I'm looking for a good GPS application which allows me to store maps on my SD Card without needing to download over the air through my wireless carrier.
I have a some good reasons for this:
1st - I travel a lot over North America. I find myself without cellphone signal many places I go and thus can not download the required maps. What good is a GPS receiver and software without the maps?
2nd - I'm stuck with Rogers as my carrier. I only get ("Unlimited" ya right!) 25 MB/month data usage. I'm a heavy data user already. When I roam in the USA I get charged ridiculous data rates (even worse then Rogers).
Check out this comparison, Canada's data rates are far higher then "3rd world countries": (you'll have to fix the link)
hxxp://www.thomaspurves.com/2007/04/09/canada-worse-than-3rd-world-countries-when-it-comes-to-mobile-data-access/
3rd - I don't want another monthly subscribtion based service. I'd rather use my standalone MIO 310 GPS which cost me about $150 on sale and does a reasonable job as a GPS. I just don't think it should be necessary to carry 2 devices, 2 chargers everywhere I go.
I heard Co-pilot was supposed to be like this but now they've chaged their minds.
Trekbuddy and Mobile Gmaps (not google) allow you to store maps you download in advance on an SD card. Both require you to create maps using 3rd party apps. Then you copy them to your device. Obviously, they vary in how complex the maps you can create or how large (east to west, etc).
I was checking out Mobile Gmaps for awhile and I still cannot quite figure out how you use it. I have added and deleted it many times now trying to figure it out
u could also try to cache your google maps before you leave home.
eg. google map your destination, and then get it to load the map up of the area, and hopefully it will be cached for when you arrive.
I've tried Mobile GMaps about 6 times now and each time it works great for a few days and then stops working. Once it stops working if I turn off the BB and restart it, the app is gone entirely. It doesn't even show up in the application listing. I give up on it which sucks because I liked it better than BB Maps and Google Maps. It's supposed to be free but it sure acts like a trial version that removes itself after a few days.
