Geolives Maps

K09

Hi,

Is Geolives worth subscribing to for quality maps for hiking?
How useful is it for hiking in Ireland? Anyone use it regularly?

Thanks.

Alun

They're just the same old OSi 1:50,000 maps so nothing special. The software itself is OK, but not great IMO. They have apps for iPhone, Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms, and also have maps for France, Switzerland, Netherlands and Belgium.

Another one to consider is Mapyx Quo http://www.mapyx.com/ .. the application is free, no subscription costs, and you can buy either individual tiles or tile vouchers for either 20 or 25 tiles (works out cheaper per tile), and they also have map tiles for NI, including the 1:25k maps of the Mournes and a few other areas. The app is quite powerful, but the interface takes a little getting used to. There is a Windows Mobile version too. They also have maps for the UK (complete 1:50k and 1:25k) and Slovenia (the developer is Slovenian!).

ste2006

I use Geolives a bit and like it,

The maps are only the standard 1:50k but its handy to print an area of a map on the printer, laminate it and take it with me as opposed to taking a full map and having it blowing around in the wind,

Its also handy sometimes to print the map at 1:25k and laminate it. The detail is the same as the 1:50k but everything is bigger :-)

hmmm

Alun wrote: »

Another one to consider is Mapyx Quo http://www.mapyx.com/ .. the application is free, no subscription costs, and you can buy either individual tiles or tile vouchers for either 20 or 25 tiles (works out cheaper per tile), and they also have map tiles for NI, including the 1:25k maps of the Mournes and a few other areas.

I took a look at this after another evening struggling with that buggy POS Geolives and it looks interesting! Not quite there yet but a much nicer interface.

joewicklow

I agree with Alun. It only uses the old maps and the iPhone App while being a great idea is really fiddly and not very practical.
One thing I will say about it is the 3d flight mode is great fun and gives a fantastic perspective of the area you are looking at. It only really works when you have a good few map tiles in a particular area but when its in 3d and aerial photo mode its really addictive.

Here is a sample of the 3d. Not Wicklow I'm afraid

Alun

hmmm wrote: »

I took a look at this after another evening struggling with that buggy POS Geolives and it looks interesting! Not quite there yet but a much nicer interface.

I've not found anything yet in Quo that I can't do or want to do in any other mapping s/w I own (GeoLives, OziExplorer, Memory-Map), but it can take some time to find out exactly how to do it. A lot of what would ordinarily be settings or appear in context menus in other s/w can be accessed by playing around in the properties lists in Quo Explorer.

Dr Pepper

I use Geolives a good bit now and find it very handy (although I haven't tried anything else). It is however very 'fiddly' and it can be quite awkward to figure out how to do basic things like downloading/importing maps from the website, drawing routes and printing. Once you do figure out the awkward way of doing it, you won't forget it and the software becomes very useful.

Another benefit over paper maps is that the maps are kept fairly well up-to-date (unlike paper maps where thing like the Wicklow Way route and major roads can and have changed dramatically in a relatively short space of time).

My favourite feature is the ability to quickly draw out and save routes and get a profile that will tell you the exact distance, height gained/lost, time to walk it, etc.

If you do decide to use it, be prepared to waste hours and be frustrated trying to figure out how to do simple things, and don't expect their 'help' facilities to be too helpful. I've often found them to be out-of-date (the software has moved on one or more versions and the help documentation hasn't). Plus, it's really annoying when you're in the middle of a help manual and possibly... maybe... just about to find what your looking for and the next frigging page/section is in French for some reason!!

hmmm

One or two things threw me in Quo. The Irish grid is available but not altogether obvious. Also, you can turn off negative bearings in the preferences (WTF is that about, what are they used for?). There doesn't appear to be aerial maps available yet/ever.

hmmm

joewicklow wrote: »

One thing I will say about it is the 3d flight mode is great fun and gives a fantastic perspective of the area you are looking at. It only really works when you have a good few map tiles in a particular area but when its in 3d and aerial photo mode its really addictive.

Here's one I put together of the Glover route. Might even be helpful to some people this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSlh96kBoqc