App that supports NSW Topo maps

[Rb03]

Hi all,

Is there an iOS app that allows you to import the 1:25,000 NSW topo maps which are TIFF files? I think I’ve tried Avenza in the past but it is clunky when as you can only have 2 or 3 maps at once.

Cheers

[Son of a Beach]

I'm the developer/author of 'Bit Map' which can import and use GeoTIFFs (or plain TIFFs, and then manually georeference them). In fact, back in 2009, Bit Map was the first smartphone app to be able to import and navigate with arbitrary image files - ie, whatever map image files the user wanted. I originally used scans of old paper maps with Bit Map, before it was easier to purchase/download digital map images.

You can load up as many maps as you want in Bit Map (until you fill the iPhone/iPad's storage capacity) and you can view multiple maps simultaneously (useful, eg, if they fit adjacent to each other and you're interested in an area that spans where they join). Note that after installing the TIFF, there is a bit of a process to optimise your map image for use in Bit Map (as with most mapping/GIS software, it creates overviews/pyramids, which are basically small tiles of the image at various zoom levels - this makes it quicker to display maps, as well as using much less memory during display of maps).

Here are the full instructions for converting an image file into a 'tile grid' map layer in Bit Map. See I told you it's a bit of a process. But the 'Georeference' phase of the process is unecessary if the image is a GeoTIFF or otherwise already georeferenced in a way that Bit Map can understand. (If you do need to georeference the image, there are 4 different ways to georeference a map image in Bit Map. These are all explained on that page.)

However, much easier than importing image files...

Bit Map can also use the online NSW gov map services from their "SIX" maps service. It can also download areas of those online maps for offline use. This is a lot easier than importing TIFFs. Here's the instructions for configuring an online map service, and Here's the instructions for downloading an area from an online service so that you can use it offline.

More information about Bit Map:

• Bit Map on the App Store
• Bit Map home page
• Bit Map user manual
• A list of (some of) the map services that Bit Map can use, including NSW "SIX" maps, along with the service URLs required to configure them in Bit Map

To be fair, I should point out that there is a bit of learning curve with Bit Map. When Bit Map was completely re-written from scratch a few years ago, it was designed to be useful to professional GIS users as well as to casual mapping/navigation users. This means that it has some fairly high-end capabilities, but that results in it being a little less simple to use than some other apps.

[Rb03]

Thanks for the info on Bit Map, is it fairly user friendly? I can’t see any info about it online?

[Son of a Beach]

Thanks for the info on Bit Map, is it fairly user friendly? I can’t see any info about it online?

As per the last paragraph in the previous post... it is a little more complicated than some of the other apps, because it is designed for GIS (in addition to maps/navigation). Therefore it is not quite a simple as some other apps.

(I can help you get going though.)

PS. Just sent you a PM with a promo code for a free download, if you wish to give it a try.