Can anyone recommend a map app for displaying OSM terrain maps?
I've started using them on Where's the path and I've been quite impressed. The contour lines are just has handy as os maps but os is very expensive on phones.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Smart phone Map software (osm)
(11 posts)- Started 10 years ago by steveo
- Latest reply from rbrtwtmn
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Posted 10 years ago #
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Android or iPhone or something else?
There are many possibilities.
(see here to find lists)
My personal requirement is to download mapping for off-line use. Viewranger on the iphone does ok. Better I think is Osmand on Android.
The key thing to remember here is that a good app (as I see it) will allow for the download of the data - and will draw the map for you according to the settings you use. Simpler apps will only work with pre-drawn (pre-rendered) 'tiles'. Downloading these takes MUCH more space. Watch too for rogue apps which don't respect the OSM project as much as they should... for instance abusing some of OSM's tile (map) services by downloading from places they shouldn't.
Can I offer my encouragement to keep digging in regard to OSM. There's a lot to learn and a lot to value in OSM which is well hidden from the first time user, but which makes the mapping/data very powerful and excellent for cycling related tasks.Meant to say... contour lines aren't supplied by OSM. If you've seen them used with OSM data it's because clever people combine the OSM data with freely available contour data. Look for an app which will do the same (e.g. Osmand's contour data which can be paid for).
Posted 10 years ago # -
Cheers rbrtwtmn, its for Android.
I tried OSmand but I'm having trouble using it not sure if I'm being stupid or if its not immediately intuitive.
I think I'll have to work through the list and see what I like.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I use Osmand when I need the kind of stuff like cycle paths that Google maps can be a bit patchy on. Like you said it really isn't very intuitive but it's worth sticking with as it works pretty well once you get the hand of it. There are ways of making it do turn by turn navigation Garmin-style on a route you've planned (rather than whichever crazy route Google thinks you should use) though that can be a bit of a faff to set up.
Posted 10 years ago # -
There were some relatively decent looking Osmand instructions somewhere. I've never got around to reading them. Not intuitive... but to be honest I don't remember when I last came across any app doing something interesting which was intuitive. Maybe I'm getting old...
Definitely worth pursuing. I'm sure it'll do what you want.
My favourite GPS is a dedicated unit. Prices now very reasonable. I get a good battery life - can have it tracking all day and displaying the map constantly without any issue at all. And it's loaded with OSM data.
Posted 10 years ago # -
OsmAnd is one of the few apps I have paid for (paid version is called OsmAnd+).
The free version only gives you 10 downloads.
Not sure if it can display terrain maps.
Recently used the app extensively on a holiday to Germany/Switzerland. Very handy for our three day cycling holiday to show cycle routes.
Used the directions feature later when we had a car. Works really well. I just tend to set it up and listen to the instructions rather than look at the screen.
The "prepare to enter a roundabout in about three kilometers" gets a bit tedious though. Don't know what other people's roundabout preparing routine is like but mine is less than 3km!Posted 10 years ago # -
"Not sure if it can display terrain maps."
It can display contour lines (and hill shading) with the contour plugin. See:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.osmand.srtmPlugin.paid
Costs £1.99 though. Thought I had to try it though (CCE costs you money!)
Seems to work OK and doesn't seem to slow down the map display.
Not terribly high resolution contours. Similar to the bike map layer on the standard OSM site, with a bit less definition to the contour lines.here's Arthur's Seat:
OsmAnd contour plugin by ccbb7766, on Flickr
Posted 10 years ago # -
"The contour lines are just has handy as os maps but os is very expensive on phones."
1:50000 not so expensive. Scotland for £40 with ViewRanger
Or use the TrigpointingUK app and pre-cache the area you are heading to at 1:25000 scale.
Posted 10 years ago # -
A quick update on this question following some recent exploration - regarding OSM and Android phones. Take a look at Oruxmaps - and Openandromaps. Oruxmaps is an excellent if very complex map viewer, and Openandromaps (map data) can be downloaded onto the phone for use with Oruxmaps. The process takes some piecing together, but the result is excellent OSM based cycle route maps for use offline. I've stopped carrying paper maps completely now I have this in my pocket (beside my more accurate stand-alone GPS).
Note that Oruxmaps definitely isn't user friendly yet, but it's definitely worth the effort.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I love Viewranger, but I'm a hillwalker too.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Unfortunately - unless things have changed since I last looked - Viewranger only downloads the map tiles (i.e. pre-drawn map images). These take up massively more space than the vector maps that Osmand and Oruxmaps can use (the app draws the map for you using the data). I may be well out of date on this - but that's why I no longer use Viewranger.
Posted 10 years ago #
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