

Ordnance Survey launches its first maps app for iOS - petrel
http://betanews.com/2013/01/11/232-years-in-the-making-ordnance-survey-launches-its-first-maps-app-for-ios/

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anonymouz
> It’s rather surprising that it’s taken this long for the OS to put its work
> on iOS, but the agency has at last come up with an official app.

Not so surprising if you consider that the Ordnance Survey focuses on other
stuff, rather than the newest tech gadgets. Having maps on the phone is really
nice for "casual" uses and navigation in towns, but this is covered quite well
by the existing solutions. If I go trekking I much prefer a paper map which is
larger and more robust to essentially all mishaps.

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ed209
Just spent christmas snowmobiling and I much prefer a map on my phone with a
GPS pinpoint of where I am. I'm not used to a snowy landscape so I couldn't
reference were I am on a paper map, but my phone made that easy.

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arethuza
The main reason I use a map and compass in the mountains as a primary means of
locating position is that I want to stay competent in navigation - being on
foot in mountains in winter is risky enough and while I have plenty gadgets I
don't _completely_ trust them with my life and navigating in a white-out with
a compass and map isn't a skill I want to re-learn when I need it (it is
_very_ difficult).

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arethuza
Worth nothing the OS maps for the UK are currently available through Bing
Maps.

The OS also supports one of my all time favourite sites:
<http://www.geograph.org.uk/> this project "aims to collect geographically
representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of Great
Britain and Ireland".

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Patient0
I've been navigating using OS maps on my iPhone for over a year now using
ViewRanger. To "download" an OS map you still have to pay - ViewRanger license
the data from the Ordnance Survey. They charge you so that they can pay OS for
the maps.

But it's all quite seamless and convenient - you "download" pack of a tokens
from the App store, and then "use" them to download map tiles as and when you
need them.

I'm not sure what an iPhone map written by OS themselves would give me that
ViewRanger does not do already.

I wonder what their motive is? i.e. why isn't the current model of "licensing"
the map data to third party app writers sufficient?

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doug1001
the extraordinary quality of Ordinance Survey maps suggests this was far from
trivial, even if an iOS map app was a priority for OS, which i doubt.

Anyone from the UK already knows this but for those who plan to travel in the
UK, these are the finest maps i have ever seen or used, and indeed have used
them a lot. The 1:50,000 sheets for N Wales (Snowdonia), Isle of Skye, and
Applecross, among many others, are treasures.

taking a casual walk with the family (e.g., around Langdale in the Lake
District) with a OS 1:25,000 OS map is an interactive history less every step
of the way--"oh look, says here there's a Celtic burial chamber just up ahead
on your left"

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prof_hobart
I've been using the UKMap app for OS maps for a couple of years. It'll be
interesting to see what (if anything) this offers over and above that one.

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Tyrannosaurs
The fact you can get the app for free and then 10km square tiles for 69p as
opposed to having to pay £7.99 for the whole country?

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cabalamat
> 10km square tiles for 69p

The whole of the UK would cost £1700 at that price. Given that Bing has OS
maps (which incidentally are very good) for free, I suspect the market for
this will be limited.

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Tyrannosaurs
But most people don't need the whole country, they want a couple of tiles near
their home or where they're on holiday.

I agree the pricing is off but I think there's a model for something short of
the whole country for £8. Sure there are people who will want the whole thing
(for about the price of one paper map) but not everyone.

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dmix
Do they really need the giant copyright on all of the maps?

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afandian
Probably. I don't think I've ever seen an OS map extract without one.

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dmix
Copyright is implied regardless if it's visually clarified.

I don't see one on the iOS maps app and Google keeps theirs really small and
it might be a contractual obligation since they license the data.

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afandian
This is Crown Copyright. I don't know the rules but they may be different.

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olgeni
At first I thought it took Apple 232 years to approve it.

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aw3c2
how come? Apple is not nearly that old.

