Turn by turn GPS navigation for iPad mini

Hi Lynton,

I use MetroView on my iPhone - brilliant!
It is on the AppStore and it also runs on iPad.
I can't remember how much it was, but I think less than $15?
Comes with free offline map updates.
Can be used completely offline after the download.
(Not connected o the company).

Barry

I use TomTom on my iPhone and now TomTom Go Mobile on my andriod phone and wouldn't be without it.
It is a subscriber service, so costs about $25/year. But for that it is constantly updating roads and gives you live traffic updates, so if there is a major incident you can avoid it. My wife has a factory nav system in her car and a map update for that is $300+.

It lets you download the maps you want, which was handy when I went to the US last month. I simply loaded the US South West map set and it was good to go when I picked up my hire car in Hawaii, LA and Las Vegas.

If you don't have the exact address of your destination, the often they are covered in the Points of Interest and you can find them that way, a quick play then has Masters, Bunnings and TJM all listed, as well as some obscure ones like the local bakery.

Map coverage is really good, I used to mount the iPhone on the handle bars of my trail bike and I have yet to find a 4x4 track that vaguely resembled a road that wasn't on the maps. The time to destination calculation is quite close to what time you can expect to be getting there, unless there is a dirt road involved and then it is way off..... or maybe I drive too fast on the dirt.

Probably one of the better features is that there is a pleasant Australian voice (Karen, same voice as Siri) to tell you where you are going, rather than an angry Brittish voice or an irritating heavily accented American one.

It is a bit power hungry, so you will need a 12V adapter to keep the ipad charged, on this score not all charges are created equal, I had one that was fine for my phone, but struggled to keep up with an ipad. Amp output and cord length are critical here, if the cord is too long then you run out of power.

To put my iPhone/Android in a good spot to be easily viewed, I stuck some velcro on the dash and on the back of the case. It makes a handy, cheap mount that doesn't damage the dash in any way and ensures a good GPS signal, I don't know how you would go with a tablet though.

I use the TomTom app on my iPad and iphone and it works every bit as good as my stand alone Tom-tom one unit. Great value at something like $50? a few years ago, it probably updates about every quarter or so and the updates are free. It doesn't have live traffic but thats fine with me.
People also rave about the "HERE" app which is free on the App store, I have downloaded it but haven't used it as yet, apparently its great for overseas travel as well. It is turn by turn voice navigation the same as Tom-tom and works off satellite same as Tom-tom(i.e. offline) only its free so well worth trying it out.

I use CoPilot Premium Aus/NZ on my Android devices. It is also available for iOS.

I think I paid $25 and get free updates for ever. It is excellent and for a turn-by-turn navigator has extensive coverage of forest tracks and very minor roads. In the Android version you get a free 1 year subscription to Live Traffic, which is very useful in the cities for avoiding congestion. Not sure what they give away in the iOS versions

Cheers

Try HERE Maps which are free and provide direction, download the maps and away you go.

I want to thank sincerely all who replied to my query. All were very helpful. For your information I have downloaded MetroView and it works a treat - at least serves my purposes very well. I have Hema maps downloaded for rural and country navigation. Thank you all again. Regards. Lynton

Hi Lynton, Have a look at Waze - may be a good addition. Waze gives voice guided navigation but also provides real time traffic information. Links in with Google traffic so you get alerts about hold ups, heavy traffic etc etc and also re routes you around these if needed - gives you updated ETA constantly - free in the app store... great tool.