What map types are available

When it comes to finding a map for your walking adventures there are many different types of Walking Maps available and here we take a look at just a few of them.

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Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey (OS) Explorer maps at a scale of 1:25 000 are the best and most accurate maps of Britain for walkers. These are broken into sheets that cover all of Great Britain.

They provide a simple representation of the physical landscape, describing a number of geographical features, landmarks, borders of fields, contours of valleys, summit heights, rivers, highways, railways, towns and villages.

Most notably, in England and Wales,’ key roads’ in Scotland, several long-distance paths and off-road bike routes, they also display public rights of way and open access land.

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Harvey Maps

Like the Ordnance Survey (OS), no other map publisher covers all of Britain, although there are a few specialist publishers that produce maps especially for walkers. Harvey, which makes original and comprehensive maps of common upland areas and long-distance paths on a scale of 1:25 000 and 1:40 000, is the most important of these.

In digital form, Ordnance Survey Explorer and Landranger maps and some Harvey maps are now available. There are also a number of websites providing free extracts of maps.

Most packages of digital mapping allow you to:

Flexibility to view and print maps to fit the specifications of your stroll.

Overlay your own maps with your own road.

Calculate distances for the road, height changes and walking times.

Integrate with GPS systems that are widely used.

Upload and edit routes reported on a GPS as traces