Map apps: £0 - £5

AA Road Atlas
Price: £1.99
Rating: ★★★★
Offline Scale: 3 miles per inch
Contact: http://bit.ly/AA_Road_Atlas
This is the same 142MB file size as the AA’s iPad app, but the iPhone version has identical features for £1.99. So you get accurate postcode search, address entry and street maps, although the latter requires a Web connection. Menu bar in the top right helps you search for a location, rotate the map to face north and adjust units. It retracts out of the way, and makes the app simple to use.

 

Road Atlas OS Maps 1:250k

Price: £1.99

Rating: ★★
Offline Scale: 4 miles per inch
Contact: http://bit.ly/RoadAtlasOS

ONE to avoid. There’s no scale, postcode search or settings to change, so you can search by place name, coordinates or grid reference only. Road Atlas is also a vast 320MB download, so not surprisingly, you have to pay. Offline scale is fine for rural areas, but not in towns. And while the find me function works well, the menu isn’t as good as that of the identically priced AA Road Atlas.

 

MotionX GPS HD

Price: £1.99
Rating: ★★★★
Offline Scale: 5 miles per inch
Contact: http://bit.ly/MotionX_GPS

Features include in-app iPod control, Wikipedia info about locations, plus the ability to download tiles for offline use. Once we’d done this, it found our postcodes with ease, and while the menus are complex, the maps are clear – pick from MotionX’s own, Google or Microsoft Bing road maps. Best scale when online is 25 yards to an inch. But ForeverMap is simpler to use and cheaper.

 

ForeverMap by Skobbler

Price: £1.49
Rating: ★★★★
Offline Scale: 35 yards per inch
Contact: http://bit.ly/ForeverMap

RECOMMENDED Brilliant iPad app claims second place. The scale is great, and while installation takes a while, it’s worth the wait, as you get clear maps and simple menus in portrait and landscape views. It found our destinations fast, was accurate and is one of the better-value iPad apps. But the scrolling could be smoother, so ForeverMap loses out to the NavFree.

 

CityMaps2Go

Price: £0.69
Rating: ★★★
Offline Scale: 42 yards per inch
Contact: http://bit.ly/CityMaps2Go

The quick install time for the 4.8MB CityMaps2Go is misleading, as you then need to download individual cities from within the app. You get decent mapping and good magnification – so it’s ideal for navigating through towns. While there’s no postcode search, you can find a place or point of interest, and the price makes it hugely appealing. But we prefer the AA’s national coverage.

 

OutDoors Great Britain

Price: £1.99
Rating: ★★★
Offline Scale: 2 miles per inch
Contact: http://bit.ly/OutDoors_GB

Better for hikers than drivers, the £1.99 OutDoors GB app offers place name, grid reference and coordinates search, but no postcode option. It has a clever compass mode and can use your device’s GPS to work out where you are and zoom in. But it’s limited to 2mpi – not great for built-up areas. That’s a pity, as the unfussy map has logical menus and responds well to touch inputs