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Subject Topic: What driving apps do you use in France? Post Reply Post New Topic
20/7/2024 at 5:38pm
 Location: south west
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View suechick43's Profile View Profile   Reply to suechick43 Reply   Quote suechick43 Quote  
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Hi,
We used to use a driving app which you could overlay on google maps, which gave you the speed you were doing in Km per hour and it would turn red if you went over the speed limit.
My OH is trying to find the same type of driving app but this time he needs one that can 'shout at you', his words not mine! when you are speeding as his eyesight has deteriorated and he can't read the app so well.
Can any of you help point us in the direction of any particular app that may help?

-------------
sueze


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20/7/2024 at 5:48pm
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The stand alone satnavs have the facility you seek. They can even be customised.

My son had the voice of MrT from the A team which would shout " Slow down fool!", which was quite funny the first 20 times you heard it


20/7/2024 at 6:53pm
 Location: London
 Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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I mostly use 'Magic Earth' sat nav app on my phone, it'll verbally NAG you in a thousand and one ways if you set it to! - all sorts of warnings if you want.

Free to use, maps can be downloaded to phone, so don't need to use precious/expensive data when abroad and doesn't stop navigating when the phone signal disappears, set the speed to MPH or KPH as desired. Vehicle can be set to car-caravan/MH (Truck) with dimensions, weights, speed restrictions, etc. to customise routes. Integrates into car system if possible and operates just as onboard system does, turning off radio to give directions, warnings etc.

https://www.magicearth.com/

You don't say what vehicle you have, but mine has an electronic display dash which can be set to MPH or KPH, and 'reads' road speed signs and pings warnings at you if you exceed them, but that needs setting to 'on' on the dash menu! You may have the same.


via mobile 21/7/2024 at 9:47am
 Location: County Kildare Ireland EU.
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I use Navmii if the vehicle doesn't have sat nav. It has speed warning and is accurate. I tend not to use it much as most cars have sat nav and I use road signs for speed warnings.

-------------
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via mobile 21/7/2024 at 10:09am
 Location: Ayrshire
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Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 20/7/2024
I mostly use 'Magic Earth' sat nav app on my phone, it'll verbally NAG you in a thousand and one ways if you set it to! - all sorts of warnings if you want.

Vehicle can be set to car-caravan/MH (Truck) with dimensions, weights, speed restrictions, etc. to customise routes. Integrates into car system if possible and operates just as onboard system does, turning off radio to give directions, warnings etc.

https://www.magicearth.com/




I downloaded it from the App store as it sounded useful for the MH, given we have to watch for low railway bridges etc. Nowhere to set the vehicle type or dimensions, however, so I’ll stick to my 1:50K maps & Google. Maybe i have to use the website rather than the app.

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2024 = 20 sites / 41 nights. 2023 = 9/23. 2022 = 13/35. 2021 = 11/29. 2020 = 4/20. 2019 = 13/35. 2018 = 20/33. 2017 = 10/22. 2016 = 19/33. 2015 = 15 sites / 27 nights. Didn't count 1976 to 2014.


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21/7/2024 at 10:29am
 Location: London
 Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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Quote: Originally posted by Fiona W on 21/7/2024
......
I downloaded it from the App store as it sounded useful for the MH, given we have to watch for low railway bridges etc. Nowhere to set the vehicle type or dimensions, however, so I’ll stick to my 1:50K maps & Google. Maybe i have to use the website rather than the app.



You need to go into app Set Up menu - Navigation - Truck. There you can set up all the relevant dimensions, weights, max speed etc. I know 'Truck' is not a intuitive category name, but it lets you do all the necessary settings for caravan/MH.

As a Sat Nav app, it's about the most customisable one I've come across, so many things you can 'tweak' to your personal tastes and needs.


via mobile 21/7/2024 at 11:30am
 Location: Hatfield Peverel Essex
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Just road and town name signs and a map. What else do you need??
Sometimes use the satellite option when getting close to final destination.
DaveS1


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21/7/2024 at 1:00pm
 Location: London
 Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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Quote: Originally posted by DaveS1 on 21/7/2024
Just road and town name signs and a map. What else do you need??
Sometimes use the satellite option when getting close to final destination.
DaveS1



I can think of a host of things you may need! I've looked at countless routes that have potential for too narrow roads, too low bridges, too steep hills, no where to stop for a break, no where to refuel where you can physically drag the caravan through, etc. etc.

Often found that a bit of research (and often the route picked by a sat nav) shows that it's better to approach a campsite from a less than obvious direction, even though greater distance, because of more suitable roads! I'd rather drive further on larger roads than mile upon mile of single track roads with potential for oncoming traffic and passing problems. Straightforward A-B route planning on a map alone really is making life potentially very difficult for yourself, if not in some instances disastrous! You can certainly use a map for many sections of motorway and A-road on the assumption of safe and unchallenging passage, but anything else brings risk.

I've found most campsites are in relatively remote places, and accessed by some less than ideal roads, and many a campsite has been dismissed from contention as just too risky/hard to access (with a large caravan) in my research. I'm no shrinking violet when it comes to where I'm capable of towing the caravan, and done plenty of Welsh/Devon/Cumbria/Peak District lanes, but REALLY want to know what I'm setting myself up for, and a plain map doesn't do that! Maybe it's just me that seeks the more out of the way places, I'd certainly be inclined to shy away from sites that were 'just off the motorway' or in the 'environs of large towns' etc.

It probably doesn't help that I rarely have a passenger to map read whilst I drive, so the moving map with exact location marker and wittering instruction of a sat nav is really beneficial to me.

Sat Navs are flawed for sure, and need a bit of back up research, but back to the days of only having an old fashioned map to guide you, not for me thank you! - and yes, I'm WELL old enough to have had no choice but to use maps when driving, and I don't want to go back to those days, even though I'm more than capable of reading maps properly!

When not towing the caravan, I'm a lot more sympathetic to maps, and have driven a solo car down some barely passable tracks in Spain and on Greek Islands, but with the caravan, give me some higher technology!


21/7/2024 at 4:47pm
 Location: south west
 Outfit: Rialto caravan combi tr quecha tents
View suechick43's Profile View Profile   Reply to suechick43 Reply   Quote suechick43 Quote  
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Hi,
Thank you for your suggestions they have really helped, we have gone with the magic earth app.
We have a Vauxhall Vivaro long wheel base van, plus a small caravan and we
always use the sat nav with a back-up map (literally, as I have always wanted to be a rally car navigator since seeing the start of the Dakar Rally at Crystal Palace when I was little!).

Personally I find the display for Km/per hour on the dash very difficult to read as it is very pale, especially in strong sunlight. So it not about not taking heed of the signs, it's that we can't read the dash to match them up.

Also the sat nav tech can be great when it lets you know of delays and roadworks.

Thanks again and my OH says 'Thanks' too, he's into gadgetty stuff so this has been a bonus.


-------------
sueze


via mobile 21/7/2024 at 11:45pm
 Location: Ayrshire
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Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 21/7/2024
Quote: Originally posted by Fiona W on 21/7/2024
......
I downloaded it from the App store as it sounded useful for the MH, given we have to watch for low railway bridges etc. Nowhere to set the vehicle type or dimensions, however, so I’ll stick to my 1:50K maps & Google. Maybe i have to use the website rather than the app.



You need to go into app Set Up menu - Navigation - Truck. There you can set up all the relevant dimensions, weights, max speed etc. I know 'Truck' is not a intuitive category name, but it lets you do all the necessary settings for caravan/MH.

As a Sat Nav app, it's about the most customisable one I've come across, so many things you can 'tweak' to your personal tastes and needs.



Ok - thanks for your help!
(And it might have taken a while for that menu to load: it is there now but wasn’t visible this morning).

-------------
2024 = 20 sites / 41 nights. 2023 = 9/23. 2022 = 13/35. 2021 = 11/29. 2020 = 4/20. 2019 = 13/35. 2018 = 20/33. 2017 = 10/22. 2016 = 19/33. 2015 = 15 sites / 27 nights. Didn't count 1976 to 2014.


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22/7/2024 at 3:40am
 Location: Devizes Wiltshire
 Outfit: MWB VW Crafter PVC
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I used Google Map and it worked well for me for my two European trips to date.

I do not tow and my van is only a medium wheel base standard VW Crafter.

As for speed limit while driving, I can set and change it via the multi-function steering wheel in my van.

DK

-------------
* Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest And Play! *
- 2025 - inc. FR & DE
- 2024 - 10/56 inc. FR & NL
- 2023 - 48 inc. FR
- 2022 - 49
- 2021 - 34
* Ex-tenter & solo female camper *
* Treat life events like a dog: If you can't eat it, play with it, or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away! *


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via mobile 22/7/2024 at 7:49am
 Location: County Kildare Ireland EU.
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Depending on the age,you can change the digital display on a vivaro (and many other vehicles) between mph and kmh. Only digital, not mechanical Speedos.
I used to do it with my motorbike travelling to NI and back. With the bike it was a simple scroll and button push. The vivaro is a bit more complicated. This is for a 2015 vivaro. You can use this to turn back and forward between the two. Over here we tend to need this sort of thing on cars imported from the UK. Otherwise you get used to using the speed limit dots and mental calculations as , yes, the kmh figures are so much smaller.

you turn the key to off then:

Press the top button (for the trip computer) on the end of the wiper stalk.
Hold it in as you turn the key to on (but don't start engine).
The 0 in the speedometer will flash keep the button held in
The mph symbol will change to km/h - keep the button held in as it flashes (it will flash for about 10/15 secs).
It will stop flashing and be set at km/h.
Let go of button now.

-------------
Hypercamp Alaska
Vango Force 10 mk3
Vango F10 Helium 1
Coleman Cobra Pro 3
Coleman Cobra 2
Naturehike Star River 2
Eureka! Solitaire
Dutch army goretex bivvy bag


via mobile 22/7/2024 at 10:12am
 Location: Shropshire
 Outfit: Bailey Phoenix GT 75
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Ww use the satnav in the car it's pretty good. We also have a map to look at the big picture plus a Michelin atlas for its good detail.
Our Hyundai shows the speed limit in mph on the dash in a small speed sign. It converts it, plus it changes to red if you go over! You can change to kph if you want to.
We have no problem switching the limit to mph in our heads, comes from serving with the RAF in Germany and countless trips abroad.
Older Car speedos used to have mph and kph on the dial. Not so much on the digitally generated ones.

-------------
DS-There's more to life than football!!!


22/7/2024 at 10:05pm
 Location: south west
 Outfit: Rialto caravan combi tr quecha tents
View suechick43's Profile View Profile   Reply to suechick43 Reply   Quote suechick43 Quote  
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Hi,

We have it sorted now and the app shows and warns us of speeding, the map is quite clear too.
Our vivaro is older and only has the dial for display.

This is what i like about this site, you get loads of info.


-------------
sueze



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