FieldMove vs SW Maps
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
FieldMove
This app facilitates digital field mapping for geologists, enabling precise data capture on a map-centric interface. It supports offline map usage, includes tools for drawing geological features, and can record orientation data, notes, and photos. Export your collected data in various formats for further analysis.
- Map-centric digital field mapping
- Offline map support
- Drawing tools for geological features
- Digital compass and clinometer
- Geo-referenced notes and photos
- Geological symbol library
- Multiple data export formats
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FieldMove is a map-based digital field mapping app for geological data capture. The app is presented in a map-centric format for use on larger touchscreen tablets. When sufficient data has been collected, you can use the drawing tools that include a virtual cursor for precision drawing to create geological boundaries, fault traces and other linework on your basemap. It is also possible to create simple polygons to show the distribution of different rock types. FieldMove supports Mapbox™ online maps and can cache this extensive online map service to work offline in the field. In addition to handling online maps, geo-referenced basemaps in MBTile or GeoTIFF format can be imported and also are available offline when working in the field. The app allows you to use your tablet as a traditional hand-held bearing compass, as well as a digital compass clinometer for measuring and recording the orientation of planar and linear features in the field. Geo-referenced text notes, photographs and screenshots can also be captured and stored within the app. Also contained in FieldMove is a library of geological symbols that enables data to be plotted on a stereonet, which allows the user to carry out analysis based on their field observations and measurements. All data readings collected in the field and any linework digitized directly in FieldMove with the drawing tools are fully geo-referenced. This information is preserved when the project is exported in various formats for use in other applications. Exporting your project is a quick and simple process. Data can be exported in three different formats: Move™ (.mve), for direct import into Petex's Move software for model building and analysis, a CSV (.csv) file (comma-separated values, similar to an Excel spreadsheet), and as a Google Earth (.kmz) file. A more in-depth user guide and brochure is available here: https://www.petex.com/products/move-suite/digital-field-mapping/ FieldMove is a Petroleum Experts geological field mapping app designed for forward thinking geologists utilising digital data collection. -------------------- The use of GPS devices and tablets as navigation aids. Global Positioning System (GPS) devices are commonly used to aid navigation, having grown in popularity over the past decade. Over the last few years, this has extended to smartphones and digital compasses, which are often equipped with GPS functionality. GPS is a valuable aid to navigation during fieldwork, although it is important to keep safety at the forefront, and we draw your attention to the advice given by a number of mountaineering councils: “Everyone heading into the hills needs to learn how to read a map, and be able to navigate effectively with a paper map and traditional magnetic compass, especially in poor visibility” Know the hardware sensors in your device FieldMove relies on three sensors inside your device, a magnetometer, a gyroscope and an accelerometer. Together, these sensors can be programmed to measure the orientation of planar and linear features in the field. All three sensors are installed as standard in iPhones and iPads, but are not always present in other hardware devices. You should always check your device to make sure that all three sensors are present and that the compass and the clinometer are giving accurate readings before starting to collect data. You can choose to manually enter data if you do not trust the internal sensors, or if you are using a traditional hand-held compass clinometer. Petroleum Experts will accept no liability or loss, resulting from the use or misuse of this product. -------------------- We hope that you find these applications useful and we’d be delighted to hear from you if you have any comments or suggestions for further improving the functionality in FieldMove. For more information go to: www.petex.com. If you have any feedback, questions, or concerns, please email us at: edinburgh@petex.com
SW Maps
This app allows users to collect, present, and share geographic information. It supports recording points, lines, polygons, and associated data like photos and audio. High-accuracy GPS surveys are possible with external receivers, and data can be shared in various standard formats.
- Collect points, lines, and polygons
- Attach custom attributes (text, photo, audio, video)
- High-accuracy GPS surveys with external receivers
- Offline map support
- Export data in multiple formats (Shapefile, GeoPackage, CSV)
- Create and share project templates
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SW Maps is a free GIS and mobile mapping app for collecting, presenting and sharing geographic information. Whether you are conducting a full scale GNSS survey with high precision instruments, need to collect large amount of location based data using nothing but your phone, or just need to view a few shapefiles with labels over a background map on the go, SW Maps has it all covered. Record points, lines, polygons and even photos and have them displayed over your choice of background map, and attach custom attribute data to any feature. Attribute types include text, numbers, an option from a predefined set of choices, photos, audio clips and videos. Conduct high accuracy GPS surveys using external RTK capable receivers over Bluetooth LE. Draw features on the map by adding markers, and measure distance and area. Reuse the layers and attributes of a previous project for another survey, or create templates and share them with other users. Share the collected data with other users as Geopackages, KMZ or shapefiles, or export them to your device storage. Also share and export recorded data as Spreadsheets or CSV files. All data is recorded and exported in the standard WGS84 Geographic coordinate system (EPSG:4326). Features -Online Base maps: Apple Maps or Open Street Map -Support for multiple mbtiles and KML overlays -Shapefile and Geopackage layers, with attribute categorized styling. View shapefiles in any coordinate system supported by the PROJ.4 library. -Add multiple online WMTS, TMS, XYZ or WMS layers and cache tiles for offline use. -Connect to external GPS receivers using Bluetooth for high accuracy surveying using RTK with built-in NTRIP client. Also record data from external receiver for post processing. -Define multiple number of feature layers, each with a set of custom attributes Feature Types: Point, Line, Polygon Attribute Types:Text, Numeric, Drop down Options, Photos, Audio, Video Save as Template for re-use or sharing -Record GPS tracks, with distance measurement -Label features based on attribute values. -Import feature layers from templates or existing projects. -Share or export collected data as KMZ (with embedded photographs) , shapefiles, GeoJSON, Geopackage (GPKG), XLS/ODS spreadsheets or csv files. -Share templates or projects with other users -Supports use of GTX geoid files. To use custom geoids, prepare a GTX file with offsets in meters from WGS84. This product is made in Nepal and is FREE (no Ads). If you find this useful, please let your friends know that you have used a product from Nepal. Spare sometime to visit this wonderful country and know the Nepali people.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: FieldMove at 64% against SW Maps's 30%. FieldMove also leads on rating (4.2 vs 3.8) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). SW Maps's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (25 vs 6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
FieldMove holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 25 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of FieldMove's written reviews are positive against 30% of SW Maps's.
FieldMove ships an update every 4 months, SW Maps every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FieldMove | SW Maps |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (6 ratings) — better | 3.8 (25 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 63.6% of reviews — better | 30.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 25 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 108 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Petroleum Experts Limited | Aviyaan Tech |
Customer experience
FieldMove
SW Maps
In-app purchases
FieldMove
No in-app purchases
SW Maps
No in-app purchases







