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Off-Road GPS Apps: MotionX vs Gaia Review


Frederic

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5 minutes ago, Xaf said:

Thanks for confirmation, Motionx is not available anymore for new users.

Will start digging in Gaia now. Yeah, have something to keep me occupied for next hour.

🤣

Good luck buddy. Once you have signed up and installed the app, you can head over to gaiagps.com. Any recorded maps that you make will synchronize between both your mobile device and the website. 

You can choose different map types, but the Gaia Topography map is the default one.

In this same thread i've explained the way on how to add the Google Satelite images.
Especially the ESRI sattelite imagery is very detailed. image.png.add60cbd5ae3fceea8cac4298a6f6f35.png


image.png.d6433b30e315fcf695d8ad77881e6491.png

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"Go as far as you can see; once you get there, you'll be able to see further."

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  • 3 years later...
On 9/28/2019 at 9:21 AM, Frederic said:

UPDATE:

for the GaiaGps app users, the Google Maps like Satellite, Terrain, or Hybrid, which is my favorite, are not standard built in, but can easily be added by using the GaiaGps website.

This is the procedure:

While logged into Gaiagps.com, add a custom map source via TMS here:https://www.gaiagps.com/mapsource/add/

And use this TMS URL to get Google Terrain:https://mt0.google.com/vt/lyrs=p&hl=en&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}&s=Ga

Then hit "add this map source" and the saved map should show up in your Gaia app the next time you sync. :)

Some other map links:

Google Maps: https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=r&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
Google Satellite:https://www.google.cn/maps/vt?lyrs=s@189&gl=cn&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
Google Satellite Hybrid:https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=y&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
Google Terrain:https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=t&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
Google Roads:https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=h&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}

ESRI Sattelite Imagery:https://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/World_Imagery/MapServer/tile/{z}/{y}/{x}

Following are the Sample images in Gaia:

Open Street Map - Default Gaia Maps:

image.png.9208ab8d7fdb498f217d583e2c70ccaa.png

 

Google Satellite Maps:

image.png.95267b12b7a363c593ebacc2f335e9c0.png

 

Google Satellite Hybrid Images:

image.png.f37861729a0ec61f5857e151c3bc89ec.png

 

ESRI Satellite Imagery (low res)

image.png.3a3cacd093e400bdef20d0f9dfe8c361.png

Not sure why I have two different ESRI imagery in the web version 🤔🤔!! - this one is a bit low res though

 

ESRI Satellite Imagery:

image.png.1d31ba35abf5997ba57ec4347708b294.png

 

Edited by Looper
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don't drive like its your last one.

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These are at 50 m resolution.

Open Street Map

image.png.13d01051701d2f328d49c606eebe75ae.png

 

Google Satellite: 

image.png.831ebf2d4ebd3bbdc18344c3b7a2e7e5.png

 

Google Satellite Hybrid:

image.png.6cac4a912f8f10ffc345a9eede55debf.png

 

ESRI Satellite Imagery (low res):

image.png.3932ecdef14eb88360b58e4a317b2aac.png

 

ESRI Satellite Imagery:

image.png.35e3a17e16442551030511a110665280.png

You can see all the vegetation in the final image from ESRI which is most detailed..

 

Edited by Looper
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don't drive like its your last one.

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@Frederic any way to get the Hybrid Maps from ESRI? They will have labels on them.

image.png.6648817a204b8ed2913b559dbe9f87c4.png

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don't drive like its your last one.

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Just now, Looper said:

@Frederic any way to get the Hybrid Maps from ESRI? They will have labels on them.

image.png.6648817a204b8ed2913b559dbe9f87c4.png

Very good remark, for that main reason I use the “satellite with labels” map as my main map in Gaia. Only in specific terrain where it doesn’t offer enough detail I’d switch to “World Imagery”, which is the same as ESRI. 
 

If you want to explore an alternative look into CalTopo which has a very good browser and maps. The mobile app is also good but I still prefer the Gaia one. 
 

PS CalTopo has a map called “sentinel weekly” which will show sattelite imagery from only 2-3 days back, which can be interesting to spot construction changes, seismic exploration, flooding, etc…

 

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Any reason I have two versions in my Gaia. One is same as the one on the ESRI website and quite details and other is low res (see the previous two comparison posts). 

Does Gaia Premium alos provide an ESRI version which is slightly low res? 

See these comparisons on Phone:

20230404_155415252_iOS.png.c846bacc59dd2491f958ab03b68a0921.png20230404_155537120_iOS.png.2c748e1bc617f1d563f65a1e7a80355b.png

don't drive like its your last one.

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11 hours ago, Looper said:

Any reason I have two versions in my Gaia. One is same as the one on the ESRI website and quite details and other is low res (see the previous two comparison posts). 

Does Gaia Premium alos provide an ESRI version which is slightly low res? 

See these comparisons on Phone:

20230404_155415252_iOS.png.c846bacc59dd2491f958ab03b68a0921.png20230404_155537120_iOS.png.2c748e1bc617f1d563f65a1e7a80355b.png

Once you have the full premium version, then the World Imagery ESRI comes built in.

My original post here with the custom map “hack” allowed for adding ESRI or Google imagery  to the light version of Gaia. That’s perhaps the reason you still have both. Same here ;)  The subscription models have changed in the meantime and I think on the free models you won’t be able to get any sattelite imagery (not sure).

High res vs Low Res depends on a couple of factors. Every once in a while they update their maps but if during that time if the imagery is not totally clear due to weather circumstances or other issues you’ll have less detail. I remember @M.Seidam brought this up at one point as his sattelite map suddenly showed a big vague area in his fav area of Qudra where in the past it was crystal clear and detailed.

A big advantage of Gaia is the layering, so you can easily swap between maps with the slider to show or reveal another map. 

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