When I ride, I seek out the quietest, safest roads I can. This is easy around San Francisco as I know the area well and there are well-marked bike routes (map here).

Unfortunately, when trying to find small roads in places I've never been, it is easy to miss a turn and end up on busy highways or going in the wrong direction (or in a circle). Often, I find myself at an unsigned intersection without a clue as to which way to turn. While carrying a map helps, it is only useful if I know where I am to begin with and, unfortunately, I have a poor sense of direction.

This isn't a particular problem in the US, as long as I have some internet access via my iPhone. Then, I can use a mapping app and the phone's GPS to find out my location and which way to go. The maps will only download if I have internet access, which isn't a given, even when I am in the US. Outside the US, I need to get connected to the local system in order to access maps over my phone. Note that the GPS will work as long as the phone is not in Airplane Mode (and, thus, connected to the local cellphone system and free, as long as no calls come in).

Riding without a net

I recently completed two 9-day bike tours. One was across New York (8/2014); the other across Wales (9/2014). As part of my planning process, I mapped both tour routes on myCycleTour.com. I also procured paper maps for both routes.

Knowing that my phone's navigation ability was completely compromised in areas with no or slow internet service, I wondered if there was a way to convert my mapped routes to .gpx (GPS format) files and then access them off-line. Maybe there was a way to do it with Google Maps. I asked Mark, the designer of myCycleTour.com, if this was possible and he suggested I get Pocket Earth, an iOS app that would allow me to download maps and .gpx tracks and view them off-line.

Pocket Earth cost a couple dollars to download and only runs on iOS devices. I'm sure there are similar apps on Android devices, but I don't have any such devices so can't say for sure.

The key to Pocket Earth is to download all the information it needs while connected to the internet. This includes free maps of virtually any area in the world (I've only downloaded US and European maps) and all .gpx tracks. In my case, I had to email them to the iPhone to get them into Pocket Earth.

Once the maps and .gpx tracks are stored in the app, I could bring up the map and see the route overlaid on it. This was true whether I was connected to the internet (via phone data or wifi) or not. Further, if I had Airplane Mode turned off, the phone's GPS would identify where I was on the map. Note that turning off Airplane Mode attempts to connect the phone to the local cellphone service. While this isn't a problem for me in the US, outside the US, it makes my phone visible to the local cellphone system. This can lead to charges if you get phone calls or if the settings on your phone allow it to download data over the airwaves.

On the ride through New York (journal here), I was often in areas with no or very slow data connections. Instead of trying to use on-line maps, I tried Pocket Earth. It worked wonderfully. I could see both where I was and the route I had planned. Even though I had no data feed, I could zoom in as close as the map allowed to get street names, if necessary. I could also add layers to the map, such as bike routes, motels, restaurants, etc. Again, all off-line. The only shortcoming of this system is that it can't be set to actually follow a route and notify me of an upcoming turn. Thus, I still got a bit lost as riding a bike and trying to navigate using an iPhone is awkward, at best.

Unlocking Possibilities

After the New York ride, I flew to the UK for a ride across Wales (journal here). I had an unlocked iPhone with me and before I left on my ride, I bought a local SIM card. While I had bought enough data to use a mapping tool if I needed it, I found that cellphone coverage in the part of Wales I rode through to be close to non-existent.

Just in case, I had loaded both a map of Wales and the .gpx track of my route into Pocket Earth. The app not only allowed me to locate myself on the Wales map, I could also find out where I was supposed to turn next. In addition, a couple times I decided to deviate from my planned route and the Pocket Earth map allowed me to do this standing by the side of the road. All without any data connection to the internet. I was sold!

One if by road, two if by foot

After finishing up my ride and attending some family parties, my wife and I flew to Munich, rented a car, and drove to Italy to do some walking in the Dolomites. While at the airport waiting for the rental car, I downloaded maps of Germany, Austria, and Italy into Pocket Earth. Note that while this took several Gigabytes, I could have saved a lot of space by selecting just the regional maps I needed.

Even though I didn't have a SIM card for any of the countries we drove though, I was able to navigate us using the downloaded maps and the phone's GPS (Airplane Mode off). In fact, I was able to follow our progress in real time as we drove. In truth, we would have not gotten to our destination so quickly without these maps.

Our main goal in the Dolomites was to hike around. There are many (hundreds) of numbered paths and I was able to bring them up on one of the layers stored on the Italy map. While the hikes are well marked, on those occasions where it wasn't clear which way to walk, I was often able to fire up Pocket Earth and see both where we were and where to go.

Let's keep this out of the papers

On all of these excursions, those by bike, car, and foot, I had paper maps to refer to. Over time, I stopped referring to them and began using Pocket Earth to find my way. This experience has changed how I will navigate in the future.

I will still carry paper maps. But, I won't be so concerned about their level of detail. Instead, I will use my iPhone and Pocket Earth when I need navigational help. Clearly, this is only useful if my phone has battery power. In my experience, recharging an iPhone is much easier than locating paper maps that are detailed enough to allow me to find my way on my bicycle.

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