All in One Offline Maps, Gaia, COTREX comments (Android apps)

[dougrz]

I've been using many apps for a few months and have some informed opinions now on Android apps for offroading. Comments on these 3:

All-in-One Offline Maps (free plus paid for custom map import filters): the surprise winner in my tests of so many apps. Fast display/scroll/zoom, wide array of maps second only to Gaia, great info on screen regarding map storage, connectivity, layers, zooms, etc. Much better app functionality all in all than Gaia, but more importantly solid vs Gaia's flakiness. Better offline map downloading with solid downloading speeds and no mysterious pauses and failures like Gaia. My go to currently. I rarely see it mentioned and don't know why this very well done app doesn't get more attention. The free version is excellent, with the paid import filters unnecessary for the vast majority of users. The app is sophisticated and has a bit to learn, but is well laid out. If only Gaia's app was this good. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.psyberia.offlinemaps


Gaia (free plus paid for extra features): Most full featured setup, widest array of maps (including NatGeo) by a smidge over the above app, a good, fast web interface for waypointing/searching/routing that has the same layers available as the app and it syncs, etc. The web interface is really special to have for pre-routing at home, no doubt. However, the Android app is lacking. It's slow to display/scroll/zoom, especially when offline reading downloaded maps, crashes too much, chokes on large downloaded maps while panning/zooming, and doesn't do large area downloading well. The offline downloading is so poor in fact that I would not recommend this app for large area, long transit trekking where you might plan to hit wifi hotspots along the way. Much too slow and flaky for that.

For CO maps, COTREX (free): Fast display/scroll/zoom, superbly simple and effective offline downloading setup, but limited to 2 maps and satellite imagery, and not as full featured as the ambitious apps above. The 2 maps are a USFS 2016-like topo and modified MVUM, though. Which I've found to be a good pair. If only all mapping apps would adopt this app's download setup, which is based on the principle of selecting predefined boxed areas, with easy referencing to see what is already downloaded. Reminiscent of Garmin's setup with the old Mapsource software of years ago.https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cotrexapp

 

[Superduty]

Take a look at locus. Steep learning curve, of which I'm still at the bottom, but i think it's the most powerful of all Android map apps.

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[dougrz]

Take a look at locus. Steep learning curve, of which I'm still at the bottom, but i think it's the most powerful of all Android map apps.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

I tried Locus months ago and seem to recall it did not do USFS maps, which I've found to be the most useful in the US overall. Correct? I'll take a look again now that I'm much better versed in apps and better understand what is important in the field and while pre-planning. Thanks for the comment.

 

[Superduty]

And I'm gonna try All in One per your review.

Thanks for the review

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[DaveInDenver]

I tried Locus months ago and seem to recall it did not do USFS maps, which I've found to be the most useful in the US overall. Correct? I'll take a look again now that I'm much better versed in apps and better understand what is important in the field and while pre-planning. Thanks for the comment.

Locus could display USGS and USFS geodata if it's compiled in Mapsforge format but unfortunately vector data is primarily based on OpenStreetMaps, which while pretty extensive lacks quite a bit in USFS and BLM data.

FWIW I like Locus fine but tend to use OruxMaps most of the time. It can cache tiles pulled down online from the USGS National Map using WMS or WMTS (I use WMTS with success). It can also display completely offline Mapsforge compiled maps as well as display unlocked Garmin IMG and GeoPDF.

I tend to use downloaded OpenAndroidMaps with GeoPDFs of BLM travel plans and MVUMs for specific details since I use a phone without a SIM card so it only can get tiles if I have WiFi. Having base vector maps and PDFs locally avoids blank maps at least. The Mapsforge maps can be read and shared with Orux as well as Backcountry Navigator and APRSdroid, so I can have several apps without duplicating much. BCN and Orux can't read each others cached tiles, though, so there again I prefer the shared Mapsforge ones.

Not sure if it matters, but I use BRouter for offline routing and calling it from within OruxMaps lets me use the MWTS tiles (or Mapsforge for that matter) for routing, which I thought was pretty cool. BCN can't do that. I don't think it can do anything other than follow a pre-loaded track.