Free Online Mapping: UK Ordnance Survey Maps

[Dave]

Bing Maps offer free Ordnance Survey Maps which you can print and take with you in your A4 map case.
[1:50,000 + 1:25,000]

http://be.bing.com/maps/#Y3A9NTR+LTIuNDk5OTk5OTk5OTk5OTkxJmx2bD02JnN0eT1yJmFwcD02MDIzNn4xfmE=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=f4S0jkIZRIw#!


Street maps also offer Free Ordnance Survey Maps down to the 1:25,000 level

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/

This is also an excellent resource [Where's the Path] shows the topographical photo, next to the OS Map. I believe they are trialing a free Beta app for your mobile device?

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

 

[Wayland]

Thanks for that Good links.

You can get free Swedish maps here and Norwegian maps here as well.

 

[Dave]

Thanks for that Good links.

You can get free Swedish maps here and Norwegian maps here as well.

YW. I got them from a blog I visit here: http://dzjow.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/free-online-topographic-maps-for-hiking/

Other world maps are available.

 

[neoaliphant]

For any Android smartphone users

The Locus app can show maps from numerous sources, google maps, bing maps ( and therefore OS maps as above), open street map etc

you can also overlay with varying opacity one map on top of another.

It has advanced track recording and POI, intergrates with google earth app, google navigation, and other 3rd party apps.
such as geogoggles ( AR compass and POI navigator) and radar ( when im near a POI, i can open POI in radar and it has a green radar screen with distance, blipsm and pointers etc)
has geocaching add ons, offline maps, car locator, and numerous others
well worth the £3 or so for the pro version.

Al

 

[Expat]

Excellent.... Thanks for that....

 

[Swallow]

As a point of curiosity (and I am not suggesting we should not make use of these links or anything like that) how do the source OS maps get funded? I know the basic stuff is already done, but I assume they are updated pretty regularly.

 

[Wayland]

The source maps were and probably still are, funded by the military. Ordnance meaning artillery and the like.

I suspect the bit we fund by paying for maps is largely the costs of publishing them on paper.

 

[shaggystu]

The source maps were and probably still are, funded by the military. Ordnance meaning artillery and the like.

I suspect the bit we fund by paying for maps is largely the costs of publishing them on paper.

sort of, ordnance survey don't actually produce paper maps anymore, they outsourced it a little while ago. so the cost of paper maps will be the licensing, the printing, distribution, and a profit for private industry, a little surprising really.

 

[Joonsy]

i have tried printing OS maps from ''Bing'' but find it only covers a small area using A4 size paper which has limited use, i know i can print lots of seperate papers to overlap and thus cover a larger area but handling lots of seperate sheets of paper is frustrating especially in inclement weather, i suppose if you are staying in a very small area Bing maps would be okay but not if walking some distance, i have heard OS will print maps of the area of your choice online but i'm not sure if this is correct and if so what the cost would be (no doubt high i suppose).

 

[shaggystu]

.....i have heard OS will print maps of the area of your choice online but i'm not sure if this is correct and if so what the cost would be (no doubt high i suppose).

just had a glance at the OS website, £16.99 for a custom map, so about twice the price of a "normal" map from their website. not too bad IMO

 

[Joonsy]

just had a glance at the OS website, £16.99 for a custom map, so about twice the price of a "normal" map from their website. not too bad IMO

it's correct then, the price is not too bad really, printing from a public library in colour (where i have to go to print something) costs me 40p per A4 sheet, i would probably have to print quite a lot of pages from Bing to cover the same custom sheet map from OS so £16.99 is not that bad at all really, and one sheet of paper is more convenient than lots of single ones.

 

[spandit]

I ordered one a while ago and it arrived next day - astonishing

 

[Dave]

The single A4 sheets are preferable if you are pre planning your route, and the full map if you dont know the area, and may have to change your route? I havent printed any off bing tbh. I assume you can print them to the same scale as any other 1:25k, or 1:50k OS map?