Gaia GPS

Gaia GPSNew Maps

SwissTopo Maps Now Available

by Ruthie Irvin
written by Ruthie Irvin

Similar to USGS Topo maps, SwissTopo provides beautiful handmade cartography and fine detail. These maps of Switzerland are perfect for hiking, skiing, and planning trips in the Alps.

SwissTopo features heavy elevation shading and contour lines, and emphasizes peak and range names that display prominently.

Add the source from the More Layers menu under the GaiaPro Base Maps category. For detailed instructions, check out the Add Map Sources articles (iOS/Android/Web).

Unlike the USGS, SwissTopo requires license fees for these maps, so we have included them as part of a GaiaPro subscription.

swisstopo

Test Out the New Maps Today

Not a GaiaPro subscriber? Sign-up for a free 1-month trial here: https://www.gaiagps.com/user/freetrial

If you’d like to see additional sources added to Gaia GPS, post your ideas in the Maps section of the Gaia GPS Community Forums.

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Updated public lands layer at zoom 9.5.
Gaia GPSHuntingNew Maps

Updated Public Lands in Gaia GPS

by Kate Dougherty
written by Kate Dougherty

Updated public lands layer at zoom 9.5.

In addition to the new collection of hunting data we recently added, GaiaPro users can now access an improved public lands layer. Updated for 2016, the overlay gives you the most current and comprehensive data on government-managed areas. Hunters and anyone exploring areas of mixed land ownership may want to consider using this layer, which emphasizes:

  • National and state forests
  • Parks and monuments
  • Wildlife refuges
  • Conservation lands and game preserves
  • Bureau of Land Management areas

To add public lands to the map, open the More Layers menu and look for them under the GaiaPro Overlays category. Read these Help Center articles for info about how to use layered maps on iOS and Android.

A User-Friendly Design

Color-coded federal lands let you easily identify which agency manages an area. We represent data at the state, county, and local levels with a single color for each, so the map doesn’t become overwhelming. Note that we’ve updated the symbology associated with the various categories. Labels will appear at zoom level 14.

The updated public lands layer at zoom level 14. The image shows labels for Bureau of Land Management and State of New Mexico lands, as well as Gila National Forest.

The new public lands layer, superimposed over Gaia Topo. Labels appear at zoom level 14.

The Best Public Lands Data in Gaia GPS

The updated layer draws on the most comprehensive and precise datasets available to offer a high level of detail. It displays the privately-held inholdings in federal and state parks that may not appear elsewhere, and shows smaller public lands missing from many popular maps. Bear in mind that not all of the areas in the layer will be open to the public, and watch for any restricted zones within otherwise accessible lands.

Open Source Data in the OpenBounds Project

Just like the hunt boundary overlays, we based the public lands layer on data gathered for OpenBounds, an open source project we founded to aggregate boundary data and share it from a single location. Gaia GPS sources the most current and detailed public lands data available directly from government agencies, then manages data submission and review for the project through the OpenBounds project on GitHub. Anyone can contribute to the project, check out the code, or even copy the repository by visiting the project site.

You can also post your thoughts about the new layer or the OpenBounds project to the Gaia GPS Community Forum, or email support@gaiagps.com with questions.

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Colorado bighorn sheep hunt districts, superimposed over US Topo.
Gaia GPSHuntingNew Maps

Updated: Hunting Map Boundaries in Gaia GPS

by Kate Dougherty
written by Kate Dougherty
Colorado bighorn sheep hunt districts, superimposed over US Topo.

Colorado bighorn sheep hunt districts, layered over US Topo.

Gaia GPS Premium Membership users now have access to detailed hunting map boundaries for hunt districts in many states, just in time for the fall hunting season—a huge improvement on the previous collection in Gaia GPS.

These new maps use the fruits of OpenBounds, an open data project we created as the basis for these maps. This article describes the OpenBounds project, how the project aggregates data, and how you can contribute to this ongoing effort.

To add hunt districts to the map, open the More Layers menu and look for them under the US Hunting Boundaries category. Read these Help Center articles for info about how to use layered maps on iOS and Android.

Data and Coverage Overview

The OpenBounds initiative aims to collect data for U.S. hunt district boundaries and public lands in a single repository, and share it with the world. We’ve used the hunting boundaries as the basis of the new hunting layers, which show district name or number. Gaia GPS Premium Membership currently includes hunt district boundaries for the states in red on the map below.

Hunt district boundary coverage map of the US.

Map of Gaia GPS’s current hunt district boundary coverage.

Please note that Premium Membership currently offers partial species coverage for the following states.

  • North Dakota (fall turkey only)
  • Tennessee (huntable Tennessee Valley Authority lands only)
  • Washington (all available species except deer)

We will continue to integrate data for additional species and states in the coming weeks.

How the OpenBounds Project Works

Gaia GPS sources the most current and detailed hunting data available directly from state wildlife agencies—then manages data submission and review for the project through the crowdsourced, collaborative, open source OpenBounds project on GitHub. Anyone can browse the OpenBounds data sources and processing scripts by visiting the project site.

How You Can Use the Data and Code

If you’re a developer, we invite you to explore the code. You may even want to copy the repository to make your own map or app. Mappers can also check out OpenAddresses, an open repository of high-quality, consistently-referenced address data that businesses, organizations, and individuals can use to match more than 100 million addresses to geographic coordinates. The amazing work of the OpenAddresses project inspired the OpenBounds project.

The data in OpenBounds is important to conservationists, wildlife professionals, outdoor adventurers, and many other people. We hope that, by collecting it one place, the OpenBounds project will make it easier for them to work and play. And like many other open source efforts, we hope the data can support other great tech projects.

Continued Work – You Can Help

The hunt unit boundaries will get updated on an ongoing basis. If you’d like to contribute, consider reviewing GitHub issues to see how you can help with data collection, or even work on the code.

You can also post your thoughts about the project to the Gaia GPS Community Forum, or email support@gaiagps.com with questions.

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Gaia GPSNew Features

Add Map Sources on gaiagps.com Main Map

by Ruthie Irvin
written by Ruthie Irvin

You can now customize your map sources on the main map of gaiagps.com, and these changes sync seamlessly with the app.

In the past, using non-default map sources on gaiagps.com required adding them from within the Gaia GPS app, then syncing the changes back to the website. So instead, you can now add all available layers directly on gaiagps.com.

Adding a map source on gaiagps.com/map works similarly to the Gaia GPS app. Access the Add Map Sources option from the Layers menu, then choose a source from within one of the available categories, and add/remove with the + and – symbols.

Click on any source listing to view details about the map

Click on any source listing to view details about the map

For detailed instructions about adding map sources on gaiagps.com, follow the step-by-step instructions with pictures in this Help Center article.

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Gaia Topo - The Map for Backpackers
Gaia GPSNew Maps

Gaia Topo – The Map for Backpackers

by Kate Dougherty
written by Kate Dougherty

We’ve made Gaia Topo a default map source in Gaia GPS. It’s been out there for a while now, but today Gaia Topo is really an amazing map source. We wanted to take a moment now to tell you about the work behind this map, and summarize the big improvements we’ve been publishing through the turn of the seasons.

Mt. Rainier area

While Gaia GPS continues to offer a vast catalog of topo and other maps, we encourage you to check out Gaia Topo for your next backpacking trip. In many ways, Gaia Topo is the best global topo map, offering a functional and beautiful worldwide map with extraordinary detail at all scales, and built by a team of backpackers who relentlessly test and improve the map in a huge and ongoing effort.

Click here to view Gaia Topo live on gaiagps.com

Our Unique Take on a Global Topo

You’ll find many stylistic differences between Gaia Topo and other maps, but there are at least two areas that make Gaia Topo a unique and wonderful map source for backpacking.

View feet or meters in Gaia Topo

  • Feet or Meters, Your Choice, Worldwide – One thing we want to highlight about GaiaTopo is that it’s the only global topo map that will show you measurements in either feet or meters. Every other global hiking map – from OpenHikingMap to Mapbox Outdoors – limits you to seeing contour lines, peak measurements, and other numbers in meters only. American users will appreciate being able to work with imperial units.
  • USGS Style – In designing Gaia Topo at its 1:24K scale, we hew closely to the familiar USGS style and maximize functionality for a high-contrast, detail-packed map that you can easily read in outside lighting conditions, without being overwhelmed. With USGS maps showing their age, lacking a full road network, and covering the US only, Gaia Topo often shines as the better map. And compared to other outdoor topos like MapBox Outdoors or OpenHikingMap, Gaia Topo has an unflinching focus on actually being outside, on the trail – without allowance for glamor or website-oriented design that might hinder functionality.
Yosemite Village in Gaia Topo - Before and After

Before and after of Yosemite Village in Gaia Topo.

A Community Effort

It turns out that the Gaia GPS team, users, and the global OpenStreetMap community all contributed to this collaborative project. Gaia Topo pulls together several data sources, and OpenStreetMap.org forms its core.

OpenStreetMap is a global movement that many Gaia GPS users and team members already participate in, and you can too. Over a million people worldwide have contributed their edits to OpenStreetMap, including trails, campsites, and other data of keen interest to hikers and other outdoor adventurers.

People can contribute by recording GPS data and notes with programs like Gaia GPS, or even by tracing features in satellite imagery to add them to the map. So if you ever find trails that aren’t marked in your area, you can really go a good deed for the world by recording your travels, and adding data to the open map on OpenStreetMap.org.

On the Gaia GPS team, lead developer Jesse Crocker built the first Gaia Topo that we released last summer, and did a significant amount of work over the last six months to improve the map and roll it out across iOS, Android, and gaiagps.com. Intern Aashima Talwar and Map Specialist Kate Dougherty also spent several months refining the design. Gaia GPS developer Alex Thissen has also spent a great deal of time working on the contour line rendering for the map, as well as debugging various issues.

Jesse Crocker, Lead Developer
Jesse Crocker, Lead Developer
Aashima Talwar, Intern
Aashima Talwar, Intern
Alex Thissen, Developer
Alex Thissen, Developer
Kate Dougherty, GIS Cartographer
Kate Dougherty, GIS Cartographer

Another Year of Work Unleashed

We decided to blog about Gaia Topo now because we’ve greatly expanded work on the map and improved it in numerous ways since we initially released it about 15 months ago.

The latest release applies unique styles to different categories of trails and paths, and shows the bridges over them. It also renders many new amenities, including:

  • campsites
  • restrooms
  • drinking water fountains
  • parking lots
  • viewpoints
  • lighthouses
  • information centers
Before and after of Curry Village, Yosemite National Park in Gaia Topo.

Before and after of Curry Village, Yosemite National Park in Gaia Topo.

The map replaces generic points with intuitive icons wherever possible, and outlines national and state parks, nature reserves, and protected areas in dark green to make them easier to spot and identify. Land cover data on wetlands, meadows, scree, glaciers, beaches, bare rock, and landfills also appears at higher zoom levels.

rainier-before-after

Before and after of Mt. Rainier National Park in Gaia Topo.

Gaia Topo also includes:

  • slipways and airstrips
  • intermittent streams
  • dams
  • reservoirs
  • labels for islands and islets
  • military installations (red hatches)

You may also notice that rivers, streams, and creeks appear wider at higher zoom levels.

Before and after of the Warrenton, Oregon area in Gaia Topo.

Before and after of the Warrenton, Oregon area in Gaia Topo.

Vector Versions Too

In addition to Gaia Topo, iOS users also have access to Gaia Topo (Vector), which makes downloads smaller and rendering crisper. You can find this additional layer in the app in the More Layers Menu.

Because of the challenges associated with vectors on mobile devices, this map isn’t as beautifully rendered as the “raster” version, but it has its advantages, and it will improve over time too.

Ideas for Map Enhancements?

Do you have ideas about how to improve the map? You can post your thoughts on the new design and enhancements you’d like to see in the Gaia GPS Community Forum. If you have any other questions or feedback, you can also email support@gaiagps.com.

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AdventuresCompany NewsGaia GPSHow-ToNew Features

Use Snap-to-Trail with Gaia GPS v10.9 for iOS

by Ashli Baldwin
written by Ashli Baldwin

Gaia GPS version 10.9 for iOS, now available in the App Store. Make snap-to-trail routes from your device, and download maps along the way with an entirely redesigned routing UI. Click here for a full list of 10.9 updates and fixes.

snapgif2

Similar to the Snap-to-Trail feature on gaiagps.com, toggle between Hiking, Cycling, Driving and Straight line routing. Use snap-to-trail in the app whenever you have WiFi or cellular service.

View and interact with the elevation profile as you build your route.

elevations1

After saving your route – get taken to a new download screen that lets you customize an offline map.

map1

In the next few weeks, snap-to-trail routing will get introduced to the Android version of Gaia GPS, too.

Feel free to email support@gaiagps.com with any questions or comments.

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Gaia GPS

Apply to be a Part-Time Gaia GPS Tester

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports
We’re hiring a part-timer to test new releases of Gaia GPS. For this role, you must be an experienced Gaia GPS user, and you can work from anywhere.
 
Perks and Pay
 
  • $15/hour to start – number of hours varies
  • depending on what devices you already have, you’ll be given iPhones, iPads, Android, and perhaps an Apple Watch to test on
  • you’ll get to experience new features before they go live, and give feedback on how to make the app work better overall
  • fine Gaia GPS apparel!

Qualifications

This role requires patience, attention to detail, and experience with Gaia GPS. Your QA work will supplement testing by the broader beta test groups, helping to ensure new bugs don’t get introduced along with new features.
 
Your work will be like this:
 
  • before a new release, you’ll execute a test plan that includes a checklist of functions in the app to execute
  • you’ll help improve the test plan(s)
  • you’ll thoughtfully consider what parts need more testing beyond the stock test plan, based on what features/updates occur in the given release

Apply to be a Gaia GPS Tester

If you are interested, please send an email to jobs@gaiagps.com, with the subject line: Gaia GPS Tester. Write an email that includes:

 
  • how much experience you have with Gaia GPS
  • any relevant experience, such as testing other apps or software
  • any other comments on why you’d be good for this role
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AndroidGaia GPSNew Features

Gaia GPS for Android version 6.5.12

by Ruthie Irvin
written by Ruthie Irvin

Gaia GPS for Android update 6.5.12 adds the ability to import custom map sources directly into the app as an alternative to using the addmapsource page on gaiagps.com.

Create a TileJSON using a TMS map source by following the instructions in this Help Center article. Test out your TMS URL here: http://trailbehind.github.io/TilejsonTester/.

After creating the TileJSON file, Android users can save it to the internal storage or SD card. Navigate the filesystem from within Gaia GPS to import the file, then find the custom map source in the Layers menu when the import completes. Follow the instructions here for importing via the SD card.

—find the custom map source in the Layers menu after import

—find the custom map source in the Layers menu after import

You can also import TileJSON files in the iOS app, or import the TMS source directly to your account on gaiagps.com, then sync back to the app.

Read more about this release and others on the Gaia GPS updates page.

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Gaia GPS

Gaia GPS for iOS version 10.8

by Ruthie Irvin
written by Ruthie Irvin

The newest update to Gaia GPS for iOS, version 10.8, includes a major UI change—the removal of Offline Mode.

Since iOS now allows users to disable LTE data for apps on an individual basis, and GPS works in Airplane Mode for iOS 8.4 and later, Offline Mode slipped into obsolescence. This change also fixes a support issue where users didn’t always remember they had enabled Offline Mode.

Prevent downloads over a cellular internet connection from the iOS Settings

Prevent Gaia GPS downloads over cell connection in the iOS Settings

For more details about the other minor tweaks and fixes in this version, check out the release notes here.

Note: A minor point-release (10.8.1) removed the newly added survey popup.

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Gaia GPSNew Features

Introducing Pagination and Search on gaiagps.com

by Ruthie Irvin
written by Ruthie Irvin

The gaiagps.com datasummary pages got a functionality makeover, with a new search feature and the ability to handle large amounts of data better than ever before.

Find and Organize Your Data Faster

  • search through your tracks, routes, waypoints, and maps lists
  • load your data faster and more reliably with pagination
  • better animations and updated page load indicators

Watch this short video demonstrating the new features, or check it out for yourself at http://www.gaiagps.com.

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