Offline maps and a paper backup for road trip navigation
Download offline maps for every region, put the route on a second phone and carry a printed map with addresses and bookings. How to test the setup at home.
Phone navigation works well until the signal drops, the battery runs low or the phone slides under a seat at the wrong moment. On a trip with many stops and some remote roads, set navigation up so it keeps working when one part fails.
Download offline maps for every region
Most map apps let you save an area for offline use. Do this at home on wifi, not in a car park after you notice there is no signal. Save each region the route passes through, with some margin around it, and check that the downloaded maps include the smaller roads you need as well as the main highways.
A few things to check before you leave:
- Offline areas in some apps expire after a set time. Note when, and refresh them if the trip is long.
- Search may work differently offline. Save every stop as a favourite or pin while you still have signal.
- Offline routing may not include live traffic or closures, so allow extra time on days you rely on it.
Put the route on a second device
If two people travel, download the same maps on both phones. If one phone breaks or runs flat, the other takes over. A car charger, a cable that fits your phone and a mount so the driver isn't holding the phone are part of the same setup.
Carry a paper backup
A printed road map or atlas of the region costs little and never runs out of battery. It is also better than a phone for seeing the whole route at once, which makes detours and changes of plan easier to judge.
What to put on paper
- The day-by-day route, marked in pen on the map.
- The address and phone number of each night's accommodation.
- Booking references, ferry times and anything else with a fixed time.
- Fuel or charging stops on the long stretches.
A single printed page per day, kept in a folder in the glovebox, covers most of this. The article on fuel and charging stops explains how to find the gaps worth marking.
Test it before you rely on it
Put the phone in flight mode at home and try to navigate from your first night's address to the second. If anything is missing, you find out while you can still fix it. It takes ten minutes and saves a lot of guessing at a junction with no signal.
Where to go next
If your itinerary lives in an app, find out whether it works offline and what it includes before you go. Wanderlog, for example, lists offline access among its features on some plans, so check the current terms on its site. Whatever you use, keep the paper copy as well.
