Question about Phone navigation
 

Apparently battery life for an Android phone is quite short when riding with Google Maps navigation on an all day ride (rental bike). Is it advisable to just connect an external battery to your phone will riding? Or will that cause a problem. Thanks.

The connection to the phone is usually a miniUSB type - they are not robust, nor waterproof.

Another option is to use a spare battery. Replace the battery halfway through and you should be good to go. Recharge at night while you eat and sleep.

Then there is turning the phone off .. other than while you are using it.

Some navigation apps are very taxing on the battery of a device. It really depends on what the app is doing. On an iPhone, just using the GPS chip information really does not cause a major hit on the battery, but using something like Google Maps really does. Plugging up is certainly doable as long as you have a USB port on the bike.

If you use something like Motion-X GPS on the phone and download the maps you'll need before you leave, that is much less taxing on the battery. Another trick is to turn the screen brightness down as low as you reasonably can.

Minimise battery drain:
You might get reasonable location information from the cell phone towers, so you can turn the GPS chip off.
Alternatively if the phone is out of contact or near it (2 or less bars) then turning off the phone mode will help a lot (set 'aeroplane' mode on). If you then need to locate yourself you will have to turn on the GPS chip. Aeroplane mode more than doubles my phone battery life.

Local map on phone not over internet:
Use an app that uses a downloaded map - not one that relies on a connection to constantly download appropriate maps.

Location information only when you need it
Some apps will allow map display without location information - you can then pan with your fingers. That would reduce the battery consumption while still giving you a map. You do have to 'find yourself' on the map just like a paper map. If you are lost turn on the location (GPS and/or cell phone) information.

I don't think I asked my question clearly
 

If you wanted to power your cell phone thru out the day while using turn by turn navigation with Google Maps, could you attach a power bank battery to ensure enough battery for the entire ride.

Yep, powering the devices one way or the other is the way to go. Here is my setup. The first pic just shows the arrangement. I had the devices off because we knew where we were going. Second and third pics shows just one device running. I love how you can use these types of devices in different ways by just altering the apps. They have their limitations, but I just work around those.

Just use an off-line navigator
Mapsme, osmand, sygic and heaps more. Download the maps once and turn your data service off. Screen brightness is the major use of battery anyway so turning that down will help most

If you are in direct hot sunlight the phone will overheat and switch off.

Thanks for the help
 

Now I only have one question: Does Maps.Me provide turn-by-turn navigation?
Thanks.

Must do, else it wouldn't be navigating for you.

Certainly, Maps.me can give you voice guidance, as can many other navigation apps:-
https://support.maps.me/hc/en-us/art...tions-settings

ps
My mob phone doesn't turn itself off in heat - it doesn't become more than warm to the touch, but when I do use it for navigation it tends to be with all other functions disabled (by using flight mode).

'Heat' is a relative term for humans. :Beach: Temperatures over 30 C in the shade are common for some of us, so that might just be a little warmer than some have experience with. If you want your phone to work in the Sahara you may need to think some more about it turning itself off due to heat. :palm:

I'm talking about my experience in Spain and Morocco. It's not the convected heat from the air temperature, rather the radiant heat from the sun which can cause black items to reach temperatures of 55-65ºC.

Initially when you are navigating, the iPhone might show 'Temperature: iPhone needs to cool down,' shuts off the display but audible navigation still continues. If it gets hotter the iPhone comes up with an over-temperature warning then closes down to prevent internal damage.

My experience as well. I was in Mesa, Arizona at a pool. The temp was 85ºF (29.5ºC). I sat my iPhone down on the edge of the pool screen facing up at around noon, and the phone overheated within 10-15 minutes.

My iOS devices also overheat when used on the bike when the temps reach about 99ºF (37.2ºC), which we also experienced while riding sections of the Arizona BDR.

As nice as today's devices are, they all have their limitations. Just keep calm and always carry a paper map. :thumbup1:

Maps me app is beter than google
saso


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Custom map navigation
 

I have read various opinions about Map navigation and one question really hasn't been addressed. I've read that custom routes will be problematic with certain mapping apps. If you've created a custom route and saved it, which app is likely to do the turn by turn that you've created and NOT give you an alternative (more direct) route?

If you want turn-by-turn, I don't think you will find an app that can guarantee the exact route you have planned. All navigation apps that I know of (including dedicated GPS devices) will recalculate the route using their own routing algorithm and the maps in the app.
How much the end result will deviate from your original route is hard to predict. I try to use devices or apps which allow me to load both tracks and routes. I visualise the track, which will always be exactly the route I planned, but does not support turn-by-turn and than load the route. That way I can see where the two are different. It also allows me to easily deviate from my originally planned route and pick up on it further on based on the track.

If you are renting a bike for more than a few days, then buy a cheap charging cable off ebay/amazon (some come with multiple ports, you want at least 2.1amp to keep up with the drain of navigation apps). Take it along with some basic tools and cable ties, and fit it to the bike.

When we rented bikes from Pop bike in Chaing Mai, and M2R in Marrakesh, the owners of the rental companies were more than willing to help us fit our phone chargers and garmin montana cradle and charger.

If your that worried about where u r going buy a roll of surgical tape, write the road number/turning /town name on a strip then stick on your tank in route order and pull off as u go.... Save the phone for when u get lost :mchappy:

maps and satnavs and phones
 

I am something of a luddite, I have a car type satnav that fits into my tank bag, but I cannot see the display in bright sunlight, and i hate taking my eyes off the road, gave up with smartphones a while ago
I keep a couple of old fashioned Nokias for text and calls
on our last trip my nephew used some sort of maps in his phone but with roaming turned off, however he used cycle routes as it did not provide motorcycle and he wanted to avoid motorways
it led to some rather long hours in the saddle, as every time we started to get moving the damm thing would direct us up another narrow track or back road

I prefer to use a map, I put a card in my tankbag with the road names, the directions, and the various towns I need to pass through
oddly for many years now I have always got around with no problems, yes sometimes I am a bit out of touch but then I find the next town and pick up my direction again
nobody pinches maps from parked motorcycles, and you can write notes on them as well I have acquired a small notebook thingy for my travels, but only to organise accommodation etc using free wi fi, and to keep details of campsite hotels etc, although to be fair a small hardback A5 book has done me for years
I also keep a compass handy, perhaps I am a from another era !