RouteBuddy
route planning, printing, merging OS and Harvey maps
no Android version
Platforms: Windows, macOS, iOS
Maps: OS Explorer & Landranger, Harvey Superwalker, British Mountain & Summit, USA, France, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand maps Features: route planning, map stitching, printing, track planning and recording
Offline: yes routebuddy.com
COSTS
OS 1:50,000 £6.99 per sheet, OS 1:25,000 £8.99 to £9.99; Harvey British Mountain £19.99 to £34.99, Harvey Superwalker £13.99 to £47.99, Harvey Summit £6.99; OS Great Britain 1:25,000 £ 279, OS Great Britain 1:50,000 £99.99; TGO Challenge complete area 1:50,000 £19.99, 1:25,000 £99.99
The RouteBuddy app comes in two forms: RouteBuddy Desktop Map Software for Windows, and macOS and RouteBuddy Atlas for iPhones. Sadly, there is no Android version. This is a shame as RouteBuddy is one of the best desktop mapping programs I’ve used. It’s powerful and fairly complex but quite easy to learn. Maps can be downloaded to your desktop for studying and planning and drawing routes. This gives you far more options than web mapping.
Plotting routes, even long ones, is easy. I’ve planned several TGO Challenges on RouteBuddy, printing out A4 route maps to carry with me. You can also drag and drop route files from a GPS, from friends or from websites. Routes you plot or record give elevation, ascent, descent and more (useful for the TGO Challenge route form – no need to count grid squares or contour lines).
RouteBuddy has a unique feature that I love. It can seamlessly stitch together OS 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 maps and Harvey maps. I’ve used both OS scales and Harvey maps for TGO Challenge routes. RouteBuddy connects them so well that the scale becomes the same, but you have all the extra details when it’s the 1:25,000 map and all the features when it’s a Harvey map. Satellite and road maps can be layered too.
I only have one problem with RouteBuddy. There’s no app for Android so I can’t have it on my smartphone. Otherwise my only minor complaint is that it’s easy to lose many hours planning routes and enjoying the maps.