Mapy.com

Mapy.com makes outdoor route planning feel closer to reading a walking map than navigating a list of businesses. Its hiking and cycling cartography is the main attraction, with paths and terrain presented for people heading beyond city streets. The service also offers offline maps, useful when a planned trip takes a phone out of coverage.

The map portal dates to 1998, with its mobile application following in 2011. A logged-in account connects saved information and subscription features. Premium planning tools add activity-specific routes and personal walking or riding speeds, so estimated journey times can reflect the person making the trip. Offline downloads need advance preparation and enough storage on the device.

Key benefits:

• Outdoor cartography makes hiking and cycling routes easier to inspect before departure.
• Free offline country supplies downloadable maps for one chosen country, including regions.
• Premium offline maps remove the country limit for downloading maps before travel.
• Personal pace settings adapt Premium time estimates to individual walking or cycling speeds.
• Activity-specific planning adds Premium routes for running, gravel bikes and other activities.
• Saved route notes help Premium users record details and mark completed trips.

Mapy.com is operated by Seznam.cz, a.s., registered in Prague, Czech Republic. That places the operator in the EU, but the account and mapping service still process personal information. Its Czech origin should not be read as a promise of anonymous location use or an entirely open source application.

The free version allows one offline country at a time, which can be changed for a holiday. An annual Premium subscription expands that allowance and adds planning features. Frequent travellers get the most from the paid tier; occasional walkers can start with the free maps.