Hiking maps
This page lists and compares existing OSM maps best suited for mountain hiking.
The objectives are:
- For hikers to have a synthetic view of what is (or not) included in the existing hiking maps based on OSM data. So that they can choose the map they use according to their current needs and expectations
- To encourage those who are kindly customizing the map styles and hosting the tile servers (a huge thank you to them !) to continuously improve their map to meet hikers expectations
- To encourage OSM data contributors to fill in meaningful attributes when editing the map (POIs, sac_scale, visibility, ...) , knowing that these will be clearly highlighted by the most popular hiking maps and help many hikers.
Expected Features
The following features could be expected from a good topographic map dedicated to hiking:
Relief
Highlighting relief is of course essential for mountain hiking. This can be achieved by:
- Elevation contours with labels giving values (proportional to zoom levels)
- HillShading (can be combined with slope shading to put emphasis on steep slopes)
A combination of both is often necessary to give good results
Trails difficulty (SAC scale)
OSM data offers the possibility to distinguish hiking trails suitable for all (T1) from those reserved to experienced and well equipped hikers (T4-T5-T6). This is a tremendous advantage over any other classical topo map and should as much as possible be highlighted on maps used for mountain hiking.
For a complete description of this tag see the dedicated sac_scale page.
Rendering the 7 different values (empty-T1-T2-T3-T4-T5-T6) can be confusing for the map user so a sensible approach would be to distinguish only 4 categories based on the most common hiker profiles:
- empty-T1 : suitable for all including small children
- T2 : suitable for most hikers
- T3 : reserved to experienced hikers - not recommended with children
- T4-T5-T6 : reserved to experienced Alpine hikers with specialized equipment
Trails visibility
OSM data makes the distinction between trail visibility and trail difficulty using two different tags. For the good reason that a trail can be hardly visible but without any technical difficulty apart from following the trail. You can also find clearly visible trails but very exposed with serious fall hazards. Therefore both attributes shall be visible on a good hiking map.
For a complete description of this tag see the dedicated trail_visibility page.
Again for the sake of map clarity it would make sense to group the 7 different values in 3 categories:
- empty-excellent-good : always easy to follow
- intermediate-bad : sometimes difficult to follow
- horrible-no : no path to follow - use your orientation skills and/or gps
Trails rendering proposal
Based on the above considerations, below are 2 examples of how hiking trails could be rendered in a way that allows map users to have a clear idea of what to expect on the ground and plan their route according to their capacities.
Note that the colors used for this proposal matches the one chosen used by https://www.wanderreitkarte.de/ because it has proved to be very efficient once used to them. But any other colors that can easily be distinguished from each other and from the background would do the job.
Another very efficient proposal is the one described in the Elevate theme from Tobias and used by OpenAndroMaps : https://www.openandromaps.org/en/legend/elevate-mountain-hike-theme
Sign-posted Hiking Routes
Local, regional and long distance hiking routes defined through relations should be rendered for a hiking map.
It is even possible to render the signs using the tag osmc_symbol. For a complete definition of this tag see [1] and [2]
If not integrated in the hiking map, it is possible to add waymarked hiking trails as an overlay. Please see http://hiking.waymarkedtrails.org/ . Tile server is available at http://tile.waymarkedtrails.org/hiking/{z}/{x}/{y}.png .
Nature and POIs
All nature elements and infrastructures listed in the Hiking page are of great interest for a hiking map.
Elevation of peaks and saddles shall as well appear on the map at appropriate zoom levels.
Comparative table
Table fully checked for the last time on 06/07/2019.
Maps owners are kindly invited to update this table when improving their map (trail rendering rules, POIs, update frequency, coverage,...).
This table aims at providing a very synthetic overall view. For further information, please add a chapter after this table of use dedicated wiki pages.
| Map & Tile server | Update Frequency | Relief | Trails Difficulty | Trails Visibility | Waymarked Hiking trails | Nature & POIs | Max Zoom | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://www.openandromaps.org/en Downloadable vector maps (offline maps) with Elevate theme wiki page Download maps |
~1 month | -contours (with Lidar data where available) -hillshading |
7 categories: -Unknown (Brown) -T1 (Yellow) -T2 (Blue) -T3 (Red) -T4+ (Black with special linestyles for T5 and T6) |
4 categories: -Unknown -Excellent or Good -Intermediate -Bad, Horrible, No visibility |
Symbols and very short names (first 3 letters) | Very complete set of POIs Rendering all common landscape features |
Vector maps | World coverage (By region, variable sizes) |
| https://www.wanderreitkarte.de/?lang=en http://topo.wanderreitkarte.de/topo/{z}/{x}/{y}.png wiki page Garmin maps |
2 or 3 days | -contours -hillshading |
4 categories: -T1 (Red) -T2 (Orange) -T3 (Purple) -T4+ (Cyan) |
Not rendered | Yes + symbols (hiking routes, but not walking routes) | Very complete set of POIs Not rendering grass lands |
18 | Most of Europe (not Great Britain, not eastern Europe) |
| https://hiking.waymarkedtrails.org/ https://tile.waymarkedtrails.org/hiking/{z}/{x}/{y}.png |
2-5 minutes | No contour lines Hillshading proposed as an overlay (only between N71 and S71 lat) |
Localised rendering | Not rendered | Symbols and very short names (first 3 letters) | Standard OSM map | 18 | World |
| https://thunderforest.com/maps/outdoors/ https://tile.thunderforest.com/outdoors/{z}/{x}/{y}.png?apikey=<insert-your-apikey-here> |
2 or 3 days | -contours -hillshading (both between N83 and S69 lat) |
Only 3 categories: -T1(Black dashed line) -T2/T3 (Brown dashed line) -T4+ (Redish dotted line) Hard to see the differences |
Not rendered | Yes No symbols but names Includes walking routes |
Many essential POIs missing: saddles (with elevation), viewpoints, shelters, guideposts, drinking water, springs, picnic tables. Parkings only visible at z16 Not rendering cliffs, rocky areas and screes |
22 | World |
| https://opentopomap.org/ https://{a|b|c}.tile.opentopomap.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png wiki page Garmin maps |
~1 month | -contours (often missing beyond N63 and S63 lat) -hillshading -colors up to z8 |
Only 3 categories: -T1/T2: ........ -T3/T4: ... ... ... -T5/T6: .. .. .. Paths not highly visible on the map. |
Only 2 categories: -Excellent to Intermediate (Black) -Bad to none (Grey) |
Proposed as an overlay | Some missing POIs : parkings, guideposts, drinking water, waterfalls, shelter names, viewpoints, picnic tables/sites. Bridges barely visible. | 17 | World |
| http://maps.refuges.info/ http://maps.refuges.info/hiking/{z}/{x}/{y}.png wiki page |
~2 years | -contours -hillshading -color up to z15 |
Only 3 categories: -T1/T2 (Plain line) -T3/T4 (Dashed line) -T5/T6 (Dotted line) |
Only 2 categories: -Excellent to Intermediate (Red) -Bad to none (Salmon) |
Not rendered | Some missing POIs: Picnic tables, cave entrance, saddle. Most nature elements except Cliffs |
18 | World |
| http://hikebikemap.org/ http://{a,b,c}.tiles.wmflabs.org/hikebike/{z}/{x}/{y}.png wiki page |
> 1 Year | - No contour lines ! -hillshading proposed as an overlay |
Not rendered | Not rendered | Proposed as an overlay | Missing saddles (with elevation), guideposts, springs, ...
Not rendering screes nor rocky areas. |
18 | World |
| https://www.beyondtracks.com/map | Weekly | - contours
- hillshading |
T3 (red) | Bad/Horrible (sparse dotted line) | Not rendered | Many POIs rendered | 22 | Australia, New Zealand |
| https://www.topotresc.com https://api.topotresc.com/tiles/{z}/{x}/{y}.png |
Quarterly | - high definition contours (5m)
- hillshading |
6 combinations of difficulty and visibility | 6 combinations of difficulty and visibility | Path full names. Official paths box with code e.g. "GR-11" and full name. | Complete set of POIs. Special attention to refugees, water points, caves, peaks, etc. | 17 | Pyrenees and Catalonia (North Spain, South France and Andorra) |
| https://www.freemap.sk/?layers=X https://outdoor.tiles.freemap.sk/{z}/{x}/{y}@{s} where {s} is scale 1, 2 or 3 https://github.com/FreemapSlovakia/freemap-mapnik https://github.com/FreemapSlovakia/freemap-mapserver |
mostly minutely | - contours - hillshading |
Not rendered | Not rendered | Colours, style by network, hiking, bicycle, ski, horse | Very complete set of POIs Rendering all common landscape features |
19 | Central Europe |
| https://www.maptiler.com/maps/outdoor/ https://api.maptiler.com/maps/outdoor/{z}/{x}/{y}.png?key=get-your-own-key Schema description |
~1 month | - contours - hillshading |
Not rendered | Not rendered | Colours, style by network, hiking, bicycle | Many POIs rendered | Vector maps | World |
Related
- Hiking - Describes all attributes related to hiking
- Ideas for a new Hiking Map - ideas and suggestions for hiking maps + listing 2 existing maps
- Shaded relief maps using mapnik
- Key:sac scale
- Key:trail visibility