German Maps

I am trying to get a walking/cycling map of my local area.

Who knows if there is a series of maps similar to the good old OS Landranger (or Explorer) maps? (1:50000 or 1:25000)?

Thanks

Neil

They do have them. I have one of the Odenwald which is 1:20 000 and one of the Taunus which is 1:30 000. I get mine from Hugendubel in Frankfurt (top floor) and they are 6 or 7 euro each.

we got this for our local area CD rom You can plan where you want to go and it gives you the height and the length of the walk/ride

Depending on where you are, there's a range of maps around.

Kompass (www.kompass.at) publish good walking/cycling specific maps (with recommended/marked routes), mainly of the mountain and touristy areas, but coverage is increasing (I think they're planning to cover the whole country at some point) - scale is usually 1:40,000.

There's also the "official" (Topographische Karten or TK) map series, which I think vary a little by Bundesland - here in Mecklenburg they're available in 1:10,000 (TK10), 1:25,000 (TK25), 1:50,000 and 1:100,000. They don't have all the useful information for walkers/cyclists/tourists that the OS maps have, and are often quite out of date, particularly in rural areas (10 years old seems to not be uncommon, even in places where there's big changes like new motorways), but do have complete coverage. Good bookshops usually stock the local maps, or you can try and track down the local Landesvermessungsamt (name varies by Bundesland!) who can probably do mail-order. Cost is usually about 5€/sheet.

There's often also a range of other local maps showing marked cycle routes, walking routes, tourist areas and the like (and ADAC maps often), but the quality of these varies enormously.

The "MagicMaps" mentioned by Nicole supply the TK25. The software isn't fantastic, but it is usable, and considering you get a lot of sheets worth of TK25 then it's good value for money (and it means you can print out your map and it doesn't matter if it gets wet and trashed while out walking) - go for the newer DVD version if you've got a DVD reader on your computer as they have higher-resolution maps and the latest data (although still as out-of-date as the paper maps). Amazon.de also stock the MagicMaps, and since it's above the free postage limit you save the postage that MagicMaps themselves charge.

(note that my info applies here in MV - since every Bundesland has it's own version of the OS then it's a bit haphazard!)

Hessen

Try this for info on the LVMA in hessen, they have a range of Freizeit karten, which are similar to OS maps in that they have points of interest etc, not just the usuall topographical maps. The friezeit maps dont always cover the same areas as the normal topo maps though.

Neil

forgot to add that amazon.de stock the Kompass maps as well - although finding the right one through the amazon search is a pain, easiest to work out the catalogue number/ISBN from the Kompass site (there's a *big* pdf which shows the coverage of each sheet - worth waiting for it to download), and then search for that in Amazon.

Nicole - Can you please tell me if you can also print off a copy of the bit of the map you need, so that you can take it with you.

Thanks

Looking at it again it is from the BW Landesvermessungsamt not the place I quoted. It is a Freizeit, Wandern and Radfahren map and they are absolutley brilliant. You can then trace on the computer where you walked and it will convert it to how far you walked and graph how high the terrain is.

Anyhow you can print an individual page off to take along with you to answer your question Neil.

@Nicole: Can I even plug in my GPS to see where I went (and where I got lost??) by any chance??

@Everyone: Thanks for all your replies.. I am going to buy the CD and will also look in my local bookshop.

That CD looks great, Nicole, I will definately be putting that one on my Christmas Wish List!