Map Storage Options

Changing the Storage location for map downloads

While Memory-Map has the option to download the entire map, it is not always necessary.  If you are using a large seamless topo map that covers an entire state of whole country, the whole map may occupy 10s of GB. When you are connected to the internet, the map is download on the fly, as needed. For use when you are offline, Memory-Map has flexible tools to download and store the parts of the map that you need. You just need to put in a little effort to plan where you are going to go.

Even so, many users choose to install a large SD card and to download the entire map. Please read the section on SD reliability, below.

• In the Maps list, tap the Menu button  then Map Storage.

• The default option is Private Internal storage. Modern devices typically have sufficient built-in storage for all the areas of map you will need, if not for the whole map.

• The Public Download option (which used to be the default) places the maps where you can browse the files in the Download folder in file explorer app. The disadvantage of this is that you may accidently delete the maps, or "Storage Clean-up" apps may delete them. We do not recommend placing maps where they are unprotected from other apps.

• If you have a suitable SD Card installed, one of the storage options is External SD Card.

• After selecting this option, any maps you download will be placed on the SD card. There is no limit to the size of the map, as long as you have space on the card. Maps larger than the 4GB file system limit are stored in multiple files.

• Note that turning on the External SD Card option does not have any effect on maps that you have already opened. A map that is partially downloaded in internal memory will continue to be downloaded to internal memory. To change a map's storage, you should to delete a map that you have already partially downloaded and then start a fresh copy on the SD Card. (Tap the blue arrow button in the map list to delete the map).

Reliability of SD cards

Internal storage on the device is many times more reliable than any SD card.  From the experience of many thousands of people using Memory-Map for Android over a decade, our technical support can tell you that corrupt map data is a problem. iPhone users, who do not have the option of using SD cards, very rarely experience map data corruption. Now, SD cards are fine for storing music or videos, but the map is something that may be a lot more critical to the enjoyment and safety of your outdoor adventure. It may be under difficult circumstances, say after a fall that violently jolts the device, that you find you most need to use the map! This is why we recommend using internal storage wherever possible.

Troubleshooting

If the External SD Card option does not appear in the Map Storage menu, there could be several causes.

• The Card is not formatted. Go to the Settings app, look for Storage, and set it up.
• The card is set up as "Internal". In this case, it is used by the operating system as an extension to the internal storage, and no special action is needed to use it.
• Your device classifies the card to be "removable", and not suitable for permanent storage of files by any apps. In this case it is not possible for the Memory-Map app to use it.