GPS Navigation Apps (1 Viewer)

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MountaineerLC

MountaineerLC

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Oct 14, 2018
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So what are you all using for your off road navigation?

I've used MotionX GPS for many years and it has been great. I could download sections of map for off line use and record my tracks. Unfortunately, it looks like MotionX is no more and while the app still works, the ability to download maps is gone.

I'm searching for a replacement, but the number of options are overwhelming. My only real requirements are off line maps and route tracking. Unfortunately, many seem to require a yearly subscription. 99% of my wheeling is pretty local to me so I don't feel like I can justify the cost for a subscription service with a ton of features. I'm just looking for a simple GPS app that is a one time purchase or free.

Ideas?
 
Thanks for the input guys. From what I'm gathering from my research it seems like there just isn't a good replacement for Motion X without paying for a yearly subscription.

I'll probably break down and go with Gaia eventually. It looks very nice.
 
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I pay for Gaia premium and it's worth it for me even if I only use it once a year. I also pay for a trails offroad subscription. I can upload GPX files of routes with waypoints from trails offroad directly into Gaia instead of plotting them myself which saves an incredible amount of time.
 
Yeah, I'm a fan of GAIA as well. Ease of use from multiple platforms: web portal, iPhone, iPad; and they all sync. It's easy to share waypoints and tracks with others too.
 
So, with Gaia, does it support your own maps (ecw, geotiff, geopdf etc)? And BIG maps, i.e. multi-megabyte/gigabyte files.

With Backcountry Navigator (the original version), I can load my own geo-referenced large maps, specifically whole australia topo map.

I did go and check out mapbox but the free version only deals with a few 100k sized files or maybe it was just a few megabytes, either way, useless for my needs.

I'm not fond of recurring fee based services, they are too easy to bump the price every few years. So, gaia would need to replace and provide better features than my existing one-time purchase gps mapping solutions.

cheers,
george.
 
george_tlc said:
So, with Gaia, does it support your own maps (ecw, geotiff, geopdf etc)? And BIG maps, i.e. multi-megabyte/gigabyte files.

With Backcountry Navigator (the original version), I can load my own geo-referenced large maps, specifically whole australia topo map.

I did go and check out mapbox but the free version only deals with a few 100k sized files or maybe it was just a few megabytes, either way, useless for my needs.

I'm not fond of recurring fee based services, they are too easy to bump the price every few years. So, gaia would need to replace and provide better features than my existing one-time purchase gps mapping solutions.

cheers,
george.
Click to expand...
Hi George,
Gaia offers 15-20 different map layers developed both internally and from public sources but that’s probably the extent of it. You can download a free version that will allow you to access some basic features and also give you an idea of what the paid version offers. As far as downloading maps for an entire awesome country such as Australia it would depend on the level of resolution/detail you’re after. I think it’s 100k tiles worth of data per download. Multiple downloads are easy to do and automatically piece together when actually using the application.
Mo
 
With Gaia you can download map tiles (basically you draw a rectangle on screen) and save them into parent folders to keep organized. How many tiles you can save is dependent on the storage capacity of your mobile device.

Map layers are all sourced from Gaia's library and covers the entire globe. You can download satellite, topo, weather/wildfire, cellular coverage, hunting, nautical, etc. And you can stack layers and adjust transparency like a blend of a topo map over a satellite map.
 
Another note for those exploring Colorado, the state sponsored FREE app, COTREX, is pretty dang good. The detail is great and downloading for offline use is really easy.
 
Yeah, I played a bit with the free version. My concern is that I have maps that are not on tile servers etc. Those are maps I'd like to have on my devices (again specifically australian maps), many are 50+ years old (bush tracks/fencelines, mines, etc) that the ar#ehole australian mapping mob seem to love removing from newer maps.

So, I have a bunch (100's) that are georeferenced files that I'd like to be able to load into gaia and mapbox's limitation on file sizes seem to preclude that. What I was hoping for was a 'converter' that would just take each of my files and convert it to gaia 'format' and then an easy way to load them in.

cheers,
george.

hmm - looking on gaia's site for topo maps etc, they don't list anything for western australia or the northern territory - basically over 1/3 of the oz landmass not covered, and the WA side in particular is what I'm after.
 
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george_tlc said:
Yeah, I played a bit with the free version. My concern is that I have maps that are not on tile servers etc. Those are maps I'd like to have on my devices (again specifically australian maps), many are 50+ years old (bush tracks/fencelines, mines, etc) that the ar#ehole australian mapping mob seem to love removing from newer maps.

So, I have a bunch (100's) that are georeferenced files that I'd like to be able to load into gaia and mapbox's limitation on file sizes seem to preclude that. What I was hoping for was a 'converter' that would just take each of my files and convert it to gaia 'format' and then an easy way to load them in.

cheers,
george.
Click to expand...
For georeferenced PDFs, Avenza is the app to use. It's also subscription based, if you decide to expand beyond the free-use version and load more than a couple maps. Local Alabamian guy I know created the Cartotracks app for popular offroad area/OHV park maps. He uses Avenza as the engine for his georef maps.
 
^ ok, looks like gaia doesn't have what I need. I'll keep using backcountry navigator pro (since I bought it). I have a bunch of maps already loaded and working well, so will stick with it (one time purchase). Thanks for the info.

cheers,
george.
 
Never update GAIA before a big trip....the user is the beta tester.
 
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