looking for a better off-line map thingy. currently use Maps.me, which is good enough for driving and general getting about town, but lacks contour lines when out in the hills and the possibility to load tracks onto (as far as i can tell).

friend has recommended Orux, but there is a massive array of potential map sources i don’t really know where to start. however, he swears by it. have a choiice of Garmin, Open Street, Google to name just a few.

want to be able to load tracks that i can then follow and see the contour lines.

Try OsmAnd, it can show contour lines, and you can load tracks. All works offline.

Your mate is not wrong. I LOVE OruxMaps. I’ve been using it for years for many different activities. It’s very flexible, so for me it’s better than all countless alternatives (viewranger, back country, locus, etc) – but generally because it is so feature rich it can be a bit more complex to use.

Tips:
* You can get a free offline vector maps to download for your device from http://www.openandromaps.org/en/ – e.g. I always have the whole GB on my phone. Also you can download additional mapsforge themes and tweak the theme depending on what you want to view, so for mountain biking you can remove things that aren’t relevant for you like bus stops/post offices, etc. It’s a bit like tweaking CSS styles to HTML if you like. You can also get maps from the rest of the world.

* It allows you to load other map sources over the air, and you can also download areas of these maps for offline. Because of licensing issues you they aren’t allowed to ship the app with map sources for things they don’t have permission for. But there’s a file: onlinemapsources.xml on your device that allows you to specify the online map sources you want, I’ve found the open street map, open cycle map and various other open ones very useful and easily added… (and non open ones from google and bing are great!).

Various different places list some map sources you can use
http://www.oruxmaps.com/foro/viewtopic.php?t=3035
https://gist.github.com/oneyoung/7aac2d4590c991aafc60

(^ first few that came up on google, I haven’t tried these) Once you get used to editing this file you can usually work out how to add a map source you’re after.

I can’t remember where I got mine from but it’s one I got online and have added some tweaks like strava heatmaps and bing’s Ordance Survey (get a API key from https://www.bingmapsportal.com/ and read their guidelines!). I’d ask your mate for his sources if I were you! It’ll be a good start.

* You can overlay one map over another (aka Composite map). For example if I’m scouting for trails I overlay Strava heatmaps over the trail map and sometimes enable hillshading overlays too.

* I also use it to track and export my GPXs to strava after.

* You can import GPX files and follow them on your ride.

Hope that helps

I should add Orux maps does not do turn-by-turn navigation for driving and what not.

I am a big fan of Orux maps- used it for a couple of years. Now use Locus which I feel has a clearer interface, with OpenMtbmaps, which are very easy to read. I used an old Motorola mini defy (as it’s waterproof) though recently it has taken to crashing if I try to load too big a map. What are other people using phonewise on their handlebars?

@jaymoid interested in the Strava heatmaps layer- how did you make that?

@eviljoe:

It’s one of those nerdy things… This is what I love about Orux, you can do anything, but understand it’s not for everyone.

1. add sources to your online map sources file ( I think the uid number needs to be unique in the file)

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>
<onlinemapsources>
<!– other online map sources here –>

<onlinemapsource uid=”61″>
<name>Strava heatmap [both] (OVERLAY)</name>
<url><![CDATA[http://globalheat.strava.com/tiles/both/color3/{$z}/{$x}/{$y}.png]]></url>
<minzoom>0</minzoom>
<maxzoom>17</maxzoom>
<projection>MERCATORESFERICA</projection>
<servers></servers>
<cacheable>1</cacheable>
<downloadable>1</downloadable>
</onlinemapsource>

<onlinemapsource uid=”611″>
<name>Strava heatmap [cycling] (OVERLAY)</name>
<url><![CDATA[http://globalheat.strava.com/tiles/cycling/color1/{$z}/{$x}/{$y}.png]]></url>
<minzoom>0</minzoom>
<maxzoom>17</maxzoom>
<projection>MERCATORESFERICA</projection>
<servers></servers>
<cacheable>1</cacheable>
<downloadable>1</downloadable>
</onlinemapsource>

<onlinemapsource uid=”612″>
<name>Strava heatmap [running] (OVERLAY)</name>
<url><![CDATA[http://globalheat.strava.com/tiles/running/color2/{$z}/{$x}/{$y}.png]]></url>
<minzoom>0</minzoom>
<maxzoom>17</maxzoom>
<projection>MERCATORESFERICA</projection>
<servers></servers>
<cacheable>1</cacheable>
<downloadable>1</downloadable>
</onlinemapsource>

<onlinemapsources>

2. In the app, you need to make a new composite map for this.
Maps menu -> Switch map -> in the top red bar there’s a ion that looks like 3 squares (composite map)… then in the next screen dialog:
Select your base map layer, (you’ll want the transparency to be set to 1.0 here), and then click “Add Layer”.
Then select your overlay layer (Strava heatmap cycling), and then specify a lower opacity, I use around 0.7 so you can still see the map under it.
Enter a descriptive name and click OK, and you’re done…

Here’s strava heatmaps over the OS Landranger 1:50K maps (courtesey of Mr Bing)

FYI: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Strava

It’s a bit hard to see the heatmaps in my pic above, but you can change the colours in the urls in your online map sources if they clash with the underlying map layer. Just change it from colorn where n is 1 to 8 e.g. color6

Cheers jaymoid –

I shall give that a go.. after a stiff cup of coffee! 😆

Anyone know of a weather overlay that would work?

Looks like you can use
http://www.openweathermap.org/api

You can get an API key from here https://openweathermap.org/appid

Caveat, I’ve not tried this in orux, but their maps are WMS so should work.

Another user here – I have the full UK OS maps in 1:50k and 1:25k ripped from Streetmap.co.uk which I use to create maps of areas I’m going to. Interesting info about overlays – not something I’ve tried.

jaymoid, thanks…

but that honestly scares the crap out of me. might be easier just to buy an old skool paper map!

or maybe i need a strong coffee and a quiet room.

jaymoid, thanks…

but that honestly scares the crap out of me. might be easier just to buy an old skool paper map!

or maybe i need a strong coffee and a quiet room.

Haha, yeah although they’re not mutually exclusive, always good to have a backup map in whatever form!

Regarding your question about what phones people use, and how to mount – I usually keep mine in my pocket when I’m out exploring by myself. I’ve often thought about getting a low powered phone for just orux use but I’m not sure the battery would be as good as a garmin. Garmins seem so slow and crap – and the supported map formats are all proprietary and horrible.

Another user here – I have the full UK OS maps in 1:50k and 1:25k ripped from Streetmap.co.uk

Do you have your streetmap as a mapsource in oruxmaps? I didn’t know it had OS maps, it might be my dodgy eyes but to me it looks a little crisper than the OS ones that bing are serving.

jaymoid, have you got the mapsource info for your Bing/OS mapping?

I have my local area as an offline file for OS maps but I can’t then composite that with an online mapsource (eg the heatmap).

@nemesis – I recall you can only combine online map sources (I’m not sure what the limitation is here).

Here’s my bing OS map source: You’ll have to go to https://www.bingmapsportal.com and register to obtain your API key and then place in the onlinemapsources file as below. Obviously you need to respect their usage policy, I’ve only ever used it as much as I’m actually needed (and not for example tried to download the whole of the UK!)

<onlinemapsource uid=”1″>
<name>Bing Ordnance Survey (TOPO)</name>
<url><![CDATA[http://ak.t1.tiles.virtualearth.ne{$s}/tiles/r{$q}.jpg?g=5166&productSet=mmOS&key=YOUR_API_KEY_HERE]]></url>
<minzoom>1</minzoom>
<maxzoom>18</maxzoom>
<projection>MERCATORESFERICA</projection>
<servers>t</servers>
<cacheable>1</cacheable>
<downloadable>1</downloadable>
</onlinemapsource>

———————————-
Should you also use MOBAC, you can create a new xml file in your [your_mobac_directory]/mapsources folder, and select the map in the list of maps:

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<customMapSource>
<name>Bing Ordnance Survey</name>
<minZoom>1</minZoom>
<maxZoom>15</maxZoom>
<tileType>jpg</tileType>
<url><![CDATA[http://ak.t1.tiles.virtualearth.net/tiles/r{$q}.jpg?g=5166&productSet=mmOS&key=YOUR_API_KEY_HERE]]></url>
</customMapSource>

Now, the cool thing about this is that MOBAC supports PNG atlesses, so should you want to create a custom OS map to print or browse. It can also create atlases for use in Orux maps… Handy!

Ta

I’m not quite sure what you mean, but if you’re asking about online use then no – I have all the map squares offline (was already ripping them to create offline maps on my PC) and create map areas for offline use. I did initially use the Oruxmaps tool, but found it awkward and inaccurate, so I’ve written a bit of code to create the accurate XML files and split a map into the squares.

Yes, it does seem crisper than the bing maps which is why I use it – the thing with bing is that the data provided online is slightly distorted as they align it all with lat/long rather than with OS grid lines. The streetmap data appears to be the raw undistorted OS data.

So if I’m using an offline map source I can’t use overlays? I guess I’ll live with that, as I far prefer using my offline source rather than eating through data (if I can get it).

@aracer, yeah I was hoping there might be some magic that could be done to convert the streetmap URLs into one that Oruxmaps understands (I think it only works with the X, Y, and Zoom params or a single encoded Q value like the bing OS url). I managed to find an old post regarding your algorithm for calculating the obfuscated url param (good sk1llz btw!) to allow you to grab image tiles. I may experiment when I have some spare time on my hands (any additional hints you should wish to email over would be greatly appreciated!)

So if I’m using an offline map source I can’t use overlays?

Yeah this seems to be the case, the drop down box in orux only lists the online sources. Not a major issue, I’d say it’s handier for planning routes rather than whilst out on the trail.

Good searching skills! Can’t quite remember what I did, but fundamentally it was standard reverse engineering, making small changes and seeing what difference it made to the URL.

I have some apps I’ve written – the one to create oruxmaps files direct from online streetmap source (or offline tiles database) has been half finished for months though (I was spending far too much time trying to optimise the retiling – oruxmaps uses a different tile size to streetmap). I’ll send you an email…

Thanks aracer, I’ve had a stab at putting together a little java app that replicates your c logic to get the URL for the tiles, luckily your algorithm still stands 7 years later! I wondered how many websites (or paying clients) might complain if they changed it now. I’m very impressed you worked this out, I’m ashamed to say my job is as a software developer, and that I doubt I would have discovered this (I think years of boring business computing has blatted any bit twiddling and analytical skills that ever existed).

I guess what I’d like to do next is use some lossless atlas datastore for the tiles and meta data, so they can easily be converted into some other atlas format like orux in say Mobac for example. Any recommendations? Thanks!

Just wanted to say a big thanks to jaymoid for the details provided above. Have set this up now with a strava overlay on OS maps as described. It’s great 🙂

Has anyone who’s using this strava heatmap overlay in Orux found problems with it recently? Seems to have stopped working on two separate devices. Tried a reinstall of app and also rolled back to version 6.5.10 but still no joy. It appears not be be able to download any strava heat map data either as a stand alone heat map or overlay on another map (eg Bing OS maps)

I couldn’t get this back working again in Orux so have jumped ship to Locus Pro. It’s £7 for the Pro version of the app. The free version will allow the custom maps but not the overlay function.

To enable Bing OS maps as a source in Locus see this thread for the xml file…

https://github.com/mjk912/LocusMapTweak/issues/12

The xml file needs to go in the \Locus\mapsOnline\custom folder.

If you don’t already have an Bing API key you will need to register with Bing and get one. The API key need to be entered into the xml file just like for Orux maps.

The Strava heat maps (cycling and running) xml file can be downloaded from here….

http://www.locusmap.eu/strava-heatmap-in-locus-why-not/

Again put it in the \Locus\mapsOnline\custom folder.

This will give you Bing OS and Strava heat maps as available online map sources.

Using Bing OS source as the base map select the overlay function in Locus and choose the Strava heat map as the overlay map. I find opacity of 60-70% about right.

You can work offline using areas/zooms you have previously browsed that are in the cache. But for offline working it is better to download the area you want at all zooms into a new offline map. Do this for both Bing OS and Strava then set the overlay using the offline map sources. In this respect Locus is better than Orux since Orux didn’t support overlays/layers with offline map sources.