Maps for off-road

[mtbikernate]

A cellphone on the other hand primarily depends on the cell signal and does.not try to ping off of a satellite as much. Depending on the city it can also cause issues when you have poor signal for some odd reason(this happens a lot in Denver and Colorado Springs).

it depends. when available and when you have things set to "use precise location" (which is sometimes a setting within a specific app, but can also be a global setting) it absolutely will primarily use GPS satellites. the phone will augment this with other tech (cell towers, static wifi signals, etc), which can speed signal acquisition and also deal with reflected sat signals in cities. Garmins process multipath better than most cell phone apps do, but those apps will also tap into those other signals to deal with multipath, so phones don't necessarily need such robust signal processing the way standalone GPS receivers do.

I live in a part of the east that has pretty bad cellular reception, so I am frequently using my phone in gps-only mode. And I have to fuss with location services permissions way too often on my current phone. Damn thing revokes permissions from apps if I don't use them often enough. I have something like a dozen map apps of various sorts. Yesterday I was doing a hike, for example, and the app I was using for nav purposes had precise location permissions revoked since the last time I used it. So I had to go and change the setting. Pisses me the f*ck off.

early smartphones were different in how they handled this stuff. they definitely prioritized cell tower location. the earliest ones didn't have a gps chip in them at all. Newer phones basically use the same gps chips you can find in standalone gps receivers. The major differences are with antenna size (phones having a smaller gps antenna because more hardware is packed into a smaller space) and with the software that processes the raw data (your apps of choice). The raw data coming out of the gps chip on your phone is more or less the same as the raw data coming out of your Garmin. with the same ping rate. you can find phone apps that will give you just the raw gps data so you can see the difference between what the hardware is capable of and compare it with the heavily filtered result from the apps you use, but those don't tend to be the user-friendly ones that people like using. they're more for professional use.

Sponsored

 

[ylwjacket]

A couple of comments relative to all of the above:

- for me, the phone has good gps. with downloaded google maps, i can be in the wilderness, select a destination, and it will navigate me there
- GAIA is good for trails, but not nav. When I upload from trails offroad, all of the waypoints upload. that is actually annoying to have 100 pins on the Gaia map. Pics don't go thru.
- I have a Garmin InReach SE+ that I bought a few years ago. It pairs to Earthmate app, and shows where you're at, elevation, etc. I really only use it to text to check on the wife and see how she's doing, and let know I'm ok. don't really use it for much else except elevation checks sometimes
- i have a watch I bought for cheap with an altimeter in it, that seems to be accurate withing about 100 feet or so. It has a compass also. I use that.

So, if that all looks like overkill, it's because I look at each trip into the wilderness as a potential emergency. This last trip, I stopped on the way and bought a few packets of blood clot powder. The guys I was with was like "man, are we gonna need that." I told him I hoped like heck not, but I'd rather have and not need it than vice versa.

Anyways, it is a blast getting out to explore, and our spaces here are a little more confined than out west, so we gotta find wilderness where we can get it.

 

[Frenchy]

A couple of comments relative to all of the above:

- for me, the phone has good gps. with downloaded google maps, i can be in the wilderness, select a destination, and it will navigate me there
- GAIA is good for trails, but not nav. When I upload from trails offroad, all of the waypoints upload. that is actually annoying to have 100 pins on the Gaia map. Pics don't go thru.
- I have a Garmin InReach SE+ that I bought a few years ago. It pairs to Earthmate app, and shows where you're at, elevation, etc. I really only use it to text to check on the wife and see how she's doing, and let know I'm ok. don't really use it for much else except elevation checks sometimes
- i have a watch I bought for cheap with an altimeter in it, that seems to be accurate withing about 100 feet or so. It has a compass also. I use that.

So, if that all looks like overkill, it's because I look at each trip into the wilderness as a potential emergency. This last trip, I stopped on the way and bought a few packets of blood clot powder. The guys I was with was like "man, are we gonna need that." I told him I hoped like heck not, but I'd rather have and not need it than vice versa.

Anyways, it is a blast getting out to explore, and our spaces here are a little more confined than out west, so we gotta find wilderness where we can get it.

I will definitely agree with the "rather have it and not need vs need and be out of luck". With the Garmin Overlander I recently got the InReach MINI for similar purposes. If I feel I need to be in contact with someone then I can do so, whether that's checking in to say I'm okay or needing to get a hold of emergency services.

Having the Garmin Overlander has been neet for the Explore APP since it allows you to download different trails that have been recorded as long as it is a GPX File. You can also set the different waypoints as needed.

What is also nice is once a trail is downloaded to the GPS you can decide to either have it on or off depending on what you prefer. Say you already did a track and don't want it to show up? Simply delete it from the map and you are good to go as it will be saved in the storage and you can bring it back up later.

 

[MXGOLF]

Thanks for the information guys. Very helpful! Frenchy/Chris I too work for a forklift manufacture. Pape Material Handling/Engineered Products a Pape Company. We sell and service Hysters and Yale forklifts. My part of the company does all the allied products Pallet rack, Shelving, Lockers, Lift Tables ect. We do all the pallet rack in all the Costco's world wide. That's a great account.

 

[LawnMM]

A couple of comments relative to all of the above:

- for me, the phone has good gps. with downloaded google maps, i can be in the wilderness, select a destination, and it will navigate me there
- GAIA is good for trails, but not nav. When I upload from trails offroad, all of the waypoints upload. that is actually annoying to have 100 pins on the Gaia map. Pics don't go thru.
- I have a Garmin InReach SE+ that I bought a few years ago. It pairs to Earthmate app, and shows where you're at, elevation, etc. I really only use it to text to check on the wife and see how she's doing, and let know I'm ok. don't really use it for much else except elevation checks sometimes
- i have a watch I bought for cheap with an altimeter in it, that seems to be accurate withing about 100 feet or so. It has a compass also. I use that.

So, if that all looks like overkill, it's because I look at each trip into the wilderness as a potential emergency. This last trip, I stopped on the way and bought a few packets of blood clot powder. The guys I was with was like "man, are we gonna need that." I told him I hoped like heck not, but I'd rather have and not need it than vice versa.

Anyways, it is a blast getting out to explore, and our spaces here are a little more confined than out west, so we gotta find wilderness where we can get it.

FYI the powders aren't standard of care anymore. Current trend is to use hemostatic gauze. Had something to do with the granules potentially being small enough to enter the blood stream and clot in a place you didn't want one.

North America Rescue and Chinook Medical Gear are good places for all manner of supplies that aren't Chinese junk brand knockoffs. Stay safe.

 

[lariat]

If trying to use an app for trails and cell reception isn't a problem then Gaia and OnX are probably going to be your best. If cell reception is a problem and you would like to have real time maps I would get ahold of a Garmin GPS that is built for said purpose. Mind you the apparently have one that cost way less than the Overlander that does similar stuff

You can download maps with Google, just like with OnX. I've had far better results with google maps than On-X and got so fed up with it I deleted it.

 

[Jhbryaniv]

You can download maps with Google, just like with OnX. I've had far better results with google maps than On-X and got so fed up with it I deleted it.

Google won't show you what trails are open or closed though...

 

[Frenchy]

You can download maps with Google, just like with OnX. I've had far better results with google maps than On-X and got so fed up with it I deleted it.

Google also won't show you your proper location when you have no cell service. Ask me how I know

 

[lariat]

Google also won't show you your proper location when you have no cell service. Ask me how I know

That's exactly my exerpience with On-X. Deeply hated that service. Google has been great and again, just like with On-X, you'll need to download for when there's no service.

 

[Jhbryaniv]

Well, thank goodness there are several options beside on-x offroad....

 

[mtbikernate]

Google also won't show you your proper location when you have no cell service. Ask me how I know

never had a problem with that, honestly. based on things you've said in here, I'd suggest you look into your device's location settings to ensure you're getting the best out of it.

in fact, I use google maps because it caches maps from when you did have reception and does a respectable job showing you your location. and if you've used the navigation function to arrive at a given spot (doesn't work so hot off-road, but for roads on the map, it works), it can back-track using the previous routing that it used to arrive. it won't calculate new routes since it sends the routing request to google's servers rather than making the calculations on your device. but it shows position just fine, so long as the maps are cached.

I go outside cell range OFTEN where I live, and it works just fine so long as you understand its limitations. I don't always use google maps, but it covers most of my uses.

 

[HeatXfer]

I use onxOffroad, Avensa, Gaia and GPX Viewer for my moto camping. All fire trails & 2-tracks are shown on all three, onX has great detail when I'm on small, semi/rarely maintained single track trails. I use GPX Viewer to view routes already plotted by others. You've just got to spend the time researching and downloading maps & gpx tracks and getting familiar with each app's features.

Sponsored