Cycling used to be an interesting sport back in the day when smartphones weren’t a thing. You had to carry maps with you. Imagine having to stop, dropping your cadence to a zero, getting off your bicycle and opening up a huge map to find where you need to go. Oh wait, can you even find where you are on the map?
Today, with smartphones, you don’t even have to get off your bicycle. There are inventions that strap the phone to your bike’s frame and allow you to use it without complications. You can even browse through interesting betting info on Betminded without stopping for even a second.
If you want to navigate properly, you still need the right software and not all the software is the same. Here are the best navigation apps for cyclists.
Google Maps
Why Google Maps, of all things? Because it’s free and you can use it all over the world. That is one of the best reasons, not to mention that it is accurate. While you will not have all the greatest routes unless you upload them yourself, you will still have maps of every location in the world.
Strava
This is the go-to cyclist app for many cyclists. You can post your own routes and see others’ routes. You can compete with them and post the results of your ride, to see whether you can beat their records. This app is a great navigation app and a kind of a social media app, where you still get to interact with others. You can follow your friends and see their riding history, maybe getting a few tips on what your next destination should be.
Maps.me
We all love open source technology and Maps.me uses open source maps to provide you with offline maps of any country. This means that if you are outside your country and do not want to spend a ton of money by accessing the internet, you can use this app to navigate your way. Since the maps are open source, more and more routes can be added to them, which is essential because many apps lack trail routes.
Viewranger
Do you want detailed topographic maps? Check. This app has a free and premium version, much like every other app which is not Google Maps or Maps.me, and it offers topographic maps of various countries.
It also allows you to find the routes posted by other people in the area. You can search locally or globally, it’s your choice.
These are some of the best navigation maps you need as a cyclist. You don’t need all of them as only one or two will suffice, depending on your needs and preferences. There are other apps, but these ones offer the most, and it is the best to stick to the essentials.