For years, users have expressed a need to download topo maps covering entire states or countries.
As of 5.7.8, the method is being simplified.
Please see this link on your mobile device for these instructions.
http://www.openandromaps.org/en
(without the /en part, the site will be in German, if you prefer that)
Remember to bookmark this site and donate to it so that they can continue to produce great maps.
Installing a Style
Installing a style only has to be done once. We recommend the Elevate theme, version 2.X and will recommend Elevate 3.X when we are ready.
1. From http://www.openandromaps.org/en Go to Map Styles in the menu (the symbol that looks like :=) and choose Elevate Theme. You will end up at a link like this.
http://www.openandromaps.org/en/legend/elevate-mountain-hike-theme
2. Look at the Elevate 2.X theme (Elevate 3.X compatibility to come).
3. Find the row in the table that corresponds to your screen resolution. 240dpi is the resolution of many tablets. Hi res phones can either be 320 or 480 dpi. When in doubt, choose 320 dpi.
4. Push the button that says BackCountry Navigator. If nothing happens when you push this button, you probably don't have 5.7.9 of BCN or later. Go to Google Playstore app and look for updates.
5. You will briefly see a screen with a progress bar as we download the style.
6. You will see a screen that asks you to pick a style file:
I pick BackCountry, even though its not affiliated with us. Hiking, Cycling, or City all might be good for you depending on the situation. You can change them later from the Layers menu.
For more information about the styles, including a PDF legend, see the page you just got the styles from:
http://www.openandromaps.org/en/legend/elevate-mountain-hike-theme
Downloading a Map
- Go to http://www.openandromaps.org/en. Book mark the site so you can donate to them later.
- Go to the Downloads menu. Choose a map from many countries or states. You will end up downloading something like Washington.zip. Yellowstone national park is a good choice if you want to practice with a small one.
- Open the + symbol for additional options. You will see an option called "Install on BackCountry Navigator".
4. A screen with a progress bar will appear. The download has not started yet till you confirm and press Install. (If nothing happens when you push this button, you probably don't have 5.7.9 of BCN or later. Go to Google Playstore app and look for updates.)
5. You have a chance to change where it is putting the map file, if desired. It is recommended that you pick a place, or our default one, and stick with it.
6. The download will begin after you confirm by pushing the install button.
7. When complete, the button will change to View. Push this to see the map.
When I finished, this is how my Layers Menu looks.
Note that the dropdown next to Map File contains the four most recently used maps.
After you have downloaded a map through this method, the "Browse" button will start in the location you chose for your maps. If you do install or move maps via another method, it is suggested that you put them in the same folder so they are all easy to find through browse.
This is how it looked in a nearby national forest:
Take note about the
- Data for streets, trails, and just about everything are based on OpenStreetMap data, a community effort. Trails are based on the "walking path" component. I have found it to be quite good, and have trails that are not mentioned in other sources.
- Contours are in meters, not feet, which may be a disadvantage only to those who are in the United States. (or does some other country care about contours in feet?). Major contours appear to be every 100m and minor contours at 20m.
- It is still very important where the map is centered. If you load a map of Washington but happen to be hiking, or browsing, in Oregon, you will find that it comes out completely blank.
- These will render slower than raster map tiles, and need a bit more processing power.
Please do:
- Donate at the openandromaps.org/en site if you find these useful.
- Contribute your own data to the openstreetmaps.org project.
Please do not:
- Complain to us if the maps are not adequate for your need or are missing features you consider important. We do not own the data and neither do the hard working people at OpenAndroMaps.org. The data belongs to the people and you have the chance to contribute.
We will continue to make the process more streamlined.
Comments
50 comments
Thanks for the tips on large scale map downloads. My thinking might be backwards but I am always trying to figure out how much of Southern CA I can get on a 128 G SD card or on a 2 TB external drive. My 4 wheel tours can be spur of the moment (within perhaps a multi-county wide region) and I don't want to have to worry about sitting down and boxing my way thru a set of downloads specific for each trip. Understood this is different than needs of a thru hike on the PCT. So to me a "large" area is the size I can download into match my storage capacity. Memory is cheap and if I can store the maps on a HD and then dump them into my Android tablet when needed, works for me.
Thanks for the quick reply Nathan. Yeah I saw, and tried, the Browse button but it took me to a different screen and I couldn't find any way to locate my downloaded maps. I just spent more time clicking options in that area and found where the maps are located and am now able to access them.
I guess my only comment, other then thanks for making this all available, is to allow more than four to be able to show on the drop down menu on the Map Layers option.
LOVE BCN!!!!!
I would agree that map choosing can be a little convoluted. Especially when you don't use the app every day.
One thing in particular, is that if you use the Browse button, or even select MORE MAP SOURCES > USE MOBILE ATLAS it opens to the Download folder, not the BCNAV / ATLASES folder. A few clicks later you are in the correct location to choose another option. I don't know about other devices, but the file structure on the Nexus 4 is convoluted itself so users can get lost in what should be an easy process.
On another note, I was using the app in the car a while back and noticed my location wasn't moving. I restarted the app and it updated to my real location. Had I been on foot, It would have been much longer before I noticed (the icon status did not change). Perhaps a notification could be added that would alert the user if gps location is interrupted for any reason.
Thanks!
If I may comment here.
Your OpenAndroMap downloads may be spread out because of a failure to standardize when this was a beta.
Downloads is a reasonable place to look for things that people have downloaded straight from the internet. Moving files from computer to phone is a rather advanced case for many.
The intention now, is that if you use Install on BackCountryNavigator as above, that you will choose a place, or use our default, and put all maps on there. Once that is done, the browse button should open to that location.
I recommend that if you have put maps in a different place in the past, that you install at least one using this button and move all your maps there. The same with styles.
Your comments are always welcome, of course!
Is the default loactaion: bcnav/atlases
It is, I believe, bcnav/openandro, but you can change it to bcnav/atlases.
Interesting,,,that folder does not exist in my case. Thanks.
I changed my mind. I think it starts out as bcnav/atlases and I changed it in the example - since you can do that.
I finally got around to checking this out. Thanks so much for doing this. The problem of what do I do when I forget maps (or I'm randomly traveling) is now solved. Eventually I will just download all the maps for US & Canada. I also downloaded all the same data for the roads only data we got access too a year or two ago (which is great because of the small file sizes). Well done! And since OpenAndroMaps is European based we now have a worldwide solution for much smaller sized topo maps.
Elevate 3 should work as of 5.8.8 version. There could still be some things to be worked out.
I don't know when the 3 themes will have a button for BackCountry Navigator, but you can use "Download Normal Version" in the meantime and it will work. I will reach out to the site once I confirm it works for you.
Nothing happened to the fifth one. The menu just shows the four most recent used. There is also a browse button on that page.
Looking really great. I downloaded Switzerland and the Style Elevate 2. But as soon as i zoom in, the app closes after a few seconds without a crashreport :-(
The mapsforge people tell me its still not safe to use multiple threads with their library, even though it looked like they were ready. I am making some changes.
I hope it will all be working smoothly for everyone now.
Finally got around to trying this & it was an easy process. Great to have backup source in case I get outside the area I downloaded on another map.
These maps are great. I donated to help the cause.
Hi. I don't know if this place is still populated, but...
Can someone explain in plain language how I can put topo maps on an android tablet without downloading tiles. That is just too much work. I would rather download already prepared maps.
I have full sets of maps on the office computers, so could do something there if need be, but what I really want to do is just download topos in the areas I work - Nevada, California, Utah, Arizona - for example. I definitely need to be offline when I use these.
Thanks...)
THIS *is* the page for explaining how to put already prepared maps on an Android tablet. Look up near the top.
This is the process in video form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7hmn0MaSTQ
Nathan, I think I missed something here. When I got to the step at 12 seconds - open www.openAndromaps.org, well - the site is in German and doesn't look like the video. I couldn't hear any sound, and I am not sure there is any. So what do I do now? It looks easy enough if I can get to the places in the video, plus English would be a bonus.
Menard, The URL for Open Andro Maps has /en on the end to bring up the english version of the site. If you copied or typed the URL you must have left the /en off the end but you can always click the "Union Jack" or U.K. flag at the top right of the page for the English version of the site. You want to navigate to the Map Downloads for Countries and Regions page. Here is the link for the USA.
https://www.openandromaps.org/en/downloads/usa_en
This page should look like the one in the video. Maybe not exact but close enough to follow along. Also, the Youtube video linked by Nathan yesterday has sound. You might want to check the settings on your device if you are unable to hear the audio.
This is a fantastic resource - thanks for the link.
I have downloaded more than 4 maps and am now finding it impossible to get to them all.
They are all stored in /atlases as I can see them when my phone is connected to the pc.
When I click on 'Browse' , I am taken to the 'download' location, and when I try and navigate via the file structure ,the closest I can get is /sdcard/android/data/com.crittermap.backcountrynavigator.license/files and then I can't drill down any further.
Can you help? Thanks
nothing happen to fifth one ,there is a browse button
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Well, now you could place all of California in 416 megabytes. Of course, you have to review it to see if the map is valid for your purposes.
Worked for me as well. Downloaded Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California for a trip this summer. This is great, my Galaxy S5 has a 64gb card so bring it on with bigger and more details, woot! Thanks Nathan!
works like a charm for me, downloaded denmark and spain/portugal and put them in the atlas folder on my external sd-card.
I also create maps with the MOBAC program, using version 1.8 as it still have the microsoft satellite views available. I can choose my own zoom levels up to 19.
But the option that we try out here has the advantage that you can do it all from your mobile when you actual need the map.
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