Sat Nav app tips

[Garlicbread]

Hi,

Any tips for a preferred way of using a sat nav on my phone when we are away? Do people download maps offline? Any preferred apps?
I will have mobile data whilst we are away which will be limited to 9GB usage.

Just wanted to start planning ahead of our trip. Thanks!

[mick]

We only use satnav when we plan to go off the beaten track a bit away from central Orlando.

Because we don't subscribe to our mobile overseas services we leave our mobiles on flight mode throughout and communicate via WhatsApp.

Joan has "Here we go" on her iPhone which is free. We download the Florida maps here on Wi-Fi and it doesn't used data over there. Only downside is that we don't get live traffic.

Other Dibbers suggest Google Maps and Navmii do the same.


I guess if you stay on-line all the time you can use these Apps live with data anyway without the need to download any maps but I don't know how much data they use.

Mick

[shack69]

google maps of navii free are both good as you can download the maps to local storage and therefore remove the need for data. If you have data i would still pull down the maps and then use the data when you want to search for a new location. That won't take much data.
Another app is WAZE which is very good.

Apple Maps and Google Maps use more data with the latter being more economical. Google Maps use around 0.6MB of data per hour and Waze uses only about 0.23MB an hour and it will go lower than that if you plot your directions or maps while you’re on Wifi

[Burgmeister]

I believe shack69 meant to write navmii.

I have used navmii a few times. In my experience it is a little slow but it is better than nothing.

[fiona88]

In Florida I used google maps pretty much every day for 2 weeks, and didn't get any where near my 12gb limit. Think it was about 3gb total, including MDE for fastpasses & restaurants, facebook etc.

When we went to vegas last year, I bought an extra sim, 3 roam away from home is now available on pay as you go, so with that topped up by £10 I used another phone with that sim as the sat nav, we were doing a few 4-6h drives though. So that could be a safety net if you were worried about using all of your data.

[grant_w]

I use Google Maps at home every day, and I only have a 2GB limit, never ever reached it.
If you pre-load the maps before you go, then the data will only be used for the traffic info.

[Garlicbread]

Thanks all for your helpful comments. Sounds like i will go for google maps but perhaps data usage isn't so much of an issue.

[TEL N KEL]

Waze is very good it also has live services
Waze is one of the navigational apps you can download from the Play Store for free but since you’re gonna be using it on the go, you will need to use mobile data to get real-time directions. The question many users ask is how much data does the app actually use? Unlike streaming apps or services, Waze uses not much data when used. To put it into perspective, streaming a single track through Spotify would cost you more than when you drive a full hour using Waze. Needless to say, you don’t have to worry too much even if you plan on driving for hours using the app as your guide.

Apple Maps and Google Maps use more data with the latter being more economical. Google Maps use around 0.6MB of data per hour and Waze uses only about 0.23MB an hour and it will go lower than that if you plot your directions or maps while you’re on Wifi. Mobile data needs to be turned on for the GPS and other location services running in the background but they, too, use less data. A 3-hour drive may only cost you about 1.2MB and that’s not much.

I have heard of people when using google maps getting lost and the reason for this is some times it lags behind.
It will tell you to turn to late and you are to late to make the turning which is not good when you are not familiar with the area.

Another good option is download the free TomTom app to your phone then pay £15 and you can download the latest map and also have live services. Plus you do not need data to use this app and it is very good and accurate.

[Gaz Lear]

I found Waze was the best one to use. Both Google Maps and Apple Maps sent us to some very strange places

[malt1977]

We use TomTom Go, there is a monthly subscription of £4.99 that you can stop and start as you wish. Maps can be downloaded over WiFi and then the app uses no data at all (unless you want traffic updates) so technically you could run it with mobile data turned off.

Another option is to use a wireless hotspot with a pre paid data sim, then you can use the likes of google maps.