I got this email from a user on an search and rescue team, and I wanted to share what he said. It makes my day to hear Gaia really make a difference.
Our group S&R group was actually out this evening evacuating a snowmobiler with a broken femur from miles back off the trailhead. I am a huge proponent of your software and I think I’ve gotten at least a dozen people our team using it now. The area we were in this evening, is an area we were in last year, past midnight in a white out blizzard. It is on top of a ridge where you have to thread your way down through various rock bands without actually going off the ridge. Last year, after we found a lost snowmobiler we used my phone and your app to guide about 10 of us and the subject through the white out conditions and safely down through the rock formations while we couldn’t see more than 10 feet around us. The others with their GPS units had horrible version of topo maps, and it was too cold and windy to break out the actual maps. Using the GPS overlayed onto the actual USGS topo maps was key in getting us out safely. So, with all sincerity, thank you for this app!