mapsforge — the offline map behind RouteConverter

mapsforge is an open-source library for rendering vector maps from OpenStreetMap data. RouteConverter's map view is built on it, which is why the map keeps working with no internet connection once you've downloaded the area you need.

Map data, not map tiles

A mapsforge .map file is a compact, pre-rendered extract of OpenStreetMap data for a region — a country, a state, or a smaller area, depending on what your map provider offers. Unlike online tile maps, nothing is fetched per zoom or pan; the whole area lives on disk and is drawn on the fly, so panning and zooming stay fast even offline.

Download .map files for the areas you need via View → Maps…, or browse RouteConverter's own catalog of map and overlay servers on the Resources page.

Themes

How a map looks — road colors, which POI icons show at which zoom level, label fonts — is controlled separately from the map data, by a mapsforge render theme (an XML file). RouteConverter ships a default theme and lets you pick others, including community themes such as the GPXSee theme.

Finding places

mapsforge doesn't just draw the map — its point-of-interest data is also RouteConverter's first stop when you use Position → Find Place… or complete a postal address for a position. Only if the offline data doesn't have an answer does RouteConverter fall back to online geocoders. See Find places and complete addresses for the full list and order of services.

What mapsforge replaced

Older RouteConverter versions could also show an embedded, browser-based map view. That module was removed in version 3.5 — mapsforge has been the only map view for a while, and the old code was no longer used by anyone.