My old GPS unit is going flaky. Anybody have a recommendation for an offline GPS app for an Android tablet?
Must be useable offline. Free is good but willing to pay for something that is clearly better than free apps. Not interested in live traffic, Facebook type social stuff, etc., just good step by step voice directions for driving in the USA without a cell data connection.
I believe that you can force Google maps to save maps (when you’re online, say in your home) for future use with driving directions when you may be offline.
You could try Here. IMHO easier than Google Maps to download and manage offline maps and it is free. I haven’t used the turn-by-turn navigation myself, except when on foot, so I can’t really comment on how good that is.
I use CoPilot. For $10 it is the best offline GPS navigator out there, IMHO. Maps are free.
Here is the link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alk.copilot.mapviewer
I’ll second CoPilot. Been using it for the past year and would never go back to a stand-alone unit now.
The app is rock-solid, it’s not hung or crashed on me once yet. I’m running it on a Galaxy S5 phone, initially with KitKat then Lollipop. It worked fine on my Galaxy Tab 10.1 too, but I couldn’t find a stable enough mount.
Can’t comment on the US maps; I’ve only used it in UK / western Europe.
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When we drive in the US the free apps on our iPhones ( Maps and MapQuest ) worked quite well, and I would assume that Goggle Maps and MapQuest might work just as well on your tablet. What amuses us is how they mispronounce some city names. It gets most right but others it seems to pronounce all the syllables, with a slight pause for each. 
It seems Google can be used offline but it automatically deletes downloaded maps every 30 days … hassle.
Here is on my list to check out.
Does CoPilot have constant nag screens if you don’t buy all the upgrades?
There are lots I can try. I installed MapFactor Navigator and will try it out today when I go out to buy a mini SD card for my tablet so I can try the ones that only install to an SD card.
Anybody else have one that they use and recommend … or ones that you specifically recommend not bothering with? A big turn-off to me would be those that display constant nags to buy upgrades I don’t want. I don’t mind tinkering to get things setup but want hassle-free operation after the initial learning period.
How does such an app know when to tell you the next step?
The tablet (and stand-alone GPS units and cell phones) contains a GPS receiver chip which determines your current location. It knows where you are and where you want to go … then just a matter of calculating the route.
I know that; I just didn’t realize it could do so while offline.
I’ve never had a single nag screen of any kind from CoPilot.
A GPS receiver should work anywhere outside on the surface of the earth. The maps used to translate your latitude and longitude location into addresses, roads, and routes are usually downloaded on the fly from the internet over a cell connection (assuming using Google maps on your phone), and therefore require a data link. That’s why your maps stop working sometimes out in the boonies – not because you lost a GPS signal, but because you lost the data connection for your maps. If you can download the map and save it to your device (something standalone GPSes do, and some map apps), then theoretically, you shouldn’t get lost even if your cell signal does.
This is a little outside the scope of what you’re looking for but I thought I’d suggest it anyway. Target currently has the Nokia Lumia 521 Windows phone on sale for $15 (original price $100). According to what I’m reading over at FatWallet, a lot of people seem to be buying this just for the off-line GPS; no need to even activate the phone.
I could get Google Maps to download maps for offline use, but it doesn’t seem to let me calculate driving directions while offline. I can zoom around and view streets and businesses and the such, but can’t get directions to anything.
No. No nag screens during normal use. When you first install it they ask you if you want to try a year for free of their traffic monitoring, but once you say no, it never bothers you again.
Any more recommendations? I’m still looking.
The first one I tried (just because it was the first one on the Google store), MapFactor Navigator frequently didn’t make the voice announcement of turns although it did display them on the map and in the turn indicator. It took me 15 miles out of the way on a 4 mile trip before I stopped taking its advice and it kept telling me I had over 20 miles to go and kept recommending nonsensical turns until I got within one mile of home.
Google Maps deletes its maps monthly and must have an internet connection to plan a trip, so not good for just taking off on a whim.
CoPilot looked good while I was on WiFi at home but in the car didn’t work … just constantly displayed “Recalculating” and “Internet connection required to continue 7 day free trial” and kept wanting me to log in to Facebook and to buy additional maps. The free trial hasn’t made me want to buy it.
Installed Nokia Here to try today. It looks somewhat promising. The Android version is just recently out of beta and shows some flakiness but seems worth checking out. It is a professionally made app and appears it is actually free, not one of those Freemium deals that suck you in bit by bit. I see some of the “free” apps that use Tom Tom maps end up costing like $130.
Also trying OsmAnd today but it doesn’t really look too promising so far; has a very complex and unintuitive interface – that’s Ok if it makes it versatile and powerful but not so good if it’s just because of poor design.
That’s correct, you can see the map but navigation isn’t possible offline.
Nokia here worked very well. Clear voice directions, sensible routing, knew all the little back roads, even knew the speed limits on the little back roads and alerted when I, uh, surpassed them.
The autocomplete took me by surprise when I typed in “mem” and it autocompleted to Mermorial Park, which is exactly where I was headed … kinda Google spooky except it didn’t tell Google where I was going.
I’ll probably still try some others but this one looks like a keeper.
Thanks to ticker.