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Offline map app

Posted by (Edmonds, WA) on

Does anyone know of a good offline map app? I used citymaps2go in Italy in 2019, but based on recent reviews online it sounds like that app is having loads of issues recently. We're traveling to France In October.

I'm looking for something where I can download maps of cities we'll be visiting and pin places we've found that we want to visit before we fly to France. Citymaps2go was great for that in Italy. If we were in a city and wanted to know what was nearby I could open the map and see pinned places near our current location. I don't have an international data plan so I'm trying to find something that will work just using the GPS on my phone. I'll be using a Pixel 4 phone.

Most apps I've looked at are mainly for navigation, but I'm looking for something I can use for pre-planning before we leave. I've downloaded the areas we'll be visiting from Google maps but based on other posts here it sounds like you can't pin locations and it only gives driving directions when used offline.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Posted by
2326 posts

Check out these apps:

OsmAnd

https://osmand.net/

Here Wego

https://wego.here.com/

Both use OpenStreetMaps and offer the possibility to pre-download maps, define routes, save points of interest, add GPX files, etc.
Here Wego is the navigation system that equips the vast majority of GPS installed in cars.

OsmAnd has a huge range of map styles for many activities like cycling, hiking, riding by car or by public transport.

Both apps are free (for main features). They also allow you to pre-mark places and predefine routes between these places.

Posted by
28078 posts

I can tell you one that won't work for you: Google's MyMaps. It has been changed from an app to a web-based service. A data plan is absolutely required.

Posted by
824 posts

Organic maps https://organicmaps.app/

also uses open street maps data, but doesnt track, and is optomised for walking and cycling. You down load the maps. it then uses no data, and you can pin as many places as you want (I currently have about 400 pins...)

Posted by
436 posts

I used maps.me and added all the pins using different colors for different categories. It wasn’t perfect for transit offline but not sure if that’s the program or the problems with transit at the time. I’d double check routes when on Wi-Fi. But for walking, it worked well offline.

Posted by
824 posts

I used to use maps.me, but it got more and more intrusive with trackers and ads. Organic maps uses the same data set, but there's no added guff to get in the way

Posted by
35 posts

Thanks for all the input and opinions!

I had installed WeGo but after I had downloaded the maps I could not get them to open. Not sure if that was operator error or an issue with using a Pixel phone. I tried reloading and got the same issue so gave up on that app.

I have now downloaded OsmAnd and Organic Maps. Never heard of either of those and they seem to have decent reviews. If nothing else Organic Maps reviews are worth reading for the snappy replies from the developers.

Sounds like OsmAnd is a good program but can be ponderous to learn so I have some time to see if I can figure it out.

Posted by
2326 posts

I didn't know about Organic Maps, I'm going to try it to see if it can replace OsmAnd which it is true requires a bit of learning but is so far what I had found most effective (with Wikiloc) when I go hiking

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