Advice on Maps

[Guest copthis1]

Hi.

I am new to this smart phone lark and need some help.

I am on an Orange contract with unlimited internet. When I use Google Maps as a Satnav, will it cost anything? My wife is a pay monthly customer with 100MB of internet a month, will she be charged?

Thanks for any help.

[Guest Swimmerboy]

Hi.

I am new to this smart phone lark and need some help.

I am on an Orange contract with unlimited internet. When I use Google Maps as a Satnav, will it cost anything? My wife is a pay monthly customer with 100MB of internet a month, will she be charged?

Thanks for any help.

Depends on how 'unlimited' your allowance is - as far as i know GiffGaff are the only ones to do truly unlimited data and texts - check the small print in your contract.

Provided you stay within your allowance it won't cost a penny - I'd recommend installing a data monitor (I use "PhoneUsage" but others are available) so you can see how much data you're using and what apps are using it the most. Maps doesn't use too much data I believe and if you're on the newer versions it caches locations you are frequently.

[Guest The Sorcerer]

As far as I know, Google Maps uses live data so yes, it will eat into your data allowance but I don't know how much. Why not try CoPilot - the maps are saved onto your SD card and all the handset uses is GPS so it's not costing you anything or eating your data allowance.

Having said that, is the Orange San Francisco/ZTE Blade really any good for use as a satnav? It's only got a 600MHz processor and 512MB RAM hasn't it? That's great for a phone and most other apps but is it really good enough for GPS satnav? If it stalls or hangs, even for just a couple of seconds, at (say) a roundabout with 4 or 5 possible exits, it's enough to make you go off in the wrong direction and basically make it useless.

Is it a viable, perfectly good, 100% reliable alternative to a dedicated satnav like a TomTom? Or is it better to stick with TT?

Edited April 13, 2011 by The Sorcerer

[Guest Spies]

As far as I know, Google Maps uses live data so yes, it will eat into your data allowance but I don't know how much. Why not try CoPilot - the maps are saved onto your SD card and all the handset uses is GPS so it's not costing you anything or eating your data allowance.

Having said that, is the Orange San Francisco/ZTE Blade really any good for use as a satnav? It's only got a 600MHz processor and 512MB RAM hasn't it? That's great for a phone and most other apps but is it really good enough for GPS satnav? If it stalls or hangs, even for just a couple of seconds, at (say) a roundabout with 4 or 5 possible exits, it's enough to make you go off in the wrong direction and basically make it useless.

Is it a viable, perfectly good, 100% reliable alternative to a dedicated satnav like a TomTom? Or is it better to stick with TT?

Tomtom's only have a 400mhz processor.

[Guest m_w_clarke]

I did a Journey from Birmingham to the Fife in Scotland using Google MapsNnavigation. I used 3G watchdog to monitor data.

Using the predefined route and not going off plan the data used was only 10MB! That was for a 6 hour car journey.

[Guest Swimmerboy]

As far as I know, Google Maps uses live data so yes, it will eat into your data allowance but I don't know how much. Why not try CoPilot - the maps are saved onto your SD card and all the handset uses is GPS so it's not costing you anything or eating your data allowance.

Having said that, is the Orange San Francisco/ZTE Blade really any good for use as a satnav? It's only got a 600MHz processor and 512MB RAM hasn't it? That's great for a phone and most other apps but is it really good enough for GPS satnav? If it stalls or hangs, even for just a couple of seconds, at (say) a roundabout with 4 or 5 possible exits, it's enough to make you go off in the wrong direction and basically make it useless.

Is it a viable, perfectly good, 100% reliable alternative to a dedicated satnav like a TomTom? Or is it better to stick with TT?

Yes, it's perfect. Been using it for months with no issues at all, and have experienced none of the hangs etc you're questioning (but not actually stating or backing up with personal experience I note). Are you basing your comments on any real-world experience, or are you employed by TomTom perhaps? :) :)

[Guest Swimmerboy]

I did a Journey from Birmingham to the Fife in Scotland using Google MapsNnavigation. I used 3G watchdog to monitor data.

Using the predefined route and not going off plan the data used was only 10MB! That was for a 6 hour car journey.

Didn't think it'd be much - it uploads the to/from places to google and lets the servers work out the routing. Provided you don't deviate you'll only download the tiles you visit and these are relatively small in size. That said 10MB is still rather impressive for a journey of that length! :)

[Guest Magnets]

If you are using Android 2.2 it uses a lot less data since they switched to vector images, it will also pre-cache your journey (on wifi). Just don't close the Navigation app, and don't go off the route :)

Edited April 13, 2011 by Magnets

[Guest The Sorcerer]

Yes, it's perfect. Been using it for months with no issues at all, and have experienced none of the hangs etc you're questioning (but not actually stating or backing up with personal experience I note). Are you basing your comments on any real-world experience, or are you employed by TomTom perhaps? :) :)

Neither. I've got both a San Fran and a TomTom but, up to now, I've only ever used the TomTom for navigation and it's been brilliant - well worth every penny I spent on it. However, I don't like leaving it in the car (even locked away in the glove box) in case some scrote nicks it, so I end up carrying both things with me. If the San Fran really does work flawlessly as a satnav, I may be tempted to chuck the TomTom on Ebay and just use the phone.

What is it like at handling 'point of interest' (POI) files? Can you add your own? For instance, I had our car converted to run on LPG so I've got LPG filling stations as POIs on my TomTom. I've also got all the KFCs and Pizza Huts, Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco and Morrisons supermarkets, and other stuff like Toby Carvery and other pub chains. Can you add POIs like that?

[Guest Swimmerboy]

What is it like at handling 'point of interest' (POI) files? Can you add your own? For instance, I had our car converted to run on LPG so I've got LPG filling stations as POIs on my TomTom. I've also got all the KFCs and Pizza Huts, Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco and Morrisons supermarkets, and other stuff like Toby Carvery and other pub chains. Can you add POIs like that?

Sadly no, not yet I don't think. At some point in the future google *may* let you add your own ovelays (ie. integrate with 'My Maps') but currently it can't do that. On the other hand searching on the maps application is great so if you're hankering for a KFC you can search for it, find the nearest to you and then route to that.

I had a TomTom years ago, but don't use it on 95% of journeys, and even on journeys I did use it on I only needed it for the last 15 minutes (to find the place in the town/city) or the first 15 minutes (to find the motorway from the town/city!) so didn't see the point in buying a dedicated device.

If you're using it every day then TomTom is probably better, but for a casual user like me google navigation suits me fine :)

[Guest muller37]

Apart from the annoying robot like default voice, google navigation is a great piece of free software. you can change the voice if you buy new ones but are very limited.

[Guest veehexx]

i was testing google maps data the other day.

north Coventry > west Birmingham (via the m6/m5; about 1hour drive) used around 10mb data. this was in the simple map mode (non satellite view). i use 'data counter widget' app to display data usage.

i also tried the offline caching via wifi thingy; seems to cache around 5-10miles radius around your calculated route and at various zoom levels (try it; disable data, and enable wifi). obviously the download time of the route is dependant on how far your route it.

[Guest The Sorcerer]

Sadly no, not yet I don't think. At some point in the future google *may* let you add your own ovelays (ie. integrate with 'My Maps') but currently it can't do that. On the other hand searching on the maps application is great so if you're hankering for a KFC you can search for it, find the nearest to you and then route to that.

I had a TomTom years ago, but don't use it on 95% of journeys, and even on journeys I did use it on I only needed it for the last 15 minutes (to find the place in the town/city) or the first 15 minutes (to find the motorway from the town/city!) so didn't see the point in buying a dedicated device.

If you're using it every day then TomTom is probably better, but for a casual user like me google navigation suits me fine :)

In that case then I'll continue with TomTom and stick with both devices for now - thanks for the info though :)

[Guest psidoc]

The OSF is good as a sat nav. I use it with CoPilot, google maps and MM Tracker (Memory Map Ordinance Survey maps).

Howver if you use the more fancy stuff on your tom tom like IQ routing and lane assistance then you'll find copilot a bit lacking.

That said however CoPilot is a lot cheaper and does have it's own set of POIs you can download.

Psi

[Guest ThrashMan]

Sygic Aura seems quite responsive (menus are a bit pants tho)

[Guest wakaru]

Having said that, is the Orange San Francisco/ZTE Blade really any good for use as a satnav? It's only got a 600MHz processor and 512MB RAM hasn't it? That's great for a phone and most other apps but is it really good enough for GPS satnav? If it stalls or hangs, even for just a couple of seconds, at (say) a roundabout with 4 or 5 possible exits, it's enough to make you go off in the wrong direction and basically make it useless.

Is it a viable, perfectly good, 100% reliable alternative to a dedicated satnav like a TomTom? Or is it better to stick with TT?

My old SatNav was a 350Mhz WinCE 5.0 and ran fairly well any SatNav Software you could throw at it, including iGo 8, Navigon, Sygic, NDrive, Garmin, Finean, Route 66, TomTom...

What is it like at handling 'point of interest' (POI) files? Can you add your own? For instance, I had our car converted to run on LPG so I've got LPG filling stations as POIs on my TomTom. I've also got all the KFCs and Pizza Huts, Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco and Morrisons supermarkets, and other stuff like Toby Carvery and other pub chains. Can you add POIs like that?

So far I've tried CoPilot, Navigon and iGo MyWay for Android.

Navigon was too simple and most of the times that I established a destination, the routes that were picked were either not the fastest, or the most practical that I would have expected.

I liked CoPilot, but did not feel the Speed Cameras were accurate. I was being warned of some of them only and their location were not always the most accurate (at least in my area).

For what it is worth I use the iGO MyWay 8.4.2.139242 (Android 800x480), and you can create KML files containing your own POIs and access to them from the SatNav. If I remember well I downloaded them in CSV format from free online POI databases, and used Google Earth to convert them into the KML format.

As It was also my preferred satnav software in my old device, I am quite used to it. It can also be "skinned" which makes it even better. Anybody interested look for MotoGis v2.4

By the way, you can also use the same KLM files to create your own Maps ("My Maps") within Google Maps, which can be also made private or public, and out of curiosity I have just tried to access them from the Google Maps App of the SanFran and I can in fact visualize them on the map and get directions, ring them (providing you included phone numbers) etc.... Cool! :)

Edited April 15, 2011 by wakaru

[Guest siam]

My old SatNav was a 350Mhz WinCE 5.0 and ran fairly well any SatNav Software you could throw at it, including iGo 8, Navigon, Sygic, NDrive, Garmin, Finean, Route 66, TomTom...

So far I've tried CoPilot, Navigon and iGo MyWay for Android.

Navigon was too simple and most of the times that I established a destination, the routes that were picked were either not the fastest, or the most practical that I would have expected.

I liked CoPilot, but did not feel the Speed Cameras were accurate. I was being warned of some of them only and their location were not always the most accurate (at least in my area).

For what it is worth I use the iGO MyWay 8.4.2.139242 (Android 800x480), and you can create KML files containing your own POIs and access to them from the SatNav. If I remember well I downloaded them in CSV format from free online POI databases, and used Google Earth to convert them into the KML format.

As It was also my preferred satnav software in my old device, I am quite used to it. It can also be "skinned" which makes it even better. Anybody interested look for MotoGis v2.4

By the way, you can also use the same KLM files to create your own Maps ("My Maps") within Google Maps, which can be also made private or public, and out of curiosity I have just tried to access them from the Google Maps App of the SanFran and I can in fact visualize them on the map and get directions, ring them (providing you included phone numbers) etc.... Cool! :)

wakaru - Many thanks for the info , its appreciated B)