HEMA Explorer North America
- Thread starter PabloM
- Start date
MountainBiker
Experience Seeker
Major flaws, but shows promise
I purchased this app shortly after it was released in May. It shows tons of promise, and has features not found in another single app (that I know of), but it is only about 50% ready, IMO. Admittedly, I had high expectations for an app made specifically for overlanding. My expectations were high, as the app was in development for years in Australia and also on IOS in NA. With that in mind, this is a very disappointing initial release, and even more disappointing that no updates have been released. Here are what I see as the main issues. There are certainly others, but until these get fixed, they don't really matter.
Totally surprising, and seemingly easy to fix by now:
- units are in meters!?! This app is called "North America" after all, and seems to be targeted to the USA, not to Mexico and Canada. Sure, this doesn't make the app unusable, but how hard is this to do? Put the conversion factor in there and be done with it!
- The only storage option for offline maps is "internal storage", which gets filled up really quick. When I overland for a week, and my destination is very loosely "Arizona", as my version of overlanding is to keep my options open, and camp in a different backcountry campsite every night. Even if I restrict it to just Northern Arizona, I cannot download that area onto my internal storage, even though I have ~4Gb of space available. Of course, I have ~28Gb of space on my SD card ...
Might take longer to fix, but mandatory to make this app useful:
- Synch takes forever, and still doesn't complete. I've tried leaving it on overnight with a WiFi connection, and recently gave it a full 24 hours, and the synch was still incomplete. If I'm reaching a track/waypoint limit that's causing me this, please tell me what that limit is!
- Cloud.hemaexplorer should enable easy management of tracks and waypoints, with the ability to group them into folders (easy to do on PDF Maps app), but it doesn't make it easy, and in fact, it's not even possible to put them into folders after they are uploaded. This makes it very difficult to make use of data from other users. In particular, I'd like to be able to organize files found in the .kmz file at OffroadingHome.com
If funding is the issue, rather than paying $20 for the app, I suggest a subscription service. Give the app away, and charge $20 per year for the cloud. If the app and cloud develop into what they should, it would be well worth the cost.
And yes, I have provided my biggest frustrations to the hemaexplorer NA team.
I purchased this app shortly after it was released in May. It shows tons of promise, and has features not found in another single app (that I know of), but it is only about 50% ready, IMO. Admittedly, I had high expectations for an app made specifically for overlanding. My expectations were high, as the app was in development for years in Australia and also on IOS in NA. With that in mind, this is a very disappointing initial release, and even more disappointing that no updates have been released. Here are what I see as the main issues. There are certainly others, but until these get fixed, they don't really matter.
Totally surprising, and seemingly easy to fix by now:
- units are in meters!?! This app is called "North America" after all, and seems to be targeted to the USA, not to Mexico and Canada. Sure, this doesn't make the app unusable, but how hard is this to do? Put the conversion factor in there and be done with it!
- The only storage option for offline maps is "internal storage", which gets filled up really quick. When I overland for a week, and my destination is very loosely "Arizona", as my version of overlanding is to keep my options open, and camp in a different backcountry campsite every night. Even if I restrict it to just Northern Arizona, I cannot download that area onto my internal storage, even though I have ~4Gb of space available. Of course, I have ~28Gb of space on my SD card ...
Might take longer to fix, but mandatory to make this app useful:
- Synch takes forever, and still doesn't complete. I've tried leaving it on overnight with a WiFi connection, and recently gave it a full 24 hours, and the synch was still incomplete. If I'm reaching a track/waypoint limit that's causing me this, please tell me what that limit is!
- Cloud.hemaexplorer should enable easy management of tracks and waypoints, with the ability to group them into folders (easy to do on PDF Maps app), but it doesn't make it easy, and in fact, it's not even possible to put them into folders after they are uploaded. This makes it very difficult to make use of data from other users. In particular, I'd like to be able to organize files found in the .kmz file at OffroadingHome.com
If funding is the issue, rather than paying $20 for the app, I suggest a subscription service. Give the app away, and charge $20 per year for the cloud. If the app and cloud develop into what they should, it would be well worth the cost.
And yes, I have provided my biggest frustrations to the hemaexplorer NA team.
1Louder
Explorer
MountainBiker; said:
Good for providing feedback directly to them. I do the same to the Gaia team. It sounds like you use an Android device. I believe you can change he default storage for all apps from internal to external SD. Just do a search. I'm not a regular Android user.
Current version is a clone of Gaia missing several features. So there are apps out there that are as powerful. The Gaia Cloud allows you to organize items in folders as does the app. You will still have the same issue of trying to download an entire state worth of maps. Especially if the zoom level is high. GPX tracks can easily be imported. Kmz would need to be converted and that can be done at gpsvisualizer.com for free.
Keep the feedback coming because it will benefit the group as a whole. I will stick with Gaia until Hema can back up their hype about an app they cloned and marketed.
MountainBiker
Experience Seeker
Yes, it is Android. I do get the option to set the SD card for storage within the app, however it apparently doesn't apply to downloaded maps. I'm not sure what exactly is getting stored on the SD card, perhaps it is the recorded tracks.
Thanks for the input on Gaia, sounds like I should give it a try!
shane4x4
Supporting Sponsor
Both the SD storage and the meters problem are issues that I addressed with Hema in the first week the Android app was out. Alas, there are reasons why updates haven't come yet but I'm not at liberty to discuss them.
Seems that even though we spent over a year getting things ready, clearly some issues remain.
I'm hopeful that we'll get back on track in the next few months, and be ready for some winter exploring soon! =)
Geez Shane, this doesn't exactly inspire an abundance of confidence in my weekend purchase of the HEMA app!
1Louder
Explorer
Sorry to hear it. I am not a Android expert and the Gaia app for Android is slightly different. That's has to do with the base code for Android OS itself. However, the Gaia team has made the app much closer to the iOS version. With that said any future questions should be taken to a Gaia thread and I will be happy to answer them whenever I can.
bigskypylot
Explorer
You'd think that they would have things together before they launch the app. I bought it and feel that I wasted my $$ on it. Hopefully they get it together.
They rushed it out so they could debut it at the Overland Expo in Flagstaff. That was back in May. It doesn't look like they've worked the bugs out in the last 4 months.
Chad
proper4wd
Expedition Leader
I also purchased it and find it largely unusable as is. I have high hopes for the future, but current state is very disappointing.
My feedback to Hema, it would build a lot of confidence and potentially keep me from writing this off entirely if some roadmap/development information was shared.
No patch releases following the initial launch is extremely worrying.
My feedback to Hema, it would build a lot of confidence and potentially keep me from writing this off entirely if some roadmap/development information was shared.
No patch releases following the initial launch is extremely worrying.
bigskypylot
Explorer
Indeed.... I am getting used to BCNP as I have had it for quite a while. The only thing I do not like is the issues they have with external storage. Think I finally got that one figured out. I keep hoping i see an update on Google Play but no such luck as Hema seems to not really be putting forth much effort in updating it or keeping us updated for that matter.
It begins to look like HEMA simply choked here in North America:
Considering the depth of the HEMA products in Australia, and the overall excellence of those same Oz based products - somebody with authority from HEMA really ought to consider addressing this developing bad press for the HEMA North America app.
- No information updates for customers or potential customers.
- No app updates since the introduction.
- Issues which have been clearly identified remain completely unattended to (with no updates, this is not surprising).
- No communication from anybody at HEMA, at least anybody that has authority to comment.
- Strange reluctance to confirm (admit?) that HEMA is actually Gaia with a bunch of features missing, or simply not working.
Considering the depth of the HEMA products in Australia, and the overall excellence of those same Oz based products - somebody with authority from HEMA really ought to consider addressing this developing bad press for the HEMA North America app.
1Louder
Explorer
All valid points. Since I paid good money for the app for comparison purposes I will keep it loaded and keep track of any future updates. There was lots of fanfare with popular overland folks that led people to plunk down their money. Meanwhile IMHO Gaia keeps plugging along and adding features. Their simple blog page keeps people up-to-date on changes as well as their Facebook page. http://blog.gaiagps.com/ the Facebook page shows a bit more about new features which are in beta.
Hopefully the folks at Hema will take notice and step up to the plate.