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I enjoy walking, but I enjoy looking at maps and planning walks almost as much. Unfortunately, the quality and availability of maps is very varied, along with the level of public access to the environment. In general for walking you'll be best off with 1:25,000, cycling 1:50,000 but this can vary depending on availabilty and your precise route. Using a paper map is a lot more fun than a digital one, and are potentially safer as there's no risk of your phone failing, battery running out etc. In most countries Open Street Map has good coverage of walking paths, sometimes even more detailed than local map producers, however: * The navigational aids on the map are sometimes more limited (e.g. the location of fences), and they have less information about points of interest (e.g. parking) * I haven't found a UI for the OSM data that is as clear and readable as OS or IGN maps. Sometimes it can be helpful to cross reference OSM data with a local map at confusing junctions - you might find out that some detail has changed recently on the ground and only one of the two is up to date. United Kingdom Public access is generally pretty good, with an extensive network of public rights of way and generous rules about open access land (the rules vary by country in a manner I won't go into here), to the extent that coming up with a custom walk of the desired length is generally trivial and there is less reliance on designated circuits or routes than in other countries. These rights of way, along with the open access to open land have an interesting history, google "Kinder Trespass". The quality of access stands in contrast to the poor quality of the environment in almost all of the UK, the vast of majority of which is heavily managed either as farmland, forestry plantations or hunting grounds. High quality maps are available from Ordance Survey at 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 for the entirety of the UK. These are freely available online via Bing! maps from within the UK, or at https://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx. The OS has it's own app but it's not great (and is £24 a year). In any case, the physical maps are reasonably priced and are some of the most detailed attractive and readable maps around, especially the 1:25,000 explorer line. For reasons I don't understand, public footpaths (and similar rights of way) are generally green in the 1:25,000 maps and purple in the 1:50,000 maps. They're available in most larger bookstores (e.g. Waterstones). There's one other brand with limited coverage (Harvey maps) - they are available in 1:40,000 and offer a useful intermediate between paper and fully laminated maps. 1:25,000 OS  1:50,000 OS  France The density of public footpaths is much more limited than in the UK, especially outside of national and regional parks, and you'll generally find yourself following a predesignated route. The non public access footpaths are often unofficially permissive, especially in upland areas, but it's hard to make plans around them unless you are already familiar with the route or are willing to risk getting stuck in front of a locked gate. There is an excellent network of well marked "Grande Randonnée" (GR) long distance routes - these vary from long but mostly flat to challenging routes that go the length of the Pyrenees. IGN maps are available freely online for the whole of mainland France (including the overseas territories) at https://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/. These are clear, detailed and generally accurate. On mobile you need to pay for an acceptable UI - I have Visorando which is decent value. Paper copies are available in most large supermarkets (e.g. E. Leclerc). ~1:25000  GR routes  Spain I'm much less familiar with walking in Spain. Maps for the whole country are available for free online here: http://centrodedescargas.cnig.es/CentroDescargas/locale?request_locale=en (select the "Maps in Image Format" layer), while they look very nice (I'd love to get a map of my local area done in this style printed and framed) I find them much harder to read than the UK and France ones above. 1:25,000  I'd be interested to hear about what you like/don't like about the maps available for other countries, and the local rules about public access and rights of way. A well done map is both beautiful and lets your imagination run wild with all the possibilities it presents! distortion park fucked around with this message at 11:48 on Jan 3, 2022 |
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Dec 31, 2021 15:09
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| # ? May 3, 2024 13:03 |
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pointsofdata posted:In most countries Open Street Map has good coverage of walking paths, sometimes even more detailed than local map producers, however: Yes it can. "OSM" isn't one map supplier, it's hundreds of thousands of volunteers. The option to add access rights to a pathway is there if someone chooses to use it when updating the map — I do. meltie fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Jan 2, 2022 |
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Jan 2, 2022 19:55
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pointsofdata posted:United Kingdom They're available on the DEFRA website at: https://magic.defra.gov.uk - load the map, then left-hand menu, at the bottom, turn on OS Colour Mapping. They're also on Bing still; click the 'road' button in the top right corner and switch it to Ordnance Survey. meltie fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Jan 2, 2022 |
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Jan 2, 2022 20:02
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meltie posted:Yes it can. This is cool, thanks for the correction. I think it's just the app I use which doesn't display them properly in that case!
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Jan 3, 2022 11:46
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meltie posted:They're available on the DEFRA website at: https://magic.defra.gov.uk - load the map, then left-hand menu, at the bottom, turn on OS Colour Mapping. Corrected, thanks! I think they're only on Bing! from within the UK or something.
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Jan 3, 2022 11:47
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The Library of Congress has so many good historical maps that I always can find something interesting to look at. https://www.loc.gov/maps/ Some of my favorites are the birds-eye series from the mid-1800's. 
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Feb 9, 2022 20:14
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I like paper maps. It's harder to find good paper copies these days. If I have a digital version, how can I get a good printout? Is kinkos the best option?
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Feb 14, 2022 19:26
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There was an amazing map store in Tucson for years and years, it closed like either at the start or right before the pandemic. I looked at the facebook page for it the other day and the owner is still updating it but it's basically "no I'm not going to re-open, if y'all want a map store so much go open one of your own" which I respect.
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Jul 14, 2022 04:11
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| # ? May 3, 2024 13:03 |
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I just noticed this the other day, but USGS has been updating their digital elevation models with LIDAR for most of the US (and IfSAR for Alaska). Annoyingly, for most of the Sierra Nevada (where I spend most of my time time) data hasn't been collected yet, but it has been for parts, and wow! The new elevation data is way more detailed, and it allows you to see features that just don't show up on the old topo maps or DEM. It looks incredibly useful for off trail navigation, at least in the areas where the data exists so far. For the sierra, this data became available earlier this year for a limited area around Tuolumne Meadows and the Hoover Wilderness. I'm very excited for more of CA to be mapped this way in the next couple years (especially Death Valley), but in the meantime it looks like CO and UT, for example, have almost complete LIDAR data. If you use the slope angle shading or other DEM features on caltopo, it will automatically use this data set if available.
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Jul 15, 2022 18:05
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