Footpaths on Geocaching for Android ?

[+Rhubarb Man]

Hi all,

How do I get footpaths shown on the map that the Official Android app. uses ? All I have is Street or Satellite (both Google maps I think), neither of which show the footpaths. Bearing in mind that alot of caches are reached (in the UK anyway) over public footpaths, it's an absolute requirement.

Any ideas ?

Jem.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Hi all,

How do I get footpaths shown on the map that the Official Android app. uses ? All I have is Street or Satellite (both Google maps I think), neither of which show the footpaths. Bearing in mind that alot of caches are reached (in the UK anyway) over public footpaths, it's an absolute requirement.

Any ideas ?

Jem.

 

I wouldn't say it's an absolute requirement. A lot of geocaches were found before the Android app and even before mapping GPS devices became common place. The maps used in the apps are only going to be as good as the data captured and *mostly* Google is not capturing data for footpaths. Probably the best map source which *does* have footpaths comes from Open Street Maps and that's because we all can take GPS down a trail, upload a track log, and it'll be included in OSM for others to use. So, your feature request *really* should be including OSM maps for the mobile apps.

 

That said, Google *has* been capturing map data (photo imagery) for foot paths although it's still very limited. However, the campus at which I work has has a lot of the footpaths and trails mapped. In one of the photos I can see one of my colleagues sitting at his desk.

[+niraD]

FWIW, Neongeo already supports OSM.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

FWIW, Neongeo already supports OSM.

 

I have never used Neongeo so I have no idea how well it works but what do they mean by "supports" OSM.

 

I think fully supporting OSM in the official geocaching apps would be a really good idea. What would be especially useful would be if one could update their maps without requiring an update to the app itself.

 

Supposed someone wanted to create a new cache in a park that has a confusing trail system. They could take a track log while placing the cache, upload it to OSM, then mobile app users could update their maps and follow the trail to GZ. When the "New Maps are Horrid!" thread was going on, there were several people that described how they are improving the OSM maps by providing new map data (and correcting bad data). It seems to me that better support of OSM maps, and promoting the idea that geocacher can help improve them would be an opportunity to promote geocaching as a game where it's players are "giving back" by improving map data that anyone can use.

[+Rhubarb Man]

Thanks for the answers. What I'm after then is OSM map support in the official app. After posting the original question, I borrowed a chums Garmin Vista Cx. Within a few mins I had installed a UK OSM map onto the sd card and was browsing around the local footpaths.

Ok, it's not an absolute requirement, but it would be a very, very useful feature.

I have geocached with a PDA manually putting coords in, with the battery lasting about an hour. Next was a Nokia 5530 with the Geocaching Live software. This was a big step up in the enjoyment factor!!

Now, I've an Android phone and the official app. It's great for a rough plan or just stopping somewhere and having a rummage. OSM support is (if that's how you get footpaths shown), at the moment, for the way I use it, the next big improvement to have.

Cheers,

Jem.

[+niraD]

I have never used Neongeo so I have no idea how well it works but what do they mean by "supports" OSM.

OSM is one of the tile servers that Neongeo supports. My personal configuration uses OSM through zoom level 18 (as zoomed in as OSM gets), and then switches to Google Maps satellite view. And yes, you can see trails and similar details if you zoom in on OSM in Neongeo, at least in the SF Bay area parks.