Forum Index > Trail Talk > Free downloadable Garmin-compatible maps for Italy?
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Joey
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Joey
verrry senior member
PostMon Dec 10, 2018 6:23 am 
Navy salad wrote:
Joey wrote:
Map opens at a random spot in Italy. The basemap is OSM + trails. ... https://mappingsupport.com/p2/gissurfer.php?center=45.824373,9.139681&zoom=13&basemap=OSM_cycle_world
Joey: Wow, these are really detailed, more so than most of Google Maps (at least outside of the big cities it's more detailed than Google), PLUS it shows trails! Can this map of Italy be downloaded onto a smart phone, accessible in Airplane mode? Can you search for a street address with it?
1. To open the search feature click/tap Menu ==> Search. You can search on addresses, place names, coordinates 2. GISsurfer is a browser app so in general you need to be online. However, think of your screen as a checkerboard. The maps are actually a bunch of 'tiles' that fill the checkerboard. Each tile is a png or jpg file. Your browser caches those files. For limited offline use: 1. Turn on the basemap you want. 2. Tweak the zoom level 3. Drag the map around The browser will cache the tiles that appear on the screen. To test: 1. Turn off wifi 2. Turn off cell data 3. Turn on geolocation. Menu ==> My location 4. Walk around If you walk off the edge of the tiles you cached then the map will be blank. I have tested on an iPhone and works fine. But the amount of tiles the browser will cache is undocumented. I suspect if you close any other web pages then you might be able to cache more tiles. Obviously no one should rely on this as their sole means of navigation. If you close the browser the cache goes bye bye. If you turn your phone off you also lose the cache.

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Riverside Laker
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Riverside Laker
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PostMon Dec 10, 2018 9:46 am 
Navy salad wrote:
Can you download all of Italy onto your smart phone into offline Google maps? And does it operate just like when it's online, except for no need for anything other than a GPS connection (which generally works in Airplane mode)? For example, can you zoom in to the same level of detail? And can you have it navigate you from point A to point B?
You can load multiple areas, but not sure f you can get all if the country loaded. You can navigate using driving, but not walking or biking or public transportation. But they still pretty similar to on line otherwise. Try it at home first to get the hang of it. Yes you get really good detail.

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Navy salad
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Navy salad
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PostFri Apr 12, 2019 11:45 am 
For what it's worth, after researching all the suggestions, I decided to go with Maps.me as recommended by Jaberwock. The problem I had with Google maps is even though you can "select" an entire country, like Italy, to download, when you go into download mode, it doesn't allow you to actually download it all. (Note there is inconsistent advice about this on the web). What I like about Maps.me is: (a) it's based on the OpenStreetMap data, so it has excellent detail (sometimes a bit too much, like where the word "Duomo" in Milan generally refers to the big Milan cathedral, but when you do a search for that word, you'll also get numerous hits for things like Duomo bus stops, train stops, the Duomo Cafe, etc etc -- anything with the word Duomo in it). It's especially good for "touristy" stuff, like finding specific hotels, tourist attractions, shows transportation routes (like train routes with stops) as an optional extra overlay, and similar. It also has a very good search function, although sometimes it's not always clear whether to search using Italian names or English names (it contains both). And you can just do an easy download of all of Italy (a little over 1 GB). (b) the free App doesn't have all that much advertising and I think is fine as-is, but it costs only $4 per year to get rid of it. I went ahead an paid the $4. (c) it's very simple and intuitive and it's easy to create multiple lists (like I have one for Rome, one for Milan, etc) and load waypoints onto it. (d) it works fine in airplane mode. (e) it can do routing, but since we're mostly going to be using it for walking, I doubt we'll use that.

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mike
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PostFri Apr 12, 2019 11:39 pm 
Using Osomd+ here in Scotland. Paid my $5 + $2 for contours. Downloaded all maps before leaving. Outside the city the maps are good but not so much for cities. The maps are cluttered and no way to remove layers. POI are lacking for many addresses so had to ask someone to find it on google for me until I could get a UK sim. frown.gif Using my Garmin with the talkie toaster UK routable with contours is way better. Battery life is way better than the fone too.

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