The average Rockhampton mountain biker has probably never heard of OpenStreetMap (OSM) but in fact you use this software and the maps that it generates every time you take a GPS device on a ride.
OSM is the mapping software embedded in the many riding apps we use every day such as Strava, Trailforks, and Runkeeper.
When you ride, the apps on your device simply overlay your current GPS data onto the background map provided by the OSM remote server.
When using your apps, you’ve no doubt noticed that many Rocky MTB trails are missing, wrongly plotted, or simply don’t exist anymore.
That’s because trails change, and since OSM relies entirely on users making the updates, the maps become obsolete.
So this is just to let you know we’re working on it.
Armed with a ton of GPS data, we’ve started updating all of the First Turkey trails on the OSM map server and hope to have our trails fully loaded within the next week.
Also, once the new trails off Guthrie Street are finished being built, we’ll add those as well.
These updates to the app maps will make planning your day’s mountain biking much easier, plus help out-of-towners and noobs find their way around our trails.
They will also help riders who don’t use an app at all, as they can simply open the map on a PC or laptop, print it off, and slip it into their Camelbak.
We’ll link the new First Turkey OSM map on our trails page once it’s complete and also provide a handy PDF for easy printing.
Andrew is web guru and social ride coordinator for Rocky MTB and Cycle CQ. He rides XC, enduro, road, track, fat bikes, and gravel. His life ambition is to declare First Turkey a separate country and be crowned emperor.