Opinions about the onX map app?
Elk
Contributors to this thread:
Are the onX apps accurate when going from public to private land? Or is there something better?
They're all only going to be as accurate as the source info which is typically county and state GIS Info. The property lines are just approximate and are not actually land surveys. Some areas might be very close and some areas could be hundreds of feet off. User beware.
OnX has been pretty spot on for me.
I like it. I also have Gaia. I like and use them both. I also have Earthmate that goes with my InReach. I like to load off grid maps and use each of them in different situations, and to compare, when in the field.
What Cheesehead said. Sometimes close, sometimes not, but hell even if you have a legal description, title insurance and you are a land surveyor surveyor, borders and fences aren't in the right spot on a regular basis (the more rural, I'd bet the more discrepancies so it's all suspect). I would think if your only concern was accidental trespass the GIS data would be good enough and if properties are not marked even if you did trespass, there wouldn't be a lot of financial penalty if you're reasonably trying not to trespass. No 1st hand experience with that issue, just what I'd guess.
Mike is correct. Only as good as the data they get and that is a minimum of a year old. I have seen the lines be exactly on and I have seen them hundreds of feet off. At my house it's well over a hundred feet off.
In the montains, probably not a big deal. Other parts of the country it could be a hornets nest.
Everywhere I've used it it's pretty darn accurate, I certainly wouldn't go without it in Colorado or Wyoming anymore...
Never had any real issues with OnX. It’s probably saved me a time or two. Gaia looks great as well, but haven’t paid for a premium account with them.
Wouldn't be without at least OnX, it's good mapping software.
I have noticed that if I down load 'Off Grid' map (s) they are very accurate but the area's that still how out side the download map (s) are about 1/2 a mile off. This is in area's that have no cell/internet/wi-fi coverage.
I just got back from a remote area in Nevada and I experienced this, although not a big deal, in a sense, if I had more private ground around it may have been.
Good luck, Robb
Recently I called the Game Warden of the unit I will be sheep hunting about a piece of property that my maps including OnX show as National Forest. Someone has marked the access to it with private property signs. His answer to my question was to ask me if I have OnX because that what they go by to determine boundaries.
I know game warden in Wyoming 2 years ago told me the same thing as JohnMC...If Onx shows you are on public, that is what we go by also. I love it..
I love it. Is it "perfect"? Probably not. Is it as close as most of us can realistically get to both seeing a line and our relationship to it? I think so. I know in situations where I can clearly see how the line on OnX matches a real world line I can see, it's been close enough that you would have to be a massive weasel to do more than say: "Hey, buddy, you are pretty close to the property line there", unless it was posted amazingly well (in which case, the app wouldn't matter!)
Will, in some parts of the west there are some massive weasels! I once had a gentleman ask me what I was doing on his BLM land, and state trust lands? That's where things can get crazy! :-)
As for OnX, I love it as well. Probably the best $70 I spend every year for hunting. The offline maps are awesome.
Thanks for all replies. Going to down load.
Haven't tried the download maps yet, but when OnX has a cell signal it's been GREAT and right on the spot. Overlays BLM, state, couty, town and federal land and private, Includes game areas and walk-in areas.
One thing it won't help me with, and I just have to figure out the rules, but a numbered/public road that goes through a gate to private land, hmmmmm..... Not sure what to do. One spot I am curious about the land is private and there's "no trespassing" signs, but they are not on the gate and not on the road, but 20 feet off the road in the grass where OnX says it's private. About 1/2 mile further down that road is more public/BLM land. Guess I need to call a GF officer and ask him!
Onx isn’t a road map nor a source for public/private road easements. The local BLM can tell you if a road has a BLM easement and the county can tell you if it’s a county road.
How many of you guys have gone completely to the app vs. GPS and chip!
Image quality on OnX has gone down way down on downloaded maps. Something about having to use Google imagery vs what they used to use. I’ve been having issues ever since. Accuracy has always been spot on for where I’m hunting. Jut taking way Lin get to pull up maps and they are blurry a lot of the times too. Anyone use BaseMap? I have the free version and the imagery is really good. Haven’t tried it no service areas.
Should mention I use that app almost everyday and am a fan. Just don’t like the way the new images come through.
Brotsky - that's a good point, land use does seem a LOT more dicey out west than here in the north east...
I use GPS as backup - IE, it mostly stay's in my bag in case something happens and I need it. Otherwise, it's app...
Use it in 5 different states. App and on PC. Hard to beat.
Use it in four states, pleased with the different functions.
I've shifted to only using the app as well...
I switched from using the chip on my rino to app on phone. My rino screen is too small and cannot zoom/move by screen touch. Just need to remember to download maps before you go for locations w/o cell reception.
My son is currently looking for a house/property. He uses it all the time for that as well.
I've used OnX in multiple states and I love it too. I still carry my Garmin 64ST GPS but I rarely pull it out of my pack anymore.
It wasn't my intent in my earlier post to criticize OnX or any other mapping app for that matter, I just wanted to point out that the lines could be off a considerable distance in some locations and users should be aware of that possibility. I guess it's the land surveyor in me talking...
Cheesehead, no need to apologize for your 1st post. You were stating the facts. Here in Colo. the USFS; CPW & BLM Law Enforcement guys, are issued & use OnXmaps. Only to be proven time & again, that in "certain places" OnX can be inaccurate. In reference to one instance... OnX is off 1/4 mile for many miles, the length of an entire township. Between private & BLM lands vs the accurate work of past & present day land surveyors. So Cheesehead Mike is correct.
All three of the phone app companies have a trial period. I would use that option and see which one works for you.
Is it true that "OnX is off..." is not really the truth, it's the data OnX pulls is off? Or is OnX actually making a mistake? fine line I realize, but if it's the source data then all mapping systems will be off
Yeah Bob, that was my point. OnX or any other mapping app are not making a mistake. The inaccuracy is due to the lack of accuracy of the data that OnX and others acquire from government sources. I'm a recently retired County Surveyor and one of my responsibilities was preparing and maintaining our County GIS parcel map database so I'm aware of some of the challenges. Fortunately in my County the County Surveyor was involved with the creation of the data since day one and therefore our data is very accurate. That's not necessarily the case in every part of the country. It's very expensive to survey every section of land and then create a GIS database based on those surveys. In areas where the GIS database was not based on actual land surveys, the data (which is the basis of OnX and other mapping apps) will be less accurate.
One thing I do know is that I can’t say enough about their customer service! I have an OnX subsctrion but also have an older product/download that I was having problems with on my Garmin.. Didn’t expect a lot since it’s been over 5 years ago and wasn’t their fault but they responded back within hours and asked for my shipping address - within a business day I got a shipping notification for a rpl card/product. That’s customer service!
It's a great tool for sure. I always carry my gps just double check. One area it still lacks is land ownership. Ya it gots all my neighbors in town but then theres 10,000+ acre ranches that are blank. Here in NM with all the rancher unit wide tags it would be nice to have them identified on onx.
I typically have my GPS and mark "truck" on it. From that I figure I can find it :-)
I use OnX on my phone while actually hunting/scouting to make sure I know where I can't go.
Don't and won't own a GPS, have always considered them (at civilian level) a total waste of money; 70% of the time I've been around them they are a black comedy of errors.
I love the OnX app though... especially the tracker, turn it on and go hunt, when your trying to keep the wind right in the mountains the tracker can make crazy looking trails, it makes me laugh. Before bombing off after a bugle, it is sometimes nice to peak at the layered sat./topo. to confirm what is in front of you. Anyone else notice how many places are grown out compared to the satellite imagery?
Not sure how you could consider GPS a total waste of money, especially back before the days of phone apps. GPS on conjunction with a compass and a good map has saved me a lot of work and allowed me to navigate precisely to parts unknown or while packing elk meat in the dark, plotting out the least strenuous route, finding and returning to specific locations, etc, etc, etc....
GPS a waste of money? Lol. That statement is in the running for the most incorrect thing on internet this year.
I've found a map and compass a waste of time and space. Guess it's all personal preference. I used the crap outta my Garmin Montana before the phone apps came along. It's now sitting here waiting for me to sell it. The phone app gets used on my bike, my atv, and it's in my pocket when I'm off the road and out hunting.
You can now take and old phone, with no data plan, gut it, add one of the gps apps to it and have a full featured gps for like $50. That's the end of Garmin's gps sales. They haven't come out with a new one in years and the last one that had potential, the Montera, they shelved after the 1st year.
First time I used a gps was back in '08 in a Colorado unit I'd never been to. Picked a spot on the map I wanted to go to in the morning, put the coordinates in the little yellow etrex, and took off in the dark the next morning. A couple miles later, I was standing on my waypoint at the end of the ridge I wanted to be on just before daylight. It was like a miracle!
GPS was a miracle back in about 1990 or whenever it became available.
For navigating in the woods your only other option was a topo map, a compass, and some orienteering skills.
For offshore fishing the forerunner to GPS was Loran-C, which became available in about 1970 (but wasn't available inland). Before that captains would take a course on their compass, set their rpms, and time the distance.
Since GPS is in our phones we'd be fools not to use it.
BTW: I've been using Gaia instead of OnX. In addition to navigating through mountains it also allows downloading of NOAA charts (free) so that I can easily navigate my boat to a shipwreck or anything else 30 miles offshore, WAY out of the sight of land. The Gaia app is a great backup to a boat's chartplotter.
For you guys that have an iPhone or an IPad and are willing to pay $100 for Onx and $40 for GAIA you should look at an app called IHIKE GPS for $10. You can download USGA as well as Forrest Service map. USGA in 25K (7.5min) 100K 250K.