TOT Efficient (Data Usage) Satnav App for IOS

[cpvh]

Hi All,

I may be doing a fiar bit of driving in unfamiliar territory soon and could do with using the iphone (4) as a satnav on occasion. Is there a free or cheap app which is more efficient in terms of data usage than the standard offering from Apple (Which I presume downloads maps as you use them, if I c ould use an app where preload Surrey maps and it then just had to work out where it was and where it was going, I presume that would use less data (i' m a long way off "All you can eat").

TIA

Chris

[mark]

I may be doing a fiar bit of driving in unfamiliar territory soon and could do with using the iphone (4) as a satnav on occasion. Is there a free or cheap app which is more efficient in terms of data usage than the standard offering from Apple (Which I presume downloads maps as you use them, if I could use an app where preload Surrey maps and it then just had to work out where it was and where it was going, I presume that would use less data (i'm a long way off "All you can eat").

Get the 'Navfree' app. It's free and like a satnav you don't need wifi and it doesn't use data.

Works well when you get the hang of it. It will probably pay to have a play before you use it in combat. You can pay for extra's e.g.., Stephen Fry doing the talking or speed cameras etc.

mark

[RJH]

I've got the TomTom app on my iphone 4S. Works quite well, and doesn't use data as far as I know - the maps are preloaded.

[John Williamson]

Try playing with the satnavs in PC World, and find out whose interface you prefer. Most of them do a few versions that will work on most makes of mobile phones including Apples, and as the maps are all preloaded, they use no data while you're travelling, unless you've got traffic warnings enabled.

Or try the Apple equivalent of Google Maps, I only use about 3 to 5 megabytes of data per day using GM on Android on a big screen, and a lot of that's the traffic information.

[alan_m]

Don't forget you could use wi-fi to download in advance rather than a mobile data connection.

I use TomTom (not free - £30(ish)) on a mobile phone where all the UK map is stored on the SD card and it doesn't require a mobile connection

- apart from phoning home once every 100 starts or once per month (which can be via wi-fi)

Watch out for apps that do require a mobile connection to constantly update the map OR to just start the app itself. If in unfamiliar territory you may be in a black spot for mobile connections.

[Tim Watts]

I've found the best satnav on Android is CoPilot. Do they do a version for iPhone?

Stop swearing...

[Tim Watts]

Seems they do:

[Tim Watts]

Not free - but £20 for the UK is not breaking the bank - and you get updates painlessly and fairly regularly. It's a *lot* less faff than the Garmin nuvi I used to own that really required some buggering about to do updates.

There's a speedcamera database too (think that's free) and a "live traffic" thingy for jams (not free)

[Andy Burns]

Google Maps on Android will let you cache quite a large map area over WiFi (e.g. the rough rectangle that includes Watford, Brentwood, Dartford & Hounslow) maybe the iThing version of Google Maps lets you do the same?

Beware that it purges unused maps after 30 days.

[Michael Chare]

I would argue that Sygic is better, for a start it is much easier to store the maps on a memory card.

With regard to the OP, I suspect that most of the power is needed to power the screen, and would be the same regardless of what GPS app is being used.

I run my Android phone from a cigarette lighter socket with high output charger. The last car I hired had two such sockets. It turned out that only one of them was 12v.

[Tim Watts]

I started with Sygic but switched to CoPilot and found it better. That may of course be no longer true (2 years or so later).

[JimK]

/With regard to the OP, I suspect that most of the power is needed to power the screen, and would be the same regardless of what GPS app is being used. /q

The OP was asking about data usage not battery usage......

Jim K

[Michael Chare]

Quite right! If he just wants an app for the UK then Copilot which stores the maps on the phone is free.

[Jon Connell]

Get CoPilot or TomTom. They're a bit pricey by iApp standards, but much better than the cheaper apps I've tried.

Jon

[cpvh]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Chris

[The Other Mike]

Trying to use sat nav on a phone when all you can see on the screen is a marker representing your vehicle, surrounded by nothing, not even a road might be acceptable to some when you know there is only one road for tens or hundreds of miles around but in some areas of rural UK it simply doesn't work. Where road signs can be sparse or non existent either a map (1:25000) +compass+dead reckoning, pre-cached maps on the phone or sat nav are *essential* for those not familiar with the area.

[JTM]

In the days before satnavs, I used a TomTom prog on my Psion plus a Garmin GPS unit and managed to get around several countries OK. Only real problems were in thick fog around Madrid where there were new roads not showing on the screen.

No annoying voice prompts, but there seemed to be cables everywhere!

I think CoPilot on the Psion had voice prompts.

John

[Michael Chare]

Just received email from CoPilot offering a 10% discount.

[polygonum]

I have had some bad experiences with CoPilot but it is difficult to know where to point my finger. Some of them could have been a dodgy GPS on a Nokia phone.

I don't mind paying but, between partner and me, we have iPad, iPhone, Android phone, Android tablet an Windows phone. We only have one vehicle and partner doesn't drive (at present). I am unwilling to pay for something that like CoPilot where I might need three different versions and each is costed separately.

I'd rather use the same basic software on each of them because it makes life easier all round.

At present we end up using Waze quite a bit because it is so similar on the three platforms (but burns battery power on the Windows phone). Non-downloadedness is a big negative but mostly we manage OK.

I think, if they offered a suitable deal, I might choose Nokia Here.

[The Other Mike]

No way to do that when the phone doesn't have any means of establishing the location of roads and the nodes that connect them. Part way into a route when the situation changes and you then establish the need for satnav, and there is no possibility of a data connection (without turning round and driving 10 miles in the opposite direction) and with no pre-cached maps then driving on a long estalished road with inadequate road signage and no recognisable landmarks is the same as being 1000 miles offshore in the North Atlantic with nothing except a dot in the middle of the screen and a lat long reference and heading in the corner.