AlpineQuest & OfflineMaps

I geocache and travel outside of the US where I don't have any cell or network coverage (Verizon customer), so when I stumbled across your app I thought I'd give it a try. The idea of downloadable maps that are stored on your phone is just what I needed, and you had demo maps for two of the cities that I frequent, Amsterdam and Paris. Aside from some issues with the device itself and getting the GPS to work (see tip below), I was truly impressed with the detail and accuracy of the app! I will likely be purchasing the full version once I am able to get my own map created successfully (the first time I tried it didn't work...I got a corrupt data message?). At first I had some problems navigating the program, but once I figured the navigation out, I really liked this product. The ONLY thing that I didn't like was that you can only zoom out so far on a map. I downloaded different scales to compensate for that, but it was a little bit cumbersome changing maps. Not terribly inconvenient, but it would be nice to zoom out further. I'm guessing this is a limitation of the maps though, not the program? At any rate, once I figure out how to make my own map, I'll be purchasing the full version.

TIP: For those users who are in the US but want to use this (or any) GPS app outside of the US, the Motorola Droid is a little quirky. I tried using mine in airplane mode to save the battery since I don't have coverage in Europe. The GPS icon flashed like it was trying to work, but the phone couldn't even see any satellites (I used GPS test for this...sorry to plug another app!). However, once I turned the phone ON (took it out of airplane mode), I got a signal and a lock right away. I was then able to put the phone back into airplane mode and the GPS kept working. If you shut the screen off, you'll have to turn the phone on to get a lock again, but then you can go back to airplane mode. This is a phone issue, not an issue with this or any app. I did this several times over the course of a few hours and it worked every time

Potential users, don't let your phone hold you back from using this app...it worked great once I broke the code on getting the GPS to work outside of the US.

Thanks for a great tool!

Hi Mikeh

Thanks for your support, I'm really happy that you like this app.
Thank you also for the Droid tip, I hope it will help a lot of Android users... Some users also have difficulties in getting GPS signal, and it's difficult to know where does the problem come from: inappropriate place, bad weather, Android, AlpineQuest... But for your case, it's great that you found the source of the problem and also the solution!

Concerning the un-zoom problem, this is a recurring issue also noticed by other users (here for example). An evolution of the AQM format is planned, that will allow to have more than one level of detail, allowing the app to switch to another level when the user wants to un-zoom. I can't give a release date, but I hope this will be available withing one month (GPX and maps creation/management inside AlpineQuest have a higher priority).

Don't hesitate to post about other things that you don't like, that's really useful to have feedbacks from users.
Thanks again for your contribution