UKC

My renewal subscription for ordnance survey getamap is due (£18.95), I really use it to print off sections for walks/runs which are easier to use than carrying the whole OS map etc.

Wondered if there are any better options at around that price? I don't think getamap is that great, but kind of OK. I'm not technical and don't have a GPS or anything to download. Just paper and compass for me.

In reply to Moley:

not an answer as such but if you renew OS getamap before midnight today and use GAMAUG you get 20% off.

In reply to Moley:

Why not just use Bing maps and print them off for free? Not that I would ever encourage anyone to do that of course!

In reply to Moley:

I have the os map app on my phone and use that when I'm out cycling. It's great if you have mobile signal as you can use it with gps as well. I usually take screenshots as well so that I'm not stuck if I can't get any signal. It's much better for me than carting around maps in my pocket and it only cost £2-3.

In reply to climbingpixie:

Don't have a mobile phone, no signal at home so never bothered.

In reply to Moley:

I'm a recent convert to OS getamap after years using 'genuine' maps or faffing about printing things off internet. I wouldn't go back now as I haven't found anything to touch it in terms of the sheer quality of OS Maps vs the generally lower quality (not surprisingly) on line stuff.

For the quality £18 per year is pretty outstanding. You could of course spend a year printing (and laminating?) pretty much anything you can conceivably expect to use and then have a few years off.

I've got in habit of using it much as you say, for runs but using a cheap laminator the prints will last a good few outings. In areas I don't know well/the wilds I tend to still pack a proper map as a back up as I'm paranoid about loosing the print out and the full size map gives broader picture that may be necessary in the wilds if you do get off track or whatever.... But my existing stock of maps will now last a lot longer and are still necessary for planning trips over large areas.

In reply to Moley:

I print off the sections of routes I want off http://www.streetmap.co.uk
for free!

In reply to Lusk:

pretty good for streets - not so good for country/hills? Unless I'm missing a different view/filter?

In reply to Ferret:

Your use is pretty much exactly the same as mine, though I have most of my OS maps for Wales it's often easier to print off the sections I need - for instance I'm off soon on next leg of the Cambrian Way (100 mile to Barmouth). Used it for my ldwa 100 mile this year, better than carrying 5 full maps in the pouring wind and rain!!

I'll take your word there's nothing else better, have dabbled with streetmap, bing but they don't quite do what I want.

Wish getamap would blow up sizes more, if I chose 1:25 sometimes I want to take a small section of map (for a local walk or something) and make it bigger, haven't managed that yet.

In reply to Moley:

Agreed! Plus the ultimate would be to 'draw' a route, then automatically have it printed out in say, 2km wide stripes on a single sheet of paper! Sometimes find myself with a lot of sheets of which I'm not interested in terribly much bar my path and the assorted junctions I need to ignore.

In reply to climbingpixie:

Can you see the "proper" 1:25000 OS maps with that app? I subscribe to GetaMap and have the app, but can only see the Google Maps type maps with it. Am I missing something?

In reply to Moley:

http://openmaps.the-hug.net/ is pretty good, you can draw routes which it tells you the distance etc

In reply to mbh:

http://www.maptasm.com/ - 1:50,000 full page
www.streetmap.co.uk/ - you can get 1:25,000 and 5x5 km

In reply to Ferret:

Streetmap does OS 1:50k and 1:25k, e.g.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=261063&y=354517&z=120&lm=1 1:50k
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/idld.srf?X=261063&Y=354517&A=Y&Z=115... 1:25k

The advantage of Streetmap is that it is OSGB grid aligned, unlike the reprojected mapping found on Bing and GoogleMaps. The disadvantage is that it's a pain to save the mapping; the tiles used to be numbered sequentially so you could save & collate, but they were forced to obfuscate the order. There was a time when you could run repeated requests and hoover up the tiles if you were clever, or had a bit of software to do the cleverness, but that got stopped. Oddly, the GetAMap server had a similar vulnerability to simple URL fetches; no idea if it still does.

If 1:50k is good enough for you, have a look at wheresThePath, which is free, but has an OS-imposed daily tile limit: get up early...

http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm

Or there's Grough Routes, which is essentially a competitor to GetAMap, at £19.50 a year. I have a suspicion that the route planning is better, as GetAMap is a bit pants (or was; haven't looked at it for a while, when it seemed to be a copy of WheresThePath, which the OS certainly knew about...).

http://www.grough.co.uk/route/

Or there's an excellent GIS provided by Dorset County Council, to document the PRoW network for their county & surrounding counties. That will give you access to OS mapping down to 1:2500 (that's right; not 1:25000), which is pretty fascinating. It's a bit slow, though, and is reprojected.

http://explorer.geowessex.com/

Then there are a raft of apps for android devices that will hoover mapping from Bing, although the OS put the frighteners on some a while back, but more pop out of the woodwork all the time. OruxMaps was my favourite, but the developer had to submit to legal threats and put blocks in the code to prevent it using Bing OS mapping. The last version to give access to Bing OS was v5_5_3.

MOBAC may still be able to source and collate OS mapping from Bing, and convert it into a format suitable for use by mapping apps. but it is likely to be only a matter of time before the OS take action against them (if they haven't already).

In reply to mbh:

I don't use that one, the one I use is called Uk Atlas. It definitely goes down as far as 1:25000, in fact there seems to be a level of detail beyond that one as well. You can cache maps but only at 1:125000 so it's not very useful for anything where you're going to be away from mobile signal but it's brilliant for road biking in the Lakes or Yorkshire Dales.

In reply to captain paranoia:

Brilliant info - thanks.

In reply to captain paranoia:

Many thanks for all that info, been looking at the grough version that seems pretty good and better than getamap, but after much thought decided to stay with what I understand and am familiar with(getamap). I'm a slow learner on 'puters and the thought of starting again leaves me cold!

I may have a better look at the alternatives next year - in advance of my subscription expiring and needing some maps!!

Why isn't the OS free anyway, I thought we paid for it in taxes?

In reply to Ferret:


Missed this earlier...

Do have a play with WheresThePath, then. Once you've drawn your route, and added any annotation to waypoints you want, you can print the route. WtP will then create a set of A4 pages with the map section and annotated route card, showing distance, elevation change, etc. A bit wider than 2km, but...

The other nice feature of WtP is its 'magic router', which uses PRoW data provided by published Council Definitive Mapping of PRoW data to enter footpath sections. If you turn on the magic router, as you move the mouse over the map, it will highlight any PRoW sections it finds, and, if you click on it, it will add it to the route. Where you need to link non-PRoW sections (e.g. open access land or roads), you just click the waypoints as 'normal'.

It's a very neat feature, and, since it's based on the Definitive Mapping, saves you a lot of time entering the wiggly lines, whilst being as accurate as the Definitive Mapping survey. This is the same data displayed on Dorset's geowessex GIS system (where you can enable the display of different PRoWs, and show up problem reports and their status).

WtP can also show different mapping sets, as well as displaying linked left and right panes; this is useful to show map on the left and zoomed satellite imagery in the right so you can often see where the path actually goes on the ground.

In reply to Moley:


Hah. That's a question for the likes of Charles Arthur, sometime of this parish...

The OS is an Executive Agency of the government, and its funding is interesting, but, in brief, it's semi-commercial.

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/about/governance/foi/publication-scheme/ove...

In reply to Moley: The mapping data is available free in various forms: http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-and-government/licensing/using-cre...

The Get-A-Map subscription is for the presentation of that data in map form, and the other bells and whistles in the GUI (route planning etc).

In reply to mbh:

Sorry but yes. You're missing loads.

Change the map type drop down to 'Leisure' and welcome to a whole new world!!!

In reply to MtnGeekUK:
Perhaps I have the wrong app? I don't seem to be able to do that, and anyway, it doesn't ask me to log in with my getamap username and pass word, so how would it know I have a subscription?.

What is the app called that you are using?

In reply to mbh:

You don't need a subscription to use Get-a-Map unless you want to print stuff off, so you can just close the 'sign in' box. It starts in zoom-map mode; zoom in towards where you want, then click 'Leisure' to get proper 1:50k mapping. If you keep zooming it switches to 1:25k. You can also view aerial photography. (Disclaimer: all this is if using it on a PC. I've no idea whether it's different on a phone or tablet.)

In reply to rif:

I can do all that fine on the PC. I wondered whether I could do it on the OS iphone app, but I can't, it seems.

climbingpixie - will try your UK Atlas suggestion.