Ask About Gaia GPS!

[Downs]

I'm curious as well. Just recently, I struggled for almost a full day to download a few offline maps.

 

[a12houk]

I'm curious as well. Just recently, I struggled for almost a full day to download a few offline maps.

I have that issue with my android tablet, but zero problems with my Apple phone.

Turns out, the map did download the second trip, but not the first. There was zero indication so I was just hoping for the best.

Very displeased with android in general, and definitely Gaia on android

 

[a12houk]

I’m toying with the idea of trying the OB1 map app when I renew this fall.

Can anybody provide some comparisons to Gaia, anybody fully vouch for it?
Hard to leave something you’re used to, even if it is glitching a little bit.

 

[Downs]

I have that issue with my android tablet, but zero problems with my Apple phone.

Turns out, the map did download the second trip, but not the first. There was zero indication so I was just hoping for the best.

Very displeased with android in general, and definitely Gaia on android

My negative experience was with my Android tablet as well. I finally just let it sit and noticed the tile count was creeping up, and it eventually loaded them. I loaded up a big chunk of Southern Colorado for a trip I'm starting day after tomorrow.

 

[OTH Overland]

I am a Gaia Android user, and have two years remaining on a 5 year subscription. Agree with it is going down hill since the buyout, rumors that a signicant amount of thier engineering staff are gone may play into this. That being said it was the best thing available when I signed up, but I have always had issues with downloading offline maps. It takes way to long, and there is no progress bar or any indication that it is acually dowloading anything or when it might be done. if your trying to do it from a hotspot while travelling good luck. It is very fussy about what size area you select and how many 'tiles' are selected for dowload. Some maps are super detailed and very large, Using the Gaia Topo map rather than USGS and setting the resolution to med or less will help with the downloads. I see large amounts of people with the same issues and no response from Gaia at all. A huge plus for me is the ability to do all my route planning and such on the desktop with a huge monitor rather than on the phone or tablet, then they hit you with the huge downer of not being able to dowload maps right from the PC, that way you could put them on memmory stick etc and load them up onto all your devices, rather than having to download each one to each device. Having them on a memory stick would allow you to upload them when needed in the field to the tablet with no service and not having to use up all the storage on the device. OB1 is developing at a very fast rate, and I am sure for overlanding will surpass the other apps in short order @Michael has ensured that we as Overland Bound members get heard when we have an issue, or if there are valid requests for new features. I am allways surprised how fast new updates incorperate these changes, and if they don't we get advised that they are in the works etc. Not going to get that kind of response from other apps that are trying to please many different types of users rather than being overland focused. I make sure to download/export GPX files from Gaia to my PC so that I can upload them to OB1 or at least not lose them when my membership runs out and I do not choose to renew. In the mean time I continue to explore and learn the OB1 app. I also like options and refuse to let go of the past, and still carry paper maps and a compass in addition to the electronic toys. Somehow it seems more satisfying to gather around a paper map spread out on a hood to discuss route options that is does to pinch and zoom around a tablet while trying to keep it in the shade so you can see it..lol

 

[janders]

rumors that a signicant amount of thier engineering staff are gone may play into this.

I've been chatting with an ex-employee of GaiaGPS and they've been outlining a bit of what happened during the acquisition. Bear in mind, I'm a random internet stranger who is getting this information from another random internet stranger. So don't take this as gospel/grain of salt/blahblahblah. But much of what they said correlated to stuff I was seeing. According to this person:

• The founders took their payout and left.
• The founding software engineers left.
• Product management is gone.
• There is no product roadmap.
• The iOS and Android teams are operating w/o guidance from leadership so they are sorta working on whatevs.
• NO ONE is left on the web team. Literally, no one is working on the web app.

If this is true (again, big if), it sounds like Outside Online bought this asset to wring it dry. If this is true, this smells like a dying product. Or at most, a product with no forward motion. I dearly hope I'm wrong. I really do love this product but I'm not willing to invest more time and data into it if the owners are just going to let it die on the vine.

 

[a12houk]

rumors that a signicant amount of thier engineering staff are gone may play into this.

I've been chatting with an ex-employee of GaiaGPS and they've been outlining a bit of what happened during the acquisition. Bear in mind, I'm a random internet stranger who is getting this information from another random internet stranger. So don't take this as gospel/grain of salt/blahblahblah. But much of what they said correlated to stuff I was seeing. According to this person:

• The founders took their payout and left.
• The founding software engineers left.
• Product management is gone.
• There is no product roadmap.
• The iOS and Android teams are operating w/o guidance from leadership so they are sorta working on whatevs.
• NO ONE is left on the web team. Literally, no one is working on the web app.

If this is true (again, big if), it sounds like Outside Online bought this asset to wring it dry. If this is true, this smells like a dying product. Or at most, a product with no forward motion. I dearly hope I'm wrong. I really do love this product but I'm not willing to invest more time and data into it if the owners are just going to let it die on the vine.

I suspect that isn’t necessarily uncommon. Unfortunate and hard to hear about a product I’ve become so familiar with and spent so much time learning all the intricacies.

Gaia was my offline Nav for both overlanding and hiking. There was a lot of comfort in that.

 

[Ubiety]

Copy/paste my post from another thread this morning. I too have found Gaia's offline map downloads to be slow and problematic and have said goodbye (for other reasons); slow map downloads have always been a pain point with Gaia. I am placing my bets on OB1. Is it perfect? Nope. But @Michael and team are super responsive and I have seen reported issues fixed in real time. I also appreciate @Michael's passion for making this the best app and for the community (e.g. what you want as overlanders). OB1 has a public road map and new releases come often.

<paste>
My current favorite is OB1 for nav activities, Gaia for route creation and onX for research/planning. Sadly none are "perfect" for navigating so I run all three and have to switch between them more than I would like to get the "view" that I want in any circumstance. Of the three OB1 is the one that is being updated/improved the most so I have the highest hopes for it. Gaia seems to be the one resting on its laurels the most so I am phasing it out; that said Gaia's mobile iOS app does seem to be the least buggy while navigating but also has the most issues syncing with "all of the data" on the mothership (my routes/waypoints created on the computer via their web interface). onX's syncing to the mothership just works and it has become the "gold standard" for viewing my data while navigating; I also LOVE their maps - they have done a fantastic job of merging the kinds of things that I want to see onto a single map. I dislike Gaia's method of layering maps and setting the opacity of each layer to view more than one layer - all layers suffer and you end up with a barely visible (while driving and glancing) jumble and have to constantly change the opacity of "the layer of current interest" in order to see it clearly.
</paste>

OB1 has a road map - and web based waypoint/route creation are on that road map. This is a good thing because Gaia has failed to download my planning data several times now. Nothing like hitting the trail to find that your Gaia app has lost your planning data - some of that data years old so the excuse that I did not give it time to sync does not hold up. It used to be there... Gaia's web site is so rife with bugs that you really never know what will happen, sometimes it will lose your data, sometimes the UI acts inconsistently. Also need to add that OB1's maps are like onX maps - what you want to see all merged together on a single map - none of the poorly thought out layer opacity that Gaia offers.

 

[Ubiety]

I am a Gaia Android user, and have two years remaining on a 5 year subscription. Agree with it is going down hill since the buyout, rumors that a signicant amount of thier engineering staff are gone may play into this. That being said it was the best thing available when I signed up, but I have always had issues with downloading offline maps. It takes way to long, and there is no progress bar or any indication that it is acually dowloading anything or when it might be done. if your trying to do it from a hotspot while travelling good luck. It is very fussy about what size area you select and how many 'tiles' are selected for dowload. Some maps are super detailed and very large, Using the Gaia Topo map rather than USGS and setting the resolution to med or less will help with the downloads. I see large amounts of people with the same issues and no response from Gaia at all. A huge plus for me is the ability to do all my route planning and such on the desktop with a huge monitor rather than on the phone or tablet, then they hit you with the huge downer of not being able to dowload maps right from the PC, that way you could put them on memmory stick etc and load them up onto all your devices, rather than having to download each one to each device. Having them on a memory stick would allow you to upload them when needed in the field to the tablet with no service and not having to use up all the storage on the device. OB1 is developing at a very fast rate, and I am sure for overlanding will surpass the other apps in short order @Michael has ensured that we as Overland Bound members get heard when we have an issue, or if there are valid requests for new features. I am allways surprised how fast new updates incorperate these changes, and if they don't we get advised that they are in the works etc. Not going to get that kind of response from other apps that are trying to please many different types of users rather than being overland focused. I make sure to download/export GPX files from Gaia to my PC so that I can upload them to OB1 or at least not lose them when my membership runs out and I do not choose to renew. In the mean time I continue to explore and learn the OB1 app. I also like options and refuse to let go of the past, and still carry paper maps and a compass in addition to the electronic toys. Somehow it seems more satisfying to gather around a paper map spread out on a hood to discuss route options that is does to pinch and zoom around a tablet while trying to keep it in the shade so you can see it..lol

- Gaia has a great feature to download maps along your route - this way you do not have to pick square after square after square - you just say get me the maps along and to the sides of my intended route. But guess what? OB1 has this as well and it works well!
- Web based route planning (from your computer) is coming to OB1!!! Cannot wait as this is a must have.
- You will retain all of your Gaia "GPX data" once your paid account lapses. Ask me how I know ;)

Totally agree that OB1 is the future for overlanding. It is made by folks who do what I do, intended for the purpose that I use it and supported better than anything else.

 

[M Rose]

Is anyone else really struggling with the quality of Gaia apps (web & iOS for me) since Outside Online bought them? Everything about this app seems to have gone down hill. They used to have amazing support staff but they've all gone radio silent on the Gaia reddit forum.

probably because 95% of the Dev team and CS team have been let go. Outside Online figured they could provide the same content with less approach.

 

[zgfiredude]

Well, that's disappointing.

Anyone have an active discount code for On X Offroad? I think it's time to give it a try before my GAIA subscription is up.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

If what everyone says is true, I am cancelling my sub as well and moving to other sources. OB1 will be my first choice. I have some issues with it right now, but it's in it's development stage, if I can help grow OB1, I am all for it!

 

[pluton]

I recently had an issue with Gaia on iOS. Complained, and was gotten back to within 2 days. The solution suggested was helpful, though they really need to develop a clear way for one subscriber to have different maps collections on different devices without having to trick the devices into not syncing and not resuming downloads.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

I recently had an issue with Gaia on iOS. Complained, and was gotten back to within 2 days. The solution suggested was helpful, though they really need to develop a clear way for one subscriber to have different maps collections on different devices without having to trick the devices into not syncing and not resuming downloads.

I only use Gaia on my PC's to create routes, and then on my android tablet to use routes in the rig. I have to see what I can come up with by downloading it on my iPhone and try it there to see if I can get a solution for you.

 

[Stranger45]

Have a question, I have the overland layer downloaded with offline routing, now I am going to download the public land layer, do I need to download the offline routing for the public land layer, or is it the same as the overland layer?

Hope all that made sense.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

As far as I know, you need to download both layers to use offline. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Stranger45]

Yes, I know I will have to download both layers to use offline. My question is about offline routing.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

I am trying to understand what you are asking. Maybe, will your off line route be visible on both layers? the answer to that one is yes. it will overlay on whatever mapping image you use.

 

[Stranger45]

When I downloaded an area (Gaia Overland Layer) it ask if I want to download offline routing data.

Now I want to download the same area (Public Land Layer) it also ask if I want to download offline routing data.

My question is will the offline routing data be the same in both layers (Gaia Overland Layer, and Public Land Layer). Trying to save space on the tablet.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Yes, as far as I know the routing data will be the same no matter what layer you use off line. The layer takes up the space, not the route. I have routes on my Gaia system saved, and I just down load whatever layer I want to use into the memory card on my tablet and the route is always there.