Smaller walks/routes not on Ordinance Survey maps?

[Bennte]

Hi,

I'm preparing my first trip to Scotland, and would like to spend a few days on the Isle of Eigg. Particularly the area around Loch Beinn Tighe looks absolutely stunning on some photos I've found on google earth & panoramio.

I've looked at both google maps and also the Ordnance Survey map of the area around Loch Beinn Tighe. And it seems like there are paths visible on google earth, which are not marked on Ordnance Survey.

Of course, I could just look at the altitude lines and take mud & swamp into consideration, and just try my luck. But I was wondering:
Are there any better maps, with higher detail than Ordnance Survey?

Thank you!

[Kevin29035]

Hey there

There do seem to be maps with more paths marked than OS (the WH GPS Planner mid-range map seems to have this, but the quality is not great otherwise, and not really worth it).

I would just suggest (as I've done so myself many times) to go with OS, have a look at Google Maps if there are specific tracks you're thinking.. Or turn up on the day and just go.

Kev

[Bennte]

Thanks Kev! Will look at the WH GPS maps – but I guess I'll just stick with OS and "wing it" if need be.

[Mancunian]

There is a nice webpage that I use from time to time:

http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm

Here you can compare Google maps and OS maps side by side and the view area is synchronized which means you will see the same area in OS and GMaps on one (split-)screen. It very helpful to see if the tracks on the OS maps can bee seen on Google maps or to check whether there are paths that are not on OS maps.

[Bennte]

Nice link - thanks very much!

[Dan Scheer]

that is a fantastic link! been looking for something like that for ages
thanks a lot!

[LDPWalker]

And great for checking if footbridges exist. I've never seen the Where's The Path website before, very useful indeed!! Thanks, Roger

[gman]

Just had a look at Where's the Path but their OS maps aren't available as there's a daily limit. I've used Bing maps before though, you can switch between aerial view and OS maps.

[Mancunian]

Just had a look at Where's the Path but their OS maps aren't available as there's a daily limit. I've used Bing maps before though, you can switch between aerial view and OS maps.

Thats true. The daily limit is imposed by the OS to prevent users from downloading tiles and storing maps offline. Best time to check out Where's the path is in the morning.

[Sgurr]

If you have a smart phone, you can download FREE any maps they have available via Maverick. I sometimes download the Explorer scale map which gives rides through forests (not needed on Eigg, and smaller paths and supplement our paper copy of Landranger for the area with this.

[Bennte]

For my iphone, I use an app called Galileo (around £3 for full version I think). I use Mobile Atlas Creator with the "Open STreet Maps 4UMaps.eu" tiles (free). They're pretty good, including altitude lines.

[IanEzzi]

Geograph.org.uk is useful although I don't see many pictures for Loch Beinn Tighe. One of the pictures does appear to show an enticing strip of path in the bottom left hand corner, but I've been misled by Geograph many times before!

[Mancunian]

For my iphone, I use an app called Galileo (around £3 for full version I think). I use Mobile Atlas Creator with the "Open STreet Maps 4UMaps.eu" tiles (free). They're pretty good, including altitude lines.

I use Mobile Atlas Creator as well and I agree the OpenStreetMap 4UMaps are quite good but they are not as good as Ordnance Survey maps. Especially in the Highlands I find it very important to have more than just rivers and altitudes but also landscape features such as rocks, rockfaces, precipices etc. Things like that you'll not find on Openstreetmap maps.

In the end the map of choice is highly dependend on the area and the purpose. If I go walking over here in Saxony I would always prefer an OpenStreetmap map over any other map because I know that almost every track, path, road is featured in the map. It also makes no sense to walk cross country because there is always a path nearby. It is quite different in the Highlands especially in the remote areas. There are hardly any tracks at all and even if they exist they are not featured in Openstreetmap. A few of them are featured in the Ordnance Survey maps but in the end any walker will just walk cross country to the next Munro
Therefore it is important to have the aforementioned features on the maps or otherwise you could end up somewhere where you have to climb up or down a steep rockface.
If interested have a look at this thread:
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=41381

Cheers...