View Ranger

[nobby]

I use OS paper maps and if I am not sure where I am I use Viewranger on my iPhone to pinpoint.
I do little else with it.

Viewranger have, if I have understood, sold out to another company - Outdoor Active - which I am now a member of until my view ranger sub ends. There are lots of extra bells and whistles and I found it difficult to access an OS map the other day when I was practising with it. I emailed view ranger and they helped

Does anyone know an Ordnance Survey based system (1:25k and 1:50k) that is simple and available for iOS, please?

[Kim]

The Viewranger app on my Android devices doesn't seem to have changed.  Should I be worried?

[nobby]

The Viewranger app on my Android devices doesn't seem to have changed.  Should I be worried?

You are asking me? I ask you!
I've got no idea. As I understand it, when your viewranger sub runs out you go to Outdooractive which you can use until your sub runs out and then renewal on Outdooractive terms.

[Kim]

I wasn't aware that there was a subscription *to* run out.  I purchased a licence for some maps...

[Horizon]

Yes, I bought into Viewranger years ago, when it was just getting going. I bought a dvd from them (!) with the whole of the UK OS 1:50k mapping which I then had to load onto my Nokia and unlock with an online key from VR*. I still use it as a back up for when I'm out and may be lost. I always found the app confusing and it got worse as it got more complicated. Now they've sold out, from reading the small print, it seems they'll abandon my 'lifetime' licence as they wind down VR and won't transfer it too OA. Not impressed but not surprised. The OS have had enough of my money for the same maps again and again and I won't be paying any more. Open Street map/Open cycle map does me pretty well now.
I believe VR moved to a subscription model at some point, but honoured existing agreements.
(* which has worked on subsequent phones inc iPhone now as well as my desktop Mac).

[Kim]

This is exactly the sort of bollocks that makes me fanatical about open source software.  It's frequently terrible, but at least you can use it on your own terms.

Unfortunately, you can't beat an OS map for its quintessential OS mappiness...

[hbunnet]

As far as I can see, the licence I bought ~£80+ for OS maps is to be replaced by a subscription version with the new company.
They are on the coy side with the details.

I see the problem from the company side, but it is bolleaux from my side.

[nobby]

Unfortunately, you can't beat an OS map for its quintessential OS mappiness...

.... and there's the rub of it.
I've been using OS for some 60 years and I still like to 'read' the map and make route cards from it.
I see the advantages of gps, and use some of them, but it's like having a kindle in your hand rather than a book.

Ntw, I'll give the OS a ring to morrow and see what they suggest.

[Horizon]

OS do market their own iOS app - seems to be so-so according to the reviews. It's free for 'Greenspace maps' whatever they are, but, for the real stuff, it's £3 a month/£24pa. I won't having anything to do with subscription apps, so I won't be joining.

[Kim]

Does the OS app let you store maps locally?  This sort of thing is largely pointless if you can't...

[citoyen]

Does the OS app let you store maps locally?

Yes

[Kim]

Does the OS app let you store maps locally?

Yes

Cool.  IIRC at the time I bought maps with Viewranger the OS only had a website.  (It was basically a choice between Viewranger and Memory Map, and Viewranger's app was much more functional.)

[CarlF]

And what's saved for offline use includes both 1:25k and 1:50k.

No (worthwhile) routing*, and the AR feature which might let you identify which hill that one over there is only identifies things that are quite nearby, so that's a bit rubbish. The basic maps are what you would expect though.


*apparently it does route planning inside National Parks, but I haven't tried it.

[citoyen]

Cool.  IIRC at the time I bought maps with Viewranger the OS only had a website.

They've very much improved their offering lately - no doubt seeing what apps like Viewranger are doing and thinking they don't want to miss out - though as CarlF says, they still have plenty of room to improve if they want to compete in that market.

Making it harder for third party apps like Veloviewer to access their data is all part of them becoming more aware of the commercial value of their product. And given how good their product is (certainly compared to free maps), and how costly and labour-intensive it is to produce high quality maps, I don't begrudge paying them £25 a year to help keep them going.

I appreciate your reasons for preferring open source stuff on the whole, but maps, I think, are very much a case of you get what you pay for.

[Kim]

I appreciate your reasons for preferring open source stuff on the whole, but maps, I think, are very much a case of you get what you pay for.

Yes, I was happy to pay for the maps.  Unfortunately, that ties you in to proprietary software

[robgul]

Have to say I couldn't get on with ViewRanger, and even less so with the recent changes - I've been a Memory Map user (on a PC) for about 17 years with perhaps 3 paid-for upgrades in that time.  They've just run a deal for the whole OS in 1-25000 and 1-50000 2021 versions for not much money - it also includes the 1-10000 street map "for free"   

The PC app has changed bit, mainly with peripheral stuff like better printing BUT the other device offerings are now much better - I now have the whole lot on my (android) phone and tablet for offline use.

I'm not really interested in "take me from x to y" type routing - I can plan and plot my own thanks!

[nobby]

I couldn't get through to the OS today in the time I had available.
I see, however, there is an app to suit paper maps: OS Locate.
It is a compass, altimeter and converts the gps coordinates into a 6 digit grid reference.
It is free, and while there are a couple of whinges that it doesn't do 10 digit grid reference I don't see that I will be needing that measure of accuracy.

[nobby]

Have to say I couldn't get on with ViewRanger, and even less so with the recent changes - I've been a Memory Map user (on a PC) for about 17 years with perhaps 3 paid-for upgrades in that time.  They've just run a deal for the whole OS in 1-25000 and 1-50000 2021 versions for not much money - it also includes the 1-10000 street map "for free"   

The PC app has changed bit, mainly with peripheral stuff like better printing BUT the other device offerings are now much better - I now have the whole lot on my (android) phone and tablet for offline use.

I'm not really interested in "take me from x to y" type routing - I can plan and plot my own thanks!

I was with Memory Map near its beginning and though they were long on promises for use with Mac OS and iOS they were short on reality.
Viewranger was a much better alternative.

[Kim]

Similarly, I used Memory Map for years on the desktop, but at the time I switched the Android app was little more than a map viewer.  The Viewranger app could manipulate GPX files, which made it much more useful for creating routes to upload to the Garmin from the comfort of a tent.

[Polar Bear]

OS Locate looks good Nobby.  Cheers for that.  👍

[Horizon]

By coincidence
https://www.tgomagazine.co.uk/news/viewranger-to-outdooractive-navigating-the-transition/

[nobby]

By coincidence
https://www.tgomagazine.co.uk/news/viewranger-to-outdooractive-navigating-the-transition/

Now that is interesting. Thanks for the link.
I was wondering if I was being overly suspicious and this was really an altruistic move by ViewRanger for the benefit of their many clients.
I am not keen on being manipulated into the arms of another company with what seems to be an assumption that I'll just go.
The OS Locate will do for now.

[Kim]

That's the problem with any commercial product that depends on some online service, though.  You always run the risk of the company either deciding they don't want to maintain it any more, going bust or getting borged by someone evil or with different priorities.

Don't think the Ordnance Survey are immune.  They might sell out to What3Words or do a deal with Facebook or just decide not to support anything other than the latest IOS or something.

If you get more than 5 years use out of your map license, your subscription-based office suite, your innovative social media product or your smart TV, you're winning.


(This rant sponsored by Autodesk and my late, lamented Nokia E52)

[nobby]

That's the problem with any commercial product that depends on some online service, though.  You always run the risk of the company either deciding they don't want to maintain it any more, going bust or getting borged by someone evil or with different priorities.

Don't think the Ordnance Survey are immune.  They might sell out to What3Words or do a deal with Facebook or just decide not to support anything other than the latest IOS or something.

If you get more than 5 years use out of your map license, your subscription-based office suite, your innovative social media product or your smart TV, you're winning.


(This rant sponsored by Autodesk and my late, lamented Nokia E52)

Very true (and not diminished by being a "rant sponsored by Autodesk and my late, lamented Nokia E52") 

[robgul]

Have to say I couldn't get on with ViewRanger, and even less so with the recent changes - I've been a Memory Map user (on a PC) for about 17 years with perhaps 3 paid-for upgrades in that time.  They've just run a deal for the whole OS in 1-25000 and 1-50000 2021 versions for not much money - it also includes the 1-10000 street map "for free"   

The PC app has changed bit, mainly with peripheral stuff like better printing BUT the other device offerings are now much better - I now have the whole lot on my (android) phone and tablet for offline use.

I'm not really interested in "take me from x to y" type routing - I can plan and plot my own thanks!

I was with Memory Map near its beginning and though they were long on promises for use with Mac OS and iOS they were short on reality.
Viewranger was a much better alternative.

I have an aversion to fruit related IT stuff  - so not an issue for me