Android Cycling Apps

[Chutzpah]

I'm going to have a look at Maverick, thanks Gordon.

I noticed this neat little app from the same people - http://www.codesecto...m/here-i-am.php. I often ride in random little country lanes, and have often wondered how easy it would be for someone to find and rescue me if I ever had a mechanical problem. This would allow me to email them a direct location to head towards.

That's another reason that Maverick sounds good - offline maps would be a godsend on those occasions when I'm at a little crossroads with no signage and no idea which way to go. It's always at those times that I have a really weak signal and it takes minutes to download the map... if I'm lucky.

 

[Chutzpah]

Oh the OS maps on Maverick are BEAUTIFUL

Downloaded the maps using Mobile Atlas Creator and tested it in offline mode to check it all worked without a signal.

This will be absolutely perfect when I'm lost

Mega kudos to you Gordon... I'm off to download more maps over a wider area.

 

[GordonB]

Oh the OS maps on Maverick are BEAUTIFUL

Downloaded the maps using Mobile Atlas Creator and tested it in offline mode to check it all worked without a signal.

This will be absolutely perfect when I'm lost

Mega kudos to you Gordon... I'm off to download more maps over a wider area.

When you use Mobile Atlas Creator be careful how many zoom levels you include in the generated atlas. For example, if I select East anglia from Chelmsford in the south to Boston in the north and go to zoom level 15 it will generate about 45 000 tiles. Select zoom level 16 as well and you now have 180 000 tiles, with no greater level of detail, just bigger piccies. It will take a couple of hours at least to generate 180 000 tiles, but you only have to do it once. The best way to work MAC is to generate sets of tiles stored as an Atlas for the separate areas you are likely to ride in then swap them in and out of the SD card before you go out for the day. Alternatively, generate the whole ruddy lot and buy the biggest micro SDHC card you can get - 7 Day Shop has 16GB cards for £18.50 delivered, but don't expect them to record HD video without jerkiness as they are only Class 2 (although my mate John reckons you can't rely on the quoted class, he's bought cards that actually have a much faster data transfer rate that they are classed for, but you pays the money and takes your choice.)

There's another offline map app out there called rMaps, which initially seems promising but it won't record tracks. Although it is supposed to, when you stop the recording it crashes and you have to force close. If the guy who produced it gets that sorted it could be a good one to, but I like the screen arrangement of Maverick better. I love the little icon in the botoom left that allows you to switch screen modes from map to compass/speedo/time.

Gordon

 

[GordonB]

What does that one do?

About 120 miles per week at around 18mph average. Not too bad for a 57yo ex fat-bastd type 2 diabetic

 

[mmace]

I've been on Android for 2 years, I cannot fault CardioTrainer, it was the first tracking app out for running/cycling etc and is more advanced than any other out there on Android
I always find using the "race against yourself" feature (think this may be a "pay for" add-on) makes my cycles a lot quicker each time as you race against a previously recorded journey and it gives you feedback of how far in front or behind you are

 

[benb]

Atomic bomber is a pretty sweet game.

 

[Chutzpah]

\

When you use Mobile Atlas Creator be careful how many zoom levels you include in the generated atlas. For example, if I select East anglia from Chelmsford in the south to Boston in the north and go to zoom level 15 it will generate about 45 000 tiles. Select zoom level 16 as well and you now have 180 000 tiles, with no greater level of detail, just bigger piccies. It will take a couple of hours at least to generate 180 000 tiles, but you only have to do it once. The best way to work MAC is to generate sets of tiles stored as an Atlas for the separate areas you are likely to ride in then swap them in and out of the SD card before you go out for the day. Alternatively, generate the whole ruddy lot and buy the biggest micro SDHC card you can get - 7 Day Shop has 16GB cards for £18.50 delivered, but don't expect them to record HD video without jerkiness as they are only Class 2 (although my mate John reckons you can't rely on the quoted class, he's bought cards that actually have a much faster data transfer rate that they are classed for, but you pays the money and takes your choice.)

There's another offline map app out there called rMaps, which initially seems promising but it won't record tracks. Although it is supposed to, when you stop the recording it crashes and you have to force close. If the guy who produced it gets that sorted it could be a good one to, but I like the screen arrangement of Maverick better. I love the little icon in the botoom left that allows you to switch screen modes from map to compass/speedo/time.

Gordon

Yep, I did exactly this ta, just a couple of map zoom level for the areas I was visiting. Was a godsend in the New Forest this weekend, ta,

 

[Chutzpah]

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread! But it is related to everything that was discussed before.

I've been using Maverick quite happily for a while, but stumbled across BackCountry last night

https://market.andro...ountrynavigator

It does a similar thing to Maverick (allows you to save maps for offline use), but unlike Maverick where you have to do it on your PC and then load onto your memory card, BackCountry will do it automatically on your phone.

So last night I loaded up a GPX file that I'd created on MapMyRide, quickly zipped around it on the phone and the whole route was saved.

And whilst I was out on the bike today I was really impressed with a feature I wasn't expecting - it automatically aligns the map in the direction that you're facing, allowing you to very easily work out which direction on that random crossroad you're lost at is which.

The link above is for a 16 day trial, I'm going to test it for a bit longer but I'm initially quite impressed. The full version is around £6.

Anyone else found any other useful Android apps recently? I've started using latitude with my wife so that she could easily find me in the event of a mechanical woe.

Edit: I've just noticed that Maverick also does automatic caching now too. So you can use whichever app you prefer! I found importing the GPX into BackCountry a lot easier than Maverick (the reason I started googling around for an alternative last night)