OS maps

[jgharston]

ii) the mobile fits in a small pocket. Paper maps will fit in a fleece or outer jacket pocket albeit a bit uncomfortably but that's no use when it's warm and the maps are in my rucksack

I've recently replaced my 2G phone with a smartphone, and I disagree vehemently with that assertion. If I put it in my shirt pocket, it falls out whenever I even slightly bend over, putting things in/out of the car is a nightmare, pulling up my trousers after the toilet even worse. Similarly, it is too big for an inside jacket pocket, leaping out at the slightest provovation, and almost too big to get in my outside pocket, having to force it in and then zip up the pocket to prevent it falling out.

[owen b]

ii) the mobile fits in a small pocket. Paper maps will fit in a fleece or outer jacket pocket albeit a bit uncomfortably but that's no use when it's warm and the maps are in my rucksack

I've recently replaced my 2G phone with a smartphone, and I disagree vehemently with that assertion. If I put it in my shirt pocket, it falls out whenever I even slightly bend over, putting things in/out of the car is a nightmare, pulling up my trousers after the toilet even worse. Similarly, it is too big for an inside jacket pocket, leaping out at the slightest provovation, and almost too big to get in my outside pocket, having to force it in and then zip up the pocket to prevent it falling out.

Ok then, let me be specific. My mobile will fit in any of the four pockets in my walking fleece, two of which zip up so the mobile won't fall out. If it's too warm to wear my fleece, it will fit in either of the two front pockets in my trekking trousers, both of which have velcro to secure them. All of these pockets are relatively small compared to any of the pockets in my Berghaus outer walking jacket.

[Chris5156]

I've recently replaced my 2G phone with a smartphone, and I disagree vehemently with that assertion. If I put it in my shirt pocket, it falls out whenever I even slightly bend over, putting things in/out of the car is a nightmare, pulling up my trousers after the toilet even worse. Similarly, it is too big for an inside jacket pocket, leaping out at the slightest provovation, and almost too big to get in my outside pocket, having to force it in and then zip up the pocket to prevent it falling out.

I'm guessing from this that you don't have a case for your phone? A shiny-all-over brand new smartphone is indeed very slippery, but few people use one without a case. Mine is made of silicone, and you could pick me up by the ankles and shake me without it coming out of my pocket.

[nowster]

… you could pick me up by the ankles and shake me without it coming out of my pocket.

Challenge accepted!

[FosseWay]

I have an OS Maps subscription which I pay £19.99 for annually, and it's excellent. Don't tell OS, but I would pay a lot more than £19.99 if I had to. It's transformed the way I navigate when I'm hillwalking as it's very mobile friendly and it's my go to website when I'm on my laptop for general UK modern map browsing. I tend to have it on my 27 inch monitor so I can see a lot of detail at high resolution, and when I'm not actively browsing OS maps but I'm on some other website on my laptop I tend to leave it on the monitor as wallpaper.

I also have an OS Maps subscription and it is a game changer in terms of navigation in the hills.

Yes, specifically :
i) it's weatherproof. Paper maps are a nightmare in the rain or wind, and it's frequently rainy and/or windy when I need a map in the hills, especially when I'm above the cloud base and can't see where I'm going so I need to check the map frequently
ii) the mobile fits in a small pocket. Paper maps will fit in a fleece or outer jacket pocket albeit a bit uncomfortably but that's no use when it's warm and the maps are in my rucksack
iii) OS maps on a mobile is instantly zoomable, so great for very detailed large scale navigation but also great for identifying viewpoints many miles away
iv) no more issues of having to use two maps at once when you're located near the join of two maps
v) with the assistance of the little red arrow you can see exactly where you are and which compass direction you're facing, unlike a hard copy map where in featureless terrain or in the mist it's not uncommon to not know exactly where you are
vi) I preload the route for my hill walk onto my mobile the evening before, and as the subscription covers all of GB there's no risk that I won't have got the specific Explorer for the area I'm walking. I've got all the 1:50,000s as hard copies, but many of them are from the 1970s so not very reliable these days
Of course I always carry hard copy paper maps when I'm in the hills as back up in case of mobile / battery / OS maps problems but these days I very rarely use them when I'm out and about.

My experience echoes this, more or less, though I do still find a paper map easier to physically read, especially in bright sunshine. The waterproofness is also not a particular benefit for me, as I have a map case that is completely waterproof (I know this because I fell in the sea and the map didn't get wet). I also have the memory of a goldfish and tend to use the map very intensively in lowland areas where you're forever turning left and right to follow specific paths. This empties my phone's battery at a frightening rate.

The other disadvantage of using a mobile for navigation also applies to car navigation when contrasted with using a paper road atlas. It is that you inevitably only see a small area either side of where you are; if you zoom out, you change the characteristics of the map completely rather than simply seeing the same map in a smaller font. I like the fact that if I have a 1:25 000 map folded so that two panels are visible in a map case (or even four, if the case is transparent on both sides and you fold the map right), I can see several kilometres ahead, behind and to the sides of where I am.

[owen b]

I also have an OS Maps subscription and it is a game changer in terms of navigation in the hills.

Yes, specifically :
i) it's weatherproof. Paper maps are a nightmare in the rain or wind, and it's frequently rainy and/or windy when I need a map in the hills, especially when I'm above the cloud base and can't see where I'm going so I need to check the map frequently
ii) the mobile fits in a small pocket. Paper maps will fit in a fleece or outer jacket pocket albeit a bit uncomfortably but that's no use when it's warm and the maps are in my rucksack
iii) OS maps on a mobile is instantly zoomable, so great for very detailed large scale navigation but also great for identifying viewpoints many miles away
iv) no more issues of having to use two maps at once when you're located near the join of two maps
v) with the assistance of the little red arrow you can see exactly where you are and which compass direction you're facing, unlike a hard copy map where in featureless terrain or in the mist it's not uncommon to not know exactly where you are
vi) I preload the route for my hill walk onto my mobile the evening before, and as the subscription covers all of GB there's no risk that I won't have got the specific Explorer for the area I'm walking. I've got all the 1:50,000s as hard copies, but many of them are from the 1970s so not very reliable these days
Of course I always carry hard copy paper maps when I'm in the hills as back up in case of mobile / battery / OS maps problems but these days I very rarely use them when I'm out and about.

My experience echoes this, more or less, though I do still find a paper map easier to physically read, especially in bright sunshine. The waterproofness is also not a particular benefit for me, as I have a map case that is completely waterproof (I know this because I fell in the sea and the map didn't get wet). I also have the memory of a goldfish and tend to use the map very intensively in lowland areas where you're forever turning left and right to follow specific paths. This empties my phone's battery at a frightening rate.

The other disadvantage of using a mobile for navigation also applies to car navigation when contrasted with using a paper road atlas. It is that you inevitably only see a small area either side of where you are; if you zoom out, you change the characteristics of the map completely rather than simply seeing the same map in a smaller font. I like the fact that if I have a 1:25 000 map folded so that two panels are visible in a map case (or even four, if the case is transparent on both sides and you fold the map right), I can see several kilometres ahead, behind and to the sides of where I am.

I tried map cases but I didn't get on with them. I didn't find them sufficiently water proof or robust and I don't like having an A4 size or larger map case hanging round my neck, plus you have to faff around refolding the map and putting it back in the case when you move over the fold in the map. Mobile battery is a concern and one of the reasons I take a hard copy as back up. My old mobile could be down to 40% battery or less after a day hillwalking combined with taking photos and sending a few messages. However I now have a new mobile and it's rarely at less than 70-80% by the end of a day hill walking.

Actually I forgot one more advantage of the mobile OS maps : they are frequently updated without having to buy any new maps. I find this quite a significant advantage as there's loads of changes which are helpful to know about, for example new tracks, forestry planted or felled, buildings, wind turbines, fences and walls etc. etc.

[FosseWay]

Actually I forgot one more advantage of the mobile OS maps : they are frequently updated without having to buy any new maps. I find this quite a significant advantage as there's loads of changes which are helpful to know about, for example new tracks, forestry planted or felled, buildings, wind turbines, fences and walls etc. etc.

This is interesting. My experience of paper OS maps from one edition to the next is that often the details of interest to walkers is not necessarily updated, and I've always been happy to use ancient Pathfinders in areas where I happen to have them (Mid-Wales, for example). This isn't terribly surprising, since changes in field boundaries etc. are unlikely to be notified in a way the OS can get hold of, unlike a new road. Do the online maps include user-submitted and then verified data?

I don't think I've ever bought a new hiking map simply because the old one was out of date, though I have worn some out and replaced them. That, of course, is another advantage of app-based maps!

[owen b]

Actually I forgot one more advantage of the mobile OS maps : they are frequently updated without having to buy any new maps. I find this quite a significant advantage as there's loads of changes which are helpful to know about, for example new tracks, forestry planted or felled, buildings, wind turbines, fences and walls etc. etc.

This is interesting. My experience of paper OS maps from one edition to the next is that often the details of interest to walkers is not necessarily updated, and I've always been happy to use ancient Pathfinders in areas where I happen to have them (Mid-Wales, for example). This isn't terribly surprising, since changes in field boundaries etc. are unlikely to be notified in a way the OS can get hold of, unlike a new road. Do the online maps include user-submitted and then verified data?

I don't think I've ever bought a new hiking map simply because the old one was out of date, though I have worn some out and replaced them. That, of course, is another advantage of app-based maps!

Ok, to clarify, the online OS maps are updated more frequently than my hard copies, which are never updated. I first started collecting 1:50,000s in the late 1970s and I have never replaced most of those early maps. I don't know how often OS updates the online mapping or exactly which details get updated on what review cycle, but for sure the online mapping will be a lot more up to date than my late 1970s maps .

[Summers-lad]

I suspect that the technical problem with integrating it with SABRE maps is not the price but rather that the tiles are strictly on the OS Grid, and not conformed to our system's internal tile grid.

When we had Landranger before, I think they were the only thing that couldn't be overlaid on OSM, nor could you switch from any other map to/from the Landranger tiles without lsoing your location and scale. However, they did work as stand alone tiles. Others will remember better than me.

Simon

That's how I remember it too.