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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Semper-guzzi on July 04, 2015, 12:37:57 AM
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I've got Google maps on my Galaxy Note 4. It works great but kills data. I've downloaded OSMAND but I think it sucks. I'll put in a destination and even tho I know a shorter way, this thing will purposely take me way out of the way. I'm probably using it wrong but whatever, the interface sucks too. What do you guys use for apps on your phone that doesnt eat data?
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I use the Samsung Maps and Back Country Navigator. Download the map tiles before leaving and no data required during the trip. You can also import pre-established routes to BCN and follow them. Works for me. Use an app call Stay Awake so the phone stays on. Downside is sunlight readability is low, and the phone heats up.
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I like Copilot, but, it costs money.
Tom tom was ok, but, they went to an annual fee thing.
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Get T-Mobile, IF they work in your area. Unlimited data. I even had it when I hit the ground in Paris last week. No xtra charges
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I prefer OSMand+ (not to be confused with the free OSMand), but yes, the routing engine is weak. I usually only use it to display a map.
Try HERE maps from Nokia. It is FREE right now.
On long trips where I really do want to follow a route, I like CoPilot. It is not free.
I haven't used it, but there is a version from Tom Tom called Route 66 with a free trial.
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I use a Garmin Zumo 390, but I have Co-Pilot for my phone, just in case.....http://copilotgps.com/us/
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I like the Waze app for its ability to route around traffic jams, social reporting on speed traps, and ease of finding alternate routes. I'm not sure, but I assume its also very data hungry though.
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Get a REAL GPS... Phone do not use the satellite system ... they use terrestrial based locators... NOT as accurate.... Especially if there is no Cell service where you are ... And YES there are lots of places where there is no or minimal cell service... Regardless where you are there is GPS service!
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Get a REAL GPS... Phone do not use the satellite system ... they use terrestrial based locators... NOT as accurate.... Especially if there is no Cell service where you are ... And YES there are lots of places where there is no or minimal cell service... Regardless where you are there is GPS service!
Too bad you are 100% WRONG!
My Android is seeing a good solid SATELLITE fix, 11 satellites out of a possible 21, indoors, on a rainy day. It is using GPS and Glonass, (plus it can get an assist from the cell towers). It is showing a DOP around 1.2 meters. Pretty good in my book. Better than my Garmin ever was.
I know people that get an old used phone from someone, and load free software on it, and never turn on the cell phone on it. Free GPS.
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I like Copilot, but, it costs money.
Tom tom was ok, but, they went to an annual fee thing.
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I use co pilot on my phone and its free, well actually part of the data plan but no additional fee.
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Too bad you are 100% WRONG!
Well, maybe not quite 100%. Software in a phone can be configured to use the location data from the cell system. I have a tracking app for my phone that lets me choose whether to use location information from GPS, the cell system, or both. When both, if the phone can't see enough satellites to get a location, it falls back to the cell system. If I set it to use information from the cell system only, it will behave as described by sbaker.
Sbaker, if your phone is acting the way you described, you need to change some setup parameters, or get new software that uses GPS.
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I use Here as referenced earlier in the thread.
I have no data plan with my phone, wifi data only, so any program that uses cell data does not work for me.
I download the maps from the area I'll be in (normally the state or country) and use it offline. It's not perfect, but I have yet to find a GPS program that is.
And the cost has been $0.
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Get a REAL GPS... Phone do not use the satellite system ... they use terrestrial based locators... NOT as accurate.... Especially if there is no Cell service where you are ... And YES there are lots of places where there is no or minimal cell service... Regardless where you are there is GPS service!
How do people come up with these incorrect notions? My iPhone uses genuine satellite-based GPS. It is augmented with data from cell towers when t's available ("enhanced GPS"), but only for speeding up the satellite fix, not for determining GPS position.
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I like Copilot, but, it costs money.
Tom tom was ok, but, they went to an annual fee thing.
+1
Used TomTom on all my mobile devices before they went the anal annual fee... Guessing that got greedy.
Anyway, now a Copilot user myself and well worth the money spent..
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How do people come up with these incorrect notions?
See my post two up from yours. It may be that he just has some incorrect settings and misunderstood why it was behaving the way it was.
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Well, maybe not quite 100%.
I guess you can't say it is 100% wrong. It is only 99.99%.
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Thanks guys. Copilot is awesome. Looks like the ticket. Thanks again.
I love how you can drag the routes and add way points easily. Really cool.
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I guess you can't say it is 100% wrong. It is only 99.99%.
It's irrelevant in any event, as neither method kills data (though using both kills batteries). There's something else going on here.
Semper, Google Maps shouldn't be eating that much data, even in navigation mode. If you tire of Copilot, check your Maps settings to see if there are ways to reduce the data consumption. I know the topo maps eat more than the regular maps; if that's on you might consider turning it off if you don't need it.
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Thanks guys. Copilot is awesome. Looks like the ticket. Thanks again.
I love how you can drag the routes and add way points easily. Really cool.
I plan routes on my PC using ITNconverter, then send the routes to CoPilot and load them. Works well.
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I guess eating data is the wrong word. It uses more than I would like. Google maps uses data to load the map tiles. I like the ones that have the maps downloaded on my phone. Either way, I like this new app. Case closed. Thanks guys.
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And to think I navigated for years using a compass, fathometer, and a chart.
I even navigated across the desert with just a map and compass. It doesn't hurt to have a decent pair of binoculars too.
For years used a pair of Tascos with a built in compass that you could read as you looked at something.
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How do people come up with these incorrect notions? My iPhone uses genuine satellite-based GPS. It is augmented with data from cell towers when t's available ("enhanced GPS"), but only for speeding up the satellite fix, not for determining GPS position.
OK SIB.. When I put the phone in Aircraft mode. it looses it's navigation.. A "REAL" gps does works without and CELL activation, WIFI, BlueTOOTH etc. ... SO again I submit.... GET A REAL GPS...
Then there is the issue of a single point of failure.. If your cell, GPS, tunes, contacts and ALL on the same device, you have no backup...
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When you put your phone in aircraft mode it shuts off the GPS receiver, per FAA regulations.
All of the newer phones have GPS signals available when there is no cell service. I have tested that many, many times. In fact, to save battery life I will sometimes turn off the mobile data service. CoPilot uses the std GPS data plus the NMEA as do standard GPS units.
They do eat power when the GPS software is active and the screen is on full brightness. My newer phone is better than my older one, but, I can still only get about 3hrs off the battery when using it as a GPS. ANd be sure to have a greater than 1A USB source. 2A even better.
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OK SIB.. When I put the phone in Aircraft mode. it looses it's navigation.. A "REAL" gps does works without and CELL activation, WIFI, BlueTOOTH etc. ... SO again I submit.... GET A REAL GPS...
Then there is the issue of a single point of failure.. If your cell, GPS, tunes, contacts and ALL on the same device, you have no backup...
My Galaxy S4 works off of satelites. In fact, I've used it in the mountains in New Mexico when I was miles from the nearest cell signal. One of AT&T's mapping/directions apps.
That being said, I'd rather use a stand alone GPS for auto/moto use. The phone is just to inconvenient and will eat lots of data and power when using Google Maps, which I prefer over others on the phone or computer.
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Will any GPS indicate that a road is going to turn into a muddy impassable mess because the state just built new bridges and the fill dirt 300 feet off both ends of said bridges will be like greasy squishy goo . If not , I don't want one :laugh:
Dusty
nah. there's still a little adventure left in life!
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" Will any GPS indicate that a road is going to turn into a muddy impassable mess because the state just built new bridges and the fill dirt 300 feet off both ends of said bridges will be like greasy squishy goo . If not , I don't want one :laugh:
Dusty"
Yes, at least here in Europe this is possible. Admittedly the data connection must be switched on, but then I can use an automatic traffic information system on my WindowsPhone. And there are many apps that can do this: the paid Garmin Navigon (which I like most), but also several free apps using OpenStreetMap.
And, of course, I can switch on the satellite reception (GPS together with Glonass) in airplane mode.
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That means that someone has to report that there is construction on the road. Here it is pretty good on main routes.
But, get on some state or country roads and the construction/repair services are not always reported. So, you find yourself facing a mile of wet, slick clay, or washed out road.
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Will any GPS indicate that a road is going to turn into a muddy impassable mess because the state just built new bridges and the fill dirt 300 feet off both ends of said bridges will be like greasy squishy goo . If not , I don't want one :laugh:
How does a paper map, or even a simple compass, fix this issue?
A smartphone at least has more potential to warn you.
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Can someone point me to an IOS application that will show the relative satellite stengths that the Unit is receiving?? I can't seem to find on.
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Guess I'm a little late to this one, but as others have said Copilot works great. It suggest alternative routs, you can drag routes, or insert new way points along the route all from your phone. The best thing is being able to use RouteConverter to save/convert routes to trp files and import them into Copilot.
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Thanks to those who recommended Copilot. I installed it this morning, and am downloading maps for all of North America now. That solves the problem of having to cache maps along my route if I don't want to have to use "data" while out riding.
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FWIW, the only two drawbacks to CoPilot that I have found
1. It does not show speed limits on secondary roads, only interstates and some major US highways. I wish this covered all roads like my Garmin GPS unit. I also like the custom speed limit warning set point (I wish my Garmin would allow this).
2. The two windows at bottom that show speed/eta/distance/altitude/etc are hard to see cause they are so small. I've tried writing to CoPilot about this but no change.
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I also like the custom speed limit warning set point (I wish my Garmin would allow this).
I took advantage of that last year. When towing the camper across the US, with the headwinds I would get horrible fuel economy at 'ludicrous speed'. :copcar: So I set it warn me when I was not paying attention and getting carried away. The lower speeds got me another 25 - 35 miles per tank. :boozing:
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I downloaded CoPilot bit it looks free to me. Did I download thenwrong app? I see premium versions thatbrun $28-$35 but they are all for foreign countries.
-AJ
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As of yesterday, Copilot GPS was free. Copilot Premium was $4.99 for the US version. As you said, other countries were higher. I believe there is currently a 1/2-off sale for the US version, which brought the price down to $4.99.
From their site, it looks like the premium version gives you voice features, so if you don't need that, the free version is fine.
The Google app store was the only place I found the premium version. I read that Amazon also had it, but when I tried, all I found was Copilot GPS.
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OK. Thanks!
-AJ
As of yesterday, Copilot GPS was free. Copilot Premium was $4.99 for the US version. As you said, other countries were higher. I believe there is currently a 1/2-off sale for the US version, which brought the price down to $4.99.
From their site, it looks like the premium version gives you voice features, so if you don't need that, the free version is fine.
The Google app store was the only place I found the premium version. I read that Amazon also had it, but when I tried, all I found was Copilot GPS.
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... When I put the phone in Aircraft mode. it looses it's navigation...
Actually, since iOS 8.3 (current version is 8.4), the iPhone GPS receiver stays on in Airplane mode. However, the maps might or might not show up, depending on whether the particular App allows for storing downloaded maps.
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I have the CoPilot Premium USA with traffic and offline maps (it was $15-$16 a couple of years ago) and it fully works on airplane mode. (8.4)
Nick
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I found it. It is an in app purchase in CoPilot. $7.99 for unlimited voice directions.
-AJ
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How does a paper map, or even a simple compass, fix this issue?
A smartphone at least has more potential to warn you.
Yeah , but paper maps are free at most welcome centers :laugh: Dunno , we all complain about how young folks are way too reliant on technology , can't think for themselves , blah blah woof woof , ( what dogs say ) , and we seem not to be capable of finding our way
W/O the use of some "lectronic device :shocked: :grin: Once , a GPS told me to go North , when my destination was due South :huh:
Dusty
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Yeah , but paper maps are free at most welcome centers
So paper maps at welcome centers automatically have all road construction updates?
I suspect many GPS maps have the potential to be more up to date. Online maps do for sure. Something like Waze will let you know a lot about the road ahead.
Not sure how people that are afraid of a GPS as a tool, ever got away from the stone tablets and a chisel.
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So paper maps at welcome centers automatically have all road construction updates?
I suspect many GPS maps have the potential to be more up to date. Online maps do for sure. Something like Waze will let you know a lot about the road ahead.
Not sure how people that are afraid of a GPS as a tool, ever got away from the stone tablets and a chisel.
Not afraid of GPS , well maybe a little bit :laugh: Just not very satisfying compared to a paper map . Yeah , personal preference comes into play here , still prefer a paper book to a reader , and a real MC to a video game . Probably a good thing I won't be around in 2050 , yee gads , will virtual reality be actual reality :grin:
"Ughh , pass me that stone tablet , Aghh here needs directions to Smggh's cave "
Dusty
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You could do as I do on a trip. Carry paper and electronic.
I love paper maps and always have one on my tank bag. I wish I had anough room to carry 1:50k USGS maps, but, I don't (if I am going off roading I will get them for the area I will be in) I keep the GPS cause road signs can be deceptive, or small, or hidden, or non-existent, or I am not paying attention as I pass by the intersection :)
FWIW, I rarely used a compass when navigating by map, even at night. Only got me in trouble once, when the fog was so thick I could not see the front of my vehicle. :) (no, I never had to navigate in the middle east)
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I've used a mix of paper maps and cell phone GPS on trips before. We've planed route out as group while looking at a paper map, then entered way poinst on the GPS to fallow the route plotted on the map.
GPS does have one big advantage, it knows where you are even when you don't. It gets hard to use a map if you wind up of course and can't determine your location.
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I prefer OSMand+ (not to be confused with the free OSMand), but yes, the routing engine is weak. I usually only use it to display a map.
Try HERE maps from Nokia. It is FREE right now.
On long trips where I really do want to follow a route, I like CoPilot. It is not free.
I haven't used it, but there is a version from Tom Tom called Route 66 with a free trial.
Thanks for the Co-Pilot tip!
We loaded it on my wife's new Samsung Tab A.
We are using it on our trip to the Iowa Rally.
It works great and is easy to learn(For My Wife)
Alan & Joni
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Car GPS units can be had for $60 and mounted to the motorcycle.
I do not need or desire voice, music or anything but a moving map with turn here directions.
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I do use a car GPS mounted to the bike for longer trips. I killed one and am on my second (it has lasted for three 3000mi trips). When it dies will buy another. Having a cheap one mounted means I don't mine leaving it on the bike when I go in to eat or such.
I have also been known to have my map in the tank bag, the dedicated GPS zoomed in to show me curves ahead, and the phone GPS zoomed out to show the general route and upcoming items of interest.
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Sbaker, another interesting discovery from playing with the tracking app: My wife's phone is older and slower than mine. When it sends position information back to my computer, more than half the time it falls back to the cell system based tracking, and when it's in the house, most of the time it can't get GPS position data. I seems to have a much less sensitive GPS receiver, so it often can't get a fix on its own. Something similar might be happening to your phone.
Mine is a non-cutting-edge Samsung Galaxy S3, but it sends back accurate GPS derived position information at least 95% of the time, even when it's inside the house.