Ideally I’d get a Garmin but I can’t really afford that right now so I’m looking for a cheap app for Android that I can load GPX (or similar) routes into for navigating rides in places I’ve never been before. I don’t really need turn-by-turn sat nav style but just a dot on a planned route showing where I am and roughly the route I’ve input would be ideal. Can’t find much by googling and app store reviews are always all over the place.. I guess it’d need to have pre-loaded maps and just work off th gps or something as I can’t see a good data connection being available on every ride.

I use Oruxmaps app. It’s free, you can download maps and load a gpx file then use it off line for navigation. Or just use it as a tracker then export to Strava/endomondo if you fancy. I think it’s great.

Link

I use viewranger its free and works with open maps as well as bought os and such. Importing gpx seems(ed?) to require a third party file manager though for some reason

Miguelo – Member
I use Oruxmaps app. It’s free, you can download maps and load a gpx file then use it off line for navigation. Or just use it as a tracker then export to Strava/endomondo if you fancy. I think it’s great.

+1 for Oruxmaps – extremely powerful tool, just takes some time to get used to, but once you do, it’s fab. The forum for it is very handy too – http://www.oruxmaps.com/index_en.html

I guess it’d need to have pre-loaded maps and just work off th gps or something as I can’t see a good data connection being available on every ride.

It also has a rather good (if not hard to use on a small screen) tool for downloading a variety of online maps to use offline to save on data usage – or find a friend with the unnamed, expensive to purchase, national maps of great britain obviously legally sought to put on an SD card into your phone, providing it has a slot… Very handy tool indeed once you have these!

+1 for viewranger. I use the website to upload GPX, create routes from scratch etc then pull them down to my phone. Also have the app on the ipad which is also great for plotting routes and then firing them to my phone.

Also use the buddybeacon feature extensively when riding alone: keeps the the SO happy that she can sit on the sofa and keep an eye on the fact I’m still moving.

I really like Maverick for mapping, it’s accurate and easy to use an it loads and cashes maps (I use OS 1:25k) so you can either preload over Wi-Fi, or stream if you have mobile data signal.
Drag and drop downloaded GPX files into \maverick\tracks and you can load the route you want to follow, and track your ride.

+1 maverick

Mmtracker and Memory Map maps, mainly because I already had the maps.