Map App

[briansue]

I've been using an app in my Android device called MapFactor Navigator. I just updated and checked to see if some new roads recently mentioned on this forum were now on the map. They are - the new road around Tepic and the new road to Patzcuaro that bypasses Morelia are on there. I bet others are on there too.

This app uses Open Street Maps for data. I am not sure how any of it works but Open Street Maps seems to always have the latest and greatest maps online. But you can't do much with them on the Open Street Maps website. On various apps you can use them as GPS to some extent. They are handy little reference maps to use OFFLINE.

MapFactor Navigator is a download to which you can then download more maps from all over the world. You can do the entire US or do it state by state as well as all of Mexico. On my Android the app and maps are stored on the microSD card so they don't take up storage on the device.

These maps also have some interesting stuff like hiking trails in National Parks. But using it will use a lot of battery power and the device will actually heat up from working so hard. It is not an app for driving down the road but can be used to check where you are and as a reference map when you are out in the woods or walking around town and can't get online or don't want to use up you data allotment. The app and maps are all FREE but they do require some serious GB to download.

[tony_lee]

Yes Brian, most of those apps - such as mapsme, osmand, mapfactor and a heap of others, some free and some costing a couple of dollars - use Open Street Maps and they are very widely used in place of dedicated car navigators by thousands of overlanders and travellers all over the world. Most of them are fully functional off line as well. In addition there are a heap of POI files that can be installed on both the mapping apps and on Garmin to make them even more useful. So much is free that there seems little need to pay for it, although for instance, OSM does appreciate donations.

The OSM maps can also be installed on Garmin Navigators and I have them for the whole of the Americas, most of greater Europe and Australia and as you said, in many cases they leave Garmin and TomTom maps for dead. One thing they don't always provide though is traffic, speed cameras and lane guidance although some apps have them available as extras.

One other feature of OSM and smart phone apps is you can log your tracks and send them in to OSM for inclusion on their map.

[lc0338]

clicky

[reed_cundiff]

There were posts about a new RV park in Oaxaca last year but could not find them after trying "Oaxaca". Is there any further information on this place at this time?

Should be in San Miguel in about a week.

Reed and Elaine