OMN (Yet Another Post-Viewranger Navigation app thread)
Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2022 6:42 pm
Sorry, I know there are already several threads on this topic, but I know you all love maps.
Let's get the lament for the lost Viewranger/moan about Outdooractive out of the way first. Skip this bit if you like.
I've been reasonably happy using Outdooractive for the last few months. Not as happy as with Viewranger, but happier than with any other alternative I've found. But whilst it has its advantages, I think the time as come to ditch it for navigation in the field. The more I've used it, the more it seems to be laggy, battery-intensive, and unreliable, and these are top of the no-no list for an app used for live navigation. It's at least partly my aging device - I use it on a Samsung Galaxy S7 Active (ruggedised version) which is fairly old now, but only has OA (OK, and Trailforks) installed on it.
The app has always felt a bit slower and more bloated than VR, but on a 400km ride at the weekend, it started taking minutes rather than seconds to catch up with my current location when I turned the screen on, and eventually crashed altogether after about 200km/10 hours, and needed a phone reboot to get it running again. I don't think it was the length of the ride/amount of data, as I've recorded this length of ride before.
It also burnt through 80% of my battery in 6 hours or so - battery aging is definitely a factor, but I'm sure it was doing some unnecessary processing that was draining it.
I also have a few other frustrations with OA... it doesn't seem to store downloaded map areas for any length of time, and there are some annoying things you can't do (importing a GPX, setting a route/track to be visible on the main map) without an internet connection, even though no data needs to be downloaded. Support have been responsive, but not really willing to engage... "Maps are cached until you log out" So I'm imagining them disappearing then? "Yes, that's how it works" Well it compromises the usefulness of the app, is that not interesting to you?
TL;DR: I've thrown my toys out of the pram with Outdooractive (again).
The online route planning and route/track organisation is quite good in OA, so I might still use it for that (particularly since I have lifetime OS map access, and currently Harvey's as well, which is great). So taking that out of the equation, I'm on the hunt again for a solidly dependable, simple app to use. I need to be able to load GPX routes in and display them, and record a GPX track. I usually use OS maps, and am happy to pay for that, but finding I often use simpler OSM for road riding these days, so ability to use both would be good.
I found Outdoor Map Navigator (OMN) which I have come across before, and have had a bit of a play with it (https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... l=en&gl=US). Only does OS maps and seems simple but fairly well thought out. Haven't tried actually navigating with it yet. There's a 7-day free trial which I'll activate when I'm going to actually use it (though there's a demo area covering most of the Lakes, which might be useful to me next week). Full 50k and 25k data is £28/year.
I'm mainly just blethering to myself here, but would be interested to hear if anyone has anymore experience with OMN. I must have at least looked at most of the alternatives (OS Maps, Komoot, Backcountry Navigator, OSMAnd...) but if anyone highly recommends another, I'm all ears.
Let's get the lament for the lost Viewranger/moan about Outdooractive out of the way first. Skip this bit if you like.
I've been reasonably happy using Outdooractive for the last few months. Not as happy as with Viewranger, but happier than with any other alternative I've found. But whilst it has its advantages, I think the time as come to ditch it for navigation in the field. The more I've used it, the more it seems to be laggy, battery-intensive, and unreliable, and these are top of the no-no list for an app used for live navigation. It's at least partly my aging device - I use it on a Samsung Galaxy S7 Active (ruggedised version) which is fairly old now, but only has OA (OK, and Trailforks) installed on it.
The app has always felt a bit slower and more bloated than VR, but on a 400km ride at the weekend, it started taking minutes rather than seconds to catch up with my current location when I turned the screen on, and eventually crashed altogether after about 200km/10 hours, and needed a phone reboot to get it running again. I don't think it was the length of the ride/amount of data, as I've recorded this length of ride before.
It also burnt through 80% of my battery in 6 hours or so - battery aging is definitely a factor, but I'm sure it was doing some unnecessary processing that was draining it.
I also have a few other frustrations with OA... it doesn't seem to store downloaded map areas for any length of time, and there are some annoying things you can't do (importing a GPX, setting a route/track to be visible on the main map) without an internet connection, even though no data needs to be downloaded. Support have been responsive, but not really willing to engage... "Maps are cached until you log out" So I'm imagining them disappearing then? "Yes, that's how it works" Well it compromises the usefulness of the app, is that not interesting to you?
TL;DR: I've thrown my toys out of the pram with Outdooractive (again).
The online route planning and route/track organisation is quite good in OA, so I might still use it for that (particularly since I have lifetime OS map access, and currently Harvey's as well, which is great). So taking that out of the equation, I'm on the hunt again for a solidly dependable, simple app to use. I need to be able to load GPX routes in and display them, and record a GPX track. I usually use OS maps, and am happy to pay for that, but finding I often use simpler OSM for road riding these days, so ability to use both would be good.
I found Outdoor Map Navigator (OMN) which I have come across before, and have had a bit of a play with it (https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... l=en&gl=US). Only does OS maps and seems simple but fairly well thought out. Haven't tried actually navigating with it yet. There's a 7-day free trial which I'll activate when I'm going to actually use it (though there's a demo area covering most of the Lakes, which might be useful to me next week). Full 50k and 25k data is £28/year.
I'm mainly just blethering to myself here, but would be interested to hear if anyone has anymore experience with OMN. I must have at least looked at most of the alternatives (OS Maps, Komoot, Backcountry Navigator, OSMAnd...) but if anyone highly recommends another, I'm all ears.