Really we ought to be talking about software, as that is the big differentiator. The hardware is all similar, bar little differences.

Garmin software hasn't been available on mobiles since 2007. Most poeple use garmin file types when sharing data, routes, waypoints etc.. So garmin devices have a big advantage there.

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My blog about touring and adv riding

I agree with you in principle, but don't discount the hardware differences between purpose-built navigation devices and smartphones.

One of the most significant hardware differences is the position update rate. Most dedicated navigation devices (aircraft, auto, or moto) update at 5 cycles per second. Most smartphones update at 1 cycle per second, primarily to save power.

At a steady speed on a steady course, the difference in update rates makes very little difference. When manouvering, especially when route recalculations are taking place, the difference in performance between the 5Hz and 1Hz update rates is very noticeable.

That's a good point.

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My blog about touring and adv riding

For the hardware there are differences such as the water resistant, ruggedized versions that have been referenced earlier and the thread was started in order to explore such developments.

For software, I have just re-read the whole thread to remind myself of the themes herein.
There is very little reference to iPhones and their technology in here, so sticking with Android (more or less), the softwares identified in here are:-
Locus
OSMAnd
Navfree
MapDroyd
Backcountry Navigator
Androzic (Oziexplorer?)
Sourceforge
Soviet Military Maps Free
Mapquest
Google Maps
Skobbler
Viewranger
Sygic
Navigon (now owned by Garmin)
Tom Tom on Android
Ovimaps (therein lies a story)
MapsWithMe
MotionX
Navit
iOverlander (this slipped in as an IPhone OS?)
Avenza
PathAway


A number of these tap straight into Open Street Map (OSM), increasingly so it seems to me; Mapquest for example.
Nor do all of these exist nowadays - 2+ years is a long time in the software business.

3 links mentioned earlier that deal with reviews of such software are:-

GPS - Some options - RibbleValleyTRF

New Free Samsung GT-N8000 Galaxy Note 800 / GT-N8010 Galaxy Note 10.1 Maps Apps Download

Android Sat Nav Apps

And another one I have come across more recently:-
Pocket GPS World - SatNavs | GPS | Speed Cameras

But it is not clear that any of these review sites are particularly up to date with whatever the current offerings are for GPS/navigation software on smartphones/tablets.
Much less do they point toward the winners and losers in this game, except in the most general of terms.

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Dave

Realising just how dated some information in here has become over the past couple of years I've been looking elsewhere for current developments.
e.g. the trucking community has this to play with:-
10 Best Apps for Truck Routes (android) | AppCrawlr

Whereas my search for specialist android software related to motorcycles brings up far less info but there is some on the market now and it can't be long before more developers join in:-
TRASSER - Motorcycle routes (android) | AppCrawlr
It's my impression that developers based in eastern Europe are quite active in writing stuff for the android OS.

That appcrawlr search can find apps related to iPhones also, but I don't have one of those so someone else can look.

A more recent review of the subject is here (just over a year ago so not too shabby):-
Going the distance: The 10 best mapping apps for Android | News | TechRadar

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Dave

I forgot to mention the turn-by-turn requirement that some folks have:-
The Best Turn-By-Turn Navigation App for Android

Not everyones cup of chai, but there seems to be plenty of healthy competition for that customer.

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Dave

A few weeks later and Mapswithme is now marketed as "maps.me".
MAPS.ME - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In any case there seems to be a growing number of apps that simply access OSM data/maps and add some form of interface to market yet another mapping/navigation function on smart phones .

There is a very brief overview of maps.me in this link:-
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-offline-78340

Still no nearer to identifying the "killer" app.

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Dave

Let's try and define this app.

I'm pretty happy with what I've been using thus far. But I'm now using it less on the bike, and more in the backcountry. Will be using the phone as a backcountry ski touring nav device in the Canadian Rockies and Columbia Mountains this winter. See how that'll go. The guide/ instructor at the Avi course said they can't handle the cold. But that's circumstantial as well.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

I'm 99% sure that you mean to define Backcountry navigator, but which app will you use for vehicle navigation if the former is becoming dedicated to navigation on foot/skis and the like?
There again, with the weather as it is in the north of America you probably don't need anything other than skis at present!

Currently, I continue an interest in "where the maps come from in the first place".
I expected this to be fairly straight forward but it isn't; there are regional considerations (basically why produce and market maps for a small, non-populated area when there are big places to hand) for instance. And then there is the business aspect, whereby just because there is an app out there doesn't mean that they own and supply the actual map data - this relates to the growing popularity of the open source OSM, but it applies to others also.
Within the business "model" there is the market for automobile Sat Nav which is massive compared with some others such as motorcycles, although I could envisage a day when all new bikes come fitted with a built in Sat Nav system just as has occurred with cars.
Here is but one example of the way things are, but it is by no means up to date or complete as the discussion page associated with it shows.
Comparison of web map services - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Talk:Comparison of web map services - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And, that table hardly starts to consider the application of digital mapping to mobile devices with a built in bias therein toward OSMAnd at present (maybe the mobile contribution was made by someone associated with OSMAnd, who knows?!!)

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Dave

The link above got me looking in a bit more detail at the sources of maps used by those mapping services listed in the link; those sources are listed as --
Map Data Providers MAPIT, TeleAtlas, DigitalGlobe, MDA Federal, user contributions NAVTEQ, TeleAtlas, i-cubed, Public domain NAVTEQ, Intermap, Pictometry International, NASA Navteq, OpenStreetMap user contributions User Contributions Navteq TomTom, and others

That led me to this business https://www.whereismaps.com/device/p...on-device.html who appear to be the "others" alongside Tom Tom for the Antipodes (one of them anyway).
Just goes to show how the acquisition of data for mapping is still regionalised although I suspect that there will be considerable ongoing rationalisation (in business terms) of such companies as businesses attempt to dominate in this market.

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Dave

Actually, Calgary didn't get a whole lot of snow, but the heavens seem to be opening this week.

I guess I'm coming from it from a different angle. Luckily the platform allows for the large differences in use which is why I'm loving it so much. I don't see the need for something to tell me I need to make a right turn at a T junction. If I'm not sure in the direction I'm heading, which is usually in the middle of the day with the sun dead above you, Backcountry Navigator will be enough. When I get to cities there are plenty of apps that could be used with openstreetmap.

I kind of draw a line in category between the 2. 1 being a topo mapping tool, the other a city mapping tool. The use for it (car, cycle, bike, ski's or walking) is irrelevant. So long at it allows off-line, the zoom is smooth and uncluttered and the positioning is accurate (hence the interest in BN) I'm happy a Larry.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

I guess you will stick with backcountry navigator (BN) in that case no matter what means of transport/movement is in use.
I surmise that you have found your own "killer app" whereas I am still experimenting with a few - however I haven't yet tried out BN.

We are broadly thinking the same way: I use turn-by-turn navigation when it is helpful such as close into a final destination in a large, unknown-to-me conurbation. The rest of the time I am also a "happy as Larry" free-runner.


Nice! Better than the rain.

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Dave

""For software, I have just re-read the whole thread to remind myself of the themes here .......................................
the softwares identified in here are:-
Locus
OSMAnd
Navfree
MapDroyd
Backcountry Navigator
Androzic (Oziexplorer?)
Sourceforge
Soviet Military Maps Free
Mapquest
Google Maps
Skobbler
Viewranger
Sygic
Navigon (now owned by Garmin)
Tom Tom on Android
Ovimaps (therein lies a story)
MapsWithMe (now Maps.me)
MotionX
Navit
iOverlander (this slipped in as an IPhone OS?)
Avenza
PathAway""

That list from earlier and the increasing use and popularity of OSM led me to consider open cycle map:-
OpenCycleMap.org - the OpenStreetMap Cycle Map
This may be biased toward the UK; I don't know because I haven't looked at it in much detail, but it definitely acknowledges OSM as its' base mapping for its' own purposes.


Having just ditched Maps.me from my phone for reasons stated earlier (I think - can't quite remember if that was in this thread or somewhere else!!) I am now trying out viewranger from the list above.
First impressions are that this is a very comprehensive android navigation and mapping app.
For instance, it seems to do tracks and routes while it provides access to the following maps as routine while connected online and it can save maps for use offline:-
OSM, courtesy of Mapquest
OSM, standalone
Opencyclemap
Bing Aerial Imagery (so, a competitor to google maps imagery also on android, naturally)
Skiing map
Transport map
OR your own previously saved maps

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Dave

It wasn't even in my list of some 10 months ago, but I think "Here" has been discussed in here since last Oct.
Anyway, briefly, Nokia pulled out of manufacturing mobile phones having failed to foresee what was happening with smart phones, eventually licensing Microsoft to use the Nokia name on their Lumia branded hardware - that's the potted history for the hardware side of things.

Nokia went on to concentrate on producing maps with the brand "Here".
Now they have sold out that whole area of activity to the German car manufacturing industry:- German luxury automakers purchase Nokia’s Here mapping services
For a couple of billion of some currency or other.
The reasoning for the purchase is given, briefly, in the link. Not so clear is why Nokia wanted/needed to sell.

In any case, I guess the free app for Here will be available for a bit longer but I have lost interest in dabbling with Here.
I remain grateful for the existance of OSM!

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Dave