New Features

Gaia GPSNew Features

Avoid Bug Bites with All-New Bloodsucker Security

by Abby Levene
written by Abby Levene

Buds, blossoms, baby animals—spring means rebirth. But rebirth also means the rebirth of the most physically and psychologically tormenting time of the year: bug season.

Whether it’s black flies swarming around your head, mosquitoes stabbing your elbows, or horse flies chasing you down the trail, biting flies come in all forms, they are vicious, and they can ruin your adventure. 

If you’ve been itching for a solution, we’ve got you covered.

Introducing our brand new, proprietary Bloodsucker Security™. Complete with a Mosquito Forecast map layer, live bug conditions tracking, auto-escape route technology, and a bite prevention alert system, Bloodsucker Security™ is your one-stop shop for making bug season suck a lot less.

Stay Out of Bug Bite Territory with the Mosquito Forecast Map

The easiest way to avoid getting bitten is simply to avoid regions with biting insects. That’s why we created the Mosquito Forecast map overlay. This map taps into data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control to provide projected mosquito densities across the world.

Just add the Mosquito Forecast overlay to your favorite basemap such as Gaia Topo or Gaia Overland to get a sense of where mosquitos lie in wait of your juicy flesh. Darker pink shows where mosquito density is highest, while purple shows where mosquitoes are less prevalent. No color on the map means you’re quite literally in the clear.

Whether you’re planning a backpacking trip, an overlanding expedition, or a family trip to a national park, refer to the Mosquito Forecast map to save you, your family, and your friends from the psychological and physical trauma associated with sitting at your campsite getting eaten alive through your sweatpants. 

Outrun Blood Suckers with Live Conditions Tracking

Sometimes entering bloodsucker territory is unavoidable. But don’t despair. Use our live conditions tracking to see real-time mosquito density. Based on your speed, wind, time of day, and bug density, our smart algorithm will tell you exactly how fast you have to move to avoid getting eaten alive.

Hiking with a heavy pack and/or small children and can’t move fast enough? Don’t ditch them on the trail. Just hit “Find an Escape Route” and we will re-route you to safer ground.

Flee Flies with Auto-Escape Route Technology

If that swarm of mosquitos proves too dense and too hungry to outrun, find an escape route with our patented Auto-Escape Route Technology (AERT). Our live conditions tracking system automatically senses when you’re moving too slowly to avoid getting bitten. Then our smart planning tools systematically scour nearby trails to reroute you to safer ground, as fast as possible.

Adventure Smarter and Safer with the Bite Prevention System

Sick of climbing out of your tent in the morning for breakfast only to realize that you are the breakfast? We’ve got a solution that lets you say goodbye to sacrificing one for the team.

If you’re camping in bug territory or overlanding through a particularly bug-infested swap, never fear. Our Bite Prevention System will send you alerts telling you when to pull out the bug nets and bug spray and when it’s safe to come outside.

It’s BS!

Say goodbye to itchy nights with our brand-new BS technology, available with your Gaia GPS Premium membership. Premium also gives you access to the perfect map for every adventure. And stay found with offline access around the globe.

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Gaia GPSNew Features

Measure Areas on the Web

by Robyn Martin
written by Robyn Martin

Measuring land just got easier with Gaia GPS’s area/polygon measurement tool now available on gaiagps.com. Start using your desktop computer for your land measurement needs.

Often used by land managers, search and rescue groups, and private property owners, this tool allows you to create a polygon to cover irregular land boundaries and measure the perimeter and acreage or km2 for a piece of land.

Click the area icon on the left-hand side of the map to get started.

Land measurement of river highlighted in purple.

Creating an area on gaiagps.com allows you to adjust each edge and side of the polygon so you can conform the shape to cover land features. Drag and drop the corners to new locations. Add an adjustable point by clicking the distance markers between each point.

Saved areas will appear as shaded polygons on the map. Select the shaded area on the map to change the name and color. Or make an adjustment by clicking ‘More’ and ‘Edit Area.’

Web map land measurement highlighted in purple with "Lake Thomas" label over the area

For step by step instructions on measuring an area, visit the help center here.

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Gaia GPS and Apple CarPlay Bring Outdoor Maps to Your Dashboard

by Mary Cochenour
written by Mary Cochenour

Gaia GPS now connects with Apple CarPlay, bringing the best outdoor maps directly to your vehicle’s dashboard navigation screen. View all of your favorite Gaia GPS maps, from USFS topo to National Geographic Trails Illustrated, with or without cell phone service, and get turn-by-turn directions on off-grid adventures for any drivable saved route.

Whether you’re headed out on a multi-day overland route or searching for that hard-to-find trailhead for your next backpacking trip, CarPlay connectivity assists you with hands-free navigation that will keep your eyes on the dusty road ahead.

Display Your Favorite Gaia GPS Map Source

Dashboard navigation screen displaying the Gaia Topo map.
Gaia Topo displayed on the CarPlay navigation screen.

Download the Gaia GPS app from the App Store and get access to hundreds of outdoor map sources on your vehicle’s dashboard touchscreen. When you open Gaia GPS from your CarPlay enabled display, the newly redesigned Gaia Topo map will appear and pinpoint your exact location on the map. Hand curated and beautiful to pore over, the new Gaia Topo is free to use.

Dashboard navigation screen displaying a satellite imagery map.
Satellite imagery displayed on the CarPlay navigation screen.

To customize the map source, open Gaia GPS on your iPhone to choose from the hundreds of maps available with a premium membership. When in a national forest, try out the 2016 USFS map — a favorite with overlanders. Bring up National Geographic Trails Illustrated maps in most of America’s national parks for indispensable park information, or catch a birds-eye view of the terrain ahead with satellite imagery. Any available Gaia GPS map can be viewed on your dashboard screen … yes really.

Dashboard navigation screen displaying the National Geographic Trails illustrated map.
National Geographic Trails Illustrated displayed on the CarPlay navigation screen.

With your favorite map on display, use the touchscreen to zoom in and out on the map, pan or scroll the map in any direction, select and preview saved routes, and cancel navigation. Once you start driving, the map’s location marker pinpoints your progress as you blaze down a lonely dirt road or cruise a well-traveled scenic highway.

Turn-by-turn Directions on Saved Routes

Get turn-by-turn directions on your saved routes in the Gaia GPS app and let voice commands guide you to your destination, no matter how far off-grid you plan to go. Turn-by-turn directions work even when you’re out of cell range or operating on airplane mode to conserve phone battery, making it that much easier to leave the pavement behind.

A National Geographic map displayed on a vehicle dashboard screen, showing directions to Zion Scenic Drive.
Turn-by-turn directions are available for driveable, saved routes within the Gaia GPS app.

Turn-by-turn directions are optimal for front country adventures too. You can create and save a sightseeing tour on park roads using a National Park Service Visitor map. Plan to hit all the park’s main attractions and never miss the turnout to that obscure viewpoint again.

How to Connect Gaia GPS with Apple CarPlay

To connect Gaia GPS with CarPlay, you will need a Gaia GPS account, an iPhone (iPhone 5 or newer) with the Gaia GPS app installed, and an Apple CarPlay-supported vehicle. CarPlay is becoming more prevalent as more than 500 vehicle models are now CarPlay equipped.

Hop inside the vehicle and synch your iPhone to CarPlay. Select the Gaia GPS app from the dashboard screen and tap the “Go” button. It’s really that simple.

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New Features

New and Powerful Mapping Tools on gaiagps.com to Plan Your Next Adventure

by Julien Friedland
written by Julien Friedland

Get an intuitive, customizable mapping experience when you use the main map on gaiagps.com. We’ve spent the past year rebuilding the web map from scratch to bring you the fastest, most seamless experience while using gaiagps.com

The redesigned map offers intuitive route building, lightning-fast searching, and advanced map printing tools. Build and label routes faster with new waypoint and route options. Gather more details from the map by clicking points of interest to learn about hike metrics, campsite details and more.

Try it now by visiting the main map or read on to learn more.

Quickly Manage Maps and Find Legends

All map tools now live in one clean interface, making them easy to access, switch between, and view while looking at the map.

  • Map controls (zoom, location, layers & overlays, print, waypoint, and create route) and Map Layers menu now appear on the left side of the map and won’t obscure your view.
  • Quickly look up a map’s legend by clicking on the map source in the menu. The legend for each map layer will appear in the sidebar.
  • Added support for maps in vector format when available. Vector maps provide smoother zooming, better resolution, and support for a richer (more interactive) experience in the future.
  • Map Overlays (waypoints, public tracks, & grids) now appear at the top of the Map Layers menu instead of the bottom, so you can more quickly customize your view.
A comparison of two computer screens with old map menu in the right corner compared to the new map menu in the left side bar.

Interactive Map Details

Now you can click items directly on the map to get information about them. Learn about hikes, natural features, property boundaries, and other important landmarks.

  • Click hiking trails to learn more about distance, elevation gain and estimated time.
  • Discover campground information like fee requirements and the number of sites.
  • Click a point of interest — like a trailhead or meeting point — then copy the URL and share with friends.
  • Select natural features to learn about nearby hikes.
  • Expand public and private land boundaries for ownership information.
Point of interest icon including description of Duwee falls with link to nearby hikes.

Lightning Fast Search

The improved search bar makes finding hikes, parks, and points of interest blazing fast.

  • Search results start appearing 10x faster.
  • Results are more accurate and include a larger amount of hikes, points of interest, and parks than before
  • You can also search and save coordinates in multiple formats directly from here.
Comparison of two computer screens showing the old search bar and menu in the top of the top bar vs the left hand bar.

Customize Your Waypoints

Now you can view the details for, and quickly customize any number of waypoints directly on the map when you click on it.

  • Select a new or existing waypoint to make edits.
  • Customize your waypoint name and description.
  • Select from an expanded list of custom waypoint icons.
Screen featuring the Gaia GPS main map with new waypoint icons available.

Route Planning Improvements

Many Gaia GPS users prefer to build their snap-to-trail routes on gaiagps.com before saving them to their phone for use in the field, so we’ve made online route planning faster and easier.

  • Create out-and-back routes with overlapping route segments.
  • Build snap-to-trail routes faster.
  • Routes now have arrows indicating the direction of travel.
  • More accurate elevation profile now appears on the bottom of the screen instead of the sidebar, and is opaque – preserving screen real-estate for route planning.
Screen featuring a highlighted route on the main map with directional arrows.

Customize, Adjust, and Export Printed Maps

The new print preview screen allows you to customize paper maps with more fine-tuning options.

  • Quickly create and adjust selections before printing.
  • Ensure the entire route is captured in the print preview screen.
  • All maps include an improved magnetic declination indicator.
  • Export as a PDF and print in a higher resolution.
Two screens showing a comparison of the new versus old print preview screen. New print preview shows entire map selection and mock-up of paper map.

The Gaia GPS map team of three engineers dedicated the last nine months to overhauling gaiagps.com, with more features coming soon, too. We’ll be able to implement new features and updates faster with the improvements that we’ve already made. Upcoming projects include: improving how you manage saved data on the map, how you search and find hikes, and how you work with the map menu.

The updates to the main map aim to improve every step of your online map browsing and building experience. Try it now by opening gaiagps.com, selecting points of interest, building a route and printing the route. Test out the map and let us know what you think.

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Customize Paper Maps with Gaia GPS

by Julien Friedland
written by Julien Friedland

Customize paper maps using the new print preview screen on gaiagps.com. Now you can quickly create and adjust selections before printing and be sure that your entire route is captured and easy to read. Additionally, maps can be exported as PDFs and will print in a higher resolution with a more reliable magnetic declination indicator.

Easily Adjust Map Orientation and Size

The new printing interface allows you to see an exact mock-up of the printed map, making it easy to fine-tune your preferred orientation, and size. New border parameters enable you to click and drag the map and zoom in and out to fit the selection of your customized paper map.

Orientation: Toggle between landscape and portrait to view which orientation best fits the map selection. Swapping between different views requires fewer adjustments and makes it easy to see which orientation will be easiest to read when you’re holding the map on route.

Sizing: Choose from six printing size options ranging from letter size (8.5×11) to A2 (16.5×24). Measurements for each map size appear when making a selection, for quick reference.

New Magnetic Declination Indicator

The magnetic declination indicator has been updated to consistently appear on printed maps, no matter how close to zero your magnetic declination is. This means you can always adjust your compass to increase your accuracy while navigating.

Better Resolution and Attribution

Printed maps will now print at a higher DPI and slightly better resolution. Attribution also appears in the bottom left corner of every map, clearly defining the source of the maps data.

Learn More

To access the new print preview screen, head over to the main map at gaiagps.com. To learn more about how to print your maps –including tips on layering and adding gridlines— visit the print maps online blog post or the help center.

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Gaia GPSNew Features

Use Coordinates to Save Waypoints on gaiagps.com

by Julien Friedland
written by Julien Friedland

Search and save coordinates as waypoints on gaiagps.com. If you need to paste in coordinates from another website or type in coordinates from one of your paper maps, gaiagps.com now has you covered.

This feature is useful for all sorts of Gaia GPS users, from casual hikers to search & rescue personnel.

Now, if you paste or type in coordinates in the search box, that will both center the map, and let you save the location as a waypoint if you wish. Coordinates are recognized in many formats allowing you to easily plug in your desired locations.

The mobile app (for iOS/Android) has always allowed you to both tap the map and manually enter coordinates, and now you can do the same on the website.

Here’s an example of how to save a waypoint using UTM coordinates.

Using coordinates to make waypoints was one of the most requested features on our forums. After launching an improved version of the main map, building this feature was the next update we wanted to make. Thank you for helping us improve Gaia GPS with your feedback.

Test out the new feature and overall map page and let us know what you think.

Try it Now

For more detailed instructions and the most up-to-date information on using coordinates to save waypoints with Gaia GPS, read this help article.

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New Map Overlay: Explore Canada Trails with Gaia GPS

by Corey Buhay
written by Corey Buhay

Canada is home to 47 national parks and hundreds of provincial and territorial parks, all crossed and interconnected by world-class trails. Now, you can explore all of them with Gaia GPS.

Thanks to a new trails overlay from award-winning Canadian mapmaker Backroad Mapbooks (BRMB), the Gaia GPS map catalogue includes more detailed coverage of Canada than ever before. Whether you’re planning an expedition to the Arctic Circle, exploring the sky-splitting Canadian Rockies, or taking a day hike outside Montreal, the BRMB Canada Trails Overlay has you covered.

Color Coded for Route Planning at a Glance

The BRMB Canada Trails overlay includes over 70,000 miles of trail, including the country’s well-known behemoth, the 11,635-mile Trans-Canada Trail. All routes are color coded to indicate both their intended use and seasonal availability, making it easy to zero in on the destinations that are right for you.

Part of a Complete Package of Canada Maps

The addition of the BRMB Canada Trails overlay rounds out Gaia GPS’s existing rolodex of Canada maps. That collection includes ESRI World satellite imagery, precise contour line overlays (in both meters and feet), and the Canada Topo base map, in addition to the highly detailed Backroad Mapbooks Canada base map.

Adventurers in British Columbia can also access interactive overlays showing recent wildfires and timber cuts across the province for even more accurate route planning.

Available to Premium Members

The Backroad Mapbooks Trails overlay is available to Gaia GPS users with a Premium Membership both in the app and online at gaiagps.com. We recommend layering it atop the Backroad Mapbooks Canada base map for a complete and encyclopedic picture of the Canadian backcountry.

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Introducing Hike Search: Easily Discover and Save Hikes Anywhere in the World

by Angela Crampton
written by Angela Crampton

We’re thrilled to announce the release of a new, searchable, worldwide database of hiking routes across the Gaia GPS apps and website. The feature, called Hike Search, allows you to search through a continuously growing list of parks, forests, and trails to find the detailed information and maps of the best routes near you.

 

You may have already seen Hike Search in action if you’ve visited gaiagps.com recently, but now you can use it on the go by updating to the latest version of the Gaia GPS app.

Gaia GPS has always been a comprehensive tool for helping users find their way in the backcountry. With the release of Hike search, it’s now a tool for hike discovery, as well.

Download a Trail and Maps with One Tap

Tap the new Discover tab at the bottom of your screen to get started.

In the search bar, start typing the name of a place you want to explore. That can be a trail, national or state park, or nearby city. Filter your search by a hike’s ranking, time commitment, stars, difficulty, and length.

A Living, Breathing Catalog of Trails

The most exciting thing about Hike Search is that it’s a constantly evolving, living, breathing thing. All the hikes populating the database are sourced from Gaia GPS community data, and the more hikes Gaia GPS users record, the more known routes Hike Search will generate.

Gaia GPS Hike Search aggregates public tracks and information from the community and analyzes redundancies to determine which sections of trail are known to the outdoor community as hikes. As more people publish tracks and photos, Hike Search generates more known hikes, improving its own data and internal rankings for everything on the map.

Get Involved, Give Back to the Hiking Community

Anyone can edit pages for Parks, Cities, or Hikes—this means that crucial information is sourced directly from locals, or people who’ve experienced a hike or area firsthand. As more people add their edits and trips reports, we figure Hike Search will become the most accurate and up-to-date trail database in the world—a Wikipedia for hikes.

Read here for more information on how you can get involved.

You can also contribute to the project by marking your tracks to public to see your adventures influence the course of this new resource, or leave a Trip Report for hikes you’ve done.

We welcome your feedback. Send a note to support@gaiagps.com with any questions, or just to let us know what you think.

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Streamline Your Navigation with the Satellite Topo Base Map

by Corey Buhay
written by Corey Buhay

Combine the best features of the Gaia Topo base map with ESRI world satellite imagery on a single, easy-to-use layer. Ideal for everything from planning backcountry ski tours to scouting off-trail routes up desert washes, the new Satellite Topo map promises to become Gaia GPS’s most versatile base map yet.

The seamless marriage of satellite imagery and clear contour lines gives backcountry skiers an accurate picture of avalanche slide paths, and lets backpackers and overlanders view tree cover and slope steepness for easier campsite scouting. The combination also illuminates terrain obstacles for both climbers and hikers, making it easier to find descents and reroutes, devise new linkups, and formulate emergency exit strategies on the fly. No matter what you do, the Satellite Topo map will leave you better informed and better prepared.

What is the Satellite Topo Map?

Satellite Topo is a base map designed to combine the popular way-finding features of Gaia Topo with a high-resolution picture of the landscape. To achieve that, Gaia GPS removed the plain background from Gaia Topo. We then replaced it with high-resolution imagery from ESRI, an international supplier of geographical information and satellite photography.

The result is a network of clearly marked roads and trails, labeled terrain features, and distinct contour lines (all sourced from OpenStreetMap data) on a background that perfectly resembles the world around you. Essentially, the combination streamlines your navigational workflow by bringing the map one step closer to your reality.

How to Use it

The Satellite Topo base map is available in two versions: meters and feet. It’s accessible to Premium Members on iOS and Android platforms as well as on gaiagps.com. To use it, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Layers Menu and navigate to the Satellite Imagery catgory.
  2. Click the plus sign next to the Satellite Topo map in your preferred unit of measurement to turn it on.
  3. Slip the map beneath any of your favorite overlays in place of your existing base map.
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Plan Your Winter Adventure with the Snowfall Forecast Overlay

by Corey Buhay
written by Corey Buhay

Whether you’re chasing powder or just trying to avoid a day of postholing in two feet of fresh, the new 24-, 48-, and 72-hour Snowfall Forecast overlays make it easy to dial in your winter trip prep.

Available for both iOS users as well as on gaiagps.com, the Snowfall Forecast overlays use color-coded shading to show the expected snow accumulation. That makes it easy to plan ski trips, pick the right traction and flotation for winter hikes, and assess avalanche conditions. Just combine the Snowfall Forecast overlay with your base map of choice (and, if you’re doing avy analysis, the slope-angle shading overlay.)

Snowfall Predictions Updated Every 6 Hours

The Snowfall Forecast overlays draw data directly from the Winter Weather Desk of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Weather Prediction Center. The Winter Weather Desk uses a combination of predictive models to create its forecasts, which the National Weather Service then reviews and refines. The collaborating teams constantly refresh their models, providing updated reports every six hours.

The forecasts can accurately predict snow accumulation as far as three days (72 hours) in advance, and they cover all of the continental U.S. as well as parts of southern Canada.

How to Use the Snowfall Forecast Overlay

These overlays derive their predictions from NOAA’s probabilistic weather forecasts, which calculate the percent likelihood that a certain amount of snow will accumulate over a given time period. Gaia GPS uses NOAA’s 50th percentile forecasts. That means there’s a 50-percent chance that each shaded area will receive the indicated amount of snow accumulation during the forecast period. (This may seem low, but it gives the user the best estimate of land area likely to be affected by snow. For that reason, it’s the percentile most commonly shown on other popular forecasting sites.)

Add the Snowfall Forecast Overlay to Any Map in Gaia GPS

Available for gaiagps.com and iOS users with Premium Memberships, the Snowfall Forecast overlays can be viewed with an internet connection. Since the forecasts are always changing, they can’t be downloaded for offline use. However, when you look at the snowfall forecast in the app, your device will cache snapshots of the areas you viewed. The cached data will remain available on your device for 24 hours.

From the Map Sources menu, navigate to the Feature/Weather Overlays category. Pick the forecast overlay that suits your planning needs, and add it atop any base map. Set the transparency to between 30 and 40 percent for optimal visibility.

Check out this video for more tips on adding new map sources in the app:

A Note on Safety

Weather forecasts make great planning tools, but you should always research the terrain and alternate routes ahead of time, and cross-reference any forecast you use with several others for the most accurate predictions. And no matter what the reports say, plan for inclement weather, just in case.

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