4WD Maps - Offline Topo Maps

If you are planning on touring in a four wheel drive around Australia this is the app for you. 5 star if it was cheaper.

I do a lot of four-wheel driving and solely rely on digital maps. I use three different iPads and have every maps software available like Hema and memory Map (which are the same) + Mud map which is different. I recently purchased the Hema topo maps for New South Wales which in itself is an adventure as the in app purchase does not work and you need to go to the memory maps website to purchase the license. However you actually do not purchase the full New South Wales topo maps which you can download and install on your device but rather you need to be connected to their maps server to download tiles of it. This is completely ridiculous especially if you criss-crossing New South Wales as you can actually not have the whole map with you but need to constantly rely on a working Internet connection to download the next tile. Obviously topo maps would mainly be used in the Bush where you actually usually do not have the Internet connection not to mention a high volume data plan to quickly download many megabytes. The general Hema maps are pretty good but displayed little additional information for example locked gates in the national parks, many smaller trails are not named, and while most of the campgrounds are displayed they are not named. Another little shortcoming is the very few options of waypoint icons would love to see a tent, house, car etc.

So far I have found that the app is not very intuitive. You WILL need to read the support page to figure it out. 1. I love the fact that there is now an iPhone/iPad application that contains all the maps at a reasonable price 2. If you have been using mud map or memory map, don't bother. It's the same app with the maps. 3. I will continue to use my normal offroad GPS for some time while using this, but I do already find my self eagerly awaiting OziExplorer app that they are in the process of developing for the additional features I would expect from it. Maybe the future updates on this will include some of them. Hopefully overtime and updates I will grow to enjoy this much more. Makes me want to go ahead and buy an iPad with GPS instead of just Wifi just to see how much better it would be with the larger screen usage.