Avenza needs Android Auto compatibility
Avenza desperately needs Android Auto compatibility (with the ability to lock "North Up", btw) and I'd like to elaborate why.
I just finished another extended, backcountry road trip in Oregon, and I used two means of navigation when travelling offline (which was most of the time):
Gaia GPS and a PAPER Benchmark atlas.
I WISH I could buy and use the Avenza version of the excellent Benchmark atlas wherever I roam, but I can't, because Avenza is not (yet) compatible with Android Auto.
If Avenza was Android Auto compatible, I would make it my primary means of navigation, all the time, because nobody beats Avenza for the library of maps that are available.
Instead, I am paying almost $60 a month for Gaia GPS, because I can see the detailed map on my dash screen as I travel. Sure, Gaia also can make waypoints, record tracks, etc. too, but I don't really need all those fancy features. All I really want is a clean, detailed, digital map on the vehicle's navigation screen that shows my location, and can do so even when offline.
Avenza risks being relegated to irrelevancy (like paper topo maps were) by not being compatible with these modern navigation systems. Every new car out there now has a huge screen and people expect their map apps to display on that screen. Not to mention the enormous surge in popularity of vehicle-based travel (i.e., "overlanding"), which has done for vehicle-based exploration what the backpacking surge in the 1970's did to footpaths.
And because Avenza is not available on that screen, users are forced to find alternatives (like Gaia, onXmaps, etc., all of which are fine for particular activity types, but require the user to remember to download offline maps before leaving service, and lack the immense library that Avenza has. Those apps are fine for what they were made for, but they are not a map only, which is what we want when exploring off the beaten path by vehicle.
Android Auto compatibility should be your TOP PRIORITY. Maybe it is, but I'm not hearing much about it.
TAKE MY MONEY: get that Android Auto compatibility going, and do not dally. Thanks!
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