Osmand free and paid

[Psamathe]

With OSMAND you need to be specific about the platform. Functionality and reliability of the app can be "variable" depending on platform.

Ian

[fausto copy]

And I suppose a platform has nothing to do with railway stations

fausto.

[hondated]

I am just above landsurfer in my knowledge of this mapping system in that i know what it is. But i am blowed if i know how to use it. Gpx files transfers really does does​
seem difficult to me.
Can you take evening classes for it.

[Psamathe]

I am just above landsurfer in my knowledge of this mapping system in that i know what it is. But i am blowed if i know how to use it. Gpx files transfers really does does​
seem difficult to me.
Can you take evening classes for it.

People use "gpx" as a term assuming everybody know what it means and how they are used. It happens all the time in computing (and other disciplines). It is all actually very straightforward when explained using more that 3 letters.

Loads on the internet explaining e.g. https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/blog/2015/01/what-is-a-gpx-file/ or a few Google searches should provide loads of introductory explanations, some will be clearer than others.

Ian

[hondated]

Thanks Ian i will have a look later Ted

[Bez]

Using Dropbox might help smooth the GPX process. Though I suppose this may just add further mystery.

http://jeroenmols.com/blog/2016/07/21/cyclinggps/

I've been trying to use Osmand since a little before this thread started, but it seems to crash quite a lot on both my Android phones (one of them especially, where even on the rare occasions it fires up, most of the settings dialogs come up so small that I can't access their contents). Shame: it seems to have potential, but I wouldn't trust it on an actual ride.

[Psamathe]

Using Dropbox might help smooth the GPX process. Though I suppose this may just add further mystery.

http://jeroenmols.com/blog/2016/07/21/cyclinggps/

I've been trying to use Osmand since a little before this thread started, but it seems to crash quite a lot on both my Android phones (one of them especially, where even on the rare occasions it fires up, most of the settings dialogs come up so small that I can't access their contents). Shame: it seems to have potential, but I wouldn't trust it on an actual ride.

It has some terrible reviews on the iPhone/iPad platform; slow, buggy, unreliable. It is rare to see an app with such bad reviews (on iPhone/iPad platform - don't know about Android).

Ian

[Psamathe]

Thanks Ian i will have a look later Ted

As with most things, there are many aspects and things are used in different ways. for example, a gpx file contains position information which can be used to store a location (e.g. camp site, shop, etc.) or a route (series or points) or a track (series of points with times), etc.

And there is the gpx file itself (what it does/contains) and what you do with it. What you do with it can be more complex in some ways as a lot will depend on your own requirements and what software you are using. For example, I mainly use gpx files to record my track and I create it using an app on my smartphone and then transfer it to my computer once I'm home - how I record it is specific to the app I'm using and how I transfer it depends on both the smartphone app and my computer. It can get more involved when you might be creating a route on a web service using your computer and storing it as a gpx file and then sending to to your GPS to show you your route drawn over a map - again a lot then depends of the web site generating the route, if you then get it to your computer, then needing to send it on to your GPS, etc. and a lot depends on the web site, your computer, the GPS, the connections available, etc.

BUT, it is not complex so do not be put off. If an explanation is not clear then seek out an alternative explanation (it just means that the explanation you did not understand was not clear to you and does not mean it is a complex highly techy thing you need several degrees for ...).

Ian

[Bez]

4.2 stars on Google Play. Go figure

[Psamathe]

4.2 stars on Google Play. Go figure ;)

No idea about Google Play is that 4.2. out of 100 or out of 5 (not important anyway)? The iPhone/iPad app does not do as much as the Android version and does not even have a rating. Only two reviews which I guess for copyright reasons I should not cut and paste here but they like the app except "double the storage space of similar apps", "render very slowly and often crash" and "Really nice software if only it worked".

I've not tried it so am only repeating the experience of others. But there are certainly some excellent mapping apps on iPhone/iPad it has to compete with so quite a challenge. But there are also some good mapping apps on Android as well but it is not a fair time since I've used Android so I'm somewhat out of touch.

Ian

[Bez]

It's out of 5, same as the App Store. The internet's starting to standardise five stars anyway (eg do a Google search, review ratings are all normalized in the results).

[matt_twam_asi]

I didn't know that OsmAnd had an iPhone version. It was certainly an Android app first and foremost so the devs may be working out the bugs from adapting it to the iOS platform.

FWIW It's been rock solid for me on multiple Android handsets for years.

[Psamathe]

I didn't know that OsmAnd had an iPhone version. It was certainly an Android app first and foremost so the devs may be working out the bugs from adapting it to the iOS platform.

FWIW It's been rock solid for me on multiple Android handsets for years.

There is a desktop viewer for the maps as well - well it's a beta https://sourceforge.net/p/offroadosm/wiki/Home/

Ian

[mjr]

I am just above landsurfer in my knowledge of this mapping system in that i know what it is. But i am blowed if i know how to use it. Gpx files transfers really does does​
seem difficult to me.

The file transfer isn't that difficult but you do have to use the file manager to move the GPX file from wherever your phone saved it (often /storage/sdcard0/Downloads ) to the Osmand tracks folder (easiest to change this to something on /storage/sdcard0 but it'll spend some time moving files around when you do). If it's not in the Osmand tracks folder, Osmand won't display it or use it for navigation - unless there's some feature I'm missing.

[matt_twam_asi]

I am just above landsurfer in my knowledge of this mapping system in that i know what it is. But i am blowed if i know how to use it. Gpx files transfers really does does​
seem difficult to me.

The file transfer isn't that difficult but you do have to use the file manager to move the GPX file from wherever your phone saved it (often /storage/sdcard0/Downloads ) to the Osmand tracks folder (easiest to change this to something on /storage/sdcard0 but it'll spend some time moving files around when you do). If it's not in the Osmand tracks folder, Osmand won't display it or use it for navigation - unless there's some feature I'm missing.

What I usually do is to create a .gpx track with cycle.travel and save to a Dropbox folder. Then open the dropbox app on my phone (Android) and find the file. Select the file and choose Open With OsmAnd. This puts the track into the 'My Tracks' section on OsmAnd. I don't need to move the file anywhere else on the phone.

Then, with the track highlighted (i.e. showing on the map) I press the navigation button and use the displayed track for navigation. That gives me turn by turn directions.

Obviously you can substitute Dropbox for your preferred cloud storage - the point is that this method is the most frictionless way of getting plotted tracks into OsmAnd that I've found.