Onx question

[Jeep or Tacoma]

When downloading an area on the map for off-line use, how do you get coverage for large areas with sufficient detail?

 

[Mickey Bitsko]

Click on layers, layers will show off-line.

 

[Sparse Gray Hackle]

You have your choice of how many layers you want on in your map, the area size of the map, and can select the amount of detail (Low, Medium, High).

It’s a balancing act based on the detail you need. For really large areas, turn off unnecessary layers, then pick the detail size meets your needs. Consider breaking the maps up into segments. Have lots of memory on your device.

 

[pytheas]

I have found the map downloading process incredibly tedious and slow on onx offroad. As @Sparse Gray Hackle mentioned you can choose your level of detail to help things along. I recently did a <1 week trip using onX as my main nav program for the first time. I immediatly hated the map download process.

I chose to use "medium" detail and selected each section of area that I wanted to cover. I did all of this using the web interface using my laptop, then performed a sync to my iPhone and my iPad. I use my iPhone for real time navigation, and often use my iPad in the evenings or morning to figure out where I am headed for the next day. I downloaded most of northern California and western Oregon and parts of Washington. I ended up with dozens of map areas that had to be downloaded. It probably took a solid day to download all of the data onto my iPhone and longer than that on the iPad. On the iPad, the download would slow down to a crawl and I had to kill the app to restart things.

And yes, be sure you have lots of spaceon your device.

I did reach out to Onx customer support on this. Here's the exchange:

Me:

Good afternoon, I have found that downloading maps for a trip to be a HUGE hassle to have to do it 1 small area at a time. I have been working on this for hours and i still have a lot to go. Right now I am using the web browser interface on my computer to indicate the hours I want to download, then sync my phone. Is there a better way to do this in bulk? I need to get most of northern California, Oregon and Washington. Thanks, Ken

Response:

Hey Ken, Thank you for reaching out today! Unfortunately, we do restrict the size of areas you can download in offline maps so that would be the best way to create the maps for the areas needed. I would recommend considering using medium-resolution maps instead of high resolution to help cover larger areas as well as only saving areas where you will be without cell service. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. Have a great rest of your week, Connor P. Customer Experience Guide -- Missoula Headquarters 46°51’11.0272”N 114°00’43.6398”W onxmaps.com

 

[Sparse Gray Hackle]

You might try using something else for major routes, then use OnX for the areas that you really want to hunt/fish/explore. CalTopo might be an alternative.

 

[pytheas]

Agree. I have been a long time user of Gaia but am looking for something different now hence my commitment to give onX a proper run. I have not given completely up on it yet, but the map area downloads are super frustrating to me. The other is that once you get several folders in there with waypoints and tracks, the app slows down a lot too. Right now if I tap on one of my saved waypoints (e.g. a campsite i have been), then tap the close ”x” it is a solid 5 seconds before the dialog closes. I have come across a few other defects. I think that I am just putting too much data in onX.

I did recently grab CalTopo, but have not spent any quality time with it yet. I hope to go back out next week for a while, so maybe give CalTopo a solid run too.