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Main Boards => Gear => Topic started by: dittzzy on 21:34:52, 12/06/20

Title: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: dittzzy on 21:34:52, 12/06/20
I'm sure this has been asked before....

Which gps/walking/mapping app?  We did look at Memory Map because we have age old online maps but decided it was too clunky.  From what I can make out, Veiwranger and OS Maps seem to be the contenders......  I like OS Maps, I've used it before, and it seems to have improved since it first came out.

Preferences?  Are there any others worth looking at?
Title: Re: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: ninthace on 21:54:13, 12/06/20
I'm sure this has been asked before....

Which gps/walking/mapping app?  We did look at Memory Map because we have age old online maps but decided it was too clunky.  From what I can make out, Veiwranger and OS Maps seem to be the contenders......  I like OS Maps, I've used it before, and it seems to have improved since it first came out.

Preferences?  Are there any others worth looking at?
I use both VR and OS.  I bet that didn't help  O0
It really depends on what you are trying to do and how much you want to spend.  Both are good and have strengths and weaknesses.
Title: Re: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: geordie33 on 09:03:29, 13/06/20
I have used both as well.The problem I had with OS maps was that if I forgot to download off line maps I was relient on a phone signal and the North Pennines is patchy at best.
Nice clear 1.25 maps though
I now use Viewranger most of the time and a Garmin GPS otherwise.
Viewranger works well and maps are bought rather than an annual subscription
Reasonably priced as well.
However maps are 1.50 unless you buy 1.25 tiles which are more expensive.
Viewranger does not need a data signal
I doubt I have been much help either :-[
Title: Re: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: gunwharfman on 09:25:38, 13/06/20
We all use apps and maps to get us from A to B and we live in a safe, cozy, homely, and small country, we can even rely on loads of signposts as well. I wonder how we would cope if we chose or were made to hike without a map like people used to, or hike in westerns where the advice was "head north, keep the sun behind you" or something similar. I'm not suggesting that anyone does it but we all like to be wrapped up in our technology cotton wool, I know I do. 
Title: Re: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: Lee R on 19:54:35, 13/06/20
I use OS Maps. It's great to be able to use it online to browse, save routes which are then available on the phone etc. I just find it nice, easy & convenient.


I have printed maps of our usual areas (or if we are heading somewhere like the Brecons) & also a compass.


When we were out reasonably local the other weekend, I was using the OS App but I didn't have the actual GPS switched on on the phone. It was enjoyable to look for features, roads, fields and best guess where east was due to guessing the sun would be there at about 9am'ish etc to find our way around.


Mind you, I can remember driving up to Santa Pod & the like with a post it note stuck to the dash of the Mk1 Escort with a list of 'roads' on it.......


M32,
M4 Swindon,
A419,
A420 Oxford,
A34 North, etc


I have a cigarette lighter socket in there now  :)
Title: Re: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: dittzzy on 21:39:07, 13/06/20
Thanks folks.
I've decided on OS - mostly because of fact I like 1:25000, and with OS it is so easy. 

I now use Viewranger most of the time and a Garmin GPS otherwise.
Viewranger works well and maps are bought rather than an annual subscription
Reasonably priced as well.
However maps are 1.50 unless you buy 1.25 tiles which are more expensive.
Viewranger does not need a data signal
I doubt I have been much help either :-[
I know that paying for the maps or tiles when I need them will mean I end up with bitty coverage of some areas - a bit like I have now with our old maps - which I hate.   

I know how to use OS too....... mostly.   My subscription rang out a couple of years ago, it seems to have improved a little since then, but it also seems to have lost a couple of features.  The help files are better than they used to be though.  And I love that it is all online and can be downloaded to whichever device I'm using at the time.

So thanks again y'all.   

Whernside tomorrow - on a route we know well.  A good test then.  :D :D
Title: Re: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: BuzyG on 22:07:22, 13/06/20
We all use apps and maps to get us from A to B and we live in a safe, cozy, homely, and small country, we can even rely on loads of signposts as well. I wonder how we would cope if we chose or were made to hike without a map like people used to, or hike in westerns where the advice was "head north, keep the sun behind you" or something similar. I'm not suggesting that anyone does it but we all like to be wrapped up in our technology cotton wool, I know I do.

Depends if you know where your going.  I've walked across Dartmoor on a foggy day without using my map more than once. ;)

As for Apps I am back using OSapps again now they appear to have sorted most of the bugs they introduced a few versions back.  A paper map and compass  also works pretty well.





Title: Re: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: Bigfoot_Mike on 23:13:12, 13/06/20
I have never used an app for navigation, or a gps device. I have always just used a map and compass, although in many cases where I have planned my route I can just walk from memory. I have managed to go off course in thick fog a few times, but have managed to get myself back on track. When I used to walk in the New Forest, I always knew the direction back to the car, no matter how far I had walked or how many turns I had taken. I keep thinking about buying a gps, but have never been convinced enough to splash the cash.
Title: Re: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: April on 14:33:13, 14/06/20
I now use Viewranger most of the time and a Garmin GPS otherwise.
Viewranger works well and maps are bought rather than an annual subscription
Reasonably priced as well.
However maps are 1.50 unless you buy 1.25 tiles which are more expensive.

We have just subscribed to Viewranger's Premium OS maps. All of GB OS maps 1:50 and 1:25. £24.99 a year. Since Covid we have been doing more walks outside of the National Parks that we have the maps for on Viewranger and paper. I don't use a Garmin device though and I don't normally plot routes to follow on a tablet or phone. We did yesterday though, beefy had put a route on his tablet :)

I have used the OS app before but couldn't get used to it. I didn't have a subscription though, I'd just downloaded a few paper maps that came with free mobile download and I think you had to have the subscription to use the functions. I have used Viewranger previous to yesterday just to record routes and just use to check where we are if there was any uncertainty but I enjoyed following the plotted route yesterday. All of this a bit too late for the OP mind  :)
Title: Re: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: GoneWest on 21:27:02, 14/06/20
As for Apps I am back using OSapps again now they appear to have sorted most of the bugs they introduced a few versions back.  A paper map and compass  also works pretty well.
As I've slated the OS Maps App's recent "updates" elsewhere on this forum, I confirm that I, too, have reinstalled it (on just my tablet, for the time being) and have discovered it seems, once again, to be free of problems for me. However, I have tried it so far only with downloads of my bought paper maps, not with a subscription, which I don't currently need. One recent problem, according to reviews, was that the app wasn't allowing access to downloaded maps without wifi or a phone signal. This fault seems to have been fixed (I tried it in aeroplane mode).
Title: Re: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: dittzzy on 21:44:10, 14/06/20
As I said, I went for OS Maps, £23.99 for an annual subscription - and the whole of the UK 1:25000 & 1:50000 available.

The downloaded map function performed absolutely perfectly today whilst offline/ walking etc.  This I like.
But I have a couple of niggles with some of the other features. This may be because I haven't learnt how to use them properly, and also because I am transferring expectations from other tools, like my Garmin.

I do like having the whole of the UK 1:25000 available and up to date though.  Much better.   :D :D
Title: Re: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: ninthace on 21:48:55, 14/06/20
I have no difficulties running the OS app on my Android phone (Samsung A50) at all. This includes transferring routes to the phone from my laptop, downloading maps for offline use or tranferring traces from the phone back to the laptop.  Its biggest failing remains that it cannot record a track while following a route - or that was the case last time I used it, I have not needed it during lockdown.
Title: Re: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: dittzzy on 21:53:37, 14/06/20
I have no difficulties running the OS app on my Android phone (Samsung A50) at all. This includes transferring routes to the phone from my laptop, downloading maps for offline use or tranferring traces from the phone back to the laptop.  Its biggest failing remains that it cannot record a track while following a route - or that was the case last time I used it, I have not needed it during lockdown.
I agree all of the above.  Especially the cannot record as well as follow which I am slightly disappointed about. 
Title: Re: Walk Mapping Apps
Post by: ninthace on 22:04:16, 14/06/20
I agree all of the above.  Especially the cannot record as well as follow which I am slightly disappointed about.
ViewRanger can do routes and record tracks at the same time but needs a subscription to run OS maps.  I already have the OS subscription, so I run both.  My last Android phone could not run the apps side by side but my A50 can.