Navigation App for Hikers
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| yyyeb7. 09. 2020 20:22:29 |
Hi. I'm interested in which phone apps you use for navigation or orientation? I'm looking for one that's free, works offline and has hiking trails drawn in. Currently I have Locus Map but navigation doesn't work without connection.
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| turbo8. 09. 2020 08:20:27 |
I use ViewRanger for recording paths, sometimes even enter a track so I don't waste time searching for the path up and down, if descent is on another path and I'm on pathless terrain. But I always have a map with me besides this "toy", I rely most on it.
https://my.viewranger.com/
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| yyyeb8. 09. 2020 13:00:17 |
So you use others' tracks as navigation.
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| yyyeb8. 09. 2020 13:21:28 |
How do you open plt file? Here on hribi tracks are stored in plt not gpx.
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| turbo8. 09. 2020 18:10:54 |
No, I "make" the track myself. On the map I "click" key points, junctions, save and that's it. To know the direction, where to turn, very roughly of course. If needed, I help with map, usually Tabacco, since I'm mostly "outside". The only track I load is from SentieriNatura, then I don't carry paper map, because that's enough off the top of my head. Don't know or use plt files. I use ViewRanger mostly to record the hiked path (length, elevation, time...), to show hike direction quite rarely.
This is for example SentieriNatura map, top left GPX file which I load, so no paper map.
http://www.sentierinatura.it/EasyNE2/GPXViewer.aspx?Code=SentieriNatura&ID=1552&GETString=GETMAPDY0500YYFCYIYYY
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| iUnknown8. 09. 2020 18:39:39 |
Locus Map works completely offline. I often turn on Airplane mode when hiking in mountains, meaning completely cut off from internet and it works fine.
Offline map of Slovenia free, or for small money you can download hiking maps too.
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| turbo8. 09. 2020 18:44:57 |
In ViewRanger I go to Routes and Tracks and click on "Create a route from scratch". Top left, I enter the starting point; if the app doesn't find it, the nearest place. Then I click on "path" on the map and junctions, save and transfer from PC to phone (sync). That's what I need, besides the paper map. If I have GPX from SentieriNatura, then instead of Create route from scratch I click on Create a route from GPX and that's it, of course sync to phone too. Sufficient for me, for many (quite) too little.
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| iUnknown8. 09. 2020 18:55:35 |
For creating routes, this website seems better to me, because you don't have to click them, it draws the path itself, which you can then also correct. Plus it makes an elevation analysis, so you know how many elevation meters you'll do.
http://www.wandermap.net/en/route/create/
Similarly, a route can also be created on Locus Map.
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| yyyeb8. 09. 2020 20:40:02 |
Locus Map works offline but not as navigation.
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| gor_nik8. 09. 2020 21:40:06 |
I too have been using ViewRanger for years for route planning and am very satisfied and grateful for this app. It works as @turbo described. It is a free but stable program. Just this synchronization between PC and phone gives it an extra advantage.
@yyyeb; you can convert a PLT file to GPX file with some simple program or online:
http://www.gpsbabel.org/download.html
or
https://www.gpsvisualizer.com/
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| lynx9. 09. 2020 00:23:02 |
But why do you even need navigation like in a car?  No need to walk around the world like  so you don't miss turnoffs.
By the way, PZS is preparing its own solution.
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| turbo9. 09. 2020 08:04:07 |
If it's aimed at me... Never and under no circumstances do I need or want car-like navigation. The phone is always in the backpack and tracks the walked path. If I think it's needed, I check if I'm already at the right junction to turn somewhere. And when I'm on some summit where the descent path to the other side isn't visible, I help myself by spotting it, then the phone goes back into the backpack. And similarly... 
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| gor_nik9. 09. 2020 08:21:59 |
@lynx; you could look at the thing completely differently from what you say, namely: why do you need navigation on the road or in the car, where everything is full of signs, boards, warnings etc., but in the mountains you'd give it up.
And why is PZS preparing its own solution at all, if it's so meaningless?
Everything that contributes to safety and security is welcome.
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| rrakus9. 09. 2020 08:53:30 |
I use the free app Phonemaps, you can also download maps for free, they take up surprisingly little space on the phone, so you can use the app offline, so far when I used it, it quite accurately shows the position where you are, or the path you're walking on...
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| yyyeb9. 09. 2020 13:40:58 |
I see that most people use apps as trackers. For me, navigation somehow fits better.
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| iUnknown9. 09. 2020 14:11:27 |
Actually, I don't fully get what you mean by navigation like in the car? Do you mean turn-by-turn navigation? That doesn't seem like a useful feature to me. For me, it's quite enough to check every now and then where I currently am and how much further I need to walk to the goal. And if by chance I don't know where and where to go, to view the situation on the map. Pulling paper maps out of the backpack would be a bit annoying for me. That's about it.
For tracking, I have a watch, where I have everything from pulse to temperature. I could theoretically have maps too, if I could load them.
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| Lukito9. 09. 2020 15:43:18 |
For iPhone I use Cartograph Pro, where you can download maps too - so works offline and has almost everything drawn, costs a few euros.
In the last month I noticed Garmin Explore exists, uses a Garmin account and can connect to certain watch models. Also for this you can download maps and it's quite simple to use. How it works with the watch I don't know. Also supports track import.
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| lynx9. 09. 2020 23:23:57 |
My reply referred to OP (yyyeb).
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| yyyeb16. 09. 2020 07:40:16 |
Is it even worth buying hiking maps nowadays? To me openstreetmap hiking or some other topo map seems extremely good cartography. Only thing missing is difficulty level of paths and without prior planning you can quickly end up at some climbing wall. Don't know if hiking maps have that. Asking you, is it worth buying PZS map?
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| sla16. 09. 2020 07:52:35 |
yyyeb - of course! Quality map, especially 1:25000, is excellent! You unfold it and can 100% orient yourself. Of course instagramers have no idea what orientation is.
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| yyyeb16. 09. 2020 10:47:13 |
Yeah but, if it doesn't show the difficulty level of the trail then I don't see a reason to have it, because OpenStreetMap shows me the trails too. That's why I'm asking what the added value of the PZS map is? I don't have it, so I'm asking.
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