Navigation by phone

There are lots of good reasons to use your mobile phone for pilgrimage navigation.

One, it’s usually always with you.

Two, it can store all the maps you’ll need without flappy expensive paper.

Three, a mobile phone contains a gps chip, so it knows where you are on the map. This is Harry-Potterish magic, a map that knows where you are.

GPX Route Files

GPX is the standard digital format for routes. It works across all different software, a universal standard like mp3 for music, or usb for wires.

A GPX file gives you a line on a map, made from a series of connected waypoints.

When you load a GPX file onto a mapping app, it overlays these waypoints onto the maps your phone has stored, so you can view the route and follow it.

What Maps Are Best?

For pilgrimage navigation, the gold standard of mapping is Ordnance Survey (OS). This comes in either 1:50,000 scale or 1:25,000 scale, and shows roads, buildings, rivers, streams, wells, churches, and most importantly footpaths and bridleways. 1:25k maps are twice as clear and detailed as 1:50k, even showing field margins.

The disadvantage of OS maps is that they need licenses, so apps offering them usually come with a yearly subscription fee.

There are other functional map options, including user-generated open-source maps, like Open Street Map (OSM). The advantage of OSM maps is that they are publicly created, so often updated, and they are free to use, so apps offering these maps are often no/low cost.

For pilgrimage, the maps to avoid at all costs is Google Maps, as these do not contain footpath information, and only work for roads, where pilgrims generally don’t want to be.

Which App to Use?

My favourite navigation app for pilgrimage is Memory Map. This offers OS mapping in both 1:50k and 1:25k (the former is often useful for gaining a wider view and larger sense of the landscape).

Memory Maps is slightly complicated to set up at the front end. You need to register on the website, then download the app and log-in, then choose your mapping package, then download those maps. But once it is all working, this is the most simple and intuitive app to use, especially for importing GPX routes, or drafting your own.

Furthermore, Memory Map has a trial subscription that makes OS maps free to use for a couple of weeks, so if you are a short-term or one-off pilgrim, this would be a free way to use the best possible mapping.

There are other options. Some folk like using the OS maps app, or Komoot.

The key to navigation apps is that they let you download your base maps, to be stored offline on your phone. So even with zero signal or wifi, you’ll always be able to navigate.

What to do with a GPX file

You may receive a GPX file attached to an email, or perhaps as a ‘download here’ link or button.

The first task is get the GPX file stored on your mobile device.

With a download link, simply open it on your mobile device.

If your GPX file came attached to an email, open this email on your phone and download the attachment.

Then find the downloaded file. When you initially open a GPX file, you’ll see a confusing jumble of letters and numbers. Fear not, your navigation app will know what to do. Click the ‘open with’ button and select your navigation app. The GPX file will then appear as a single coherent line overlaid on whichever map you have on your phone.

And that’s it! The GPX is ready to follow when you walk your route.

You may need to download new maps that correspond with your GPX file. Simply follow your navigation app’s prompts to get the maps you need.

Walk well!

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