GPX Atlas · User guide

Maps and offline maps

Street, satellite, terrain and official maps, your own map servers, and what can be kept for use without a connection.

Choosing a map

The layers button at the top of the map switches the background:

  • Map — OpenStreetMap: roads, paths and place names.
  • Satellite — photos from above (Esri), with the date of the imagery when it is known.
  • Terrain — OpenTopoMap: contour lines, hills and slopes.

Below them, the map catalogue offers official maps, checked one by one against their terms of use: Plan IGN and IGN aerial photos (France), swisstopo (Switzerland), basemap.at (Austria), IGN España, Kartverket (Norway), PDOK (Netherlands), USGS Topo and USGS Imagery (United States), GSI (Japan), and CyclOSM for cycling.

In the dark theme, street and terrain maps are dimmed at night; you can turn this off in Settings › Map.

Your own maps

  • Map servers. In Settings › Map › Custom map sources, add a TMS address (with {z}, {x}, {y}, and {s} or {-y} if the server needs them) or a WMS server (1.1.1 or 1.3.0). Export and import your list to move it to another phone.
  • MBTiles. Open an MBTiles map you prepared with MOBAC or QGIS: it is copied into the app and works without a network.
  • Overlay. Any source can replace the background or be laid over it, with its own opacity — a hiking layer over the satellite view, for example.

Check each server's terms: many forbid apps with ads or bulk downloads. A map from a server is shown online only.

Offline maps

Offline maps work without a connection, in the mountains or in airplane mode. The GPS, following and recording never need a network.

  • Download an area. In Offline maps, tap Download an area, frame it on the map, then choose the map and the level of detail. The number of tiles and the size are shown before you start.
  • Along a track. From the track's ⋮ menu, keep a corridor of 500 m on each side of it.
  • Which maps. Only official maps whose terms allow it can be kept: IGN (France), USGS (United States) and basemap.at (Austria). Each has a limit per area, to spare its servers: a larger area is refused before starting, never stopped halfway.
  • Pause and resume. A download goes on when you leave the page. Pause it and resume it later: tiles already there are not downloaded again, even after the app was closed.
  • Update. Update downloads the area again; the old tiles stay readable until the new ones arrive.
  • Zooming in. Beyond the detail you downloaded, the map enlarges the finest tiles it has.

The OpenStreetMap plan, the satellite view and the terrain view can't be kept: their rules forbid downloading in advance. The maps you have already looked at stay in a cache for a while. Anywhere else, open an MBTiles map you prepared.

Searching and reading coordinates

  • Place search. The magnifier finds a town, a summit or an address. The text you type is sent to OpenStreetMap's search service (Nominatim); your position is not.
  • Coordinates. Type coordinates in the same box, without a network: decimal degrees, degrees and minutes, degrees-minutes-seconds, UTM or MGRS.
  • Long press. Hold your finger on the map to copy the coordinates of a point, share them, add a waypoint there, or go to that point with a compass arrow.
  • Format. Choose the coordinate format in Settings › Units and formats.

Turning the map

By default, north is up. In Settings › Map, the map can turn with your heading (the phone's compass) or your direction of travel. Two fingers turn it by hand; the compass, shown as soon as the map turns, puts north back up.

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