Discover Britain with digital OS Maps and unlock adventure
13 May 2016 02:41 PM
Ordnance Survey produce the most detailed mapping app to be your complete guide to the outdoors.
OS Maps, the new multiplatform application from Ordnance Survey (OS), gives casual walkers, ramblers, runners, cyclists, mountaineers and other outdoor adventurers a single digital source to plan and discover Britain.
The website and free smartphone app includes OS’s standard and aerial mapping to plot routes on, but with an annual subscription you can unlock a wide range of extra features. You can also use your subscription on all your devices (desktop, iOS or/and Android).
The extra features within a subscription include digital versions of all 607 of OS’s Explorer and Landranger paper map titles. This total coverage of Great Britain represents a massive saving to the end user. The Explorer and Landranger maps are also available offline.
You don’t even need a phone signal to use OS Maps to pinpoint your exact location, because it uses the much more reliable and accurate Global Positioning Systems (GPS). The subscription package also contains off-road routing that covers all 15 of Britain’s National Parks, and can be used to create a safe route focused around the footpath network in just two clicks. OS Maps also has more than 500,000 preloaded routes to aid discovery.
Last May OS released OS Maps into Beta testing, and since then it has been trialled by three quarters of a million people who were invited to feedback thoughts and improvements. Many of the suggestions from customers have been incorporated into the official OS Maps release.
Nick Giles, Managing Director of Ordnance Survey Leisure, says: “Over the past decade we’ve seen digital mapping in general come a long way, but as soon as you venture away from urban spaces the detail is lacking. That lack of detail limits possibilities and also presents a safety problem to anyone that solely uses digital mapping to navigate their way through the countryside.
“With OS Maps we wanted to create a digital map that has the same high standards in detail and design as our paper maps. The aim has always been to make the great outdoors enjoyable, accessible and safe, and I think OS Maps achieves this and will help more people#GetOutside and get more from their adventures in this fabulous country.”
| OS Maps key features |
Free |
Premium |
| Maps available |
Standard, aerial |
Standard, aerial, National Parks, 1:25k (Explorer), 1:50k (Landranger), night mode (mobile only) |
| Plot a route |
Yes - manual |
Yes - manual, plus automatic snap to path in National Parks (web and iOS) |
| Find routes |
Public only |
Publicly and professionally authored |
| Record a route (mobile only) |
No |
Yes |
| Follow a route (mobile only) |
Yes |
Yes |
| Import GPX route |
Yes |
Yes |
| Export GPX route |
No |
Yes |
| Change preferences (inc. walking, running and cycling speed) |
No |
Yes |
| Show/find places of interest (web only) |
Yes |
Yes |
| Driving directions (web only) |
Yes |
Yes |
| Live weather |
Yes |
Yes |
| Print maps (web only) |
A4 |
A4, A3 |
| Redeem a 'paper map digital download' code |
Yes |
Yes |
| View a 'paper map digital download' code (mobile only) |
Yes |
Yes |
| Download to device 25k and 50k mapping for offline use (mobile only) |
No |
Yes |
| Route sync - create a route on the web and immediately see it on mobile (and vice versa) |
Yes |
Yes |
| OS mobile and web |
Term |
Price |
| Free trial |
1 week |
FREE |
| Starter - ideal for holidays or short-term needs |
1 month |
£3.99 |
| Adventurer - auto renew |
12 months |
£19.99 |
| Adventurer - non-auto renew |
12 months |
£23.99 |
Notes to Editors
Begin your OS Maps adventure here: www.os.uk/osmaps/
Download the app to your mobile device:
Download image of OS Maps in action
About OS
As Britain’s mapping agency, OS makes the most up-to-date and accurate digital and paper maps of the country. Each day OS makes over 10,000 changes to its database of more than 450 million geographic features. Since 1791 OS content has been used to help governments, companies and individuals work more effectively both here and around the world. The information OS gathers helps keep the nation, economy and infrastructure moving. More about OS.
What is a paper map digital download?
What is ‘snap to path’?
Contact us
For more information:
Contact: Keegan Wilson, Senior Press Officer
Email: keegan.wilson@os.uk
Phone: (+44) 02380 055332