Database Users

Google Maps sucks

I tried using it yesterday and almost broke my phone because it was making me so mad. If you miss a turn the directions don't update so you have no idea where you are. And the route isn't highlighted on the map like it is in every other GPS app so if you get off the route at all, it's over, you have to stop and type in the address again to get new directions. Are there any GPS apps for HD that are actually good?

There are actually a lot of programs you can use. just use google. Personally I use TomTom and i think it works quite well. It calculates a new route within a few seconds if you missed a turn

I use Google Maps all the time and like it alot. True, if you miss a turn you won't be notified (not until Google Maps Navigation comes out for WM) but getting back on track again is not at hard as you think. Just request directions from your current location and SELECT the address you typed before for your end point. I don't understand why you type the address all over again. I've done this way while travelling on the freeway at 70 mph a bunch of times and it hasn't let me down yet.

pickpocket said:
I use Google Maps all the time and like it alot. True, if you miss a turn you won't be notified (not until Google Maps Navigation comes out for WM) but getting back on track again is not at hard as you think. Just request directions from your current location and SELECT the address you typed before for your end point. I don't understand why you type the address all over again. I've done this way while travelling on the freeway at 70 mph a bunch of times and it hasn't let me down yet.
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Oh yeah you're right. Clicking a bunch of stuff to get new directions is a little silly though, you have to admit.
I'll try Tom Tom and see how it is, has anyone else tried it?

I use GarminXT. I really don't see the difference between all the GPS navigation software available - the features are almost the same. The difference comes from the maps. For me Garmin's maps are the best for Bulgaria, so you should do a little research which software has the best map for your country/region.

Igo 8 for me. Superb bit of software.

agree. IGO 8 is the best.

Does anyone have the link to download any of these? I searched this forum for "gps" and it keeps coming up with nothing.

thread closed as theres been many threads like it for months
there is a list of working gps software in the wiki
read it

Best Nav software?

Any opinions on the best navigation software for our phones (that DOESN'T) require a monthly subscription? I looked at the TomTom software but they apparently don't have any maps available for the United States that I can find. I have Bing and Google Maps but those both require a data connection. They also don't provide turn by turn voice guidance or follow along with you very well or dynamically reroute you.

shouldnt all turn-by-turn apps have data usage since it needs to track u...
otherwise from that, garmin is really nice. turn by turn, though i notice it does lag behind a LITTLE bit, but it still works quite nicely.

xredjokerx said:
shouldnt all turn-by-turn apps have data usage since it needs to track u...
otherwise from that, garmin is really nice. turn by turn, though i notice it does lag behind a LITTLE bit, but it still works quite nicely.
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No, not all turn-by-turn apps have data usage, for example Tomtom does not use data.
Have you considered CoPilot 8?

There are plenty of different software packages you can use; just to mention TomTom, iGO8 etc.

CoPilot 8 is a very good package, especially given its low cost. It includes all maps for North America, and doesn't require a data connection while running (but can use one if you choose the Live services add-on to get traffic/gas price updates).

Data usage is used in two ways.
To update the maps as you move along (google etc), or to give live info (traffic reports etc)
MOST of the purchased gps software will include the full maps to the location you buy it, and will only need data if you want live traffic etc.
Some of the more common gps apps are, TomTom, Garmin, iGo8, CoPilot 8
i personally use iGo8 in europe and love it.

Copilot is great
I have used copilot before on both Windows Mobile and Android. Right now its only $20 on their site and that includes the maps so you don't have to have a data connection. I have tried a bunch of nav solutions and this one is probably the best for overall functionality and price.

I recommend TOMTOM. I used CoPilot 8 for a few months and it works well but sometimes the directions it gives are weird specially when I traveled to another state I was getting confused with the directions it was giving me compared to TOMTOM which are faster and more direct.

I'm happy with Copilot, routing is fast and accurate.
However voice warnings are terrible. They are slow, and usually late. I miss Garmin on that front.

I like just google maps............. however i also have tom tom installed............. install this, then during install you will be automaticly promted to download your 1 free city during the install...... yeah, i cant find anything online from them either. Well, I couldn't attach it here, guess it was too big. It's on here somewhere the file name is... QM_TomTom_Navigator_7.916.9189.1_VGA

intothevoid said:
I recommend TOMTOM. I used CoPilot 8 for a few months and it works well but sometimes the directions it gives are weird specially when I traveled to another state I was getting confused with the directions it was giving me compared to TOMTOM which are faster and more direct.
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Thanks.
To clarify, I don't mind if it uses data, I have unlimited data, I just don't want data to be REQUIRED for it to work. Actually, I wouldn't even care so much about that, AT&T's data coverage is okay if you will accept EDGE. I just want the voice turn by turn directions.
One other caveat, it has to be able to run from my existing microSD card. I don't care if I have to hack it or whatever, I just need it to run from my existing card with my music, etc on it. I looked at the Garmin, but you had to use only their card apparently. :-/

i use google maps for finding places and stuff. but it still doesnt have turn by turn. if it did i would probably use that. but for that i use garmin. been using it for quite some time. its the best looking and probably the most user friendly of the nav software. the gas prices feature is fantastic. but if you dont have the money you could go for something like copiolot. i havent used it though.

I have tried TomTom, Copilot and iGo in the past and have landed on iGo as my firm favorite

I am a Garmin fan. I have used various garmin devices on my motorcycles for many years. For my PDA, years ago I got a bundle with a bluetooth GPS and TomTom. Hated it. Recently, I got achance to try the Garmin XT software. Didn't care for it either.
I would like a chance to try out the iGo software. It can't be any worse, and can be found fairly cheap.
For now I use Google or Bing most of the time. I don't need the voice prompts.

Does anyone here have the navipanel from the leo?

For the life of me, I can't understand all the love for CoPilot. I bought it on Christmas day for $19. I feel swindled.
1. The primary function of navigation software is 'navigation'. This is pretty much impossible when you're working with anchient maps. I live in a city of 2+ million and my neighborhood is 7-8 years old. My neighborhood is not in CoPilot's maps...
2. The app is buggy. If I do an online update through the app, I get an error that tells me that the POI database does not match the online database. THey have POI's that don't have corresponding streets. If you tell it to create a route between to streetless POI's it draws a straight line, which is laughable...
3. The Copilot central app is extremely buggy and the gui is terrible. First, it doesn't support netbook resolution of 1024x600. Second, the application update function doesn't work. I know there is a more current version of the app out there (I have 8.0.0.346), but CoPilot central will not show me the update. Third, the map update dated Dec 29 hangs the app upon launch. All of this is from a stock t-mo rom after hard reset and format of SD card.
4. SUpport from ALK is somthing that you would expect from a company 7-8 years ago. there is no forum or searchable knowledgebase. You can submit trouble tickets, but I have yet to receive an acknowledgment of my map update request. Apparently they will add my address in 45 days, but I have serious doubts this will happen because of all of the missing roads in my neighborhood.
5. Features advertised on ALK's website are not present in my version of the app.
I could go on an on. To sum up... CoPilot is a POS, and I encourage everyone to stay away!!!

Copilot Live
I have recently switched to copilot live 8 from OCN 8.3. I find that the maps on Copilot 8 are current in my area (roads finished last year are included). I can confirm that the Copilot central software does not work on a netbook but is fine on other machines.
I have not run into the bugs mentioned above but I will update if I do. As far as the features go the software is a couple of months old. I consider it a bonus that I can purchase for $20 and upgrade only thoes features I care about.
When it comes down to it my switch was for 2 reasons. I can use my own SD card and I can get live traffic updates. OCN does not support traffic in the US and is limited to an 8 gb card.

tomtom is the simplest and the easiest to use.. there are maps for the usa.... i am currently using one that is the usa and canada together.. tomtom pics some crazy routes sometimes... but its easy to pick another..
garmin is ok... but not very customizable... hope you like the way it looks, cuz youre pretty much stuck with it... the way you add the maps is cool... you pick the states you want... so you dont have to fill up your card with stuff you dont want... im not inpressed with the way you have to enter address in this one..
igo in my opinion is the best... if you get tts voices for it, it will say the street names.. it shows the buildings if youre in a big enough city... and the 3d effect is pretty nice... it also lets you know what lane to be in on the highway and it shows you the signs you will see on the road.. the biggest drawback for this one for me is the load time...
i have never tried copilot so i cannot rank that one... hope that helps

Is this how you get iGO for north america and/or United States:
http://www.oncoursenavigator.com/
I googled iGO, but all I found was a European product...

sixsevenco said:
Is this how you get iGO for north america and/or United States:
http://www.oncoursenavigator.com/
I googled iGO, but all I found was a European product...
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according to http://www.navngo.com/pages/global/eng/where_to_buy you are correct.

NavDroyd - 100% Offline navigation with Open Street Maps

hello guys,
i stumbled over an app called navdroyd in the market. it promises 100% offline turn by turn routing and tts with osm and android tts voice (sdk >1.6). does anybody has some experience with this app? it sounds really promising so I tried the free mapdroyd app from same developer.
navdroyd $6.49/€4.99: http://www.androidpit.com/en/android/market/apps/app/com.osa.android.navdroyd/NavDroyd
mapdroyd free: http://www.androidpit.com/en/android/market/apps/app/com.osa.android.mapdroyd/MapDroyd
mapdroyd works like a charm. you can download worldwide mapcontent via wifi an store them on sd but i'm missing the ability to search and set pois, which navdroyd provides. I think this would be a really awesome alternative to navigon or motonav for people without a dataplan. but before I purchase this app, maybe somebody can share his experience!?

hi there..
i've try both apps on my phone and yes navdroyd is much better than mapdroyd. actually both interfaces and appearance are quite similar but the diff is u get "cruise mode" on navdroyd which provides you 3d navigation =)

ahm ... yeah, that was already clear for me ... just like its named navdroyd and their homepages mapdroyd.com and navdroyd.com discribe: mapdroyd shows map and navdroyd navigates you ... i wanted to know how good this works, not which abilities each program has
e.g ... i'm interested if navdroyd announces only directions or also streetnames via text to speech and if navigation continues if the display is turned off (for motorcycle navigation)... etc

Why dont you simply buy the app, you have 24 hours to ask for a refund! Navdroyd has a simulate route feature, which gives a nice demo of the software.
I have used navdroyd now a couple of times for actual car navigation. It does work pretty well, announces instructions in time, also reads out road names (with comical results when the names are not english), recalculates routes if you miss a turn and so on....
It feels a bit rough still in some places, given its still a very early version. The search function is too basic for my liking, and the routing has a tendency of generating too many keep left/right messages when in fact you simply need to keep driving ahead on the same road.
I only used it in the car, and the display is kept on all the time, so dont know about switching the display off, or even switching to a different app ?
Given it uses OSM data, there still can be data gaps, but hey you can just go to openstreetmap and add the road!
Finally, the developers are very responsive and I have submitted some bug/missing features reports, hopeful this will all be added soon. Just email them if you still feel you have questions.

Anyone care to review this app?

were my brief comments not enough ?

does it have offline routing?
i was wondering how it does it considering it uses OSM maps (yes i know you pre download them).
cheers,

Cool but realistically MotoNav is just as easy. 1 State file and bam.
I wish Google Nav would have something like this. Where I have problems with Google Nav is when I get out of Airports and trying to pull data whilst in a concrete parking garage isn't fun.
Google Maps is worth its weight in gold but I can't get into the Navigator. I use Google Maps to search and navigate mosty and use MotoNav as a backup.

you cant actually go to specific addresses like someones house

Yes its 100% offline routing and maps ... so no need for a data connection once you have downloaded the maps initially. they are pretty small, the whole of the uk for example is 103mb.
because its based on OSM, it doesn't have that many addresses at the moment, but I find that street name in general is more than enough to get where you want to go. You can also search for junctions between two streets which might help as well.

HA
petzlux said:
were my brief comments not enough ?
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HA!.....................

sorry for bumping this old thread but I had a question:
After paying for the app, do you have to pay for each map you download or is all that free?
Also, does this offer POIs, such as Dunk n' Donuts, restaurants, or gas stations?
Thanks.

yeah, opnce you have bought the app, the maps are free.
2 things, and i hope the Navdroyd people read this, I have been fairly disappointed in the customer service ( i know, $5) but i offered to help with the maps in my local area, as at the moment they are VERY old and near on unusable. well actually, they are unusable as there are WAY too many unnamed streets, which are named in OSM...
secondly, the POIs seem a little limited, not sure about other areas (im in Perth, Western Australia)
well one more, they don't seem to update the maps too often (definately not every 6wks as they say). As a result there is no use updating OSM for your area as you don't see any changes.
Navdroyd people please read this! I would like to assist!!!
Palitu

i'm not very happy with navdroid, ended up driving totally wrong with the out-dated maps, heck, the street where i grew up isn't even on the map (im from belgium)

Wow... they tore down your street? bummer!

alloin said:
i'm not very happy with navdroid, ended up driving totally wrong with the out-dated maps, heck, the street where i grew up isn't even on the map (im from belgium)
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One option would be to contribute to the OpenStreetMap project and fix those problems you know of

wwwald said:
One option would be to contribute to the OpenStreetMap project and fix those problems you know of
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no, that wont work, i have gone through and updated this on OSM and there hasn't been any changes.
Not only that, the OSM has the streets alread named. Not sure why they don't cross over onto NavDroyd...

Is there a way to replace the maps from Navdroyd for other ones like google or something more updated?. The area where I live doesn't have the street names and has very limited POIs.

Ahkbal said:
Is there a way to replace the maps from Navdroyd for other ones like google or something more updated?. The area where I live doesn't have the street names and has very limited POIs.
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nope
you cannot... amking up the length of the message

Palitu said:
no, that wont work, i have gone through and updated this on OSM and there hasn't been any changes.
Not only that, the OSM has the streets alread named. Not sure why they don't cross over onto NavDroyd...
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The problem is with the update frequency of the NavDroyd maps. They use their own "micromap" format, so the OSM data have to be "compiled" into that format every once in a while.
It's actually in their FAQ, see questions "How often do you update NavDroyd's map database?" and "Can I download OSM maps and use them directly in NavDroyd?".
(sorry, I'm apparently not yet allowed to post external links)

"Full featured" GPS?

Are there any full-featured GPS programs available? Some do maps, most do diraections, some do "breadcrumbs". I am looking for something that will do at least MOST of the features of a dedicated GPS...Maps, directions, breadcrumbs, ETA, speed, etc. I really don't care if it's free or paid, but I'm just surprised that I haven't been able to find one (if it exists)

whats wrong with Google Navigation, its arguably the the best full featured GPS Navigation software out and its free.

ghostrida said:
whats wrong with Google Navigation, its arguably the the best full featured GPS Navigation software out and its free.
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does it do breadcrumbs, he said he needed that, i have never seen it but would be cool if its there.
i have a mygig RER 30gb hd w/ navigation in my jeep, i use my incredible for navigation now cause the maps are always up to date (and for free) and i can search a much larger database of points of interest plus better voice search! android FTW!

nothing is wrong with google nav. its great. but, it requires constant internet. i too would like to know of a good offline navigation app.

Standalone
They don't seem to make them ... iGo MyWay looked good but it doesn't seem to be for sale.

One BIG problem with Google Maps is that it sucks up battery juice like crazy (I'm guessing a combination of GPS power and constant internet). I love it for quick and dirty navigation, but just wish that there was something more robust. On WM I had iGuidance, Delorme, etc. Just surprised that there's nothing to compete with them on android.

I use Co-Pilot

OruxMaps has an offline mode and can accept maps for offline use in several formats, including KML, which you can download from google maps or google earth.
It can also load your maps in everytrail.com or mapmytracks.com
I haven't played with it a lot yet, but so far it seems to have everything you mentioned.

Garmin would be nice
I use Garmin MobileXT on my TP2 but would like it on my DINC. I wonder if someone could port the Garmin APK from the NuviFone that T-mobile just released ??

I'll be looking at OruxMaps for now, thanks for the tip.
(Sorry about the bump)

How does CoPilot compare to tomtom

I've been using tomtom while I was on Windows mobile and I really liked it a lot. The one feature it was missing though was the voice over text, where street names will be spoken.
On the evo I used Sprint nav and Google maps. I like the Google maps interface a lot better. I like the fact its well integrated with the operating sustem, for example search for Starbucks and then navigate to it. One thing I didn't like about the Google maps is when a call came in and I took the call, I was still on the call screen where tomtom will automatically take you back to the nav after taking the call. Also the directions weren't muted while on a call instead they were announced on top of the callers voice.
So since tomtom is not available for android, what are your thoughts of copilot live? Also open to recommendations of other nav software u guys are using. Thank you.
Sent from my evo using XDA App

For ease of use I like the Google NAV
I run Co-Pilot and its pretty sweet. Much better than Sprint NAV. The only that I don't like is that when you are at a light the car icon turns into a circle. I like to know the direction I am facing and it's there when you are moving. Perhaps I had the early software release. I haven't updated since I changed ROM's.
TOMTOM - eh. I haven't been a fan in a while. Never really liked their interface.
I would rate Co-Pilot one of the top. I IGO as well. Still haven't released for Android US yet. Navigon is pretty good as well. TomTom to be honest was always down on my list of favorites.

copilot on android is very nicely done. lane assist is a big thumbs up.

The biggest problem with Copilot that I have found is that they use very outdated maps. Copilot is the ONLY app/map service that does not have my street, which has been around for 6 years now. I have had numerous instances of not being able to find addresses in Copilot, but I can find them in Sprint Nav or Google Maps. Otherwise I really like it, and I actually use all three on my business trips. I primarily use Google Nav, but I have had a lot of routing issues with it just recently. Like to my buddy's house, it brings me down the back roads and wants me to drive through his back yard. The hotel in San Antonio I was staying at, it had me in an endless right-turn loop and I could see the hotel not a quarter of a mile ahead. There was something else too, and that was all within a 3 week span, so I'm leary of it right now. Hopefully will be (has been?) fixed soon, but it makes me second-guess it all the time.

yea google maps always takes me to the back of restaurants and houses lol

so far so good with Google Nav