Free navigation and traffic app
In the not-so-olden times, drivers rely on their Personal Navigation Devices or PNDs when they want to know their way around the cities. Then smartphones happened, making city navigation more convenient. Mobile phones, especially Android devices, almost always come with a built-in functional satellite navigation app. However, iPhones have not had anything so potent that’s available for free. Here enters Navmii. It is a community-based navigation and traffic app that provides sat-nav functions at no cost. Not only that, but it also works offline.
Stress-free drive
Navmii isn’t the first satellite GPS app for iPhones. For years now, Waze has been one of the go-to apps that provided guided traffic information—and it is not alone. Nevertheless, it works to help you reach your destination. It relies on mapping data from OpenStreetMap, but it converted that to the app’s format. With this, Navmii can provide an interface that has many features normally found in popular sat-nav apps.
Among the features you can take advantage of the app is the turn-by-turn voiced navigation. With this, you can have a stress-free drive around the city. On top of that, you can also check for live traffic information, thanks to its community reporting. Among the details that you can check—aside from traffic situations—are speeding, hazard, and safety camera alerts. The app also has a category-based Points of Interest (POI) system that allows you to search locations other than a specific address. However, some categories—such as banks—come with little results.
As noted, Navmii works offline so you don’t have to use your data every time you are out for a ride. You only have to download the map of a particular country to make use of it. Note, however, that you need to pay for every additional map that you will download. You can avoid this by installing multiple versions of the app, but that would eat up a lot of storage on your phone.
Decent but lots of issues
Navmii provides a similar navigation experience to mainstream GPS navigation apps. Its interface is very familiar, so you can work your way around it in no time. Moreover, it has clear voice commands that have a wide variety of languages and voice options. The mapping data isn’t perfect, and the POI system could use a lot of work, but Navmii does surprisingly well for the occasional journey. If you don’t have a navigation app on your iPhone, this app is worth checking out.
