Mobile Apps for Travel
 

Hi,
We are about to embark on our first trip to Europe and I would like recommendations on the best Mobile (Android) Apps for the following:
* An app that records everywhere that we travel, then can plot the route on a map afterward.
* App for maps/directions - Google Maps or ViaMichelin? How do I download maps and store them on my phone?
* Language translation app (English to French) in case I get stuck!
* Any other suggestions?

Many thanks.

Are you driving or taking public transit?

I use Google Maps for everything - walking, public transit schedules, and driving. There are other apps that some prefer that work just as well, maybe better.

Google Maps "offline" only works for driving directions, not walking or public transit. It does work OK for that, though - used it for a day of driving in Slovenia. It worked with a few glitches without data (which I had turned off) but I would not have gotten lost. In Google Maps, look for "offline areas."

I use Google Translate for language translation.

There are geotagging apps too. I can't recommend one. I tried to use one for my Panasonic Lumix camera (to geotag my pictures later) but I gave up because it was too cumbersome to use. Maybe someone else can recommend one or you can try one out.

Thanks Andrew. Doing both. Public Transport around Paris and also in London. Driving in France, Belgium and other parts of UK. I have the 2 apps you mentioned already. I'll have to look at the offline stuff. Thanks for the feedback.

City Mapper is the best app I have found for directions in London and Paris. I use it daily to find the best routes walking, using public transport or driving.

I highly recommend having a working phone in Europe with data. You can use the "offline areas" to save data when you drive with Google Maps. When I drove with it, occasionally it would give me an error "unable to load map." But it would not stop navigating (it would keep talking too), and if I just hit the back button, it resumed where it had left off. When I later turned data on on my phone, I never had this problem.

Note that Google Maps let me down a few times navigating the bus and the metro. For one thing, Google Maps doesn't know about construction delays or unscheduled service outages. In one case, one of the metro lines was not running past a certain point (construction for a few days) and everyone had to get off at one stop. So how to continue on, Google? Telling me to get back on the train I just had to get off of obviously didn't help! Something similar happened when, on a RER train, there was an announcement (in French) that the train would not stop at Saint Michel for some reason. I managed to get off at the previous stop - and had to walk 20+ minutes to my destination. In another case, the bus it told me to get on reached the end of the line several stops earlier than Google predicted, so I had to improvise again.

Maybe the official Paris Metro/bus app would be better for navigating - I didn't get around to trying it.

City mapper does know about delays.

Oddly enough, we found City Mapper not as helpful as Google Maps with public transport in Paris. Google gave specific instructions about which exit to use when leaving the metro - which can make a huge difference.

I like how it tells you which carriage of the train to be in. I haven't noticed it doesn't tell you what exit, but I live in London and know Paris fairly well so don't need that info. Good to note!

Google Maps has worked beautiful for public transit in other cities. Paris was the first one where it failed me, really. I did use the metro exit info it provided a few times, though.

I geotag but I don't use a smart phone app. But yeah, if you take a lot of pictures which are geotagged, it will show on a map where the pictures were taken.

So if I do a lake cruise, it will display a trail of pins in a program like Aperture. Lightroom displays maps too but it's not pins, just bubbles overlaid over Google Maps. You click on them and it takes you to the pictures.

As far as tracing the locations you go to, you can use something like hiking or running apps and "record" some of your trip that way. But this will drain your phone's battery, having the smart phone run a GPS app. all the time.

I've seen people use apps. like MapMyHike not just to record their hikes but on bicycles or even cars, to show where they went during the day.

Again, very battery-intensive so you would want to carry a battery pack to recharge your phone while you're out and about.

I downloaded but never really used this app.

http://www.campaignlive.com/article/...al-app/1081051

I think they stopped updating it, at least the iPhone version. The idea is that it would log your movements by GPS and then if you take photos through it, it would pin it in your trip.

I've seen similar apps. but I think MapMyHike and Runkeeper have similar features, not to create trips per se but you can take pictures and record their locations.

Of course if you take most of your pics through your smart phone, it can geotag every photo if you have a data connection.

For a solution that doesn't depend on a smart phone, you may look at getting a GPS logger or possibly a hiking GPS unit. These devices can last hours (generally way longer than a smart phone) and if they generate GPX logs which you can get to your computer, you can import them into things like Google Maps and Google Earth.

Of course there are hiking apps. as well but again, those will drain the battery on your phones real fast.

I used citymapper in London, as well as the Transport for London (TFL) and found citymapper gave me more options, and they were often ones I liked better than what I got from TFL.

I use Google Translate, excellent.

Thanks all for the comments. I will have a working phone with data fortunately, but just want to be prepared in case we're out of coverage or something.

Thanks @scrb11. Your method sounds just right. However I don't have a camera with GPS. And my phone takes rubbish photos. Hence why I'm after the app to track things. I hear you though - it is always annoying how that stuff kills the battery life. I do have a power bank to keep the phone charged so should be able to put up with it. Also I do not care a whole lot about tagging the photos. It is more just for the actual route of the trip. So something like MapMyHike might work best. I will look that up soon.

While looking for the Trip Journal (couldn't find it - doesn't seem to exist anymore), I spotted Polarsteps Travel Tracker on the Play Store (rated @ 4.7 stars which tends to tell a story). I am installing it and will give it a go. Looks like what I want in theory...

The TripAdvisor mobile app has a timeline feature which, if you allow location services on, will basically show you where you went the whole day. It was accurate and scary but it sounds like what you're looking for. Moves is another app (it was purchased by Facebook a while ago) that shows your whole route for the day. It suggests locations but sometimes you have to end up tagging them which kind of defeats the purpose.

I've downloaded city guides using Google Trips but didn't find the app super useful aside from the map. The good news is you can use the city guide offline. I think as long as you load Google Maps when you have a wifi connection then you can access those maps even if you don't use data.

I recently tried Google Trips and found it pretty useless.

I also rely on Google Maps with offline loading onto my phone, so I don't need to use cellular data when out of the hotel and away from Wifi. I've used it in several countries successfully, including Ireland last month when we rented a car...very, very useful. The ability to know <em>where you are on the map</em> is priceless, even when just walking around.

There are a number of bus/metro apps that give real-time info...I have several on my phone, but I can't remember which worked best in Paris, since I haven't been there since last spring. None take up much space on your phone, so download several and try them out when you arrive.

Hope this helps

Citymapper works great in paris. Been using it nonstop for 3 days

"There are a number of bus/metro apps that give real-time info...I have several on my phone, but I can't remember which worked best in Paris"

Citymapper is especially useful. I don't know how accurate it is with real-time bus arrivals and such.

But it will calculate which busses to take.

It's easy to figure out a subway system since there are relatively a few number of lines. But busses in a big city is hard to figure out and you can tell by the names of the end points whether a given bus will take you near where you need to go.

I used Citymapper for busses in Paris and Hong Kong. Presumably it's useful in other cities too.

There's an app called <strong>Metro Sortie</strong> (for Paris) which is specifically dedicated to showing entry & exit locations.

I have it on my iPhone and have found it useful on my most recent trip...I don't think it's available for Android.

I have since discovered (but not yet used) an app for both iOS and Android called <strong>Paris ci la Sortie du Métro</strong>, which at first glance appears to give more detailed information about the stations.

ssander