Vector Maps (Map Styles)
This article was last updated in August 2024.
Overviewβ
Vector maps are intended to be used as the default map data source for OsmAnd, so you need to download them to your device. Vector maps support a huge range of map styles for different activities like cycling, hiking, riding by car or snowmobile, and other.
Each map style can be customized to highlight or hide specific objects, as well as switch day and night mode. Map vector data could be augmented by vector data and displayed with default Map style, such as Contour line information. You can create your own OsmAnd map style to demonstrate the required information.
Use casesβ
Customizable map styles are one of the main advantages of OsmAnd. You can customize the map display to suit yourself and your hobbies, adjust the display or hiding of certain map objects, the sizes and colors of these objects, and change the scale of the display of certain objects.
Default Map Stylesβ
OsmAnd offers you many map styles and data layers that fit by default. Let's take a look at the main ones for day and night modes.
Android. Menu β Configure map β Map rendering β Map style
iOS. Menu β Map type β Configure map β Styles for offline maps
OsmAndβ
OsmAnd style is the default style of map rendering, general-purpose style. It offers details about the city such as streets, buildings, transport stops, etc. Simplified rendering to have cleaner maps in the populated cities. Key features: routes, surface quality, access restrictions, road shields, paths rendering according to SAC scale, whitewater sports features, topography features like contour lines.
Touring Viewβ
Touring style with high contrast and maximum detail. Includes all the options of the default OsmAnd style while displaying as much detail as possible, in particular roads, paths, and other ways of traveling. Clear distinction of road types in a touring atlas. Suitable for day, night, and outdoor use.
UniRS and LightRSβ
Modification of the default style to increase contrast of pedestrian and bicycle roads. Uses legacy Mapnik colors.UniRS and LightRS styles are author styles that render the basic map information but in different colour schemes.
- UniRS style. Modification of the default style to increase contrast of pedestrian and bicycle roads. Uses legacy Mapnik colors.
- LightRS style. Simple driving style. Gentle night mode, contrasting orange styled roads, dims secondary map objects, topography features like contour lines.
Nauticalβ
For nautical navigation. Features buoys, lighthouses, riverways, sea lanes and marks, harbors, seamark services, and depth contours. Read more about Nautical maps.
Winter and Skiβ
For skiing sports. Describes the pistes, elevators, cross-country trails, and obscures secondary map objects. Winter and ski style is designed to help you with winter sports navigation: you can see the ski slopes and other details such as the difficulty of the slopes and elevator markers. Key features: the convenient display of slopes, elevators, and other skiing features. Less of the distracting secondary objects of the map. Read more about Ski maps.
Topoβ
For hiking, trekking, and nature cycling. Readable outdoors. Contrasting roads and natural objects, different route types, advanced contour line options, extra details. Adjusting Surface integrity distinguishes road quality.
OSM-cartoβ
This style simulates default web OpenStreetMap style. Web source code is available at Github, OsmAnd code at Github.
Desertβ
Offroadβ
Snowmobileβ
Map Legendβ
Map legend is a visual explanation of the symbols used on the map. It typically includes a sample of each symbol (point, line, or area), and a short description of what the symbol means. For example, a short segment of a blue sinuous line may be labeled 'rivers'. Map legend of OsmAnd maps you can find here.
Map Fonts (Android)β
Menu β Maps & Resources β Other β Map fonts
Download map fonts for simplified/traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean maps.
When writing local names in simplified/traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (Map language), incorrect hieroglyphs or even squares may appear. This happens when the device does not support the required fonts.
Some issues with these incorrect fonts are described on our GitHub page: 3911, 8187, 9400, 10862. To solve this problem, the Android version of OsmAnd has the option to download the required fonts.
* Contour Linesβ
- Android
- iOS
Android Menu β Configure map β Topography
iOS Menu β Configure map β Topography
Contour lines are represented as vector maps that are displayed as elevation lines. You need to enable the Topography plugin, download the data for your region and configure the display. Feature is not enabled by default and needs to be purchased first.
Contour lines are available for all map styles and modes and could be configured via the Contour lines menu. More information here.
* Nautical Depthβ
- Android
- iOS
Menu β Configure map β Show β Nautical depth
Menu β Configure map β Map style β Nautical depth
Nautical depth contour lines allow you to define areas of equal depth. They are designed to visualize changes in topography below the water surface. Nautical depth is available for all map styles and modes and can be adjusted whether or not the Nautical map view plugin is enabled.
More information about Nautical map view here.
Show Bordersβ
- Android
- iOS
Menu β Configure map β Show borders of downloaded maps
Menu β Configure map β Show borders of downloaded maps
This feature gives you the ability to switch on or off the display of the vector layer of previously downloaded maps from the list of available ones. Its general purpose is to hide areas and borders of downloaded maps when viewing the main map, especially if you have a lot of them.
The borders of the downloaded maps start displaying at zoom level 7 and are no longer displayed at zoom level 3.
Downloaded maps are displayed in Green in the Android and iOS versions of OsmAnd when the Show borders of downloaded maps feature is switched on. Archived maps in the Android system and those maps that can be updated in iOS are displayed in Orange.
Configure Map Styleβ
Map Modeβ
- Android
- iOS
Menu β Configure map β Map rendering β Map mode
Menu β Configure map β Map style β Map mode
The map is displayed in light or dark theme according to the mode selected from the list of suggested ones. By default and for all new users, the map style corresponds to the theme selected in the system settings of your device.
Day | Always displays the map in a light theme, ideal for daytime visibility. |
Night | Always displays the map in a dark theme, suited for nighttime or low-light conditions. |
Sunrise / Sunset | Automatically switches between day and night themes based on local sunrise and sunset times. Both times for your region are shown in the description. |
Light sensor (Android only) | Uses the device's light sensor to switch between light and dark themes based on ambient light levels. |
App theme (Android only) | The map display matches the overall theme of the app. Day mode for light theme and night mode for dark theme. |
Detailsβ
- Android
- iOS
Menu β Configure map β Map rendering β Details
Menu β Configure map β Map style β Nautical depth
Parameters and Description |
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More details. Showing polygons, trails, points, signs at low zooms on the map. It means you can see more details on your map at low zooms. Note: rendering on your device may be not fast. |
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Show road surface. Showing type of surface of roads. Colour of the road helps you to understand what is the surface of the road is: asphalt, grass or sand etc. Look at Map legend. |
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Show road quality. Indicates the quality of the road. Indicates the smoothness (slope) of the road. How smooth your roads are: good, bad, possibly terrible, etc. Look at the Map legend to determine the smoothness of your road. |
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Show access and toll restrictions. Showing access of roads: private or permissive, or only for emergency, or maybe toll road. Look at Map legend to find your road access. |
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Show Low Emission Zones. Showing green board and labels "LEZ" for Low Emission Zones in cities. A Low-Emission Zone (LEZ) is a geographically defined area which seeks to restrict or deter access by certain polluting vehicles with the aim of improving the air quality. It will help you not receive penalties in the green city center. |
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Color-code buildings by type. Coloring buildings and places have special colours for each category: regular buildings, industrial, commercial, etc. Look at Map legend to find your colour for the building. |
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Street lighting. Showing street lighting on the map. On the map, you can see illuminated and not illuminated streets, underground illuminated ways and temporarily illuminated streets. Look at Map legend. |
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OSM mapper assistant. Special setting for mappers. Showed refs, remarks, comments on the map from other mappers. |
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Nautical depth contours. Showing nautical depth contours on seas. You need to have a nautical plugin and download Nautical maps. |
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Nature reserve. Showing green board and labels "NR" for Nature reserve territory. A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest. |
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Routesβ
- Android
- iOS
Menu β Configure map β Routes
Menu β Configure map β Routes
A route is a path that is predetermined and needs to be followed to reach a specific destination. A route can be optimized for different types of travel, such as cycling, hiking, running, public transport, and others. You can read more about routes and their types in the Routes article.
Transportβ
- Android
- iOS
Menu β Configure map β Show β Transport
Menu β Configure map β Map style β Transport
When navigating through cities, you need a more contrasting view of public transportation and stops. You can tap on a public transportation stop and select one of the routes or stops from the list. Train routes are also displayed in this setting.
Transport stops. Showing public transport stops.
Bus, trolleybus, shuttle routes. Showing bus, trolleybus, shuttle routes.
Tram and train routes. Showing tram and train routes.
Subway routes. Showing underground routes.
Hideβ
- Android
- iOS
Menu β Configure map β Map rendering β Hide
Menu β Configure map β Map style β Hide
Sometimes we need to hide objects on the map for better vision. For example to hide water while using the Underlay layer of Satellite online maps.
- Boundaries. Hide regional boundaries inside of countries, but state boundaries are visible.
- Polygons. Hide all polygons of natural objects, special function for Underlay/Overlay layer.
- Buildings. Hide all polygons of buildings.
- Hide water. Hide all polygons of water (seas, lakes, reservoirs etc.)
- House numbers. Hide house numbers on the map.
- Proposed objects. Hide proposed objects, those objects which are planned for a building, but only have a project (projected roads, crossroads, buildings etc).
- POI icons. Hide POI icons from the map. But labels of these POI will be on the map.
- POI labels. Hide POI labels from the map. But icons of these POI will be on the map.
- Underground objects. Hide all underground objects, like tunnels, passes, floors, etc. Special for clearing maps on cities from non useful objects.
- Overground objects. Hide all overground objects. Special for seeing only underground objects like tunnels, passes, etc.
Road styleβ
- Android
- iOS
Menu β Configure map β Map rendering β Road style
Menu β Configure map β Map style β Road style
Special settings for roads, where you can change the colors to match the road atlas or add high-contrast roads or bold outlines for roads.
Parameters and Description |
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Default. Default style for highways. Look at Map legend. |
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German road atlas. Style of German road atlas. |
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American road atlas. Style of American road atlas. |
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High contrast roads. The high contrast of roads. |
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Pale. Less contrasting colors of roads. |
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Bold outline. Bold outline for roads. |
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Text Sizeβ
- Android
- iOS
Menu β Configure map β Map rendering β Text size
Menu β Configure map β Map style β Text size
100%
200%
Map Magnifierβ
This setting helps to change the magnifier of the map. It is applicable for raster & vector maps. For raster maps it applies a magnifying effect, so text labels look bigger or smaller. For vector maps it provides a more or less detailed map, if you put it to a low value it will produce a noisy / slow map.
- Android
- iOS
You can choose this setting by long tap to "+" or "-" button on the screen or:
Android Menu β Configure map β Map rendering β Map magnifier
You can choose this setting by long tap to "+" or "-" button on the screen or:
iOS Menu β Configure map β Map style β Map magnifier
75%
200%
Map Languageβ
The Map language option is used to configure the spelling of names on the OsmAnd map for zoom levels 7-20, inclusive. For zoom levels 2-6, the names are displayed in the language set for OsmAnd in the system settings menu (see Display language article).
If the names on the map are not translated into the desired language by the OSM community, you can use transliterated names: Use latin name if missing (Android) or Transliterate names (iOS) switcher.
- Android
- iOS
Menu β Configure map β Map rendering β Map language
Menu β Configure map β Language β Map language
Local names
Ukranian names
Show local names
Transliterate names
Custom Map Styleβ
If you have personal or 3rd party custom map style created according to Specification, you can install it on your device in the following ways:
- Copy the .render.xml file to the devices and open it with OsmAnd.
- Rendering styles can be exported and imported using Standard import / export dialogs. So if you create an example .osf package, it will work as a plugin that you can share with other people.
- You can then choose a map style from the menu.
Related Articlesβ
This article was last updated in August 2024