Comparison

Scenic Map vs BIGEMAP

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Scenic Map

Explore the world with detailed 3D topographic maps, accessible even offline. Stream and cache global maps for use without cell service. Features include satellite overlays, customizable map styles, and GPS tracking for navigation and route replay.

Highlights
  • Global 3D topographic maps
  • Offline map caching
  • Satellite image overlays
  • Customizable map styles
  • GPS tracking and route replay
  • GPX track import/export
Features
Read full description

A 3D topo map with coverage of the entire world. The map is streamed directly from Apple's servers and cached on your device for use when there is no cell coverage. Use Scenic Map in a car, a boat, a plane or while hiking. It is like having the entire Earth in your pocket. Satellite image overlays add breathtaking detail and realism to the maps (tap preset 2 or 4). You can use them as you travel to see what is hidden from view at ground level. This takes moving maps to a whole new level. To get started, tap the arrow button in the toolbar to begin GPS tracking and center the map at your current location. The spinner in the status bar shows that the map is being loaded. The spinner stops when the map is fully cached at that location. You can scroll around the map or tilt the map with a two finger vertical swipe to see it in 3D. Use the two finger vertical swipe gesture to tilt the map for a 3D view. Scroll like a map or fly like a flight simulator. Enable Joystick Gestures in the Settings menu and then fly around the terrain using a virtual joystick. Prefer only 2D maps? Enable the 2D Map option in the Settings menu. Scenic Map is simply the best 3D topo map available for a mobile device. You will see incredible detail while scrolling, rotating and zooming perfectly smoothly. You will see every road even if you zoom out to the altitude of a satellite. As you zoom in, you will see every small bump and hollow of the Earth and terrain features as small as ten meters. Unlike old fashioned topo maps, Scenic Map’s roads and trails are up to date thanks to OpenStreetMap.org. It contains polygons for urban areas, shopping malls, an ever growing number of buildings and many other features, The best lake, pond, stream and rivers from the USGS and Canadian public databases are also included. Your tracks can be replayed with video like controls to speed up, slow down, pause, restart or skip to the end. You can display existing tracks while recording another if you want to retrace your route. When online, you can automatically create a route from your current GPS location to any other point on the map. Tracks can be received from or sent to other apps in GPX format. GPS recording stops automatically after you have remained stationary for some time or you can choose to manually stop tracking by tapping on the top track in the Tracks view. Never before have maps been this customizable. For example, you can turn on or off the roads. You can change the lighting direction or remove terrain shading entirely. You can display contour lines even over satellite images. There are five presets which let you quickly switch between map styles. Use Metric, English or Nautical units and choose one of four different coordinate displays including UTM. Want to learn more about a map feature? Tap the target icon and center the feature under the compass rose to display its name, type, urban area, county, state, elevation and coordinates. You will also see a bearing line back to your current GPS location or from your location to a selected waypoint. The status bar shows the bearing direction and distance along with the map and GPS elevation, the track length, and your current speed and direction of travel. In-app documentation is provided in the Help section at the top of the Settings menu. Links are provided in the documentation to detailed coverage maps, tutorial videos, installation guide and blog at ScenicMap.com Map data © OpenStreetMap and contributors under the Open Database License Scenic Map supports GPS tracking while the app is in the background. Caution: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.

About

BIGEMAP

Features
Read full description

Bigemap is a powerful mobile GIS data collecting & processing mobile app, it can be either used for proffesional filed work (field mapping, land surveying, Vegetation management, Forestry planning, Environmental management, Incident reporting, Mine management,Farm mapping, Utility mapping, Government planning, Asset management) or enthusiastic fan in hiking, fishing, mountain biking, sailing . People choose bigemap becuase it can not only work independently but also can be integrated with popular desktop tools like ESRI ArcGIS, QGIS, AutoCAD, google earth pro and bigemap's desktop. Bigemap adheres easy-use concept for customer and also keep improving the powerful functionality as below : ●GIS Data Collection • Obtain Latitude Longitude, UTM, MGRS (WGS84) & other CRS (using EPSG codes) in real time, register points complete with coordinate data, time taken, notes/labels, elevation (DEM), addresses, photos etc • Import/ Export point, Line, polygon, features into layer from KML/KMZ, GPX, DXF, SHP, TXT, CSV • Areas, distances calculation ●Route planning & Recording • Plotting a route point by point using one or multiple navigation profiles; • Route recording using GPX tracks; • Manage GPX tracks: displaying your own or imported GPX tracks on the map, navigating through them; • Visual data about the route - descents/ascents, distances; • Ability to share GPX track with friends; ●Online & Offline Maps support: • Wide range of maps both for online(OSM, google map, mapbox..) and offline usage • Download vector, raster data as well as high Resolution satellite images when work without internet • Share your data with friends, store locally and cloud strorage ●3D Earth support: • Using DEM and OSM(open street map) building outline data to bring Google earth similliar experience for 3D display • Record or import your data and replay them in 3D • Exaggerate partially for clear visualization 3D mountains , seabed, City buildings ●Other unique functions : • Waremark Camera for photo taken with unchangeable location, time , weather conditions, indendity and company profile , template is also supported • longitudinal & transverse section display • Batch photo export with name formating and data information indexed in CSV . • Persnalized plotting icon and map style [BIGEMAP Subscription Package Description] Subscription period: One month - Subscription price: $3 per month Payment: The user confirms the purchase and credits the iTunes account with the payment Cancel Renewal: To cancel renewal, manually turn off automatic renewal in iTunes/Apple ID Settings Management 24 hours before the current subscription expires Renewal: The Apple iTunes account will be charged within 24 hours before the expiration date, and the subscription period will be extended by one month after the payment is successful Privacy policy: http://www.mygisoffice.com/app/copyright_ios.html?_tt=0.9525667450671143 Subscription agreement:http://www.mygisoffice.com/app/agree_ios.html?_tt=0.9525667450671143

Screenshots

Scenic Map4 screens
BIGEMAP4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Scenic Map at none against BIGEMAP's shown. BIGEMAP's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.1). On price, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Scenic Map sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and BIGEMAP sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.00 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Scenic Map ships an update every 3 months, BIGEMAP every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on August 28, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Scenic Map versus BIGEMAP: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScenic MapBIGEMAP
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.113.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size66 MB129 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGrangerFXChengdu Bigemap Data Processing Co. Ltd

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Scenic Map

One-time1
  • Scenic Map Features$4.99
4 purchases

BIGEMAP

Subscriptions1
  • SubscribeMonthly$3.001 Month
One-time3
  • SingleMonth$4.00
  • quarter$10.49
  • OneYear$36.00

Questions

Is Scenic Map free?
Scenic Map is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BIGEMAP free?
BIGEMAP is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Scenic Map or BIGEMAP have ads?
BIGEMAP shows ads; Scenic Map does not.
Which is updated more often, Scenic Map or BIGEMAP?
Scenic Map ships an update every 3 months, and BIGEMAP every 10 days. Most recently, Scenic Map was updated on August 28, 2026 and BIGEMAP on September 17, 2026.

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