Iphone Memory Map feedback

Submitted: Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 13:27

ThreadID: 87939 Views:1881 Replies:2 FollowUps:8

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mikehzz

I bought Memory Map for iphone probably 2 years ago and the first incarnations of the application were a bit dodgy so I thought it was ordinary. Transferring the maps to the iphone was clunky and the screen would go black even when charging, all annoying so I wished Ozi was available for iphone. I have also found the iphone to be questionable as a gps because it seems the receiver is not that sensitive.
Anyway, there have been many updates in that time, including how the maps are transferred to the phone and I must say I am now very happy. It just tracked me from Sydney to Arkaroola in SA, then all through the Flinders and back to Sydney without faltering once. Much of it was out of Telstra service area and it made no difference at all. The sky was however very clear the whole time and who knows how thick cloud cover may have adversely affected it. The maps are very clear and the iphone screen is quite brilliant compared to other GPS options. The Memory Map PC application for planning the trip is also very good. I am now officially converted from Ozi explorer and am very happy to rely on Memory Map.
Cheers, Mike

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Reply By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 14:05

Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 14:05

I thought you need to have internet to be able to upload in real-time or does it connect and upload the sections that didn't have coverage when you get coverage again?

AnswerID: 461600

Follow Up By: chisel - Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 14:19

Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 14:19

With memory map you can pre-load the maps onto the iphone, so you don't need coverage. There is a facility with memory map to download new map sections as required but you don't need to use if you don't want to.

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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 14:20

Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 14:20

No the GPS signal is quite separate to the maps and it is what confuses most people. If you transfer the maps to the iphone from your PC then you never need an internet connection. The iphone receives the signals from the GPS satellites plus phone towers if available and from these it knows where it is. To actually display where it is it needs a map. If it has no map stored on it then it attempts to download a map from the internet so that it can display its position. If it has a map already stored on it then it uses that map. I have uploaded the 250K maps for the whole of Australia plus Outback Tracks onto the phone so no internet needed.
I have also noted that the Memory Map 250K maps have more detail on them than the Natmap Raster 250K maps. Mike

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Follow Up By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 14:31

Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 14:31

Sorry I was refering to the tracking not the maps

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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 14:45

Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 14:45

It never uses internet to get a GPS position. The GPS satellites send out signals that are received by all the GPS receivers all over the place. Your average GPS receiver needs to receive signals from a number of them (4-6 at least?) to be able to triangulate its position. The AGPS units also receive signals from phone towers that help them do the same thing. So an AGPS can triangulate from maybe 3 phone towers and 2 real satellites and have enough info to get a fix without having to wait and find 3 more real satellites. They need the help because they don't have the dedicated GPS antenna tuned for the job that a proper GPS has. As such, if there are no phone towers then the iphone can lose its fix because it can't detect some of the weaker signals from real satellites. It therefore doesn't have enough info to get a fix until the satellite signal gets stronger. The signal can be weakened by heavy cloud, tall buildings or large land formations.
A GPS never uploads anything to a satellite, its a receiver only. Mike

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Follow Up By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 15:02

Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 15:02

I just re read your original post and I thought with "tracking" you referred to something like spot or the live tracking in EO but I guess you are talking about "tracking" as in showing your position on the map on your phone?

That I all understand...sorry about the confusion

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Reply By: richard - Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 15:26

Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 15:26

I have used an IPAD in Europe for GPS tracking and after a few initial glitches it worked well.

I have also used in OZ with some free GPS apps and am happy.

I have invested a fair amount in maps for Ozi so would prefer to wait till it becomes available. However I do have a VMS 500S GPS which comes with memory maps as well but tend to use OZI.

Would I be able to transfer those to Memory Map to the IPAD. If so it could be a goer as well. I will have to check it out.

Richard

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AnswerID: 461604

Follow Up By: mikehzz - Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 16:53

Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 16:53

Knowing Memory Map, the only problem would be licensing. They are hand over your money types in my opinion :-)
The 250k maps are usually licence free.

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Follow Up By: Member - Boobook - Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 17:21

Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 17:21

With a little screwing around, you can convert your Oziexplorer maps to Memory map format and import them.

I have done it for over a thousand maps inc lots of 1:25K hema, Rooftop, Westprint, even google satelite images, old 19th century maps, and Telstra phone coverage. I detailed how to do this on the 4wd action forum in GPS mapping etc.

Tony

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