Offline Maps for mobile

Situation:
You're in the middle of no where and you want to pull up a map that you created on your desktop via GoogleMaps with all your way points.

The problem:
you don't have service and even though you cashed the map ahead of time on your device, satellite, terrain and your maps overlay doesn't preserve.

The solution:
an open source development project that uses overlays to make reliable off-line maps that include all of the information that you want (satellite view and your way-points).

Logistics:
these open source applications are numerous and require quite some time to produce anything. After several hours I feel like I'm making headway with one of the options.

My question:
what do you suggest? I use an Android but perhaps some iOS folks would appreciate suggestions as well.

I have an iphone and I use TopoMaps. It allows me to download USGS maps free ahead of time and cache them on my phone. I can then access these maps in the middle of nowhere outside of cell service. The GPS function in my phone allows my exact position to overlay on the map.

The TopoMaps app does not do well with overlays. There is another app you can purchase for a few bucks that is similar but does tracks and allows the use of google maps. I want to say its called "MotionX" but I do not remember.

Have you looked at AlpineQuest GPS or BackCountry Navigator for Android?

I have an iphone and I just take screengrabs of the relevant areas before hand. Cheap but decent solution.

Jim

Martin le Roux wrote:Have you looked at AlpineQuest GPS or BackCountry Navigator for Android?

Alpine Quest is what I'm playing with right now. I guess the real question is around what Atlas Creator you've had the best experiences with (Mac & PC). That's the desktop program you use to create the maps that you'll be uploading to your device for offline use.

I'm pretty happy with my garmin gps with a topographic data chip. It'd be nice to have all that capability bundled in my iPhone.

+1 for TopoMaps App. It uses your GPS in the phone to track your current location. As long as you have a clear view of the sky and a way to charge your phone you are good to go. Just make you sure you have the maps you might need before you lose cell service.

I use MotionX-GPS mostly for bike riding and it kicks ass. You an DL maps for offline use, throw down waypoints, and record tracks. It can use all google maps, bing maps, it's own maps (which sometimes have trails not found on other maps), and even use NOAA maps which would be sweet if I boated as well. I don't know if they have a 'droid version though :/(iOS for me)

OruxMaps is a fantastic fully offline mapping/tracking solution for Android. There can be a bit of a learning curve because of how full featured it is, but once you figure it out you'll be in heaven! Maps can be pre-downloaded directly on your phone when you have a connection, and are saved in a folder indefinitely, not in a cache file that gets written over later. If you get really into it you can scan, calibrate and import USGS topo maps, but I've generally found sources like google terrain to be sufficient. By putting my phone in airplane mode I've been able to use continuous GPS tracking of my hikes for well over 12 hours on a single charge, and could surely go a lot longer if I turned the plotting frequency down. And it's totally free!

oruxmaps.com

+2 for Topo Maps for iOS. Best $8 I have ever spent in the App Store. Auto-orient, bullseye style mileage estimates from POIs, USGS map stitching, and GPS locating make it very valuable. Plus, you don't have to have it track you so you can save you battery for when you really need to get out of a jam.