• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

iPhone GPS app that supports KML routes imports?

Eugene

Eugene

New member
Joined
Mar 8, 2008
Location
San Francisco
Moto(s)
S1000R
Does anyone know of a good iPhone app that supports KML routes so that I could just import in a pre-programmed route for a ride and have the GPS guide me?
 
I used to use my iPhone as a GPS, primarily with Navigon, but I tried several other paid and free apps as well. I did a lot of research and built several different mounts and hardwire setups in an attempt to make it a "real" GPS. One of the reasons I eventually gave up was that trip planning was a huge pain in the ass. I bought a Zumo 660 about a year ago - at the time I had been unable to find anything like what you're looking for. There are some GPS apps that support KML but they're all for things like hiking - no turn by turn support that I know of. Best of luck - maybe things have changed in the last ten months or so.
 
Gotcha... that's a bit of a bummer. I spent the last hour or so doing research, Navigon was the closest thing I found. So, what were the down-sides of Navigon that made you go to a dedicated GPS device?
 
Eugene said:
Gotcha... that's a bit of a bummer. I spent the last hour or so doing research, Navigon was the closest thing I found. So, what were the down-sides of Navigon that made you go to a dedicated GPS device?
Click to expand...

Well... it wasn't super reliable, and would crash sometimes. But it was mainly the trip planning thing - trying to select waypoints in the tiny phone screen interface (to "force" a route as opposed to finding the shortest way) and saving routes took a ridiculous amount of time and if the waypoints weren't spot-on, it'd have issues trying to direct you to a spot just slightly off the road. Also, it was just clunky overall - but that may have improved.

Quite frankly, dedicated GPSes are pretty clunky too, as compared to a slick interface like the Iphone. But the Zumo just works - I plan routes quickly on my laptop, transfer them, and go.
 
monkeyneck said:
Well... it wasn't super reliable, and would crash sometimes. But it was mainly the trip planning thing - trying to select waypoints in the tiny phone screen interface (to "force" a route as opposed to finding the shortest way) and saving routes took a ridiculous amount of time and if the waypoints weren't spot-on, it'd have issues trying to direct you to a spot just slightly off the road. Also, it was just clunky overall - but that may have improved.

Quite frankly, dedicated GPSes are pretty clunky too, as compared to a slick interface like the Iphone. But the Zumo just works - I plan routes quickly on my laptop, transfer them, and go.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm... Well, my plan is to use 3rd party software to generate the routes then import them. Reliability issues aside, hopefully it will work out. Spending $30 on an app sounds better than spending 600 on a yet another device.
 
Motion X reads KML. So does Google Earth. Both are available for IOS devices.

I really like my TomTom app for travel planning. You can plug in an infinite number of points, roads, stops etc. Live traffic and ETA's are pretty spot on. I hear Navigon has some bike-specific features but I've never used it. Tom Tom has a windy route button with three levels of windy-ness. I used it on a road trip to Lake Don Pedro & Yosemite. Found some amazing roads that way. I'm guessing it's similar to Navigon's scenic mode, but again I've never used Navigon..


I'm gonna threadjack for a sec: Has anybody used their iphone as a speedometer? Instead of buying a speedo healer because I'm cheap, I took my old iphone 4 and swapped the speedo with it. I've been using iBike Moto recently. Works pretty well. Estimates MPG, tank range, speed, oil/coolant/air filter changes, etc. Works great. Just can't see the tach or temp. Just wondering if anyone's tried anything else.
 
Last edited:
Eugene said:
Hmmmm... Well, my plan is to use 3rd party software to generate the routes then import them. Reliability issues aside, hopefully it will work out. Spending $30 on an app sounds better than spending 600 on a yet another device.
Click to expand...

Yeah - if you can do that, you're good. Like I said, my experience with this stuff ended about a year ago, but that was after 1 1/2 years of using my iPhone as my nav and just being generally frustrated.

ElectricPrunes said:
Motion X reads KML. So does Google Earth. Both are available for IOS devices.
Click to expand...

I should clarify - there are tons of apps on iOS that have various ways to import KML (sometimes through third party websites, etc) but none of them that I know of do turn by turn guidance - the crux of Eugene's question. Google Earth doesn't, and it's buggy and crashy as hell anyway. There are several flavors of Motion-X - Drive is the turn by turn, road-centric version. It was one of the first ones I used and I gave up on it pretty quickly. Also, Drive didn't import back then, and still doesn't, based on a quick run through their support files. Motion-X GPS does, but it doesn't do turn by turn.

I took a quick peek at Google Maps on my phone, hoping that maybe accessing stored places/maps in my Google account would allow turn by turn in the Maps app, but it doesn't appear to.

That said, you don't need a full-on moto GPS. Lots of dudes have good results with a ~$100 GPS and Ram mount. The main differences are that they are'nt waterproof and you can't get turn by turn voice instructions via your helmet headset without using something like a Sena SR10 or SM10.

By the way, there are tons of folks discussing this kind of stuff on ADVRider as well - reading through some of the extensive threads there can be helpful too.
 
Last edited:
monkeyneck said:
Yeah - if you can do that, you're good. Like I said, my experience with this stuff ended about a year ago, but that was after 1 1/2 years of using my iPhone as my nav and just being generally frustrated.



I should clarify - there are tons of apps on iOS that have various ways to import KML (sometimes through third party websites, etc) but none of them that I know of do turn by turn guidance - the crux of Eugene's question. Google Earth doesn't, and it's buggy and crashy as hell anyway. There are several flavors of Motion-X - Drive is the turn by turn, road-centric version. It was one of the first ones I used and I gave up on it pretty quickly. Also, Drive didn't import back then, and still doesn't, based on a quick run through their support files. Motion-X GPS does, but it doesn't do turn by turn.

I took a quick peek at Google Maps on my phone, hoping that maybe accessing stored places/maps in my Google account would allow turn by turn in the Maps app, but it doesn't appear to.

That said, you don't need a full-on moto GPS. Lots of dudes have good results with a ~$100 GPS and Ram mount. The main differences are that they are'nt waterproof and you can't get turn by turn voice instructions via your helmet headset without using something like a Sena SR10 or SM10.

By the way, there are tons of folks discussing this kind of stuff on ADVRider as well - reading through some of the extensive threads there can be helpful too.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice.
 
i use motion-x gps for the iphone. i create all my routes on google maps and then import them onto motion-x gps.

there is no turn-by-turn feature. but, you can "follow" the route on motion-x. works for me.
 
Donsesso said:
i use motion-x gps for the iphone. i create all my routes on google maps and then import them onto motion-x gps.

there is no turn-by-turn feature. but, you can "follow" the route on motion-x. works for me.
Click to expand...

What happens when you veer off course?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top