Navmii Free Sat Nav App for iphone/ipad

I would imagine the main difference is "on board" sat nav, basically the maps are stored on your device, where with skobbler they are accessed online.

The advantage and its a big advantage where I live as signal is an issue, with skobbler when your in a rural area I lose the signal and lose the directions, this sounds like it will work without a 3g signal?

Although I stand to be corrected if others have used it already

As mentioned Skobbler and Navfree both use Open Source maps but Navfree stores them on the device itself. This is good for two reasons:

1.) Doesn't require a signal to navigate
2.) Doesn't use up your internet allowance

For the person that asked if this works (as a satnav) on iPod Touch the answer is no. There is no GPS chip in the Touch.

Sachin_Joshi wrote: »

Even with having the maps stored locally, you would still need a signal to identify your position (GPS) and to plot your route - so not sure how this would be of help in areas with weak signal.

Sachin_Joshi wrote: »

Even with having the maps stored locally, you would still need a signal to identify your position (GPS) and to plot your route - so not sure how this would be of help in areas with weak signal.

Your GPS signal is completely separate from your mobile phone signal. GPS requires access to satellite signals by a clear line of sight to the sky. It will work through thin car windows, but if you're in a basement forget it. Mobile phone signals will work indoors but you need to be close enough to a cell site. So on a mountain in Wales you may have no mobile phone signal but your GPS should work fine.

Your GPS software may also require a mobile phone signal for either of the following reasons:
a) To find the satellite signal more quickly (in seconds rather than minutes). This uses a tiny bit of data connection to find out which satellites to look for in a certain area and is called assisted GPS (AGPS). Most GPS enabled phones (including iPhones) have this.
b) To download maps. This is what Google maps and Skrobbler do. It uses loads of data and means your map tool won't work properly unless you have a data connection (mobile phone signal). It saves space in your phone memory but is useless if you're lost and have no phone signal, even though you can get a GPS signal.

My advice? Get a Nokia. My 5800 was (and still is) under 200 quid - much much cheaper than an iPhone - and comes with free offline maps (no phone/data connection required) and turn by turn navigation of the whole world. Forever. Although the maps do take up space on the memory card, you only need download the maps for the countries you need.

I also use Google Maps with voice search, etc, on it from time to time. ANd the sport tracker app is really handy for sports GPS tracking.

Tim

I find the maps on Skobbler much more accurate than Navfree, it particularly seem to have a problem withsending you down footpaths. However as stated by others not needing a date connection is a big advantage at times. My understanding of Skobbler is that it needs data to map the route but won't try to downlode more date on-route unless you deviate from the planned route. I think if you are going for free sat nav having both apps seems sensible. If I used it more I would probably pay for Tomtom.

I have recently had my sat nav equipped company car rammed from careless drivers (twice in a month!!) and once again i'm stuck in hire car. I downloaded this app and to be honest it's a cracking product for free. I think it's a great tool for those who don't rely on sat nav as a daily work aid, I still think nothing works better than a Tom Tom or 'plumbed in' sat nav though.

I drove from Wigan up to Glentress Nr Peebles in Scottish Borders and it wanted me to come off the M74 sooner than multimap/google etc but I carried on to a different exit and it re-directed but all in all in coped really well. It never got lost, it never lost the GPS signal (even on the very remote roads between Moffat and Inerleithen) and the only criticism is it tells you to go straight ahead every time you reach an exit slip road on the motorway, which is annoying to say the least. Surely they should be telling you when to come off the motorway, not when not to stay on??

I ended up switching the voice prompts off after ten minutes. As with all iPhone apps, don't moan about them not working properly if you don't update your phone's software, it's imperative that you update your software regularly as the app providers are made to do in their agreement with Apple