Re: Magic Earth app

Dave Royal <dave@dave123royal.com> wrote:

VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> Wrote in message:
 

UFO <tech@parts-link.net> wrote:
 

Was given a Moto G5 plus phone, with just the emergency service and was told
I can install this GPS tool to it and use it for driving directions.
 
How would I get the app onto the phone since its not got service?
 
I have a Windows Desktop and I can plug the USB into it, and exchange files,
but I dont think the app can be downloaded on a Win Machine
because its a differenet OS?

 
Oops, see "Magic Earth" is the name of the app you mentioned in your
Subject.  The Play store has it at:
 
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.generalmagic.magicearth&hl=en
 
Use wifi at home for Internet access to connect your phone to the Play
Store to install the app.  If you don't have wifi at home, there are
plenty of other wifi hotspots available; e.g., library, cafe, coffee
house, schools, etc.
 
"Magic Earth uses OpenStreetMap data"
 
Well, you could just use the OsmAnd app.  A lot of map apps use the OSM
maps database.  That is a crowdsourced map database, so expect some
errors, plus areas with few travelers won't be submitting in that area.
 
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.osmand&hl=en

 
Magic Earth: "Get real-time traffic info, updated every minute"
 How - even if you have mobile data? I know some countries (NL?)
 have open data sources for traffic data.
 
Are speed limits remotely up to date on OSM? In England they
 change frequently.
 
I have OsmAnd (on an iPhone) for walking. For driving I use Google
 Maps.

Never used the Magic Earth app.  While I have the Here [WeGo] and OSMand
apps on my phone, I've only needed to use Google Maps.  OSMand is
crowdsourced for data, and I found it often out of date.  Some folks
were submitting plat data from their municipalities, but those include
proposed roads, and those may not yet exist.  In sparsely populated
areas, there are far fewer OSM submissions, so their map data is even
more unreliable there.  Google has trucks traveling around taking pics
to provide their street view.  OSM, and its variants, has no street
view.  I saw no satellite view at OSM.

While map data can be downloaded for offline driving routes, there will
be no interactive features, because you're not connected anywhere.  What
is in the map data depends on how often it gets updates, and how often
you download the updates.  How are you going to see what is happening
now when you are not now connected?

Google Maps only lets you select a region for downloading offline map
data.  Here [WeGo] lets you pick by country, state, city, or other
granularity.  The more regions you choose to download, the more storage
gets consumed, and some regions are better mapped than others so they
have more data.  You better have a decent SD card on which to store all
the offline maps you want, and it take a long time if you download them
all.  I didn't download all their maps, just all USA which consumed
9.7GB of storage.  There is an option to download only only via wifi, so
you don't consume your cellular data quota.  Here WeGo provides
turn-by-turn navigation even when offline.  Google Maps does not nor
does OSM.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_WeGo

I have hardly used OSMand or Here WeGo, so I cannot attest to whether or
not they provide interactive data, like traffic volume, reroutes, etc,
but I can't see how any offline map data could ever include that
present-time data, and definitely not without a current Internet
connection.