Using phone GPS on a cruise to find position....possible?

[rjack22]

I am going on a Caribbean cruise and I am wondering if I would be able to use my cell phone's GPS to find our ships position? This would have to be without a data connection as I don't want to pay for that. Is there a way to pre-download maps and use the phone's GPS? If so, what app? Any suggestions?

 

[Rukbat]

A map of the ocean is ... well, blue.

In Maps, the Google app, you can display an area you want a map of, then download the map to be used without a data connection. The limit is the amount of storage in the phone. Just pinch the map small, move it to where you'll be, expand it to cover a whole island or town, download it, go to the next one, etc. (I have my whole city downloaded, so I never need a data connection. Just for the ability to do it - I'll never use all my data allowance in any given month.)

Any GPS app that uses the Open Maps Project maps will also work, since you can download OMP maps. Again, the limit is the space available on the phone.

Or you could buy the cheapest Magellan, TomTom or Garmin that has maps for the entire area you're going to be in.

Another way is to buy charts - plain old paper marine charts. Use GPS Status & Toolbox to get your lat/lon and look on the chart. It's like 16th century sailing, but with a fix accurate to about 10 meters (instead of the 10 miles or more Columbus could hope for).

Which way is best depends on where you'll be doing this - at sea, on foot or in a vehicle on land.

 

[Hgouck]

On a cruise they have the GPS location on the video screens all the time. So you will always be able to tell where you are.

JMHO

 

[Sean Doyle]

Trimble Outdoors Navigator will do what you are looking for in the non free version.

What it does is allows you to define region(s) and download maps in an varying format and scales. For example a topographical or satellite image map of the region your cruise is taking place in and then zoom in on the ports and islands you will be stopping on with their own street maps. I believe it cost me less than $3 from the app store.

 

[MkVsTheWorld]

Try Nokia Maps. It'll let you download the maps so you can use it offline. I'm not sure how it'll look out in the open sea though.

 

[doogald]

Try Nokia Maps. It'll let you download the maps so you can use it offline. I'm not sure how it'll look out in the open sea though.

There are quite a few islands in the Caribbean so it'll be easy to see where she is.

Yes, the gps will work without data. I did just that on a cruise of the Danube a few months ago. Unfortunately, I didn't download maps, so I was just a moving blue dot in an empty map until I turned on wifi...