Cheap online source for OS maps?

"Dave McLaughlin" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Can anyone recommend an online source for OS maps?

Last time I bought a 1:50,000 it cost £3.35 from the YHA (big hills don't
change much over the years :-) ), but now the OS wants £6.49!

There must be a cheaper source somewhere????

www.multimap.com , tile > save as, collect the area you need, stitch and ,if
necessary, laminate. But you didn't hear this from me.

--
Theo
www.theosphotos.fotopic.net

theo said:

www.multimap.com , tile > save as, collect the area you need, stitch and ,if
necessary, laminate. But you didn't hear this from me.

Why multimap ? Streetmap give you more tiles (5km x 5km) at once, and
OS getamap gives you 1:25000 albeit in annoyingly small sheets. But I
can't see any advantage to multimap ..

-adrian

[email hidden] said...

[streetmap.co.uk]

Quoted message said:

you have to know the trick to get the 1:50k in the first place

Which is...? Come on, spill the beans!

--
If you can keep your head when all around are losing theirs...
then you've failed to grasp some important aspect of the
situation.

Fran said:

[email hidden] said...

[streetmap.co.uk]

Quoted message said:

you have to know the trick to get the 1:50k in the first place

Which is...? Come on, spill the beans!

Click the between the + and - this will give you a day number in the
URL. Make it 5x5 by putting &z=4 where it says &z=3 in the URL to get
rid of the arrow add the string &ar=N to the URL

They make it awkward to get to the 1:50k because their licence from OS
is on a pay per download basis.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Quoted message said:

My mistake for not snipping the line containing multimap and
streetmap, I have not used these and certainly not learned the trick,
whatever it may be, I meant the getamap 1:25000 tiles are 1250 by 1250
pixel 2km squares.

AJH

Yes, that's correct. But that's the jpeg file saved from the print/save
window : it's so heavily compressed that it's not any better quality
than the gif that's used in the preview, which is only 400x400.
Either map covers 4 grid squares at 1:50000, or 4km x 4km.

Streetmap give you 5 grid squares (in 'bigger map'😉, each a 200x200 tile
so that's 1000x1000 or 800x800 for the same area covered as getamap.
(I'm ignoring the 1:25000 getamap maps here - obviously they have their
own advantages but can't be compared with streetmap and multimap).

So streetmap give you less pixels than getamap's jpeg, but IMHO they're
more usable. And they're twice the resolution of the getamap preview.

Multimap give you 410x700 pixels ('big map' mode) covering approximately
5x3km. Their compression also seems to lose some of the grid lines in
the big map mode. So that also seems inferior to streetmap, unless I'm
missing something.

The best result seems to be to use Streetmap for 1:50000 maps and
the getamap previews for 1:25000.

-adrian

"theo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"Dave McLaughlin" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Can anyone recommend an online source for OS maps?

Last time I bought a 1:50,000 it cost £3.35 from the YHA (big hills don't
change much over the years :-) ), but now the OS wants £6.49!

There must be a cheaper source somewhere????

www.multimap.com , tile > save as, collect the area you need, stitch and ,if
necessary, laminate. But you didn't hear this from me.

Once uppon a time there was some free software that did all this for
you, but the OS kicked up a big fuss and got it banned. Now if someone
were to rewrite it and get it hosted offshore.......

Adrian wrote:>

Quoted message said:

Multimap give you 410x700 pixels ('big map' mode) covering

approximately

Quoted message said:

5x3km. Their compression also seems to lose some of the grid lines in
the big map mode. So that also seems inferior to streetmap, unless

I'm

Quoted message said:

missing something.

Try adding height and width parameters to the query string at the end
of URL in Multimap. I have found by experimenting that you can get up
to 900x900 pixels. If you then fiddle about with the GridE and GridN
parameters to centre the map, you can usually come up with a usable map
for a walk without having to do any stitching, e.g.

http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?pc=&GridE=409000&GridN=395000&title=Bleaklow&scale=25000&mapsize=big&width=900&height=900

This does mess up their webpage a little bit, especially the position
of the navigation arrows on the map, but it is still very useful.

Cheers, Simon
Website: The Mountains of England and Wales
http://cgi.simonedwardes.plus.com/index.htm

t you didn't hear this from me.

Quoted message said:

Once uppon a time there was some free software that did all this for
you, but the OS kicked up a big fuss and got it banned. Now if someone
were to rewrite it and get it hosted offshore.......

The OS would probably throw its toys out of the pram and get both
sites taken down.

I am amazed we have squeezed that much out of them......
Wish more countries would do the same - The Irelands would do for a
start

Richard Webb

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 19:03:43 GMT, Dave McLaughlin <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Can anyone recommend an online source for OS maps?

Last time I bought a 1:50,000 it cost £3.35 from the YHA (big hills
don't change much over the years :-) ), but now the OS wants £6.49!

There must be a cheaper source somewhere????

Hi there,

The only one I've found is http://www.mapkiosk.com/system/index.html,
but it's not much of a reduction. They were 3 for the price of 2 at
Waterstones' a few months ago.

A poster on here was flamed by some of those more interested in
netiquette than walking at some stage last year, for having the
audacity to mention the fact that the shop he works in had a
significant discount on OS maps. I've been meaning to try to find the
posting in Google, as I'm hoping they may still have the discount.

If you find somewhere better in the meantime, please post: I need some
too.

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

In article <[email hidden]>, Peewiglet
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 19:03:43 GMT, Dave McLaughlin <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Can anyone recommend an online source for OS maps?

Last time I bought a 1:50,000 it cost £3.35 from the YHA (big hills
don't change much over the years :-) ), but now the OS wants £6.49!

There must be a cheaper source somewhere????

Hi there,

The only one I've found is http://www.mapkiosk.com/system/index.html,
but it's not much of a reduction. They were 3 for the price of 2 at
Waterstones' a few months ago.

A poster on here was flamed by some of those more interested in
netiquette than walking at some stage last year, for having the
audacity to mention the fact that the shop he works in had a
significant discount on OS maps. I've been meaning to try to find the
posting in Google, as I'm hoping they may still have the discount.

If you find somewhere better in the meantime, please post: I need some
too.

Elstead have a slight discount - 5.89 for Landrangers (just noticed your
link is cheaper PW)

http://www.elsteadmaps.co.uk/

The OS would rather we all bought CD mapping and their prices for the
paper maps reflects this :-(

--

Dominic Sexton

On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 15:06:50 +0100, Dominic Sexton
<[email hidden]> wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

Elstead have a slight discount - 5.89 for Landrangers (just noticed your
link is cheaper PW)

http://www.elsteadmaps.co.uk/

The OS would rather we all bought CD mapping and their prices for the
paper maps reflects this :-(

Thanks for the link, Dominic.

In fact, I've got the CD mapping for the area in question, but
(understandably) the organisers of the trans-Scotland bash encourage
people to carry the paper maps too, in case plans change. Hopefully
I'll only need to buy them once!

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

Peewiglet said:

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 19:03:43 GMT, Dave McLaughlin <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Can anyone recommend an online source for OS maps?

The only one I've found is http://www.mapkiosk.com/system/index.html,
but it's not much of a reduction. They were 3 for the price of 2 at
Waterstones' a few months ago.

Amazon are a bit cheaper (5.99 for explorer, 5.19 for landranger) but
you have to buy about 4 to get free postage. Still not as good as the
Waterstones offer.

-adrian

Peewiglet said:

On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 15:06:50 +0100, Dominic Sexton
<[email hidden]> wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

Elstead have a slight discount - 5.89 for Landrangers (just noticed your
link is cheaper PW)

http://www.elsteadmaps.co.uk/

The OS would rather we all bought CD mapping and their prices for the
paper maps reflects this :-(

Thanks for the link, Dominic.

In fact, I've got the CD mapping for the area in question, but
(understandably) the organisers of the trans-Scotland bash encourage
people to carry the paper maps too, in case plans change. Hopefully
I'll only need to buy them once!

As you're going to splash the cash, I'd recommend the purchase of some
rolls of clear sticky plastic from WH Smith etc. Iron the map (a warm
iron will remove the glue holding the cover on) then cover the map with
the sticky plastic. If you're very careful, you'll manage to do this
without creases. You only need to do one side and this results in a much
thinner and more flexible item than the laminated version. They last a
VERY long time like this.

Of course, if you can source rolled-up rather than folded sheets, this
makes the job easier.

druidh

The message <[email hidden]>
from druidh <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Of course, if you can source rolled-up rather than folded sheets, this
makes the job easier.

You used to be able to buy unfolded maps without a cover but I haven't
seen any reference to that for a very long time so the OS is either
keeping it a state secret (as they do with what exactly they mean by a
grid reference) or more likely the facility has been withdrawn entirely.

--
Roger Chapman
sig file out of date

Roger said:

The message <[email hidden]>
from druidh <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Of course, if you can source rolled-up rather than folded sheets,
this makes the job easier.

You used to be able to buy unfolded maps without a cover but I
haven't seen any reference to that for a very long time so the OS is
either keeping it a state secret (as they do with what exactly they
mean by a grid reference) or more likely the facility has been
withdrawn entirely.

Try The Map Shop in Upton Upon Severn. If they're available at all
they'll be able to source them. They certainly have for me in the
past.

Chris
--
Chris Eilbeck
MARS Flight Crew http://www.mars.org.uk/
UKRA #1108 Level 2 UYB
Tripoli UK Member #9527 LSMR

Chris Eilbeck said:

Roger said:

The message <[email hidden]>
from druidh <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Of course, if you can source rolled-up rather than folded sheets,
this makes the job easier.

You used to be able to buy unfolded maps without a cover but I
haven't seen any reference to that for a very long time.

Quoted message said:

Try The Map Shop in Upton Upon Severn. If they're available at all
they'll be able to source them. They certainly have for me in the
past.

They are available from the National Map Centre - 22-24 Caxton Street,
London SW1H 0QU
http://www.mapstore.co.uk/publisher/index.cfm?PublisherID=14
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Peewiglet said:

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 00:16:17 GMT, druidh <[email hidden]>
wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

As you're going to splash the cash, I'd recommend the purchase of some
rolls of clear sticky plastic from WH Smith etc. Iron the map (a warm
iron will remove the glue holding the cover on) then cover the map with
the sticky plastic. If you're very careful, you'll manage to do this
without creases. You only need to do one side and this results in a much
thinner and more flexible item than the laminated version. They last a
VERY long time like this.

Many thanks for the tip. I'm not at all confident that I'd be able to
do that without a lot of creases, but it certainly sounds like a good
idea.

It's certainly easiest if you've a large table or a hard (wood/vinyl)
floor. The trick is to stick about 2-3 cm of the plastic to the surface,
then place the map carefully and then unroll the rest of the plastic
over it, smoothing out bubbles as you go. Don't be tempted to stretch
the plastic. Allow a further 2-3 around all edges and overlaps. When
finished, unstick the edges form your floor/table and tuck them under
the map. you'll want to cut a V out of each corner.

Trust me - once you get the hang of it, it works a treat.

druidh