BaseMap Staff Review Thread

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robby denning

robby denning

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Hey guys, I purchased BaseMap 2 days ago based on this thread and am having some issues. Primarily, everything is loading so slow it is unusable. I’m on an iPhone 8, have strong WiFi and full gps signal, been trying to mess with it but I feel like I’m waiting for maps to load on a dial-up connection in the 90s. Anyone else having this issue?
Not at all! My maps download fine with wifi or even OK cell service from mountain top. Have you reached out to Basemap? I'll send them this thread so they know your issue. We'll get this fixed.
 
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robby denning

robby denning

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I am a former USMC Naval Flight Officer (navigator/weapons systems etc) so I'm very experienced at various navigation systems (GPS, INS, radar, dead reckoning, etc) and admittedly tumble headlong down the rabbit holes when it comes to the nit-noid details of using the respective system. I am all about planning out where I want to go before I go AND especially knowing where I am once in the woods. I used Onx last year and had no issues. A huge leap from paper maps and/or GPS. I liked everything about it except the price...basically $30/annually for one state's info. For S&G's I decided to get a subscription to BaseMap and I am super glad I did. The functionality of if (on the whole) far surpasses OnX. The choice of various basic map data alone make the difference for me. When coupled with the season/harvest data (that basically amounts to a GoHunt-lite data set) it outclasses OnX completely. I agree with Les Welch's system critiques (hot buttons on screen, incorporating a UTM option, and readily available cursor coordinates (whether in Lat/Long or UTM). I would think the GIS engineers at BaseMap could add those relatively easily.

I've used BaseMap on a few hikes so far and have had zero in-the-field issues or surprises so far. I am eager to use the offline downloaded maps feature....will give that a try next week in the southern end of the Idaho Panhandle Zone.

When you consider what you get for the money (nationwide parcel ownership, harvest and season data ...for an extra $9.99 a year) BaseMap is the way to go....especially if you hunt multiple states.
Hey, have you had a chance to use the offline option? Any issue downloading maps as far as speed?
 
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I used the offline maps on a scouting trip in Unit 6 last month. No issues in terms of the Apps' functionality. I did, however, forget to activate all the layers that I would have liked to use in the field. Before you download a map, I would recommend activating everything you think you might need/want when offline. That will make the download size bigger which equates to a smaller area depicted per downloaded map...but it will be rich with details. That means you'll be downloading more maps that overlap or are adjacent to each other. The storage size available on your phone will dictate the limits of what you can take with you. I download a big overview map (with less details included) of the area I'll be in and then do several smaller more detail-rich maps that cover the whole area of interest.

I've not encountered any downloading speed issues. My home wi-fi is fairly robust so downloading the data did not take a ridiculous amount of time. DM me if you have any other questions.
 
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robby denning

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Time to turn my onx auto renew off then....
I’ve used them head to head a lot and find Basemap is a great value. I had the one glitch right out of the gate and had to delete the app and reload, but nothing since and I’ve got about 20 days in the hills use on it. The tilt option is the difference for me. onX is sweet but I like the tilt.
 

Trial153

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I’ve used them head to head a lot and find Basemap is a great value. I had the one glitch right out of the gate and had to delete the app and reload, but nothing since and I’ve got about 20 days in the hills use on it. The tilt option is the difference for me. onX is sweet but I like the tilt.
Sounds good. I have had good luck with OnX, really no complaints, other then to say it's kind of expensive for what it is for the full lower 48 version.
From a value standpoint vs compatible programs onx seems to need to add some value to their equation.
Same can be said for gohunt vs some recent competitors.
Thanks for all the work on the reviews, it's much appreciated
 

Travis Bertrand

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I’m digging the basemap and they just updated it to allow unlimited offline maps. I never did reach the limit earlier but ya never know. I like the season overlay. If gohunt and onx had a baby, you would get basemap. The layering is completely different than onx as I always seem to click on a layer to add to my favorites vs adding it to the map. This is a user error just because I’m used to onx.

Uploading waypoints via gpx is a breeze on the desktop. It makes it handy for transferring waypoints from old devices/ apps over. You can also download waypoints but I havenot tested that out yet.

So far so good! I’ll be using this app and onx side by side on my hunt next week and will report back!


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wapitibob

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Downloading maps at a snails pace. The different layers absolutely kill the download speed. I had to turn all of them off but the unit boundary and a small winter range overlay and it still took 5 min for a 6 mile map.
I do like the new feature of having all maps available off line. That was a deal killer.

Ended up doing a dozen 6 mile maps for WY. It'll take 30+ for OR so that may not happen.
 
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robby denning

robby denning

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Downloading maps at a snails pace. The different layers absolutely kill the download speed. I had to turn all of them off but the unit boundary and a small winter range overlay and it still took 5 min for a 6 mile map.
I do like the new feature of having all maps available off line. That was a deal killer.

Ended up doing a dozen 6 mile maps for WY. It'll take 30+ for OR so that may not happen.
Waptibob, hmmmm, good point, but I don't go crazy on layers--unit boundary, trails/roads, Google with labels--and it's taking about as long as you said. To me, 5 minutes isn't that long. I haven't uploaded a map on onX in a while, is it alot faster than that?
 
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robby denning

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Ok, was hoping BaseMap would be chiming in so while we wait, I just ran a head-to-head with onX on download speed. It’s not completely balanced as I don’t have the same number of layers turned on in each app. Both were done in ok WiFi during my workout today.

With 9 layers on in onX, I had a 1:40 download. You can see the file size of 213MB in screenshot
c62f2cc9cf4bb0fb7700ef49808aecd8.jpg


With 6 layers on in Basemap, I had a 7:11 download. You can see file size was over 850MB, so that’s probably why
99ee711ea1cc9236a7f2d61cc7477caf.jpg


Until we hear from Basemap, I can only guess that it’s the quality of the graphic (almost GE quality) that’s making the file so big, not the number of layers. Only a guess.

I can honestly say that if the graphic quality on Basemap is costing me five more minutes of download time, it’s totally worth it.


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wapitibob

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It looked like a lot of the time was spent after the map was downloading and it was compiling or something like that and yes the file size are substantially different. Not sure it’s an apples to apples comparison .
 
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Not at all! My maps download fine with wifi or even OK cell service from mountain top. Have you reached out to Basemap? I'll send them this thread so they know your issue. We'll get this fixed.
Figured out I just had to many layers on for it to load at any reasonable rate. Little disappointing but understandable. I’ve messed around with it some more and really like the 3D tilt. I am having issues on my iPad. I like to do a lot of scouting on my iPad for the bigger screen and none of the layers will work will on 3D earth. I tried with just state boundaries and just unit boundaries, nothing comes up. Not sure if this is known of iPad app has different limitations than iPhone? I still think it’s worth $30 though!
 

BaseMap

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Hey guys, I purchased BaseMap 2 days ago based on this thread and am having some issues. Primarily, everything is loading so slow it is unusable. I’m on an iPhone 8, have strong WiFi and full gps signal, been trying to mess with it but I feel like I’m waiting for maps to load on a dial-up connection in the 90s. Anyone else having this issue?

If you are still having issues, email us at [email protected]. We do have an update coming that will enchanted performance.
 

mitchellbk

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When adding Markers to the map and setting the Privacy to public the only way they show up on my follower's map (I'm following them also) is if I share the location through text message or email.

Is this intended workflow or am I missing a step so anything that's public will automatically show on my followers map?
 
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robby denning

robby denning

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When adding Markers to the map and setting the Privacy to public the only way they show up on my follower's map (I'm following them also) is if I share the location through text message or email.

Is this intended workflow or am I missing a step so anything that's public will automatically show on my followers map?

I believe that is correct, you have to send it through a text. On X is the same way.


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