Author Topic: Which Smart phone mapping is best?  (Read 7070 times)

GnP

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #60 on: 17:43:29, 18/09/19 »



Heads up to OS app users, they are doing a major upgrade this Thursday, any maps you have downloaded to your phone for off line use will have to be downloaded again.
Thanks for that...
I love OS mapping. I think their app is a bit quirky compared to VR but I have a feeling of loyalty to OS having used their paper maps for donky`s years and it feels like they are less commercial than VR...not knocking VR here as I think they have really got their act together..and their app works really well.
A night under silnylon. Doesn't have the same ring to it.

pauldawes

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #61 on: 18:23:59, 18/09/19 »
Thanks for that...
I love OS mapping. I think their app is a bit quirky compared to VR but I have a feeling of loyalty to OS having used their paper maps for donky`s years and it feels like they are less commercial than VR...not knocking VR here as I think they have really got their act together..and their app works really well.


See OS app is getting a major upgrade tomorrow, which will require re-downloading any off line maps.


Just hope I remember how to do it...ages since I downloaded one of their maps.

GnP

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #62 on: 17:12:27, 19/09/19 »

See OS app is getting a major upgrade tomorrow, which will require re-downloading any off line maps.


Just hope I remember how to do it...ages since I downloaded one of their maps.
I tried to open the app just now on my phone...there is a message saying the the rollout of the updated app has been stopped as it was causing the app to crash on certain devices....they say they have found the reason and hope to roll it out tomorrow... ???
A night under silnylon. Doesn't have the same ring to it.

ninthace

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #63 on: 17:54:55, 19/09/19 »
I was out using it today. I selected the route to follow but it refused to set off so it never left the car park. I forgot to press record on VR too. Thank god for Garmin!
Solvitur Ambulando

gunwharfman

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #64 on: 17:57:10, 19/09/19 »
I've downloaded all of the suggested maps that Forum members have recommended and I have just downloaded the OS app as well.

I use Backcountry OS maps, I paid a one-off payment for it a few years ago. Its always been very good and has never let me down, plus it allows me to download other maps for free like Spain, Italy, USA and so on. If I understand it all correctly if you want to use OS maps on your phone the choice is between a one-off payment like Backcountry vs. a yearly subscription for other OS map apps?

I'm personally sticking with Backcountry because I have already purchased it. I'm also one of those people who has learned not to like subscriptions or three-month trials. I tried a three-month trial before and was annoyed to find that in order to cancel I had to leave the app and cancel it on Google Play. That app is now canceled and I won't fall for that trick again. I have tried out one other app and purchased it for one year because I noticed that this app allowed me to cancel as soon as my payment went through. In 8 months time, I personally will decide if I want to continue with it, it will not be decided by the app or by Google!

When I compare and contrast I have downloaded 4 different apps of France, all use IGN maps and they show all of the walking routes across the country for FREE. My problem now is to decide which one to stick with?

pauldawes

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #65 on: 17:59:20, 19/09/19 »
I was out using it today. I selected the route to follow but it refused to set off so it never left the car park. I forgot to press record on VR too. Thank god for Garmin!


I must be dog tired after usual Thursday walk...


For a second I interpreted your post as meaning you didn’t set off from car park!


I thought that was so unlike you that I re-read...and had a laugh at how much I’d got “wrong of stick” on first read.

Patrick1

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #66 on: 12:37:37, 20/09/19 »
If I understand it all correctly if you want to use OS maps on your phone the choice is between a one-off payment like Backcountry vs. a yearly subscription for other OS map apps?


I keep mentioning Maverick - eg earlier on this thread, but I get the feeling no-one else is as keen on it as I am. Fair enough - each to their own - but there's no doubt its a perfectly valid option for free offline OS maps.

GnP

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #67 on: 12:53:27, 20/09/19 »
OS are saying the fix will be on Monday now
A night under silnylon. Doesn't have the same ring to it.

ninthace

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #68 on: 14:54:26, 20/09/19 »
OS are saying the fix will be on Monday now
  Set off through the Blackdown Hills this morning: Garmin - check; ViewRanger - check; OS blank screen followed by "OS maps keep stopping" then nothing.
Found a new snag today while trying to navigate the site of Castle Neroche today.  The site is a Norman motte and bailey  on top of an Iron Age fort.  It is a maze of ramparts covered in trees and scrub with the odd path through and round it.  Both the ViewRanger Map and the OS map were almost complete works of fiction.  Some of the paths it showed existed, some didn't.  The OS map was just as bad in terms of accuracy but made worse by the overprinted symbols rendering it almost illegible.  Turned out the path I was relying on to get away from the site in my intended direction of travel through the forest did not exist but there was a path that started right then lead off in the wrong direction.  I did a quick back track and replan to try a different route.  That didn't exist either.  Ended using the road!
Solvitur Ambulando

GnP

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #69 on: 16:42:12, 20/09/19 »
  Set off through the Blackdown Hills this morning: Garmin - check; ViewRanger - check; OS blank screen followed by "OS maps keep stopping" then nothing.
Found a new snag today while trying to navigate the site of Castle Neroche today.  The site is a Norman motte and bailey  on top of an Iron Age fort.  It is a maze of ramparts covered in trees and scrub with the odd path through and round it.  Both the ViewRanger Map and the OS map were almost complete works of fiction.  Some of the paths it showed existed, some didn't.  The OS map was just as bad in terms of accuracy but made worse by the overprinted symbols rendering it almost illegible.  Turned out the path I was relying on to get away from the site in my intended direction of travel through the forest did not exist but there was a path that started right then lead off in the wrong direction.  I did a quick back track and replan to try a different route.  That didn't exist either.  Ended using the road!
Do you have open source mapping on any of your gadgets. It isnt the most comprehensive, I know, but you saying about OS mapping being out of date is so true in places & it turns out open source can be more up to date, because people are actually using paths that exist on the ground..
A night under silnylon. Doesn't have the same ring to it.

gunwharfman

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #70 on: 17:34:08, 20/09/19 »
I've just downloaded and have had a look at Maverick, seems to be very comprehensive, it will take a while for me to understand properly. The OS maps work though, very good for free, from my point of view much better than pay £23 a year to OS. Seems to be so much choice available, maybe there are apps which are better than others, but it also looks as though many of them are the same.

GnP

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #71 on: 18:21:45, 20/09/19 »
I've just downloaded and have had a look at Maverick, seems to be very comprehensive, it will take a while for me to understand properly. The OS maps work though, very good for free, from my point of view much better than pay £23 a year to OS. Seems to be so much choice available, maybe there are apps which are better than others, but it also looks as though many of them are the same.
I dislike change once I get used to something..I love OS mapping on their own site..I know its a bit quirky and maybe not the cheapest but  I have tried other apps and always come back to good ol` OS..I think on other apps, even though OS is used there always seems something to be mssing, one way or another. Maybe its scaling when printing or down loading GPX files, or limits to how much can be downloaded to a phone etc..
A night under silnylon. Doesn't have the same ring to it.

ninthace

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #72 on: 18:53:49, 20/09/19 »
Do you have open source mapping on any of your gadgets. It isnt the most comprehensive, I know, but you saying about OS mapping being out of date is so true in places & it turns out open source can be more up to date, because people are actually using paths that exist on the ground..
  I do have access to Freizetkarte and CacheMapsUK as well as the various ViewRanger maps and the OS maps (both the 25k and the Standard Map).  I also use GoogleEarth too so I am usually well prepared.  In this case it was no help.  I knew I had an issue at three points on the route before I set off because the maps disagreed not only on the existence of paths but also on the line that those paths took.  GoogleEarth was no good in this case as most of the route was under trees!  I had plans for the first two problems and we sailed through those.  I knew the Castle was my last problem but took succour in the thought it was an ancient monument and the area was named after it so I was expecting some tourist trails that I could use when I got there.  Wrong!
Solvitur Ambulando

GnP

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #73 on: 19:05:04, 20/09/19 »
  I do have access to Freizetkarte and CacheMapsUK as well as the various ViewRanger maps and the OS maps (both the 25k and the Standard Map).  I also use GoogleEarth too so I am usually well prepared.  In this case it was no help.  I knew I had an issue at three points on the route before I set off because the maps disagreed not only on the existence of paths but also on the line that those paths took.  GoogleEarth was no good in this case as most of the route was under trees!  I had plans for the first two problems and we sailed through those.  I knew the Castle was my last problem but took succour in the thought it was an ancient monument and the area was named after it so I was expecting some tourist trails that I could use when I got there.  Wrong!
At times I get frustrated with lack of signs or paths that just do not exist, when according to a map they should. or a stile that is virtually invisible because of brambles...Then when I arrive home I like the idea that it was a challenge and that cup of tea or a beer, tastes even sweeter...
A night under silnylon. Doesn't have the same ring to it.

archaeoroutes

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Re: Which Smart phone mapping is best?
« Reply #74 on: 22:18:24, 20/09/19 »
  Set off through the Blackdown Hills this morning: Garmin - check; ViewRanger - check; OS blank screen followed by "OS maps keep stopping" then nothing.
Found a new snag today while trying to navigate the site of Castle Neroche today.  The site is a Norman motte and bailey  on top of an Iron Age fort.  It is a maze of ramparts covered in trees and scrub with the odd path through and round it.  Both the ViewRanger Map and the OS map were almost complete works of fiction.  Some of the paths it showed existed, some didn't.  The OS map was just as bad in terms of accuracy but made worse by the overprinted symbols rendering it almost illegible.  Turned out the path I was relying on to get away from the site in my intended direction of travel through the forest did not exist but there was a path that started right then lead off in the wrong direction.  I did a quick back track and replan to try a different route.  That didn't exist either.  Ended using the road!
Castle Neroche is a lovely place, but much has happened due to forestry. I tend to just wander around or use an orienteering map.
Walking routes visiting ancient sites in Britain's uplands: http://www.archaeoroutes.co.uk

 

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