Introduction:
Tools for Google Maps is a utility application designed to enhance the standard Google Maps experience by providing a suite of advanced features directly on top of the familiar interface. It acts as a powerful overlay, offering functionalities that are not natively available, making it an essential download for professionals and frequent map users who require more from their navigation app.
Key Features and Highlights of Tools for Google Maps
Multi-Layer Map Overlay: The app allows users to display multiple coordinate systems and grid overlays, including MGRS and USNG, on top of the standard Google Maps view.
Precise Coordinate Display: It shows your current location's coordinates in various formats (Lat/Long, MGRS, UTM) with high accuracy, which is crucial for surveying, hiking, and geocaching.
Advanced Measurement Tools: Users can measure exact distances between multiple points and calculate the area of any plotted polygon on the map directly.
Custom Map Marking: Beyond standard pins, Tools for Google Maps enables detailed annotations with custom text, lines, and shapes for personalized route planning and location analysis.
Compass and Navigation Aid: It includes a digital compass and heading information, supplementing the driving directions provided by Google Maps with more precise orienteering data.
Advantages
The integration with Google Maps is seamless, meaning users do not have to learn a completely new mapping interface.
It provides professional-grade land navigation tools in a mobile format, eliminating the need for separate, bulky devices.
The ability to save and share custom maps with all annotations is highly valuable for team projects and trip planning.
For its targeted functionality, Tools for Google Maps is generally considered a robust tool that fulfills a specific niche very effectively.
Disadvantages
The interface can feel cluttered and technical for casual users who only need basic directions from Google Maps.
Some advanced features may require an understanding of coordinate systems and topography to be used to their full potential.
Being an overlay app, its performance is sometimes tied to the underlying Google Maps application, which can lead to occasional lag.
The free version of Tools for Google Maps may contain advertisements or limit access to certain premium tools.
Tips for Using Tools for Google Maps
Use the measurement tool to plan running, cycling, or hiking routes and accurately gauge the distance and elevation gain beforehand.
When geocaching, utilize the MGRS coordinate display for compatibility with many official geocaching clues and listings.
For property or land assessment, the area calculation feature is perfect for getting a quick estimate of plot sizes.
Customize the map view by turning on different grid overlays to find which coordinate system you are most comfortable reading.
More Similar Apps
GPS Essentials: A highly comprehensive toolkit that offers similar coordinate and sensor data, along with dashboard instruments and track recording.
BackCountry Navigator: Focused more on outdoor topographic maps and offline navigation, ideal for serious hikers and off-trail explorers.
Map Measure: A simpler app dedicated primarily to measuring distance and area on Google Maps.
Conclusion and Personal Opinion
Tools for Google Maps is not an app for everyone. It is a specialist tool designed for a specific audience that includes surveyors, emergency services personnel, serious outdoor enthusiasts, and anyone who works regularly with precise geographic data. If your use of maps begins and ends with getting turn-by-turn directions to a restaurant, this application will offer little value and may seem unnecessarily complex. However, for its intended users, it is an incredibly powerful and convenient Swiss Army knife. It successfully bridges the gap between the consumer-friendly Google Maps and the high-precision requirements of professional land navigation, all within a single mobile device. It is a highly recommended download for anyone in need of its specific feature set.
