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Cathryn

sat nav app

Thought there was a thread on this somewhere but i cannot find it.

Sometimes I get a little bit lost. Mostly this doesn't matter and I find some interesting places but just sometimes I'd rather get to where I want to be going in good time. Would an app help? Yesterday* there was no phone signal of any kind would that make it useless in that area? I've got a limited data package on my phone at the moment as well.

Recommendations, suggestions, comments appreciated.


*So I didn't pick up the hens I was intending to buy. It was a message wasn't it. Smile
vegplot

A SatNav app on a mobile phone needs a mobile connection to at least plot the route but it's not required all the time during the journey, it depends on how much of the route data has been downloaded. Your phone will need a GPS receiver.

The app (Here Drive+) on by Windows Phone 8 (Lumia 930) is excellent, far better than the Garmin satnav we have in the car.
dpack

im not sure about phone apps but satellite location using the gps system is fairly reliable.i suspect phone apps require a(perhaps several) phone signal/s.some phones have sat based gps but they are a bolt on rather than a dedicated machine that can work with a few or many gps satalites.

my hand held garmin will locate me to within a metre anywhere on the planet and it has a very good full uk map including a variety of routes from footpath to motorway

for wilderness a os map has the details but the gps locates you even in a whiteout.

as i understand it the car gps gadgets they are fairly good but can have map issues
dpack

ps my hand held is rather more sophisticated than in car gps units
Pilsbury

Check your phone for Google maps, there is normally a way of typing in your destination and using the phone as a gps, also look for navigation, the symbol is a blue arrow type shape, it can be in your Google maps or it can be a seperate icon thst may be in your apps list but not on your phone screen if thst makes sense.
Cathryn


my hand held garmin will locate me to within a metre anywhere on the planet


How very useful Inspector Gadget. Laughing

Thank you. The Here Drive sounds excellent but I don't have a windows 8 phone. I do have a quite a smart phone though and I'll look up the what you suggest Pilsbury. I'd forgotten about that. I'm sure it will do although I would rather like something to shout at me if I go off piste when trying to leave Cardiff. I can get to the city centre every time but I rarely leave on the same route twice.
Behemoth

ps my hand held is rather more sophisticated than in car gps units


Oh dear, I fear another Menwith Hill intercept. vegplot
my hand held garmin will locate me to within a metre anywhere on the planet

How very useful Inspector Gadget. Laughing

Thank you. The Here Drive sounds excellent but I don't have a windows 8 phone. I do have a quite a smart phone though and I'll look up the what you suggest Pilsbury. I'd forgotten about that. I'm sure it will do although I would rather like something to shout at me if I go off piste when trying to leave Cardiff. I can get to the city centre every time but I rarely leave on the same route twice.

What operating system and version on your SmartPhone? Pilsbury
my hand held garmin will locate me to within a metre anywhere on the planet

How very useful Inspector Gadget. Laughing

Thank you. The Here Drive sounds excellent but I don't have a windows 8 phone. I do have a quite a smart phone though and I'll look up the what you suggest Pilsbury. I'd forgotten about that. I'm sure it will do although I would rather like something to shout at me if I go off piste when trying to leave Cardiff. I can get to the city centre every time but I rarely leave on the same route twice.
Navigate does use voice software to tell you which way to go and you can also pick your mode of transport, car, public, bike or walking.
To be honest it has compleatly replaced my sat nav in the car and I use it a lot. cir3ngirl

Dpack which Garmin do you have I'm looking to upgrade mine, I doing geocaching. I bought a Magellan but didn't like it Cathryn
my hand held garmin will locate me to within a metre anywhere on the planet

How very useful Inspector Gadget. Laughing

Thank you. The Here Drive sounds excellent but I don't have a windows 8 phone. I do have a quite a smart phone though and I'll look up the what you suggest Pilsbury. I'd forgotten about that. I'm sure it will do although I would rather like something to shout at me if I go off piste when trying to leave Cardiff. I can get to the city centre every time but I rarely leave on the same route twice.

What operating system and version on your SmartPhone?

Ummm, Android 14.5 any minute now if it can manage to update. vegplot

http://blogs.which.co.uk/technology/app-review/top-five-android-sat-nav-apps/ dpack

if it had a "find me" function i could tell you which one it is Rolling Eyes dpack

gpsmap 60 cx by garmin

tis a few years old ,i bought it off brownbear as he wanted a less complex one.

it works very well(unless under trees,in a gully etc etc )

i suspect it needs an external kit aerial for in car use as it is a bit iffy in a train but on foot or bike tis excellent. dpack

the russians have just announced their new gps killer weapon so a map is still a good investment Rolling Eyes Shane

I use Waze on the iPhone and it's brilliant - also available on Android, according to Google. It uses an open source map and is by far the most up to date for this area (Google is hopelessly out of date and the latest map in the Garmin satnav I use in the desert is even worse). Waze also gets feedback on traffic flow from every online user and uses it to keep the map of congestion up-to-date, and also reroutes you if traffic gets too slow on your route. vegplot

It's available for Windows Phone as well. I'll give it a go. vegplot

Not used Waze in anger yet but first impressions are really very good. Nice and simple and plenty of feedback options to report traffic and mapping errors. Shane

One good thing I like about Waze is that if you arrive in a new country, jump on the airport's wifi and plug in your destination, it will download the map between the airport and where you're going and all the roads for a mile or two on each side of the route.

It also lets me send an ETA to other Waze users, which is handy if I'm on my way to see someone and get stuck in Doha's highly-variable traffic.

I bought (at significant expense) the map for Asia for my Garmin satnav and it doesn't even have decent coverage of places like Bangkok or KL. Waze is free and stomps all over the Garmin maps.

Google tried to buy Waze a few months ago, which shows you how worried they are about it. vegplot
It also lets me send an ETA to other Waze users, which is handy if I'm on my way to see someone and get stuck in Doha's highly-variable traffic.

That's the only fly in the ointment. So far I've found this feature to be unreliable. Send the link to the map via email works fine but the end user get's a "route not valid" type of error. Other than that it's great.
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