[Closed] OS maps app or site

After trying a few third party apps I use the official osmaps app and site now; a subscription is only £20 / year or thereabouts but that gets you everything, and the app is quite good too. I figured that's cheap enough to be worth avoiding faffing around with other maps, buying new bits of map and the like.

Yep, OS maps subscription here too. Well worth it. Easy route planing on the desktop (including cool 3D fly-through options) and a useful app on the phone for checking and modifying the route out on the trail. All for less than a tank of fuel each year.

As others, I use the OS maps app but don't bother with a subscription as i just buy the physical OS map for the area which includes the digital download. Yes i may not have national OS maps but actually I'd only really use a fraction of the area anyway so for me its more cost effective to buy the areas i do use (and i normally add maps when they're reduced at the local Millets etc)

Even with other options I still reckon £20 for the OS subscription is worth it. And there are often offers. I don't think I've ever paid full price for it.

I'm a bit of a map geek anyway but I love the full digital sub. Looking for interest, always having the app ready to go, print off if needed, import and edit walking/biking routes then exporting as gxp's again. I;m sure you can do all of these things elsewhere for free but I have a real affinity to the OS and their maps.

At one point you could get a cheap sub via tesco rewards.

OS map app, after a slow start, is very good, and well worth the money. I used to use Viewranger, which is also very good, but you end up spending more than 20 quid a year on maps anyway.

Depends on which platform you are using but Maverick maps on android is good for uploading routes to follow & figure out where you strayed off the path you were thought you were on. But, yes I have a subscription to OS maps and it is a great all rounder for route planning and following.

Bing maps (Microsoft maps) has an OS maps option for the UK if all you want to do is look.

If you don't like the OS App, maybe try this one - https://outdoorsgps.com

The web route builder is pretty good too.

They have the same price for subscription to OS unlimited

OS map app, after a slow start, is very good, and well worth the money. I used to use Viewranger, which is also very good, but you end up spending more than 20 quid a year on maps anyway.

ViewRanger's changed its mapping sales model so now you have the choice between a yearly susbscription - all UK OS mapping at 1:50K and 1:25K plus a bunch of quite cool stuff like their Skyline function (named peaks / arrow on camera screen showing direction of route) - or downloading tiles for permanent ownership. Or buying packages, eg all the National Parks at 1:50K for a tenner, permanently.

I like the app and I have a bunch of mapping already. I haven't used the OS app for a while, but I'd suggest ViewRanger has been historically a much better choice and I'd look at that as well as the OS option, maybe try using both apps in free mode before committing.

plus a bunch of quite cool stuff like their Skyline function (named peaks

Yeah, the OS App has that too but it doesn't seem to work properly on my phone. I think it's to do with the screen size / field of view.

Been tempted to buy this subscription for a while, but wondered if it includes any way to get this onto my Garmin as well without forking out £350 for the SD card option.

I've been using the OS app though I buy the maps to get the lifetime download.

The app is good in terms of placing you on the map, but it does have a couple of issues I'd really like them to fix; if you are out of phone signal - as I often am in the outdoors - I get 'data streaming not available' errors (this is with downloaded maps) also if you open it for a quick bearing check, it stays running in the background and sucks a load of battery even if you are not using it for a route. It'd be 5* if it wasn't for these.

Actually thinking about it pinch zoom on a damp screen is usually hard work too, probably an issue for most apps, some wet weather screen buttons for zoom / pan would be a great addition!

@fooman. Is that iOS or Android ? I’ve not had the streaming error on my iPhone. I’m often in areas of no signal, but as long as I’ve downloaded the maps that cover my route before I go (which is easy to do) it’s never been an issue.

Been tempted to buy this subscription for a while, but wondered if it includes any way to get this onto my Garmin as well without forking out £350 for the SD card option.

Nope. Different formats.

walklakes.co.uk has the full OS maps for free

Our library recently refreshed all its 1:25K OS maps for new ones that come with the digital download option.  The download code was under one of those scratch off panels on the cover of each map.  Don't think there are any left unscratched now 🙂

Where's the Path (and the York Ramblers version) have always done the job for me, alongside a Viewranger sub.

I subscribe to the OS maps app but it's bittersweet.

The desktop bit is great and you can make yourself custom maps to print off etc.

There app would be great but for the fact that when zooming in half the time it doesn't display the actual map - just a red arrow (you) on a grey background. Not my phone - tried it on a few different types and happens on mates phones too.

It's so obvious that OS must know about it. Or am I in the middle of a perfect coincidence-storm? I mailed them about the bug, but no reply. (like seemingly all mtbers I work in IT).

Problem is - OS maps are so good I'm loathe to ditch them.

OSMaps App/Desktop users, is there an option to snap to roads when plotting a route? The snap to path option in national parks is useful but seems that there is only the option to plot straight lines between course points when plotting on the road.

I use Garmin Connect to easily upload to the device but as we have all said many times the mapping is useless, I have Bing or another OS viewer open and refer to it as I plot.

Used to love Bikehike but not sure if its dead? Can't use it at work either and often plot routes just before leaving on an evening or lunchtimes so can't do that anymore.

If the OS map site plotted road and off-road cycle routes easily I would have a permanent subscription, use it to plot and upload the GPX to Garmin Connect.

Any feedback welcome.

OSMaps App/Desktop users, is there an option to snap to roads when plotting a route?

No, only works on paths in national park

Viewranger and a yearly 1:25 sub for me (plus I have all the National Parks at 1:50 from when they were on offer at something daft like a tenner for the lot, I think they're that cheap all the time now).

I tried the OS app a while ago with Tesco points, but I had the problem with it not displaying downloaded maps (plus the download sequence was awkward to start with) when I was out in the hills, which pretty much made it worse than useless. Unless that issue is 100% sorted - and it sounds like it's not - there's not way I'll be going back. Viewranger interface can be a little bit old school, especially on the website, but it's reliable and that's what really matters to me.

Not free obviously, but well worth what you pay.

(deleted after reading op properly)

I'm the same as chevychase, OS web on a desktop pc is great, their app is rubbish. I've been using backcountry navigator (android) on the mobile instead, it caches bing OS tiles and handily swaps between 1:50 and 1:25 as you zoom. The author has a new app in beta that is going to use a subscription model in future so not sure whether the original app has much lifespan remaining

@fooman. Is that iOS or Android

Android

I've tried a few free apps but nothing comes close to the OS subscription. Like others on here I'm a bit of a map geek.

The route planning is a great feature. When I get the odd bit of spare time, I'm currently plotting a route from Southampton to Glasgow using only bridleways or cycleroutes. It's harder than it sounds.

It's very easy to get gpx files plotted out as well.

I've used backcountry navigator for years. It's a one off payment for full OS 1:25k, don't know how much it is these days. It's got all the add ons like a course creator, gpx file downloading etc etc. You can download the area you want to your phone to use off line. I think there is still a free trial app download in Google play. It basically uses bing maps so there might be a daily data limit, so good idea to have all your key map areas permanently on your phone. Once you get your head around it, it's s great app IMO.

ViewRanger user here. Got the whole of the UK at 1:50,000 when it was on offer for £100 a few years ago. Probably not a great deal, but the app seemed better than the OS one at the time.

Sounds like the OS app might be worth another look, but then I'd have to pay for the mapping all over again, so...

I love plotting a route in ViewRanger on the iPad (normally when I should be working), dumping it on the Garmin, then riding it. It all works very well.

If it's free you're after then you can't go wrong with https://www.justgoride.co.uk/

The site is slightly abandoned but I've found it handy for planning routes as it lets you browse 25000 scale OS mapping.

Same as Dorset_Knob, I paid £100 for the 1:50k version years ago now within viewranger (in fact it was 2013) and have restored and redownloaded tiles/areas over the year so it's easily paid for itself even though at first it felt expensive. I also like the app for its walking routes, when I visit new areas and need somewhere to walk the pooch or myself I look up routes on there and have done some nice walks as a result. My mum also signs up every year to the mileage distance competition and it motivates her to get out more than she may otherwise. In terms of mapping you won't get any as decent that can compete with ordnance survey and that's why you have to pay for it, can't give it away for free after all!

Yeah, have to say, I have no qualms about giving money to the Ordnance Survey for their maps. It would be good if you could transfer map licenses around different apps though. (Or maybe you can?)

Maverick Pro on Android works very well. You can pre-load the map tiles when you're on Wifi, and they'll store on the phone. You need to find the OS Explorer maps in the menu.

And Bing for desktop.

I use outdoors GPS
https://outdoorsgps.com/products

I bought the "outdoors GPS with parks" app (you get the UK national parks OS mapps for free) then I pay something like £12 a year to access to all UK OS maps in 1:25k and 1:50k.

You can route plan in-app but its much easier to route plan on the desktop site. You can import GPX files from other sources.

I find it really good.

Only issue is if you're biking you can be moving quite fast and the map doesn't move with you, when you're following the route.

I like Viewranger too, great for the ability to choose tiles as & when you need the bits you need. I love OS maps but I've got loads with towns & cities on that I don't need maps of!

Yeah, have to say, I have no qualms about giving money to the Ordnance Survey for their maps. It would be good if you could transfer map licenses around different apps though. (Or maybe you can?)

No, you can't. There's a certain amount of resentment about this, particularly as the OS was a government agency paid to create mapping by public money and is now a sort of semi-commercial quango horror show. Its on-line licensing regs have always been strange and complex and - at least in the recent past - not understood by the Ordnance Survey itself. Trying to deal with them on a corporate basis is - or at least was - a nightmare.

Anyway, they supply digital mapping data to various resellers - ViewRanger etc - who then repackage and sell it in an own--brand format specific to the app, so you can pay for the same OS data over and over again if you choose to use differents apps or hardware platforms.

And with their own app, they're basically competing directly with their own corporate resellers. Anyway... great mapping, problematic entity ime.

Is no-one using bing.com/maps or bikehike.co.uk?

On a pc walklakes.co.uk free or voluntary subs. 1:25000 maps if you login.

On an android phone back country navigator. OS maps cached on the phone.

Anyway… great mapping, problematic entity ime.

Agreed - but I've recently been to visit Northern Ireland, and OSNI seem worse than OSGB. With OSGB, you buy a 1:25k paper map and get a free download of the area. OSNI, if you want the raster image it's over £60, per map!

Is no-one using bing.com/maps or bikehike.co.uk?

Not unless you can use offline mapping, no.

I use Viewranger too - in addition to the above, any tiles you purchase in the app are also visible on the website, so you can plot routes in advance in your browser on a bigger screen and then sync to the app, which I find useful when mulching about in the days leading up to a ride.

Strange.

I talk about having an OS subscription on here then 5 hrs letter get an email saying my subscription cannot be renewed, follow this link etc.

Check on app and renewal isn't due yet.

Look again at email and it's from ordnancesurveyleisure.co.uk.

Dodgy as.

But the strange thing is, I only ever use the email account for STW, OS and 1 other shop.

So if you sent me that email after seeing me on here, to try and defraud me, @#$% off and get a real job.

I bought the full UK 1:50000 on Viewranger a few years back when it was on offer for about £70. Superb value for money.