Navigating via MRA Navigation...

[MyRoute-app community]

Blog by Michel van Hagen

In this blog post I give tips on how to best use our premium navigation app (MRA Navigation). It is important to know with what vision in mind the app was developed. We've tried to make the app as easy and user-friendly as possible, but there's no getting around the fact that you need to know certain things for a good user experience. Do you already have a subscription to MRA Navigation, or are you in doubt about a subscription to the navigation app? Then this is a good blog for you. At the bottom of this blog I also briefly talk about our future plans and dreams regarding the navigation app. So feel free to read on!

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[PAD 0]

The blog starts by outlining what the Navigation app is intended to be and who it is for. But it is not reliably fit for either the purpose stated or, as a result, for subscribers matching your intended user profile. Existing customers have been waiting endlessly for improvements in basic functionality, let alone in its user interface, to make it a genuinely viable option and an alternative to expensive dedicated sat nav devices. The closest we have got to it is hot air promising ‘jam tomorrow’.

Yet that same blog ends by proposing a new app which would be, let’s say, a ‘nanny app’ for those who fall outside of the existing Navigation app’s target audience - those who want everything done for them short of heading off down the road! While I wouldn’t dispute that there might be demand for such a thing, that you are promoting this right now is nothing short of an insult to existing subscribers. It clearly indicates very little intent or effort on the part of MRA to honour their marketing claims of the app being a genuine alternative to those expensive devices, or to service all the support tickets raised and provide a satisfactory customer outcome. This in itself should make anyone wary of the mooted ‘Next’ variant. Why might the outcome for that be any different?

‘Next’ must be to…

MAKE - THE - EXISTING - APP - WORK - EFFECTIVELY - AND - RELIABLY - AS - A - MATTER - OF - URGENCY

…THAT is what you need to do. Not go off on some half baked tangent to create a new fiasco, disappointing a whole new user group!

[Bouke Ent]

i did buy navigation and i must say it works but there are some things that i dislike.

when i make a route in mra then i miss te option to select it to transfer it to navigation like in tomtom mydrive. also my folders in mra are gone in navigation.

otherwise it is easy to use and offline it does the job.

i hope next version will have adventure routing (skipping mainroads would allready a good way) and loading offline gpx route and track.

[Stefan Hummelink]

@bouke-ent said in Navigating via MRA Navigation...:

when i make a route in mra then i miss te option to select it to transfer it to navigation like in tomtom mydrive.

All your online routes are synchronized to MRA Navigation automatically. No manual intervention required. The missing folder structure is a known issue...

[Herko ter Horst]

@stefanhummelink Sadly, I've found it's bit more complicated than that.

With an active internet connection, you obviously have access to all the routes you have in MRA Web. Your list of routes is synchronized to MRA Navigation (i.e. it's visible without an internet connection), however, the routes themselves ar not. Something seems to be synchronized in the app when you open a route for the first time with an active internet connection, but if I then close the app and turn on Airplane mode (effectively disabling all internet connections) and try to reopen the route, it just keeps displaying a Loading pop-over. For routes that I haven't opened at all while the internet connection was active, it simply displays that an internet connection is needed to open that route.

So it seems that no routes are actually synchronized to the app, so the app isn't really able to function off-line.

[Stefan Hummelink]

@herko-ter-horst You're entirely right, the app does not load the actual route into the app itself, instead the link to the route on the server. True offline mode similar to a dedicated satnav that loads i.e. .gpx files, is not possible with MRA Navigation. One requires an active internet connection to load the route from the servers. For me that is perfectly acceptable since I don't do off-road and 99.9% of the time either one of my simcards is able to achieve a stable enough 4G connection.

[Andy Pandy]

@stefanhummelink So today a friend and I used MRA Navigation App for the second time to properly ride a route in the UK after both signing up to lifetime membership. We both had problems at one time or another and reading the blog and comments confirms some of the problems we had are not users error but real problems with the APP. Bottom line for me is that I could not rely on MRA to navigate round Europe like I do with TomTom. MRA needs more work so I look forward to the developments that are planned to solve some of these issues

[Drabslab]

@stefanhummelink oeps, in my experience one can loose 4G coverage in France. I had difficulties in Limoges area, between Grenoble and Nice, and in the Pyrinees; Depends on which roads you take of course.

[Drabslab]

@stefanhummelink said in Navigating via MRA Navigation...:

True offline mode similar to a dedicated satnav that loads i.e. .gpx files, is not possible with MRA Navigation.

I guess that this makes the navigation app a no-go for many users, including me I am affraid.

[Drabslab]

@matt-flaming said in Navigating via MRA Navigation...:

Nav needs to be redesigned from the ground up.

I think that this is more or less what MRA company is planning. I hope we have the opportunity to make a wishlist before they start.

But perhaps they read already so many complaints and requests on this forum that their development path is already fixed for the next 10 years

[Drabslab]

@matt-flaming I wouldn't be so pessimistic; Turning around a piece of software can be quite fast depending on the architecture of that software. We'll see what it gives when they release their roadmap for Navigation.

[Kudee]

@drabslab
I am also disappointed. The web app seems to be the focus or where the developers know their stuff. That's why I haven't renewed my subscription. I will put my focus on OSMand. Maybe someone from MRA will wake up and at least make a statement. It would not only be nice .....

[Con Hennekens]

There was a thread on this issue some time ago.
Routes that are opened once, are kept in memory for an unconfirmed time. I (on Android) am still able to load and navigatie some of the routes I opened back in september without issues. When I go on vacation and load all day-routes once on wifi before I leave, I am able to navigate all those routes without ever connecting to internet on my vacation address. Just make sure to download the needed maps off-line, and place your app in offline-mode. It would be nice if this forum would be kept clean from all untrue statements...

[PAD 0]

Untrue statements?

[Kudee]

@con-hennekens
I just wonder why I should renew my MRA navigation subscription when the officials don't even have the courtesy to inform me whether this horse is dead or not!
Until then, I will not be tire of recommending OSMand, costs no more and offers much more! Download of Routes needs Internet, as MRA, Google Drive ect. Buy once, no subscription required.
MRA offline navigation works, no problem! ONROAD! Made 7500km last Year.

I get tired of asking...........
MRA NAVIGATION?
Guess the horse is dead, already grilled, cooked, served as it is

[Mark Panarusky]

I have over 150 routes created in MRA web app. These all show in the MRA Navigation iOS app, but are not organized in folders, or even in alphabetical order. They appear to display in reverse order of creation date.

Is there someway to organize or reorder the routes? It is very difficult and time consuming to find the route I wish to use.

[Steve Lynch]

@mark-panarusky

Whilst it is not an ideal solution (I have hundreds of routes as well) there are a couple of ways to bring any route to the top of the list in MRA Route Lab and MRA Navigation.
This is my preference.
In the planner find the route you want and zoom in to the full extent on the first waypoint.
Then just move the first waypoint a tiny bit, a millimetre on the map will do it.
This will bring the route to the top in both the Route Lab and in MRA Navigation
Not an ideal solution for some , as it will change the creation date.

I add the info below for those not familiar with MRA Navigation.
Initially, make sure you have an internet connection in MRA Navigation and open the route if you are running it for the first time.
And also make sure you have the relevant map downloaded if you plan to use “Offline” mode in MRA Navigation.
Works on Android and iOS.

You can also add the route to an event, but personally I have never used this option as I have no issue with the creation date being changed.
Instructions for “Events” can be found in the Support pages

[Nick Carthew]

@mark-panarusky The reason that the folder structure is not used in MRA Navigation is Apple CarPlay doesn’t allow folders. If you have a group of routes that you plan to use on a tour, you can create an Event and add all of those routes to it. Choose Events from the opening page of MRA Navigation and select the route that you need. It’s very easy to do.

[Stefan Hummelink]

@nick-carthew said in Navigating via MRA Navigation...:

@mark-panarusky The reason that the folder structure is not used in MRA Navigation is Apple CarPlay doesn’t allow folders.

Really Nick? If this is the only reason, as an MRA fanboy and fAndroid user I'm truly dissapointed. Such a critical feature for user friendliness shall not be omitted, simply because the software created by a <personal opinion on> overhyped and overpriced - okay, my opinion does not matter here - <personal opinion off>, electronics manufacturer falls short.

I would very strongly urge MRA to branch the MRA nav app for use with all other devices, other than Apple Carplay and continue to improve the MRA Nav app WITHOUT being obstructed by this, apparently very important, Apply Carplay platform... It is far beyond my recognition why innovation should be allowed to be halted, due to some other software's lacking.

[Con Hennekens]

@kudee said in Navigating via MRA Navigation...:

@con-hennekens
I just wonder why I should renew my MRA navigation subscription

Maybe you shouldn't if you hate it so much. This forum is intended to help people, it is no bashing platform.

@pad-0 said in Navigating via MRA Navigation...:

Untrue statements?

Yes, there are multiple statements made that MRA Navigation cannot route without an active internet connection. That simply is not true.