View Ranger

[nobby]

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

Not as bad, I'd warrant, as the suffering I under went for nearly two years with Mr Gates best efforts when I fell, and landed awkwardly, between Amiga and Apple.
I still have nightmares about shuffling the sound card between different slots to make it work. The only time I've had a tower and had to leave the case off  because I was constantly accessing it, but there you go that's just me.

A couple weeks ago I had a software problem with my second hand iPhone 7+. Well out of guarantee but AppleCare - which covers none of my current devices - a senior supervisor in Lisbon entering my phone, poked around and sorted it. I never had that kind of service with my Windows PC's.

I am going to lay down now and cuddle my iMac for 10 minutes in gratitude that it is in my life

[nobby]

Phoned OS this morning and a very patient lady listed to my tale of woe re. ViewRanger and Outdoor Active and said, "What you need is this".
I now have OS Maps downloaded on two week trial to run into £27 a year.
Can't work out if you can download offline maps that cover more than your screen shows.

[Horizon]

I was wondering about the downloads - what's to stop you signing up for a month, downloading the whole of the UK and cancelling? I suspect they've thought of that!

[citoyen]

I was wondering about the downloads - what's to stop you signing up for a month, downloading the whole of the UK and cancelling? I suspect they've thought of that!

You can only download within the mobile app, so presumably if you stop subscribing you will no longer be able to access the maps.

Though no doubt someone will have found a way to crack the locked files open by now.

[Kim]

Though no doubt someone will have found a way to crack the locked files open by now.

What we need is that for Viewranger...

[citoyen]

Though no doubt someone will have found a way to crack the locked files open by now.

What we need is that for Viewranger...

Or for Outdoor Active to pay for a licence to use OS maps (which I presume is what Ben at Veloviewer does, and what ViewRanger used to do pre-takeover).

ETA: actually, it seems you can still get OS maps on ViewRanger but you can only access them as a premium feature, which I guess is what the op was complaining about...

[nobby]

ETA: actually, it seems you can still get OS maps on ViewRanger but you can only access them as a premium feature, which I guess is what the op was complaining about...

That and all the stuff that I don't need

[Kim]

Bah, and indeed, humbug:

We would like to inform you of an important change:

Soon the ViewRanger service will be discontinued.

In order to focus all our effort on our Outdooractive app and website, we will be switching off access to the ViewRanger app and website. This email explains how you can continue to access your maps and other data through the Outdooractive app and website.

[..]

Timing
We currently expect to switch off access to the ViewRanger app and website at the end of February 2022. You can start accessing maps and data through the Outdooractive app and website now by following the steps in this email. 
 
One-off payments in ViewRanger
If you made one-off payments to access maps of an area within ViewRanger, then you will be able to access maps of those areas via the free version of the Outdooractive app and website. The maps will be from the same map data provider or from an alternative map data provider depending on the map region:

• Great Britain: if you currently have access to OS map tiles in England, Scotland, or Wales, you will have access to 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 OS maps across Great Britain.
 

Other data in ViewRanger
By connecting your ViewRanger account to Outdooractive, routes you have plotted, routes you have downloaded, activity tracks you have recorded, a record of the challenges you participated in, and points-of-interest you have marked, will continue to be available within your Outdooractive account.
Accessing Outdooractive
To access maps and other content in Outdooractive you will need to have an Outdooractive account. The content described above is available for you via a free Outdooractive account. If you would like to access more advanced functions alongside that content then you can upgrade to a Pro or Pro+ subscription.
 
Connect now
Once your account is connected, a free subscription will be started automatically. When this subscription expires your account will default to basic and you will not be charged anything.

So I've done the deed and installed the OutdoorActive app.  It appears that downloading maps is a Google-style 'put an area of map on screen and press the download button' affair.  No way to tell it to just download the whole thing.  Useless!

The reviews on the Google Play store from disgruntled ViewRanger users are telling: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.outdooractive.Outdooractive&showAllReviews=true

[mzjo]

Bah, and indeed, humbug:

We would like to inform you of an important change:

Soon the ViewRanger service will be discontinued.

In order to focus all our effort on our Outdooractive app and website, we will be switching off access to the ViewRanger app and website. This email explains how you can continue to access your maps and other data through the Outdooractive app and website.

[..]

Timing
We currently expect to switch off access to the ViewRanger app and website at the end of February 2022. You can start accessing maps and data through the Outdooractive app and website now by following the steps in this email. 
 
One-off payments in ViewRanger
If you made one-off payments to access maps of an area within ViewRanger, then you will be able to access maps of those areas via the free version of the Outdooractive app and website. The maps will be from the same map data provider or from an alternative map data provider depending on the map region:

• Great Britain: if you currently have access to OS map tiles in England, Scotland, or Wales, you will have access to 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 OS maps across Great Britain.
 

Other data in ViewRanger
By connecting your ViewRanger account to Outdooractive, routes you have plotted, routes you have downloaded, activity tracks you have recorded, a record of the challenges you participated in, and points-of-interest you have marked, will continue to be available within your Outdooractive account.
Accessing Outdooractive
To access maps and other content in Outdooractive you will need to have an Outdooractive account. The content described above is available for you via a free Outdooractive account. If you would like to access more advanced functions alongside that content then you can upgrade to a Pro or Pro+ subscription.
 
Connect now
Once your account is connected, a free subscription will be started automatically. When this subscription expires your account will default to basic and you will not be charged anything.

So I've done the deed and installed the OutdoorActive app.  It appears that downloading maps is a Google-style 'put an area of map on screen and press the download button' affair.  No way to tell it to just download the whole thing.  Useless!

The reviews on the Google Play store from disgruntled ViewRanger users are telling: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.outdooractive.Outdooractive&showAllReviews=true

Curious to see what was being said I clicked on your link - and got the comments in french, along with a lot of replies from someone called Anaïs at OA (who is probably a bearded geek in sandals called Brian, but we're not meant to see that!) pleading that complainants had not yet used their 10€ token to sweeten the pill of an inadequate app. Can't quite see the logic that a crap 30€ service suddenly becomes sweetness and light at 20€ (especially if you're lost somewhere in the arrière pays of la France Profonde, with no battery left - which seemed to be a recurring theme!). I had Viewranger once on my first unsmartphone but was (am) genetically programmed to be incapable of using that sort of stuff.
I would love to put english and french comments side by side but am incapable of such things (fortunately!)

[Horizon]

I've had no notification such as the one above, but then I've only been a user since 2009. According to the statement, I won't lose access to my complete UK OS mapping I bought way back then (on a dvd no less), but I'm not convinced. As there is no other option, I guess I have to try it and see but I will hang back for a while!

[Lightning Phil]

Anquet who produce outdoor map navigator went to a subscription model a little over 3 years ago.  Like others I have paid for licensed maps including full OS 1:50,000 for GB.  Initially you could see your paid for maps in the new subscription apps. Then after a few months they turned that off. No doubt the new apps were better than what I have, but I refuse to pay twice for maps I already have.  I’ve stuck with the old software.  Anquet has side loading where I can send maps from my PC to phone whilst they are in same network. All my maps are downloaded on PC and backed up.   Sure vast majority are 2002 but that’s fine in most places, just watch out for bypasses built since but there should be a bridge or tunnel to get past them if in a right of way.

[Horizon]

I registered for outdooractive and burrowed down to find this;

ViewRanger - Legacy map agreement
In order to focus all our effort on our Outdooractive app and website, we will be switching off access to the ViewRanger app and website.
By accepting access to Legacy maps on the Outdooractive platform you confirm that you waive any legal claim against Augmentra Ltd and its directors in relation to any previously purchased contracts. You agree that by connecting your account with Outdooractive, any access to Legacy maps and content on the Outdooractive platform will be bound by the Outdooractive Terms and Conditions.
I hereby confirm that I have read and accept the above agreement on the further handling of the previously purchased lifetime maps at ViewRanger.
Confirm
One-off payments in ViewRanger
If you made one-off payments to access maps within ViewRanger, then we are offering free access to a set of maps via the Outdooractive app and website instead. The maps we are offering depend on the region of the maps you made one-off payments for in ViewRanger. The maps will be from the same map data provider or from an alternative map data provider depending on the map region.

See the map availability below.
Great Britain: if you currently have access to OS map tiles in England, Scotland, or Wales, you will have access to 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 OS maps across Great Britain. If you currently have access to maps from Harvey Maps, you will have access to all Harvey Maps currently published within the Outdooractive platform.

On the face of it, they are saying I will retain access to my paid for OS maps (as long as I tick the box), which would seem to be good news.

[bhoot]

Reading this with interest as a long time Viewranger user - with the full GB 1:50000 mapping downloaded on my phone. I was "given" a premium subscription for OA and seem to be able to access 1:50000 and 1:25000 maps now on OA. However this appears to only be when on-line which is a very poor (inadequate really) substitute for having the maps locally. I see that it says you can download maps for off line use - but not clear how you would go about doing this for a significant area (eg a cycle tour in the UK). I've also reas something that said it can't use SD memory, whereas all my Viewranger mapping is on the card because my phone doesn't have much internal memory.
So all in all it does not seem to offer what I want. I would be happy to pay a subscription to get regular updates to maps I can store off line. Sounds like I need to investigate the alternatives.
On another forum there was also speculation about whether the Viewranger app would actually cease to work after Feb 2022, or whether if you just need the phone version and have the maps saved it would still function.

[st599]

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

It also gives you access to printing up to A3 at either of their normal scales.

[Russell]

It looks as though Viewranger is still working on the phone/tablet to display maps that are stored locally.  Wouldn't mind betting that any regions not stored locally are no longer available.

The webpage for Viewranger has gone so there is no chance of creating and downloading routes anymore.

I bought a full UK OS 50,000 package for Viewranger so can access similar on Outdooractive but see my other post.

[Russell]

Looks as though I was wrong, currently downloading Wales to the phone.  So the whole of the UK mapping that I bought is still available just can't use it to view routes tat I created anymore.

[Horizon]

myviewranger.com is still active - I checked my status and it appears I now have a 1000 year Premium subscription, expires 3018. That'll do me! My whole UK OS maps are available and all my routes. I hardly used VR to plot routes, usually imported them from ridewithgps. I did have some discussion with founder Mike Brocklehurst at the end of last year, that might have helped, he did say he'd give me a premium sub. I asked about Open Cycle Map, as outdoor active don't use it - he said they (VR) asked OA for it but it had been vetoed. He did say there was a cycling layer on the open street map and outdoor active maps, which there is, but it's mot as good. The phone app is dead now - just having a fiddle with the OA app.
Edit, it works, my OS maps are there.

[Horizon]

Further edit - they're only there if I download tiles, even though the whole UK is actually in the phone's storage. Clearly the app isn't recognising any access codes to the local maps. Hmmm.

[Russell]

The phone app is dead now -

Interesting!  I've just checked one of my other devices that had VR on it and yes the app is dead.  But the Moto E, that is the main device we use, the app is still working.  I wonder if this is because it cannot run OA due to incompatability (as mentioned in my other topic) and so in effect OA cannot turn off VR, rather than VR being turned off.

MyViewranger is still up but there's nothing useful on it anymore.

[riskymoth]

It's sad that ViewRanger is no more - this app was the reason I got hold of my first smartphone - a Nokia 6600 running Symbian/Series 60 coupled to a bluetooth GPS module. This was the only app that had followed me through to a Nokia 5800, various Android phones and tablets, and eventually iOS devices.

I hope Outdoor Active remains as useful - I notice that my free subscription expires later this month - I wonder whether I will still have access to the promised OS layers after then...

[MartynA]

For the last month or two VR has displayed the goodbye message when opened on my iPhone and invited me to use the Other App but still given the option to use VR. If the phone was not connected to the web, no Wi-Fi or mobile data, it went to VR without this message. It looks like now we have passed the end of February this first call home has been changed to modify the app on your phone or some associated data, killing off access to maps you have bought and hold on your phone. I'm not sure how this has been done.

My expectation was that VR would be killed with a deadly update so I turned off updates on my iphone last month and just updated other apps. However, I have not had an update offer for VR at the end of February on iphone. This does not mean they won't push one out some time.

I have now moved VR so it stands alone on a pane to remind me not to touch it unless I am off-line. In fact this is the very time it is so useful, away from the internet with an unplanned need to look at a map. OA does not fit the bill here as the maps have to be down loaded for planned routes. I also need to remember to quit VR completely before I go online.


Unhappily in my attempt to turn off updates on my wife's Android phone I ended up doing the deadly connection so we have lost VR there.

[salar55]

Think I have lost all my tiles, the plus side is I appear to have a pro + version.

[Horizon]

The ever helpful VR founder Mike Brocklehurst has told me that my OS maps for the UK will not be recognised by OA, even though I have them stored on my phone, and so I need to download them through OA. Effectively, my licence to use them remains intact with the changeover (with a Premium sub) but the old files themselves are history.

[Russell]

I am still using VR on a phone that does not have OA installed.  I was even able to find a previous route that I had created and follow that route.  On that ride Strava yet agian failed to record properly but I was able to export the GPX track from VR (via email) and create a manual entry on Strava that way.  Apart from creating routes and saving tracks online VR still is working for me.

Just to be safe I have downloaded the entire 50k mapping on to the phone.

[Russell]

Replying to myself, Viewranger has now stopped working on the device I mentioned above.  So we are stuck with OA until we decide what to do.  OA sorta works but is very flaky and will close the route you are following if phone goes to sleep or even changes from portrait to landscape.  The tracking is very dithery compared to say Strava on the same device.  Strava would record 1000ft of climbimg, OA 6000ft.  We are also told repeatedly that we are off track by considerable distances.