Need help with custom offline map overlays

[terenovo_art]

Hi Everyone,

wasn't sure where to place this post, so I hope the Free chat is OK.

I need a few very specific overlays to use in Locus Map 4 for Poland (entire country). I know where to get source data from, but I don't know how to convert the data into .mbtiles format (I'm not a programmer, tried the MOBAC, but can't figure out how to do it). What I need is:

1. Overlay with forrest branches and branch numbers
2. Overlay with public 4x4 routes (non-paved)

For the firs tone I already found a WMS source - now all it takes is to convert it to .mbtiles overlay to use it offline:
https://mapserver.bdl.lasy.gov.pl/ArcGIS/services/WMS_BDL/mapserver/WMSServer

The second one also can be obtained.

I understand this is qualified work to be done here, so I am willing to gratify the work. Please contact me here or in a private message.

Or perhaps someone already did it and published the files?

Thanks!

[voldapet]

Hi,

as you mentioned the best solution should be the MOBAC. I'm not extra familiar with it but there is some example of MOBAC configuration for using WMS https://mobac.sourceforge.io/wiki/index.php/Custom_XML_Map_Sources#Custom_WMS_map_sources
Please be sure you do not brake terms of use of WMS service (because downloading)

I would also consider using OpenStreetMap data when it comes to unpaved routes. You can use the default LoMaps which show OSM highway=track https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway%3Dtrack, but there is no information on whether the track can be used for 4x4.
You can also filter and download a specific OSM highways dataset with https://overpass-turbo.eu (for smaller areas) -> use GPX or KML format to export and after that import data into Locus.
Or you can use QGIS to export OSM data to mbtiles.
It's also possible to create a custom map and a Mapsforge theme (alternative to offline LoMaps, but it's quite a complicated task).

So there are more options, it depends on your specific needs, the type of source data, the area you are interested in, etc...

Thanks, Petr

[terenovo_art]

Thank you!

But I'm afraid anything past moving the proper files in proper folders exceeds my possibilities. I gave MOBAC a shot (I did some html/css coding back in the days, so I figured, how hard can that be, right? ) - but the program interface is totally unfamiliar to me. I found a few tutorials online, but the results I get are totally different to wan shows on the tutorial - so it is definitely not my thing to make my own maps.

I'd rather commission it to someone who enjoys creating the maps, and I'll stick to using them

[voldapet]

To be honest, I don't really know Mobac either. Maybe someone from the community can advise.
Anyway, maybe there are other more "user friendly" options.
- preloading the WMS map in Locus Map. Locus caches the last 1000 map tiles. It is therefore possible to browse a smaller area when you are online, and the last viewed map will remain in the cache even when you are offline.

- to use QGIS to create a raster data from WMS (please see https://www.reddit.com/r/QGIS/comments/16auzqj/extracting_data_from_wms_source/ ) and after you can use QGIS to export raster to mbtiles (please see the article https://help.locusgis.com/support/solutions/articles/47001094929-how-to-import-geotiff-or-geopdf )

[40°]

terenovo_art, if you need to highlight secondary paved or unpaved roads or paths, then you can try this theme for vector maps. It can be used as a layer on top of the map.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19aSJcfRJjFSs1sRSGco0kR0gtaKG9P5n/view?usp=drivesdk


I often use it to find roads that are cleared of snow in winter, but where there are few cars. It's great to ride a bike on such roads. :-)