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Offline OpenStreetMap Data

supported by Mapsforge & VTM

Overview

In GPSLogger II you will find an “OpenMapData Provider” called OpenStreetMap (Offline) in the map provider list. Once you have selected the OpenStreetMap Offline provider the new map source is active… but you could/should configure it.

As always in GPSLogger II a function brings some additional options via the Settings - for the OpenStreetMap Offline maps you will find its own section Offline OpenStreetMap Settings which allows you to adjust the rendering of the offline OpenStreetMap data… but before you will be able to use the full power of the new feature you will need to download *.map data files to your device first!.

OSM Mapsforge Format

There exists multiple different file formats to store OpenStreetMap map data (OSM XML, PBF Format, o5m, OSM JSON or Level0L to name a few) - For various reasons these file types are not usable for mobile devices - The Mapsforge ‘map’ format is the choice to use OSM data on a mobile device. Converting the data is not an easy task - and even more importantly takes some time to complete. I have spent the complete weekend loading the OSM-Data for GERMANY in a PostgresSQL running on my notebook. Luckily enough there are different sources where you can download converted (& additional enriched) *.map files for your mobile device. Beause of the file size this data is not included in GPSLogger II - you need to download one or multiple *.map files to your device in order to use this new feature of GPSLogger II.

At the following URL’s you can download Mapsforge *.map files:

Render Themes

need revision

Download *.map files with your Android device/browser

Direct download link support for openandromaps *.map files in GPSLogger

info Important if you use Android 12 (or higher)

I really love Google for all the changes that have been introduced with Android 11 and 12 (SDK 30/31). Not only are you no longer able to read/save data in the file system (SDK30) - also using your app with web-links has been massively limited. Even if I understand the reasons for these changes - it makes things that have been convenient for the users sort of complicated.

In order to be able to open download links from openandromaps with GPSLogger (using Android 12 or higher) you need to enable the link URL’s in the OS application Settings section. (Open by default > Links to open in this app) So please enable/add:

  • download.openandromaps.org
  • ftp.gwdg.de

see FAQ: Opening Web Links with GPSLogger using Android 12 (or later) for details

On your android device - open the following link https://www.openandromaps.org/downloads or select one more specific region from the list:

Once you have opened one of the download sections, scroll down to the region/country you would like to download and then press the ‘download button’ with the text ‘Karten/Map+Poi’

Please note: You can download multiple *.map files - they will be combined in the app (the more *.map files you install the more device memory is required - which could lead to app instabilities at the end).

Once you have pressed the download button, your android device should present you with a dialog that allows you to select an app, that should handle this download - and (if everything went right) GPSLogger II should be listed as an app, that can handle this ZIP-Download. Of course select GPSLogger II to handle the download, and you are done! (Of course download and processing will take a while - but be patient). You will be notified once the process is completed.

Please note, that openandromaps site states, that you need to install a Render Theme - this can be ignored - since GPSLogger already comes with two (built-in) themes.

IF your device does not show a dialog (to let you select the app that should process the download) after the download-button on the openandromaps website, please look at this FAQ: Troubleshoot opening openandromaps.org web links….

When you manually download the ZIP files from openandromaps and extract them manually: You only need to copy the *.map file (the *.db *.poi will not be used by GPSLogger).

Download *.map files elsewhere

You can of course download the *.map files on any other device (including your PC or Mac) - the Links are the same - but you need to extract the maps manually and copy the files over to your android device and place them in a location that is readable for GPSLogger.

With the latest changes in Android 11 this process can get quite complicated - since there are only a few places where you can store files on your device that are readable by applications like GPSLogger. This makes it almost impossible to share *.map files across multiple applications.

Map & Theme file location on your mobile device

NEED TO be REVISED (because of Android 11 restrictions)

By default, GPSLogger II creates a subdirectory ‘osm’ on your external Storage (typically the internal emulated SD-Card) and creates two sub folders ‘maps’ and ‘themes’. On BlackBerry10 this folder typically can be found here: ‘/misc/android’ - when you access your BB10 via the WiFi-Share function then the folder should be: /media/misc/android/osm

osm/maps

store your downloaded *.map files in this folder on your device - please be so kind and restart GPSLogger II in order that the new maps will be included for rendering the map tiles

osm/themes

If you want to use additional/external rendering themes, store them in the ‘osm/themes’ folder - make sure that all additional resources are also located in the appropriate sub folders.

By default, GPSLogger II includes the two themes from the Elevate theme family (v 5.0 05/12/21) created by Tobias Kuehn see elevate-mountain-hike-theme @ openandromaps.org

  • Elevate
  • Elements

additionally, I have made a small modification called Elevate-2x where just the size of the symbols have been adjusted (enlarged) - but this is a very small modification and all credits goes to Tobias Kuehn.

The Elevate theme family is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

alternative folders

not recommended on Android 11 and higher

As ‘always’ - GPSLogger II allows you to specify alternative locations for the ‘maps’ and ‘themes’ - to change the folders you need to open the ‘Offline OpenStreetMapping Settings’ from the applications Settings menu and press the Browse… button and navigate to the folder that containings your *.map files (or theme xml files). E.g. when you have a removable SDCard it can make sense to download the map data via a PC/MAC and then copy the data over to the SD-Card (instead of downloading the *.map files via your mobile device)

Typically, you find an external SDCard in the /storage folder of your device - where your external SD-Card has some sort of cryptic name like ‘BAC8-1217’

In contrast to the internal SDCard that will be accessible via /sdcard or /storage/emulated/0/

Version: 2023/03/19