New OS Explorer OL maps now available
The latest revision of the OS Explorer OL maps is now available! These maps are designed to help you make the most of your time in the British countryside, whether you are walking, cycling, running, riding or anything else.
The new releases come with a mobile download included with each map. This allows you to get a copy of your paper map on your Android or Apple device. The map is saved to the device memory, so will work even when you have no mobile phone signal, and includes useful features like pinpointing your location, route recording and a compass.
Use OS Maps online for free
Originally published 21/05/2015, revised 01/06/2016
Over the last 12 months we have continued to develop our online mapping system, OS Maps. With some great basic features and advanced options for subscribers, it’s probably one of the best tool for planning off-road activities available.
Now available in your web browser and as an app for Android and Apple phones and tablets, you can view and print maps OS maps for free, plan routes, discover routes created by others, check weather and much more.
The lines on the face of GB revealed by OS
Did you know that the OS computer vaults hold a staggering 450 million geographical features across Great Britain which form the master map of the country? Our surveyors and aircraft are constantly revealing the changing look of GB and to keep up OS make 10,000 changes a day which all feed into our range of paper and digital map products.
We’ve been busy working on a number of new OS OpenData products, including OS Open Roads and OS Open Rivers and it started us thinking about how all these features create the living face of Britain.
So how many miles of roads snake across the country? How many miles of waterways wind their way from the tip of Scotland to the toe of Cornwall and what do all the changes to GB its roads, its rail, its buildings look like over the last 10 years. Take a look in our three videos and find out.
Britain’s road network:
Our mobile app, OS MapFinder, already available on Apple and Android devices is now available for the first time in the Amazon Kindle store. It is designed to work with the new Kindle Fire HDX, plus any of the other new Kindle HD tablets with an integrated GPS chip.Show off your map drawing skills – and win a trip to Lapland
We’re delighted to announce our latest competition for children up to the age of 12. We’d like you to create your own map showing the town, city or country where Santa lives. You can draw it on paper, design it on your computer or even build it in a game like Minecraft.
We’ll be choosing our favourite on 4 December 2014, and sending the winner and their family on a trip to Lapland to meet Santa in person!
Jim Goldsmith, Ordnance Survey Cartography Manager and one of the judging panel, says: “Ordnance Survey is always excited about innovation and what can be done with maps and mapping. This competition is a chance for a new generation of map makers to show us what they can do. We are looking forward to seeing where the elves live, the locations of Santa’s toy testing facility and the Christmas Jumper knitting factory, and what symbol is used for the reindeer retirement home.”
Find out more about the competition and submit your entry here.
Fun uses for maps around your home
“My late Gran had a map of the entire British Isles tattooed on her back. Think that’s odd? You say what you will about my Gran, but you always knew where you were with her.” – Harry Hill
Don’t worry – getting inked hasn’t made our list of fun uses for maps in your home. While they’ve been guiding us for centuries, paper maps can be more than just tools for exploration. Here are a few ideas of ways you could chart your adventures in your humble abode…
Plan your Bank Holiday with OS maps
Today’s blog is written by Harry Berryman, a student at the University of Birmingham. He is an outdoors enthusiast and former Duke of Edinburgh participant who was an intern at OS for two weeks this summer.
This coming Bank Holiday weekend means that many people will be planning a weekend away in the UK, and Ordnance Survey has a number of tools for planning your perfect ‘staycation’. Using OS getamap, anyone can find great places to stay and eat, as well as a wide variety of attractions. There are also loads of ways to use the symbols on an OS paper map to find a huge variety of great things to do this Bank Holiday weekend. You could also use the great range of Ordnance Survey apps while out and about to find things in your area or check that you are still on track!
Find off-road cycling routes in Hampshire with our new Activity Maps
We’re often asked by holidaymakers and others wanting to discover more of the Great British outdoors near to their home, about the best way to see all that the local area has to offer, and about our favourite routes to follow. That got us thinking about how to use our mapping to help people find new activities and places to explore.
Following feedback asking us for easy to use and handle maps, showing existing routes with navigational guidance for those less confident with their map reading skills, we’ve partnered up with Hampshire County Council to create new, detailed off-road cycle maps – the first set of maps in a series that will cover Great Britain, focussing on five specific activities: off-road cycling, road cycling, road running, trail running and horse riding.
Maps on trend
A recent article in The Times, confirmed what we already knew at map HQ – maps are the height of style right now. They said that maps are “both on trend and versatile: living room, bathroom or man cave – maps work anywhere.”
While, maps have traditionally been framed and hung on a wall, there appears to be an increasing variety in the way they are used. And we’re not talking small pieces anymore, maps are going HUGE! Our map floor at Hay-on-Wye festival last year was a big hit too.
Digimap – access to maps in higher education
We often talk about the Digimap for Schools service, but did you know there is also Digimap for higher and further education? Since its launch in 2000, Digimap has seen almost 290,000 registrations and there are currently 156 higher and further education institutions subscribed to the service.
