UKH

Hi

Looking to start a route at a given GR.

With Viewranger this is easy as the map screen has a cross hair target and gives the GR in the top left.

However I can't see that OS maps allows you to roam about to find a GR...that seems a major lack of functionality. Or is there a setting I can use to get this working on OS maps?

See screen shots to compare. First image is of OS Maps.

I'm not sure if I understand but with OS maps you can just write the grid ref into the search bar and it will centre the map on that point (eventually, if the app running on my phone is anything to go by).

Run up app and map, press on screen and a little pin will appear where you pressed with the grid ref.

As TobyA says, to search for a grid ref just press on the search magnifying glass at the top.

(I only learned this on Thursday having just got access to the app myself!)

If you mean how do you get the grid reference of where the cursor is or where you are, it doesn't as far as I can tell. Quite a major fault I think.  

Just try tapping - it drops a little pin and gives grid ref, and maybe long/lat and altitude too IIRC.

Yes. This works.

You can get a GR for where you point, but you can't use cross hairs for accuracy. 

Snap to paths in national parks is a great feature though.

It doesn't do the "roaming grid ref" unfortunately. As above, you can drop a pin to get the GR (assuming you can get your fat thumb to line up with exactly where you want the GR from). However, to get the height of that GR, you can only get this from dropping a pin on desktop version, not mobile app. Massive oversight, and such an easy fix. The new Viewranger app (the abomination that is Outdooractive) has also ditched this function. 

How is it that what seems to have been the best outdoor mapping app has gone and we're left trying to find the best of a bunch of inferior ones...madnesseses!

Agreed!  I tolerate Outdooractive but haven’t yet accepted that I’m paying annually for a worse experience than before….

And apps like OruxMaps, which are better than either, are unable to use OS mapping unless you have a handy source.

There seems to be a pattern of 'competition via acquisition' today. Larger businesses see a smaller passion-led business producing a better product, and a instead of improving their own products they acquire the decent business and simply remove the competition. I guess it's seen as lower risk and cheaper than trying to 'pander' to the customer. Seen it too many times: Viewranger, CyclingTips...

Topo GPS is worth a look. some really great features and not overly complex. Designed to be simple for use in the field.

https://www.topo-gps.com/

Will check that out. Thanks

Fatmap works well for me

I use Alpine Quest which does online mapping and also my collection of old OS memory map files.