LCP

Best cycling apps 2024 - top options for iPhone and Android

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Dean Hersey's picture

Dean Hersey

Dean is a freelance cycling journalist based in Dorset, who enjoys travelling the world in search of the best trails. He has spent extensive time riding in the Alps and exploring iconic locations in Scotland, Aosta Valley, the Pyrenees, Finale Ligure, New Zealand and Whistler. In terms of racing, Dean has dabbled in DH, enduro to cross-country but has recently taken up exploring the UK with his gravel bike which has sparked a new interest in bikepacking culture.

Rides: Open U.P
Height: 180cm
Weight: 65kg 

5 comments

3 years 10 months ago

 Komoot's maps are based on open source data. You get the same free on Cyclestreets (strange omission from your app selection), but you pay for them with Komoot. Despite paying for the opensource maps with Komoot, they remove useful data so for example footpaths (cycling forbidden) and bridleways (cycling permitted) are not distinguished visually. If you want that and other cycling specific stuff like national cycle routes etc, well that's a subscription on top of having already paid for the maps.

5 years 8 months ago

I think there's a bit of confusion in the first paragraph. Open Cycle Map is nothing to do with Ordnance Survey. Ordnance Survey (OS) is a business which produces very accurate (but not definitive) maps of the country. They are very well respected but tend to be very protective of their data. Open Cycle Map is an extension of Open Street Map (OSM), a community based national map. OSM data is open source and they encourage sharing and individual contribution. OSM tends to have rather good information about paths and bridleways (but also not definitive). The map shows the actual location of paths and tracks rather than the definitive path which due to historical land and boundary changes may be different.

Google maps (online, haven't used the app) is great for looking up businesses nearby and on-road work but has very little information about off-road paths and tracks so I would say not at all useful for pootling around.

Like shufflingb I totally rate RideWithGPS and I'm amazed it's still not in the list. I find the combination of it and Open Street Map to be unbeatable. I plan a route on the website and save it, then I can follow it on my phone. It doesn't have voice guidance and map caching in the free version. The paid versions do but I haven't tried them.

Jon Woodhouse's picture
6 years 1 month ago

shufflingb wrote:

 

I'd add a slight note of caution about the Viewranger service and the GPX files it produces and alternative recommendations for GPS navigation.

When I saw the Viewranger app and the web service last summer I got all excited. The best maps for the UK outdoors activities (OS 1:25000), Openstreet Map for towns, a decent app you could plan with and, unlike OS, full autorouting on the OS maps across the whole of the UK. What's not to like?

The problem is/was Viewranger's autorouting algorithm.  Specifically, it puts very few waypoints on the tracks that it is following. Consequently, the straight lines marking the route between these waypoints only corresponds roughly to the actual tracks on the basemap. As you could reference the basemap, this was fine for planning and was fine if you had the app open on your smart device when out riding.

However, the problems came if you tried to use the GPX files on a standalone GPS device without reference to that basemap, such as a Garmin. In the field, the paucity of waypoints meant the route that the Garmin would attempt to lead you on was frequently on the wrong side of hedges, ditches, roads and was, as might be imagined, next to useless where there was a decision about multiple track options. You either ended up flattening your phone's batteries because you had to keep the app open. Or putting up with going off in the wrong direction and having to retrace your steps. I ended up giving up on it.

fwiw, I think the Ordnance Survey maps app and premium service are good value https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/shop/os-maps-mobile.html. The apps have offline maps capability for planned routes and the patchy autorouting capabilities are not a problem if you're doing short rides or are riding in a national park. For longer days (I've done out to 120km gravel/all-road routes), then I've not found anything better than the combination of the rather excellent RideWithGPS to generate the GPX files and the OS maps service and app for reference during the planning and for offline maps when out riding (should I need them).

 

That's really interesting - I'll have to try that combination out. I've not tried Viewranger > Garmin yet, so not experienced that issue...

6 years 1 month ago

I'd add a slight note of caution about the Viewranger service and the GPX files it produces and alternative recommendations for GPS navigation.

When I saw the Viewranger app and the web service last summer I got all excited. The best maps for the UK outdoors activities (OS 1:25000), Openstreet Map for towns, a decent app you could plan with and, unlike OS, full autorouting on the OS maps across the whole of the UK. What's not to like?

The problem is/was Viewranger's autorouting algorithm.  Specifically, it puts very few waypoints on the tracks that it is following. Consequently, the straight lines marking the route between these waypoints only corresponds roughly to the actual tracks on the basemap. As you could reference the basemap, this was fine for planning and was fine if you had the app open on your smart device when out riding.

However, the problems came if you tried to use the GPX files on a standalone GPS device without reference to that basemap, such as a Garmin. In the field, the paucity of waypoints meant the route that the Garmin would attempt to lead you on was frequently on the wrong side of hedges, ditches, roads and was, as might be imagined, next to useless where there was a decision about multiple track options. You either ended up flattening your phone's batteries because you had to keep the app open. Or putting up with going off in the wrong direction and having to retrace your steps. I ended up giving up on it.

fwiw, I think the Ordnance Survey maps app and premium service are good value https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/shop/os-maps-mobile.html. The apps have offline maps capability for planned routes and the patchy autorouting capabilities are not a problem if you're doing short rides or are riding in a national park. For longer days (I've done out to 120km gravel/all-road routes), then I've not found anything better than the combination of the rather excellent RideWithGPS to generate the GPX files and the OS maps service and app for reference during the planning and for offline maps when out riding (should I need them).

CogNative's picture
6 years 10 months ago

Found some useful new apps on here - great stuff!