Tuesday 17 February 2015

ViewRanger

ViewRanger is a free App which runs on iPhones, iPads and Android devices. ViewRanger can be used for navigation, showing your position on a moving map, and for recording walks. Open maps are free, but you have to buy OS maps. Landranger for Yorkshire and Humber and the National Parks of England and Wales cost under £10. Here is the manual for the iPhone:


On an iPhone 4S, recording one of our walks takes about half the battery charge in Full Accuracy mode. I have had problems with Power Saving mode. It is important to turn the display off when you are not using it, using the sleep/wake button. Disabling WiFi and 3G also saves power.

It is important to change the name of the track to something meaningful before starting to record another track. Unwanted tracks can be deleted by selecting Advanced in the track Details. If you forget to stop the recording at the end of the walk, it is possible to create a route from the track and delete the relevant section. (Display the route on the map. Select the last way point. Tap Edit, tap Delete, tap OK, repeat...)

Tracks and routes can be uploaded to the ViewRanger website at the click of a button. GPX files can also be imported and exported:


(N.B. It is necessary to scroll down in iTunes to see the file sharing interface.)

On the ViewRanger website, you can view all of an author's routes and tracks by clicking on the author's name. It is possible for anyone to download routes from the ViewRanger site. This facility is not available for tracks. On the other hand, timing information is shown for tracks, and statistics are shown on the View Ranger website. (N.B. You can get statistics for a route by downloading it to your phone. The statistics given when an on-line map is selected are grossly inaccurate, however.)

Also see Getting Started with ViewRanger.

2 comments:

  1. Hello!

    Saw your post online and thought i'd just add a bit more info.
    The ViewRanger community website is http://my.viewranger.com/
    You can search for, and browse, routes on there without signing in, but to download a route you'll need to sign it by entering the same log-in details (email address and password) as on the app (this is because the routes you download, or tracks you record are saved to your account, so you can view them both on your phone or online at my.viewranger.com).

    Some clubs publish their upcoming walks on a my.viewranger profile, so that each member can download the route in advance of the walk and have it on their phone.

    Hope this helps,
    Emily, ViewRanger

    ReplyDelete