What is the difference between landranger and explorer maps

Of course, these days there are many walkers that have given up with the use of a paper map, preferring instead to use an app, GPS, and in many cases a pre-plotted route to follow. The maps are available in Viewranger by default, along with some other popular navigation apps. The maps look very clean and show contour lines, paths, field boundaries, and streams quite clearly, along with the use of colours to denote terrain.

Because OpenStreetMap is completely open, relying on contributions from the community, it tends to show more paths than both OS and Harveys, although some of these paths and tracks are sometimes of dubious quality and turn out to be nothing more than a sheep track. The exact path that the tracks take are also easier to see due to the scaling being dynamic, therefore allowing the user to zoom in to see an area in high detail.

It does excel in urban areas though, especially if you switch from the landscape map back to the standard OpenStreetMap view.

Well — the answer is, it depends. The Ordnance Survey Explorer maps are better in areas of spacious moorland, or lower level countryside. And of course, in many many areas outside of the national parks, the OS maps are the only choice. Assuming of course that you know how to use it! In all honesty, I love all of them and would love to have a copy of each. By Mark Last updated Feb 13, 2, 0. Share The scale of a map shows how much you would have to enlarge your map to get the actual size of the piece of land you are looking at.

That might sound a bit complicated, but OS maps have been designed to make understanding scale easy. Look at the front of a scale map and you will see that the scale has been also written out for you like this:. To make it even easier, the grid lines are exactly 4cm apart, so every square is 1km by 1km.

Maps are made at different scales for different purposes. The scale map is very useful for walking, but if you use it in a car you will quickly drive off the edge! On the other hand, maps at scale note the extra zero show lots more area, but in far less detail. OS Road Maps : 1: scale, shows roads and towns, but few individual features over a large area.

There are also a number of websites which offer map extracts online. Most digital mapping packages allow you to:. Many online map websites are searchable by locality name, postcode or grid reference and viewable at a variety of scales from road atlas to street level. Google, Bing and streetmap. Ramblers Routes is our own free online mapping experience that allows our members to share, view and print a variety of walks, with the added bonus of key route information and text being included.

No other map publisher covers all of Britain like Ordnance Survey OS , but there are a few specialist publishers that produce maps specifically for walkers. The most important of these is Harvey, which makes original and detailed maps of popular upland areas and long-distance paths at and scales.

To buy a Harvey map or find out more, visit www. Great for holidays and finding the best tourist attractions. Displaying roads, tourist features, footpaths, and rights of way. Landranger covers a larger area than Explorer but with less detail. See all OS Landranger Maps. Scale varies - adjusted to fit the whole area on one sheet. Ideal for planning trips in advance or taking with you to discover secret beaches and hidden landscapes.

See all OS Tour Maps. Easily fits into a glovebox or bag and shows tourist information and world heritage sites. See all OS Road Maps. Scales vary to make the most of the whole area.