News & Updates

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Corrections, download issues

We’ve had a handful of reports of missing .map files when downloading particularly the 25k sets of Ozi maps. After checking, all the files are there, so we can only guess it’s some kind of transient error at the Google Drive end during the zipping process. We moved to Google Drive to avoid this kind of thing! If you’re missing one or two files, it’s probably easier to just go in and grab them individually (you can use the search to help) or you can even search for all the .map files in the folder and download them as one. As we can’t replicate the error, it’s hard to say what’s causing it.  

It turns out that Avenza played some games during the map upload, swapping some files with some names. Yarrawonga and Foster had their names swapped, as did Hume and Gammon, and some others … these were the names on the 50k maps – the maps themselves were fine and if you had downloaded by picking the map for a given location you’d be fine, but if you went looking by name you’d find the map of somewhere else.  These ones have been fixed, but if you find any more let us know. 

Avenza also did some even more exciting things in swapping whole maps around, putting the wrong map in the wrong place – the couple we know about were fixed. 

If you come across any other file issues like this please let us know. We have had about 850,000 maps downloaded so far, and we’re working on Version 8 which hopefully won’t have these problems, fingers crossed. 

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All Maps Live on Avenza

All Getlost Maps, including the whole 1:25k and 1:50k series, are now live on Avenza Maps. We made a shortcut to our storefront on Avenza for you, here:  avenza.getlost.com.au.

Over 1500 maps have been downloaded so far through Avenza, which is in addition to more than 50,000 maps downloaded through the website. 

We’ve begun work on Version 8 and are addressing some of the problems users have identified. 

If there is anything you’ve noticed which is wrong, or any suggestions you might have which would make Getlost Maps more usable for you, please let us know. 

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New Download Location

With over 40,000 maps downloaded and the data allowance on the server running low, we needed another option. 

Some people were reporting problems downloading entire folders of maps, while others were not, and even when there were problems they were not consistent. This needed solving too. 

So, we signed up for a 100GB Google Drive account and started copying the maps across. It took a while, but they’re now all in place. 

We have updated our Downloads page and all the relevant links have been changed, so arriving at the website and looking around for downloads will take you to the right place.

Please let us know if you have any problems downloading from the new location, and thank you all for your patience.  

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25,000 Maps And Counting

We’re on day 8 since we launched, and about 25,000 maps have been downloaded so far. 

That’s great! But it’s also a problem. We’re getting through our data allocation like it’s free beer at a summer wedding, so we’re going to run out of bandwidth. 

We are also still having trouble with people trying to download some folders, with the downloads failing.

The work-arounds, like the Web Drive access, are not as easy to use as we’d like, and they don’t fix the bandwidth issue. 

New Plan

We’ve signed up for a Google Drive account (they are rebranding them to Google One shortly, but it’s the same thing), which is big enough to hold all the map data. It’s a monthly cost, but it’s Google, so I’m hoping it’s pretty close to bullet proof. From what I can see from my reading, we shouldn’t be at risk of us reaching their download limits. 

The upload to this new location will, of course, take time. Probably days, maybe a week. Until then, the current download methods will stand. Once the maps are all uploaded, we’ll change the links, update the website, fiddle with the DNS … techy stuff, but basically we’ll let everyone know how to use the new system and make it live. 

Watch this space for updates on when the new system is up and running. 🙂

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Avenza Maps are Live

We did it! We now have 431 maps, the entire 1:50,000 V7 set, listed in the Avenza Maps store. I say ‘store’, but they are of course available free.

You can get the Avenza Maps app completely free on your iPhone or Android, including on tablets and iPads. You won’t need the paid subscription version. 

You can then search for “getlost” in the store, or click here to view our listed maps. The 50k series is in there for now, but we plan to get the 25k series in there as well.

Are they still free?

Yes, each map is available entirely free.
Download one, two, or 431 of them without giving us a cent.  

Because the Avenza platform allows maps to be downloaded without ever visiting our website,  there is nowhere in the process we can offer the ability to make a donation to support the project and help us make more maps.

To get around this, while every maps is available for free, we have packaged up all of the East, West and Far West groups into ‘map bundles’, which are then available at a small cost.

You don’t have to use the bundles – you can just download all the maps you want, one by one – as many as you like – for free. If you want to help support us getting these maps out to everyone who wants them, and keeping them updated, and live in multiple formats, buying one of the bundles is a way you can make a donation to the project.

If you’ve already made a donation some other way, just say the word and we’ll send you a free-download link to the bundles in Avenza.

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Download Methods

Some users were reporting problems with downloading certain folders, even though other folders were working fine. We haven’t found out what is causing these errors, but the effect is the zip file ends too soon and is therefore too small, corrupt and won’t open. 

We have taken a couple of steps to change the downloads to make things more flexible. 

3-Part Split

Taking feedback about where people actually go, we’ve divided all the 25k mapsets into three groups instead of two. 

Instead of East and West, you will now see East, West and Far West. The divisions are by map number; 7000-7499, 7500-7999, and 8000+. The new Index file in those folders (and in this post) should help you understand where the split was made. Lots of people go East, lots go West, but not so many go Far West (a line though Buangor, roughly).

This is the same split we’ll be using in the upcoming Avenza Maps series.

Web Disk

We have also added Web Disk support. 

This allows you to connect to our server almost as if it was a USB drive plugged into your computer. You can then download files or entire folders at your leisure, and if the download stops, just start it again and skip the files you already have.

We built pre-defined scripts to do the Web Disk setup for you, and they’re available, with instructions on how to use them, from the Downloads page. 

If you’re having trouble with any of the downloads, please let us know! 

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New Index + All 25k Maps

1:25,000 Maps V.7

They’re all done.
They’re all uploaded.
They’re ready for you to grab one, or all 865 of them.
For free, of course. 

New Index Map

To help you work out which map(s) you need, and saving you downloading an 300+ maps just to get one or two, we built a new index map.

It shows the whole state, and how our 25k and 50k maps are overlaid. It’s even geocoded – you could load it up into your mapping app and navigate around on it if you want to, however its detail is limited to make it usable.

You could keep this index on your phone, load it up with GPS enabled, and you’d see immediately which 50k or 25k map you needed to download based on your location. This would help if you’re using the demo version of Avenza which as a limited number of maps loadable at any given time. If you have an Android, we recommend you use OziExplorer, even just the demo version, as it will let you load all your maps. 

You’ll find the new file, Getlost_Maps_Index, in the downloads area. It’s there in all formats, and don’t forget to grab the relevant “xxxx.map” file if you plan to use the Jpg or the OZF4 to navigate with.

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What software should I use?

There are lots of ways to get Getlost Maps onto your phone or device (or your computer). Eventually we plan to build our own mobile apps which will be available free and let you navigate around using Getlost Maps.

We are pursuing having Getlost Maps published so you can download them within a free app. This would mean you could have the whole set, in your pocket, on iPhone or Android, on a full-featured app, with easy hassle-free downloads, entirely for free.
How does that sound?

Tommo

Here are just some of the present options, including our recommendations.

Android

Below are some examples, but we recommend OziExplorer. For more options, try searching “geotiff” in the Google Play store. Let me know if you have another suggestion you think is a good option.

NameProsConsPrice
OziExplorer– Heaps of features
– Full featured indefinite trial
– One-off cost		– only uses OZFx format maps
– can’t transfer license to a new phone/device
– Trial won’t stay ‘navigating’ for long, have to press button again		Free trial version

$25 USD ($32 AUD)
Avenza Maps– Free Trial version
– Easy to use
– Uses geoTiff maps which are widely available
– Free version limited to 3 uploaded maps at a time  (but you can change which 3)
– Subscription to use more than 3 of your own maps		Free trial version

$30 USD / year subscription

iOS (iPhone, iPad etc)

Below are some examples, but we recommend Avenza Maps. For more options, try searching “geotiff” in the App Store. Let me know if you have another suggestion you think is a good option.

NameProsConsPrice
Avenza Maps– Free trial version
– Easy to use
– Uses geoTiff maps which are widely available		– Free version limited to 3 uploaded maps at a time  (but you can change which 3)
– Subscription to use more than 3 of your own maps		$30 USD / year
Maps n Trax– Loads multiple maps and stitches them together seamlessly
– Uses a wide range of formats including geoTiff		– Not as easy to use$11 USD

PC

On PC we use OziExplorer ($130 USD) for navigation, and we have been using it for almost 20 years.

You could also import the GetoTiff maps into Google Earth (which is free) as a layer then navigate with that. 

Mac

On Mac the only thing we can suggest is Google Earth, but there are  other applications which will do the job – no other free ones we know of. 

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1:25k V.7 Map Series (East 8XXX) Published

The first half of our Version 7, 1:25,000 maps, (the Eastern 8XXX ‘half’) is now published and ready for download.

They’re significantly better in a number of ways than the last 25k series we published (V.5) and it’s definitely worth upgrading if you only have the old ones. They are now the same incarnation as the 1:50k maps, so if you already have those, you may or may not want the larger scale versions. We will also be generating a brand new 1:25k index file shortly which should make selecting the right single or few maps much easier.

The Western 7XXX ‘half’ are in production now and will be available soon. We started with the Eastern block because it’s what most people seem to be downloading. The total time it takes to generate them is actually faster when we do them in sections, as we have 3 separate computers running at once doing the map generation and conversion. And although the western section is many more mapsheets, it’s faster to run because it’s flatter – the topography uses lots of processing power – the Eastern maps are more information-dense.

West (7XXX)East (8XXX)
– Map numbers start with 7
– West of a line which goes through Cockatoo, Seville and the Eastern tip of French island (see map)
– 576 maps
– 55% of total data

– Map numbers start with 8
– East of that same line, near Molesworth, Alexandra, Shepparton
– 289 maps
– 45% of total data

It takes about 2-3 minutes per MB to generate the initial map sheets, then more time to do the conversions so that we can make them available in multiple formats. A 25k production run like this takes about 72 hours (about 100 hours of computer time, with several computers running at once), and that doesn’t include any time spent updating or improving the actual maps, or how long it takes to upload them all.

Download Now

Download the Eastern maps now, or wait until the collection is complete; they’re in separate directories, so it’s easy enough to get half now then pick up the other half later. The folder you want is GetlostMaps_25k_[format]_V7.

Unlimited Downloads

We have had about 25,000 maps downloaded by about 500 people so far, all in less than a week. We are overjoyed that so many people are interested in the maps and think this project is worthwhile.

The server we’re using is doing a good job at facilitating the downloads so far, but we’re about a third way through our data allocation for the month.  

The next server subscription tier only costs a bit more than the one we’re on now, and it would allow unlimited downloads. We’d like to upgrade to this plan in the future, but we don’t have the funds at the moment. We need another $50 to cover the server fees for the year of this unlimited plan.

If you have a few dollars to spare, please consider supporting the project. You’ll be instrumental in helping make sure everyone can access all the Getlost Maps they need, for free.

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1:25,000 V.7

The 25k maps up for download at the moment are Version 5 – which are not awesome.

if you want to wait a day or two (I recommend it) we should have the newer Version 7 maps in there for you instead.

These will then be in line with the 50k maps, and include seasonal track closures and a bunch of other enhancements, so they’re worth the wait.

This should give you some idea of the difference in scale and detail.

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East vs West

We’ve decided to split up Western maps (7XXX) and Eastern maps (8XXX) so you can just download one group or the other. This will go live shortly. 

The main reason is that of people find they just want the high country etc, so they just need the East. Maybe you just do the Wombat and around there, so you only need the West. Save you some time and some downloads, eh?

Of course you can still download both – and even download them both together, using the download button in the top right (just use it when both directories are on screen – don’t go into either of them. 

Note that the 7xxx/8xxx East/West divide line might not be where you think it is – it’s not the CBD. The updated 50k index files show it more clearly, like the image below. 

Basically the line puts the Bunyip in the East, and the Dandenongs in the West.  

50k index, East vs West, click to enlarge
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Viewing Getlost Maps in Google Earth

Here’s a bit of a tip for those who want to take a look at the maps in-situ, overlaid in position. 

  • Open Google Earth (free software) on your computer
  • Drag and drop your xxxx.tif map (the GeoTiff version is the one you want) onto the Google Earth map
  • That’s about it!

What you’ll end up with is something like this – Google Earth as you know it, but with the Getlost Map overlaid.

You can zoom in, look around, just as you normally would, only you’re in the Getlost Map, and it’s been placed in the correct spot on the earth and scaled for you.

Future development

We plan to make this kind of overlay available online, one day, so that you can view where you are with a Getlost Map overlay right there on phone or device, but that’s a little way off yet. 

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And … we’re live!

The new website appears to be fully functional, and all the latest 1:50k maps are uploaded and live – ready for you to download as you please. 

A big thanks to everyone who helped make this possible, offering time and expertise. 

A special thank you to the people who threw some money at the problem by making a donation. That’s what made it possible to get this all up and running on a commercial server so that people can download as much as they like, and at a reasonable speed. 

So download whatever you need, and head off into the bush to seek whatever it is you’re looking for, with a map to help you find it. 

Find your own treasure
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Thick and fast

Thanks to another donation, we are now upgrading to a paid server plan! We have to wait until they activate it before we fan finish the upload, but hopefully that’s soon.

We have increased the upload speed by about 6x, so those maps should be ready to download in no time. 

They’re literally uploading two at a time right now to www.getlost.com.au/maps so whatever is there right now is ready, and whatever is missing is in the queue. The queue will continue once they process our paid hosting plan. 

The big zip files will be last, and at 2-3GB each they will take a bit longer, but they’ll be there eventually and we will let you know once they’re ready. 

Thank you all for your support!

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Uploading…

Preview the new download location

The files are uploading now to this new server. 

If you want a sneak peak, you’re welcome to see how they’re going – they are on their way to www.getlost.com.au/maps. You can see for yourself how many are there and how many are still to upload! Any you see you are welcome to download, of course.

Want to see a sample but can’t work out which one to look at? 
Try this one: It’s the Version 5, 1:25k, 8123-3-N_JAMIESON_NORTH

Paying the piper

When you visit www.getlost.com.au you might notice you’re actually being sent to getlost.ihostfull.com – that’s because we’re still running this whole thing on a free server at the moment. It’s one of the very few free servers which can hold this much data and doesn’t meter monthly downloads. It might even be the only one!

If we can get just $20 more donated, we can upgrade from the free service and get access to a lot more features, including fixing the URL problem. 





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New website!

We’re throwing up the old content to start us off, and will edit things from there. 

Still having trouble with downloads of the big files (well, the upload of them, and having somewhere which can hold and facilitate access to 50GB of maps), but hope to have it sorted shortly. 

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Version 7

Seasonal tracks are now more clearly shaded pink under the dotted red line and labelled (seasonal closure). That’s the only change. 

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Version 6

Added marine and maritime data. 

All maps include bathymetry (depths), relevant features like boat ramps, slips, jetties etc, and navigational infomation (buoys, lights, wrecks etc). Don’t use it for actual navigation of your ship … Data will be straight from the gov’t computers so it should be as accurate as is possible, but I haven’t double checked it. 

Also adding 2018 seasonal road closures by giving affected tracks a pink co-line.

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Version 5

V5.1 (25k) Added more campsites and helipads from a new dataset, as unlabelled icons.

Unlabelled icons replace some POIs and more POIs added; steep track section (skiier), ruin (wreck), hut, camping area, picnic area, parking area, helipad, toilet. Some data is from Vic Parks so it shows the odd old hut which is now destroyed. When they pull their finger out and fix their data, or I work out how to fix it for them, this will be solved. OSM 4wd tracks and walking path data added (purple), on Vic Govt of track data (red). They vary slightly in some places so you’ll just see both (in some places both exist). Some POI duplication because I’ve added 3 different sources and can’t filter the repetition other than manually and the dataset is 85,000 points, but different labels used when that happens. Solid red line is sealed road, dashed line is dirt, purple is OSM. Went back to EPSG 3857 to fix projection at the edges of the state so it better aligned with the vicmap divisions.