Cell phone service and navigation apps

[Camo]

Moderator note: This post and several following ones have been moved from another thread on a slightly different topic.

When I use the Gronze Maps app I only use it for navigation

But as you say it does not work without a data connection, so why not use google maps to start with and download the map data before you leave "home".

 

[trecile]

But as you say it does not work without a data connection, so why not use google maps to start with and download the map data before you leave "home".

Because Google Maps does not show the Camino routes. I have a data connection while I'm on the Camino, so that's not a problem.

 

[Camo]

I have a data connection while I'm on the Camino

That's great news and totally different to my 2015 experience in UK and 2022 in Greece where it was sporadic at best and not just in The Sporades (joke in there) - so you are saying good old Spain is not backward at all and has mobile reception over the full length of all Caminos?

 

[trecile]

That's great news and totally different to my 2015 experience in UK and 2022 in Greece where it was sporadic at best and not just in The Sporades (joke in there) - so you are saying good old Spain is not backward at all and has mobile reception over the full length of all Caminos?

I get better cell reception in Spain (and France and Portugal) than I do in my hometown in Oregon!

 

[C clearly]

so you are saying good old Spain is not backward at all and has mobile reception over the full length of all Caminos?

This is an odd jokey sort of way to ask if Spain has good mobile reception. Generally, yes, but no, there is not reception over the full length of all Caminos. I have encountered gaps on some of the less populated routes - various canyons have poor reception, and one area of the Lana has coverage from one provider but not others.

I get better cell reception in Spain (and France and Portugal) than I do in my hometown in Oregon!

I do too, in the suburbs of Vancouver, BC. There are some geographic features combined with a large body of unpopulated water, that mean the cell coverage is imperfect.

 

[Camo]

one area of the Lana has coverage from one provider but not others.

How many providers are there in Spain? - or at least in the North part. In Greece there were 3 (Vodaphone was main one) and as long as you bought your sim outside of Greece your phone would automatically switch to the best one for the area

 

[dougfitz]

But as you say it does not work without a data connection, so why not use google maps to start with and download the map data before you leave "home".

That is always an option for those car touring, but not generally, at least not yet, for those walking the camino, or any other pilgrimage route I have walked recently. I find it works best for the final kilometre or two when I am looking for accommodation or a restaurant, but not for walking route finding generally.

 

[Camo]

That is always an option for those car touring, but not generally, at least not yet, for those walking the camino

Yes it is always an option for car touring (or bike) as long as you simply want to go shortest path A to B but for example the Romanesque Track around Porto zig zags to take in all the Romanesque buildings etc so needs to be SET UP to include them before "send to phone".

Same with Caminos where there is a defined "yellow arrow track(s)" which must first be set up BUT the big advantage as you say is that instead of B etc being a town name it will be your reserved hostel name so no jumping around from app to app as it is all in Google Maps.

And you are also correct that Google may not have found and ACTIVATED some sections of the route, particularly side tracks in wooded areas that the AI can't see in the satellite imagery.

To that end I have been working with Google Content Partners for over a year to REPAIR all those bits and the great majority are now fixed, BUT seems Google has (understandably?) pulled the plug (sunset as they say) on that 2 weeks ago.

Google works in strange ways and this is hard to understand for Caminos where there is a cool billion euros spent on food/accom pa

So the answer is to simply set up your trip for the day (best on a laptop) and check against mappy etc it is correct and send to phone

 

[dougfitz]

This is an odd jokey sort of way to ask if Spain has good mobile reception.

That is an incredibly generous interpretation of a comment that many would take as a slur. Why anyone would make a comment suggesting that Spain or any other country is backward in a conversation about mobile coverage is just a little beyond me.

 

[dougfitz]

So the answer is to simply set up your trip for the day (best on a laptop) and check against mappy etc it is correct and send to phone

Really! When did you last carry a laptop on a walking pilgrimage?

 

[trecile]

That is always an option for those car touring, but not generally, at least not yet, for those walking the camino, or any other pilgrimage route I have walked recently. I find it works best for the final kilometre or two when I am looking for accommodation or a restaurant, but not for walking route finding generally.

Mapy.cz is much better than Google Maps for following hiking and cycling trails, and regions can be downloaded to use offline.

 

[dougfitz]

Mapy.cz is much better than Google Maps for following hiking and cycling trails, and regions can be downloaded to use offline.

I use the Open Street Maps OSMAnd+ app for preference, but almost any decent mapping application using open source mapping would be preferable to having to rely on Google Maps. Even if one can download regions to have them available off-line, Google seems reluctant to include walking and cycling trail data to provide routing solutions that match the Camino paths. One only has to look at the efforts that @Camo made earlier in the year to realize how dangerous it could be to rely on Google Maps in places along the CF. I don't have the time to repeat the efforts he took at the time, and still get inaccurate and misleading results that don't follow the Camino route.