ViewRanger OpenMaps - offering more map choice

posted by cw on Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Over the last few years, crowd sourced & commercially produced open mapping has come on leaps and bounds, such that it provides a pretty good map chart for most places in the world. Today's release of ViewRanger GPS version 1.3.0 for Apple iOS means that ViewRanger customers can now access and use global open maps on all three smartphone platforms - Symbian, Android, iPhone/iPad.

To meet the different demands of our customers, we offer access to a range of different OpenMap map layers for:

Urban Use:
OpenStreetMap - wiki-style map of the world that anyone can edit through services provided by companies such as CloudMade. OSM gives a simple named street layout.
Bing Road Maps - the Microsoft owned online mapping tool, provides an alternative view and detail in some territories.



Cycling and Terrain:
OpenCycleMap (Topo) - this includes rural topographic information, again from CloudMade, and shows contours, tracks and cycleways.

Aerial Imagery:
Bing Aerial Imagery - Satellite photo view from Microsoft.

Using online OpenMaps

All of the features of ViewRanger continue to work with the Online maps layers - you can view your GPS location, record a track and review stats. BuddyBeacon works on Online maps, as does route creation and route import or download. These maps are streamed from the web to your device and will therefore require a WiFi or mobile data connection (for charges check with your mobile operator). However, these maps can also be stored onto your phone for off-line usage.

Working with OpenMaps in offline mode

To view any of the online maps in off-line mode i.e. without a web connection, it is first necessary to store all of the area you need in the phone memory. To do this just prior to use - view the map area whilst on-line and it will automatically be stored; to get all of the info you need you will need to zoom into the finer detail layers. Once complete, switch to offline mode. As the phone memory is limited go into settings to change the "cache size" to meet your needs.

With the addition of OpenMaps it means that
• ViewRanger can now be used with maps virtually anywhere in the world
• Our mapping of the urban environment now includes street name and building details.
• Cyclists are even better served with cycle routing clearly marked on OpenCycleMaps
• Combined with our Premium Maps, ViewRanger now offers possibly the widest collection of mapping available

ViewRanger OpenMaps certainly can't replace the detail and information that you get with ViewRanger Premium map charts - such as those from Ordnance Survey, IGN, BKG, LINZ, or National Land Survey of Finland.

However, alongside our highest quality Premium Maps, sourced from national mapping agencies, we believe that these OpenMap layers give you further flexibility and choice...and watch out for more ViewRanger OpenMaps layers and Premium Mapping to be released soon

ViewRanger Android Beta

posted by Mike Brocklehurst on Monday, November 29, 2010

A new ViewRanger beta release for Android phones is available. The main change is that it adds support for typing coordinates. You can now go to a specific coordinate. Or you can create a POI at a coordinate, or move a POI or waypoint to a coordinate.

Details of the beta are in the wiki and the beta itself is available from www.viewranger.com/vranbeta.

Try ViewRanger GPS for Free on Android

posted by cw on Wednesday, November 10, 2010


We've just published a free trial edition of ViewRanger GPS into the Android Market.

The new version “ViewRanger GPS Free Trial” gives Android users access to the full app’s functionality free of charge for 15 days to allow anyone into off-road activity and outdoor pursuits to try out and enjoy its many features.

The new free trial app, which uses global OpenStreet & OpenCycle mapping and includes Bing road maps and aerial photo layers in the free maps menu, is available in all Android Market territories.

Just like with the full version, it allows users to view their GPS mapped location, record a track and view performance statistics. As the maps can be stored on the phone it works without a mobile signal. ViewRanger GPS navigation features include the ability to plot your own routes or import GPX files; following the route becomes a breeze, with waypoint and navigation alarms that provide alerts along the course. Real-time location sharing is the other key feature of our app – the “BuddyBeacon(TM)” service allows users to share their location with other app or web users and view the location of their friends on-screen, which is great for peace of mind or progress tracking.

During the trial period, Free Trial users can upgrade to the full version easily; by purchasing the full OpenMap edition for a few Euros/Dollars through Android Market or by purchasing any Premium Mapping area, available in 14 countries, from the www.viewranger.com website.

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