Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
  • Using Android for Sat-Nav in Spain
  • franksinatra
    Full Member

    Any reconmendations for a decent app for offline sat nav in spain (for driving)? I struggle for storage on my phone so ideally looking for something not too massive, but assume it needs to be offline so I avoid data.

    Would love to use google maps but happy to try anything.

    nickjb
    Free Member

    I use maps.me. You can download quite small areas to save storage and the detail is very good. Free too. Just zoom into areas you might be visiting to download the map of that region while on WiFi for offline use

    mogrim
    Full Member

    Google Maps works well here, although obviously you’ll be using data. I also have TomTom installed, no data but it will take up at least 550MB of space on your phone…

    nemesis
    Free Member

    Google maps won’t do navigations offline, only hold the maps themselves.

    NavFree is the one I’ve used in France.

    Can’t you just stick in a (bigger) micro SD card?

    Mackem
    Full Member

    Buy a pay as you go SIM in Spain.

    grizedaleforest
    Full Member

    I’ve used Sygic for several years on different Android devices and in several countries, including Spain. The download for Spain is currently about 380Mb. The license model is nice in that, once bought, you get nav data for all supported countries with unlimited updates.

    My experience is that the various free options are OK, including Google Maps, but they lack the focus on turn-by-turn navigation that Sygic, TomTom etc have.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    CoPilot.

    Low space and no data aren’t the best bedfellows though.

    mogrim
    Full Member

    My experience is that the various free options are OK, including Google Maps, but they lack the focus on turn-by-turn navigation that Sygic, TomTom etc have.

    I agree – Google Maps navigation is OK, but TomTom is better at letting you know in advance about the upcoming turn etc.

    Where Maps really shines is the ease of use, the TomTom interface is a bit of a pain, which is why I generally only use it for longer journeys.

    B.A.Nana
    Free Member

    Navmii (used to be called NavFree), I’ve got Spain maps installed as well as UK. In total, with base app, it looks about 1gb, but you could probably just install the app and Spain without UK, using about 500mb.

    surfer
    Free Member

    I was in Spain last week. used maps.me and it worked fine

    cranberry
    Free Member

    With Copilot you can download just the map of Iberia which will take up 466Mb of storage.

    vinnyeh
    Full Member

    I’ve been using Nokia Here for about 6 months, free, works well, and map downloads are also available free for offline use.

    Alternatively, if storage is a real problem, then buy one of these PAYG sims from Three- unlimited data, including 25gig of data in a lot of countries, including Spain.

    stumpy01
    Full Member

    What network are you on? If you are on Three you can use your data allowance (and minutes & texts) in Spain as you do in the UK, so can just use Google Maps assuming you have a decent data allowance.

    I was in Tenerife recently on holiday & it was great not having to worry about making sure data roaming was turned off to avoid incurring expensive data costs etc. I used my phone to help me navigate on a bike ride & it worked fine.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    What network are you on? If you are on Three you can use your data allowance (and minutes & texts) in Spain as you do in the UK

    O2 charge £2/day for unlimited overseas data, which isn’t too bad (though you’ve to add the ‘traveller’ option as a free bolt-on first IIRC).

    franksinatra
    Full Member

    Thanks all.

    I’m on Vodaphone for as long as I am in contract, then will be dropping them like a hot spud due to shockingingly poor data connectivity.

    Storage is an issue at the moment due to using the old, back-up phone but I will dump a load of apps and I think I have a spare SD card kicking around.

    I’ll play round with Navmii and maps.me and see how I get on.

    traildog
    Free Member

    Nokia Here seemed very good.

    I like Google maps, but it’s almost useless offline and it’s not that great with public transport.

    Or get a Three SIM.

    B.A.Nana
    Free Member

    You can shed navmii mb’s by going into ‘installed products’ and deleting everything except Spain maps and one voice pack. App 121mb, Spain maps 363mb, English Kate 2mb.

    I should point out that navmii app (and probably the others) are based on open street maps and although will get you around and better than navigating with a paper map, they’re probably not as good as a proper satnav.

    jekkyl
    Full Member

    What I found on a recent trip to france is that you don’t need the data connection for the whole journey with google maps. Turn on data roaming, load up your route and then turn data roaming off and it holds the route and as long as you have your gos turned on there shouldn’t be any issues. It probably won’t update with any traffic info though.

Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)

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