Paper Maps

Hiya folks, I do love to pore over maps but I miss having a paper version. I to get a new one to find nooks and crannies, public footpaths, byway, interesting things, you know. Anyway,which is better for finding places to play with our drones the OS explorer or the land ranger? What is your preference?

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Hi Chris

I used to take aerial pictures for a living in the days of 35mm still cameras you could also use as hammers. The 1:50000 Landranger was the map of choice, I marked the route we were taking and the film number (we would shoot up to 70 36 exposure rolls per day).

I still look at Landranger, albeit on screen. as I kinda grew up with them and I find them easy to read and relate to a 3D landscape/ However - my flight planning and research is done with Google Earth - switching from aerial view to street view to search for gateways, street signs and notices. and mainly with our own Drone Scene

Drone Scene has the advantages of always being up-to-date, being a one-stop-shop for information on flight restriction zones, local council drone policies, land ownership and having switchable layers to allow an easy read of just the data relevant to you.

It also has the benefit of a growing number of sites recommended to fly, most with access details, parking and background information supplied by the GADC member that has actually flown it. Dronescene can be run on any browser whether on desktop, laptop, tablet or phone.

The one disadvantage is that the satellite images are slightly lower than the ones Google can supply (at great cost!) but they are perfectly adequate for planning. That is why I also use Google Earth for a final look round for posts blocking lanes or no parking signs before committing to visiting a new site.

Although I love the feel and the detail of OS maps, at any scale, and I love the feel and heft of a Nikon F or a Canon A1 I have to admit that there are simpler, easier and better ways to plan for and create images in an increasingly digital world.

Give Drone Scene a whirl and feel free to ask any questions about its use :slight_smile:

Welcome to GADC !

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Welcome from the Black Country.

My missus bought me a couple of maps from All Products — Marvellous Maps, the Great British History Map, and the Great British Adventure Map, very detailed, but you’ll need a magnifying glass to read the print there’s so much crammed onto them.

i find the OS Maps app subscription is great for this. I use the electronic maps on tablet or phone out and about, but you are also able to print any areas which works well on the A3 printer.

The sub also means you can download the maps out and about for those out of signal areas :slight_smile:

I enjoy looking at the National Library of Scotland map pages.
It has many old O.S. maps and you can overlay satellite images to show how development has taken place over the years.

Landranger is 1:50,000 scale, OS Explorer is 1:25,000. There’s also Walkers Maps (green covers) for various areas at 1:25,000 and they tend to give precedence to the whole of popular areas, rather than cut off at an abitrary border forcing you to buy the adjacent sheet, if you get what I mean. The Lake District is covered by 4 OS Explorer maps but the Walkers Map covers most of the area on one double-sided sheet. The bigger scale is easier for working out details. I usually get mine from Dash4it as they often do discounts - 10% and occasionally 40%!

Macspite, thank you for such a detailed reply! I very much appreciate it. I have/ been currently using the one supplied by county council (horrible colours, line weights etc), then dronescene and then googlemaps/streetview. Glad I was on the right track!

I was struggling though, since my stroke I struggle with backllit gadgets, I get a certain amount of time on them. My thinking is at least paper, I can do the grunt work on that, then see what digital has to say.

I went with your suggestion and picked up up a landranger, it covers everything I think I need, comes with a little scratchcode to be able to d/l a offline digital version of the area too. Which around the plains here signal can be spotty. Thank you for the info Robert and the welcome.

Hotrodspike, thank you :smiley: Hey they look great, once I have my local area scoped out I’ll be back for these. Bookmarking these. Cheers!

Martin-NWales, Thank you, yeh it is great you can print out. I hope to work up to full sub, atm it would be a waste as I get limited screen time.

Clive.R, Thanks for reply, It’s great perusing old maps isn’t it. Especially when changes are highlighted. I have spent many hours of my life when I was younger just map reading.

Grahammoore, Thanks for reply, I went with the landranger in the end, it seemed to show me more of the things I was interested in

Thanks everyone. Landranger won the race :smiley: