Topographic maps on Storm?
iPhoneWannaBe
Newbie

Has anyone had any successes or failures with Storm apps that provide topographic maps under Verizon? I'm trying to determine if there's a solution that I've overlooked, before I give up and move to AT&T and the iPhone. Over the past 6 months I have tried two apps on the Storm:

 

1) Trimble Outdoors works fine if you are in cell phone range. It gets a GPS signal to determine your location, and you can download a map that pinpoints your location. Invaluable if you are lost in the wilderness! The downside: On the Storm under Verizon, this app fails to get a GPS signal if you are out of cell phone range, which means if you are really lost deep in the woods, you stay lost. It allows caching of maps, and the maps are supposed to be available and show your location using the GPS signal even if you are out of cell phone range, but the GPS signal is not available under those conditions. Verizon tech support has told me it's because Verizon somehow blocks GPS access to third-party apps under some circumstances, but they won't give me any more details. The Trimble Outdoors support staff tell me it should work fine, but they don't seem to be able to tell me whether they have actually tested their software on the Storm under Verizon.

 

2) Another app called TopoExplorer has an approach that seems very logical: After you purchase a set of maps from them, you copy the maps to the data card on your Storm, so the maps are always available even when you're out of cell phone range. Then the GPS signal is supposed to bring up the appropriate map tile and pinpoint your location. The catch: It does not work at all for me, regardless of whether I'm in cell phone range or not. It fails to get any GPS signal at all. The developer claims it should work fine - but they are using it on a Storm outside the U.S., which means they are using a network other than Verizon.

 

(My apologies for some overlap in content with another message I posted recently, titled "Verizon blocks GPS ...". I thought posing the question a different way might catch the attention of a wider audience interested in topographic maps on the Storm, while also filtering the audience to people who have actually tried a topographic app.)

 

Thanks in advance for any insight that anyone can provide.

 

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Re: Topographic maps on Storm?
LOWFLYER
Contributor - Level 2
Have you tried posting this on crackberry.com?  There are people over there that know the Storm inside and out that might be able to better assist you in your quest for a working topographical app.  I only ask b/c this is a very unusual request and I'd go out on a lim and say generally  people don't use their phones for this type of activity.  Let us know.
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