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New to geocaching--which app should I use?


RamblingAnge

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I have searched the internet for an app which would allow me to input OS grid references of caches before I set out, so that I can follow the route on the app. I have an iPhone 4s.

The only apps I have found seem to offer the facility to create a route as I walk; they will mark the point where I am, but not allow me to create a route in advance. 

Does anyone know of such an app, please?

I have an elderly Garmin etrex which I understand cannot be connected to a computer. However, I think if I persevere with it, it will offer the facility to plant route in advance. Am I correct?

Thank you for any help you can offer.

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Locus Map has a fancy route planner; it's the most recent new feature.  I have no experience with it personally, but the app in general is great for caching.

And I just checked; it accepts OSGB 1936, OS Irish Grid, UTM, and lots of other formats in addition to the usual WGS.  But for caching, coords are always recorded on our favorite website as WGS84, degrees and decimal minutes, so other formats/datums would rarely be necessary.  Squeezing in coordinates using the wrong format or datum - square peg in round hole - can lead to some real misadventures, heh heh.

Edited by Viajero Perdido
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Just fyi, if this is one being referenced, it's not available on iOS, which is the device the OP has.

There are some other "Locus" named apps with maps on them, but don't get confused. Locus Lite is a social networking (friend locations), but Vecotirla Map List (from Harald Meyer) might be useful. It purports to have "basic track editing and route planning" though I don't know how that work out.

Searching for Locus Maps in the app store and finding other apps usually means the apps have references to Locus Maps, which may be comparison (and which could be good or bad).

Is it route planning specifically you're looking for?  Just point to point by provided gps coordinates, or navigated by available road/trail/etc as well?

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Well if you don't find one that does trail routing for you, OpenMaps (and some others) should have trails marked on the map tiles, and if you can enter waypoints to go to you can still navigate. It really depends on how much automated routing you want to do and how many waypoints.

Google maps does let you route with walking and you can include multiple waypoints. So if Google has the trails you want in their map, then you could just use that to route your way; but there's a max number of waypoints. For short hikes, I'd think that should be sufficient.

But if you're trying to route where there are no defined trails for an or website, then no app will be able to auto-route you between waypoints. You'd need to make up your own map - in those (rare) cases I tend to print off a map (satellite or standard) and draw my route, as well as any waypoints I may want, then compare my gps position to that map as I go.

But if you're ever concerned about the way back, keep a track log, and there's your return route :)

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