Route Preparation
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Overviewβ
The Navigation by route option provides you with simple step-by-step instructions, that help you easily reach your destination. Navigation by route can be used with different types of routing (or profiles): no matter whether you drive a car, ride a horse, ski or walk.
By default, OsmAnd has offline navigation enabled. Although you can also use online routing engines.
For correct work of the navigation, you need to give OsmAnd permission to receive information about precise location of your device.
- Android
- iOS
Set destinationsβ
To use the offline navigation, you first need to download maps of the region you plan to navigate through. Once the maps are downloaded, follow these steps to set up navigation:
Configure profiles you intend to use for navigation according to your needs:
- Set your vehicle parameters (important for truck drivers), select the engine type (optional).
- Configure route line appearance (optional, only for Pro users).
- Choose whether to provide notifications during your route or not. If you need voice prompts, configure them.
Go to the Navigation menu:
- Specify the destination point.
- Wait until the route is calculated. After that you will be able to obtain additional information about your route in Details section.
- You can switch between different routing types (profiles) to get the best result.
- Add intermediate destinations (optional).
- You can also change the departure point from the current location to the required one.
Additional navigation settings can be used depending on your purposes (you can configure which roads to avoid or prefer, save fuel or choose the fastest route, etc).
Start navigation or at first simulate navigation (with this function you can test your route before actually traveling along it).
While on the route you can Pause/Resume navigation and Stop it.
- Route cannot be build when Online map is selected as map source.
- Route calculation for long distances (longer than 200 km for driving) may take few minutes.
Navigation menuβ
There are 3 ways to reach the navigation menu:
- The navigation button on the map screen.
- Direction to/from in a map context menu.
- Navigation section in the Main menu (Menu β Navigation).
- Android
- iOS
- Β My Position - allows you to choose where your route will start. The default value is my curent location, though you can set a different one.
- Β Set destination - is used to set your destination point.
- Β "+" - allows to add intermediate points for navigation.
- Β "ββ" - allows to swap Start and Finish points.
- Β "π" - can be used to switch off Voice prompts.
- Β Settingsβ - leads to menu where you can quickly adjust some of the Navigation settings.
In Navigation menu you can set your destination using:
- Special favories points Home / Work.
- Previous route or History.
Cansel button at the bottom of the screen leads back to the main screen. Start button can be used to start Navigation after route calculation has ended.
Choose starting pointβ
As for the starting point, you can choose your current location, location of a Favorite point, select a point on the map or use Search. You can also set a starting point in Map Context menu by selectingΒ the Directions from function.
Set target pointβ
The most important thing to start navigation is to determine your destination. The destination point can be found using a Search function, or simply on a map. You can also set target point in the Navigation menu:
- Android
- iOS
- Β Search - opens the search menu.
- Β Address - opens address search menu.
- Β Select on map - opens the map to choose a destination point by tapping on the map.
- Β Favorites - allows to use Favorite as a destination.
- Β Markers - allows to choose one of the Map markers as a destination point.
- Β "ββ" Swap Starting point and Destination - allows to swap Start and Finish points.
Intermediate destinationsβ
- Android
- iOS
- Β π - allows to open the destination points list to make changes.
- Β β - moves to Navigation menu screen.
- Β β - allows to delete destination point from the points list.
- Β = - allows to change point order in the points list.
- Β + Add - opens context menu Add intermediate.
- Β β° Clear all - allows to clear all intermediate points.
If you choose Sort (Android) or Options (iOS) in the destinations list, you will reach special options to adjust the order of navigation to intermediate points.
- Android
- iOS
In this menu, you can find additional options for managing destinations points:
- Sort door-to-door - OsmAnd will offer the shortest route between all your destinations, however, the order of the visit can be edited. The starting point and the final destination will not be changed.
- Reverse starting point & destination - starting point and final destination will be swapped.
- Reverse all points (only Android) - all points will be put in the reverse direction.
- Add intermediate (or Add waypoint for iOS) - you can add intermediate destination from this menu.
- Clear all intermediate points - all the intermediate destinations will be removed from the map.
Use Home / Work pointsβ
Home and Work tabs (or Special points of Favorites) can be used to quickly set destination point in the navigation menu. If you have not entered addresses of the Special favorites, these cells will remain empty. If you tap this field, you will be prompted to create these POIs.
- Android
- iOS
Previous route / Historyβ
If Navigation History recording is enabled, you can use previous route or destinations from history list for navigation. This option can be useful for quick access to frequently used routes. Items in the history list are sorted by most recent use, starting with the newest.
- Android
- iOS
- When logging of History data is disabled, you will not be prompted to use previouse routes for navigation.
- You can delete some or all history records about your previous routes. This can be done on the Navigation history tab of the History option (Menu β Settings β OsmAnd settings β History).
Start / stop navigationβ
Once start and end points are selected, the app will create a route between them using active profile. During the route calculation process (which can take up to 1-2 minutes) OsmAnd searches for roads, that best match the Navigation settings. You will also see a blue progress line at the bottom of the screen, signaling that the calculation is still not complete.
- To begin navigation, you should tap on Start button.
- To stop navigation mode, tap the Navigation button at the bottom of the screen, than choose Dismiss (Android) or Cansel (iOS) and confirm your choice.
- In the Android version of the app, when you reach your destination, OsmAnd proposes to finish navigation, recalculate the route or find parking. In the iOS version Osmand only announces the end of the route.
- Android
- iOS
- After the route is created, in the Details section you can find additional information (altitude, uphill, downhill, road type, turn-by-turn instructions, etc.), analyze your route on the map, print the route plan, save the route and share it.
- If the route calculation lasts more then 2 minutes you may need to see our troubleshouting guide.
Route recalculationβ
The route can be recalculated automatically in case of deviation from it. You can change the parameters of the recalculation in the Navigation settings. You can also disable notification about route recalculationn in the settings of Voice prompts.
Pause / Resume navigationβ
If you want to stop for a break and deviate from the route for a short time, you can use the Pause/Resume navigation function to pause voice prompts and stop recalculating the route.
This option is availible in Android version of the app in Notification list or from the Quick actions menu.
To resume navigation, you can use the previously mentioned message from OsmAnd in the notification bar, Quick actions menu or dialog, that appears when you tap on the Navigation button (see screenshot).
Please note, that when you tap on the Navigation button while your route, navigation doesn't stop, voice prompts continue to be voiced, although proposed options (Resume (for Android) or Start (for iOS)) may be confusing.
- Android
- iOS
Save Power during navigationβ
Navigation consumes a lot of power due to the continuous use of GPS, Screen is on, route calculation. So to save your device's battery, you can try using the following tips:
- Even if you turn off the screen or exit the OsmAnd app, you'll still get voice prompts (it will run in the background).
- While navigation you can use Screen control options (Menu β Configure profile β General settings β Turn screen on).
Settingsβ
To access the navigation settings, follow one of the steps below:
- Menu β Settings β Profiles β Driving β Navigation settings.
- Navigation button β Settings β Navigation settings.
- Menu β Navigation β Settings β Navigation settings.
There are no navigation settings in Browse map profile.
- Android
- iOS
Β Navigation type determines how routes are calculated. For example, your bicycle profile has a Cycling navigation type, which set the routing rules. You can import these roules (as routing.xml file) in OsmAnd. More about routing you can read on our GitHub page.Β
Β Route parameters controls which parameters will be used during routing (this is the process of selecting a route for navigation).
Please read about route parameters for the corresponding navigation type.
Navigation settingsβ
How to configure routing type and route parameters you can read in the Navigation settings article or in articles about specific types of routing in the Route Parameters chapter.
Simulate navigationβ
Simulate navigation option allows users to test and preview a navigation route without actually physically traveling along it. This can be useful for:
- Planning. You can see how long it may take to complete the entire route or its single segment.
- Familiarization. You can familiarize yourself with the route before you actually go along it. This can be useful in unfamiliar areas, such as a new city or a difficult transport interchange.
- Testing. You can test the OsmAnd navigation system itself to make sure it works correctly and provides accurate instructions.
Start / stop simulationβ
When the navigation route is built. You can start to simulate movement using Simulate navigation option.
- Android
- iOS
In the Navigation menu go to Settings β Simulate navigation. ThΠ΅n toggle the switch to enable this option. Pressing the Start navigation button starts the simulation. To stop the simulation of navigation you need to tap Dismiss button (Android), or Cancel (iOS).
Simulation settingsβ
To adjust the speed of a simulation go to: Navigation β Settings β Simulate navigation β β
- Android
- iOS
- Β Fast preview mode - The speed of the simulation will be maximum on straight sections and slow down only at intersections.
- Β Fixed speed - The simulation will be performed with constant selected speed.
- Β Realistic simulation - On straight road sections, speed will be approximate to the maximum allowed speed.\nAt intersections, the simulation will slow down.\nExtra penalties will be applied on traffic signals, stop signs, etc.
Troubleshoutingβ
If you encounter any difficulties while building the route, please consult the troubleshooting instructions in the special documentation section. There you can find information about possible reasons for slow route calculation, what to do if the route is longer than 250 kilometers or the proposed route does not seem correct.
Below you can find out how to resolve situations when navigation is not possible due to the lack of necessary maps.
No mapsβ
When you try to build a route to a place whose map is not loaded, the progress line indicating that the route is being calculated does not appear, and the Start button also remains gray.
Please note, that at some zoom levels the reason for the absence of the route can not be obvious, as it may seem that the necessary maps are present. In that case see Additional information in Navigation menu.
Additional information in Navigation menuβ
If you pull the navigation menu up, you will see possible reasons why your route cannot be completed:
- the first screenshot shows a message when the map of the destination area is not downloaded.
- on the second screenshot you can see, that OsmAnd tryes to calculate the route when there are no maps for its middle section. To resolve that situation online checking may be needed.
Download maps using Navigation menuβ
After online verification of the maps required for route calculation, OsmAnd offers to download them without leaving the navigation section. Unfortunately, once the necessary maps are loaded, you will need to enter the start and end points again.
