Base Maps

On both the wearable (watch) and the handheld (phone), the base map can be one of:

  • A map archive file stored on the device (read external storage permission needed on the handheld)

  • An online map, one of:

    • Open Street Map (OSM)

    • CyclOSM a Cycle map based on OSM mapping

    • OpenTopo a topographic map based on OSM mapping

    • UK Ordnance Survey Open topographic mapping

    • IGN France Open imagery and topographic mapping

    • IGN Spain Open imagery and topographic mapping

    • USGS Open imagery and topographic mapping

    • German Open topographic mapping (very large European coverage)

    • Swiss Open topographic mapping

    • New Zealand Open topographic mapping

In addition, when the handheld app is running on a paired device, the wearable can use any archive stored on the handheld.

The selection of online maps available for selection can be set on the handheld or wearable app (see below).

The Web Mercator (EPSG:3857) archive formats supported are:

  • GEMF

  • MBTILES

  • SQLITE

  • ZIP

These include most of the popular open formats as used by e.g. OsmDroid and Locus. They can be prepared using e.g. MOBAC.

The handheld app will automatically list any archives found in the folder named 'osmdroid' on the root of internal storage or any SD card. Alternatively, use the handheld app's 'Add Base Map' menu to browse to an archive set stored elsewhere. To de-list a previously added archive, use the 'Remove Base Map' menu. This will remove it from the list of available archives, but not delete it. Any archives found in the osmdroid folder can not be 'removed'.

A small sample archive, containing three map sets, can be downloaded from here UK_test.gemf

On the wearable, the base map selection screen looks like this. The cloud icon indicates an online map, The watch icon an off-line map stored on the watch and the phone icon ,an off-line map stored on the handheld.

A simple radio button menu is used to select the base map on the handheld App.

The list of base maps is sorted by name. Archive names comprise the filename, a colon and the base layer name within the archive. One archive file might contain multiple base layers.

When connected by Bluetooth, small, single file, archives can be pushed to the watch from the handheld or pulled from the handheld to the watch. From the wearable, a long press on a handheld archive will indicate the free space on the wearable, the size of the archive and offer an upload confirmation request. At the handheld, there is a menu option to push an archive to the watch. Copying is fairly slow. Progress of the upload will be shown on both devices. When pushing from the phone, only the first paired wearable will be uploaded to.

To delete an archive from the wearable, perhaps to free some space, long press on a watch archive. You can also delete a watch map archive from the handheld.

The set of online maps available for selection may be changed on the handheld or wearable. To change the available maps on the wearable, select the ... from the base map selection screen. Then simply check or uncheck the map sets you want to use. To change the set of on line maps on the handheld, use its settings menu. The selection of online maps will be shared between the handheld and wearable.