What Are The Differences Between The Various Open Street Maps?

I use both OpenMapChest and USA OSM Topo Maps in my Garmin Handholds.
Both are free. Both are routable.
OpenMapChest maps are updated weekly. The USA OSM Maps are updated 3-4 times a year.
The OpenMapChestMaps are more like topo maps if you ask me.
The USA OSM Maps have more "Urban/City" details.

OpenMapChest Maps link: https://www.openmapchest.org
USA OSM Maps link: https://www.gmaptool.eu/en/content/usa-osm-topo-routable

Now that I have a bit more experience with some of the various Open Street Maps, I felt like I owe it to my fellow POI Factory members to share a little bit about what I have learned, both from personal experience and reading online.

When I Google BBBike, I get this AI Overview:

BBBike is a OpenStreetMap-based routing service and data extraction tool providing cycling directions for over 200 cities worldwide, with a primary focus on Berlin. It enables users to download maps in various formats (Garmin, PBF, OSM) and offers specialized features like elevation data and specific, customizable styles for cycle navigation.

How I got here is because I bought my first e-bike 4 years ago. When I started exploring paved bike trails away from roads, I wanted to be able to use something to navigate on them. I already had some Garmins. I tried my well work Garmin Nuvi 500, but it is not bright enough to see easily in the bright sunshine. I decided to use by Garmin Zumo XT. I bought it years ago for ATVing. It is a motorcycle GPS, but works well on my Can Am Outlander ATV.

One of the challenges is powering it. It has an internal battery, but it doesn't last very long, so it needs external power. I am now using the motorcycle mount, minus the voltage converter, to a USB A port. That way I can power it from the ATV with a USB plug or from a power bank.

The next challenge was bicycle oriented maps. Garmin Cycle Maps are available, but when I contacted Garmin, they told me that they aren't compatible with the Garmin Zumo XT. I am not sure if that is accurate, but that prompted me to look elsewhere. The current TopoActive Maps state: "Navigate your adventure with this multi use map, optimized for outdoor activities and compiled from the community-generated OpenStreetMap™ database."

When I looked at the Open Street Map website, there are various layers that can be selected including Standard, CyclOSM, Cycle Map, Transport Map and Tracetrack Topo. I wasn't sure if I wanted CyclOSM or Cycle Maps. They both sound similar to me and look similar online. Still, I wanted them on my Garmin Zumo XT.

The more I read about Open Street Maps, the more realized that there were a number of different ways to get them, some paid and some free. The free choices that appealed to me the most were both BBBike and Open Map Chest.

When I reviewed the Format choices, there are many under Latin 1 and many under UTF-8. I have tried both character encodings. Latin-1 is an older, 8-bit, single-byte encoding limited to 256 characters, primarily used for Western European languages. That has worked well for me.

From there I have looked closer at the various Garmin Latin 1 maps. In addition to the details listed below, I have found that two other factors can vary from map to map and that is the POIs and the night mode.

I have found that both the Leisure and Openfietsfull do not have a functioning night mode. I am not sure is that is by design or it has been overlooked, but I will rule out those maps because of this.

The POIs offered on Cycle Map are unnamed. BBBike and Ontrail also have some unnamed POIS that populate.

I have had good luck using Cycle Maps while riding my e-bikes on bike trails. It will route me from Point A to Point B on a Cycleway, if there is one. It will display the trail name, too.

One of the issues that I run into is trails and greenways are a bit less smooth compared to automobile navigation on a streets and highways. Sometimes I will be riding on a paved trail and Cycle Maps will display the name, but when the trail switched to gravel, the trail name will no longer display. However, when I switch it to Ontrail, the trail name will display!

BBBike is not designed for cross-country navigation. It was specifically developed as a city-level route planner for short distances, typically between 5 and 15 km. For a cross-country trip, you would likely need dedicated long-distance platform such as Ride with GPS, Komoot, or Google Maps (though Google Maps also has limitations on complex cycling routes).

The maximum area size of 24,000,000 square km, a maximum 512MB file size.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/730831

https://extract.bbbike.org/garmin.html

Garmin Styles:

OSM: Standard OpenStreetMap style, best for cars.

Cycle: Map style similar to opencyclemap.org, for cyclist.

Leisure: Map style from freizeitkarte-osm.de, for outdoor activities. The .img file is ~30% larger than the osm/cycle file.

BBBike: Map style from bbbike.de similar to German maps, for outdoor activities.

Onroad: a Garmin style for older devices with less space - usually 1/10 the size of Garmin OSM, see github.com/raintonr/mkgmap-bike-onroad, for outdoor activities/racing bicycles.

Ontrail: A Garmin style for older devices with less space - usually 1/3 the size of Garmin OSM, based on onroad but with smaller roads too, for outdoor activities/hike & bike.

Openfietslite: Map style from OpenFietsMap.nl, for outdoor activities. Lite version.

Openfietsfull: Map style from OpenFietsMap.nl, for outdoor activities. Full version.

Opentopo: Map style from OpenTopoMap.org, topographic map style with high contrast.

Oseam: Map style from OpenSeaMap.org, the free nautical chart

As Canoe-NC mentioned, USA OSM maps are free and routable. Continental part of USA is divided into 6 regions, Alaska and Hawaii are released as separate maps. I downloaded just US Midwest OSM Auto. The first thing I noticed is it displays the actual house numbers on the map of our house as well as our neighbors houses. It doesn't do it in every city, but it does do it in mine. )I tried it on a friend's address and hers was incorrect, however.)

I have used Open Map Chest enough that it really impresses me. The POIs seem very good. The maps are updated weekly. It is free, but a yearly $25 donation gets direct, fast, and unrestricted downloads of map sets.

My TL;DR takeaway from all this if you just want maps for automobile navigating, including across the country, use Open Map Chest (OMC). It lacks Displayed Speed Limits, Junction View and Lane Assist. Use Garmin City Navigator (CN) first, but check with OMC and/or Google Maps/Waze, etc. for newer things that CN might not have, yet.

Use BBBike for shorter cyclist-friendly paths, trails and greenways. Don't rely one just one map or device, particularly on longer trips. Two is one and one is none!

Thanks for the detailed comparison and experience with the different Open Street Maps Jim1348! Very helpful!!!

Are any of these maps that show trails routable?
By routable, I mean on trails, not roads.
Will any navigate between trail waypoints via the trail?

BBBike is fully routable on trails.

BBBike routability depends on whether the waypoints you want to route between are located precisely on the trail. If they are at points where the trail intersects with, or are close to roads, it will route via roads even if the trail is shorter.

This is useless for map files that use road crossings as waypoints or waypoints for POI's, like parking areas, that are adjacent to the trail. I have several hundred files that are built this way and to modify the waypoints to accommodate this type of routing would be more work than it's worth

I need maps that route by tails only and can be optioned to ignore roads.

Let me know what you find that will do this. We have a similar issue with using a Garmin navigator for ATV/UTV/Snowmobile trails, too. VV Mapping specifically utilizes the "avoid toll roads" setting on GPS devices to keep routes on authorized trails. In their mapping system, non-open or non-ORV (Off-Road Vehicle) legal roads are categorized as "toll roads," so enabling this avoidance forces the GPS to stick to legal trails and paths.

Key Settings for VVMapping:

Enable "Avoid Toll Roads": This prevents the GPS from routing you onto illegal, private, or non-trail roads.

Set Calculation Mode: Set your device to "Faster Time" for the best results.

Disable Other Maps: Ensure only the VVMapping product is active to prevent conflicts.

For optimal performance, it is recommended to set this preference rather than relying on "off-road" mode.

I know that standalone Garmin Cycle Maps were discontinued on May 7, 2025. They are now integrated into TopoActive Maps. I think the legacy Cycle Maps and the new Topoactive Maps use OpenStreetMap data. I want to try them some time to see how they behave with on-and-off-road routing.

My Garmin Zumo XT has TopoActive PS NA, US 2022.20, but I have never used them. I will do some more poking around to see what I can find out about the legacy, separate Cycle Maps and TopoActive Vs. the combined TopoActive Maps. The quick searches that I have done so far seem to indicate that many cyclists are underwhelmed by the TopoActive Maps. In fact, some are pointing to OSM maps as a good, free alternative!

UPDATE: Yesterday, I took a bike ride and tried to focus on the various BBBike maps and see what else I could learn about them with a focus on which will work best for bike navigation.

The developers, Wolfram Schneider (eserte) and Slaven Rezić state on the website that BBBike was developed for short distance (5-15km) cycling in a town. Due the huge amount of data it is not possible to offer long distance routing between cities. We do not offer routing for hiking or pedestrians.

One of the features that I focused on was whether it could work in the night mode on my Garmin. Leisure and OpenTopo, for example, have no night mode.

Another feature I looked at was the POIs. Even though these are all based on OpenStreetMaps and I thought the POIs would be the same, they are not. Some will show some or all as "unnamed".

Another feature that I am focusing on is whether there is any data displayed on the bottom panel of my Garmin Zumo XT while routing. This is one of those features that not everybody will agree on. Some people was more data and some want less. The bottom panel will display the name of the street or path I am traveling on. The top panel will indicate the next turn.

After consideration of the above features, the four BBBike Maps I am focusing on will be:

Cycle

Ontrail

BBBike

Openfietsmap Full

If you just want to stay on course, the BBBike Cycle maps are the way to go. The POIs, however, all seem to display as "Unnamed".

BBBike Maps will also keep you on course. The POIs are better, but still hit or miss. Some, but not all, will display as "Unnamed".

Openfietsmap Full will also keep you on course. The POIs are better than BBBike, but still have some that are "Unnamed". There are also icons where buildings are located.

I still need to do more extensive testing while routing/navigating. Sometimes one map will refer to a paved bike path as "cycle path" while another will state the name of that same path.

I should also point out that the reason I am including ontrail for now is because some gravel trails I have found show up on there, but don't show upon the other maps.

UPDATE: I have looked at some other Garmins recently with bicycle mapping in mind because Garmin Cycle Maps have vanished and TopoActive maps npw include cycle routes. I have been unimpressed. The bicycle trails that are on Open Street Maps now in my area don't show up on the Garmins I have looked that have Garmin TopoActive maps.

I have also wondered what maps non-Garmin bike computers use. I did a Google search and this is the response I received:

Most modern bike computers primarily use OpenStreetMap (OSM) data, which provides detailed, community-driven, and customizable mapping for cycling, including trails, bike lanes, and points of interest. Garmin utilizes TopoActive/CycleMaps (based on OSM), while brands like Hammerhead (Karoo) and Wahoo also rely on specialized renderings of OSM data.

Key Mapping Features in Bike Computers

OpenStreetMap (OSM): The standard, providing detailed road and trail networks.

Garmin CycleMaps/TopoActive: Preloaded on Garmin devices, often featuring popularity routing to find the best routes.

Trailforks: Specialized, detailed trail data for mountain biking, often integrated into Garmin devices.

Popularity Routing: Heatmap data to show commonly used cycling routes.

Navigation: Turn-by-turn routing, with some devices offering on-the-fly, no-internet-needed route creation.

Device-Specific Map Types

Garmin: Uses Garmin CycleMaps and TopoActive maps (via OSM).

Wahoo: Uses, according to Facebook posts and ROUVY, specialized map downloads for the ELEMNT.

Hammerhead Karoo: Known for high-resolution, smartphone-like visuals based on OSM.

Giant Dash: Employs cycling-specific,, according to Facebook posts open street maps.

A few of us have end-of-life models and no longer get updated maps (like nüvi 855). Do you think OSM is a viable (functionally equivalent) to Garmin maps in the automotive environment?
Mark

Mark,

I think that Open Map Chest is a viable alternative in the automotive environment.

Jim

https://www.openmapchest.org