juzzle

Hi all - I am heading out on some adventure cycling - Russia to Italy. I have been looking around for the best app for both route planning, navigation and offline route recording - on my list so far are:

• Komoot - web interface is good providing you don't make too complex a route
• OsmAnd - seems to have a clunky interface, doesn't always find destinations
• MapMyRide - great route recording, but no route planning

I am happy to use one for navigation and separate app for recording (though I'd prefer not to since that will chew a lot of battery power)

There are a range of suggested apps on this page, though it's unclear of they only offer planning (and not route recording) - longhaultrekkers.com/the-best-offline-mapping-tools-for-cycle-touring/.

If you have experience with any of the above or in the link, do you have any thoughts?

Many thanks!

Tourist in MSN

For planning but only for planning, sometimes I use Map.Me. It is designed for car travel, not bikes however.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ithme.maps.pro

I started using it when it had a different name half a decade ago just for the maps which can be downloaded when you have wifi. But in the years since they added routing, and most recently have added routing for a bicycle. I find that their routing for a bike is not always that good. It can choke on long distance routing, sometimes you have to find intermediate points and route to those points instead. For example in USA sometimes it won't route from a location in one state to another location in a different state, then I have inserted a point on the border and told it to route to that point instead.

Even when I use a dedicated GPS, I always bring a phone or tablet with this app as it sometimes comes in handy for a second opinion. I think it now is free, but five years ago I paid the $5 for the pro version.

mev

As far as general maps go, I usually end up with some variant of the openstreetmap (OSM) maps. Maps.ME is the one I've used most often, but there are sometimes country-specific wrappers that people have done e.g. a "maps of mexico" app. I also tried Galileo based on OSM but prefer Maps.ME to Galileo.

I've done more of my routing "on line" in advance, e.g. Google Maps or CGOAB journals. However, I use the offline OSM maps in a few more specific examples:
-- If I get into a city or other place with more complicated streets, I might pop up the OSM for a "where am I"? type check. I don't need an online cell connection for this.
-- Sometimes on a long straight stretch or say at a longer lunch break, I might do a quick "how far does the map say I still have to go?"
-- When I get towards end of my ride and I'm narrowing to a particular hotel or other business, I'll search and then use it to get myself closer.
For this, having the map be offline is handy and what is also nice is the OSM maps are pretty comprehensive.
I don't do much routing with Maps.ME and similar to Tourist in MSN, I've found the "bicycle directions" to be garbage. The only partially nice thing about them is they give an elevation profile and if you wrestle with it enough, you might be able to get the route close enough to where you are going to have that profile actually be close to your intended route.
I've used a dedicated GPS unit rather than an app for my recording. I've seen a few that do it, but I don't want to keep my device on all the time since that chews up battery. Instead I'll do the offline uses I described above and sometimes also buy a country-specific SIM card so I can use it to send SMS messages, e.g. with someone I am touring with so we can sync at times we aren't at the same place.

Aushiker

As per my reply at the Australian Cycling Forums.

gauvins

Totally agree with your opinion (OruxMap / Locus Pro)

I've given up on OruxMap in favor of Locus Pro for a few reasons, the most important being: (1) Locus interfaces with bRouter -- an offline routing app; (2) customized overlays so you can display various metrics and elevation profile over the map.

Locus can connect to ANT+ and BLE sensors, are if you care, will record your ride.

juzzle

Many thanks for taking the time to reply and with such detail - @Tourist in MSN, @mev, @Aushiker (again ), and @GavinS

From this and other feedback, and for the benefit of other visitors searching for the same thing, this is what I've found:

• Locus - offline - plan, nav and record
• OSmAnd - offline - plan, nav and record
• Komoot - offline - plan, nav and record
• Galileo - offline - nav, record
• Maps.Me - offline - nav
• MapMyRide - record
• Sygic - nav
• Strava - plan, rec (focussed on running and performance)

Aushiker

We are also pretty certain we will stick with Locus Pro for the same reasons plus it is so much easier to get the offline maps. I seem to have no end of problems getting offline maps to OruxMap.