OutdoorActive & Viewranger merger:Am I losing my tiles?

[redefined_cycles]

Not sure if everyone recalls the little uproar when Viewranger map app announced the merger with another platform. Seemed like we'd be losing all our OS map tiles which we'd bough over the years. I think I have roughly half of the UK or more in both 1:25 and 1:50. Cost alot of money which I would say adds up in the hundreds...

At the time I emailed Viewranger with my concern I'm gonna lose all my OS tiles and was reassured that I wouldn't and could continue using Viewranger as normal. Like a numpty I did and continued buying OS maps as needed.

Today I got the email encouraging me to swap over to OutdoorActive and use a special code to get 3 months of pro or pro+ membership. 'We'll give you pro or pro+ for 3 months, dependent on your level of purchasing on Viewranger". After having read the FAQs it doesn't actually reassure me that I won't lose my Viewranger tiles and nor does it reassure me that my long twem investment in the OS tiles won't go to waste. Just keeps going on about the '3 month' free offer.

Is anyone else in my situation and how are you managing it. I don't wish yo start throwing more money into their coughers, especially when I already own the tiles I needed and... Well, you know, they're ripping us off and it's frustrating. OS maps app did similar previously and I lost my maps I'd bought.

What to do... Where to go? fleecing monkeys

[redefined_cycles]

https://outdooractive-uk.helpscoutdocs. ... le/74-faqs

[fatbikephil]

Anquet did the same thing a few years ago, 1 year after I spent £175 on OS mapping for the UK. They were offering a fairly poor incentive to go to the subscription model and promised to keep supporting the old platform for people who had bought mapping. Mine croaked after a year and I couldn't get an update to run. Anquet seemed to have no interest in sorting it so I cut my (large) loss and got a viewranger sub. This was rubbish (ish) so I'm now on OS which is OK.

[redefined_cycles]

Anquet did the same thing a few years ago, 1 year after I spent £175 on OS mapping for the UK. They were offering a fairly poor incentive to go to the subscription model and promised to keep supporting the old platform for people who had bought mapping. Mine croaked after a year and I couldn't get an update to run. Anquet seemed to have no interest in sorting it so I cut my (large) loss and got a viewranger sub. This was rubbish (ish) so I'm now on OS which is OK.

Thanks Phil... Yes, maybe going back to the OS app directly might be the way forward as they've already (hopefully) done their updates and surely won't make me lose my maps once again. Very sad really but I suppose they have to keep figuring out ways of making money off the same folks

[Charliecres]

Yup, I too am feeling thoroughly screwed over by Outdooractive. They seem to have given me 12 months pro membership but I’ve not bothered using it as ViewRanger still works and does what I need for now. I can’t see OA giving me OS maps for life, which is effectively what I’ve already paid for via ViewRanger. Grrr.

When VR dies I’ll just see what my options are but it seems subscriptions rather than ownership is the future.

[johnnystorm]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... ynavigator

All OS mapping, at all resolutions, on screen navigation, stored locally on your device. I can't see the price but it was under £20 as a one off. Also has mapping for many other countries/regions if you need it.

I think I paid £12 for it in 2015, still going strong.

[thenorthwind]

Another disgruntled VR user.

I started off buying map packs and tiles outright, as I instinctively prefer ownership to the subscription model, but as already said, that's not the way things are these days and I doubt they'll go back.

To be fair, having somewhat reluctantly signed up for Pro, it did make life easier. Instead of trying to work out the minimum area of tiles you need before a trip, or whether a pack works out cheaper, whether you might visit the area again, etc. etc., you just download a big swathe of map (though the save data function is a little clunky) and you're covered. £20 a year doesn't seem unreasonable.

But I digress... having access to that owned-outright data taken away will leave a pretty bad taste in the mouth. As Phil found with Anquet, it probably won't be taken away as such, but will sooner or later stop working, with no way of fixing it.

It's a shame because VR is a brilliant app in most ways. I've used it exclusively as a navigation tool (with paper backup where necessary) for years now and have hundreds of GPX tracks recorded with it. I had a brief look at OA but was unimpressed.

What to do?
I was inclined not to renew my subscription last year, but the offer seemed to be the same so I did on the basis they'd have to provide the service if I'd paid for it. I have no interest in taking up an insultingly short period of OA subscription. I will probably keep using VR while it still works, and then check Backcountry Navigator out, which seems to have an equally loyal following as VR once did.

[redefined_cycles]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... ynavigator

All OS mapping, at all resolutions, on screen navigation, stored locally on your device. I can't see the price but it was under £20 as a one off. Also has mapping for many other countries/regions if you need it.

I think I paid £12 for it in 2015, still going strong.

Oh wow. Thanks JS let me see if I can get it going as I doubt I'll be paying viewranger or OA out of principle (or maybe principal... yeah principal I meant).

[johnnystorm]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... ynavigator

All OS mapping, at all resolutions, on screen navigation, stored locally on your device. I can't see the price but it was under £20 as a one off. Also has mapping for many other countries/regions if you need it.

I think I paid £12 for it in 2015, still going strong.

Oh wow. Thanks JS let me see if I can get it going as I doubt I'll be paying viewranger or OA out of principle (or maybe principal... yeah principal I meant).

They used to do a months trial for free, if so it's not much of a risk.

[Jurassic]

I use Viewranger as well and bought all the maps that I needed a few years ago. No way am I paying a subscription to OA, I'll continue using Viewranger until it packs up then maybe try and get to grips with the clunky, glitchy nature of OS maps (which I already subscribe to but rarely use).
It's a shame about Viewranger, I find it to be excellent and over and above the annoyance of losing the maps that I paid for I'll just miss using it as an app.