I’ve never really got on with paper maps.
I’ve often been frustrated by the fact the map scale restricts how much detail I can see unless I’m willing to invest in a large scale ring bound atlas and they’re typically too big to be called convenient.
Most reasonable touring maps are 400,000:1 scale and detail is usually limited to major highways and ‘A’ roads, whereas a more detailed map showing ‘B’ roads will be 200.000:1 scale.
The number of maps required to cover a given area seems to increase exponentially as you shift from 400,000:1 to 200,000:1 as does the overall cost.
As for satnavs, I think a fair analogy would be to say "go for a walk whilst wearing a blindfold and relying on being told which way to turn as you move along and at the same time, be certain you’re going to be misdirected or take several wrong turns along the way".
Seems strange that we’re willing to spend a small fortune for this ‘convenience’.
In both cases, there’s also the cost associated with keeping maps current to be taken into account.
Particularly if like me, you weren’t savvy enough at the time to buy a satnav with lifetime maps.
Ideally, IMO, the solution would be a map that can easily be zoomed in and out on and that showed a highlighted route as if you’d drawn it out on a paper map.
I think I may have found such a solution and the bonus being, it’s free (assuming you’ve already a smart phone or Android tablet).
Up until now, there have been a few satnav style applications available for smartphones/tablets, but not so many where you can plan out a route based on waypoints and apply an overlay of the resulting route on a map that you can show on the smartphone/tablet whilst offline (incidentally, there’s no need with this solution for any data downloads whilst you’re on the move).
The solution I’ve come up with means:
a] You can always get the most up to date maps free of charge for use on both smartphone/tablet and PC or MAC (royalty-free OSM data which is updated on a more or less weekly basis). The OSM map source for use with the PC/MAC app can be found here:
http://garmin.openstreetmap.nlb] You can create detailed routes on your PC or MAC based on these same maps with as few or as many waypoints as you need using free software, in this case, Garmin Basecamp. The Garmin Basecamp website includes several good educational videos and IMO, with a little practice, it’s very easy to use.
c] You can easily transfer your routes from PC/MAC to smartphone/tablet.
d] The resulting routes as shown on the smartphone/tablet can be zoomed in or out on simply using stretch and squeeze touchscreen technique, so you can see as much or as little map detail as you need, depending on circumstances. My application of choice is MapswithMe (
http://maps.me/en/home ), although another app that gets good reviews, but I haven’t tried yet is Oruxmaps
(
http://www.oruxmaps.com/index_en.html ).
e] Assuming your smartphone/tablet has GPS capability, you can monitor your progress along your route as your position on the map remains centred on the screen wherever you are (unless you’re underground, such as in the Eurotunnel for example).
If you want to give it a try for yourself, here’s what you need to do:
Start by downloading a copy of the app 'MapswiithMe' to your smartphone/tablet.
Once downloaded, you’ll then need to download whatever maps you think you’ll need via the in-app setup menu (I’ve downloaded all of Europe and a number of other countries to my devices (I run MapswithMe on both my smartphone and my two tablets). Periodically, the app will inform you if there are newer versions of the maps to download, so you don’t need to monitor this yourself. Just be aware you may need to update the map copy on your PC/MAC from time to time, to stay in sync.
Now download a copy of Garmin Basecamp (
http://www.garmin.com/en-GB/shop/downloads/basecamp ).
Basecamp doesn’t come with any maps so you next need to download a map or two.
Go to the website
http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl and select from ‘Choose your map type’ as ‘Generic Routable’, then from the dropdowns under ‘Choose a predefined country’ , select your continent, then country and finally from the ‘Request your map or download it directly’, choose ‘Download map now!’
This will take you to a directory listing where you choose the map depending on whether you’ve a MAC or PC.
To keep it simple at this stage, just choose os_generic_windows.exe if you’ve a PC or osm_generic_macosx.zip if you’ve a MAC.
In both cases, you’ll need to either run the .exe file or unzip the file to obtain a useable map. Just note where your machine has placed the resulting map.
If you now start Garmin Basecamp, you will need to go to ‘Maps’, then ‘Installed Maps Info’, then ‘Reveal In Finder’.
At this point, you need to select the resulting file from the previous step and double click on it to initiate the option to install it to Garmin Basecamp. Once installed, you can navigate around the map and create routes, etc.
I don’t propose to teach how to use the app here. It’d take too long, but let’s assume you’ve created a route which can be seen listed in the left column.
Highlight the route name by clicking on it then choose ‘File’ and Export Selected User Data’. Assign a file name and elect to export the file in the Format ‘KML 2.2’.
This file containing your route data as a map overlay is now ready for importing into you smartphone/tablet app. The easiest way to do this is to attach it to an email you send to yourself from your PC/MAC and which you open on your smartphone/tablet using the MapswithMe app.
At this stage, you've now added the route overlay to your map.
Again, I don’t propose to teach you how to use the MapswithMe app. There’s a good User Guide available here:
http://maps.me/files/MAPS.ME%20User%20Guide%203.0.pdfSuffice to say, if you’re anywhere near your created route, you’ll be able to watch as you follow it on screen.
If you ride with your smartphone or tablet within view and running the MapswithMe app, I see little reason to bother using either a satnav or paper map as the only bonus offered will be the verbal turn-by-turn instructions.
As previously mentioned, you can zoom in or out at will to perhaps confirm you're on the correct road or to see where you might find a nearby petrol station or to see what towns or villages might be nearby.
Try doing that on a satnav.
Mike
