Welcome to Openmtbmap.org. I am happy to offer you here the best mountainbike maps available in Europe. The maps offered on this homepage are made from map data provided by www.openstreetmap.org and published under CCBYSA 2.0, this means you can not only use the maps, but if you want, and i really want to encourage you to do so, take part in their creation.
To do so get over to www.openstreetmap.org to add missing attributes, streets, forests, POI , and all other information relevant to mountainbiking, cycling and hiking that you would like to see in a map.
What makes these Maps Special?
The maps display much more than maps you have seen up to know, and all of this of course out of the eyes of a biker / hiker. This starts by Mountainbike, Bicycle, Hiking and Foot Routes that can be found in OSM (abbreviation for openstreetmap), but also the difficulty and state of a way, if inside OSM Database, is easily identifiable, so you never have to wonder whether a way is to difficult for your mountainbiking abilities. OSM gives us the ability to enter all this data, and this is already done since 2004, and by now in many areas the map data is far better than anything you can buy. In other areas there is still data missing, but don't despair, you can help to add it!
Autorouting
However the maps are not only looking nice and present a lot of information and are easy to grasp when on the move, but also they offer very advanced autorouting for mountainbikers, cyclists and hikers because nearly all of the information found that is used to classify the ways (like tracktype, mtb difficulty, hiking difficulty, type of routes, cycle specific oneway rules) is actually considered one calculating the best route.
There are 2 distinct modes for autorouting, one for mountainbikers and hikers which does not care about legislations but simply guides you along the nicest trails, and second (activated by setting "avoid toll roads") a mode for bicycling respecting access rules for bicycles, and preferring "easy" ways so you will not be routed over
Inner City usage Example:
Imagine visiting Vienna the first time, most visitors will use the public transport to get around, and miss many beatiful places by going undergound… A visitor with my maps installed will instead switch on his GPS, search for the next free Citybike (you can get them 1 hour for free), be guided to it walking, switching over to bicycle mode (avoid toll roads) then search for attractions nearby, sees that Schoenbrunn is in only 6km distance, and get guided over cycleways instead of big streets to Schoenbrunn. Once arrived, and thirsty, simply search for the next free drinking water which is just a few meters away (but would have been difficult to find without map) to still the thirst and then enjoy the beautiful gardens of Schoenbrunn, noticing happily that nearly every small detail is already correctly mapped.
Outdoor usage Example:
You plan your route in Mapsource, setting every 1-2 km roadpoints because you can enjoy your PC Monitor to more easily get an overview, like you would have done with any other maps too. But instead of wondering wheter a trail suits your mountainbiking abilities or wheter it will be a 1-2 hour walk with your MTB on your back instead of riding it, you can identify via the mtb:scale difficulty scheme, based on the singletrail scale, you suit your route to your abilities and likes. Now in case on your route bad wheather comes in, you can search for shelters or alpine huts and be guided to the next one, activating bicycle mode, because trails have become so slippy with the rain, that you prefer to be guided on easier trails. Therefore you activate shorter route and avoid toll roads (while usually you would use faster route and car/motorcycle with no avoidances checked.
Particpate
By downloading these maps therfore you should consider uploading your GPS tracks to openstreetmap and/or help out if you find errors or missing data. (Nearly). There is a short introduction here listing the most relevant links to get you startet: http://openmtbmap.org/tutorials/participate/
Who can make use of the maps?
The maps offered here are of course, currently primarily used by Garmin GPS users and mountainbikers in general, but you don't need to have a Garmin GPS to use them. Qlandkarte GT an opensource and freely available Map Viewer can display them in all their pride, and also if not owning a Garmin GPS or buying maps from Garmin you can install Garmin Mapsource to your computer and enjoy autorouting like you have not enjoyed before.
About the creation of this webpage:
My map development started out because I was not satisfied with the quality of "Computerteddys" files – which are fine for general use, but not if you like beautiful maps and want them to show the work you put into openstreetmap – especially when it comes to attributes for Mountainbiking. See here –> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Mountainbike and especially here: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:mtb:scale
I provide these maps in the hope that more people will get out and actually use the mtb:scale key and map mtb routes – and since opening up this website in April 2009 the mtb specific data in Europe has more than doubled (unfound claim based on my observation). After this webpage was featured on the front page of ww.mtb-news.de on the day of its creation more and more people come here to get information and download maps (currently around 800-1500 unique visitors according to Google Analytics every day, steadily increasing). On mtb-news.de the main thread about the maps has gotten more than 25.000 clicks and also in other forums
Openstreetmap gives us the ability to really create mtb focussed maps – like no other map provider has ever done. Therefore I call on you – to get engaged and start participating like over 100.000 people worldwide already do!
Get Started:
I have written a short intro listing how to get the most from the openmtbmaps: Get Started
Below is a screenshot of the Openmtbmap.org as displayed in www.qlandkarte.org — see more screenshots here Screenshots of the Openmtbmap
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