ROUGHING IT: Be prepared and know the requirements of each app. Update phone software, pre-download maps and hit the road.
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Sleeping bag, check. Tent, check. Flashlight, check. Smart phone, check. A few years ago, the last item on this camping list would not have been included. But with a vast number of lifestyle, navigation and citizen science mobile apps available nowadays, why would you venture out into the wild without a useful set of tools right in the palm of your hand? With the camping season about to heat up in August and September, Scientific American has put together a list of six practical mobile apps for adventurers based on functionality, content, offline performance and user reviews.
Offline capability is especially important because campers do not always have Internet access when they are off the beaten trail. As one developer points out, this has been a challenge. "A data connection is common to all the weather radar apps that are available in the iTunes store," says Joe Sirott, owner of Shuksan Software, LLC, the creator of NOAA Radar iPhone and iPad app.
Another challenge is keeping Apple iOS and Google Android phone software up to date. When testing the iPhone apps on our list, for example, many required iOS 3.0, whereas others needed iOS 4.2 or later.
So, just like any good Boy Scout, be prepared and know the requirements of each app. Update phone software, pre-download maps and hit the road.
View a slide show of screen captures and additional information for each of the six mobile camping apps.
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11 Comments
Add CommentUnacceptable. What ever happened to real books. They don't ever run out of battery power.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisReal books to contain the information that can be contained in a smart phone would weigh far more, even when you consider the weight of the solar charger I also pack. Additionally, the phone has GPS, maps, compass, and serves as an emergency communication device in many circumstances
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI've been camping and hunting for 40+ years and survived quite well without a smartphone. Leave it at the office.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"why would you venture out into the wild without a useful set of tools right in the palm of your hand". Because you're camping, and bringing a smartphone on a camping trip is lame. Period.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo have I. I've also been without a stove quite frequently and for years didn't carry a water filter. There was a time period where I didn't take maps and compass either. I've even gone without tent or sleeping bag. So what? A smartphone is not an essential piece of equipment, but then there is no such thing as a truly essential piece of equipment. A smartphone is a useful piece of equipment, just as most of the other equipment I pack in my bag. If you choose to go without a smartphone or other equipment, bully for you. Going low tech can be a blast, going with nothing but the clothes on your back is also a blast. But there's nothing different about a smartphone that makes it any less legitimate for camping than a stove, water filter or flashlight. You'd have a case if we were talking about spending the camping trip surfing the web, but we're not. A smartphone is just a way of combining several items into a smaller and more capable single item.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is just another tool. I'm sure there were voyagers into the wild after Gutenberg who scoffed at the notion of taking a printed book of useful info. "If it isn't in your head you don't need it!" no doubt they would have said.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA compass, a needless crutch for the directionally-challenged. Matches or lighters are for wimps. Gore-Tex, fiber-fill, foam-cell, carabiners, boots, sunglasses, sunscreen, first-aid kits, freeze-dried foods, all for the lamoids! A GPS: heresy!
A tool is a tool. Use it, don't use it.
A smartphone is just another device as has been very capably stated. The point is to get outside with whatever tools enhance the experience.
JoeL
As I told my son in law when he laughed at my compass,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe battery never goes dead and I always have a signal.
I can vouch for the Gaia GPS app. I have taken it on numerous hiking trips on my iPad, yes my iPad (Strike me down oh lord!) Like others have said its a tool and it works extremely well. The battery life is long, the big antenna picks up a GPS signal under trees, in my back pack and the USGS topo maps are great. Can even load trails not on the map and record where I have been with all the stats (average speed, altitude profile, distance gone etc..) Sure you can do allot of this on a paper map (I always take one for back up) but you can also walk bearfoot, why would you?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOnce you go iPad you wont go back!
If you want to come and see the 'big five' in Africa, I would suggest that you employ a professional guide / hunter.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever even I don't feel completely safe and my iPhone (with a solar charger) in a kit bag is a great comfort.
The Garmap (Garmin) app has the maps of where you are in the bush (no roads !) and a Star tracker is helpful at night sitting around the campfire.
You can use the Sasol eBirds to identify our feathered friends.
If you happen to stand on a snake it is useful to be able to identify it (eSnake) as different snakes have different venom.
When you call for help, you should also be able to identify what tree you have climbed (eTree) to avoid the lions.
I love these apps. They all look useful. The least would be the last one that needs a signal, but even this could be helpful in an area of sporadic connection.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs to folks who crow about their own tech-less prowess and look down on others who would bring a phone, well, I'm always amazed that there are folks who call others "lame" or its equivalent, for using any tool, implement, or other item. It's just bullying, a way to say "I'm better than you are." They can stamp around feeling good about themselves not for their accomplishments, but because they think they're somehow superior. Ridiculous. Relax and enjoy the great outdoors, haters.
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