MapApp NZ South Island 4+

Great app

Love this app. Used it off-roading and was great to know exactly where we were. And having the maps pre-loaded meant it didn't matter if we had an internet connection or not.

What it is: a map based on the excellent NZ 1:50,000 topo maps ("infomaps"); and a gps indicator of where you are on that map. Nothing more than this. It is not a track recorder, and not for driving destinations, since it tells you only where you are, right now. It doesn't tell you anything else. It has no menus, and only one button.

I use it when off-road: fishing, tramping, etc and it works well. For me it's a way to avoid buying all of the Survey and Land Information 1:50,000 topo maps. This App's maps are not as sharp as the paper maps that they come from, and there is a limit to how much you can enlarge the map on screen, but it gets large enough to see details like swing bridges (but just barely) and huts. I guess that to go any larger on screen would have rocketed the App size way above the current 1.48 GB.

So, for the price of 2 paper topo maps you get the entire South Island without seams (yeah!). And because cell coverage in NZ is bad, and airtime is expensive, that fact that this works totally without coverage is great. Turn off the iPhone's network data and increase battery time when using this App off-road. Simple, basic, works -- I like it.