ArcGIS Navigator vs Tile Server
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ArcGIS Navigator
Navigate to your destinations with voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions and offline map access. This tool allows field teams to efficiently access and route on custom maps, view asset information, and manage daily work lists. It requires an ArcGIS account and Navigator license to function.
- Voice-guided turn-by-turn directions
- Offline navigation with local data
- Access custom Esri navigation maps
- Search assets and route on roads
- Vehicle-specific travel modes
- Manage daily work lists and stops
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ArcGIS is available on your desktop, in a browser, and now on your iPhone or iPad. Navigate to where you need to be, unlock efficiency, and improve your field workforce reliability. To use Navigator, you must have an ArcGIS account and a Navigator license. Key Features: - Use voice-guided turn-by-turn directions with automatic route recalculation. - Navigate completely offline with locally stored data (even in the background). - Access Esri's navigation maps or use your own maps—search your assets, route on your roads, and view your layers. - Follow shared routes. - Complete stops one at a time, or create a work list for an entire day's work. - View information about your assets. - Use vehicle-specific travel modes. - Receive stops from an email, your own app, or other ArcGIS apps such as Collector for ArcGIS. Note: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
Tile Server
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Portable Tile Server - allows you to serve Map Tiles (XYZ or WMTS) URL's to mapping clients/apps/software or to advanced map viewer. Load MBTILES or GPKG (GeoPackage) SQLite Databases/files that contain raster tiles, vector tiles, elevation/terrain tiles, other tile data in the tile_data blob. Serve Static Geospatial Data (GIS) files like KML/KMZ, GeoJSON, CSV, GPX, CZML, SHP, 3DTiles, 3DModels (gltf/glb) and others. This is basically a file server that any file type including zip file has an endpoint and accessible for streaming or downloading across the network. NO DATA is Provided with the app. The User Side-Loads their own data via itunes FileSharing or iCloud Discover-able Endpoints and webpages WiFi turned on is required to run this app and have it get an IP Address from the network. This is a local IP Address NOT internet accessible. So only users on your local network can access this data. ipaddress:8080/discover - web page listing of all the tile layers and static files ipaddress:8080/services - JSON response and access to tile.json for each layer ipaddress:8080/map - advanced map viewer with quick access to tile layers and adding local Shapefiles, GPKG, GeoJSON, KML, GPX, CSV ipaddress:8080/wmts - XML getcapabilities response The app also features a tile details view of each tile service. That includes data from the metadata table and the URL's and TileJSON The app can serve data to other apps or desktop/laptop GIS mapping software on the network. ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro can access it via OGC WMTS. Other mapping clients can use the Standard XYZ Tile Server URL (like : http://ipaddress:8080/getGPKGRasterTile/name/{z}/{x}/{y}.png or http://ipaddress:8080/getMBTilesRasterTile/name/{z}/{x}/{y}.png) The Map is accessible on the same device (phone/tablet) or from any device/computer on the network. The Map supports digitizing/drawing, has OSM vector tile basemaps with a style picker, raster basemap selector, supports adding mapping service URL's like Raster Tiles, Vector Tiles, WMS and others.The map offers in-app dynamic vector tiling of loaded vector data for optimized handling of large data. Digitize and Draw/Create data and perform Analysis. Tools like Measure distance and area, show coordinates in multiple formats. The app is perfect for sharing data among devices so one device loads all the map tiles and nearby devices can stream it. This could be in response to a natural disaster or other event and a mobile command center is setup and this becomes the map server for sharing data. Notes: GeoPackage Raster Tiles should only be 3857 Spherical Web Mercator /Auxillary Web Sphere Spatial Reference System/Projection. Test at your own risk support for others. MBTILES must have the required tiles table or view and metadata table and should follow 1.2 or 1.3 specification. Encrypted SQLite Databases (SQLCipher or other approaches ) are NOT supported. more information can be found at: http://techmaven.net/portabletileserver For Support Please visit http://support.techmaven.net
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: ArcGIS Navigator at Free against Tile Server's $4.99. ArcGIS Navigator also leads on update cadence (every 13 months vs every 41 months) and iOS requirement (14.5 vs 16.0). On ads, 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
ArcGIS Navigator is free to download; Tile Server costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
ArcGIS Navigator ships an update every 13 months, Tile Server every 41 months. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and August 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ArcGIS Navigator | Tile Server |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | 2.7 (19 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 16.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 19 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 13 months — better | Every 41 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.5 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 134 MB | 87 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ESRI | Tech Maven GeoSpatial LLC |
In-app purchases
ArcGIS Navigator
No in-app purchases
Tile Server
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is ArcGIS Navigator free?
Is Tile Server free?
Do ArcGIS Navigator or Tile Server have ads?
Which is updated more often, ArcGIS Navigator or Tile Server?
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