I have a smart phone. It’s a Samsung Galaxy. I had a friend who gave it to me as a hand-me-down when my flip phone died. I mostly leave it on the charging stand and ignore it except when I’m leaving the house. I’m not very savvy about the universe of “apps”.
I would like to install some kind of app that behaves the way our TomTom GPS does in our car – that is, I tell it where I would like to go, it knows without me having to tell it where I am now, and it plots a route. And at any time as I make progress along the route (or, for that matter, off of it, like if I make a wrong turn or take a diversion), if I glance at it, it shows me where I am right now.
Except that I would be using it as a pedestrian. A pedestrian who walks along the roads, so I can use the road maps. But I would want it to understand (as Google Maps does, for example) that I am on foot, so don’t send me on the insterstate and don’t send me on the 14 mile route that’s faster at 65 MPH than the 11 mile route that’s full of traffic lights and stop signs.
The main thing I would be using it for is to get myself unlost. I go out for long walks and come to some damn unmarked intersection. Or I come to a marked intersection that my notes for where to make turns and so on doesn’t make any mention of. At that point I want to pull out the cell phone and have it show me “you are here”. And to highlight the route I should take.
I don’t want ads. Would rather pay and not have ads. But it would be nice to try-before-you-buy and verify that it does what I want.
I’ve downloaded about 8 different apps from Play Store, opened them, said “WTF”, and deleted them as not being what I want.
Anyone recommend me something that sounds like a close match for what I’m seeking?
If you’re willing to use your onboard GPS (which you likely have), then yes, it will tell you what intersection you’re at. A Galaxy S6 (I’ve programmed a minor GPS-based app for one) was good to a few meters of accuracy. It can take an educated guess what side of the road you’re on.
Yes, the degree of accuracy is rather remarkable, roughly 15 feet. It would be better in the 'burbs with fewer obstructing buildings. But in the city it may take advantage of available WiFi networks to get better accuracy as well.
I’ve been using Here maps for several years. Totally free, no ads, no gotchas. You download maps for the state you are in or going through, so you don’t have to use data unless you want to turn on live traffic data. Go by car, bus, ride share, bicycle, or walk. It does show your current location / intersection – and has a convenient Go Home button.
Just curious, why do you prefer Here WeGo to Google Maps? I read this comparison and don’t see any obvious advantage to Here WeGo, and a couple of disadvantages.
First of all, I am a Google hater from way back; the only Google thing I use is gmail, and that only because I’ve never found a decent alternative.
Don’t know if this is still the case but it used to be that you had to always be using data with Google maps – I think at one time you could download a map online to use offline but they automatically deleted the maps after some period of time, maybe every month.
It’s been a long time since I looked at it but to me Google maps is just plain ugly. The Here WeGo interface is kind Euro-minimalist – attractive, without a lot of unnecessary junk on screen, but it shows everything I need to get around. It shows your next turn, current location, speed limit and current speed, current time and ETA – to me everything else is a distraction.
Mostly though, I just avoid all things Google. I’m curious what you feel is a disadvantage with Here WeGo?
Because I have no sense of direction, when I’m walking, I’ll use it when I think I’m near a certain store or park or site and just can’t quite figure out exactly where it is. And it will show me the walking path from where I am to where I want to go.
On vacations, I use it to get unlost - I can go wandering around and then use the walking directions to get somewhere that I’m not.
I’ve never used Here WeGo, or even heard of it before today; I’m just going by the comparison that I linked to. According to that, Here doesn’t report crashes or road congestion, doesn’t report business ratings/reviews, doesn’t support real-time street view while walking (which might be relevant to the OP), and while driving doesn’t show the number of lanes or the recommended lane to be in when making a turn.
And yes, Google Maps can download maps for offline use. It allows you to draw a rectangle around the region you want to download, while as far as I can tell, Here only allows you to download a whole state? That must use a lot of both bandwidth and storage. Downloaded maps do expire by default, because using an out-of-date map can get you in trouble, but there’s a setting to tell Maps to continually update your downloaded maps, in which case they don’t expire.
You may not have heard of Here maps but might have used it. Those Amazon delivery trucks use it – if you drive a Mercedes, Volvo, Jaguar, or Audi it came with your car. If you have a Ford, it GPS uses Here. If you have or had a Garmin GPS r, it’s in there. The list is very long.
It does the things you seem to be missing if you turn on mobile data. I live in the sticks so I only turn on data when on a trip to the city. To me, it’s a major advantage to not ‘have to’ use data.
The maps are actually pretty small and you only have to download the ones you actually need.
