# Best Sat Nav app for Android



## UnderAnOpenSky (Mar 7, 2011)

I'm using Google Navigation at the moment, but the fact that maps aren't stored locally, has caused me problems recently. I also don't like the way it's almost impossible to put you're own route in rather then using the ones it chooses. It's a shame because in many other ways its better for usability then my old Garmin.

Any suggestions?


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## girasol (Mar 7, 2011)

I use Google Navigation, and I only had problems once (I assume you lost connection?  that's the problem I had).

Not sure you'd get something for free which would store routes locally, or let you enter your own, but hopefully I'm wrong!  

But if you know your own route, why would you need directions?  I just dont' get why you would put your own route in, iyswim.  It usually suggests 3 routes, and if I go a different way, it recalculates the route.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Mar 7, 2011)

Yes, its when I've had to change routes because of a diversion and have had no signal. By putting in you own route I don't mean doing a route I mean well, but planning it with a map (normally more remote areas again.


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## girasol (Mar 7, 2011)

Yes, being able to store the route locally in case of connection loss would be useful!

found this, may be worth a read, going through it now

http://androidforums.com/android-applications/2149-caching-google-maps-use-offline.html

(I know this is for google maps, not google navigation, but a good starting point)

and http://www.mapdroyd.com/


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## ChrisFilter (Mar 7, 2011)

Isn't Copilot the only brand name on Android?


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## Sunray (Mar 7, 2011)

I have CoPilot Live 8. If its on Android its worth the 26 quid or so.


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## Hocus Eye. (Mar 7, 2011)

As a result of this thread I have just downloaded MapDroyd. It is great and costs nothing. I am delighted with it.


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## editor (Mar 7, 2011)

In PC Pro's comparison test, Google came out on top:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/359626/free-satnav-a-real-world-road-test

Co-pilot is £23 - https://market.android.com/details?id=com.alk.copilot.marketplace.eu.major&feature=search_result
Loads of other choices here: http://mobile.jack-frost.co.uk/android_sat_nav_apps.php


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## editor (Mar 7, 2011)

Google have just upgraded Navigation:



> So we’re happy to announce that Google Maps Navigation (Beta) will now automatically route you around traffic. With more than 35 million miles driven by Navigation users every day, this should add up to quite a bit of time saved!
> 
> You don’t have to do anything to be routed around traffic; just start Navigation like you normally would, either from the Navigation app or from within Google Maps. Before today, Navigation would choose whichever route was fastest, without taking current traffic conditions into account. It would also generate additional alternate directions, such as the shortest route or one that uses highways instead of side roads. Starting today, our routing algorithms will also apply our knowledge of current and historical traffic to select the fastest route from those alternates. That means that Navigation will automatically guide you along the best route given the current traffic conditions.
> 
> ...



http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/20...GoogleMobileBlog+(Official+Google+Mobile+Blog)


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## Sunray (Mar 8, 2011)

Hocus Eye. said:


> As a result of this thread I have just downloaded MapDroyd. It is great and costs nothing. I am delighted with it.


 
Is that sat nav?  I dont think it is.


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## Sunray (Mar 8, 2011)

editor said:


> In PC Pro's comparison test, Google came out on top:
> http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/359626/free-satnav-a-real-world-road-test
> 
> Co-pilot is £23 - https://market.android.com/details?id=com.alk.copilot.marketplace.eu.major&feature=search_result
> Loads of other choices here: http://mobile.jack-frost.co.uk/android_sat_nav_apps.php



A flawed test if ever there was one.  Its ok for free, but pay a few quid and you get proper maps. No need for data connections at all.  What you do need is a fast phone.


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## editor (Mar 8, 2011)

Sunray said:


> A flawed test if ever there was one.  Its ok for free, but pay a few quid and you get proper maps. No need for data connections at all.  What you do need is a fast phone.


It got the driver to his destination quicker than any other sat nav and the review couldn't have made the caveats any clearer if it tried:



> So do we give our unqualified backing to the freebies? No. Google Maps still requires a decent data signal before it will even plot a route, which isn’t much good if you’re stuck in the Peak District, or even a pub car park in Surrey.
> 
> And while Nokia’s downloadable maps might overcome that particular hurdle, the free software (and indeed CoPilot’s paid-for iPhone app) is still dependent on the GPS receiver inside your smartphone, which normally fails to latch onto a signal as effectively as the GPS radios found inside dedicated satnav devices.
> 
> ...


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Mar 8, 2011)

Google navigation is bloody impressive for a free bit of software, as I said in my OP in many ways it's better then the dedicated Garmin I had before (although also helped by running on much nicer hardware). I'll be curious to see how good the traffic information part of it is. What I will say about those test results is that that they must be really pants at using paper maps to get such a large discrepancy...I'd have have thought the way to explain it would be the town driving part, as that's where I find using paper maps to be hardest work/unsafe when by yourself. but its not. I can only assume it was an area that they knew quite well.

I'll have a play with mapdroyd, but it looks rather basic. Co-pilot looks like a nice piece of software, even if Navigation proves to be better in many situations, then having the reassurance of an offline back would be good.

Moves on to dreaming mode....what would be nice is if you could choose to use the OS 50k & 250k mapping on occasions. Had this via memory map on my Touch HD before, I'll have to do a test to see if the voice guidance still works if the navigation app is in the background. I wish Memory Map would hurry up a release their dedicated app for android, rather then relying on a 3rd party viewer to use the files.


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## cybershot (Mar 8, 2011)

I use Google Navigation all the time. I still have a sat nav in the car too as backup, but the maps on google are more up to date and get updated quite often. It could do better with islands, especially with an icon to indicate what exit. That's my main gripe with it.

I only had one problem when I was in Middlesbrough once and for some reason it thought I was in the south of france!


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## Sunray (Mar 9, 2011)

editor said:


> It got the driver to his destination quicker than any other sat nav and the review couldn't have made the caveats any clearer if it tried:


 
Exactly, so it came top in a flawed test, which is about as meaningless as it gets.  Its was testing _what_ exactly?


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## editor (Mar 9, 2011)

Sunray said:


> Exactly, so it came top in a flawed test, which is about as meaningless as it gets.  Its was testing _what_ exactly?


Did you actually read the review? It tested the satnavs over various different conditions - country drive, town to town etc - and rated them accordingly.

If almost all your driving is in cities and built up areas, then Google's free satnav is the best, as the journey times proved.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Mar 9, 2011)

editor said:


> Did you actually read the review? It tested the satnavs over various different conditions - country drive, town to town etc - and rated them accordingly.
> 
> If almost all your driving is in cities and built up areas, then Google's free satnav is the best, as the journey times proved.


 
I can't give creditability to that review if they are that shit at using paper maps.


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## editor (Mar 9, 2011)

Global Stoner said:


> I can't give creditability to that review if they are that shit at using paper maps.


I would have thought that would make them very representative of the average satnav-owning driver myself.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Mar 9, 2011)

Based on what?


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## Sunray (Mar 9, 2011)

editor said:


> Did you actually read the review? It tested the satnavs over various different conditions - country drive, town to town etc - and rated them accordingly.
> 
> If almost all your driving is in cities and built up areas, then Google's free satnav is the best, as the journey times proved.


 
Yes I subscribe to that mag and read the review and thought it was poor at the time and time hasn't improved it.


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## mauvais (Mar 9, 2011)

Google Navigation is alright but not great. I'm sure I've written this before but it's frequently slow (reads out directions after leaving a roundabout), frequently the wrong display scale for the context (showing whole towns next to motorways), doesn't have lane detail or speed limits and lacks the polish of dedicated devices. For now it's enough to keep me from spending any actual money on something better though.


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## rhod (Mar 9, 2011)

I'm a new Android user and have been using google's navigation for a few days. I'm quite impressed; given its a free product.

I would agree that the junction announcements can sometimes be a little late, but as long as you glance at the screen on the approach, it's normally pretty clear where you should be going.

Tested it on a few local journeys and a longer journey yesterday, and it seemed to perform pretty well, albeit without some of the bells & whistles of paid solutions. I'm sure this will come, in time - possible as an optional paid upgrade.

Haven't tried any other Anrdoid satnav apps, but I have tried to download Sygic's Aura. Looks very nice on the website, but won't install. (Tried to download hundreds of Mb of data a few times, but at the end it just pops up with a verification error, or wants to delete what I've just downloaded).

I've got a Wildfire, which is a pretty basic spec - but it seems to cope fine with loading the maps off 3g, and locating GPS.

It would be nice to have the map data cached locally, which is what I used to have on my Nokia 5800. But invariably the GPS couldn't pick a signal up, so it was pretty useless much of the time.


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