BackCountry Navigator for Android phones

[troyboy162]

just starting up a new post for this. You guys may have read about my love of google earth for offroading/mine exploring. That eventually went sour after a few GE updates and a few wrong button pushes leaving me mapless offroad. BackCountry Navagator is a worthy successor.

key points:
-easy to get free, large, Sat or Topo maps for offline/no signal use
-import/export google earth .KMZ or .GPX tracks
-fully optimized multi-touch screen interface
-simple one touch waypoint input (mark something cool you find)
-zoom way in for rock by rock directions or way out for the big picture.

http://www.backcountrynavigator.com/content/android-gps-software
the website is cheesy and several versions behind.

Ive been using it for awhile now and it takes a bit of getting used to but It hasnt failed on me in any way yet. You can use a program called MOBAC to get google earth sat maps or ARCsat maps. I actually have the entire SBNF trail system, hammers, cougar buttes, and calico on my phone now. On top of these maps I have all the google earth tracks Ive been collecting for years now.

If you have an android phone and a use for a GPS its a no-brainer at $9 with free maps.

[4x4mike]

When you say free maps do you mean quad maps? Do you always need a network signal for the maps to work or do they need to be cached. I've seen a lot of guys talk about this over on Expo and have been meaning to give it a try. The only one I've downloaded and played with is gps logger.

[Scuba]

Troy, I figured since you'll need to mount that in the truck, you may want to check out http://ram-mount.com/ for mounting solutions. If you didn't already know about them yet. ;)

[troyboy162]

When you say free maps do you mean quad maps? Do you always need a network signal for the maps to work or do they need to be cached. I've seen a lot of guys talk about this over on Expo and have been meaning to give it a try. The only one I've downloaded and played with is gps logger.

is free usgs topo and arial maps. They need to be dowbloaded for offline use.

[Seanz0rz]

the great thing about android compared to iOS devices, the typically come with some sort of removable media. so having a few with different map sets is possible and probably not a bad idea.

ill have to give it a try later this year when im out exploring more.

[troyboy162]

I had planned on having multiple microSD cards but im finding the ARCgis sat images to be very detailed and much smaller MB wise then google earth. Another space saving feature is in MOBAC where I set it to download detailed sat images only 60 meters on either side of the trails in SBNF. this works out since there is no off trail travel allowed anyhow. that brought the SBNF down to 2 gigs from the 15-25 it would have been to DL the whole thing. calico or the hammers cant be cheated like that so they came out to ~3 gigs each. I should mention that topo maps should be considerably smaller.

[troyboy162]

Troy, I figured since you'll need to mount that in the truck, you may want to check out http://ram-mount.com/ for mounting solutions. If you didn't already know about them yet. ;)


ill probably use the same suction cup mounts i used for the little tablet i was using. yesterdays john bull came out pretty good. I think we could find our way in the snow now lol

[slosurfer]

Troy, are you still using this? I have an android phone and am looking for cool usefull apps

[Seanz0rz]

likewise. ive committed myself to using my phone as a decent gps

[troyboy162]

yes im very happy with it. Its doing everything google earth was for me. I carry SBNF, calico, pismo, cougar buttes, and the hammers with me now.

[slosurfer]

downloading the free demo now...

[Seanz0rz]

so i just plopped down "cash" on the full version.

any tips on getting maps on there and where to get them from? we will be using this tomorrow since my regular gps is uncooperative atm, and the other avenues on android disappoint me.

thanks!

[troyboy162]

pm'ed details. its kinda a hack haha

[Seanz0rz]

got it, stock maps were good enough to figure it out.

[paddlenbike]

Have you guys had any issues with missing cached map tiles on Backcountry Navigator? I find the USGS topo maps to be of the most use, however as I zoom in it occasionally looses map tiles.

I bought a 7" Samsung Galaxy tablet (Android) that I intend to use in place of my current 4" Dell Axim PDA. I will remove the silver dock and use something along the lines of a RAM mount, only I am undecided where to place it at this point.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-karfVhiRHws/T9gWnU1HdfI/AAAAAAAAG0w/Z3VbcKUOVlA/s640/IMAG1216.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Oh9pckqRKJQ/T9gWnRkkSVI/AAAAAAAAG00/7rFWNbH123E/s640/IMAG1221.jpg

[Ric]

I just upgraded my phone to the RAZR, and looking for a decent yet free, topo map app, any others out there worth anything lol

[Seanz0rz]

BCN pro is worth the 9 or 10 dollars it is (i dont remember which)

it got us through Mojave perfectly, with only the downloaded gpx file being a little off in some places (mainly the river washes). it was a perfect addition to my phone. and to my offroad kit.

ken, i have had that issue very minimally. not sure what the problem is.

[4x4mike]

ken, i have had that issue very minimally. not sure what the problem is.


He mentioned, and it makes perfect sense, that it might be map boarders. When you select an area to download it pulls in the maps up to the zoom level you select. If you choice your area in a very zoomed out view yet want to see maps at max zoom level you pull different maps (24k, 100k, etc). These maps have different boarders, the larger maps having larger boarders. As you zoom in and out you'll get to the edges of a certain map in different locations. If that makes sense.

[troyboy162]

I had that once it seems, but I zoomed in and out I believe and it fixed itself.

Still nothing else out there that comes close to this program.

[paddlenbike]

There is another software package that gets really good reviews and that's OruxMaps, also available on the Google Play (Android apps) website. I am demo'ing it now.

I will keep playing with Backcountry Navigator and see if the missing tiles is a consistent problem.

[expatoz]

I just downloaded the app Everytrail that has many trails already stored and can plot your journey, include notes and pictures etc. Not quite what you guys are looking for but worth mentioning (maybe) :)

[paddlenbike]

Thanks for the tip, I will try that one too. I love having an Android-powered device, I am constantly surprised how many excellent free apps are out there.