Whether you drive for one of the popular ridesharing apps, or you just love tooling around town, here are some of the top navigation apps that will help you get from “A” to “B” without getting lost.
BackCountry Navigator GPS Pro
The BackCountry Navigator is great if you’re a camper or a hiker and you want to not get lost when you’re out there in the woods. It’s pretty expensive but you get a number of offline topographical maps that are perfect for places where there’s no cell service. There’s a few fun things to do on it too, like marking up the map from multiple countries. There’s a trial version too so you can try it before you buy it.
GPS Essentials has a rather antiquated interface, but it’s still an amazing app for Android. The app’s selling feature is its dashboard that lets you monitor all kinds of stats like your average speed, altitude, and the distance you traveled. You can check the phases of the moon (in case you’re a werewolf or are entering werewolf country), the ETA, and a few other stats. Another unique feature is the HUD that shows you waypoints. It comes with some standard navigation features so you don’t have to change apps to get your directions.
It’s more of an outdoors app than a driving app though, but still good if you’re hiking or need directions while in a park.
HERE Maps
HERE Maps was made by Nokia, and came on the scene in 2014. It made another splash in 2015 when it was sold to auto manufacturers like Audi, BMW, and Mercedes. It has a simple and elegant interface with many different mapping options
HERE shows you traffic information, public transit maps, and you can customize everything by saving places and directions for later. The traffic information is probably one of the more useful bits of information you can have with an app like this.
According to The Law Firm of Pajcic & Pajcic, a personal injury law firm, car accidents account for a significant portion of personal injury claims. Staying away from crowded areas on the road, or away from dangerous drivers and highly-congested areas, may end up making you safer and keep you out of an accident.
MapFactor
This is one of the classic turn-by-turn navigation apps for people looking for an alternative to Google Maps or Apple’s version. It downloads and installs map files to your SD card. You can use it offline if you need to. It also uses off street map data so it can support a lot of countries around the world. It’s not nearly as polished as the “big boys” but it contains enough features to make it useable. The map data is totally free too. And, if you want the voice navigation, you can purchase TomTom GPS navigation maps.
Google Maps
What would a list on map apps be without a mention of one of the first — Google Maps. It’s probably the most widely used map app in the world. Google has information that no other company in the world does. And, they make a map that’s better than pretty much everyone else. There are consistent feature and app updates, and worldwide support. You can download maps for offline use too.
Anna Trowbridge could get lost going to the next room, that’s how bad her sense of direction is! Since the invention of navigational apps her life has become a lot easier, she reviews the best on the market.
