Handy free mobile map app

[Mick9abf]

To cut a long story short I recently got contacted off my mate who is a forestry manager who had a bit of ground that he needed someone to go tonto at on the deer population quicktime.

He emailed me a PDF map of the area and I was shown round very quickly, too quickly to really take anything in.

He then said to download Avenza maps (free), then import the pdf map into the map (handy as he emailed me ones with fence lines marked etc) and crack on.

Basically you can import 5 pdf maps for free which then show your current position if gprs is enabled on your smartphone.

I’ve found it handy for shooting near to the March which can be a bit vague at times due to forestry etc and think you can mark points of interest etc but haven’t tried that yet.

Thought it might come in handy for some arrsers, apparently the forestry lads often use it and it’s free.

 

[Dan2512]

You are spot on taking this as seriously as you do.

I've had varying experiences with the attitude towards shooting and boundaries from being told to stick between two fences that were quite a long way apart (perfectly reasonable)....
to a fellow saying to wait in the corner of a field for half an hour, then when he got back and found me still where he had left me he said "I thought you would have gone over the boundary and stalked that forestry block"!

That said, it is not always plain sailing getting unfenced boundaries right, there are lone trees on the peripheries of a bit of land I own that I would have said 100% that I owned from the boundary map just to find ultimately that they were narrowly over onto the neighbours ground. If in doubt look at the aerial view of the land register:
Home

 

[Mick9abf]

You are spot on taking this as seriously as you do.

I've had varying experiences with the attitude towards shooting and boundaries from being told to stick between two fences that were quite a long way apart (perfectly reasonable)....
to a fellow saying to wait in the corner of a field for half an hour, then when he got back and found me still where he had left me he said "I thought you would have gone over the boundary and stalked that forestry block"!

That said, it is not always plain sailing getting unfenced boundaries right, there are lone trees on the peripheries of a bit of land I own that I would have said 100% that I owned from the boundary map just to find ultimately that they were narrowly over onto the neighbours ground. If in doubt look at the aerial view of the land register:
Home

While I’m pretty sure I could sort out any genuine mistakes on the boundaries with the neighbours it’s hassle I can do without without, plus if there’s no issues it’s likely it could lead onto other work which is always nice.

 

[labrat]

Suspect that most would find Magic.gov.uk more useful - you can mark up layers with ordnance survey maps, SSSI & SAC, bird licence restrictions, all sorts of other data including habitat types, Mark boundaries, measure areas and print off as A3 pdf.

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Suspect that most would find Magic.gov.uk more useful - you can mark up layers with ordnance survey maps, SSSI & SAC, bird licence restrictions, all sorts of other data including habitat types, Mark boundaries, measure areas and print off as A3 pdf.

Very good. Never seen that before.

 

[labrat]

Sorry, to put my suggestion into proportion, a quick knock together of some designations around ash ranges:

 

[Mick9abf]

Sorry, to put my suggestion into proportion, a quick knock together of some designations around ash ranges:

View attachment 534852

The PDF’s I’m sent are always based on 1:25,000 and are populated by the forestry manager with different colours denoting the different species, fence lines/boundaries etc.

I’ll have a look at that one, is there an advantage to your system over what I get as I have limited computer skills? I take it shows your location live time when your on the map area of interest?

 

[labrat]

The PDF’s I’m sent are always based on 1:25,000 and are populated by the forestry manager with different colours denoting the different species, fence lines/boundaries etc.

I’ll have a look at that one, is there an advantage to your system over what I get as I have limited computer skills? I take it shows your location live time when your on the map area of interest?

Biggest advantage is that it has layers for a lot of relevant official government data - such as SSSI and SAC boundaries (which given general licence changes are particularly important). For my work I have alternative GIS data available from data.gov.uk with lots of other information such as forestry commission boundaries https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/...Estate_Ownership_England_2019/FeatureServer/0 and road networks. and land registry ownership boundaries: https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=9d0424a9c1f849c6a1f33e2ab391e6ea#! and you can set up a free account - but you need to be a bit of a geek to cross this up with a data account at ordnance survey to use a WMTS basemap showing 1:25k OS maps

 

[Mick9abf]

Biggest advantage is that it has layers for a lot of relevant official government data - such as SSSI and SAC boundaries (which given general licence changes are particularly important). For my work I have alternative GIS data available from data.gov.uk with lots of other information such as forestry commission boundaries https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?panel=gallery&suggestField=true&url=https://services2.arcgis.com/mHXjwgl3OARRqqD4/arcgis/rest/services/National_Forest_Estate_Ownership_England_2019/FeatureServer/0 and road networks. and land registry ownership boundaries: https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=9d0424a9c1f849c6a1f33e2ab391e6ea#! and you can set up a free account - but you need to be a bit of a geek to cross this up with a data account at ordnance survey to use a WMTS basemap showing 1:25k OS maps

That sounds good but I may struggle with the technical side. I’ll maybe have to speak to someone about that as could be handy.

 

[Oops]

Suspect that most would find Magic.gov.uk more useful - you can mark up layers with ordnance survey maps, SSSI & SAC, bird licence restrictions, all sorts of other data including habitat types, Mark boundaries, measure areas and print off as A3 pdf.

It's bloody painful to operate though.
Great idea, p*as poor implementation.
(Typical DEFRA)

 

[labrat]

It's bloody painful to operate though.
Great idea, p*as poor implementation.
(Typical DEFRA)

Indeed. And with no development for a long time since launch.

Most of the data sets can be sourced via data.gov.uk and plumbed into an alternative GIS like Arcgis or QGIS to run a bit slicker though.

Should also mention that BASC offer a free basic GIS mapping tool for shoots too: BASC