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Note: Mountain Meanders does not assume a user has a GPS unit and a GPS is not necessary for navigation. However, the ubiquitous availability of smartphones adds interest, utility, and safety to the mountain experience.
Maps: Open Source Maps (OSM) is far superior to Google Maps for mountain use because it shows both paths and contours. See the OSM wiki page for a full description of who they are and what they do. Even better, join up and become a contributor!
OSM is available on Android, iPhone or Huawei. See https://osmand.net/ for links to the relevant App stores.
All Trails: Links to All Trails were provided but have been removed as there is now no free access and a subscription is required for any use.
All Trails vs OSM vs Mountain Meanders? Besides being free, a key difference between All Trails and Mountain Meanders is that all routes on Mountain Meanders are 'curated' i.e. checked by experienced mountaineers, whereas All Trails routes are contributed by users with no 'quality control' at all. Another key difference is that OSM does not need cell reception as all maps are downloaded and kept locally on your phone. All Trails obtains its data via cell phone access, unless you are a (paid) pro-user and have downloaded the track in advance.
A caution: All Trails covers mainly easier (Grade 1 and 2 walks) although they can be long - 20km or more. But some of their difficulty grading is erratic and misleading if not downright dangerous. User beware!
The key advantages of OSM are:
Free maps (of the world) + free contour maps.
Can be used off-line (after downloading)
Has (routable) paths of many areas and new paths can be added by users. Most routes described on Mountain Meanders have been added. Path missing? Send your GPS track - or add it yourself!
A number of different layers from street to contour to hillshade. Each has their uses. Try them. NB A quirk of OSM (being resolved) is that some paths visible on the Standard layer are not always visible on other layers. So switch to Standard if not visible in Cycle Map or CyclOSM layers.
Registered users can add paths, peak names, features, etc. This is very simple. Once a map is opened (on a PC), just click Edit and add tracks, points, move incorrect points, etc.
On most pages a link to the relevant OSM map is provided. This opens at an appropriate scale to see the route name, but once opened the map can be panned and zoomed or the layer changed. (Standard and Cycle Map are the two most useful layers)
Note: Zooming to an appropriate level is important. To see the path names on the map, one has to often zoom in a lot, and then zoom out to see the whole route. Simple and intuitive once tried.
On a desktop computer, simply go to openstreetmap.org to start mapping.
OSM layers
OSM: The App OsmAnd and associated Contour Line plug in provide a great resource. This provides detailed off-line street and contour maps of the entire world, It is an amazing resource, better than Garmin maps and better than Google Maps because it has contours and it works off-line (after downloading) and hence can be used where there is no cell reception and incurring no data charges. OsmAnd is particularly good for Table Mountain and the Peninsular as, unlike Garmin or Google maps, it already has most paths marked.
Paper maps:
Garmin Basecamp had been used to produce large scale paper maps, but Basecamp has been discontinued. The pdf maps that were produced with it are included on some pages, but no new ones will be added.
However, OSM have a number of different ways that large scale maps can be printed. See: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_on_Paper.
For more information, test results and cautions regarding GPS use see:
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