New Maps

Gaia GPS Adds Bob Marshall Wilderness to National Geographic Map Layer
Gaia GPSNew Maps

Gaia GPS Adds Bob Marshall Wilderness to National Geographic Map Layer

by Nathan Copeland
written by Nathan Copeland

The National Geographic Trails Illustrated layer now includes full coverage of the Bob Marshall Wilderness in northwest Montana.

Gaia GPS Adds Bob Marshall Wilderness to National Geographic Map Layer

The Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, nicknamed “The Bob”, ranks as the fifth largest wilderness area in the continental U.S. and covers over 1 million areas of pristine alpine lakes, waterfalls, and ionic peaks like the Chinese Wall section of the Continental Divide. [1] The Bob also includes over 84 miles of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT).

Follow Gaia GPS on Facebook or Twitter to keep up to date with the all the new additions to the National Geographic Trails Illustrated layer

Gaia GPS Adds Bob Marshall Wilderness to National Geographic Map Layer

Want to check out Gaia GPS’s National Geographic Trails Illustrated layer but not a Premium Member? Subscribe to Gaia GPS Premium or Premium with Outside+ today.

[1] “Wilderness.net Wilderness Data Search page“. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
Feature photo by Sam Beebe.

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Build the Ultimate USFS Map with Gaia GPS Map Overlays
Gaia GPSHuntingNew Maps

Build Ultimate USFS Maps with Gaia GPS Map Overlays

by Nathan Copeland
written by Nathan Copeland

U.S. national forests (USFS) host a wide variety of outdoor activities from backpacking to hunting to overland excursions. The Gaia GPS suite of USFS maps and premium overlays provide the best offline maps for any of the USFS managed lands.

Learn how to add overlays to base maps for finding outdoor adventure in U.S. national forest land.

Choosing USFS base maps

USFS 2016 & USFS Classic

These two base maps provide complete coverage for all 174 national forests and grasslands. The USFS Classic and USFS 2016 layers display the topographical relief of USFS managed lands and include trails, points of interests, and USFS forest roads labels. Click here to learn more about these base maps.

GAIA GPS USFS maps

Adding national forest map overlays

A map layer is a base map used for navigation. Map overlays allow users to combine aligning coordinate systems on top of a map layer for additional information. Gaia GPS provides a way to add overlays to a map, along with an opaque scale to see multiple overlays in one instance. Check out the below overlays for a detailed mapping experience within the U.S. national forests.

USFS Timber Harvest

The Timber Harvest overlay is the most recent addition to the interactive premium overlays available in Gaia GPS. The overlay conveniently displays forest lands harvested any time since the mid-1800s. Tap on any of the green areas on the Timber Harvest layer to reveal more information like the name of the project, area logged, when the project finished, and the harvest method.

Skiers may find the overlay helpful when planning backcountry ski trips that involve navigating tree-covered slopes.

GAIA GPS USFS Timber Harvest overlay

US Wildfires

Viewing current and historical wildfires adds additional depth to the USFS Classic and USFS 2016 layers. Try combining the Timber Harvest and the US Wildfire overlays to quickly display the status of our national forests. Click here to learn more about the current and historical US Wildfires overlay.

GAIA GPS US Wildfires overlay

USFS MVUM

After finding the perfect spot for your next adventure, turn on the USFS MVUM (motor vehicle use maps) layer for extra insight on USFS road designations. This overlay color codes USFS road by approved vehicle type and tapping the roads displays more information.

GAIA GPS USFS MVUM (motor vehicle use maps) overlay

Building the ultimate forest map

Combining all or just a couple of these USFS specific overlays with the USFS base maps or Gaia Topo produces great offline maps (iOS/Android) for any activity in the national forests.

Know what to expect in terms of habitat before you start your hunt with USFS Timber Harvest and US Wildfire overlays. Check out the San Isabel National Forest in southern Colorado or the Osceloa National Forest on the Florida-Georgia line.

GAIA GPS - San Isabel National Forest in southern Colorado or the Osceloa National Forest on the Florida-Georgia line.

Already using these overlays? Let us know your favorite combination or favorite national forest on Twitter: @GaiaGPSHunting

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US Wildfire Map
Emergency ResponseGaia GPSHow-ToHuntingNew Maps

View Areas Affected by Past Wildfires in Gaia GPS

by Nathan Copeland
written by Nathan Copeland

US Wildfire Map

The Gaia GPS map catalog now includes historical wildfires in the U.S. from 2000 to 2018. The new interactive premium overlay displays wildfire areas in shades of red on the map, with more recent fires colored brighter shades of red. In the iOS app, you can tap on a fire to see the official name, year and acreage of the fire.

Find and add the new overlay by going to the Premium Maps > Feature/Weather Overlays category of the Layers Menu.

Why use the Wildfire Overlay?

Many backcountry users can make use of the new wildfire overlay.

Hunters

Don’t be surprised by a recently burned valley when you crest a ridge line on your hunts. Referencing the US Wildfires overlay with Gaia GPS can save you miles and hours of scouting.

Wildfires also create dynamic shifts in habitat quality and forage abundance for big game species. The US Wildfires overlay can also help identify these areas.

US Wildfire Map

Wildland Firefighters

Layer US Wildfires with a Satellite base map to estimate fuel loaded in previously burned areas and identify areas of new growth. You can do this out in the field while working active wildfires by downloading an offline copy of the overlay.

US Wildfire Map

Search and Rescue

The US Wildfires overlay can help identify areas of dense new undergrowth, while coordinating search efforts.

Knowing past major environmental events in an area like wildfires, also act as key planning tools for search and rescue personnel.

US Wildfire Map

Hikers

Thru-hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, and other multi-day trails throughout the U.S. will benefit from using the new overlay.

Be prepared with alternate routes, campsites, and water sources before hiking trail sections that have been affected by past wildfires.

US Wildfire Map

Premium Membership

Sign up for a Premium Membership to access the US Wildfires overlay and other interactive map layers.

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Gaia GPSHuntingNew FeaturesNew Maps

Access Private Land Data for the US with a Premium Membership

by Nathan Copeland
written by Nathan Copeland

Premium Members can now reference land ownership for the entire US, with the newly released US Private Land overlay. This new Premium overlay complements the current Public Land overlay and lets users easily view land ownership information and parcel sizes.

Gaia Topo layered with the US Private Land overlay and Public land overlay

US Private Land

The US Private Land overlay includes interactive information allowing users to tap individual parcels for ownership information, similar to the recently released USFS MVUM overlay. Please note that while Android users can also display this overlay, it is not tappable on Android.

Tapping the US Private Land overlay reveals land ownership details

The land boundaries and ownership information available within the overlay match the data published in county plat books.

Benefits of the US Private Land Overlay

Various outdoor enthusiast and professionals ranging from hunters to conservation officers and first responders can easily access information that once required multiple source as a single source with Gaia GPS.

HUNTERS

    • Planning to hunt a new area, layer the US Private Land overlay on top of the Mapbox Satellite layer and quickly scout the area and easily view the property lines.
    • Combining the US Private Land, Public Land overlays, and the state specific game management unit overlays will let you focus on the hunt and not worrying about where the big bull or buck you are stalking travels to.

      Gaia Topo layered with the US Private Land, Public land, and Colorado Big Game GMUs overlays

    • Bird hunters will also enjoy the quick access to land ownership data, whether you pursuit pheasants in South Dakota or follow the mallards down the US flyways.

      US Private Land overlay combined with the Mapbox Satellite Imagery base map

CONSERVATION OFFICERS & FIRST RESPONDERS

    • Downloading offline maps with the US Private Land overlay will benefit game wardens working with land owners in remote areas.
    • Search and rescue personnel can use Gaia GPS as a single source for coordinating search efforts in areas with multiple land owners.
    • Using both the US private land overlay and the area feature, firefighters can use Gaia GPS to complete wildfire incident reports.

      Creating an area with a base map of Gaia Topo and the US Private Land overlay

Perks of a Premium Membership

A Premium Membership lets you access all of the overlays mentioned above and more like US Shaded Relief, Slope, and Features overlays. Also included are premium map sources like the National Geographic Trails Illustrated and NeoTreks Land Use maps.

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Gaia GPSHuntingNew Maps

NeoTreks Land Use Maps Now Available

by Ashli Baldwin
written by Ashli Baldwin

Premium Members now have access to Neotreks Land Use Maps for the United States. The layer shows high-detail ownership boundaries for federal, state, local, and municipal lands, as well as private inholdings.

Consider using the map to plan your next hunting trip, RV excursion, or outdoor adventure. Layer it with Gaia Topo so you can still keep track of amenities like campsites, information centers, and parking.

To add the overlay, go to Map Sources | Edit | Premium Maps | Premium Topo Maps | NeoTreks Land Use.

The map displays detailed inholdings, trails, and hillshading.
An overview of the Neotreks Land Use Map overlay.

An Information-Packed and Attractive Resource

NeoTreks provides 100% coverage for the US. The layer’s beautiful cartography displays contours and hillshading that will help you plan your route. You can find the legend on the NeoTreks website. The map also includes more than 250,000 trails.

If you’re a Premium Member, let us know how you plan to use the map. You can post your ideas to the Gaia GPS Community Forum, or email support@gaiagps.com with questions.

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HuntingNew Maps

U.S. Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Maps Now Available

by Ashli Baldwin
written by Ashli Baldwin

Find Forest Service roads and trails to drive with the new motor vehicle use maps (MVUM) layer, a Premium Member overlay available in Gaia GPS version 1.1 for iOS.

Now you can route motorized treks in advance and navigate your way through U.S. National Forests from directly within the app. If you’re not familiar with MVUMs, consider using them using them for off-roading, finding primitive camping areas, and other adventures.

Identifying Forest Service Roads

To activate the layer, look for the Premium Maps category in the Edit maps menu, and choose Overlays. Use the overlay within areas representing U.S. National Forests.

Green lines indicate roads and trails that are open to motor vehicles year-round, yellow lines indicate use with restrictions and red indicates no motorized vehicle use.

Motor Vehicle Use Maps

Legend for Motor Vehicle Use Maps

Motor Vehicle Use Maps – An Interactive Layer

Motor Vehicle Use Maps

Motor Vehicle Use Maps layered with Gaia Topo

The overlay draws upon a new vector-based U.S. Forest Service dataset. The features within it are interactive. If you’re on iOS, just tap a road on the map to pull up information on use restrictions and access dates.

You can use a non-interactive version of the overlay on the web, on Android, and in Gaia GPS Classic. Consider layering the MVUMs with a USFS map source or Gaia Topo to see more Forest Service roads and additional context.

Help Us Improve the App

We’ve fielded many requests for motor vehicle use maps. Now that the overlay’s here, let us know what you think. You can post your thoughts on the MVUMs and other features you’d like to see to the Gaia GPS Community Forum, or email support@gaiagps.com with questions.

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App UpdatesGaia GPSHow-ToiOSNew FeaturesNew Maps

Gaia GPS with USFS Motor Vehicle Use Maps

by Ashli Baldwin
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.

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App UpdatesGaia GPSiOSNew FeaturesNew Maps

NextGen Gaia GPS, with National Geographic

by Aileen
written by Aileen

Today, we released the next generation Gaia GPS app for iOS. We’re also delighted to announce the inclusion of National Geographic Trails Illustrated maps, on iOS, Android, and gaiagps.com.

The new app is a huge leap for Gaia GPS, with tremendous technology, new maps and features, and a polished user interface. Since last September, eleven people have worked on the design, engineering, and cartography for the new Gaia GPS. The beta tester group of about 80 participants includes professional guides, long distance hikers, backcountry skiers, hunters, off-roaders, mountain-bikers, and others – a broad cross-section of the Gaia GPS community.

Try the new Gaia GPS for free:     

Beautiful Map Display

The new Gaia GPS includes a faster/smoother mapping engine. Gaia Topo and some other sources now display as ‘vector’ maps. This improvement means labels stay crisp as you zoom in/out and maps download in smaller sizes.

National Geographic Trails Illustrated

The new Gaia GPS includes an expanded map catalog, featuring National Geographic Trails Illustrated. These are the most trusted and highly-rated topographic maps available for the United States’ top outdoor destinations. They are produced and regularly updated in partnership with local land managers and experts. They include detailed topographic information, clearly marked trails, recreational points of interest, and navigational aids. We’re thrilled to include this layer with a Gaia GPS Premium Membership.

Additionally:

  • Premium Members also get access to another new source – Neotreks topo maps for the US
  • all users of the new Gaia GPS can now access MapBox Satellite, Outdoor, and Streets maps – previously restricted to premium subscribers.

Trail and Park Search

Search the map like never before in Gaia GPS.

Gaia GPS will now suggest results as you type, and the new search feature lets you find parks, trails, forests, POIs, coordinates, and addresses. You can use the same search when you discover and plan trips on gaiagps.com/map.

You can also now tap directly on map features to get more information. Get stats about trails, pictures of places, official websites for parks and trails, and more.

Slick Redesign

The new Gaia GPS app makes navigating the backcountry easier, with a streamlined interface and unified design. Every screen got some love – from login/signup, to the map, to saved data – and we polished all the little details.

The new app has tabs along the bottom for major functions, unified button icons, and refined colors/fonts/layout. You can find the controls to customize the main map view (pictured in the right screenshot) by long-pressing the fullscreen button on the map.

Free Usage Periods for Existing Users

Already have the old Gaia GPS? You get a 2-year free usage period with the new app. You can also continue to use the old app.

Additionally, existing users with “GaiaPro” subscriptions from the old app get access to the new app at no additional cost, including National Geographic and all other Premium maps.

Existing Gaia GPS users can read an FAQ about the new app here.

Try it For Free Today

Anyone can download the new iOS version of Gaia GPS today, and start a free 7 day trial. Experience the next generation of outdoor mapping.

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Screenshot of USFS 2016.
Gaia GPSHuntingNew Maps

USFS 2016 Map Now Available in Gaia GPS

by Nathan Copeland
written by Nathan Copeland

You can now access an updated version of the United States Forest Service (USFS) National Forests maps, called USFS 2016.

The USFS 2016 map source includes updated roads, road labels, and vegetation shading. We left the existing USFS Raster source, and renamed it USFS Classic, because the Classic source includes some private property boundaries not available in USFS 2016.

Both USFS sources show up in the United States section of the Gaia GPS map source collection, on iOS, Android, and gaiagps.com.

Updated roads in USFS 2016 vs USFS Classic

Updated roads in USFS 2016 vs USFS Classic

Anyone planning a backpacking, off-road vehicle, hunting, or fishing trip to any of the 154 national forests or 20 national grasslands will benefit from including the new USFS 2016 map in their list of map sources.

The USFS 2016 and USFS Classic map sources only cover national forests and grasslands, but Gaia GPS Premium Members have the option of layering either USFS map on top of Gaia Topo or USGS Topo to get a seamless nationwide map.

Layering USFS 2016 over Gaia Topo produces continuous map coverage across the US.

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Contours-Meters overlaid on the Mapbox Aerial layer.
Gaia GPSNew Maps

Contour Line Overlays in GaiaPro

by Kate Dougherty
written by Kate Dougherty
Contours-Meters overlaid on the Mapbox Aerial layer.

Contours-Meters overlaid on the Mapbox Aerial layer.

GaiaPro users can overlay base maps with worldwide contour lines in either feet or meters for additional context. You can layer the contours with any source, but will probably find them most useful when paired with satellite imagery.

Add the contour layers to the map by opening the More Layers menu, then the GaiaPro Overlays category. Read these Help Center articles for info about how to use layered maps on iOS and Android.

We also suggest you set the opacity of the contour layer to slightly less than 100% for best performance.

Optimized Contour Intervals

We styled the contours to work well across zoom levels. They first show up at zoom level 10, and render differently as you zoom in.

new-contour-source-menuContours-Feet

  • z10-11: 400 feet, no labels
  • z12-13: 200 feet, labels for every other contour
  • z14+: 40 feet, labels for every fifth contour

Contours-Meters

  • z10-11: 100 meters, no labels
  • z12-13: 50 meters, labels for every other contour
  • z14+: 10 meters, labels for every fifth contour

Use the Same Great Data in New Ways

We originally created the contours for the Gaia Topo project, then extracted them from that source to create two new, separate overlays with transparent backgrounds.

Both the feet and meters overlays use the same source data—digital elevation models (DEMs) including Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) topo data, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Mission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)’s Global Digital Elevation Model, and the U.S. National Elevation Dataset (NED).

Help Improve the Layers

We plan to continue improving the contours over time. You can help by reporting errors like missing or incorrect data at https://tileslicing.gaiagps.com/preview/contours-meters/ or https://tileslicing.gaiagps.com/preview/contours-feet/.

As always, feel free to email support@gaiagps.com if you have any questions or feedback.

 

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