18Specifications
The facts and figures: where the app works, what it runs on, where its information comes from and its limits.
18.1Where it works
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Area | The North Island, the South Island and Stewart Island. |
| Not covered | The Chatham Islands. |
| Plan with AI | Trips in New Zealand only. |
| Offline maps | The whole country in one download. Satellite photos are an extra you can add. |
18.2Phones, tablets and computers
Motocamp runs in the web browser. You don't get it from an app store.
| Device | Use |
|---|---|
| iPhone or iPad | Safari. Add it to the home screen from Share. |
| Android phone or tablet | Chrome. Add it from the three dots menu. |
| Laptop or desktop | Any up to date browser, such as Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox. |
| Facebook's own browser | It works for a look. Offline maps, the home screen icon and Google sign-in don't work there. Open it in Safari or Chrome instead. |
NoteOffline maps need a browser that can keep files. They work in Chrome, and in Safari on iPhone and iPad.
NoteThe dash is made for a phone. On a computer it says so.
18.3Units
| Measure | Unit |
|---|---|
| Distance | Kilometres, or metres when close |
| Speed | Kilometres an hour (km/h) |
| Height and vehicle size | Metres |
| Vehicle weight | Tonnes |
| Temperature | Degrees Celsius |
| Rain | Millimetres |
| Air pressure | Hectopascals (hPa), on the dash |
| Wind | km/h on the dash. Metres a second on the weather map key. |
NoteThere is no switch for units in this app.
18.4Vehicle types
The app plans routes for 7 types of vehicle. The short name is what shows on the Vehicle button.
| Vehicle | Short name |
|---|---|
| Enduro Bike | Enduro |
| ADV Motorcycle | ADV moto |
| Road / touring motorbike | Road moto |
| Ute / 4WD | Ute / 4WD |
| Car / campervan | Car / van |
| Motorhome | Motorhome |
| Car + caravan | Caravan |
| Bicycle | Bicycle |
You can turn on towing for a Ute / 4WD, a Car / van or a Motorhome. It covers a caravan, boat or float. Car + caravan always tows.
You can set your vehicle's height in the Route tab, from 1.5 to 4.3 metres. Width, length and weight come from the vehicle type.
18.5Where the information comes from
| Information | Where it comes from | How often it updates |
|---|---|---|
| Road closures | The NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi highway information. | The agency updates it every hour. The app checks every 5 to 10 minutes. |
| Closed Roads & Tracks | The NZ Transport Agency, councils and Canterbury. | Every day. |
| Department of Conservation alerts | Alerts for its campsites. | Every 30 minutes. |
| Fire hotspots | NASA satellites. NASA is the US space agency. It shows heat seen in the last 2 days. | Every 15 minutes. |
| Known fires | Fires found in RNZ news, plus fires our team adds by hand. | News checked every 10 minutes. The app checks every 10 minutes. |
| Live Hazards | Earthquakes from GeoNet. | Every 10 minutes. |
| Official warnings | Official warning services for New Zealand. | The app checks every 10 minutes. |
| Weather forecast | Open-Meteo, a weather service. | Every 15 minutes. |
| Rain radar | RainViewer. It shows the past 2 hours and a short look ahead. | Every 5 minutes. |
| Campsites and places | OpenStreetMap, a map made by volunteers, plus Department of Conservation and council lists. | Map places every week. Other lists every month. |
| Street and topo map | OpenFreeMap, built from OpenStreetMap. | Kept up to date by OpenFreeMap. |
| Satellite pictures | Esri, a mapping company, and aerial photos from Land Information New Zealand. | Kept up to date by each of them. |
Closed Roads & Tracks are kept on your phone, so they still show with no signal. Radar, weather, fires and live closures need signal.
NoteThere are no fuel prices in New Zealand.
18.6Limits
| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| Plan with AI | 15 messages a day for each account. Each follow up counts. The count starts again at midday, or 1 in the afternoon when the clocks go forward. |
| Plan with AI message length | 500 letters in the box |
| Stops in a trip from Plan with AI | Up to 12 |
| Trip plan emails | 5 a day. A plan can cover up to 30 days. |
| New places added | 5 in any 24 hours |
| Everything shared with campers | 20 in any 24 hours |
| Reports to us | 10 in any 24 hours |
| Review length | 800 letters |
| Sign-in buttons in our emails | Work for 7 days |
| Message us if you can't sign in | 3 an hour |
| Stops in a route you plan yourself | No limit |
| Saved routes and Saved Spots | No limit |
| GPX files | Only .gpx files. A GPX file is a saved track from another app or device. A file that goes into another country isn't loaded. |
| Free trial | 14 days |
18.7Offline packs
Packs are maps and route data you keep on your phone, so the app works with no signal.
| Pack | What it holds | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Download NZ card | Topo map, 3D hills and offline routes for the whole country. | About 0.8 GB |
| Routes, whole country | Lets the app plan and reroute with no signal. Part of the card above. | About 23 MB |
| Satellite | Satellite pictures for offline use. You choose it. It never downloads by itself. | About 1.1 GB |
- Packs download in this order: the map, then the routes, then the 3D hills.
- If the signal drops, nothing is lost. Tap download again and it carries on.
- The only size limit is the free space on your phone.
- On a phone, the app may offer to download your area for you.
- When a newer pack is ready, the app asks. Tap Update or Later.
With no signal, these still need it: live weather, radar, search beyond town names, bicycle routes and Plan with AI.
Step by step, with pictures: Keep the map with no signal