Thread: Hema or Exploreoz app?

Originally Posted by V8Ian

That tends to work in areas with which one is familiar, ergo no necessity for map usage, not so much when the navigator has no knowledge of the terrain or options.

For me it's more about difference. I usually have an overview of where I am and my destination, from prior experience or map perusal. Thus I rarely need the app to talk me all the way there. So I often will take alternate routes to the one suggested, and let the app take over for the fine details, such as chez Ian, or the first time I went to the house you dropped me at from the airport.

But, I tend to have a kind of map in my head. Not everyone does. And mine doesn't always work, as a recent excursion into the wilds of Gunnedah demonstrated. Added hours to my journey. Still, got to see stuff, which is always welcome after years of watching things go past at 100 KMH which is the life of a truck driver. I wasn't following the app..... But it told me where I was, which is the first thing to know in map reading. And Sygic was better than Apple or Google, as there was no mobile service. ExxplorOz was as well, but I didn't need the extraordinary detail it offers that time. It's good to have more than one string to your bow.

Keen to hear of your experiences with EO, especially when travelling and going in and out of cell service areas... A mate that I travel with have it and he continually complains about it, but he is not a member of the EO website so I don't know if that has any effect or not... Is has experienced various issues of blank screen to no maps,etc but this may have been all sorted by now with App updates...

I think it also comes down on "how" u use these Apps, etc. For me, I create tracklogs (that track on the roads, not point to point straight lines) of where I plan to go, then add POI waypoints of what I want to see and then I package this all up into a GPX file that I then upload to my iPad/iPhone Navigational Apps and also into my Garmin GPS. I found this works well. The mate I travelled with tried to upload my GPX file into his EO App and it looked a nightmare with lines going in all directions. Apparently it has something to do with the way EO App looks at the data within the GPX file (it looks into the time stamping of the breadcrumbs/points within the GPX File and if they are not in order, then this causes issues)

Originally Posted by scarry

Ended up going with ExploreOz,with the EO Topo maps,on an iPad.

Didn’t want to go with different apps,easier with one.Also one off payment of around $110,no subscription.App can also be shared to different devices,family and friends.Can be used offline as well.
It seems to work well,and is exactly what we needed.The maps are very high resolution,way better than we had with Hema.

To get the better Hema maps,one has to also get their map package,which is a payment of around $50 a year.Then you have to flick from one map to another which is a pain.I looked at the trial,and even small places like Fraser Island is split up into different maps.
With EO Topo,it works seamlessly with the traveller app,and is easy to zoom in and out and get the high resolution map,which appears to be better resolution at maximum zoom than the best Hema maps.

With Hema the points of interest such as camping spots,which is all we had on,often covered place names.This doesn’t happen with Exploreoz,although with Exploreoz one has to zoom in more to see the individual points of interest.

Anyway,see how it goes,thanks for the advice.

Originally Posted by Robmacca

Keen to hear of your experiences with EO, especially when travelling and going in and out of cell service areas... A mate that I travel with have it and he continually complains about it, but he is not a member of the EO website so I don't know if that has any effect or not... Is has experienced various issues of blank screen to no maps,etc but this may have been all sorted by now with App updates...

To get the best maps i don't think you have to be a member of the OE website,just have the option of the EO Topo maps,which as i have said ,are very good.They dont seem to drop out,but it is early days.Hema seem to drop out regularly,particularly if zoomed in.With EO,and Topo,i can zoom in way further than i could on Hema,and with much better clarity.That was with the latest Hema using their trials.It was actually not much better than our 10 year old out of date Hema app.

But anyway,i will report back once we have used it more,particularly as you said,see how it goes off line.

Originally Posted by scarry

To get the best maps i don't think you have to be a member of the OE website,just have the option of the EO Topo maps,which as i have said ,are very good.They dont seem to drop out,but it is early days.Hema seem to drop out regularly,particularly if zoomed in.With EO,and Topo,i can zoom in way further than i could on Hema,and with much better clarity.That was with the latest Hema using their trials.It was actually not much better than our 10 year old out of date Hema app.

But anyway,i will report back once we have used it more,particularly as you said,see how it goes off line.

Apart from the sticker you get, membership is worth it IMO. Access to the forum can give you lots of routes that others have done, which you can alter. I am a member, so I don't recall if access to the web based route planner is available to everyone, but I think it is from memory.

Offline is the whole point of OzExplor. As long as you have the maps, a GPS equipped device that can see the sky, it works brilliantly. As it should, of course. And, when you have internet access, you can plan your route for the next day from your camp on your device, and then send it to the app on the same device for offline use. Dunno if this works on Android, but on real tablets it does😎. Have a play, Paul. I have to say that it's perhaps not as polished as some of the big boys, but I think you'll be surprised at its capabilities.

Oh, I don't think it updates in the background, so prolly good to check before you go, but as I said, my toppo licence is from 2021 ( I haven't been away much ) and it's still quite adequate.

Oh. Licence is cross device, so when I get an iPad the maps from my iPhone will work seamlessly. It does not, however, work across OS. So, If you had an android fone and an iOS tablet you would need to pay twice. I've heard they may be working on this, but.....

I had been using the paid Hema subscription until it last trip to Blinman. I had downloaded the maps to my older iPad and found Hema useless as it wouldn’t load the correct maps.

What I mean is: I’d have a set map and zoom ratio, then I’d drive and Hema would follow me and move the map accordingly so my location was always at the centre of the screen. Unfortunately once I drive off the edge of the map it wouldn’t refresh to the new map. Turning off and back on again wouldn’t help.

I’ve ended my subscription. I haven’t ruled out buying a HX2 but at the current moment Hema isn’t working for me

Originally Posted by John_D4

I had downloaded the maps to my older iPad

Current version of OzExplor Traveller app requires iPadOS 14.0 or later. That came out in 2020. So your iPad needs to support that.

Supported Devices: iPad Air 2, iPad Air (3rd generation), iPad Air (4th generation), iPad mini 4, iPad mini (5th generation), iPad (5th generation), iPad (6th generation), iPad (7th generation), iPad (8th generation), iPad Pro 9.7-inch, iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation), iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation), iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation), iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation)

Source: Apple.com

I know Ozi explorer does not work on apple devices. But to me its the best by far, and once you learn how to use it then its a breeze. I dont want to advertise another forum, but Swaggie (not sure if same person on this forum) developed a add on that makes it more user friendly in landscape layout. Don't know if it has been updated since (I got it in 2018) as I am no longer a member of that forum. They seem to hate LR owners and cannot stand it when a mirror is held up to their behaviour. As for maps I use Getlost maps (google it) They are constantly being updated with more features and work just great. Cover all states and are free...although they do ask for a donation if you can afford it.