Gaia GPS
  • Home
  • Adventures
    • User Stories
    • Activities
      • Backcountry Skiing
      • Boating
      • Emergency Response
      • Fishing
      • Offroading
  • Out and Back Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Earn Your Turns: Learn How to Backcountry Ski…

      January 4, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Lessons from the Trail: Best Out and Back…

      December 28, 2020

      Gaia GPS

      Buried Alive: Bruce Tremper Shares His Avalanche Story

      December 21, 2020

      Gaia GPS

      Avalanche Safety with Snow Science Expert Bruce Tremper

      December 10, 2020

      Backcountry Skiing

      The Best Winter Backcountry Tips from Search and…

      November 23, 2020

      Gaia GPS

      Courtney Dauwalter: From Science Teacher to Endurance Superstar

      November 10, 2020

      Gaia GPS

      2020 Fastest Known Time Round-Up with Buzz Burrell

      October 26, 2020

  • News
    • New Maps
    • New Features
    • Gaia GPS News
  • Shop Swag
Gaia GPS
  • Home
  • Adventures
    • User Stories
    • Activities
      • Backcountry Skiing
      • Boating
      • Emergency Response
      • Fishing
      • Offroading
  • Out and Back Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Earn Your Turns: Learn How to Backcountry Ski…

      January 4, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Lessons from the Trail: Best Out and Back…

      December 28, 2020

      Gaia GPS

      Buried Alive: Bruce Tremper Shares His Avalanche Story

      December 21, 2020

      Gaia GPS

      Avalanche Safety with Snow Science Expert Bruce Tremper

      December 10, 2020

      Backcountry Skiing

      The Best Winter Backcountry Tips from Search and…

      November 23, 2020

      Gaia GPS

      Courtney Dauwalter: From Science Teacher to Endurance Superstar

      November 10, 2020

      Gaia GPS

      2020 Fastest Known Time Round-Up with Buzz Burrell

      October 26, 2020

  • News
    • New Maps
    • New Features
    • Gaia GPS News
  • Shop Swag

Gaia GPS vs. BackCountry Navigator for Android

by Andrew Johnson January 8, 2014
by Andrew Johnson January 8, 2014

Since the dawn of Android, BackCountry Navigator has been the market-leading outdoor app. The developer behind the app took his long experience on Windows and translated that to the new Android platform, and BackCountry Navigator was the best for a long while.

With the latest release of Gaia GPS, things have changed. I can now say Gaia GPS is competitive with BackCountry Navigator in many ways, and overall, the best outdoor GPS app for Android. If you have to make the choice, buy both. If you think I’m wrong, send an email to andrew@gaiagps.com, and I will personally give you a refund.

What Makes Gaia GPS Better

Gaia GPS has many advantages over BackCountry Navigator now, both with regards to speed and performance, and features. Most importantly:

  1. Faster map display
  2. Sync, share, and backup with GaiaCloud
  3. Better maps

Faster Map Display

The most obvious difference between the two apps is that Gaia GPS displays maps smoothly and beautifully, while BackCountry Navigator flashes black and white as you move the map, which creates a jarring and unsatisfying map experience.

Though there are many capabilities that Gaia GPS has that BackCountry does not, it is this basic map display disparity that makes Gaia GPS obviously better on launch. BackCountry Navigator’s developer will have a hard time matching the smooth, openGL-based maps Gaia now offers.

Sync, Share, and Backup with GaiaCloud

The biggest feature difference that sets Gaia GPS aside from BackCountry Navigator is that Gaia GPS works across all of your devices (Android, iOS, and computer).

Similar to DropBox, you can share a short link to any track, waypoint, or photo, and browse your data online at cloud.gaiagps.com. And if you enable GaiaCloud, getting a new Android phone or dropping your smartphone in a river doesn’t wreck your tracks.

Better Maps

Gaia GPS has many map sources that you cannot get in BackCountry Navigator. For example, Gaia includes MapBox cloudless aerial and up-to-date road maps, which we license for use in GaiaPro. Gaia also includes Inland River Charts, Geology Maps, and National Park visitor maps. We are always working to add more public land, charts, boundaries, and other professional map sources to our catalog.

Also, while you have to purchase map packs like “Alaska Public Land” from BackCountry Navigator, Gaia conveniently makes all of this public data available to you without a hassle. You can always view all of the maps we make and license online for free, use them in the apps, and you can view them in layered fashion with a GaiaPro subscription.

Why Gaia GPS Overtook BackCountry Navigator

Bottom line, Gaia GPS performs better than BackCountry Navigator today because we put more effort into Gaia GPS than Crittermap does into BackCountry Navigator. We started out on iPhone, and we focused on making the best iPhone GPS app for years. While we did that, we outsourced the Android development.

As of May, we brought Android development in-house, and we made it our #1 priority. We put nearly 1,000 work hours into Android since then, and we’re not slowing down. Those work hours mostly come from an engineer who last worked at Google for 4 years (CTO and Founder Anna) and our lead developer Jesse, who besides being a great programmer, thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail.

Conclusion

If you start looking into what outdoor GPS app your should buy for your Android, you’ll see several choices come up on Google, including Gaia GPS and BackCountry Navigator. Choose Gaia GPS if you want the best app, and choose BackCountry Navigator if you want the old leader.

I could list a bunch of other features, like weather overlays and heads-up display that you won’t find in BackCountry Navigator either, but it’s really the core mapping and data capabilities that will make Gaia GPS better than BackCountry Navigator over the long haul.

1
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Andrew Johnson

Andrew founded Gaia GPS. He writes code and manages the business.

previous post
EasyTileServer – Serve Your Own Maps
next post
Android Update with GaiaPro, Facebook, Weather Radar, and More

You may also like

Discover New Trails and Review Trip Stats with...

January 14, 2021

Greening Youth Foundation Empowers Youth and Enriches Outdoors

January 13, 2021

Winter Fat Biking Guide

January 5, 2021

Identify Avalanche Terrain with the New High-Res, Worldwide...

January 5, 2021

Earn Your Turns: Learn How to Backcountry Ski...

January 4, 2021

Gaia GPS Year in Review: CarPlay plus New...

December 28, 2020

Lessons from the Trail: Best Out and Back...

December 28, 2020

How to Use Maps to Help Avoid Avalanches

December 22, 2020

Buried Alive: Bruce Tremper Shares His Avalanche Story

December 21, 2020

Find the Deepest, Lightest Powder with the New...

December 17, 2020

Keep in touch

Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

Popular Posts

  • 1

    How to Read Topographic Maps

    October 7, 2020
  • 2

    Forrest Fenn’s Treasure has been Found

    March 12, 2019
  • 3

    How to Save Phone Battery Life in the Backcountry

    August 24, 2020
  • 4

    Gaia GPS and Apple CarPlay Bring Outdoor Maps to Your Dashboard

    February 24, 2020
  • 5

    Easy to Read, Tiny to Download: The All New Gaia Topo

    January 28, 2020

Categories

  • Adventures
  • Android
  • App Comparisons
  • App Updates
  • Backcountry Skiing
  • Boating
  • Company News
  • Emergency Response
  • Featured
  • Fishing
  • Gaia GPS
  • GaiaCloud
  • Hikes
  • How-To
  • Hunting
  • iOS
  • New Features
  • New Maps
  • Newsletter
  • Offroading
  • Out and Back Podcast
  • User Profiles
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • RSS

@2020 - All Right Reserved. Gaia GPS


Back To Top