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Old January 30th, 2018, 04:32 PM   #14
Alex
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Name: 1 guess :-)
Location: SF Bay Area
Join Date: Jun 2008

Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE, '15 CRF110F, '13 TT-R50E

Posts: Too much.
Blog Entries: 7
Quote:
Originally Posted by JacRyann View Post
yeah, phones don't work reliably as GPS. Depending upon the app, they'll use a combination of cellular data and GPS tracking. Problem is when you're in area with no cell service, the data link part is broken for app.
For those that have a bunch of memory available on their phones, it's easy to have entire continents of map data onboard the phone - no cell service required for full-functioning GPS anywhere you need (as long as the phone has battery power left, or is wired to the bike). It's about 9 GB total for the entirety of North & South America, with the free Here app. "Here" is a company that used to be Navteq, was purchased by Nokia, was sold again in 2015, and now seems to be a shared ownership from a couple different car companies. For many years, that same company has provided the map updates for a good portion of the auto manufacturers. One quirk is that in many cases the car companies continue to charge for map updates each year, while Here offers what appears to be the same map data to anybody for free.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_(company)

Android version
IOS version

Get the Here app, go to Download maps within the app, and choose the maps for however much space you want to use on the phone. Did I mention that all of this is free?

But I still use motorcycle-specific GPS units on the bikes, for better screens that can be used with gloves, water protection, vibration, etc. My two main GPSs on the BMW are still a Zumo 550 purchased in 2006, and a BMW Navigator IV (clone of Garmin 660), purchased in 2012. Both of them are still fully functional, and just earlier in the week I updated both of them to the latest 2019.10 version of Garmin's full US maps. For the ninjette, I use a Garmin 60c from a million years ago, but it has been having some issues lately; I need to see if I can get an updated mapset into it and see why it may be shutting off from time to time.

The Garmin GPSs are better than the phone apps for storing tracks, loading tracks, designing routes, adding multiple waypoints for a complicated motorcycle ride For simple use cases (enter in single address, and have the gadget tell you how to get there), the phone apps work fantasticallly well. And if there is cell service available, they can be tied in very well with real-time traffic information, that the off-line Garmin devices do not provide.
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