These products are apps which you get from Playstore, Apple Store, Windows Store to install onto your personal device (tablet, phone, laptop, iPad etc).
ExplorOz Traveller App
Developed by the operators of the ExplorOz website, the Traveller app has fast become the favourite. Boasting an average lifetime app rating of 4.3 out of 5 consistently across the past 7 years, the app has been updated (free) over 35 times with numerous new features added, plus constant attention to tweaking the program for optimum performance and compatibility with new OS releases. The Traveller app uses offline vector maps (
EOTopo mapset) that guarantee the best detail and high resolution imaginable. Included is the POI (
Places) database that is the best verified set of
campsite and point of interest/facility listings. Unlike sites listed in Wikicamps that use generic descriptions, or just user reviews, the ExplorOz
Places dataset contains hand-curated, verified, detailed site descriptions prepared by Australian travel authors that provide information you won't easily find elsewhere. Many sites contain historical facts and references that have been documented specifically to suit the ExplorOz demographic rather than a mainstream demographic.
ExplorOz Traveller is also the only navigation app in the app stores that is truly Australian. The ExplorOz business owner is the app developer, who also manages the production of the offline mapset, and if you happen to need to seek support, you'll be communicating directly with the developer - not via a automated system or foreign support desk. The developers (
David & Michelle Martin) are passionate Australian outback adventures with 28 years of 4WD and camping experience. They have travelled extensively over the years, through every state and along just about every track imaginable. Their experience shows in this app's features design.
Traveller is also the only navigation app that is available for 3 major app store platforms with an identical app experience. Purchase of the app is $59.99 and includes exceptional online maps with Level 18 zoom, plus the LoRes
EOTopo map of Australia for basic offline use however if you need to use the app offline you need to also purchase a licence to download the full
EOTopo mapset for $49.99 (one-time payment, not an annual subscription). You than then download the remaining mappacks that contain the detailed zoom levels required for offline navigation and planning. Once downloaded, the offline
EOTopo mapset is identical to the online
EOTopo mapset covering the whole of Australia and no need to download sections as you need. The detail and accuracy of the app content is excellent and gets rave reviews.
ExplorOz Traveller has the best of many other apps wrapped all into one and most people say its the only mapping & navigation app they need. For further details
check the dedicated
ExplorOz Traveller webpage here -
ExplorOz Traveller.
Independent YouTuber AllOffRoad 4x4 Adventures TV rated it the "Best 4WD Navigation App in Oz".
Check it out here.
Hema Explorer App
In a controversial move, Hema launched into the app scene naming their app with "Explorer", which is very close to the name of the "OziExplorer" mapping software already known in the industry as
well as the name of Australia's most popular 4x4 and camping website "ExplorOz" who also published an app around the same time using the name "ExplorOz Traveller". This confusion of names caught many customers unaware. Despite this, many people bought this app based on the reputation and brand power of Hema who invested heavily in marketing and exposure. However, the Hema Explorer app was a complete disaster and failed to satisfy thousands of buyers who rated the app lower than 2 out of 5 stars in the app store. Despite the original Hema company being Australian, the app was not developed by Australian developers and updates and bug fixes plagued the operation. Many customers were dissatisfied with the maps being "sanitised" (ie missing tracks that appear on other maps such as
EOTopo) and also lacking contrast (hard to define road lines - all washed-out colours). Hema also chose to use a Hema Cloud subscription process with additional costs for those that wanted access to download more detail maps using the Pro Subscription which added an ongoing cost to use rather than the one-time payment option by ExplorOz with the
ExplorOz Traveller app and
EOTopo map download. Hema customers who were happy and could get this app to work suddenly found that OS updates on Android and iOS devices during 2019 were unsupported by Hema so this app eventually became unusable. Much to the dissatisfaction of many Hema customers, Hema's solution was to launch a new app in 2020 rather than fix the broken app.
Hema 4x4 Explorer
This next app by Hema has not received any better positive response in the market than the previous app. Despite moving from raster maps to vector maps (an improvement in theory), the map detail is greatly criticised for being too "sanitised" and lacks contrast at low zoom scales making readability very difficult when driving. Issues with then being charged for the Pro Subscription to access the Hema Cloud remain unchanged. Hema customers still rate this newer app at 2 out of 5 stars in the app stores and comments about no support or poor support are common.
Hema 4WD Maps iOS App
This is a re-packaged version of the Memory-Map app but is only available on iPads. This app uses the old 250K scale Australia Topo map that is exactly the same data as the old NATMAP 250K circa 2008 data. App with Hema maps costs $99. No access to the Memory-Map store to obtain the other files. No access to
EOTopo maps. Nothing exciting here.
Gaia GPS
Gaia GPS is an American made app designed for iOS and Android devices. Whilst it is has some powerful features when online, and offers offline maps of Australia, it does not match the quality of detail and performance that is available in the Australian-made
ExplorOz Traveller app with
EOTopo offline maps. Independent YouTuber AllOffRoad 4x4 Adventures TV recently published a review of it here:
Avenza
Whilst this become popular a few years ago, it is ultimately too much effort downloading all individual maps and the cost and cumbersome setup makes it less appealing than more modern apps such as
ExplorOz Traveller that offer simple click download buttons to access the whole of Australia maps. In addition, it is not Australian made and doesn't offer access to the best maps of Australia that are now available.
Billy Goat
This app like many other cheap apps use the free open source mapping (OSM) which is fine for street level detail in cities etc but when looking at outback and regional areas it is lacking in detail with many known 4WD tracks completely missing. When looking at outback regions you need to zoom in so far before road definitions become visible and then you lose orientation of where you are so it really becomes unusable and is not a suitable navigation app for a 4x4 traveller as a result.
Wikicamps
This app also uses freely available open source mapping which is fine if you're just a casual road tripper and don't care that the maps are incomplete. The problem for navigation in remote areas is that you are simply following a blue dot on the screen with no clear mapping definition so it is easy to take a wrong turn and go down the wrong road/track. The main advantage of Wiki camps is that is it cheap but it's a matter of getting what you pay for. WikiCamps is developed by a US company that sells franchise app modules to different user-bases. ie. WikiCamps Australia manage the content verification and customer service in Australia but they are not the app developer and don't have any control over app features, bug fixes etc. This has recently resulted in a major fault with the 2023 app update which has left many customers very unhappy with an unusable app and lost data.
Another problem is the use of generalised site descriptions, rather than bespoke curated descriptions. To make any sense of a site's potential to be suitable you have to read the user reviews which means you are relying on highly subjective information that may not be relevant to your needs. Free and low-cost apps all suffer from this same issue. The content in this app seems to focus on tar-accessible destinations and
services so it really attracts a different sort of app user.
Memory-Map
Memory-Map is a free app for iOS, Windows and Android but requires purchase of maps via a portal. The NZ/Australian company had an abrupt withdrawal from the Australian market sometime in 2019 and a lot of customers were unable to access their maps via the Australian portal or gain any support rendering their mapping program unusable. The situation seems to have been resolved by a takeover by the US operators however no access to good Australian maps such as
EOTopo. The company recently launched a new app called Memory Maps for All but there has been very slow sales and uptake with those that have tried it commenting that the flaws are it is too complicated to use, and the offline maps are inferior to
EOTopo. You may hear recommendations to buy Hema maps to use in the Memory Map for All app but think about it - this means going back to support a company that has let down their customers and is patching one problem with another as the Hema maps are old and outdated yet you'll pay over $100.