Magic Earth sat nav app (Android and iOS)

Have been using Majic Earth through France and now in the Italian Lakes. It works well and all navigation errors have been mine - never was very good at doing what I was told.

The ability to enter vehicle dimensions was attractive BUT unless someone has entered road widths and bridge heights in Open Street Maps they won't be in Magic Earth. No problem with our 6m PVC but could be for larger units.

I created a Google Map of POIs when I was planning the trip, exported to a KML file and loaded this into Magic Earth. The issue is some of my notes are quite long and so far I cannot see the whole note in Magic Earth, which I can in Maps.me.
 
UFO said:
Have been using Majic Earth through France and now in the Italian Lakes. It works well and all navigation errors have been mine - never was very good at doing what I was told.

The ability to enter vehicle dimensions was attractive BUT unless someone has entered road widths and bridge heights in Open Street Maps they won't be in Magic Earth. No problem with our 6m PVC but could be for larger units.

I created a Google Map of POIs when I was planning the trip, exported to a KML file and loaded this into Magic Earth. The issue is some of my notes are quite long and so far I cannot see the whole note in Magic Earth, which I can in Maps.me.
Click to expand...
I worry about the reliance on OSM; I have seen so many basic errors, including incorrect street names, that I would be worried using it for navigation, where I prefer to know that most regulatory data is likely to be incorporated (as at last map update).
 
UFO said:
The ability to enter vehicle dimensions was attractive BUT unless someone has entered road widths and bridge heights in Open Street Maps they won't be in Magic Earth. No problem with our 6m PVC but could be for larger units.
Click to expand...
I found this website which shows vehicle restriction dimensions on OSM by ticking the relevant layer then zooming in to a location.

'Missing maxheight tags' seems, from a couple that I checked, to be the case where bridges exceed the maximum height of an HGV and consequently are unrestricted.

For confidence you could try a few places where you know there are restrictions and see if they are tagged. I tried a couple and found they were tagged correctly.

Clicking on a coloured line reveals the tagged characteristics.

OpenStreetMap Truck QA Map (created by mmd)

[OpenStreetMap] OSM Truck QA Map - Contribute maximum height infos to OpenStreetMap data for better truck routing.
maxheight.bplaced.net
 
One thing I discovered yesterday is you can't use magic earth with the screen turned off. I tried to use it on the bike using headphones but it didn't work when I turned the screen off. So Google maps better for the bike. I'll try it today though and leave the screen on. Saves battery power that's all.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
I can't find it either Tom.

show screen shots please as no one else knows how to change to even another woman let alone a male voice in the app.
Click to expand...
It's dead easy. Hit the cog for settings then general, sound, voice
 
Finding a few frustrating things now I'm spending a bit of time plotting. Some of them are just getting used to the new magic earth map but the satellite view on Google maps is so much better which means if you are plotting by satellite its a lot easier to do the way points in google maps than magic earth but there doesnt seem to be a way to then transfer the planned route to magic earth. So far.

It's a way better sat nav though than Google maps. I can see me using both. Walking and biking I'll use Google maps, moving the van from one destination to the other Magic Earth
 
Another gripe. It's easier to stick in way points on magic earth so a plus point there but it has a habit of begining the navigation before you press start. Pia if you are still plotting and pause for ten seconds or more.
 
Well it let me down today or maybe I cocked it up. I knew we weren't going far (in the motorhome) and carefully planned the route. The truck option can't be relied upon either although sometimes it's right. Anyway a few miles in I knew it was wrong and pulled over. It had me going somewhere completely different. Reverted to Google maps which got me here but drove me nuts as it's back to just showing an overhead map of the route rather than the 3d road ahead and it doesn't move.

Will try again as if might have been my fault.
 
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