Cycling UK Forum

Hi all

When touring I would like to use my phone for following a route I have planned on my pc (via bike hike sort of Web site : gpx file)

Would like an app if possible where I can download maps and then import and open up my gpx file. Downloading maps is important as often I don't get a good siginal. Also I like auto rotate so map is pointing in direction of travel.

When I have searched there are lots of app recording rides rather than following routes.

Would welcome any comments or suggestions.

Many thanks for your time

Regards

Mike

OsmAnd get the paid one

Mine's called a Garmin, and doesn't lose signal

chris_suffolk wrote:Mine's called a Garmin, and doesn't lose signal

Mines called a Sony Xperia Z and doesn't lose GPS signal either. The OP is talking about phone/data signal.

The best Android app for mapping I've found is Alpine Quest. It will display GPX routes imported from a PC or elsewhere. The free version comes with OSM and various similar maps but the paid for version £4.99 has a load of what it calls community maps at no extra charge. It's worth trying at least as you get many of the features on the free version. You can download map areas using wifi at home and store them on the phone.

pete75 wrote:

chris_suffolk wrote:Mine's called a Garmin, and doesn't lose signal

Mines called a Sony Xperia Z and doesn't lose GPS signal either. The OP is talking about phone/data signal.

The best Android app for mapping I've found is Alpine Quest. It will display GPX routes imported from a PC or elsewhere. The free version comes with OSM and various similar maps but the paid for version £4.99 has a load of what it calls community maps at no extra charge. It's worth trying at least as you get many of the features on the free version. You can download map areas using wifi at home and store them on the phone.

Many thanks for the recommendations.... I will give this a go and OSM (appreciate the replies)

Regards

Mike

Other Andorid apps that support off-line maps and the ability to import tracks that you may want to look at include :-
- Maverick
- ViewRanger GPS
- MyTrails

All of these Apps have a free version although this may limit which maps you can use - see below. It is a while since I have used them but I seem to recall at least one of them downloaded maps to a cache rather than for a defined area so you have to "browse" the route whilst connected to the internet first to make sure all the appropriate parts of the map are in the cache.

I also believe that all three can use either Open Street Map (OSM) or Open Cycle Map (OCM) although there may be a charge for using other maps.

One thing to bear in mind is that having the display on is likely to drain the battery of the the phone and you may want to consider using an external battery pack if you want to use the map continuously for more than an hour or so.

pete75 wrote:

chris_suffolk wrote:Mine's called a Garmin, and doesn't lose signal

Mines called a Sony Xperia Z and doesn't lose GPS signal either. The OP is talking about phone/data signal.

The best Android app for mapping I've found is Alpine Quest. It will display GPX routes imported from a PC or elsewhere. The free version comes with OSM and various similar maps but the paid for version £4.99 has a load of what it calls community maps at no extra charge. It's worth trying at least as you get many of the features on the free version. You can download map areas using wifi at home and store them on the phone.

Hi all

Downloaded Alpine Quest.... All appears ok but don't seem to be able to import a gpx saved on phone.

Any ideas or guidance for doing this please

Many thanks

Mike

markfh wrote:Other Andorid apps that support off-line maps and the ability to import tracks that you may want to look at include :-
- Maverick
- ViewRanger GPS
- MyTrails

All of these Apps have a free version although this may limit which maps you can use - see below. It is a while since I have used them but I seem to recall at least one of them downloaded maps to a cache rather than for a defined area so you have to "browse" the route whilst connected to the internet first to make sure all the appropriate parts of the map are in the cache.

I also believe that all three can use either Open Street Map (OSM) or Open Cycle Map (OCM) although there may be a charge for using other maps.

One thing to bear in mind is that having the display on is likely to drain the battery of the the phone and you may want to consider using an external battery pack if you want to use the map continuously for more than an hour or so.

I would have said Maverick, which will import gpx files e.g. from Bikehike and display them so that you can follow them in the same way as on a Garmin. And it caches maps for offline use. It used to have the big (for me) advantage that it had OS Landranger and Explorer maps among its options. But the OS seems to have nobbled that in recent days (same applies to my PC-based MOBAC installation, which I guess used the same tile server). I should have taken the time to download more OS map tiles while I still could.

These nice people gave me all kinds of help here....http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=93581&hilit=+garmin

....been very lax getting going, but was out to-day using it for the first time....got perfect location on 2 1/2" OS maps with view ranger....bought the maps, stored on the device, works perfectly without any phone signal, I was in some pretty remote places to-day.

Mike777 wrote:
Hi all

Downloaded Alpine Quest.... All appears ok but don't seem to be able to import a gpx saved on phone.

Any ideas or guidance for doing this please

Many thanks

Mike

I use Alpine Quest on my phone and tablet (but neither are 'to hand' at the moment!). That I recall you will need to have some sort of file browser/manager as you need to find where your saved GPX file is and then copy or move it to the right Alpine Quest folder (the Landmarks folder?). Then open Alpine Quest, go to the (Landmarks?) folder and click on the GPX file.

Apologies for the vagueness of this - if you're still having problems, PM me and I'll dig out the phone/tablet and knock up more detailed notes.

I used the MapsMe app last year. Once you download the maps for the area needed, you're then ready to go with off-line maps (they are basically Open Street Maps).

I think since I installed it some 18 months ago, it's got even better

sjs wrote:
I would have said Maverick, which will import gpx files e.g. from Bikehike and display them so that you can follow them in the same way as on a Garmin. And it caches maps for offline use. It used to have the big (for me) advantage that it had OS Landranger and Explorer maps among its options. But the OS seems to have nobbled that in recent days (same applies to my PC-based MOBAC installation, which I guess used the same tile server). I should have taken the time to download more OS map tiles while I still could.

Maverick's access to OS maps is working again, so it's back to the top of my list. Something to do with Bing licences, apparently.