The Best Map Apps for your Travels: Offline, Hiking, Transit & More
Maps are essential for any world traveler. The days of collecting dozens of paper maps in your suitcase are long gone. For travelers, everything is found on your smartphone, in an App. No more heavy guide books or wrinkled paper maps. Leave that shit in the past or for vintage wall posters. But what do you do when Google Maps doesn’t work? When you don’t have a data plan (SIM Card) during a layover or short trip?
It’s worth discovering which Map Apps will make your travels infinitely easier. So let’s take a look at the top five Map Apps for every traveler. The ones below are specific but represent a category of map apps: Offline, Transit, Travel, Hiking.
Why I Need Map Apps
Over the course of my travels I discovered the limitations of Google Maps and the frustration of getting lost in foreign cities. I got lost in Bangkok for 4 hours from taking the wrong bus line and had to ask a local girl for help! Again, I almost got stuck having to walk out of the mountains of Zhangjiajie, China because the buses stop running at 7pm, I needed to know exactly how fast to walk to make it back in time to catch the bus!
This is why offline, transit and hiking maps are essential!
Imagine spotty Wi-Fi and always having to fight against your smartphone battery life to last through the day. Offline maps give your access to all the information wherever you are located, regardless of cell signal. No more pre-loading routes on Google Maps. Just download the map you want and open the app when you need it!
Maps.me is my favorite app by far because it is open source, this means that individual users can add points of interest (POI) and information on the same map available to everyone else (pending review). There are million of POI pins for ATMs, banks, post offices, hotels, stadiums, pretty much everything! You get excellent peer to peer recommendations directly on the app. In Yangshuo China, we found an awesome hiking trail up a karst mountain that opened up into an amazing view simply because someone marked the location on the app! Thanks random traveler!
However there is a downside to open source, sometime the pin markers are slightly off their actual location. For example, the pin markers for a hotel on Rue St. Catherines in Montreal, Canada might be a few blocks away from the actual location of the Hotel. And you end up searching for a hotel in the wrong place! Terrible! This happened to me again in Xian, China looking for the Belgium Hostel.
Some apps like Maps.me or Visit a City offer more services like finding accommodations or travel itineraries. They work directly with businesses like booking.com, making it super easy to find and book accommodations, tour guides and more in the destinations you want to visit.
I had a hostel over-book me in Guangzhou even though I made a reservation on Hostelworld. After I didn’t arrive until 10 pm, they gave away my bed. Sweaty and tired, I had to find a new place to sleep on super short notice. So I opened Maps.me, found a hotel down the street and asked the hostel to call on my behalf to check availability. Then I opened up Metro China together with maps.me to get there.
Maps.me is the really the best maps app I can recommend. The rest on this list is has a niche this app doesn’t meet or complementary.
Offline Map: Maps.Me
Maps.Me Official Download: iOS & Google Play
- Location: Global (China Included)
- Price: Free
- Other Offline Maps: Offline Maps & Navigation, Offline Map Navigation, KMaps, Tom Tom GPS Mobile App
Maps.me App Features
- Offline Mapping Capability
- Maps.me is open source, Peer generated points of Interest (POI)
- Find accommodations Price Estimates with booking.com integration
Drawbacks
- No transit capabilities for buses or trains.
- Landscape information is limited.
- User generated Points of Interests can be wrong or outdated.
- Requires a lot of data storage for maps
Offline Map: Ovitalmap
Ovitalmap Official: iOS, Android, Microsoft
- Location: Global
- Price: Professional Version Available
Second Top Recommendation because you can choose to load different maps: Google Map, Google Satellite, Bing Satellite, Opencycle Terrain
Ovitalmap App Features
- Load Different Maps Online: Google Map, Bing Satellite, Opencycle Terrain
- Download Google Maps for Offline Use
- Use Shape Tool to Download specific section of the map
- Some Transit (Bus & Train) Integration
- Autocad Interactive & Supports Elevation Data
Drawbacks
- Awkward interface and not user-friendly
- Register an account for more functions
- Heavy on data storage requirement
Transit Navigation App: Transit
Transit App Official: iOS & Google Play
- Location: Canada, United States + Select Cities
- Price: Free
Other Transit apps: Most Bus or Train Apps are local – search specific cities: China Metro, (Transit Now Toronto, Offline Timetables, EZ Ride Offline Transit Planner, JR East (Japan)
Transit App Features
- This app is only about transit systems: Biking, buses, trains, subways, and Uber.
- Sign-in to your Uber Account through the App.
- Real-time data and routes for all transit systems in a city.
- Super User-friendly with easy route selection.
- Can vote on the website for new cities to be added
Drawbacks
- Limited number of cities & countries
- Less Points of Interest Information than other map apps
- Requires Data or Wi-Fi connection
Topography App: Topo Maps+
Glacierpeakstudio: iOS only
- Location: Canada, United States & New Zealand
- Price: Free but In App Purchases are $16.99+
Check out other topographic apps for individual countries: SitySail France, Topo Maps Canada, Avenza Maps, Windy Maps
Topo Maps + Features
- This app has over 500,000 trails and focuses on landscape topography.
- Specifically designed for hiking mountains
- Track your hike from start to finish
- Download specific regions for offline use.
Drawbacks
- Only have 13 Low resolution map unless you purchase a “Map Pass” or upgrade to the Pro-paid version
- Limited to only a few countries
Travel App: Visit a City
VisitaCity Official: iOS & Google Play
- Location: Most Major Tourist Cities: London, Beijing, Chiang Mai, Chengdu, Vienna Etc…
- Price: Free
Other Travel Map Apps: Culture Trip, Lonely Planet Guide, Triposo
Visit a City Features
- Travel Guide First, Map Second
- Download the map for offline use
- Access city specific itineraries & guides by length of trip (1 day, 7 day etc…)
- Find tours directly through the App, with reviews
- Find sight-seeing destinations with hours of operation
- Get directions by clicking through to Google of Apple Maps
- Save your plans and bookings in the app
Drawbacks
- Map in the App is pretty basic: Parks & Major Sights
- Not a good primarily getting around map
Today Map Apps don’t just tell you how to get somewhere, what direction is north, or how far you are from your destination. These days Map Apps offer so much more. Need to find a new hostel or hotel nearby on short notice? Maybe just the closest public washroom? Or a whole travel Itinerary! Want to track your multi-day hike through the National Park? Or navigating a crowded subway system in Tokyo? In Bangkok or Paris?
If you are interested in checking out more apps, we recommend our Favorite Travel Apps for saving you money.
As always, tallyon!
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