Users of Viewranger please

bluechair84

I have downloaded the software and two free map tiles and have to say, I'm bloody impressed with my OS mapped GPS on Nokia 5800!!

So I'm selling my Garmin (it's on ebay if anyone wants the link pm me) and buying more map tiles over-the-air. Trouble is, a token is £15 but it doesn't say what you get for that token... One tile? 20 tiles?? On further reading it sounds as if I will be charged an amount at the phone when I have selected map tiles to download - if that's true I can't find the price of the tiles anywhere!

So what's the deal? How much is it really going to cost me? Full opinion later once I've got enough maps to ride through!

kangaroo

if you buy the token you don't have to download the tiles until you want them.
I'm not sure how many you get, i think its so many square km, but I've only downloaded two extra tiles since i bought mine, it also keep my original demo tiles, and it didn't say anything about having to pay for them

if you download the area chooser app, you should be able to get a idea of how many tiles you can get for your money. though the area map is based on the £20 pre-chosen tariff (you choose all your tiles before you buy)

S_J_P

VR is a brilliant piece of software!

The download-tokens are an expensive way of mapping, but great when you're out and about and need a new tile! The tiles are around 100km² each (10kmx10km) for 1:50k mapping.

If you go to their site and download the Map Chooser PC application, then you can see what you're getting for your cash. There are "price points" starting at £20 (for 1:50k maps) which will get you around 20 tiles, as you buy more tiles, the cost per-tile decreases but it's far better value to buy the map-sets (Southern England for £48.93 for instance). Depending on where you live, their national Parks set for £24.46 is good value too.

bluechair84

aah glad there's another user on here
I worked out that the over the air tokens at 15pounds get you 350sq Km comes to 4.2pence/sq km. or 25pounds for 700 sq km comes in at 3.5p/sq km...

When I order the map tiles though it offers me choices on whether I receive them on SD card or CD - it doesn't say anywhere I would like to download them. I'm finding buying map tiles to download a rather painful experience...

kangaroo

you need to purchase a download token to get the tiles on demand
here is the link
http://store.viewranger.com/acatalog/Ov ... okens.html

i got the 1:25 mapping, it gives the details that i want. i mainly use it to see my route after a ride

tjwood

I agree Viewranger is ace. I just went all in and bought the full GB 1:50k on DVD, works out cheapest in the long run, unless you always ride in the same area.

lakewalker

The area of map that can be downloaded with a ViewRanger Token Pack varies - depending on the type of map tiles (or routes, or city packs) that you download:

There are four Token Packs available:
* GB Ordnance Survey 1:50k tiles - download up to 3200 sqkm of land area.
* GB Ordnance Survey 1:25k tiles - download up to 350 sqkm of land area.
* Norway 1:50k tiles - download up to 600 sqkm
* General OTA Token Pack - download from 10 other countries plus ViewRanger's route library, plus city packs, etc. You can mix-and-match countries, routes, etc with this pack - i.e. download some IGN map tiles of France, then some BKG tiles from Germany, then some walking routes within the UK from the AA.

Topographic map data available with the General OTA Pack:
Belgium 1:100k (up to 3900 sqkm), 1:50k (up to 600 sqkm), 1:10k (up to 200 sqkm)
Finland 1:50k (up to 700 sqkm), 1:20k (up to 350 sqkm)
France 1:100k (up to 5200 sqkm), 1:25k (up to 390 sqkm)
Germany 1:50k (up to 3275 sqkm),
Ireland (Eire) 1:50k (up to 5575 sqkm)
Netherlands 1:25k (up to 900 sqkm)
Slovenia 1:50k (up to 890 sqkm), 1:25k (up to 500 sqkm)
Sweden 1:50k (up to 320 sqkm)
Switzerland 1:100k (up to 3000 sqkm), 1:50k (up to 700 sqkm), 1:25k (up to 200 sqkm).
USA 1:500k, 1:24k (333 tiles, approx 9900 sqkm)

Example Areas: The example map areas given show the area available if the whole token pack is used on this map layer.

Other Data available over-the-air with these tokens:
Guided Lesiure Routes (costs vary, but typically around 10 routes can be downloaded via Route Search with a single Token Pack. Routes mainly available in UK at current time.)
City Guides AA TravelGuide to London; OSi Guide to Dublin

This token pack gives you 1000 credits to download map tiles via ViewRanger's over-the-air download directly to your phone handset. Each time you download data, your credit balance is reduced. Different data will debit different amounts from your credit balance.

S_J_P

My only real gripe with VR is that you can't use it on a PC

You'll have to purchase another piece of software (Memory Map or TrackLogs for instance) to route-plan and download routes, though I think there's some support for Google Maps which is at least free

I seem to be accumulating a wide range of mapping software now, all of which is great for specific tasks. MemoryMap's cheap for 1:50k maps of the country on the PC, TrackLog's cheap for local 1:25k maps on the PC, and ViewRanger's great for 1:50k maps on the go (shame the 1:25k maps are 10x the cost of 1:50k ones though :shock: )

tjwood

I think the thing about not being able to use it on the PC is a result of the OS licencing.

www.BikeHike.co.uk works for me

frogstomp

S_J_P wrote:

My only real gripe with VR is that you can't use it on a PC

You'll have to purchase another piece of software (Memory Map or TrackLogs for instance) to route-plan and download routes, though I think there's some support for Google Maps which is at least free

I use Where's the path? to plan the route and then just export the GPX file to ViewRanger..

VR is a great piece of software, and their customer service is excellent.

fletch8928

i am probably going to get viewranger but was also wondering if people mount their phones on the bars or just stick it in a backpack/pocket? If mounted what do you use?

frogstomp

I got one of these for my N95 8GB.. used it over the summer and it holds it nice and tight.. have taken it off for the winter as it was getting too wet.

The BoxIt cases seem to get good reviews and they're waterproof.. I just wasn't sure how visible the screen would be through the case..

tjwood

The Boxit case is good. You can see the screen in all but the brightest of sunshine (remember that!?). Best to set the phone's screen to switch off the backlight after 30 seconds or so to save battery, and just jab it through the case to wake it up again.

The Boxit bar mount is a bit crap though. I modified mine to make a stem mount using a plastic webbing buckle and some cable ties and old inner tube, which worked fine for a while, then part of the Boxit mount snapped so mine is mainly held on with the aforementioned modification plus a loop of Velcro One-Wrap. Which actually works really well...

fletch8928

cheers for the replies. I had looked at boxit due to the bike mount and waterproofness. I would want it mounted so if/when i go off course its not to dramatic.

S_J_P

The Boxit bar-mount is a bit crap (as already mentioned), mine broke yesterday on a relatively flat section of Byway

I like the velcro/stem idea though

bluechair84

S_J_P wrote:

My only real gripe with VR is that you can't use it on a PC

You'll have to purchase another piece of software (Memory Map or TrackLogs for instance) to route-plan and download routes, though I think there's some support for Google Maps which is at least free

+1 for Tjwoods recomendation of bikehike.co.uk - that's where I plan my routes and I intend to transfer the .gpx file to the phone for VR to read. Though I've not got that far yet as I'm still looking at maps.

I have bought a hard case and a waterproof case for my 5800 and will mount the phone to the bars. I don't find the GPS on the Nokias to be consistent enough to have in a bag, and it takes a bloody age to get a lock!!

Think i'm going to stump for the full GB DVD as I'll use it all over... just sold my Garmin so I can now afford it! the maps seem ridiculously expensive compared to a paper OS

S_J_P

I wouldn't say the electronic maps were expensive!

What's a 1:50k paper-map nowadays, £6.99? There's more than 200 required to cover the UK, even with a sizable discount that's more than £1,000 :shock:

VR, MM, & TL all offer discounts now and again. If you're able to wait until a holiday-period then you should be able to get up to 20% off the electronic products. I got my VR software around the August BH period and got a reasonable discount (I can't remember whether it was 10% or 20% though)