Best Android Overlanding software?

[esh]

This continues to be my beef with current mobile OS software. Even Nat Geo TOPO! has done away with their 24k State Series software to a subscription-based download model. I haven't worked out why BCN would take 50GB per state when TOPO! can do it with 3-5G on average. In theory you should be able to have a tablet with 64GB of flash and carry around many states' worth of maps, but not if the map data or the map design is so bloated.

(from BCN support)
"Don't Download State Size Maps.

Nathan
posted this on Jan 24 17:16
While the app does not specifically stop you from doing this, the app is(n't) really appropriate for downloading the map of a full state.

State size downloads at full resolution are much too big to fit on your storage card. They could be upwards of 50 gigabytes. There are reports of the app hanging in a download because the size is simply too large.

Too many people are trying to do so, and it is putting a big strain on the servers.

Please refrain from doing so.

Please plan your adventures and download maps for the actual places you will actually go, instead of downloading a few whole states "just in case". Planning an adventure can be part of the fun.

We realize that there are some valid reasons for wanting a whole state with good detail, but at the present time we are not the right app nor do we have the right kind of maps to do so."

 

[Jay H]

This continues to be my beef with current mobile OS software. Even Nat Geo TOPO! has done away with their 24k State Series software to a subscription-based download model. I haven't worked out why BCN would take 50GB per state when TOPO! can do it with 3-5G on average. In theory you should be able to have a tablet with 64GB of flash and carry around many states' worth of maps, but not if the map data or the map design is so bloated.

(from BCN support)
"Don't Download State Size Maps.

Nathan
posted this on Jan 24 17:16
While the app does not specifically stop you from doing this, the app is(n't) really appropriate for downloading the map of a full state.

State size downloads at full resolution are much too big to fit on your storage card. They could be upwards of 50 gigabytes. There are reports of the app hanging in a download because the size is simply too large.

Too many people are trying to do so, and it is putting a big strain on the servers.



Please refrain from doing so.

Please plan your adventures and download maps for the actual places you will actually go, instead of downloading a few whole states "just in case". Planning an adventure can be part of the fun.

We realize that there are some valid reasons for wanting a whole state with good detail, but at the present time we are not the right app nor do we have the right kind of maps to do so."

I am hoping that there will soon be functionality to draw a line on a the map and have it use that to download tiles for 20 miles or so on either side of it. This would be great. But even more annoying than the size of the files is the way they are not rolled into single files. A large area will have about 10,000 individual files which is very cumbersome compared to a single large file.

 

[Krytos]

Mild Necro-post but I needed some assistance.

I had some trouble viewing the maps after the fact.

I'm running a Samsung galaxy Tab 2.0 7inch and have since set my SD Card as the save location for Backcountry Navigator and deleted all the tiles I downloaded. Before that, I couldn't access any of the maps I downloaded.

Am I correct in assuming that you need to only download one type of map?

Once you download a map, how do you go about opening it up in offline mode?

I've been trying to get it working in time for a trip my club is taking leading up to Jeep Beach, but I haven't had much luck.

 

[theksmith]

Mild Necro-post but I needed some assistance.

I had some trouble viewing the maps after the fact.

I'm running a Samsung galaxy Tab 2.0 7inch and have since set my SD Card as the save location for Backcountry Navigator and deleted all the tiles I downloaded. Before that, I couldn't access any of the maps I downloaded.

Am I correct in assuming that you need to only download one type of map?

Once you download a map, how do you go about opening it up in offline mode?

I've been trying to get it working in time for a trip my club is taking leading up to Jeep Beach, but I haven't had much luck.

always use "main tile cache" when you're online and you can switch map types, but for offline i found you need to have a different package for each map type.

create a new "map package" or "cache store" for each type of map you download (instead of downloading into the "main tile store").

when it's done you choose the "map package" that you created to view that type of map offline.


also, you can then keep downloading more into your different packages, it will just add to that package. so for example i have the "main tile cache" with lord knows what all i've looked around at, but then i have "AZ", "AZ Topo" and "AZ Aerial" map packages that i download those respective map types into. whenever i'm headed to a new area, i just update each one with that area's download... so slowly i'm building up the entire state worth of each of those packages.

 

[86tuning]

I'm looking into this as well. I'm currently using a 4.3" garmin nuvi and while it works awesome, I'd like a bigger screen.

A tab will cost significantly less than the garmin 7" navigator, and won't be limited to only GPS duties.

Thanks for all the ideas so far!

 

[ETAV8R]

Good stuff here.

 

[theksmith]

i've completely switched from backcountry navigator to alpine quest. it's got more features, downloads faster, redraws maps to screen faster, and the developer has been very receptive to requests to make it more friendly for in-vehicle use. for example i had asked if he could space out the +/- zoom buttons and make the "hit area" on the toggles for gps & tracking bigger so that all that stuff was easier to tap while driving and he put it in the next release after i asked.

one of the coolest features is the map layering, with ability to adjust opacity.

 

[Saratoga]

I've been using OsmAnd. Works ok, not the best but cheap to free. You can get contour info too...

 

[ETAV8R]

I am looking at the Samsung Tab 3 8". Tried out US Topos during my last trip on my phone, GS4, and just downloaded the trial for BackCountry Nav. I noticed on the BCN some maps do not list specific canyons in the areas I like to go. Anyone know if these are shown on the full version for various maps?

 

[cowboy4x4]

Theksmith...... I just bought a Samsung galaxy 3 tab 10... I will be using it pretty much solely for navigation..... I was just about to buy BCN..... then I saw your post about Alpine.... So in your opinion would I be better off/happier with Alpine instead of BCN ? My travels are 90% CA.

 

[theksmith]

Theksmith...... I just bought a Samsung galaxy 3 tab 10... I will be using it pretty much solely for navigation..... I was just about to buy BCN..... then I saw your post about Alpine.... So in your opinion would I be better off/happier with Alpine instead of BCN ? My travels are 90% CA.

BCN's main downside for me is that it won't let you select a large area for detailed download. i realize this is a major bandwidth hog and costs the map providers money to serve the content. however, as a spur-of-the-moment explorer i expect whatever app i use to be able to store at least a large portion of my home state in detail. the main upside to BCN is the breadth of maps, including the paid AccuTerra map option. BCN also has a simpler interface, though imo it's got a couple glitchy aspects (very minor though).

AlpineQuest i think has more features, and therefore the interface can potentially be more complex. there are currently no paid-for map options. if you click the "add new maps" button, they do have the USGS scanned topo's which i use mainly off-road. actually i use a custom map source, but that's another discussion. i really like AQ's ability to have multiple map sources as semi-transparent layers - i.e. you can add a hill-shading layer to your favorite map, or overlay more up-to-date roads on top of an old topo. AQ seems to have more options with how tracks and waypoints are dealt with and displayed than BCN but this could be a pro or con depending on your comfort level with software UI's in general.

at $10 each, you can probably afford to buy them both and watch how they evolve over time (since updates are free). for the level of work that has gone into them, they are a bargain. both developers have been quick to respond to my bug report emails, but AQ's has been more receptive to feature requests.

i've actually been collecting all the topo apps rated 4+ on the play store over the past few months. i plan to write a detailed review sometime soon hopefully, i've got a couple left to evaluate.

 

[cowboy4x4]

Thank you for the input

 

[mog]

i've actually been collecting all the topo apps rated 4+ on the play store over the past few months. i plan to write a detailed review sometime soon hopefully, i've got a couple left to evaluate.

That would be great!
I've been very happy with BCN but with the enlightenment you have provide on AlpineQuest, I think I'll give that a try also.
Thanks,

 

[mike r]

alpine quest has two options, is the free one bad?

 

[Nitinat]

We are new to Android market (Nexus 7), but have been using iOS for a while and looking at options we see two good ones for backroads: Gaia (which we have used before with good success) and Backcountry Navigator (which we haven't used before).

Gaia is not mentione whole lot in this topic, is there reason why? Or it's just not as much reviewed and popular right now on Android?