Viewranger being discontinued.

[RIP]

I can see myself looking for alternatives very soon.

never failed me yet

[Sussex Paul]

I’ve just been through the “access to legacy maps” process as described in the email I received from OutdoorActive, and can now see my ViewRanger OS maps in OutdoorActive without a Pro subscription. However, you do seem to need a pro license to download them so they are available offline

[frogatthefarriers]

I can see myself looking for alternatives very soon.

I can see your point, but, being the weight-weenie you are, have you seen the weight of paper maps? 230gm for the two maps needed for this years WE. But anyway, my goldfish memory makes it too hard to try to remember the next turn, never mind the two or three after it. I’d be forever stopping to fish the map out. Also there’s the problem of protecting it from the weather. Etrex it is for me

[RIP]

230g

115g - I only need the other one to navigate out of the community centre car park and I've already committed that section to memory so I'll leave that other 115g at home .

A more accurate image would have been the one below. My own particular example is only marginally less reliable than the equipment shown in the previous image.



That's enough half(*)-serious flippantry Reginald. As you were.

(*) I'm wrong about half-serious. It's actually 9/10ths.

[ripio]

I’ve just been through the “access to legacy maps” process as described in the email I received from OutdoorActive, and can now see my ViewRanger OS maps in OutdoorActive without a Pro subscription. However, you do seem to need a pro license to download them so they are available offline

If you're migrating over from Viewranger you get an automatic upgrade to a Pro+ subscription for the first year.
I've just migrated to Outdoor Active this week and while there are a fair number of things that are not as good or as user friendly as Viewranger, most things that I do with it are ok while it's free.
When it comes to renewal I expect I will continue with it but probably only at Pro level rather than Pro+.
I messaged Viewranger about the things I didn't like or which were missing compared to Viewranger, and got a very fast response even over the Christmas period, with the information that I needed and also that they hope to get more of Viewranger's features incorporated into Outdoor Active in due course.

[arkay]

So according to the wording of their rather vague emails, if you had previously bought tiles on Viewranger then you should actually have continued access to the whole country OS maps after the subscription finishes? I suspect that's not what they mean, as it seems rather generous. But maybe it is, as OutdoorActive doesn't do "tiles", so they can't just give you the bits you had already paid for?

Maybe this is their attempt to make up for the PR disaster they have suffered over binning Viewranger. Have a look at their FB page - every post is deluged with comments from angry VR users!

[Sussex Paul]

I think you might be right. I have access to the full UK OS maps, but don’t seem to have the pro subscription (I don’t have pro features such as offline maps, i still get “the upgrade to pro” message in the app, and they’re still offering me a discount to join pro as a ViewRanger user).

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see

[Jurassic]

I've been using the OS maps website a bit more recently (as an alternative to Viewranger prior to the big switch off) and for me it seems to be working a bit better than it had previously. I've recently upgraded to a newer phone which may have helped or maybe they've been working on the software. Not tried using offline maps yet though (and previously I found it really glitchy) so the jury's definitely still out on whether it will be a viable alternative for me or not.

[arkay]

I have been using Outdooractive quite a bit recently and it is actually growing on me. Still not as intuitive as ViewRanger but it does seem to do the job pretty well and following routes is easy.

One major annoyance though, when you have voice navigation on. It regularly announces "You are about to leave the route.... the route is 50 metres behind you.... You are back on the route". It seems to happen every time you approach one of the routing arrows on the map display. Some kind of glitch because the track follows the route perfectly. If that bug gets ironed out I will happily use it. I never got on with the OS Maps app really.

[thenorthwind]

Well it looks like my subscription's finished. I opened the app to find all my maps have disappeared. Fortunately it looks like I can download all the map packs I'd purchased, though it's annoying that I have to do this manually. Looks like I could also download tiles with the old credits system, but I've got enough for about 3 tiles.

Really need to start trying out the alternatives.

[thenorthwind]

Since time is running out, I thought it was about time I stopped being in a huff and started seeing what I could salvage from my VR custom with OA. I think they gave me a year of Pro when they announced the switch, but I never used it because VR was still available. Today I went to try and access my OS maps on OA and couldn't, so contacted support, making my feelings clear. They've given me another year of Pro+ (presumably not the caffeine pills) and confirmed that OS mapping for the whole country in 1:50k and 1:25k will still be available after that expires, though not whether it will be download-able, which is the crux.

I'm yet to really try the app, and am expecting disappointment, but maybe there's hope. The website is better than VR's to be fair, and since they've transferred all my data (over 500 tracks going back to 2013) it might be good for route planning and managing routes/tracks of nothing else. Not happy, but you've got to take what you can get.

I've also tried Backcountry Navigator and OS Maps recently. BCN seems clunky and possibly shut my phone down while recording a ride. OS Maps seems a bit shaky, and the recording function is a bit weird: when I record a ride, I can choose to "save it as a route" and/or "save to my activity log". If I save it as a route, the "route" then has a time and date, etc. attached, i.e. a record of a single activity, like a GPX "track". The activity log just seems to be a "you did X miles or Y time this week/month/year" and not any information about the individual ride. If I choose not to "save as a route" it asks me to confirm I want to discard it. So there appears to be no separation between "routes" (a route that's plotted on a map, to follow whenever) and "tracks" (a record of a particular journey, with timestamped locations).

[arkay]

I'm yet to really try the app, and am expecting disappointment, but maybe there's hope. The website is better than VR's to be fair, and since they've transferred all my data (over 500 tracks going back to 2013) it might be good for route planning and managing routes/tracks of nothing else. Not happy, but you've got to take what you can get.

The route planning seems reasonably good to me. I have only tried it on the website (which is what I did with VR, as trying to create routes on a phone screen is a right faff), but all seems to work OK. I don't understand why it makes you create a "Plan" which is effectively a route, and then save that and then convert it into a Route, but I suspect it's because they are trying to make it a social thing where you publish and share your routes. Why don't these app developers realise that most of us mapping app users aren't social creatures, which is why we are plotting a route where we can go and get lost on our own in the first place!

[sean_iow]

Disclaimer - I've not tried this yet but.... this came up on my feed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zr7McD ... WL&index=1

How to get Viewranger back working on your phone. I think it basically just downloads an older version so it's not disabled?

Edit, just tried it. I had to delete Viewranger from my phone first but after that it installed and I had no trouble downloading my map of the Island again

[Senor Charrleh]

I've been using Locus Map for many many years and i hardly see anyone else say they use it and i've used it for hiking, bikepacking and geocaching with the kids, i think it's a great app some features are premium but well worth your coin.

• • • Route Planning,
      Bike Computer,
      Track Recording,
      Navigation,
      Import to Strava,
      Cycling paths and MTB trails are marked,
      Offline Mode,
      Different Maps OS, Open Map, Locus own Map,
      Other Country maps also

I would imho check it out if you haven't already.

[urlhttps://www.locusmap.app/][/url]

[ledburner]

I've been using Locus Map for many many years and i hardly see anyone else say they use it and i've used it for hiking, bikepacking and geocaching with the kids, i think it's a great app some features are premium but well worth your coin.

• • • Route Planning,
      Bike Computer,
      Track Recording,
      Navigation,
      Import to Strava,
      Cycling paths and MTB trails are marked,
      Offline Mode,
      Different Maps OS, Open Map, Locus own Map,
      Other Country maps also

I would imho check it out if you haven't already.

[urlhttps://www.locusmap.app/][/url]

I tried Locus maps but in says inialising 65% for ages when starting up...
Also go an email ViewRanger got switch off dated 9th March.

[Senor Charrleh]

I tried Locus maps but in says inialising 65% for ages when starting up...
Also go an email ViewRanger got switch off dated 9th March.

You should reach out to customer support if i remember correctly i remember seeing a message within the app recently welcoming members from Viewranger and i think there was a discount on premium for them.

[thenorthwind]

I gave in and gave Outdooractive a go. There are a few things I don't really like about it, and I've had a couple of problems, but it's still better than any of the alternatives I tried. Support is very responsive. If you had any lifetime OS maps in VR, you should get the whole of the UK at 25k and 50k permanently if you contact support.

[JackT]

Having tried most of the apparent alternatives to Viewranger and not found any of them to be very good, this week I chanced upon the Topo GPS app. Seems pretty good - you can buy individual OS squares, or get an annual sub for £24.99 which covers Explorer and Landranger and provides for downloading for offline use. Has basic functionality like a library of tracks, and POIs, a snap-to-road route planner. The app seems quite fast - I have found the OS's own app to be incredibly sluggish, to the point of unusable, though it might be my somewhat aged phone (iPhone 7 Plus).

Before I take the plunge with the annual sub, has anyone tried Topo GPS and prepared to make a recommendation for or against?

[redefined_cycles]

I'm farily happy with mine. Had at least half of England and a quart of Wales worth of OS in viewranger. Got the transfer code over to Outdoor Active. In the maps icon when making a route, it has a blanked out OS button but when I click it I get the full UK in OS maps. Can then make my routes.

One problem about routes I have is that it sometimes won't follow the bridle (or foot) path and goes slightly off camber even if I try to click a dot right over the BW. Imagine this is a gps fix error at their end maybe.

So far am happy as I'd invested well over £200 or £300 on Viewranger and the OA is working well for me at the mo. Can easily uploadthe gpx file (still figuring it out a little but that's my bad brain) files straight into my Wahoo or Strava if needed. So, for now... I'd give it an 8/10.

[JackT]

I'm farily happy with mine. Had at least half of England and a quart of Wales worth of OS in viewranger. Got the transfer code over to Outdoor Active. In the maps icon when making a route, it has a blanked out OS button but when I click it I get the full UK in OS maps. Can then make my routes.

One problem about routes I have is that it sometimes won't follow the bridle (or foot) path and goes slightly off camber even if I try to click a dot right over the BW. Imagine this is a gps fix error at their end maybe.

So far am happy as I'd invested well over £200 or £300 on Viewranger and the OA is working well for me at the mo. Can easily uploadthe gpx file (still figuring it out a little but that's my bad brain) files straight into my Wahoo or Strava if needed. So, for now... I'd give it an 8/10.

Thanks - v helpful. I didn't realise they were offering such a good deal to those who had bought OS tiles on Viewranger. I needed to contact Outdoorsactive for the instructions but works really well.