Outdoor adventurers using OS Maps app have been given a vital free location tool for their phones.

Locate Me has been integrated into OS Maps app and is designed so users avoid getting lost and can navigate their way safely.

The app converts someone’s GPS location to automatically pinpoint the exact location for where they are on an Ordnance Survey map.

The tool brings up a digital compass onto the screen – with an OS grid reference, co-ordinates for eastings and northings, and elevation data.

The app also provides co-ordinates for longitude and latitude.

It does not require a mobile signal to function as the app has an inbuilt GPS system which can be relied upon even in the most remote areas.

Locate Me lets users share their location with friends and family via messaging and social media so they can let them know where they are, how their adventure is progressing and what time they will be home.

It contains an augmented reality ‘camera compass’ feature so users can transform their phone into a compass. Users can point their camera phone anywhere in front of them and they will be shown which direction on the compass they are headed.

When used alongside an OS paper map, the camera compass helps people find their location and quickly get their bearings – ensuring they can navigate themselves back on the right track.

OS Managing Director for Leisure, Nick Giles, said: “Introducing Locate Me into the OS Maps app is a major improvement and creates a navigational tool that no outdoor enthusiast can be without.

“With the touch of a button you’ll always know your exact location – no matter where you are – and you’ll have the digital tools to navigate your way out of trouble if needed. What’s more you can share that information with others immediately.

“OS Maps and Locate Me are complementary tools for OS’s paper maps. We always advise you should have a paper map and compass when exploring the great outdoors – but with OS Maps app and Locate Me on your phone, you have a digital tool which will make you even safer.”

Josh Warren, Mountain Rescue England and Wales Relationship Manager for OS Maps, and a volunteer member of Exmoor Search and Rescue Team, said: “Mountain Rescue volunteers have been working with OS Maps for well over a year now and it’s good that Locate Me is now embedded in the app as it was something we’d been missing.

“We’d still recommend a compass and paper map as a back-up as they don’t need battery power, but investment in OS Maps, and the partnership working with MR on this technology, is developing a strong option for those heading outdoors.

“The combination of grid reference location and OS mapping in OS Maps is exactly what’s needed for safe navigation and for making the most of a great day outdoors.”

Locate Me has replaced the OS Locate app, a navigational tool first introduced in 2014.

OS Maps app is Britain’s most popular navigation app and has five million users worldwide.

Existing OS Maps subscribers receive the update of embedded Locate Me automatically.

Locate Me features: