Family Bushwalks in the Snowy Mountains
Navigation Apps
While you don't need an app to navigate where there's a clear track (most walks), if you do have one then you can follow your progress with respect to waypoints such as the numbered markers on the maps, as well as occasional points of interest.
However, some of the popular walks have off-track variations (K5 The Porcupine, A4 Blue Lake and A5 Mt Stilwell), and three others are substantially off track. For these the available GPX data files include tracks as well as waypoints.
The following table lists a few commonly available apps for your phone, with an acceptable feature set for the free version. The paid version (where applicable) will allow extra functions. Note that when out of mobile range (as for much of KNP) the location service in your phone has to work harder and will likely be slow to update. It may increase battery drain too.
| Feature | GPX Viewer
 |
Gaia GPS
 |
GPX viewer 2
 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating system | Android | Android, iOS | iOS |
| Account needed? | No | Yes | No |
| Upload GPX files | by file | sync from account | by file or URL |
| Offline maps | Paid only | Paid only | Yes, if cached |
| Show current location | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Record current track | Paid only | Yes | Yes? |
| Show course error | Yes | Partial | ? |
| Waypoint style range | Good | Limited | ? |
| Waypoint labels | On map | Tap to see | ? |
| Track styles | Solid colour | Solid colour | ? |
Show course error is an indicator for how far off course (away from the nearest loaded track) your location is. Gaia GPS shows the distance to any waypoint, but requires tap and scroll.
styles refers to style info in the GPX file. Apps have their own waypoint symbols, so different files are provided for each app. The first two apps respect track colour info but not dashed styles. Primary tracks are red or blue; other tracks are brown, orange or magenta.
| Waypoint Type | GPX Viewer | Gaia GPS | GPX viewer 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Numbered markers |  |  | |
| Peaks |  |  | |
| Navigation (junctions etc) |  |  or  | |
| Water crossings |  |  or  | |
| Water source |  |  | |
| Track start/end (matches track colour) |  | N/A | |
| Other waypoints |  |  |
Gaia GPS is inconsistent, sometimes reverting to the default even when a symbol is specified. It also picks keywords out of the description, such as park, bridge or swimming, and displays a matching icon. "Bridge" or "cairn" (as shown above) are generally OK, but "park" could well be part of a phrase "park here" or the name "Park Road", and "Horse Camp Hut" has only an historic connection with horses.
GPX Viewer (the Android one) displays waypoints at each end of a track, which may be convenient but mostly duplicates the specific th (trackhead) one. It also displays distance markers, this can be toggled in the app settings. Also turn off Follow GPS in settings until you're at the walk, so you can preview loaded tracks at home.
Data loading: transfer to the phone's Documents or other local folder; then open in GPX Viewer.
Emergency
