Favorite Droid apps for overlanding

[BirfMark]

I came across this in my LifeHacker RSS feed this morning.

True offline maps for Droid

I haven't downloaded it or tried it yet, but thought I'd toss it out there.

Nice find on the compass too btw, Corey. Love that one.

 

[Momrocks]

I have been trying out PDANET and think I will like it. It is a means to use the DROID as the modem for Mac and PCs. I haven't been able to test it in a varity of signal strengths yet but looks to make the aircard obsolete. It is either USB tether or Bluetooth DUN. Does anyone on the board have experience with this app?

My wife and daughter will be driving cross country (Fla to LA) this weekend and will have the laptop tethered via PDANET. That should provide a really good shakedown opportunity. I will post up any interesting revelations.

`

 

[Corey]

Guy at work and his wife both own Driods and use PDANet and like it.
http://www.taranfx.com/how-to-tether-motorola-droid

 

[James86004]

MyTracks works without cell phone service, it just doesn't have the map unless it is in the cache. I still find it useful.

I am looking for a good task manager, one where I can check off each item when I load it into the vehicle when preparing for a trip. One that I can access when I am out of coverage so I can add items to it while we are camping, things like, fix the latch for the stove lid. So far, that is the only thing I really miss about my old Palm OS device.

I bought Documents to Go, so I can edit Word and Excel files. I have used it a lot for my work already.

The Droid is so powerful, if I could hook an external keyboard and monitor to it it would replace my laptop.

 

[brained]

I am looking for a good task manager, one where I can check off each item when I load it into the vehicle when preparing for a trip.

I bought Documents to Go, so I can edit Word and Excel files.

I believe you answered your own question. It is, admittedly, not as cool as buying an app for that.

 

[James86004]

I believe you answered your own question. It is, admittedly, not as cool as buying an app for that.

Not quite, the tasks are hard to check off in Word or Excel.

 

[off-roader]

I am blessed (maybe cursed) that nearly all places I go afield, I have good Verizon coverage.

Avoid Ca's deserts or your 'revised' statement will be very different. There's no coverage in much of the Mojave Desert, & Death Valley, etc.

Also almost zero coverage in many of the trails we do in the Sierra's. As long as your near civilization though... you're ok.

Zero coverage in the trails around Moab when I was there a few years back. Perhaps today that's changed?

Unfortunately I want to be far from civilization when I wheel and they just don't have coverage there (I've had Verizon since 2001).

But back on topic I too am interested in this option but mostly because I'd view my phone as one more backup navigation system however I already have my main vehicle system (mounted laptop with gps), 2x road gps', 1 hiking gps, and a map/non-electric compass.

 

[Momrocks]

But back on topic I too am interested in this option but mostly because I'd view my phone as one more backup navigation system however I already have my main vehicle system (mounted laptop with gps), 2x road gps', 1 hiking gps, and a map/non-electric compass.

Me too. I am not looking to my phone to step up as a replacement for every device I own. I carry a Leatherman multi-tool but that doesn't mean I leave my toolbox in the garage.

I haven't owned my Droid for long but the limits of this device are still well beyond my field of view. The variety, usefulness and configurability of the apps blows my mind. The day I bought it I knew it was a revolution for travelers, as I fiddle with it more worlds of possibilities open up. The open source geeks are improving the tool by the minute. There's tons of utility in these devices whether you are in Moab, Mojave or DV blackouts or not. We all like to be remote enough to be out of coverage, cathartic for some, but chances are a road (near service) took us to those places.

`

 

[James86004]

Another useful app:

One of the various bubble level apps. I use "Bubble". It was very useful for getting the Dormobile level when the real level I had screwed to the bumper got smashed.

 

[Corey]

I have used the bubble one at work to help one of the carpenters level a key cabinet.

His "professional" level was out in his work van, so we used the Droid.
He was pretty impressed with the bubble app.

By far though my favorite app for camping is going to be the My Tracks.
In the pat I use to right down the cords or use the first gen yellow Garmin eTrex long ago.

The Droid farpasses the eTrex by far with its apps.
I will be able to record that nice campsite I stumbled upon, and be able to locate it again in the future or invite others to come find me.

 

[AFSOC]

I've been goofin with MY TRACKS, fantastic. I marked a couple of short hikes on the reservation in the past two weeks. I need to spend more time playing with it to figure out all the export options. :wings:

 

[Fish]

Taking a different tack, I'll suggest PoliceStream. Most of us don't have access to listening to public safety comms, or don't have it all the time. Coverage isn't perfect, but PoliceStream does have thousands of streams that can be accessed. It's nice to be able to tune in and hear what's happening around you. Could be invaluable for occasional users to listen to things like major wildfires.

 

[Corey]

Lots of hits for Police Stream.
http://www.google.com/search?q=poli...rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox

I installed it from the market a few ours ago and I was impressed with it.
Does not get my town but it does get Seattle and Federal Way, and there was lots of activity on the channels.

After I shut the app down and tried to show some at work during lunch, it wanted me to ante up the $2.
That was the shortest trial I have ever seen.
It would be nice to see the trial work for a few days at least.

 

[Fish]

I anted up the .99 a while ago. It just asked me for the order number again. I looked it up in my email and re-entered it and it started working again.

 

[esh]

OruxMaps allows for topo navigation while offline, by being able to read in OziExplorer formatted maps.

I have made a first effort to get maps installed, but it is rather complicated with many steps getting map data into the right form to use, and having to work with very tempermental utility software along the way. If I ever get a good method down I'll post up. I was using topo data from http://www.topodepot.com/

I look at this as more of a gee-whiz kind of app than functional. For now, the real production setup is a ruggedized tabletpc with 7.5' (1:24,000) topo data hooked to the 60csx.



The other highly useful app is GeoBeagle, which allows similar offline use. Specifically, GPX imported files with user comments are usable within the app. I ponied up for a year's membership to geocaching.com, which allows you to create huge GPX "pocket queries" via the site's batch server... essentially allowing big chunks of up to 500 caches to be downloadable into a file, then imported into GeoBeagle. There is a another caching app highly recommended on the market that seemed to me more online, but supposedly has an offline mode.


I run these with a Cyanogen-modded ROM G1