If you are preparing for the walk - sure thing, take the paper map if using it is a part of the outdoors joy, or as a spare if not that much anymore. However, if stranded while just traversing some rural woods in the car, I doubt you will have one usable for walking ready at hand. Also the phone is always with me anyway (communications, photo-video), so why not use it for mapping and tracking my progress for later analysis? It saves time too. On an unfamiliar trail I never even really stopping at the crossings to orient, just push the button, see where you are on the map (a blue triangle on mine), and take the turn you already have marked on it. You can even setup an alarm so not to miss the turn you need. I spent a bit less than 50 years using maps and love them too (I recall that when I got unlimited access to the "printing press grade" color printer at the very end of the past century, I've been obsessed with printing topo-maps in sections on A3 paper and gluing them to the paper walls of my room - probably hundreds square feet of calling beauty ), but I already have a very little desire spending precious outdoors time practicing basic field orienting, there are so many other more interesting and less practiced things to do and try.

Both paper and digital maps have their pluses and minuses, and in a given situation, one form may have advantages. I like the fact that paper does not require batteries and can be easily viewed in bright sunlight. A paper map will continue to function after a salt water dunking, unlike a phone. In an emergency, you can trim the margins of your paper map and voila! - tinder for your fire (my frequently used maps are often coated with some sort or another of 'Map Goo" which will burn quite readily).

Many recommend that you carry both - they aren't mutually exclusive.

My point is: if you carry a smartphone, and fond of the ETS mindset - invest in a decent Nav software for your phone and learn to use it. You cannot EDC all the topo maps even for your state on paper.

To the advantages of paper maps - they are nothing compared to the advantages of having a smartphone with hundreds of apps and digitized papers and a solar charger. I would not mind traveling without a paper map, rather substituting it with a roll of TP And there is no harm dunking the phone in a proper protective shell into salt water. The modern SuperAMOLED screen is totally fine to use in direct sunlight. For the fire making, if nothing else available, you can use the electric power of your phone's battery or charger, it's far more superior to a sparkler or friction methods, so the tinder quality is not that crucial (another argument to my list of ideal ETS smartphone properties on the other tread - removable battery).

By the way, any powerful smartphone is quite a decent hand warmer and flashlight so you may need less urgency in making a fire

Good point! Paper maps could substitute for toilet paper in a pinch (so to speak), although snowballs are better.....

The power button should work just fine.

However, my favorite android toy must be unlocked with PIN after a certain time period. I can't change this due to company policy. However, some apps seems to have permissions or otherwise circumvent the screen lock (or whatever it's called). It's something that must be considered.

For my use, this kind of mapping application simply would not work with the "unlock with pin" screen mode. It isn't a showstopper for proof of concept testing, I'm OK with that.


Not a showstopper for me doing proof of concept testing or beta-testing. Plenty of bad weather and terrain with 3G/4G or above right where I live


Yep, device dangles under or in front of armpit, sling over oposite shoulder.

Would appreciate a post or some pics of your other sling / carrying ideas, they seem pretty promising, although I didn't catch all the details.

Unfortunately, the system lock screen is impossible to overcome except for either rooted devices or integrated apps, installed by manufacturer or cell provider (though, some companies may have their corporate apps installed by manufacturer as well with root-like privileges, which might include lock screen overriding). So, that must be out of scope for a third party public app.

Will try to make an overview of my sling solution on weekend.

The "proof of concept app" need to wait for a couple of weeks to free up some time for it.

The other option would be to set the phone to not go to sleep when using maps/navigation or with an external power source. Since my phone is waterproof I charge via a wireless puck it sits on so I've thought about making a small case that holds it next to the charging puck which is fed off a USB cable hanging from my backpack strap. This way I can simply set it to stay awake while externally powered and not have to turn it on.

The Android demo app is ready for review in its preliminary form. Sorry had no chance to polish it well, broke my shoulder, but it should work to most of what we discussed. See the details here https://github.com/halxinate/gyronav There will be a list of files / folders there above the readme file content, just click the app-release.apk from your phone to download and install it (the rest is for developers). Your phone must be set to allow installing from unknown sources first: System Settings / Security / Unknown Sources / Check

Navigation system that works without batteries

"pans, zooms, and rotations are performed without image degradation"

http://blog.owareusa.com/2013/08/05/navigation-system-that-works-without-batteries/

...and weights hundreds tons just for the CONUS down to the typical gMaps 1:200 scale, doesn't show your position, requires weeks to flip to the page with your location, obsolete the day you bought it, hard to edit or annotate for more than a couple of times, needs a flashlight to work with in the dark, needs a compass to align with the terrain...