Is there a "real" GPS alternative out there? (1 Viewer)

[jonheld]

I know this has come up before, but the threads are a bit stale and as new apps keep coming out I thought I'd ask again.

I currently run a 6 year old Garmin Nuvi 885T, which Garmin no longer is supporting with firmware updates, etc. I have lifetime map updates, but the GPS itself is pretty slow by today's standards and has poor turn by turn directions. It was state of the art 6 years ago, but there you go.

As opposed to purchasing another $250-$325 Garmin unit, I have been relying on my new Galaxy S5 and GoogleMaps more and more, which it good for known addresses and on road navigation, but I'm looking for an app that will do what the GPS does.

Specifically:
I would love to import the 300 or so waypoints that I have collected over the years.
An app that will work with no cell service and will rely strictly on GPS.
An app that will leave a "breadcrumb" trail when off road and the ability to save/export.
Offline topo maps and detailed road maps would be huge.

Basically a complete GPS replacement is what I'm looking for and I have no problem with paid apps as long as they are well behaved.

 

[FJ60Seth]

I use Gaia. I think it will do everything you need. The only complaints I have are that their website blows, but I mostly use the IOS app, so no big deal., and the "pro" version is $40/year.

 

[jonheld]

I use Gaia. I think it will do everything you need. The only complaints I have are that their website blows, but I mostly use the IOS app, so no big deal., and the "pro" version is $40/year.

It looks nice, but appears to be topo only without street navigation.
I'm looking for something that does it all.

 

[Tigerstripe40]

Just buck up and get another Garmin with the features that you like. Personally I prefer a dedicated GPS. Many of the combo units I have found just don't live up to my expectations.

It's a consumer electronic, which means that unless it's VERY specialized (eg 2M radio) it's not designed to last more than 4 years or so. Aviation grade GPS will be supported longer, but for the cost you can buy 4 new GPS for the cost of 1 Aviation GPS...

 

[FJ60Seth]

For street navigation, I can't live without waze or google maps. I really don't see the value in a dedicated GPS unless you need the ruggedness or waterproof, like for canyoneering.

 

[Tigerstripe40]

unless you need the ruggedness or waterproof, like for canyoneering.

This.

Plus, personally, I am notoriously hard on gadgets.

 

[jonheld]

Just buck up and get another Garmin with the features that you like. Personally I prefer a dedicated GPS. Many of the combo units I have found just don't live up to my expectations.

It's a consumer electronic, which means that unless it's VERY specialized (eg 2M radio) it's not designed to last more than 4 years or so. Aviation grade GPS will be supported longer, but for the cost you can buy 4 new GPS for the cost of 1 Aviation GPS...

LOL. You really are missing the point of my question, aren't you.

 

[traveldud]

I just did trip overseas and my buddy put me on to Sygic. they'll give you a trial of a week and then charge a fee for furhter use. For Israel and Jordan the fee was 7 bucks. I was really happy with it. It had challenges in new/recently completed construction and in tight city streets like telaviv (although my buddy's worked in telaviv so it could've been my hardware). However I believe the others nav systems would've had similar problems with new construction.

I'll be using it for my Canada trip (assuming they have a footprint) and others, assuming they cover it. And for the nominal fee it's worth it to me. Worth a look...I haven't done my diligence, but it worked well as mentioned before.

Oh...I forgot we used it South AFrica as well.

 

[traveldud]

PS. it's an app for the smart phone...

 

[Mr Cimarron]

I don't see the point of a old school dedicated GPS anymore. Any tablet or phone can give you the same stuff. I use an old iPad that I upgraded from for my GPS. You can buy 10 apps to try out for the price of a cheap dedicated GPS.

 

[jonheld]

I don't see the point of a old school dedicated GPS anymore. Any tablet or phone can give you the same stuff. I use an old iPad that I upgraded from for my GPS. You can buy 10 apps to try out for the price of a cheap dedicated GPS.

This is my point exactly. What I'm looking for is a GPS replacement. My needs are pretty simple.
Google maps gives good on road navigation, but lacks the ability to store offline maps and waypoints.
I'm experimenting with GPS Copilot which was recommended on an Android forum. Complete sets of offline street maps and has decent navigation, but doesn't speak street names which I find annoying.
Still looking and asking for personal experience.

 

[TexasCrane]

This is my point exactly. What I'm looking for is a GPS replacement. My needs are pretty simple.
Google maps gives good on road navigation, but lacks the ability to store offline maps and waypoints.
I'm experimenting with GPS Copilot which was recommended on an Android forum. Complete sets of offline street maps and has decent navigation, but doesn't speak street names which I find annoying.
Still looking and asking for personal experience.

Have you looked at HERE maps from nokia? It has offline maps for the whole world. The US map is about 4.7 GB.

 

[MANUCHAO]

I use OsmAnd.

Has both contour, shaded features and street maps...

 

[Cruiserdrew]

If this doesn't have to be cell phone based, Delorme Topo will do everything except talk to you. The down side is is has to run on a laptop, and the user interface is a pain in the ass until you've used it awhile.

The upside is, it's inexpensive, flexible and amazingly detailed for a $50 program that already contains all the maps for the eastern USA. THat $50 and a $30 GPS dongle and you're good to go. You can import routes, import your own routes and make them into a track, and if you want even more detailed topo maps you can import quads too. ANd it contains a routing street layer that works find to navigate city streets.

You can buy the entire usa at once or east or west. Living in New York and wheeling in Moab, you'll need the full package.

It's a decent program, but as I said, the interface is not intuitive. I'm using a non-current version (8) so maybe the newest version (10) so maybe the interface has improved. If nothing else it's worth trying out. For under $100 you'll know.

 

[george_tlc]

I've not found the 'perfect' one app does it all solution and I don't think it exists or ever will.

The issue is that for street use you want a navigation system that can provide voice prompts and has local sites/food/fuel etc points of interest and all the other things needed while getting somewhere in a city. You basically want to be blind to most 'data' that has nothing to do with your whole need to get from point A to point B in the middle of traffic and one way streets and honking horns...

For outdoor use you want all in the information to do with contours and creeks and hills and little remote structures and ... i.e. you want all the data since you aren't in a panic rush surrounded by honking horns and suicidal pedestrians and cyclists You want tracklogs, you want to have options to mark waypoints and search out little tracks here and there and you have time to go slow/stop/peruse and plan.

The user interface is very different and that's why I don't see one program/app handling the two needs. The other issue is that a lot of topo map stuff (e.g. the free USGS quads) are raster based and most street mapping programs use vector based maps so two very different file formats.

With all that said, I use HERE and Google maps (the OLD version that allowed caching multiple areas). The new Google Map sucks for offline use, I have a major distaste for the Google map development team since I visualise them as a bunch of 20 something geeks that just like changing everything and have no concept that there is a world beyond cell reception...

HERE seems to work well and has decent maps that you can download for most parts of the world. It also allows the maps to go onto an external SD card rather than having to be in the phone/tablet's main memory. It can run with a data connection for traffic and other features that require it. It can navigate without a data connection and the local maps. Google maps (old & new) needs a data connection to navigate (dumb bastards).

Since I have been invested in Oziexplorer for many years, I use ozi on my phone and tablet and have a bunch of USGS quads that I have in external SD memory on both. For oz I have a bunch of the raster topo maps loaded as well. Ozi supports a LOT for waypoint formats and of course supports the Garmin routes/waypoints and tracklogs. You do need to purchase both programs since the android version leverages the processed maps from ozi. It's nice to have both programs since I can then transfer data back to the PC for later viewing on a decent sized display. I also use the PC to create tentative routes/tracks etc prior to a trip and then transfer them to the Android device for actual use.

On the last few trips to oz I've had a tablet running 24/7 in the 4wd and it is perfect for keeping continuous tracklogs and showing or capturing waypoints as I travel. Minimal power consumption from my dual battery 4wd so not an issue at all and besides the arb fridge is the real power 'hog' anyway and that's why I run solar.

Ozi does require a learning cycle and you do have to have the skills to find the various free usgs quads and download them and process them through the PC ozi prior to moving them to the android device. It certainly isn't a 'one step' process, but once it's done actual operation and use is very easy.

Of course with quads/raster maps there is no navigation capability since the map files are basically just scanned bitmaps, i.e. 'pictures'. Hence the need to do pre-trip planning (which is 1/2 the fun...) to decide likely routes you plan to take and then when you're there winging it (which is the other 1/2 of the fun)

I use a smartphone as my 'portable' gps and it works nicely with a decent size screen and ok power consumption once in 'airplane' mode - no cell/wifi/BT when you're out in the bush anyway. BUT, it still isn't as frugal as a dedicated GPS unit. It also isn't as waterproof/drop-proof as a dedicated GPS. So one thing to consider is your real world use of a handheld GPS while outdoors and whether you are 'gentle' enough for it to be a smartphone. At least have a reasonable case for it.

Anyhow, that's my current 2015 ramblings on the subject

cheers,
george.

 

[Elbert]

I've not seen the perfect app either or device. So what happens offload when you have no cell signal... Plenty of good devices for the street.

I would not mind buying a dedicated device for topo use offload..but I would want it to be standalone and not require continuous uploads etc... Given the ever decreasing size of storage and corresponding ever increasing capacity....seems like this is a doable thing. Or simply be able to pug in regional usb drives or other mini-storage devices and have a 7 or 8 inch screen...(when I say regional I mean like a 3 or 4 state size area on one drive/storage device).

 

[jonheld]

Been driving between DC and Jersey for the last week so I had a chance to play with some apps.
For day to day on road directions from point A to point B, Google Maps is a clear winner. GPS Copilot just sucks in all aspects, Here has an issue with screen orientation. It wants you to keep your phone in portrait and will only rotate once you initiate a route. That was just to annoying to continue with.
I am not yet truly discouraged and will continue to search.

 

[OregonLC]

Google maps gives good on road navigation, but lacks the ability to store offline maps and waypoints.

"OK maps" in the search bar saves the Google map for offline use. The Google terrain maps are superb.

 

[hj 60]

Maybe polaris navigation?

Free version has three waypoints but nice app for android: it is strange that navigation does not use gps coordinates but tomtom can use them and waze to if you add them in search I believe?

Very old tomtom had waypoint recorder but was taken out of the software.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.discipleskies.android.polarisnavigation

 

[shane4x4]

Plenty of great info in here...I agree the perfect solution will likely never exist. I think if you find a good on-road (i.e. in cell service app) such as Tom Tom or Garmin apps, then find a good exploration app...you'll be good to go. It's easy enough to switch if you need to.

Maybe we'll get an app that does turn by turn AND topo maps...but who knows?