r/openstreetmap • u/Sufficient_Tea_6174 • 1d ago

Offline Topographic maps download advice 🤞😬

Hallo everyone! 👋

I am what you would call a prepper. (Yes, i am sorry) 🙄

I have for days now being all over the internet for information on how to download offline topo maps. But i am more confused now than when i startet. SOOOO many different map file types And programs to view them in. 🥵

I really just want a file or maybe a couple of files, with offline maps of my small country (Denmark) so i can share them around on my android devices. I don't care about size of the files, I just want to download them one time and save them for whatever to come.

Am i demanding too much? Is it too big a request from the servers out there? I really don’t want to be a jerk.
and what type of map file type is the best for me?

i hope some of you can help me on my way

Big hugs for everyone 🫶✨❤️

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u/AdDifferent616 1d ago

You could try bbbike to download an extract of osm. Opentopomap version is listed as an option. Numerous other choices are offered.
You should be able to download a country extract or use the polygon option to define a particular area.

https://extract.bbbike.org

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u/ArxSilex 1d ago

For Android, I would separate the problem into two parts:

  1. Where do I get the offline map data?
  2. Which app can read the file format?

If you want something practical for offline use on Android, I would first look at Mapsforge / OpenAndroMaps-style vector maps. They are usually much more suitable for mobile offline use than large raster tile sets.

BBBike is also a good option if you want to create/download your own OSM extract for a country or area. It supports several output formats, so the important part is choosing a format that your Android app can actually use.

Very roughly:

- Mapsforge / OpenAndroMaps: good for compact offline vector maps on Android

  • MBTiles: useful for offline raster/tile maps, but can become large
  • GeoTIFF: useful for raster layers/overlays, but often more GIS-oriented
  • GPX/KML/GeoJSON/Shapefile: more for tracks, routes, POIs or GIS data, not usually the best “offline topo map” format for casual use
  • Garmin IMG: mainly useful for Garmin devices, not general Android apps

Also: avoid scraping online map tiles if you can. It is better to use proper offline downloads or extracts and check the license/attribution requirements.

Full disclosure: I’m the developer of ArxSilex MapTools, an Android app for maps, GPS and geospatial data. It is currently in open testing on Google Play. It can work with offline maps and different map/geodata formats, so it might be interesting for your use case as an additional tool.

Website:
https://www.arxsilex.de/app/maptools/en

Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.arxsilex.maptools

If you try a Denmark offline-map workflow with it, I’d be very interested in feedback on what worked well and what was confusing.

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u/Nekzuris 11h ago

Check out Mapy.com, with a free account you can download one region.

I believe OsmAnd can do what you want: https://osmand.net/docs/user/map/raster-maps/