Gaia GPS ?

[Drybones]

Anyone out there have experience with the Gaia GPS for Androids? A friend had it on his iphone a few weeks back when we did the Art Loeb Trail, kept us from getting lost more than once, impressed me so I put it on my phone today, now I have to learn to use it, looking for pros and cons here. Hopefully I can master it before we do the Foot Hills Trail this week end.

[BrianLe]

I've used it some. I've had a time or two when I tried to cache a large chunk of map and it took a long time and I think even hung on me once, but for the most part I've been pleased with the program, particularly for the price. So long as I plan ahead and cache the area that I want before a trip it works great.

For longer distance trips, a bit more of a PITA, but even then it could be periodically updated to cache next-stretch areas in trail towns. You're limited to picking out a rectangle to download (cache), i.e., you can't define some variable trail corridor so you either end up with a lot of piecewise chunks to cache a long distance, or you do a rectangle that includes a whole lot of map that you don't need and just take longer for the download (and more space to store if that's an issue).

It takes a little learning curve to get what you want out of it. For example, on one long trip where I walked out of the area I had cached, it took a lot of fiddling to find that I could in fact get UTM coordinates from it by pretending to set a waypoint. I would rather that they have more intuitive UI to do that, but at least I was able to get it.

[TrailBehind]

Anyone out there have experience with the Gaia GPS for Androids? A friend had it on his iphone a few weeks back when we did the Art Loeb Trail, kept us from getting lost more than once, impressed me so I put it on my phone today, now I have to learn to use it, looking for pros and cons here. Hopefully I can master it before we do the Foot Hills Trail this week end.

So, I am one of the Gaia GPS founders, and to be honest with you, our Android app isn't as good as our iPhone app yet. We started in the iPhone world, and we have struggled with Android.

Probably the thing that bugs me the most about our Android app is that the pinch zoom on the map is not continuous - it zooms after you pinch, and you don't see any animation. This can be a little confusing, because the pinch will also recenter the map near where you pinch.

Also, the app isn't as stable as the iPhone app, particularly, it seems, while recording a track. I think on some devices, like the Nexus I have, the app works pretty well, but there is a huge diversity of Android phones, and the app is buggier on older phones with less memory.

I think if we could solve those issues, people would really like the Android version, and our reviews would be better - they are pretty mixed on Android right now, while on iPhone, the reviews are almost without exception very positive.

Beyond that, we also need to expand the functionality of the Android app to do a few things the iPhone app does - better POI search, overlay NEXRAD radar on the map, display all of your tracks on the map at once, and a few other things.

So, the Android app is still a bit of a work-in-progress. We would appreciate any feedback you have as you use the app, and we're always happy to offer a refund if the app doesn't work well on your device, or you just don't like it. We're also happy to get more beta testers to help us test new releases, so if you are interested in that, please send me a note at [email protected]

[Drybones]

Trailbehind...looks like I found the right person to get the inside scoop, thanks for the input. I'm no techie so it'll probably be more difficult for me to use than others. I was really impressed with what my hiking buddy had on his iphone, it literally saved our butts a few times. Next step is to figure out how to download a map of the Foot Hills Trail. The hike we're doing is 76 miles or so, is there any problem downloading a map that size?

[TrailBehind]

Trailbehind...looks like I found the right person to get the inside scoop, thanks for the input. I'm no techie so it'll probably be more difficult for me to use than others. I was really impressed with what my hiking buddy had on his iphone, it literally saved our butts a few times. Next step is to figure out how to download a map of the Foot Hills Trail. The hike we're doing is 76 miles or so, is there any problem downloading a map that size?

Shouldn't be a problem... depending on how straight the trail is, you might have to do multiple downloads to get all the tiles, but that's simple.

[QiWiz]

I have used it on an iPhone for about a year. Love it. Sold my dedicated GPS, as I no longer was using it. Can't comment on Android version specifically.

[JaxHiker]

Also, the app isn't as stable as the iPhone app, particularly, it seems, while recording a track. I think on some devices, like the Nexus I have, the app works pretty well, but there is a huge diversity of Android phones, and the app is buggier on older phones with less memory.
I hate to say it but you're probably never going to achieve the same stability. I was just having this discussion yesterday in reference to Windows vs Apple stability. It's easy to create a stable environment where every quantity is known. Apple has everything locked down and they only have to support their hardware. Windows has to try to run the same across an incredibly huge variety of hardware configurations. The same is true in the phone arena. The specs and capabilities are known for the iPhone but an Android developer has no idea whether the app is going to run on a dual-core Razr or a quad-core DNA. Is it going to be running Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, or Jellybean? Is there going to be a SD card and if so is it going to be accessible by the app? There are so many variables in the Android world you have to go for a happy medium.

I still like Gaia on my Android. I prefer it to Backcountry Navigator. Now if only the GPS wouldn't drain my battery so fast. :( Until I upgrade to a phone with a battery larger than 1400 mAh I don't think I'll give up my 60CSx.

[Drybones]

[QUOTE=JaxHiker;1369753] Now if only the GPS wouldn't drain my battery so fast. :(

JaxHiker....Can you give me an idea of how long a fully charged battery lasts? Tx.

[JaxHiker]

That's tough to say since we all have different phones. My Thunderbolt only has a 1400 mAh battery with notoriously bad performance. However, as a quick test I ran the GPS on the way home. I lost about 20% of my battery level in a 30-minute trip. Keep in mind that my phone is 2 years old, though. Newer phones should be more efficient.

[Wise Old Owl]

I have used it on an iPhone for about a year. Love it. Sold my dedicated GPS, as I no longer was using it. Can't comment on Android version specifically.

There's an interesting subject even with the best batteries - on Backpacker Gps app the best is 8 hours with other functions turned off - your dedicated was two days... still on the fence and testing. (I can solve this several ways!)

[Wise Old Owl]

That's tough to say since we all have different phones. My Thunderbolt only has a 1400 mAh battery with notoriously bad performance. However, as a quick test I ran the GPS on the way home. I lost about 20% of my battery level in a 30-minute trip. Keep in mind that my phone is 2 years old, though. Newer phones should be more efficient.


Have you considered replacing it with a higher Mah and using the old one as a eme backup? use Amazon...

[JaxHiker]

I have but I already own 3 spare batteries for it and don't care for the additional bulk of an extended battery. I suppose it wouldn't be bad to swap out for an extended battery when I take my hikes but I guess I'm just used to carrying the other batteries. I also carry a Powermonkey Discovery.

[Drybones]

Shouldn't be a problem... depending on how straight the trail is, you might have to do multiple downloads to get all the tiles, but that's simple.

TrailBehind...I tried to download the Foothills Trail area but the trail did not show on the map, had the ajoining Pennacle Trail but not the FHT. Found the Pinhoti okay. I'm leaving for the FHT early morning so I'll play with it some more when I get back.

[JaxHiker]

Is the trail shown on a USGS topo map? The app just presents existing maps.

Sent from my SkyRaider Thunderbolt.

[TrailBehind]

TrailBehind...I tried to download the Foothills Trail area but the trail did not show on the map, had the ajoining Pennacle Trail but not the FHT. Found the Pinhoti okay. I'm leaving for the FHT early morning so I'll play with it some more when I get back.

The USGS topos don't always have all the latest trails... they can be quite dated in some places.

What you might do to supplement is to find some GPX files that show the trails you are interested in - you can import data files and then overlay the trails/waypoints on the map.

I Googled for Foothills Trail GPX, and maybe this is what you need? It links a GPX file for the trail. http://hikecarolina.tripod.com/foothills.htm

You can also try out the OpenCycleMap layer - that is based on OpenStreetMap, and often has trails the USGS topos do not, though the resolution on the topo lines isn't as good.