Telecharger.com has selected five free applications for Android and iPhone to enjoy the sun on weekends.
Whatever the season, it is always pleasant to go out for the air when the weather is fine. Forest walks, mountain hikes, bike rides, themed walks, Telecharger.com has selected five free applications to give you ideas for outdoor activities and enjoy your weekend in the sun.
Geocaching
Geocaching stimulates the souls of adventurers and the readers of Robert Louis Stevenson. In town or in the countryside, this global treasure hunting app invites orienteers to find geocaches hidden everywhere near sites and points of interest. These caches come in the form of boxes containing a logbook to date and sign from the day of discovery. Sometimes you can find a few traveling items transferred from one cache to another by other players.
Geocaching writes the coordinates of geocaches on a detailed Google Maps map, using GPS to estimate the distance to your next find. The quests respond to varying levels of difficulty and are sometimes organized into thematic circuits, promising beautiful walks in perspective.
The +:
+ Innovative and fun concept
+ Available all over the world
+ Promotes the discovery of unusual places and monuments
+ Thematic circuits guaranteeing pretty walks
The – :
– Certain circuits and types of caches accessible in Premium version only
– Download of caches and maps for offline access limited to Premium version
Download Geocaching for Android (Free)
Download Geocaching for iPhone / Apple Watch (Free)
Download Geocaching for Windows Phone (Free)
Ingress
More immersive than Geocaching, Ingress merges real and virtual worlds, offering a life-size video game. While an as yet unknown energy has been discovered, you can join the team of the Enlightened, eager to see the human species mutate, or that of the Resistance, anxious to preserve humanity as it is.
Ingress is based on virtual reality. By moving in the real world, you move on the map of the game. The objective is to form alliances with other players to seize energy portals concretely materialized by monuments or points of interest. You also need to collect items to deploy state-of-the-art technologies and dominate areas as large as your neighborhood, your city, or even your country.
The +:
+ Immersive experience
+ Virtual reality perfectly well exploited
+ Global playground
+ Renews the tourist experience in an original way
The – :
– Complex gameplay
– Regularity and attendance required to fully enjoy the game
Download Ingress (apk) for Android (Free)
Download Ingress for iPhone / iPad (Free)
Geovelo
Initially designed to calculate the best cycling routes, Geovelo includes a fairly comprehensive “Walks” section adapted to travel by bicycle. The home page highlights the circuits of the moment and allows you to filter your searches according to the nature of the planned walks. Each proposal is accompanied by the estimated distance and time of the ride, as well as a summary of the sights to admire on the way.
A ride launched with Geovelo adapts its route to two-wheelers, indicating precisely the expected vertical drop on the trip. Voice guidance helps you stay focused on the road. When a site or a point of interest deserves that we stop there for a few moments, the application clearly indicates it and perfects your general knowledge with the help of additional information.
The +:
+ Relevant and rich walks
+ Efficient voice guidance
+ Suggested routes suitable for bicycles
The – :
– Maps sometimes display too much information and lack clarity
– Walks concentrated in large cities or very close suburbs
Download Geovelo Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Nantes, Orléans, La Rochelle, Caen, Rennes, Touraine for Android (Free)
Download Geovelo Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Nantes, Orléans, La Rochelle, Caen, Rennes, Touraine for iPhone (Free)
Visorando
Hikers and athletes find their happiness with Visorando. The app is based on OpenStreetMap for free and offers a seven-day trial for IGN maps. Its intuitive interface allows you to filter the type of ride according to a geographical area, a specific means of locomotion, a limited duration and a level of difficulty adapted to your physical condition.
The hikes listed by Visorando are sorted by distance from your starting point. At a glance, you can see the starting address, the expected elevation gain, the distance and the journey time. The walks are punctuated by stages and display a description of the points of interest encountered. And if you want to book a route for yourself next time, you can always pin it and find it in the favorites category.
The +:
+ Intuitive interface
+ Many hiking suggestions according to the specified criteria
+ Possibility to pin the routes of your choice in your favorites
+ Import of GPX files to find your third-party routes in the app
The – :
– Inability to link an existing IGN license to your Visorando account
– Explanations on the points of interest sometimes summary
Download Visorando for Android (Free)
Download Visorando for iPhone (Free)
Forest keys
Clés de forêt supports walkers in the forest, providing them with a glossary of animal and plant species likely to be found in their path. The result of joint work between the National Forestry Office, the Ministry of the Environment and the GoodPlanet foundation, the application allows you to recognize animals and trees from a footprint or the shape of a leaf. To help you, a series of criteria and filters refine your search by deductions.
In addition to helping you put a name to a living species, Forest Keys provides a great deal of information about the trees and animals identified. You can make your contribution by adding your photos taken during your walk, and thus illustrate each species from a new angle.
The +:
+ Intuitive and fun interface
+ Lots of relevant information
+ Adding personal photos makes the app more interactive
The – :
– Not all species are listed
– The navigation sometimes lacks fluidity
Download Forest Keys for Android (Free)
Download Forest Keys for iPhone / iPad (Free)
Verdict
Covering a range of varied walks, Visorando attracts the attention of the editorial staff. You don’t need to be an experienced athlete to take advantage of the circuits listed by the app, which sorts the hikes according to their level of difficulty. We appreciate being able to refine our research using various means of locomotion, whether we prefer to walk, cycle, ski or snowshoe. Visorando also aspires to impart some useful information about the areas you pass through, reconciling physical effort with general culture.