Osmand - User Guide
Osmand is a program for Android that allows you to work with offline maps of OpenStreetMap and not only, use voice navigation, recording, displaying and navigation of GPX tracks, as well as a number of options for editing OSM. Judging by the previous topic , among the Habrovsk citizens a fairly large number of users of this program who would like to know the intricacies of the work of this program.
Of course, writing user guides has recently been considered bad form, since the user interface should be absolutely clear to everyone and in any situation, but reality, unfortunately, says the opposite. This is especially critical when users do not understand the basic concepts of the application or are guided by an underestimated or overvalued assessment of its capabilities.
Osmand, like most Linux applications, is intended for everyone, so it’s difficult to name a specific target audience. This is a plus and minus of the application. In principle, all open source develops according to this scenario, because the community constantly adds small and needed patches and rarely adds large and needed. This is how applications with a bunch of settings, a bunch of overlapping functions and thousands of use cases turn out.
Briefly topics covered below:
First of all, it should be noted that the documentation in Russian is still there, albeit a bit outdated Chavo
There are 2 types of maps: vector and raster. Raster maps are maps that are represented by pictures (tiles), vector maps are a binary set of data on which tiles have yet to be drawn for display. In general, the fundamental difference is that raster maps are drawn very quickly and take up a lot of space for detailed areas. For example, Google Maps / Yandex maps - raster maps, Garmin / Navitel - vector. At the first boot, Osmand uses raster maps, and it loads them from the Internet onto an SD card, then these maps are used. Vector maps need to be loaded in a special dialog - Settings → Indexes → Download Indexes. To switch between maps, use the menu → Layers → Map source ...
Raster cards are quite convenient if the display speed is critical and you do not want to clog the SD card with the Internet at hand. By default, 2 raster map sources are created, but you can download others via "Install ..". At the time of source installation, a folder is created on the SD card (/ sdcard / osmand / tiles / <source name>), where all the tiles will be downloaded. By deleting this folder, the program will consider that there is no source. This is a fairly convenient way to make a list of sources at your discretion.
There is also a way to create your own tile source (Native rendering, WMS). If you go in / sdcard / osmand / tiles / <source name>, you can find the .metainfo file, which contains all the necessary information about loading tiles. Easier way and better use.OsmandMapCreator . Using this program, you can select and load an area of interest (large), and then copy it to an SD card. You can download a large area using Wifi on your phone: context menu → Download map. The main advantage of using a PC to prepare a map is that you can put tiles in a single file (Create sqlite database), then copy the file to osmand / tiles /. This is very important for Flash Cards, since a large number of files unnecessarily degrade the file system. SQlite file will also download tiles from the Internet.
There are settings for those who monitor Internet traffic (Settings - Map / General): you can turn off the Internet in general to download tiles and you can specify the level of detail (zoom level), from which you do not need to load tiles. For example, for car navigation, 14-15 is quite enough, since Osmand can increase tiles by 2-4 times, respectively 16-17, saving traffic is obvious :)
To display vector maps, you must download these same maps. A huge list of downloads with a filter will be displayed on the screen, the list of downloads is the same as Downloads . It is recommended to download in addition to your region 1) Voice data and 2) Basemap (World Map 1-7 zoom 3 Mb). The advantage of vector maps is that they can rotate and support different rendering styles. Rendering styles depend on the current Profile (described below), but they can be specified manually. You can even create your own style and put it in (osmand / rendering), some even create maps with a height profile . Also, vector maps change their style depending on the day and night (can be found in the settings) and can translite names into English.
Vector maps can be quite slow on small details, so there is the option of switching to raster maps at a zoom <= N. A fairly effective combination of memory consumption and rendering time.
The application has the ability to use any card as a substrate or coating with the necessary level of transparency. Naturally, this slows down the rendering process + spends memory very precious for the application (it may crash).
Depending on the situation, the map displays a speed indicator, an arrival time indicator (when the remaining time indicator is pressed), a detail indicator (zoom), an indicator of the distance from the map center to the destination (when pressed, it goes to the destination), the arrow - the button returns to current position, compass (when pressed, rotates the map around the compass or disables rotation), profile settings (when pressed, you can select).
The destination point is displayed on the map as a red dot with a flag, when it is not visible, a red arrow appears that indicates the direction + the distance to it is always visible on the screen, which is quite convenient for pedestrian navigation. The destination point can be selected through any search (Go to), sometimes you need to use a long press, or through the context menu of the map. When plotting a route, the destination must be selected. It can be removed via Menu → Unmark.
The map context menu is a menu whose actions are tied to a selected point on the map. You can choose 3 ways: pressing the trackpoint, long pressing on the map + clicking on the appeared area (long pressing hides the area), through the menu. In this menu, the selected point 1) can be selected as the destination 2) can be used as the starting point of the route (for viewing only) 3) it will be the starting point for searching for POI, transport 4) can be sent to a friend via SMS, email 5) ...
The application has general settings and profile settings. General settings:
- screen orientation - you can set so that the card does not get off when you carry the phone in your hand
- application directory - you can change / sdcard / osmand.
- localization, distance units, use of trackpoint ...
There are 4 profiles in the application: by default (map overview), car, bicycle and pedestrian. All settings selected in each profile are stored in it. For example, for a pedestrian, it was always chosen to display the daily rendering, respectively, when changing to a car - this setting will be reset and another one will be set as autoscaling. When navigating, the settings profile changes automatically. There are default settings for each profile, but all of them can be changed and configured.
At the moment, maps and layers, although displayed in the settings, are separate application settings and do not change by profile.
You can search by coordinates, by address, favorites, POI, transport, and in the search history. For address, POI, transport, vector data is needed. You can visualize the search on the map by including the necessary layers (Menu → Layers), a filter POI layer, a favorites layer or a layer of transport stops. For all searches, 2 buttons are active, “show on the map” and “go to”, for favorites, the “go to” option appears with a long press. You can get into the search by clicking the search button on the device. Search is affected by the option “show English names”.
Everything is quite simple: choose a region (name of vector maps), city, street, etc. There is also an option to search through Osm Nominatim, uses the Internet and is recommended for those who know how to form queries.
Filters are used to search for POIs. Editable and created by the user are displayed with an asterisk, the standard OSM folder. For editing, you need to long press on the filter or select a new filter, then through the menu the filter can be “save as” or “delete”. When choosing a filter, 2 options appear: search near you (it will take time until the application finds satellites) or search around the last selected map section. There is a way to filter found POIs by name - menu button → filter.
You can add to favorites through the context menu on the map. There is also a separate “replace” option for dynamic favorites, such as a car, hotel, last meeting place in the forest :) Selected points can be exported and imported (GPX file), it is important when uninstalling the application and reinstalling it. It is not recommended to import a large number of selected points; it is better to use the “GPX file” layer for this.
Vehicle search can also be called manual routing. When searching, you need a starting point (the end point at your discretion), so search for transport is available from the map context menu. The inscription to search for transport to the target is clickable, in one case the goal is taken into account, in the other not. When searching for transport - the results are sorted by the smallest amount from start to route + from route to destination. When choosing a route, it is proposed to choose a stop at which to go. After that, the search will be repeated, but the starting point will be the stopping point of the previous route (Search after). Thus, you can build a route with transfers, but you will have to choose stops for transfers manually.
A background service can be useful if you want to turn off the screen and not use GPS continuously. The background service starts GPS positioning at certain intervals and performs 2 functions: recording a GPX track and navigation (including voice). You can enable the background service in the settings.
In order to lay a route, you must select a route point, and then Menu - a route. There are 2 modes for building a route: follow (navigation) and view the route. You can view information about the route laid out Menu - Route - About route. When choosing the follow mode, the profile automatically changes and the route is laid from the current location, and voice navigation is turned on.
There are 3 sources for building routes: an online source (Cloudmade, Yours), offline vector data navigation (unstable), and GPX track navigation. The most optimal is Cloudmade, but requires an Internet connection. Vector data navigation is under development and can only be used over short distances and has not yet determined exits to tracks / laps and more. You can also navigate on the GPX track built, for example, maps.cloudmade.com (Map - Menu - GPX Navigation).
Monitoring and recording GPX files in / sdcard / osmand / tracks is enabled by default for some profiles (auto, bike), so the history of your movements is stored in GPX files every day. These settings can be turned off and on for other profiles by selecting the desired tracking interval.
In the application, you can view recorded tracks, as well as created by other users. To do this, the GPX files must be in / sdcard / osmand / tracks. You can enable through the Layers - GPX, while all segments will be displayed with lines on the map, and all points in the track will be displayed as favorites. They will also be available in the favorites list while the layer is on.
At any time, a point with a description can be added to the recorded GPX file; this can be done through the map context menu. This is useful for recording some POIs in the absence of the Internet.
PS If I missed something, some interesting and small moments, I will add to the “other”.
Thanks for attention
Of course, writing user guides has recently been considered bad form, since the user interface should be absolutely clear to everyone and in any situation, but reality, unfortunately, says the opposite. This is especially critical when users do not understand the basic concepts of the application or are guided by an underestimated or overvalued assessment of its capabilities.Osmand, like most Linux applications, is intended for everyone, so it’s difficult to name a specific target audience. This is a plus and minus of the application. In principle, all open source develops according to this scenario, because the community constantly adds small and needed patches and rarely adds large and needed. This is how applications with a bunch of settings, a bunch of overlapping functions and thousands of use cases turn out.
Briefly topics covered below:
- Map - vector and raster maps, various settings
- Maps screen - indicators on the main screen of the application and context menu
- Application settings - settings profiles and an overview of basic settings
- Background service - operation of the application with the screen off and with a specified period of inclusion
- Monitoring - recording GPX tracks
- Navigation - online and offline navigation
- Search - search for POI, vehicles, addresses
- OSM Editing - POI and Osm bugs
First of all, it should be noted that the documentation in Russian is still there, albeit a bit outdated Chavo
Map
There are 2 types of maps: vector and raster. Raster maps are maps that are represented by pictures (tiles), vector maps are a binary set of data on which tiles have yet to be drawn for display. In general, the fundamental difference is that raster maps are drawn very quickly and take up a lot of space for detailed areas. For example, Google Maps / Yandex maps - raster maps, Garmin / Navitel - vector. At the first boot, Osmand uses raster maps, and it loads them from the Internet onto an SD card, then these maps are used. Vector maps need to be loaded in a special dialog - Settings → Indexes → Download Indexes. To switch between maps, use the menu → Layers → Map source ...
Raster maps
Raster cards are quite convenient if the display speed is critical and you do not want to clog the SD card with the Internet at hand. By default, 2 raster map sources are created, but you can download others via "Install ..". At the time of source installation, a folder is created on the SD card (/ sdcard / osmand / tiles / <source name>), where all the tiles will be downloaded. By deleting this folder, the program will consider that there is no source. This is a fairly convenient way to make a list of sources at your discretion.
There is also a way to create your own tile source (Native rendering, WMS). If you go in / sdcard / osmand / tiles / <source name>, you can find the .metainfo file, which contains all the necessary information about loading tiles. Easier way and better use.OsmandMapCreator . Using this program, you can select and load an area of interest (large), and then copy it to an SD card. You can download a large area using Wifi on your phone: context menu → Download map. The main advantage of using a PC to prepare a map is that you can put tiles in a single file (Create sqlite database), then copy the file to osmand / tiles /. This is very important for Flash Cards, since a large number of files unnecessarily degrade the file system. SQlite file will also download tiles from the Internet.
There are settings for those who monitor Internet traffic (Settings - Map / General): you can turn off the Internet in general to download tiles and you can specify the level of detail (zoom level), from which you do not need to load tiles. For example, for car navigation, 14-15 is quite enough, since Osmand can increase tiles by 2-4 times, respectively 16-17, saving traffic is obvious :)
Vector cards
To display vector maps, you must download these same maps. A huge list of downloads with a filter will be displayed on the screen, the list of downloads is the same as Downloads . It is recommended to download in addition to your region 1) Voice data and 2) Basemap (World Map 1-7 zoom 3 Mb). The advantage of vector maps is that they can rotate and support different rendering styles. Rendering styles depend on the current Profile (described below), but they can be specified manually. You can even create your own style and put it in (osmand / rendering), some even create maps with a height profile . Also, vector maps change their style depending on the day and night (can be found in the settings) and can translite names into English.
Vector maps can be quite slow on small details, so there is the option of switching to raster maps at a zoom <= N. A fairly effective combination of memory consumption and rendering time.
Substrate Maps and Covers
The application has the ability to use any card as a substrate or coating with the necessary level of transparency. Naturally, this slows down the rendering process + spends memory very precious for the application (it may crash).
Map screen
Depending on the situation, the map displays a speed indicator, an arrival time indicator (when the remaining time indicator is pressed), a detail indicator (zoom), an indicator of the distance from the map center to the destination (when pressed, it goes to the destination), the arrow - the button returns to current position, compass (when pressed, rotates the map around the compass or disables rotation), profile settings (when pressed, you can select).The destination point is displayed on the map as a red dot with a flag, when it is not visible, a red arrow appears that indicates the direction + the distance to it is always visible on the screen, which is quite convenient for pedestrian navigation. The destination point can be selected through any search (Go to), sometimes you need to use a long press, or through the context menu of the map. When plotting a route, the destination must be selected. It can be removed via Menu → Unmark.
The map context menu is a menu whose actions are tied to a selected point on the map. You can choose 3 ways: pressing the trackpoint, long pressing on the map + clicking on the appeared area (long pressing hides the area), through the menu. In this menu, the selected point 1) can be selected as the destination 2) can be used as the starting point of the route (for viewing only) 3) it will be the starting point for searching for POI, transport 4) can be sent to a friend via SMS, email 5) ...
General Settings and Settings Profiles
The application has general settings and profile settings. General settings:
- screen orientation - you can set so that the card does not get off when you carry the phone in your hand
- application directory - you can change / sdcard / osmand.
- localization, distance units, use of trackpoint ...
There are 4 profiles in the application: by default (map overview), car, bicycle and pedestrian. All settings selected in each profile are stored in it. For example, for a pedestrian, it was always chosen to display the daily rendering, respectively, when changing to a car - this setting will be reset and another one will be set as autoscaling. When navigating, the settings profile changes automatically. There are default settings for each profile, but all of them can be changed and configured.
At the moment, maps and layers, although displayed in the settings, are separate application settings and do not change by profile.
Search
You can search by coordinates, by address, favorites, POI, transport, and in the search history. For address, POI, transport, vector data is needed. You can visualize the search on the map by including the necessary layers (Menu → Layers), a filter POI layer, a favorites layer or a layer of transport stops. For all searches, 2 buttons are active, “show on the map” and “go to”, for favorites, the “go to” option appears with a long press. You can get into the search by clicking the search button on the device. Search is affected by the option “show English names”.Address
Everything is quite simple: choose a region (name of vector maps), city, street, etc. There is also an option to search through Osm Nominatim, uses the Internet and is recommended for those who know how to form queries.
POI
Filters are used to search for POIs. Editable and created by the user are displayed with an asterisk, the standard OSM folder. For editing, you need to long press on the filter or select a new filter, then through the menu the filter can be “save as” or “delete”. When choosing a filter, 2 options appear: search near you (it will take time until the application finds satellites) or search around the last selected map section. There is a way to filter found POIs by name - menu button → filter.Featured
You can add to favorites through the context menu on the map. There is also a separate “replace” option for dynamic favorites, such as a car, hotel, last meeting place in the forest :) Selected points can be exported and imported (GPX file), it is important when uninstalling the application and reinstalling it. It is not recommended to import a large number of selected points; it is better to use the “GPX file” layer for this.
Transport
Vehicle search can also be called manual routing. When searching, you need a starting point (the end point at your discretion), so search for transport is available from the map context menu. The inscription to search for transport to the target is clickable, in one case the goal is taken into account, in the other not. When searching for transport - the results are sorted by the smallest amount from start to route + from route to destination. When choosing a route, it is proposed to choose a stop at which to go. After that, the search will be repeated, but the starting point will be the stopping point of the previous route (Search after). Thus, you can build a route with transfers, but you will have to choose stops for transfers manually.Background service
A background service can be useful if you want to turn off the screen and not use GPS continuously. The background service starts GPS positioning at certain intervals and performs 2 functions: recording a GPX track and navigation (including voice). You can enable the background service in the settings.
Navigation and routing
In order to lay a route, you must select a route point, and then Menu - a route. There are 2 modes for building a route: follow (navigation) and view the route. You can view information about the route laid out Menu - Route - About route. When choosing the follow mode, the profile automatically changes and the route is laid from the current location, and voice navigation is turned on.
There are 3 sources for building routes: an online source (Cloudmade, Yours), offline vector data navigation (unstable), and GPX track navigation. The most optimal is Cloudmade, but requires an Internet connection. Vector data navigation is under development and can only be used over short distances and has not yet determined exits to tracks / laps and more. You can also navigate on the GPX track built, for example, maps.cloudmade.com (Map - Menu - GPX Navigation).
Monitoring and GPX files
Monitoring and recording GPX files in / sdcard / osmand / tracks is enabled by default for some profiles (auto, bike), so the history of your movements is stored in GPX files every day. These settings can be turned off and on for other profiles by selecting the desired tracking interval. In the application, you can view recorded tracks, as well as created by other users. To do this, the GPX files must be in / sdcard / osmand / tracks. You can enable through the Layers - GPX, while all segments will be displayed with lines on the map, and all points in the track will be displayed as favorites. They will also be available in the favorites list while the layer is on.
At any time, a point with a description can be added to the recorded GPX file; this can be done through the map context menu. This is useful for recording some POIs in the absence of the Internet.
Other
- The application has functions for editing and commenting on OSM maps: Osm bugs layer, creating / editing POIs (via the context menu), creating Osm bugs. To edit the POI, you must specify your username in the settings.
- Do not forget to look at useful tips (question mark icon): the latest changes in the application are published there.
- You can create your own vector maps, for example, to display geocaching as a POI. To do this, you need to convert the source data to Osm format and index it using OsmAndMapCreator.
PS If I missed something, some interesting and small moments, I will add to the “other”.
Thanks for attention