best US topo map app for the Droid?

[TonyG]

As the subject line states, what are the best free US topographic map sites that can be used effectively on the Droid? Does any app allow saving/caching selected regions/maps on the device to use when there is no voice and/or data service?

 

[ergalthema]

I don't know of any.

I went hiking and checked the droid occasionally. It seemed to pick up a GPS location, but couldn't get much info (I don't think there there was 3G - barely any reception at all).

So, is it possible to ever have hiking maps for the GPS? Battery life would keep me from using it much, but it could be nice - especially in an emergency.

 

[tnorris]

I stumbled on My Tracks at Google Labs yesterday. Haven't tried it yet, but it looks interesting: My Tracks for Android

 

[pleonard2000]

You can turn on the "Terrain" layer in Google Maps and it shows topo lines. A little hard to read, though, at the lower zoom level that it forces you to use.

MyTracks is great, too .. you can record a cycling or ski route, and upload it to G Maps or G Earth, and then examine it in 3D or even animate the route in Google Earth.

 

[kinglance82]

this guy wants what i want. Most the time when you want a topo map, your not in an area with cell service. For instance i will spend a week in Death Valley and only have service for maybe 5% of the time, so all these things like my tracks and google maps are almost useless. We need to know where we are at at that moment and which way to go, i end up using paper maps because short of buying a 400$ garmin, there is not much out there. Google maps with terrain or satellite view would be fantastic if a larger amount could be cashed.

Google if your reading this, yes me and other would be happy to pay for downloading an area of topo/satellite maps to out laptops/android devices.

 

[dougwilson2000]

MapDroyd. Not a Topo but works offline and give you an idea where you are from roads.GPS works with this when no data/phone coverage is present.

 

[dougwilson2000]

Orux maps gives you offline,Sat. view, GPS options

 

[kinglance82]

Orux maps gives you offline,Sat. view, GPS options

Thanks! I downloaded will play with tonight

 

[TonyG]

We need to know where we are at at that moment and which way to go, i end up using paper maps because short of buying a 400$ garmin, there is not much out there.

You can get a refurb Garmin 60Cx for $220 from Amazon Marketplace; two AAs last >20 h, and it's a rugged GPSr. I would never rely on my Droid while hiking in Death Valley, even with downloaded topo maps... How are you going to charge it when hiking? GPS drains the battery pretty quickly...

 

[dougwilson2000]

You do not need the GPS on constantly, only a minute or so to get your bearings. As far as trusting any electronic device in the dessert only, your crazy not to take a real map for backup. GPS just VERIFIES your position.

 

[TonyG]

Well, that's a little bit anachronistic position. I use my GPSrs (and lately Droid+My Tracks) to keep record of my travels, hikes and ski trips, look at elevation profiles etc and interesting features when walking--it's difficult to do it with a large map when the wind blows. GPSr is like any other gadget; you want to watch more than check your bearings. A paper map is a necessity/fall back/convenience in case of GPSr malfunction or when you're resting at a bar table with a mug of cold beer.

 

[dougwilson2000]

I used to go to the Mojave Desert every summer for a few weeks. Things can get bad fast, real map is a must have. GPS is a nice added bonus. Lost in the desert is no joke and easy to do.

 

[Fadelight]

this guy wants what i want. Most the time when you want a topo map, your not in an area with cell service. For instance i will spend a week in Death Valley and only have service for maybe 5% of the time, so all these things like my tracks and google maps are almost useless. We need to know where we are at at that moment and which way to go, i end up using paper maps because short of buying a 400$ garmin, there is not much out there. Google maps with terrain or satellite view would be fantastic if a larger amount could be cashed.

Google if your reading this, yes me and other would be happy to pay for downloading an area of topo/satellite maps to out laptops/android devices.

You might want to check this thread instead...

http://androidforums.com/android-applications/56534-need-trail-gps-nav-app-like-garmin-oregon.html

It is nowhere near as old as this particular one you dug up from a few months ago.

 

[kinglance82]

I played with the hand helds at bass pro shop, not only were they expensive but they were hard to use and had crappy screens, which is why i want it on my capacitive screen, some like them but they are not for me, yet ... now on to actually being useful..... I just want someting i can turn on and see were i am, usually i have an idea but i was like way point so i know which canyon has the waterfall ect. I am in my Toyota and my cig outlets are hacked to be on all the time, so power for me is no issue beside turn off your cell radio, and just use the sat, there isnt service anyhow, i went almost a day using my tracks.... So for those of you that want offline maps on your android.....

if you want more topo style maps for the country side:

You need two programs one for your desktop to download the Maps, then one to use on your Android device.

There is this program Trek Buddy
TrekBuddy - J2ME application for GPS tracking

There is a video there to show you how to use it, i would take a look. You Select the type of map from the drop down (MS hybrid, Google, Google Terrain ect) then highlight the area you want select the zoom levels, give it a name if you want, then export to "Mavrick Atlas Format" It can take a while! That will put it in the folder with the program for me it was...
Desktop\TrekBuddy_Atlas_Creator_1.6 beta 5\atlases
Look @ where your going and you can change map views of the area your zoomed into. I was surprised that Microsoft has very nice hybrid maps of where i was going.

On your Android device, download Maverick Maps (yes its in the app store)
Maverick - GPS navigation for Android with offline maps support.

This program once you open it and start to view maps automatically caches the maps. What i did was click on the "maps" button in the program and select MS hybrid, and zoomed around. this created a folder on my phone For me it was
M:\maverick\tiles\microsoft_hybrid *then a bunch of numbered folders (for the zoom level)
Then you just copy and paste from the trek buddy folder to your android folder and when you open the program it is as if you cached it! After i copied all this, i put phone in airplane mode and bam all of Death Valley was there! Super fast too Then if you used say google maps there is another folder in maverick for that, and you change the maps(Google maps, google terrain, MS Hybrid, MS maps) by selecting the "maps" button and changing. I have MS hybrid and google maps now of the entire Death Valley with 7 zoom levels, you can select and mix and match to your liking!

I tried Orux, looks nice but couldn't figure it out and gave up. Timberlan Costs money as do some others.

Its very easy play with it, if your into this sort of thing!

If you want City Maps:

as people have said mapdroyd, its great. The maps they have to download are ok, but in Death Valley not that useful. But in the city seem fine, the program is totally easy and self explanatory. When i fly to Europe next year i will probably be using it!


I hope this helps someone

 

[Groid]

Take a look at the Viamici app in the market. It requires no data connection, but does require a map picture to exist on your sd card. I use the National Geographic USGS topo map application for Colorado. If I'm going to Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park, I save the topo map for the area to my droid. When I get to the trailhead, I mark my location on the map using the Viamici app and a few hundred yards up the trail I mark my location again. Now I can navigate the map area using the gps and my location follows along. Check out the demo from the market app. $10 to buy. You can also take a picture of a map and use it.

 

[jbgecko13]

You can get a refurb Garmin 60Cx for $220 from Amazon Marketplace; two AAs last >20 h, and it's a rugged GPSr. I would never rely on my Droid while hiking in Death Valley, even with downloaded topo maps... How are you going to charge it when hiking? GPS drains the battery pretty quickly...

JUICEBAR!! Solar recharging unit with its own battery from think geek, just ordered one fro my droid x it has 7 adapters and can be charged with USB also

 

[joe1234]

Gaia topo from the market. It's not free but seems to work well. Ive used it once in the mountains its slow but it works.

 

[raydenoli]

I use BackCountry Navigator in the UK they use the best maps possible in the uk but I do not know about US mapping, simply the best app for me.

 

[1arryb]

Alpinequest has USGS topos (at least, for S.F. surrounds) available in the community maps section, as well as Google terrain.