What GPS for On and Off Road?

[dantastic]

I am a iPhone programmer and I actually work on a GPS application. Nothing to do with what we discuss here so I will leave that out of it.

First of all, Satnav - there are a couple on the market. I personally use Navigon. It uses Garmin maps. I have had it for many years since it was pretty much the only one available on the appstore. It cost like €60 or so which is quite a lot but I have found it very very good.

I don't currently use any GPS app which can load maps so I can't comment on that one.

But the point of this contribution, working with smartphones and tablets I can offer some insight.

The newer devices are much better (no big surprise really).

iOS devices are significantly more accurate than Androids. This is based on a pretty large dataset but in essence, only the highest spec Android devices have any decent GPS accuracy.

Only the 3G models of iPad have GPS hardware.

The GPS is actually pretty good considering. Mounting is important as a car is a very hostile environment to a GPS. If the phone can see the sky it will have much better accuracy than if it's hidden somewhere in the dash.

Developers can get highly accurate information from the GPS but then it will consume a lot of battery. This is where there is always going to be a trade-off in frequency of location updates and conserving battery life.

From a pure hardware point of view I will recommend an iOS device every time. Especially for location services.

The next thing is maps and this is where it gets tricky. The Apple platform is not as rampant with piracy as the Android platform is. This means iOS apps only import maps that are purchased or where the content rights are respected. There are less scrupulous developers who make apps for Android who don't have to follow the strict rules of the Apple appstore. This is where some people may see the benefit in some Android apps which can just import anything from anywhere. I don't think it's fair to call an app carp because it won't import pirated maps.

One last thing. Make sure to have a high power USB socket in your car and have your device connected while using the GPS. The app knows you are plugged in and some apps enable higher accuracy when connected.

[Retroanaconda]

I have to say the GPS on my iPhone (5) is very good. More than accurate enough for green laning navigation, I even use it in the woods sometimes if I've left my work GPS in the car.

I had a robust discussion with a friend of mine who insisted that the Assisted GPS function would only work with the benefit of a GSM signal, I have proved that this is not the case as even in the back of beyond out in the middle of a forest with no phone signal I still get a good fix. I believe the Assisted GPS uses the GSM (or Wifi) to enable a faster fix but it certainly works fine without.

Google Maps works well as a sat-nav, so long as you have a 3G (or better) signal and can plug the device in to a power source - the combination of using the GPS antenna and streaming map data over the cell network hammers battery life like nothing else!

Memory Map on iPhone/iPad allows 'maps of dubious origin' to be loaded in.

[Ex Member]

Thanks, guys, for all your responses, but I'm an electronic nerd, and am totally confused.

What I want to achieve is a sat-nav which directs me to city and street addresses, just like my ten year old TomTom does, but to which I can input my own maps, and use off-road. What hardware and software do I need to achieve this functionality?

Mike

I answered this on the first post. Don't listen to guys from the UK. The advice is not relevant to your use in BC.

[dantastic]

iPhones use a range of different technologies to hone in on the right location. It uses Cell towers, wifi, GPS, GLONASS, Bluetooth and Motion sensor. The latter two for indoor navigation (Indoor Positioning System).

The iPhone have proper GPS hardware and does not require a phone signal.

[elbekko]

I very much doubt the iPhone GPS chip is all that different from other phones. I wouldn't be surprised if it's largely the same chip as well. Too bad GSMArena doesn't list the GPS chipsets.

You don't need awesome accuracy for navigation. Very rarely will you need better than 20m accuracy for this, and every GPS device produced in the last 10 years will give you that. My GPSmap says it's accurate to about 3m, more than plenty.

As Red90 says, a Garmin device will fulfill all your expectations. You can find all sorts of maps for them, here is a picture of it with a topo map, showing a track and some waypoints:

I've used it for on-road navigation, off-roading, and hiking in Belgium, the UK, Poland, Russia, Sweden, ... It works great, and the best part is, it works on two AA batteries, so you only need to bring/find some of those instead of trying to charge your phone somewhere. The battery life is also much better than my phone, especially in power saving mode (great for hiking, it turns off the screen unless it's needed, or you request it).

[discomikey]

On this topic, what is the best app for an iPhone where you can download all the maps to be used offline (UK isn't an issue really, but when you're always abroad mobile internet is sometimes difficult).

G

Memory map does just this, My tablet (Android, although cant see why Apple isnt just as god at this) does not have 3G therefore i download the maps and routes at home, and use GPS alone out on the lanes. It also records your trip so you can look back later and see how far you went, how long you were driving for, the exact route you took etc.