Pocket Earth PRO

Absolutely the most top-notch, accurate and user-friendly navigational app out there. I have travelled and backpacked through 65 countries and Pocket Earth has steered me around the world. From traversing the bustling souks of Marrakesh to wondering the colonial streets of Cartagena Pocket Earth was there for me. The app showed restaurants, roads, stairs, local passageways that would not have shown up in other competitor navigational apps. Definitely better than Google Maps. The highly customizable nature of the app allows you to drop a pin for points of interest and also mark things down for later exploration. Two of the best features are the location tracker that tracks where you are without data. Pocket Earth is also able to calculate the distance between two points; allowing me to estimate how far a place of interest is. The vast amount of WikiTravel stored on the app is amazing. Without using online data I am able to read about an upcoming country. The information on local bus and train routes makes this app THE BEST in the industry. I can go wherever I want and not be afraid of getting lost anymore. If you’re still contemplating, download it now. You won’t regret it.

The maps are large (so download the ones you’ll need when you have free Internet and delete them when you no longer need them). You never pay for maps. Unlimited downloads forever are included in the price of the app. The maps have exquisite detail. In hilly, hilly Valparaiso, Chile every funicular is shown. Every street name is available in every city and throughout the countryside, unlike with off-line Google Maps. Bike paths, unpaved walking paths, over-crossings, etc., all are shown. Even walls and fences are shown. Think you can walk out that park in the middle of the block? If there’s a fence that’d block your way, this app will shown it. Yet, the app display is uncluttered. Depending on your level of zoom, more or less will be displayed. You position and location are always available using the free GPS in your phone. (GPS does NOT use any data services, so you don’t need cellular or even WiFi to use it.) You can control which cultural features are shown. For example, you can turn on bus route display when you want to catch one, and turn the route display off when you reach your destination. While on the bus, with the real-time GPS you can follow your position. Bus stops on your route are shown on the map, so you know just when to alert the driver that you want off at the next stop. This app turns you into a fearless navigator of places you’ve never been before. True, route planning requires you to be on-line. But you can use planned routes off-line. Every route-planning feature I’ve ever seen in any app needs to be on-line. Route planning is a huge processing burden best done on heavy-duty computers, not on your phone.

I bought this app a couple years ago, it was hands down the most incredible navigation app I had ever seen, everything you could possibly think of and more. How much elevation change in your trip, every minute detail, bike paths, the value was priceless. To my absolute horror and dismay I recently opened the app with confidence to guide me across the state and show me the best way to get there, including elevation differences so I may avoid the more hilly roads. Not one of those things was it able to do, I was crushed to learn that not only had it become next to impossible to use, despite its utter simplification of the UI, it no longer had untold unimaginable options. I have never been so disappointed In my life from anything, as I was to discover the desecration that had been unleashed upon this hidden once incomparable app.... Why???? I can't express my sorrow at the loss of what was unbelievable. I'd pay again just for the old app, what I got when I bought it. I'd die to be able to get that back and just keep it, it was a work of art, and someone trampled it. Seriously, there is absolutely no way I am the only one to feel this way. At the very least the developers must feel like some literally took a crap in their face and demanded to be thanked. Well I have some choice words for you lovely people that felt like they had to knock the genius who created the app I love, down an entire ladder, a peg wasn't enough, just rip that ladder right out. 🖕