Bye Bye Memory-Map Hello OS On Line Mapping

[ninthace]

I have been increasingly frustrated with Memory-Map of late. Things came to a a head when my current square kilometrage subscription finally ran out. I had been using the OS 25k Explorer 2012 version of mapping and while it offered me an upgrade to the 2018 version they wanted a kings ransom to upgrade the 2012 mapping I had already paid for to get the 2018 version.  It was either that or buy another 750 sq km of the 2012 version of the map which again was not overly cheap.


Other irritations have been that:
On start up I kept getting a grey screen instead of the last map I had used which needed a change of zoom level to dislodge
It was slow to respond to loading overlays or different maps always giving an "application not responding" that did not clear until the mouse had been clicked several times.



I decided to give the OS on line mapping site another look.  Having tried it I have decided it meets my planning needs and I get unlimited up to date OS mapping for £19.99 a year. The only drawbacks I can see are:
I cannot organize My Routes into folders so I have to name them so they group together naturally using the A-Z Sort  (I start each one  with a YYMMDD stamp so they order chronologically)
It would be good if line styles included pecked and dotted options.


Finally a question.  Has anyone found a way to bulk import gpx routes into My Routes? 

[Glyno]

Finally a question.  Has anyone found a way to bulk import gpx routes into My Routes?

I'm pretty sure it's not possible.


My main gripe with OS Maps (but one that I'm prepared to live with) is the unnessecarilly wide border on print-outs. I calculated that the actual viewable area of printed map is less than 75% of an A4 sheet.
Also, getting the exact area you want to print can be a bit trial and error. I've spoken to customer services at OS regarding these and other issues that could so easily be resolved, but, although the person I spoke to 'sort of' agreed with me, they aren't the most responsive.

[ninthace]

It would also be good if you could scroll through My Routes using the cursor keys rather than dragging the scroll bar which is a fiddle if yiu have lots of routes stored. I discovered the printout snag yesterday too. That was one on MM's strengths along with being out to print at a fixed scale - I always used 1:12500

[Glyno]

I print maps to scale at 1:25k and I've devised a way of selecting pretty much the exact area I want to print. Its by dropping a place-pin at a certain intersection of grid squares and then repositioning the map.
It can be a bit fiddly until you get the hang of it, and could so easily be sorted if OS could be bothered.

[fernman]

Re. printing:
Could you not make the map full screen with F11 and then select the area you want with the cross hairs of the screen capture of PicPick (using Shift + PrtScrn as a shortcut when you can't see the icon in the taskbar because you're on full screen).
Save the resulting screencap and print that.
Works for me with Anquet, Memory-Map and Bing, so I am assuming it will work with OS too.

[vghikers]

@ninthace

...It was slow to respond to loading overlays or different maps always giving an "application not responding" that did not clear until the mouse had been clicked several times...

Assuming you are running MM on a PC, which exact version, and do you have all your routes loaded simultaneously?.
I've occasionally helped people with MM issues since 2004 and this one has come up quite often. Having all your routes loaded in one Overlay would seem logical and convenient, but is the absolute worst way of working in MM. One guy had around 200 routes with hundreds, or even thousands in a few cases, of waypoints in each, over 250,000 waypoints - and that's without the Marks. For some operations, including in some cases the initial overlay load I think, MM needs to access every single one of them, hence the delay.
I divide my routes into groups and only load one at a time, so I have the route I'm working on and maybe 3 or 4 others.
Then there was the notorious 'printersettings' file in the Map Overlays directory that sometimes became corrupt.
I always advised people to close MM, rename that directory then load MM with a clean slate to see if the problem persisted.
That specific grey screen problem has also occurred before, but I couldn't reproduce it on my system, hence I couldn't debug it.

@Glyno

...Also, getting the exact area you want to print can be a bit trial and error...

I normally print at 1:25000 and just drag the red print rectangle to the exact position I want over the map. Again assuming a PC, is this not adequate for your purpose?.

[ninthace]

Vghikers  I am running version 6.1.3 Build 1205 on a Win10 PC.
You are right in your surmise of how my files are organised. Apart from the category folders MM comes with, I have one category folder for each year going back to 2012. Each year folder holds the walks for that year.  I have a further category folder for planned walks too with sub folders for different regions.  It seemed a logical way of working as it acts as a planning tool and logbook at the same time, allowing me to look back (or gloat  )over past walks and spot areas I haven't explored yet.  I thought that my folders may be the underlying cause after my last encounter with the MM help desk whose solution involved the loss of all my files - sure enough the problem went away but returned as the data built back up.
I also haven't found a way of getting OS Explorer as the default map either - mine always starts in Streetview 2012.
Never had a printer issue though.


Edited to add this link on the grey tile problem.  Seems it is a registry issue.  If so. why haven't MM issued a bug fix?
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/a-solution-bug-fix-for-the-grey-squares-blocks-tile-problem-on-memory-map-for-windows.217347/

[Glyno]

@GlynoI normally print at 1:25000 and just drag the red print rectangle to the exact position I want over the map. Again assuming a PC, is this not adequate for your purpose?.

I don't get a red rectangle in OS online mapping (an idea I suggested to their customer services), are you referring to Memory Map?

[vghikers]

@ninthace

I also haven't found a way of getting OS Explorer as the default map either - mine always starts in Streetview 2012.
Never had a printer issue though.

On any change of location, MM always defaults to the largest scale available for the new location, usually Streetview if you have it. Rather annoying if I'm looking at the 1:25000 map and e.g. search for a town, it goes straight to Streetview.
The printersettings file was notorious for getting corrupted and causing serious problems that were nothing to do with printing. I recall it could even prevent MM from loading at all.

@Glyno
Yes, I meant MM running on a desktop. I never tried the online facilities.

[RogerA]

I use komoot app. This gives one region map free then a one off cost (~£10) for the world maps for life - using openstreetmap maps.
I know you can import gpx routes fairly easily.
Works for me.
Its a german app (very widely used there) that they're currently starting to promote in the UK