Phone as my GPS. Using highly specific google maps issues

Hello!

So I am going to be using my phone as my GPS and I would love to use Google maps. I have made a bunch of maps already utilizing a ton of different way points, and I saved them. The issue is it might be difficult to access these maps, or at least use google's navigation from it.

For example, this is one of my segments

https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msid...=29.764377,-71.938477&spn=27.321313,46.538086

I can't even access the route function from the desktop app, let alone the phone.

So my question is, how does one design specific routes on google maps and still use them for navigation purposes on their phone?

Thanks

Some of this is discussed here:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=945386

There are a dozen way to do this.
One of the ways I do this is first on the Google site, click on the KML button and export the map. Then on my PC, I use a program call ITNconverter to convert the KML file. I use a program on my phone called CoPilot, so I convert it to a CoPilot file and copy that to my phone. Or if I am using OSMand, I convert it to a GPX format and copy that to my phone.
Or you can use a program like Locus, and it will directly read the files off of the Google server. Very convenient, but that program is difficult to set up and use IMHO.

You're a legend.

Thanks!

What I am more interested is which app is best for what?

I also use Co-Pilot but still find Google Map more accurate although again with GM you need cell coverage more or less regardless of the ability to cache section sof GM for future offline use.

I've heard lot about Osmand but I read that search finctions suck. I had Sygic but routing was hit or miss as is Co-Pilot. Both work OK but not great and certainly not as accurate as GM.

I was interested in trying out Locus Pro but I read reviews where navigation sucked since you had to be online for it to calculate your route and that Locus is more of a map program than GPS.

I agree that future is to use a smartphone but which app is best? Is there one app that can do off road tracks and on road routes or do we have to download and use 2 apps?

Maybe we can start a thread on best smartphone apps with pros and cons?

I think that is a great idea.

What issues did you have Co-Pilot? Inaccurate offroad or on paved streets?

On road routing was subpar as compared to Google Map. Really, if you did not know the area, you probably would not know any better. I was recently in Tampa and selected a hotel from the airport and it was routing me some funky way to get to the hotel. Didn't look right to me so I tried the same hotel in Google Map and it took me right to the hotel and shaved about 20 minutes off from Co-Pilot.

Not sure what happened. It was not a setting or avoidance setting issue as I verified that Co-Pilot was set for "Quickest" and no avoidance.

Jon

Hmm, that is discouraging.

Ideally I would map it out on GM then use the android GM app for navigation. Worst come to worst I use Co-Pilot, but I don't want to rely on subpar navigation...

I used co-pilot as well. It worked well enough for me to follow the Trans Wisconsin Trail last weekend. It got a bit confused when I got off route. It routed me to the next waypoint but I couldn't find the route I should have been on.

My own experience with CoPilot in my area was pretty disappointing as well. I requested it route me to my parents' house which is on the north end of a road that is about 50 miles long. CoPilot wouldn't accept that the address I was attempting to get to was near the north end, despite it being "sort of" aware of the numbering scheme. It then proceeded to route me from the south end to the north. If I went directly, it's 20 miles. If I followed the route, it would've been near 50 miles

Even Garmin does routing better...

why not here ?

oruxmaps+brouter, completely offline routing, planning,and tracking, this is not tbt navigation, since you won't want tbt of road anyway. offline maps abound, and look beautiful:



Osmand+, completely offline, and/or off road planning, routing, tracking, onroad tbt navigation, with or without redirection, great maps, and also beautiful:


high detail zoom with vector maps, topo and hill shading:


you might notice Osmand has something interesting in the lower left, a motorcycle icon.... it can route/guide according to profiles that you set: car, boat, walking, motorcycle, fastest/shortest/etc

generally, for off road I use oruxmaps, I just prefer the ui for of f road.

for on road /tbt navigation, I'll use Osmand.

for point to point navigation: Osmand or sygic, depending on mood.

for fine detailed planning or routing, oruxmaps.


both of these applications ate under heavy development. Osmand actually has nightly builds you can download for free to try out upcoming features.

oruxmaps has betas also, that are also way ahead of the game when compared to stand alone offerings.

dive in and try them out

Good stuff. I almost pulled a trigger on Osmand but I saw many negative comments about TBT navigation and searching of address being poor. What is your experience?




Jon

search is hit and miss. an address works 95% of the time. a business name, who knows. I don't let Osmand access the internet though , so its all dine from whatever its database says is there, from whenever it was compiled.

its still great, don't let the few negatives put you off about a very specific feature here or there

Well I guess I will try this then!

I am going to be on road and want turn by turn navigation. My routes are not crazy per se, but will look something like this. That isn't complete, but you get the gist of it. If Osmand+ can handle it, I will give it a whirl.

it will, but you're going to need the geospatial coordinates sections and states downloaded prior to routing through those areas. Osmand prompts for this as routing/map viewing happens. good dialogues and good info both in the app and it's support forums.

I would definitely have a route that long working perfectly, and converted to gpx well ahead if the trip. there is a very cool "animate' option for routes that I would try, along with shipping ahead to each turn (to verify) from the route planning list of turns.


also, I would break each leg of the trip into state or even half state sections (Texas, wow) to ensure the gpx doesn't get out of hand in file size or complexity. labeling each state, and uploading them to a cloud based storage would be wise to, in case something happens to the device and or sdcard

I would use Osmand+ and/or CoPilot Premium on my Android device for that.
I WOULD break it into a few much smaller chunks. So if something gets goofy on one section, you will be starting fresh in the new section and not totally off base.
You will need to download a number of states. OSMand will lead you through that.
Another thing to look at is Locus maps. I don't find it very user friendly, but it will directly connect to Google and download that route and those points directly. Once you have downloaded it offline, you are good. Play with the free version of Locus.

Looks like you are passing through Franklin NC, but not going over the Cherohalla Skyway. :huh

Newbie trying to decide which gps route to go and figure all this stuff out. How is Osmand for the 2 and single track map details, and how easy to dl forest service or other detailed maps in?

Oh, not interested in on road nav, only off road and offline.

Osmand works fine for single track, but I prefer the ui and colors of oruxmaps for details that fine.....

this is Osmand with very small file size vector based maps, hillshade and contour lines turned on:






and this is oruxmaps, with an image map (mapnick) used:






its the same area, close to same zoom level. single track is fine with either, but the prefrrernce leans towards Osmand for roads and oruxmaps for no roads. for me. they both have compass cones (and regular compass functions of course) built in, I forgot to turn it on for the Osmand screen shot. a bar sweep usually works great for deciding which way is next for the directionally challenged.

The thing that worries me about your last post is that these are all rural areas with city streets basically, and my whole goal is getting away from that situation and purposefully going for areas less traveled.

A concern that I realized a couple days ago is that I don't know if map detail vs memory capacity on the phone will be an issue. I assume it's unrealistic to have pretty much the whole state downloaded when one small area was a 29gb file? That was a topo I downloaded and liked, but if there was a non-topo that left out ONLY the topo data I'd prefer it instead.

You want vector maps, not tile or raster maps. Vector maps are much more compact.
Go to the OSM map site here:
http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=14/34.6413/-84.1084&layers=N

Find the area you are interested in, and check if there is the detail that you want. The area I pointed to is all gravel/dirt & forest roads. But I admit that I don't do a lot of offroad riding, so it may not do what you need.

I don't see a way to plot a route on OSM, is that not available?