AlpineQuest — the navigation app I am dying to pay for!
One of the selling points for me, when I was getting a smartphone, was the GPS functionality. Sadly, most smartphones need internet connection to download maps. I was on a search for an application that would use offline maps. There is a couple of them in the Android market. I have tested 5 different applications:
- Big Planet Tracks
- MapDroyd
- Maverick
- RMaps
- AlpineQuest GPS Hiking
- OsmAnd
The Big Planet Tracks and RMaps had a lot in common. Similar interface and similar not-really-working issues. They both loaded maps with the speed of a turtle and many times did not load the whole visible area. I would end up with 2/3 of the screen empty. Maverick was loading the offline maps but awfully slow. I cannot imagine to wait for it while I am travelling.
MapDroyd is worth looking at, especially while you are in a desperate need of a map. It uses www.openstreetmap.org format and can download the maps directly from the internet. You do not need to have a computer and create your own maps. It is the map to go to when you land in the middle of the night in a new city and there is a free WiFi connection at the airport but no bookstore open to get a proper map. OpeStreetMaps are limited but they might be helpful. It all depends where you are.
OsmAnd is a fantastic idea. It is free and fast and truly open. I just could not make it work. It suffered from the same issues as Maverick. Loaded maps slowly and selectively. Switching between map A and B would be a struggle. It would see map A -switch- not see map B -switch- and than not see map A either. I will keep it however and follow changes with new updates.
None of the apps is perfect. AlpineQuest is my favorite because it gets really close. It simply works! This is so little I am asking for. It has free and paid version. Free version has some limitations and the paid version is absolutely worth the 2.88 euro, at least I think so because I cannot access it from Finland. It will be my first app to buy when I can.
All the offline maps, I have been talking about are created using Mobile Atlas Creator. It is a great program with many online service available to choose from, and a lot of offline databases formats to write to. If you would like to use it for creating maps to use in AlpineQuest you can download modified version from AlpineQues’s website. There is very nice and detailed instruction on how to create the maps. The alpinequest format maps are created much faster than all the others I have tested, and they are loaded on Android really fast too. To move them to your device, just plug in your phone as any other usb device. You will have a new folder, so just drag and drop the created map files there:
The app needs internal storage for offline maps and to do nice screenshot I need to have access to the storage on my PC I cannot do nice screenshots without rooting my phone, and I do not feel like doing so, just yet. So some ugly-ish screenshots below:
First, when you open the program, you will see built in OSM Mapnik maps. To load your maps press Menu Key and go to Settings. You will see list of maps. Notice, two of my maps are inactive because in free version the number of maps is limited to 3.
When you get the map, you will see a but funny view of the world, in many layers. More and more gray. Press the plus sign to get to the next layer. And the zoom bar to zoom in on the layer:
It is important to have the center point on the next layer, otherwise the map will not zoom any more. The deeper layer is always the darker one.
And using 17 layers I have got really great zoom. The whole map of Turku (made from Google Maps) is about 57MB, including all layers (from 0 to 17).
The app is very fast and works great. It is mainly for hiking, orienteering but works great as a tourist tool. I cannot wait to get the paid app. To get the free version follow the code:
