How-To

Gaia GPS with USFS Motor Vehicle Use Maps

by Ashli Baldwin June 14, 2017

written by Ashli Baldwin

Interactive United States Forest Service’s popular Motor Vehicle Use Maps — now available in Gaia GPS version 1.1 for iOS.

Also in this update, two finger map rotation and course-up mode lock.

Read about the next generation Gaia GPS here and download it today.

Interactive Road Access Information

Available as an interactive Premium Member overlay within the iOS app, the MVUM overlay makes planning adventures and navigating in US National Forests simple.’

Tap roads on the map for USFS road usage restrictions and access dates.

Layer with Gaia Topo, one of the USFS map sources, or any other base map to get a comprehensive view.

Two Finger Map Rotation

Rotate the main map in any direction with a simple two finger motion. You can turn two finger rotate on or off from the settings menu.

Continuous Improvement

Other notable updates in Gaia GPS v1.1 for all iOS users include:

Course-up mode lock — Zooming in or out will not break the map lock on your current location
Improved Performance — Improvements to the Saved menu for accessing multiple years of data
Guidance — Offline guidance along trails found in Gaia Topo

Listening to You

Your feedback helps guide the development of Gaia GPS. This update includes highly requested features from users across the Gaia GPS Reddit page, Community forums, and from your emails.

Join the forums to get in on the conversation, or send an email to support@gaiagps.com.

June 14, 2017

Android Gaia GPS How-To

Import Tracks from Dropbox

by Kate Dougherty November 4, 2016

written by Kate Dougherty

While there are several methods to import GPX/KML into Gaia GPS, many users find it convenient to bring in files via Dropbox.

Check out these freshly updated help articles for iOS and Android to import using Dropbox. For iOS, we added this video to the Help documentation to step you through the Dropbox import steps.

Note that you’ll need to install the Dropbox app on your device to complete the steps.

Where to Find Files to Import

In addition to the public routes at gaiagps.com, you can find external GPS tracks at SkidMap, Offroading Home, backcountrydiscoveryroutes.com, Modern Hiker and other sites.

As always, you can post your thoughts to the Gaia GPS Community Forum, or email support@gaiagps.com if you have any questions or feedback.

November 4, 2016

A hybrid route from Curecanti Creek to Blue Mesa Reservoir, Gunnison County, CO.

App Updates Gaia GPS How-To New Features

Create a Route Anywhere with Hybrid Routing

by Kate Dougherty November 3, 2016

written by Kate Dougherty

A hybrid route from Curecanti Creek to Blue Mesa Reservoir, Gunnison County, CO.

You can now plan a “hybrid” trip that mixes snap-to-trail and straight-line segments on gaiagps.com. While you could create each of these route types separately before, you couldn’t combine them.

With this improvement, if trails don’t exist for a section of your route, the planner generates a straight-line path instead. After completing the route, you’ll see an elevation profile and stats for the trip, just as you would for any other route.

Check out this video to see hybrid routing in action.

The combination of snap-to-trail and straight-line routing makes it easier to plan routes on any terrain.

Let us know what you think by posting your thoughts to the Gaia GPS Community Forum. As always, email us at support@gaiagps.com if you have any questions.

November 3, 2016

Featured Gaia GPS How-To New Features

Post Your Tracks on OpenStreetMap from gaiagps.com

by Kate Dougherty October 18, 2016

written by Kate Dougherty

We’ve made it easier than ever to use your Gaia GPS tracks to update OpenStreetMap (OSM). Sending missing trails to OSM previously involved multiple steps. Now, you can push a track from gaiagps.com to OpenStreetMap.org by clicking on a menu option that appears on the details page for tracks and routes.

Go to gaiagps.com, click on your username, and select a track.
Under the Data menu, click the Upload to OpenStreetMap link.The browser will open a new window and direct you to the OSM login page (signing up is easy and free!). Note that you’ll need to allow pop-ups.
Grant OSM access to your Gaia GPS tracks.

Once you’ve pushed the track to OSM, it will appear in the Public GPS traces list. You or another OSM contributor can then use the data to edit new trails, roads and places into the map.

Lost Lake Trail now appears in OSM’s list of pending tracks. Contributors use this list to add data to the map. You can also click the edit link to trace over the track and add it yourself.

Finally, those edits will percolate to many maps that use OpenStreetMap data, such as our very own Gaia Topo. Your edits will improve both the detail of maps, and the data routing engines use to generate trail and driving directions.

If you’ve recently hiked a trail missing from the map, we encourage you to try it out. We’d love to know what you think. Post your thoughts to the Gaia GPS Community Forum, or email support@gaiagps.com if you have any questions.

October 18, 2016

App Updates Company News Gaia GPS How-To

Web Updates – Better Routing, Enhanced Details Page

by Kate Dougherty October 14, 2016

written by Kate Dougherty

September brought a number of improvements to gaiagps.com. You can see the full release notes for September on the updates website, and you can also pop over to updates.gaiagps.com anytime to view updates for Gaia GPS on iOS, Android, and the web overall.

Routemaker Improvements

Last month, we redesigned the route-making controls on gaiagps.com to improve the spacing of elements, added a “driving” mode for routing, and added icons for distance and elevation. The route-maker also now remembers the original mode of transportation (hiking, biking, driving, or straight line) when editing your routes later.

You’ll also see a new warning when trying to make snap-to-trail routes with non-OpenStreetMap (OSM) sources. While snap-to-trail may work with non-OSM sources, you’ll have the best experience with OSM-based layers, because the routemaker is based on OpenStreetMap data.

Details Page – Show on Map

On the details page, you can use the new Show on Main Map button to add your tracks, maps, routes, and waypoints to the main map.

Track pages also show which platform and device you recorded them on.

New Thumbnails on List Pages and Elsewhere

We’ve also added thumbnails to make working with gaiagps.com more intuitive:

Lists of your tracks, routes, and folders show thumbnails in the table
A unique thumbnail now appears for each item in the Overlays menu on gaiagps.com/map
The Create Layer menu displays unique icons for waypoints and routes on gaiagps.com/map too

More Updates

Finally, we’ve made some changes to help you manage and protect your data. Before you delete anything, a new warning message displays to let you know that it will disappear from the app too.

You can also update your credit card information online, for users that subscribed to GaiaPro via the website.

Comments/Questions?

We’ve been working hard to add features, functionality, and design enhancements to gaiagps.com.

Let us know what you think by posting to the Gaia GPS Community Forum, the Gaia GPS sub-Reddit, or email support@gaiagps.com with questions.

October 14, 2016

Adventures Company News Gaia GPS How-To New Features

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

by Ashli Baldwin August 25, 2016

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.

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.

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

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.

August 25, 2016

Gaia GPS How-To New Features

How to Embed Gaia Maps and Data on Your Website

by Aileen May 10, 2016

written by Aileen

You can now embed a map view on your own blog or website to display a track, route, folder, or other data you create in Gaia GPS.

How to Embed Gaia GPS in Your Website

1. Log into your Gaia GPS web account.

Go to gaiagps.com and log into your account.

2. Find the track you want to embed.

In righthand corner, hover cursor over profile picture. Click “Tracks.”

On “My Tracks” page, make sure the track is Public. Click the track you want to share on your website.

3. Embed your track.

Share the track by clicking on the embed button to get the code to paste onto your website or blog.

Copy and paste the embed code onto your website or blog.

4. Track preview

The view shows the Gaia GPS Topo map source with data overlaid, and it includes statistics and a link back to the source data.

Feedback Requested

Help to improve this “embedding” feature by sending your comments to support@gaiagps.com. Say how you use, or would use, the embedding feature, and what would make it better for you.

Embedding could potentially include many customization options, or different layouts that show larger maps, or perhaps photos.

May 10, 2016

Company News Gaia GPS How-To New Features

New Year’s Web Update – Mass File, Delete, and Sync

by Aileen January 13, 2016

written by Aileen

Kicking off our web updates for 2016, we shipped a redesign for your data lists on gaiagps.com.

You can now mass-select a bunch of items in your saved tracks, waypoints, and other lists and do things like file the selection in folders, toggle the sync status, or delete items.

Also look out for the minor 10.4.2 release for iOS this week. It tweaks a couple of things from our last major (v10.4) release, which included auto-naming for tracks and waypoints, additional language support, a more user friendly map source menu and iPhone Main Menu, and polygons support for GaiaPro users.

This year, our staff and focus has grown, so you’ll see more changes to Gaia GPS and gaiagps.com than any year since we launched in 2009. And of course, we always love to hear from you at support@gaiagps.com.

January 13, 2016

Gaia GPS How-To

How to Read a USGS Topo Map

by Kate Dougherty December 19, 2015

written by Kate Dougherty

Classic 7.5 minute USGS topographic map for Manitou Springs, Colorado, 1961. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey.

We recently covered the basics of topographic maps, including how to read contour lines, and how to use the maps to plan your next outing. In this post, we’ll go into more detail about U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) topo maps.

How to read a USGS Topo

The USGS has been the definitive source for U.S. topo maps since the 1880s. Often referred to as quadrangle maps, or quads, the most commonly used USGS topo maps have a scale of 1:24,000 and cover 7.5 minutes of longitude by 7.5 minutes of latitude. In apps and on the Internet, the quads get scanned into digital files and seamed together into one continuous quilt, making them potentially less crisp and clear than modern topo maps based on OpenStreetMap (OSM).

The USGS prints wider index contour lines for easy visibility, and typically measures maps in feet. Contour intervals vary by map, depending on the area’s relief. In some cases, mountainous regions may have an interval of 50 feet, while other maps covering relatively flat areas might measure intervals every 100 feet instead. On paper maps, you’ll always find the contour interval printed at the bottom. You can display USGS topos in Gaia on iOS and Android.

Check out the guide to USGS topographic map symbols for more information about identifying map features of this source.

Selected USGS topographic map symbols. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey.

USTopo

Established in 2009, the USGS calls USTopos their next-generation version of USGS topo maps, and the maps use seamless digital data, while adhering to the quad format. USTopos show contours, roads, built areas, water, mountains, and labeled trails.

Since the USGS does not field-verify the newer, digital topos, they often show fewer trails, remote roads, campgrounds, survey markers, and boundaries than legacy USGS topos. USGS revises these maps every three years to include additional data as they collect and vectorize it.

The National Map

On the Web, you can locate and download many types of maps and satellite images through The National Map, including individual topos. Apps like Gaia GPS also tap into The National Map service to provide a seamless view of the newest USTopos in the palm of your hand.

Learn how to display The USGS National Map in Gaia on iOS and Android.

Forest Service Topo Maps

USFS topo maps (FSTopos) use the same format as the USGS – 1:24,000-scale, 7.5-minute topographic map series, but with enhancements and regular revisions contributed by USFS field staff that emphasize forest-related information. For example, while USGS topos outline national forests in pink, FSTopos color their complete footprints in a light grayish-pink to make them stand out. These topos direct our attention to trails, roads, and water features by toning down wooded areas and contours.

Excellent trail coverage and prominently marked Forest Service road numbers (helpful for navigating backcountry areas) make these maps extremely valuable for outdoor recreation. While revisions as recent as 2015 make the FSTopo more up-to-date than the USGS equivalents, this source only covers quadrangles containing national forests or grasslands.

Manitou Springs, Colorado FSTopo map. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Forest Service.

Now that You Know How to Read U.S. Government Topo Maps

You may also want to read about OpenStreetMap-based topo maps, and experiment with all of these sources in Gaia GPS as you organize your next trek. Follow the iOS and Android links throughout this post to learn how to use them in the app.

If you have any questions about using topo sources in Gaia, please email us at support@gaiagps.com.

December 19, 2015

Gaia GPS How-To

How to Read OpenStreetMap Based Topo Maps

by Kate Dougherty December 19, 2015

written by Kate Dougherty

While we’ve covered how to read a topo map and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) topographic maps in particular, OpenStreetMap-based topos are increasingly popular resources that merit their own post. In this post you will learn how to read OpenStreetMap-based topo map.

The OpenStreetMap (OSM) project leverages the knowledge of millions of people around the globe to crowdsource detailed world maps. As community involvement increases, OSM grows in detail and continues to improve—learn how you can help update OSM data in our recent blog post. Since OSM data is free to use, many apps and websites use it create custom maps for specific audiences.

OSM-based maps have higher resolutions than traditional USGS topos. They often provide more details than newer USGS topos, including additional feature types like cycle paths, bridleways, cable cars and chair lifts, brownfields, and better trail coverage to boot. Note that while USGS typically labels elevations on the 1:24,000 scale maps in feet, OSM-based maps label in meters.

OpenCycleMap

OpenCycleMap, one example of an OSM-based topo map service, emphasizes existing and proposed bike trails, bike lanes, and other amenities for cyclists. While it adds contours and hill shading to the standard OSM map, OpenCycleMap still generally offers less detail about the terrain, such as land cover types.

OpenCycleMap adopts elements of the OSM style, like purple/blue dashed lines for cycling paths and pink dashed lines for footpaths, though they appear more prominent than in OSM, “bolded” even. Non-cycling features have a lighter appearance, with footpaths left unlabeled.

This map source shows national and regional cycling routes, local cycling networks, and footpaths. It also displays bicycle shops, bike parking locations, restrooms, bars, pubs, and cafés near cycling routes.

OpenCycleMap display for the Manitou Springs, Colorado area. Credit: ThunderForest and OpenStreetMap contributors.

OpenCycleMap pulls the latest data from OSM every couple of days. A variety of apps and websites pull OpenCycleMap data, including Gaia GPS. Learn more about OpenCycleMap symbols through the key.

OpenLandscapeMap

OpenLandscapeMap by ThunderForest, another OSM-based service also found in Gaia GPS, focuses on terrain. Like OpenCycleMap, OpenLandscapeMap tones down non-naturally occurring features like roads, which all appear as light purple. Some other differences include:

less differentiation for trails
increased detail for land cover types ( like scrub, grassland, and farmland
darker and more prominently displayed water features
more labeled natural features like springs and geysers

OpenLandscapeMap also marks mountain peaks with a triangle, and labels their names and elevations, unlike the less specific USGS topos.

OpenHikingMap

OpenHikingMap styles OSM data to create a map geared toward hikers. We wrote about OpenHikingMap when it was first released in 2013. This map labels trail names and peak elevations. It also shows protected areas, restrooms, parking lots, and several different land cover surfaces.

Now that You Know How to Read an OpenStreetMap-Based Topo Map

You may want to try these sources out in Gaia GPS as you brainstorm your next foray into the great outdoors. Follow the iOS and Android links throughout this post to find out how to use them in the app.

If you have any questions about using topos in Gaia, just email us at support@gaiagps.com.

December 19, 2015

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