Our favourite touring and overlanding apps
As the 4x4 and overlanding industries have grown, so has the tech and gadgets to accompany them. It feels strange to cotemplate going on a trail or track without one if not a few of these downloaded onto some type of device.
Newtracs is literally the ‘newest’ app to be downloaded and tested on this list -
also one of our favourites.
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Free and free version is very useful unlike other mapping apps
There are paid upgrades which seem to provide additional value - but we are 50/50 on upgrading for now - potentially on a big expedition
Tracks are wasy to see and navigate too/from
Tracks so far have been quite accurate
Offline version downloads whole area e.g. Qld or Vic - useful as you only need to download once
Offline version is also free and works no different to when online compared to other apps
The app has a simple user interface and is very easy to use and navigate
Doesn’t seem to chew an extraordinary amount of app battery compared to other apps
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Takes a while to load up (unsure if this is app or my tablet issue)
Not able to change heading locks - you have to spin the tablet around for you to follow your heading
When logging a trip it can get quite laggy and can freeze after +/-20kms
Saving trips and adding data to them once you’ve finished logging a drive is buggy - I’ve had a trip that showed logged as 29kms driven and now it’s ‘Synced’ as 0kms driven
Very new database and relies on other users being accurate about their vehicle and capabilities
There is a big grey area between the colour coding and how difficult the tracks are - we have found some blue tracks harder than some red tracks.
Newtracs is a crowdsourced 4x4 tracks and trails app that essentially uses data collected by us average 4x4 enthusiasts and then collates and categorises them into colour codes from easiest to extremely hard. They use the type of vehicle you’re driving and the roads you’ve driven to help categorise these tracks. It’s fairly awesome how this works. All you have to do is complete their questionnaire on what vehicle you have and then log your trips when you go for a drive off-road to help contribute to this data base.
We aren’t extreme trail nuts, but we love a challenge. The biggest issue we have always found is the lacking of local knowledge. Hearing about a track is one thing, getting there and driving it is another. Knowing how to get to the beginning has always been the hardest part, least for us anyways. Knowing if the track is open, if it’s on public or private land or even accessible and you’re not wasting your time.
Newtracs pretty much eliminates this issue… so far. The more this app is used the more tracks will be unlocked. I’m sure some locals will be miffed that their local tracks will be known to the world, but hey, at least it’s only a fraction of drivers will be able to get there.
Trail codes are coded similar to skiing by the looks of it - green easiest then blue, red and black as the hardest. Our tracks are the purple colour.
Your trips you’ve logged get sorted into date order for you to review and checkout later
You get a section where you can input your vehicle specs and capabilities - this will then spit out what trails your most suited for.
Wiki Camps Australia
The most useful and informative app out of this whole list. This app is worth its weight in gold - fortunately it’s free to use.
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Awesome community driven information for amenities and POIs
First app I turn to when planning a trip
Easy to use interface, not overly complicated
Search and filter feature is very powerful
Trip planning feature is great for short to medium length trips
Offline maps work well but can be a bit laggy
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Reliant on others providing accurate information
Can get confusing knowing what’s good and not good - one person’s average spot is another person’s highlight
Trip planning not great for large/massive trips - tried planning and seeing kms for an Australia trip and it kept freezing
Wiki Camps is also a user driven database that specifically revolves what amenities are nearest to your location or at a location you are heading too. Wiki Camps is generally the first app I dive into when planning an adventure. I believe it takes Google Maps map data and overlays that with key points of interest (POIs) specific to the camping and overlanding community - from camping sites, to parks, day use areas, caravan / grey-water dump points and anything else you can think of. Depending what you are looking for you can then also use it’s highly useful filter function and search specifically for that e.g. ‘free camps’ or ‘water stations’ near you or where you may be going. Further to the POI functions is a Trip Planning section which is great for those who like to plan in advance and in detail plus the offline maps feature is super handy when you’re off grid.
The beauty of Wiki Camps though is the information that users put in about each POI. If you are looking at campsites you can search a campsite in the area you want to go, select the site and a pop up box will show at the bottom of the screen providing a summary of that site (name, distance from you, amentities at the site and star rating). If you want to no more details you can then select this box to bring up the rest of the information, which includes - a Details section, Reviews section, Fees Section and Photos Section. The information that we find most usefull is the list of amenities at each site - knowing whether it’s a self-contained site, has mobile reception or is paid or free factors massively into choosing a spot. Travellers who have stayed at a camp site can then also go and rate it (star rating) and provide further info, like how much it cost, photos of the Site and general feedback about their time there. The neat thing about this is that you can get a sense or vibe of the place without trawling through google photos, the campsite’s website (if they have one) facebook groups etc. and decide whether it’s somewhere you would want to stay/visit.
Filter feature in the search narrows down exactly what you are looking for in each location
Generally what you will see when looking at POIs in an area and the summary box of a place you have selected
The details page for each POI provides fantastic details and pretty much al you need or want to know for a spot.
ExplorOz Taveller has the potential to be my one stop shop for mapping and trip planning needs - but it is very rough around the edges and quite expensive.
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Great to plan a trip and see POIs nearby
Handy navigation and tracking features to show where you are on your journey
Large amounts of data and information on routes and POIs where you are looking to travel
Cool ‘iconic’ routes feature with very useful information built in
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Pricey entry and free version doesn’t provide a lot of value
The app running in the background chews a heap of device battery
User interface a bit clunky and not very intuitive
Lots of data and information makes it hard to find what you are looking for at times
Can get quite laggy
ExplorOz Traveller is like a mashup of Google Maps, Newtracs and Wiki Camps - the vibe I’m getting from these guys is that they’re essentially trying to be a HEMA Maps competitor. In truth, I have never owned nor used any HEMA products or Maps, however in doing my research for my Maps, Trails and Tracks options I have read and watched a lot of HEMA reviews and videos of others using HEMA products, and what I have seen from these reviews/blogs/videos of HEMA feels very similar to what ExlporOz are doing.
There is so much detail in this app. Which is very good and very bad. It can get quite cluttered trying to read the maps roads, tracks and POIs. But the information within is invaluable if you are trying to plan a trip or even track a trip. The intent I see of ExplorOz is to get you from your home to the middle of nowhere over and around some great trails and then back again in one navigation tool. You plan, track and execute all within one app. Unlike Newtracs, which shows you just trails/tracks and you navigate to them, or Google Maps which is suburban and city roads/highways, ExplorOz is kind of both - from suburban streets and main highways to firetrails and farm roads. There are even iconic tracks (eg. Fraser Coast Line, Savannah Way, Canning Stock Route etc.) in-buit for you to navigate and follow. POIs also have information same-same but different to Wiki Camps - but rather than camp site reviews and caravan dump points it’s more driving orientated.
The biggest issue I’ve found with using ExplorOz though is it’s ease of use and it’s clarity. You don’t always know if the trail or road you want to go down is a horse trail, fire track or private road. You don’t know what condition it is in or whether it’s even traversable. The navigation feature and logging features are great but can get very laggy, buggy and chew a heap of device battery. Making your way through what the App has to offer is also not very intuitive. there are too menu options and you get confused with what option is housed in which menu / interface. In saying this, the App is very customisable and pretty much most features you can either turn on or off or change in the settings. Lastly the free version doesn’t provide a heap of value and the paid version is quite expensvied (~AUD$100) plus there are various packs you can add on which aren’t always clear what they do or why or when you need them, so you end up buying everything to be safe…..You do get the maps forever though, so it’s not a subscription service. But. When the ExplorOz team provides a Country wide update, you will have to re-purchase to get the most up to date info, or choose to stick to your version.
Whether buying the full premium version of the app is necesary is really an invidual decision. We’ve bought it and using it in tandem with the Newtracs and Wiki Camps have found it valuable, but then you could argue you shouldn’t need to use the other apps. I also mainly bought it as a backup option for when we do go on our big expedition and we can turn to that if required.
The app details for roads, tracks and trails which then have info contained in each POI depending on what it is. These only really relate to ‘iconic’ tracks, mountains, cities etc. and not all camping grounds and other facilities.
The two app menus that open up to run through various functions / settings within the app.
