SatNav for Eastern Australia

Souness

Friend is heading over in a few weeks to Melbourne and plans on travelling up the coast to Cairns. Has anyone any experience using the Navmii/Navfree app in australia? Does it work well or would you recommend picking up a satnav in Oz? I have used Navmii extensively in Ireland/UK/France and Spain and found it to be excellent. But in Portugal not so much. Any fedback appreciated. Thanks....

pete4130

A lot of Australia can have little to know cell phone reception, even on the east coast. So if these apps need a 3G signal to download the maps and update you might not get much use from them.

You can get offline mapping but I've found these to be not great. If you buy a cheap sat nag (avoid NavMan IMO, I've got one and bring me the most stupid way possible and a lack of updating), you should be able to sell it on for a reasonable amount on Gumtree before you leave.

catbear

I did Cairns to Melbourne years ago and we didn't even use maps that much. You got to look at a bigger map and choose which route to use cause there can be hundreds of Klm between junctions and they're generally very well signposted.
Even driving into Sydney was alright although I made sure we weren't going in at peak hours.
There have been problems with Satnavs in remote Australia where the shortest route picked may not suit a rental car and road conditions might not get regular updates.
Just buy an East coast atlas if the rental crowd don't provide one and then drive. Once you pick your course you pretty much stick to it as changing your mind can involve hours doubling back.

Souness

Thanks for the responses.
@pete4130 the navmii app uses offline maps but my reservations based on portugal expeience is the same as what you are saying. When not reliable they are worse than having nothing.
@catbear I was thinking paper map would suffice,but was not sure about driving into Sydney. Travelled this route and through the centre in early 2000s before we knew what a satnav was and dont rem getting too lost along the way.

Shy Ted

I've used co-pilot around Sydney & it's pretty good. But in fairness I'd expect it to perform optimally in major cities.

Kavs

Get yourself a cheap Nokia phone and benefit from the best offline mapping system available. Ie. Use it without a sim card in offline mode as your sat-nav.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mHbdLRvTChE

see above link for details, and below for cheap options.

http://www.adverts.ie/for-sale/q_nokia+lumia/

nokia have been doing offline maps for over 10 years and are experts, the other phone manufacturers are all playing catch up in that department.
Did I mention wireless charging with NFC car app integration,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nokia-CR-201-Universal-Wireless-Charging-Black/dp/B00GP20Q42/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425968361&sr=8-1&keywords=nokia+cr201

not to mention if you go for the 1020 /930 get a camera that beats most cannon/nikon stand alone cameras!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=SlgGSbkzma4

why people would consider buying an i-phone/android is beyond me.

pete4130

Shy Ted wrote: »

I've used co-pilot around Sydney & it's pretty good. But in fairness I'd expect it to perform optimally in major cities.

Any GPS will struggle in major cities in built up areas. The tall buildings block the amount of satellites that are visible and the GPS signal gets bounced around between the tall buildings (signal multi path). Thats why smartphones are probably better in the cities using their 3G and wifi to work out their location. Once you are outside the CBD things like co pilot should be ok.

Mellor

Travelling along major highways between cities is pretty simple.
Then in cites, and built up areas a smart phone is perfectly adequate.

pete4130 wrote: »

Any GPS will struggle in major cities in built up areas. The tall buildings block the amount of satellites that are visible and the GPS signal gets bounced around between the tall buildings (signal multi path). Thats why smartphones are probably better in the cities using their 3G and wifi to work out their location. Once you are outside the CBD things like co pilot should be ok.

+1
Phones will be better in cities with access to 3G and GPS. Although Wifi not much use when you are driving.

That said, I've used my iPhone maps in a GPS only mode and it was fine, even when I traveled through a map grid that wasn't loaded.

pete4130

If the A-GPS chip is seeing satellites it'll still work. If the maps aren't loaded then you've no relation to where you are. I know on my Samsung wifi Tablet I downloaded some offline mapping and it worked pretty good even when flying out of Australia. I was able to hold it to the window, once it could see enough satellites I could see where I was. It was simply called Offline Maps. You need to download the map base to your handheld device first. I'm not 100% sure it can track or navigate though.

Mellor

pete4130 wrote: »

If the A-GPS chip is seeing satellites it'll still work. If the maps aren't loaded then you've no relation to where you are. I know on my Samsung wifi Tablet I downloaded some offline mapping and it worked pretty good even when flying out of Australia. I was able to hold it to the window, once it could see enough satellites I could see where I was. It was simply called Offline Maps. You need to download the map base to your handheld device first. I'm not 100% sure it can track or navigate though.

Google maps lets you save the map offline now too, on the iphone at least.

In my case, I was driving from Dublin to The north. I had no data roaming over the border, so no 3G. But GPS kept working fine. What I meant by not loading was that when I drove into some areas in the north, the map wasn't loaded up for the "zoomed in" resolution. So I only got a very pixelated map, from the initial ireland map.

Kavs

Trust me the Nokia here maps programme is the full package, see the links posted above, apple or google maps don't even come close. I have used Nokia's on my holidays for the last 6 years and the quality and accuracy of the software is unrivalled.

Mellor

Kavs wrote: »

Trust me the Nokia here maps programme is the full package, see the links posted above, apple or google maps don't even come close. I have used Nokia's on my holidays for the last 6 years and the quality and accuracy of the software is unrivalled.

This is the nokia map source data. https://www.here.com
It looks good, but tbh I don't see how it offers anything above Google maps or Apple maps. At this point they've all mapped the main cities of the world in pretty good detail. The differences between them are minor.

Kavs

One word, 'offline'.

Mellor

Kavs wrote: »

One word, 'offline'.

So nothing then.

Google maps have an offline options too, as do TomTom, Navman and other GPS apps.

The J Stands for Jay

Have Nokia figured out Donegal isn't in the UK yet?

Kavs

ok for those that did'nt take the time to look at the videos here we go again:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mHbdLRvTChE

https://youtube.com/watch?v=SlgGSbkzma4

The thread starter asked for advice for a trip to Australia, I think a Nokia phone fits the bill perfectly, wouldn't like to put my trust in an android or apple product in the outback.

regarding Donegal, I travel there regularly without any issues? false claim??

Mellor

Kavs wrote: »

The thread starter asked for advice for a trip to Australia, I think a Nokia phone fits the bill perfectly, wouldn't like to put my trust in an android or apple product in the outback.

Cairns isn't in the outback, neither is melbourne.
Regardless, You can download maps to Apple devices too. This has been stated numerous times.
I'm sure you nokia phone is great, kudos for being a non mainstream fanboy, but buying a new phone is a bit excessive when he can download a cheaper app that will do the same.

Anyway, you've given your advice, the OP can take it if he wishes. Are you on commission?

deco nate

Nokia Here maps is also available on Android phones now.

So if the person that's going to Oz has an Android phone,
Happy days. I use it on my note 2 and it works great.
Just download maps on wifi and you're good to go, never had a problem with it and I drive all over Ireland. Used it in England 2 years ago on my n8 and it was great.

Btw Nokia brought navtec years ago and they supply maps to garman Ect.
Nokia give the updates free, 2-4 times a year.
Have to say it's a great free app, not sure if it's on Apple store.


Edit:also Nokia don't make phones anymore, Microsoft bought them out and the phones are called lumia

Kavs

Mellor wrote: »

Cairns isn't in the outback, neither is melbourne.
Regardless, You can download maps to Apple devices too. This has been stated numerous times.
I'm sure you nokia phone is great, kudos for being a non mainstream fanboy, but buying a new phone is a bit excessive when he can download a cheaper app that will do the same.

Anyway, you've given your advice, the OP can take it if he wishes. Are you on commission?

Again please read my first post , jeez. I wouldn't trust an apple phone with directions if you paid me, also maps are not fully downloadable for free ie. 'Truely offline' on apple, please understand what you are arguing before making any more childish comments

"
see above link for details, and below for CHEAP options.

http://www.adverts.ie/for-sale/q_nokia+lumia/
"

Regarding androids rip off of Nokia's Here maps its not as well integrated as on the lumia phones and yes I've used both, also no city lens! If he decided to actually replace his phone with a more expensive Nokia then he can also benefit from a camera unrivalled by any competitor who are all scrambling to copy Nokia's real 'innovations'. Might be a bit more handy than say a fingerprint reader in a foreign country don't you think?

Mellor

Kavs wrote: »

Again please read my first post , jeez. I wouldn't trust an apple phone with directions if you paid me, also maps are not fully downloadable for free ie. 'Truely offline' on apple, please understand what you are arguing before making any more childish comments

Google Maps are usable offline for free. Being free is a strange requirment considering he had to but a new Nokia. It's its purely for maps why not buy a dedicated sat nav.
I use google maps on iPhone without issue. Others use Apple maps.
If you don't trust them that's up to you, but not worth a lot if you don't have an iPhone to use them.
You sound happy with your Nomia, best of luck with that. I'm gonna bow out here, you've said your bit, any more is fanboyism.

Kavs

Mellor wrote: »

Google Maps are usable offline for free. Being free is a strange requirment considering he had to but a new Nokia. It's its purely for maps why not buy a dedicated sat nav.
I use google maps on iPhone without issue. Others use Apple maps.
If you don't trust them that's up to you, but not worth a lot if you don't have an iPhone to use them.
You sound happy with your Nomia, best of luck with that. I'm gonna bow out here, you've said your bit, any more is fanboyism.

Jesus truly remarkable response, you have never used a Nokia sat-nav programme yet have formed in your mind the final verdict, without doubt a true i-sheep.

I for one like to have a phone that can also function as a media player, sat-nav (offline remember) and the best camera/video and audio recorder available when abroad, let's not forget the mess that apple produced with their mapping system, android has realised the exceptional quality of Nokia's mapping software and is now piggy backing on its success with a limited ported version.

The smart option is to use the hardware that Here Maps was originally intended for, this I believe is what the poster is looking for and I'm trying to highlight that to him despite your uninformed attempts to sway him otherwise.

irishmover

Not gonna get sucked into this debate but, just seen on my LinkedIn that Here maps are launching on iOS this week.

I was approached to work for them but turned it down, seems like they're eager to get Surveyors heavily involved which is intriguing.

Chimes back out...

The J Stands for Jay

Kavs wrote: »

regarding Donegal, I travel there regularly without any issues? false claim??

I had a Nokia phone and it had decided that a large area round Main Head was in the UK. It wasn't on the border either.