costs, but a standalone satnav is still pretty useful if you ever drive outside of a large metro area.
And often even in cities - I have tried to use Google Maps and had Waze on my phone while driving in Paris, but it was so cluttered with advertising crap on the map (especially Waze!) that I couldn't see the route. Not cool when you are relying on it to know which street to take!
- namibj 9y agoDownload OSM. It's offline by default, with updates up to once a month, if you don't try hard (theoretically about daily or so, but you might need to run the raw data through their software yourself, to get something the App can handle.)
- janoc 9y agoSorry but the OSM navigation features are not comparable with Google Maps and even less with a dedicated satnav. Not to mention voice navigation, which is an essential thing to have in car, as well as live traffic info. I need a satnav solution to drive, not to hack on.
- photojosh 9y ago> My TomTom doesn't have any of these problems. Funnily enough, I used the TomTom app with offline maps on my Treo 650, and then it was released for the iPhone a year or so after native apps became available and I got that too. I used it for quite a few years, but eventually Google Maps overtook it in quality and data got cheaper (and stuff like factoring traffic into travel times is a good feature), and I only then used it when there was no cell service at all, which is becoming rarer. You inspired me to fire it up again just now. TomTom discontinued the original app last year and moved to a subscription service for the new one, and at least they've given everyone 3 years of updates (and it's usually $20/yr), so I'm pretty happy with that. And the old app still works at least until it breaks with iOS updates beyond 11. Not bad for a $70 purchase, 8 years or so ago. (I also use OSM maps for my time off-road.)
- pronoiac 9y agoI use maps.me for offline use. Is there an official OSM app?
- rmc 9y ago> Is there an official OSM app? No. OSM is kinda decentralised and the project prefers to not have "official" or "blessed" apps or services, and instead takes the approach of letting there be a constellation of services, companies and apps in the OSM ecosystem. So there is rarely one official way to do something, and instead allow the community (which often includes people who run various OSM things) to make things with OSM.
- photojosh 9y agoI haven't looked a huge amount because I don't use it for traditional turn-by-turn directions, but rather loading up a GPX track and following it manually. I use the Trails app on iOS most, but I have maps.me as well.
- int_19h 9y agoThere are plenty of offline navigation apps for both iOS and Android that let you do that. In fact, some of the same companies that make dedicated devices, also make those apps. There's also OsmAnd, which lets you download OSM maps for offline use, complete with elevation contour lines and hillshading, and even Wikipedia articles associated to locations. It does offline navigation, too.