mapsforge-map¶
Mapsforge vector maps of your OpenStreetMap regions, for phone map apps
- Version recorded: station
- Categories:
navigation-maps - Upstream: https://github.com/mapsforge/mapsforge
- Needs first:
osm-regions,osmosis,libmapsforge-java
What it does¶
Builds one Mapsforge .map file per region osm-regions downloaded, as the operator in a staging directory, with the archive's osmosis and its Mapsforge map writer. A .map is a compact vector map that phone map apps draw offline with their own styles. The files land under /usr/local/share/hammunition/data/mapsforge-map/, and hammunition maps phone gathers them for carrying to a phone.
Why you would want it¶
It makes the laptop the map factory for the team's phones: every phone that reads Mapsforge maps gets the same regions as the laptop, built from the same verified download, with no phone needing the internet to fetch its own. The phone apps that read Mapsforge files, by their own documentation, include Cruiser, Locus Map, OruxMaps and c:geo; none has been checked on a phone here.
Before it will work¶
osm-regions with at least one region set in station config, and the archive's osmosis and libmapsforge-java; all install first. With no regions set this unit is deferred by name. A phone app that reads Mapsforge .map files, installed on the phone while it still had the internet.
How it installs¶
- converted from osm-regions by mapsforge-map (ODbL-1.0, https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright)
Known problems¶
Measured on one region, Delaware (22 MB download), on 2026-09-29: 3 min 38 s, 1.04 GB of memory with a 2 GB Java heap, a map 0.78 times the download, and about 14 times the download written to disk while it runs (scratch the writer removes, in the staging directory, never /tmp). The plan uses 0.78 and 15 and says they were measured on one region; a large region can take hours. The writer is the archive's 0.20.0 and writes map file version 3, which every Mapsforge reader reads. It has not been loaded on a phone yet. The map carries the Open Database License obligations of the data.
Keeping it current¶
- probe: none
- strategy: reinstall
- Follows osm-regions: a region whose downloaded file changed is built again on the next install, and one that did not is skipped.
Where to get help with the software itself¶
GitHub issues at https://github.com/mapsforge/mapsforge/issues; each phone app's own forum for how it reads and styles the map; problems in the map data are fixed in OpenStreetMap (https://www.openstreetmap.org/fixthemap).