Map apps for phones – new OS MapFinder
We’ve been enjoying all the buzz around the launch of our first ever mobile app, OS MapFinder, last week. If you hadn’t heard it’s available in the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch (android version being worked on as I type) and you can plan all your outdoor activities and take your digital maps with you. There’s free overview mapping of Great Britain included as well as a free tile of the Exeter area to let you see samples of the OS Explorer and OS Landranger Map tiles you can pay to download.
The hi-resolution maps on the device are cached so they can be used even without a WiFi or mobile signal. You can search for locations by place name, postcode, and Ordnance Survey grid reference and when you’ve found your location, use the iOS zoom and pan functions to see an array of map views.
With OS MapFinder you can also record or draw your walking, cycling or running routes. Routes can be saved on the device to be taken with you or stored for using later.
We’ve also been taking note of all of your ideas and suggestions for later versions – from social integration to share your routes with friends and family to making an android release available. We plan more releases in 2013 – so keep your eyes peeled.
If you’ve got any comments or feedback, you can let us know on the blog – and if you haven’t see the app yet – download it here or watch our short video below:
Themocracy
Looks good, although the map tiles are still a little on the pricey side. There’s no way they should be more expensive than the paper maps. (Also, some have very little data on them but are the same price as others.)
What will the map tile update policy be? If I buy a tile today, will I automatically receive updated data when the underlying map changes?
Hi Paul, Just to let you know that tiles purchased through the OS MapFinder app will be updated for free for the lifetime of the application. We update our tiles on a periodic basis and are working on a push notification system to let you know when an updated tile is available.
Eagerly awaiting androidvversion
Ditto!
Does map finder allow you change the units on planned routs from km to miles?
Hi Matt
If you go to the ‘About’ section and ‘Settings’ you can switch between imperial and metric.
Thanks, Gemma
Any idea of how long it will be before the Android app will be available please? I’ve been looking forward to this app ever since I completed a questionnaire about it sometime last year. Thanks.
We are working on it now and hope to get it released fairly soon. Sorry can’t be any more specific, but we will be announcing it on the blog and on Twitter (@OSLeisure) and Facebook.
Will it be possible to share purchased maps across two devices with the same Apple ID? I.e. iPad and iPhone.
Hi Ian
Yes, you can sync your purchased maps across devices sharing the same ID. You just need to go into the ‘Purchases’ section of the app and you can sync from there.
Thanks, Gemma
Brilliant! Many thanks. Do we have route sharing or syncing between devices on the horizon?
Hi Ian
Our developers are working on version two of the app (and an Android version) and the ability to share routes between devices and to import GPX routes are both being investigated. Watch this space!
Thanks, Gemma
I absolutely love the app. It has enhanced my walking enjoyment considerably. However I’m desperate to be able to transfer routes I’ve walked from the iPhone to the ipad, for reviewing them afterwards. You can’t really see the whole route on the tiny screen of the phone.
A couple of other small points: would it be possibl to sort routes into date order? At the moment, if you don’t change the names they sort into ddmmyyyy sequence, which doesn’t make much sense. And there is quite a discrepancy (about 10%) in distance between a planned route, and exactly the same route recorded when actually walking it. I guess this is because of the slight inaccuracy of GPS making the track seem to wiggle about.
Lastly, probably quite a difficult one. How about taking into account ‘feet of ascent’ in estimating the time of a walk!
Hi Matt
Great to hear that you’re enjoying the app and thank you for taking the time to send us some feedback. We are keen to continue to meet our customer needs and are working on an Android version and the second version of the iOS app right now with plans in place to address most of the things you’d like to see improved.
OS MapFinder currently uses an average walking speed to calculate route times. We are investigating the inclusion of height data in the next version so that we can calculate estimated durations using Naismith’s Rule.
We are also looking to enable people sharing routes between their devices and include social integration so that people can share routes with each other. As part of the route sharing, our developers are researching ways to simply integrate our routes database, as used by OS getamap, to enable importing and exporting of GPX files (it is worth noting that the current version stores routes in GPX format so when import and export functionality is created these can be transferred).
I’ll pass all of your comments back to our development team.
Thanks, Gemma
Hi, if I use the app to track a run route, will it provide me with the total vertical height gain as well as distance?
Thanks
Hi Mike
Thanks for the question. The current version of OS MapFinder won’t provide the height detail for you, we’re working on adding this feature in a later version.
Thanks, Gemma
The app is really nice, I especially like the high resolution views of the maps and the GPX import facility. However are there any plans to link in with the Get-a-Map service? Ideally something that works like Get-a-Map but can be run on an iPad or iPhone. Printing maps and routes would be an absolute bonus to be able to practice map reading skills.
Hi Steve, thanks for your comments. We are looking at increasing functionality and there will be upgrades coming soon. We’ll let you know about them here on the blog and on twitter too. Follow @OrdnanceSurvey.
Hi, this is a great app and something I’ve been looking for for a while. I have downloaded the app to both my ipad and iPhone 5. I downloaded a map to my ipad and installed very easily however I have since tried to sync my iPhone, which has the same apple id, so I could download the map to that too and it doesn’t appear in purchases or as an option to download! Can anybody help?
Hi Ian, Glad you are enjoying the app. We are hoping to make sync-ing possible with the launch of an upgrade which is due in the next few days. Watch this space!
Hi there, I’ve tried to download this app but iTunes claims this is unavailable in the UK. I get the same response whether I try to find the app on iPhone, iPad or desktop. Has the app been pulled?
Looks like it has been pulled Martin. The application wont even launch for those of us who already had it. I am pretty annoyed by this considering I purchased a number of maps!! Recieved no notice that this was going to happen either…
Hi Kevin and Martin
Unfortunately when we released an update to the app there were a couple of bugs and we had to withdraw it immediately. We’re waiting for approval from the App Store and once it’s back up and running we’ll let everyone know via Twitter and Facebook.
Many thanks
Gemma
Hi Gemma
I just updated my version as the automatic update from the App Store was indicating that it was due. The old version 1.2 (I think) was working fine this morning but with 1.3 now will not launch at all. Maybe you should block the App Store updating process so those who are still running the old version can continue to do so. I assume that none of the purchased maps and plotted routes will be lost when the corrected version is published? Any idea when the bugs will be worked out?
Hi Paul
Sorry to hear that you’re having problems with the upgrade on OS MapFinder. The first thing to try is a hard close of the app and then opening it again. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, then deleting the app and reinstalling it and then syncing to restore your map purchases will work. However, if you have any saved routes, you will lose them if you do this. Once this has been carried out and you have the new version, routes will then be able to be synced with the iCloud and shared via social media channels as well as the ability to import and export gpx routes.
If you continue to experience issues, please contact our Customer Contact Centre on 0845 456 0420 and they will be able to talk you through the options.
Thanks, Gemma
Hi
I have downloaded the 1:25 map, however when I zoom in the map has a translucent orange colour to it, making it difficult to read the contour lines and Legend. Why is this and how can I remove this rather annoying colour?
Thanks
Hi John
It sounds like you’re viewing the map through the purchases section. If you go to the menu button in the top left corner of the app and choose ‘map’ and then zoom in to the area you have downloaded, you should be seeing the view without the orange tint.
Thanks, Gemma
Thanks Gemma
I had to delete and reinstall. Shame about loosing the routes but luckily I’ve only been using this a short while. Installing GPX routes should speed up reinstating them. Otherwise loving the app, refreshing to have a map app that locates you on a readable map. Only thing I miss from other mapping apps is a totall accent and hight profile of a planned/recorded route.
Thanks for the help
Paul
Hi Paul
Glad that you’re enjoying the app, but sorry to hear that you lost the routes. I’ll feed this back to our development team.
Regarding the height data, that is being looked into for inclusion on a later version of OS MapFinder. In the meantime, if you are also an OS getamap user, if you export your routes from your app into there, it will then give you the height profile.
Thanks again for the feedback.
Gemma
Hi
Great app tiles expensive for size will buy in moderation I planned a route and found some of the walkways no longer exist or are impassable without a machete ( I don’t know how often the maps are updated) and when I went into planned route to alter it or delete route I cannot find anyway to edit other than the name could you please let me no how to delete or alter a route once it has been saved
Thanks
Hi
Glad to hear that you’re enjoying using our app for route planning. In the current version, you are unable to edit a route once it is planned (other than the name) and it is something we may look at developing in the future. If you want to delete a route:
From the Menu, select Routes
Find the route you want to delete from the list of them that appears.
Press the arrow on the right of the route to go into the details about it.
Press the Delete button at the bottom of route details
I hope this helps and thanks again for your feedback.
Thanks, Gemma