G-Maps functionality

[RiceRacerDX]

I understand that this is as good as it gets so far in terms of turn-by-turn GPS. I also understand that 1.0 did not originally have turn-by-turn, which allowed it to make its way into the app store...until they updated it and now it has it along with GPS location services. And lastly, I am aware there is no voice.

My questions are to the people who have bought this app:

1. Does the GPS dot/arrow follow you as you drive and how well does it work?
2. Lack of voice aside, does the turn-by-turn work well and how?
3. I read on the app details that it works without a cellular connection or wifi connection. Does the GPS still work?
4. Are the maps up-to-date and what is your opinion about the maps
5. What is your overall opinion of this application (out of a five star rating, improvements, positives, negatives, worth the money, etc)?

I ask, because I am considering buying it.

 

[Rayfire]

If I may add:

6. In your opinion, how fast does the re-route take if you went off course? Reliable?

 

[rburly]

I'd like to see the answers to the original questions as well.

I was planning to buy the app, but no text-to-speech kept me from pulling the trigger. As soon as they can upgrade it for that, I'll buy it immediately.

 

[MotionxxUSxx]

I understand that this is as good as it gets so far in terms of turn-by-turn GPS. I also understand that 1.0 did not originally have turn-by-turn, which allowed it to make its way into the app store...until they updated it and now it has it along with GPS location services. And lastly, I am aware there is no voice.

My questions are to the people who have bought this app:

1. Does the GPS dot/arrow follow you as you drive and how well does it work?
2. Lack of voice aside, does the turn-by-turn work well and how?
3. I read on the app details that it works without a cellular connection or wifi connection. Does the GPS still work?
4. Are the maps up-to-date and what is your opinion about the maps
5. What is your overall opinion of this application (out of a five star rating, improvements, positives, negatives, worth the money, etc)?

I ask, because I am considering buying it.

1.) The dot follows you in realtime. It works better than google maps.

2.) The turn by turn works well in my opinion. In the upper right it will display an arrow of your upcoming turn along with the distance to the turn. It also displays the current street name you are travelling along on the bottom, while on the top it shows the street name of your next turn.

3.) The gps does not need a cellular connection as all the maps are stored on your phone. This saves a tremendous amount of battery life as the app does not constantly have to download new maps.

4.) The maps seem fine, I assume they are updated when the release updates to the app

5.) I'll give it a 4 out of 5, just because it is missing voice and could use a bit more organizing as well as a wider range of POI's

 

[RiceRacerDX]

Rayfire added a great question: is reroute even an option...and how well does that work?

Additionally, I still do not understand the concept of no cellular signal or wifi connection....and yet, still get a GPS lock. I mean does this really work like this?

 

[EB66]

im considering buying it as well and would like to know about re-route and how well it works because i have had bad experiences with re-route in the past

 

[bmms8]

personally i am very happy with this app. it does not need a connection to anything because it has built in maps. the location services just has to be on.

1. works very well and in my opinion much better than google maps
2. like the other poster said, it works very well. the only issue with it is that it you are on a street and have to take a freeway, ie. 20 west, it does not tell you east or west. you have to look at the map to see. this doesnt really cause a problem with me since i have my map set in 3d view. there are two zoom settings in 3d and i use the zoomed out version so i can see almost a mile ahead.
3. like i said, all you need is location services on.
4. my maps are pretty up to date. it is great because you can search by phone # or name. i still think google is better with some POIs. the best way to work around this is to search in google maps and remember the address or what not.
5. i would give it a 5 star. its not a perfect application, but i do think it is much better than google maps. i am very happy with this app.
6. reroute takes less then 5 seconds maybe. it is very quick to reroute. i JB'ed my phone so i sometimes have this running as well as pandora so it does sometimes crash if it needs to reroute.

hope this helps!

 

[noah82]

im considering buying it as well and would like to know about re-route and how well it works because i have had bad experiences with re-route in the past

The re-route works very quickly. The only problem that I have experienced so far is that when you are in an area that has many turns in the same place, it loses you for a second, but it will quickly re-route you.

 

[EB66]

The re-route works very quickly. The only problem that I have experienced so far is that when you are in an area that has many turns in the same place, it loses you for a second, but it will quickly re-route you.

thats great to hear, finally a good gps application that the iphone has been capable of using for a while now

 

[Rayfire]

Thanks for all the input, somehow that default Maps already gave me some
weird directions before and the blue dot was not always accurate. Plus the
lack of rerouting feature is the one that blows it. I might give this app a try
then, especially for driving downtown. It will just look weird since I have 2
maps app, one for driving and one for uhhh.. street view I guess

 

[MotionxxUSxx]

Thanks for all the input, somehow that default Maps already gave me some
weird directions before and the blue dot was not always accurate. Plus the
lack of rerouting feature is the one that blows it. I might give this app a try
then, especially for driving downtown. It will just look weird since I have 2
maps app, one for driving and one for uhhh.. street view I guess

Just a heads up, any of the cell phone gps systems aren't that great in cities because of the tall buildings, which often blocks the gps satellites.

 

[Rayfire]

Just a heads up, any of the cell phone gps systems aren't that great in cities because of the tall buildings, which often blocks the gps satellites.

That's what I thought too when Maps app acted weird, but I think the app's
3D view will definitely help with a street name on top and bottom, plus an arrow.
I'll consider this app when I drive to downtown and see what will happen haha

 

[Julien]

Just a heads up, any of the cell phone gps systems aren't that great in cities because of the tall buildings, which often blocks the gps satellites.

Why are you discriminating "cell phone" since all GPS receivers receive GPS the same way? Your post should say any GPS system.

 

[MotionxxUSxx]

Why are you discriminating "cell phone" since all GPS receivers receive GPS the same way? Your post should say any GPS system.

actually, I have onboard gps in my lexus and it uses some extra technology that when I go in tunnels and lose signal it calculates my driving speed and other parameters and keeps me on the correct position on the map.

 

[Luminator]

Just a heads up, any of the cell phone gps systems aren't that great in cities because of the tall buildings, which often blocks the gps satellites.

Actually, the iphone uses AGPS and GPSR. AGPS triangulates your location base on cell towers and WIFI hot spots. The GPSR uses direct satellite communication, so your odds are much better in receiving a location than you would with just a GPSR with WAAS.

 

[TheZimm]

I have to saqy I'm pretty impressed with this app. Yeah it'd be awesome with the gps, but even with the touch it's pretty great. You can search for where you are, and then set it as your current location. It's got 100s of POIs. It's much more powerful IMO than the built in maps app.

Just my 2 cents

Zym

 

[jfayngor]

List view?

Does this app have a list view?

 

[Luminator]

Does this app have a list view?

No, sadly it does not. This is a major disapointment for me.

 

[jfayngor]

 

[severe]

As someone that was originally dissatisfied (ahem) with G-Map, I'm much happier with it's recent update and suggest the purchase. Consider yourself lucky you've held out 'til now.

I'm fine without voice nav and a few minor details. The only major drawback I find is its lack of a landscape mode, which doesn't leave me much to complain about. I'm unsure of the details that go into offering this feature. Does someone know if it would call for a completely different mapping system (?), because I often wonder if it's still a possibility that we can see this feature in a future release.

And BTW, has anyone found a support forum of any kind to find this answer?

EDIT: No list view would be included as one of the details that doesn't bother me much.

 

[TruckdriverSean]

Rayfire added a great question: is reroute even an option...and how well does that work?

Additionally, I still do not understand the concept of no cellular signal or wifi connection....and yet, still get a GPS lock. I mean does this really work like this?

Yes, it does.

Remember that cell signal can be used to triangulate your position, but it's GPS that gets the spot on the map accurate to a few meters. So as long as you have good GPS (sat) signal, your gtg for location.

Think about Google Maps. With a good line to the sky you get a blue dot. Using GPS alone it can give you that blue dot just fine. It needs cell signal (data) to display the map so you know where you are. Otherwise your just a blue dot in a big grid of gray. (not very useful)

With G-Maps the maps are stored locally on the phone (~900Mb) so you don't need streaming data the way you would with Google Maps. I've used it out in the booney's (zero cell signal) many times and G-Maps just kept on chuggin, never missing a beat.

As for how good it is, I'd give it a 4 out of 5. Works pretty well, but it does hang up every once in a while. Compared to Garmin the routes seem to be just as bad/good. (I drive an 18-wheeler so routes are my thing)

The biggest downsides seem to be related to "Garminizing" a phone.
- A stand alone unit will never stop working because your coworker wants to call and gossip.
- You don't have to stop your Tom Tom when you want to listen to a new playlist.
- Did you remember to call the wife? Hope you don't need the GPS then...

If the iPhone could/was allowed to run apps in the background these issues wouldn't be there. But alas, it is what it is.

But for $20 it just rocks!

 

[mark.j.tarr]

Is this an app store app ?

I cant find this app in iTunes, would definatly buy, but is it an app store app or jailbroken app

Cheers

 

[DreamPod]

Does the app rotate the map so that up is always the direction you are moving in? When it first came out I know that was one of its biggest flaws, that it just kept North as up, so it was really just a Google-Maps that didn't need an internet connection.

Edit: the apps are here and here

 

[severe]

Does the app rotate the map so that up is always the direction you are moving in? When it first came out I know that was one of its biggest flaws, that it just kept North as up, so it was really just a Google-Maps that didn't need an internet connection.

Edit: the apps are here and here

Yes, as you've found, it was added in a recent update. There's now 3 map view mode settings: North-up, Heading-up, and 3D view.

I use 3D view.

G-Map for iPhone Demo: 3-Way Map Mode

 

[DreamPod]

Ah, so that's what "Heading Up" means. Man, looks nice, but what's with the super-slow frame-rate? You'd almost think it was streaming the data off the internet.