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US offline navigation

H

hunta

Well-Known Member
I'm from the UK and will shortly be doing a road trip through Nevada, Utah and Arizona. I plan on using my Nexus One as a sat nav, and since I'll be roaming I won't have access to data so will need it to be all downloaded prior to me leaving the UK.

Can anyone recommend the best offline navigation app at the moment? I checked out Copilot but I'm a bit confused by the multiple versions kicking around at the moment, and was also put off by some pretty damning feedback on it not running on certain devices. There appear to be one or two other contenders at present.

To be clear, this must be 100% offline so Google Maps / Navigation is not an option. I don't mind paying for good apps, but can't stand paying for bad ones.

Thanks in advance.
 
I use Navigon on my HTC Sensation.
IMO it's better than CoPilot, but I had the old version of CoPilot on my HTC Desire.

Harry
 
You don't have to worry, hunta: when you're in the US and use e.g. Google Nav and you program your route while you are on WiFi (for instance in your hotel/motel) downloading won't cost you anything. Your route maps – plus allowances for detours – will be downloaded to and ready in your phone. You can now start driving that route without having to download any additional data/maps while en-route (which would be expensive). If you want to make doubly sure of that you can switch your phone to Airplane Mode (no phone and data transmissions). Keep GPS on of course.

You can test it in the UK too if you like. Same procedure.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

But you probably didn't get an Android phone to be unavailable for calls, did you...? So IRL I wouldn't switch to Airplane Mode, I would simply not make any calls unless I'm on a WiFi net. Every hotel/motel probably has one.
 
XRubicon said:
You don't have to worry, hunta: when you're in the US and use e.g. Google Nav and you program your route while you are on WiFi (for instance in your hotel/motel) downloading won't cost you anything. Your route maps – plus allowances for detours – will be downloaded to and ready in your phone. You can now start driving that route without having to download any additional data/maps while en-route (which would be expensive). If you want to make doubly sure of that you can switch your phone to Airplane Mode (no phone and data transmissions). Keep GPS on of course.

You can test it in the UK too if you like. Same procedure.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

But you probably didn't get an Android phone to be unavailable for calls, did you...? So IRL I wouldn't switch to Airplane Mode, I would simply not make any calls unless I'm on a WiFi net. Every hotel/motel probably has one.
Click to expand...

Yup, understood and thank you... not an option though, as I said above. It's not enough to be able to rely on the tiles downloaded for a specific route, I want the whole thing, no risks, no questions. I know all about data roaming outside the UK (I travel to mainland Europe regularly) and data usage is blocked reliably if so elected in the settings when roaming so there's no need for flight mode.

Anyone got experience of Copilot and Navigon on the N1? Any other horses in town?
 
Not sat nav, but Mapdroid worked for me in Europe. Download the maps you want, then use (free) GPS while here.

No search, directions, etc, since this would require a data link. But it does place you on a scrollable, zoomable map.
 
I use CoPilot Live version 9. I have no complaints and it has come in very handy when I don't have a data signal. It does have a lot of nice features like being able to view different routes and choose the one you want. Able to drag a route, meaning can change a current route by draging the route highlight line to a different route. You can save favorites, has speed camera warning as well displays your current speed. You can edit your route by adding a POI. I have had about three updates in the past 7 months. I love Google maps, but have found having offline maps is crucial since I don't have a stand alone GPS.
 
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