OS app. Any good?

[woodsmith]

I think I've seen a few grumbles on here about the OS app. Is it any good or a bit rubbish. Looking at using it more for hiking than biking.

[The Cumbrian]

I use it loads for biking and hiking, and I really like it. I can plot routes on my laptop and the app on my phone picks them up quickly, you can save routes and maps to your phone for when you have no signal, and if you have an OS paper map with a download code, you can upload the full map to the app. The only real bother I've had with it is related to my aging phone, not the app itself.
I can also plot routes on Mapometer, download the GPX file and and upload it to the OS app. this is really handy for long road or mixed routes where you can use the "follow road" feature on Mapometer.

Cheers, Michael.

[ton]

i use it, and find it very good.
i plot a route on my laptop on the OS site, then save the route. and when i log onto the app on my phone i can follow the route. easy as.
the discover option is very good to find local routes of whatever length you want to ride, there is a walk/run/bike option.
i find it very easy to use, and i am the biggest technophobe ever.

[RIP]

i am the biggest technophobe ever.

But not quite as big a one as Reg . I have the application on this dog and bone, and have diligently scanned all my paper maps that have codes on. However I've never used any of them! I only use the real ones.

So yes, the application works faultlessly and perfectly for me - it opens and then shortly afterwards closes again. Never had any problems with it at all .

[fatbikephil]

Good and bad - regular mapping updates and being able to switch between aerials and maps when route plotting on the 'puter = good
Phone App - less good, in fact a bit crap. Fine when it works but I've had a few blank screens requiring much switching on an off to get the map to appear. Also downloading maps to your phone is very crap. Unlike viewranger you have no visual record of what areas you have downloaded so it takes a fair bit of guess work to get a large area on your phone. It seems to be optimised for small areas of maps or maps relating to a route. Downloading a route alos downloads the surrounding map which works OK but takes ages for something like the Highland Trail. I would prefer just to be able to have the whole of Scotland (or wherever) on the phone in one download but there is no way of doing this, you have to do it a screen at a time or as part of a route. Viewranger used to shade in the areas you had downloaded. So you inevitably end up with gaps in mapping, usually where you most need it. This makes it very iffy to be relied on, aside from the usual phone battery life issues.

[Taylor]

Like

[voodoo_simon]

Good and bad - regular mapping updates and being able to switch between aerials and maps when route plotting on the 'puter = good
Phone App - less good, in fact a bit crap. Fine when it works but I've had a few blank screens requiring much switching on an off to get the map to appear. Also downloading maps to your phone is very crap. Unlike viewranger you have no visual record of what areas you have downloaded so it takes a fair bit of guess work to get a large area on your phone. It seems to be optimised for small areas of maps or maps relating to a route. Downloading a route alos downloads the surrounding map which works OK but takes ages for something like the Highland Trail. I would prefer just to be able to have the whole of Scotland (or wherever) on the phone in one download but there is no way of doing this, you have to do it a screen at a time or as part of a route. Viewranger used to shade in the areas you had downloaded. So you inevitably end up with gaps in mapping, usually where you most need it. This makes it very iffy to be relied on, aside from the usual phone battery life issues.

They do a visual clue, in the download screen you can have the maps highlighted in a colour to show download vs live map

[voodoo_simon]

I like the app, but slow and laggy to find a new area but once, seems ok.

I don’t use any apps to plot routes, so no comment on that. I use to locate me on the hills and see what options I have to me/where to go

[redefined_cycles]

i am the biggest technophobe ever.

But not quite as big a one as Reg . I have the application on this dog and bone, and have diligently scanned all my paper maps that have codes on. However I've never used any of them! I only use the real ones.

So yes, the application works faultlessly and perfectly for me - it opens and then shortly afterwards closes again. Never had any problems with it at all .

Which museum do can you be seen at Reg

[RIP]

Hah!

Time Team are doing a whole episode about me - it'll be on telly later this year

[Bearbonesnorm]

I would prefer just to be able to have the whole of Scotland (or wherever) on the phone

I've got the whole of Wales (OS 1:50k) on my ipod. It's just a map, not 'routeable' but handy. Think it cost something like £12 and I recall other large areas such as 'Scotland', 'Northern England' etc are available.

[Jurassic]

I've been using OS Maps more recently (due to the gradual demise of View ranger) and have started to like it a bit more than I used to. I've not used it for huge long routes but it's been fine for day rides and overnighters. I like the snap to road feature which saves time when plotting routes and I've had no problems sending routes to my Garmin Edge 130 Plus for basic route finding. I think familiarity with the app has helped along with the fact that I've changed phone contract to one with more data allowance which allows me to leave data switched on all the time. Obviously using it this way relies on phone signal and battery life and on longer rides I'd revert back to my old Etrex 20 for it's reliability and long/replaceable battery life.

[Escape Goat]

I use the OS maps app, it's frustrating, crashes sometimes and freezes...I still use it. It's handy to have when the Garmin is being a Garmin....

[HUX]

Backcountry Navigator app is good but does require a mobile signal. You can download a gpx to it and view at 1:25000 for the whole of the uk. Useful at night to view the following days route.....if you've got a signal

[fatbikephil]

They do a visual clue, in the download screen you can have the maps highlighted in a colour to show download vs live map

Don't seem to have that button on that screen....

I use the OS maps app, it's frustrating, crashes sometimes and freezes...I still use it. It's handy to have when the Garmin is being a Garmin....

+1 There is no way I'd rely on it, even as a back up to the dakota, if I was anywhere dodgy like on top of the Cairngorms.

[Escape Goat]

There's no perfect option is there. Ideally you should have as many options for navigation as possible as most perform OK, but nothing is perfect. When one has a hiccup, it's nice to just check on another platform.

[thenorthwind]

There's no perfect option is there. Ideally you should have as many options for navigation as possible as most perform OK, but nothing is perfect. When one has a hiccup, it's nice to just check on another platform.

I would say Viewranger is about as close as you can get Been trying out alternatives. Took Backcountry Navigator for a ride today. Got home and my phone had turned off 2/3rds of the way round. 50% battery left. Never done that before.

Backcountry Navigator app is good but does require a mobile signal. You can download a gpx to it and view at 1:25000 for the whole of the uk. Useful at night to view the following days route.....if you've got a signal

They all require a data signal or wifi to download maps, but every one I've seen can save maps for offline use - BCN certainly can.

[thenorthwind]

Just to update with my (brief) experience of OS Maps...
Bought a subscription at the end of Jan when they had the £14 deal on.
Used it for planning a few routes, and navigating on a couple of rides. Didn't find it very user-friendly, and seemed very buggy.
Used it to navigate and record a 60 mile road ride and it crashed when saving the data, and then it wouldn't open without crashing, no matter how many times I tried or restarted the phone.
Contacted support to tell them about this and ask for a refund - completely useless to me.
They did reply quite quickly (suggesting a fix, which involved changing a setting impossible when I can't even open the app!) and gave me a refund without further question.
Well, I tried.

[belugabob]

Time Team are doing a whole episode about me - it'll be on telly later this year

Pathe News, surely?

[fatbikephil]

Just to update with my (brief) experience of OS Maps...
Bought a subscription at the end of Jan when they had the £14 deal on.
Used it for planning a few routes, and navigating on a couple of rides. Didn't find it very user-friendly, and seemed very buggy.
Used it to navigate and record a 60 mile road ride and it crashed when saving the data, and then it wouldn't open without crashing, no matter how many times I tried or restarted the phone.
Contacted support to tell them about this and ask for a refund - completely useless to me.
They did reply quite quickly (suggesting a fix, which involved changing a setting impossible when I can't even open the app!) and gave me a refund without further question.
Well, I tried.

The constant crashing thing was my problem 'solved' by doing an update. It's better but still pretty slow and still often shows a blank screen. It's disappointing in a way as with a bit of development would be really good. I get the impression they aren't interested....

[Linkpin]

I like the OS app so much I use it as a preference over a paper map (although I take that too, of course, in case of technical failure). It's quite lazy but the fact it geo-locates you on the map makes changing routes easier or checking you're on track. I do use a paper map sometimes as well on occasion to keep my nav and compass skills from going rusty.

For downloading, zooming right out of the map and hitting 'download' will download everything on screen to each scale including 1:25000, even if you're looking at it on a different scale at the time. (Does that make sense? I'm saying you can download huge areas of the map quite easily. It just takes up a lot of storage space on your device.)