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So it's obvious that the camp site, public house, post office ..icons displayed on the OS Explorer maps pre date the internet. But now most people use digital maps when route plotting, I wonder if these icons are kept up to date and also why they are embedded into the maps. You'd expect these to be layered on, so the user can select the features to display.
I haven't actually found a map plotting site that provides said features. Maybe it's because there isn't the associated REST services to provide the data to enable this.
You’d expect these to be layered on, so the user can select the features to display.
If you 've ever used GIS software having a bunch of layers slows things down significantly when panning about. Google maps is a bit different because it has the processing available to keep it nice and fast.
And the OS data is their product, I guess supplying it in bits is a bit copyright risky*.
*we pay an awful lot to get OS vectors, somethign the general public are unlikely to want to spend.
OS explorer/landranger maps online are raster maps, effectively a picture of the paper copy.
they’ve obviously got vector maps/layers of all the individual feature layers that make up the map but do they make that available online anywhere? I know you can pay quite a bit to access it commercially.
every site I’ve used, uses open street map vector data for routing and feature identification.
i guess maybe the OS app uses OS vector data for routing?
effectively a picture of the paper copy.
or more accurately the picture used FOR the paper copy 😀
But basically yeah what Jam-bo said
It’s been a while since I’ve been a map prodder.
But I think I am correct in saying that said camp site and public house icons have to be taken with a pinch of salt as they may well no longer exist.
Any "leisure" icons can only be taken as approximate anyway. That includes stuff like ski-tows and chairlifts. The OS have warned against using these for navigation purposes.
And not all campsites are marked with a blue icon. Something one of my DofE groups found out the hard way.
A "printed" map is already out of date.
I had to help a dofe group who were very lost they had expected to be in a forest not on open hillside.
I pointed out the stumps in the longish grass. They were spot on just confused that map and ground didn't match
But they’re still sooo pretty to look at.