Testing Gaia GPS and its off line maps

By Keith and Heather Nicol

 We often go into places were there is no cell signal so off line maps are very useful if we are using our phones for navigation. And of course using off line maps means that you don't incur data charges on your phone as long as you download the maps where you have wifi. I still have a traditional Garmin GPS but it is heavy and basically can do only one thing...record waypoints and tracks and hopefully keep us found. But now with a smart phone you can navigate, take pictures or videos, phone in an emergency if there is cell service and that fact that my phone is half the size of my old GPS is another bonus. I have recently come across the app Gaia GPS and have been doing some testing of it in various situations and so on a rainy Comox Valley Fall day (Friday October 15) we decided to test it using its offline maps.                                                      

                                                       

 

 Downloading a map is easy in Gaia GPS and for this test we decided to focus on the Comox Valley were we do most of our biking and hiking. You have the choice of a few different maps to download but we downloaded the Gaia Topo map and it was 5.3 mb in size. We tested it along the Tsolum River where Heather had a tree just about fall on her when she was walking with a friend and Heather wanted to pinpoint where the tree was. So we located it (see photo below) and dropped a waypoint at that location so we could revisit it or share its location with anyone else that might be interested. Being able to record a waypoint is a nice bonus of Gaia GPS (something you can’t often do with other outdoor trail apps). We also experimented with leaving a track which is a bonus if you are travelling in a new location and want to record the route you are following so you won’t get lost. It was easy to label the waypoint and track and all of this was done using no cell data!! We will be testing other aspects of this app so stay tuned. For more info on Gaia GPS – see https://www.gaiagps.com/.  By the way the fall colours are very nice along the Tsolum River so check them out when you are out for your next walk.