GPST bring you Maps for your Mobile

Most of us keep a mobile phone on hand all the time.  So if you have the phone in your pack or pocket, why not put it to use? With the capability to offer both on-road and off-road navigation on the same device, and the ability to download your favorite routes & trails direct to your mobile it can now deliver a complete personal navigation experience.

Many manufacturers are putting GPS technology into their handsets, and Nokia now sell more GPS-enabled devices than TomTom and Garmin added together. The GPS receiver in these phone handsets is as good as the latest dedicated outdoor GPS units with excellent stability and signal reception.  Early models suffered from a slow “first-time-to-fix”, but this has been addressed with features such as Assisted-GPS.

ViewRanger is software which puts interactive Ordnance Survey maps in your phone, tells you exactly where you are, navigates you along trails, and takes full advantage of the multimedia and other capabilities of your phone.

 

Companies such as Google, Nokia, and Wayfinder have led the way in showing how vehicle, urban pedestrian and local search on the mobile phone can quickly deliver unique advantages to the consumer.  Outdoor exploration and digital mapping on the mobile phone has the potential to go beyond what online, PC, and dedicated outdoor GPS services can provide.

The ViewRanger software uses the familiar OS maps, and can put 1:50,000 scale Landranger maps of the whole of Great Britain into your phone, plus more detailed 1:25,000 Explorer maps of any favourite walking locations across the country.

As well as displaying zoomable maps, ViewRanger can also interpret topographic information and map symbols to create a ‘virtual panoramic view’ which gives an image of the landscape with labelled features. For those of us who find identifying peaks, lakes and towns from distance daunting, it simplifies the task and helps to build confidence in map-skills.

A library of thousands of guided routes makes it easy to find nearby places to walk and these can be downloaded instantly to your phone over the mobile network. 

Since most phones now include a good digital camera and sound recorder, it is possible to take a photo (or record audio or video) and have that tagged to your location on the map perhaps marking the position of a particular wildflower or bird sighting. These ‘digital memories’ can be shared, via the web or immediately over-the-air to other handsets, with friends, family or club-members. Users can easily create multimedia TravelLogs that record their trips, and can publish these through our online exchange or even via Facebook.

Different groups of users have different requirements from their mapping and navigation software. For example, ViewRanger have been working with an organisation that guides charity bike rides around the UK. They use ViewRanger as their mapping and navigation tool, but have started to use another of its features BuddyBeacon to keep tabs on participating cyclists. BuddyBeacon uses the phone’s internet connection to track users’ positions on one another’s phones. This means that guides can see each other’s ‘live’ location and know whether the group is getting spread out. The organisation can also offer live tracking of the ride through its website, so that supporters can follow progress along the way. I’m told that riders get text messages from family members cheering them on or telling them to “pedal faster” as progress is monitored.

Similarly, search and rescue team members and field-survey professionals are benefiting from these connected services that a mobile phone platform makes possible.

For the novice walker, ViewRanger provides POI information with explanatory text and photographs, to help maximise enjoyment of an unfamiliar area. ViewRanger are working with major publishers to provide audio and video ‘multimedia’ leisure guides, which will include prepared routes to help steer walkers around Britain’s most-popular scenery.  And this isn’t just for young gadget-heads.  Navigation software such as ViewRanger offers a simple and convenient solution for outdoor enthusiasts of all ages.

No mobile mapping service as yet gives global coverage, but ViewRanger works worldwide with mapping available for Great Britain and more than ten European and Scandinavian countries, with more coming soon.

Mobile phones, in all their many shapes and sizes, are now ubiquitous, and it makes sense to use them to their maximum ability. ViewRanger is just one way in which we can all quickly and simply - get more from our devices, and easily bring the digital mapping revolution out of our computers and into the real world