PSA free online OS maps

I’m sure lots of people already know this, but I’ve only just found this out, if you navigate to Bing instead of Google and utilise the maps feature, one of the layers you can apply is OS mapping. It’s made my day finding this!

Yep it’s great. Massive suprise to me too.

Great PSA !

I had no clue about this. Incredibly useful!

Use it a lot for scoping out routes in our wild hills around here – the Satellite layer seems much more detailed than Google Maps sat layer which is useful for viewing if there are any animal or quad tracks in parts we want to try and get the bikes into.

Nice one, cheers!

the Satellite layer seems much more detailed than Google Maps sat layer which is useful for viewing if there are any animal or quad tracks in parts we want to try and get the bikes into

It is much higher resolution.

https://www.streetmap.co.uk/

Works well too at various scales, just enter something in the search bar to find the area you’re interested in.

Interesting, I’ve never bothered with Bing, I’ve got a bunch of other browsers and search, so I’ll install that and check it out, could be very useful.

Thanks for the heads up!

No need to install anything, just access bing maps from your usual browser. Great PSA, though iOS Maps have been on Bing for so long (8years plus?) I assumed it was common knowledge!

The Backcountry Navigator app uses Bing to give you OS maps. If you pay for the premium version (one off cost) you can download the maps for free so they’ll work even if you’ve got no signal.

Useful PSA

Thanks

Great PSA – thanks very much.

I’m seeing it on desktop but not on mobile – am I missing something, or is it desktop browsers only?

Council “definitive right of way” maps also have an OS layer, but it goes right down to some enormous scale.

Like Jamz, I don’t see os detail on my Android phone.  Am I missing a layer?

I’m seeing it on desktop but not on mobile – am I missing something, or is it desktop browsers only?

I’m seeing it on iOS, on my iPad, but so far I haven’t tried it on my iPhone. I’ll check it out later.

The Bing map on my browser is very innacurate, missing off the end of our road completely. Streetmap, google maps and OS maps are far better.

It’s not on mobile as far as I’ve found. The Saturday walkers club website is what I use for mobile.

Bing maps are available on iPhone, via various browsers, but only the aerial view and road views using Open Street Map, which does go right down to individual houses and streets. You can toggle traffic, which is handy, but it’s odd that the OS mapping is available in iOS on the Pad, but not the phone.
It would be hugely useful to have access to it on the iPhone.

I was still using ViewRanger 2018 on my phone up until very recently, but the app had done a space saving thing and removed itself from my homepage and it’s no longer available on the App Store. I’ve still got it on my iPad, though.

If you set the browser on your phone to “desktop site/mode” when you’re on the bing maps page it works, but it’s a bit clunky to navigate. Well it is on my Pixel anyway!

A work around if you need OS for free whilst out potentially.

Back Country Navigator user here for many years.

its the only time I ever use bing!

The aerial views are much improved since I last looked. Even in some quite remote areas.

Another top tip using Bing OS map on a desktop pc, once you are at the OS layer you want (1:25 or 1:50) use [Ctrl]&[+] or [-] to zoom in and out to get a larger area OS map on screen without it changing back to just the road only layer.

When I posted it only used the desktop version, can confirm it doesn’t work on my android phone. I’ve got a Lenovo android tablet however and it works fine on that *?

Useful ability to draw a line/route on the map and it tells you the distance too 🙂 (You have to be signed in)

Bing still has its uses

If you visit your local library (for those who still have one) just after they’ve refreshed their stock of OS maps you may find some where the scratch off panel to get access to the digital version of that paper map is still unscratched. I am reliably informed that you can redeem those codes in the OS Map app.

To use Bing OS maps on mobile you need to tick the “Desktop site” option in your browser settings.

Council “definitive right of way” maps also have an OS layer

I used to find this highly useful. Unfortunately my local council first reduced it down to just this county, then got rid of the OS layer entirely. Just had a quick look to see if it’s still the same and noticed all the bridleways are missing. Surrounding counties aren’t quite as bad, but long live Bing!

Bing satellite imagery seems to be a few years older than Google

Hinted up there but if like me you wanna use satellite to correlate what’s on the ground with the map, try Apple, bing and Google particularly where there are valleyed, shadowed areas where it’s hard to discern.

Those using OS and satellite maps to path scout, this will blow your mind 😉

https://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm

(side by side linked views of both)

See also the NLS tool here:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=13.7&lat=55.90985&lon=-3.23617&layers=219&right=ESRIWorld