Google Maps

 One of the tasks on my plate for my up coming race is to provide my crew with directions between the aid stations.

In the past, I have printed out physical maps. This works well but it does have some limitations. The biggest one is that one needs a good sense of direction on remote roads with little to no physical signage to guide them. Miss a turn and end up in who knows where. Backing tracking can have one hopelessly lost. 

I looked at the Maps app on my iPhone but saving off directions to use without cell service is not a value add-on for Apple. At least, I couldn't figure it out. 

I read that Google maps had what might be an option, but it seems to be a screen shot of route and not the turn by turn verbal assist that I wanted. 

Frustrated I started looking else where but nothing really jumped out. I drifted back to Google Maps only because it was something new and I had some time to burn. 

As I played with it, I saw that Google maps was keeping a history of my routes. Interesting, so I played with it more. I mapped out the directions between the aid stations from White Top to Abington. 

On the chance that I might have stumbled on to something, I flipped over and turned off both my wifi and cell service. In other words, I took my phone entirely dark from the internet. 

I then pulled up Google Maps. It complained immediately that it was offline and would have limited access. 

That's okay, I was more interested in exploring my route history. 

I went down to the history, and I started replaying the directions between the aid stations. To my surprise, this worked but not only did it work but it worked in either direction. Without being online, I could get directions from White Top to Abington and then work my way back to White Top using the same directions played in reverse.

Best of all, Google maps still gave me the turn by turn audible directions which is what I wanted most. I confirmed this by mapping out the directions from my house to the local Y. Then going dark and trying to follow it just using the history record. It worked like a charm. 

So while it isn't the best solution. It would have been nice to save off the directions and be able to replay them. This will work for my needs. 

Wanted to share this because I cannot be the only one that runs races in rural locations where cell service is non-existent. This is just another option to keep in mind.

Cool Down Runner