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Gaia GPS

USFS 2016 Map Now Available in Gaia GPS

by Nathan Copeland December 19, 2016

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

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.

December 19, 2016

Featured Gaia GPS User Profiles

Gaia GPS User Profile – Jonathan Preuss

by Maggie Wallace November 16, 2016

written by Maggie Wallace

As he drove home from a rock climbing adventure earlier this year, backcountry guide and SAR volunteer Jonathan Preuss received an emergency call for a hiker lost on Devil’s Bedstead East. “I … saw the search come in, pulled up my Gaia app, made sure I had that map saved, and turned around and went back to the trailhead.”

A helicopter flew by shortly after the call and spotted the missing hiker, but by that point, Preuss had already started up the trail. The ability to quickly access digital maps from a mobile device allows Search and Rescue volunteers like Preuss to respond quickly and more accurately than ever before.

All in a Day

Preuss works as a ski, alpine, and rock-climbing guide for Sun Valley Trekking and Sawtooth Mountain Guides in Idaho’s Sawtooth National Forest. “It’s not the typical Monday through Friday job,” said Preuss, in which a day of work can mean 4 hours of setting up ropes on a rock wall, or guiding a 10 to 15 hour trip over 12,662-foot Mount Borah, the “Everest of Idaho.” Facing everything from altitude sickness to shifting weather patterns, an Idaho mountain guide’s ability to change plans quickly can make all the difference.

“With ski guiding, you could go out there and have a plan to go to a certain run or two,” Preuss said, but when conditions change, “You gotta make a change on the go.” For this reason, Preuss keeps multiple overlays and maps loaded on Gaia for the area he’s touring that day.
Preuss approaching the CMC face of Mt. Moran in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

Technology’s New Role in Risk Management

For those working in the backcountry without access to phone service, solid preparation allows for flexible decision making. “Being a guide also means a lot of research… we have to have a tour plan for everything,” said Preuss, who downloads and studies maps on Gaia GPS to prepare for his day. Ski guiding, he uses the satellite imagery to get an overhead view of the terrain above tree line. Hiking and trail running, he maps his routes ahead of time. “I’m constantly selling Gaia to clients because they just don’t realize it exists. They think you have to go out and buy a GPS,” Preuss said, referring to a recent shift in navigation preferences in the outdoor industry.
Preuss short-roping a client during an American Mountain Guide Association Ski Guide Course going up Mount Sneffels (14,157′) in the San Juan mountain range of Colorado.

“It’s always good to have a hard copy of a map anyways in case your phone doesn’t work or runs out of battery, but it kind of takes a short cut to be able to load it in your phone and just go with it,” Preuss said, adding that new technology can help with risk assessment and avalanche prediction, “There’s some people out there, they’re just using very old knowledge and it is very important for the ski industry because the avalanche studies every year change.”

Avalanches can occur on ski slopes from 30 to 55 degrees. Preuss explains, “38 degrees is the most triggered slope – which is black diamond terrain, so it’s the terrain everyone wants to go ski.” For this, Gaia offers the Caltopo slope angle overlay – a color-coded guide for the angle of a slope – so skiers know where they need to be more cautious.

After three years of working with the Idaho SAR team, Preuss has personally witnessed the life-and-death repercussions of backcountry mistakes. Last year, Preuss participated in a month-long SAR for another hiker who went missing on Devil’s Bedstead East. “He went up this ridge line that’s not the usual way to get up. It has some fifth class climbing and he was by himself,” said Preuss. With his SAR team, Preuss later located the body and sent GPS coordinates to the sheriff’s office.

Preuss digging a snow cave and reading the snowpack for avalanche hazard in the Smoky Mountains of the Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho.

The Takeaway: Preparation

Whether he’s searching for a lost hiker, guiding clients, or backcountry skiing with friends, Preuss stays prepared with the right equipment, maps, and planning. “You never leave without an avalanche beacon, your shovel to dig someone out, and a probe to find them,” Preuss explains, adding “And if I didn’t have my Gaia app … I would feel naked. It’s that important to me.”

Learn more about Jonathan Preuss and support his American Mountain Guide Association Certification through his website, http://www.jpadventures.com/

November 16, 2016

Android App Updates Gaia GPS

Snap-to-Trail Routing and Updated Statistics in Gaia GPS v6.6 for Android

by Ashli Baldwin November 15, 2016

written by Ashli Baldwin

Gaia GPS v6.6 for Android introduces Snap-to-Trail routing mode and includes a big improvement to how statistics get calculated for recorded tracks.

Automatically Route Along A Trail

Snap-to-Trail routing lets you plot a route along any trail using OpenStreetMap based maps like Gaia Topo and OpenHikingMap HD.

You can also plan your route using the Snap-to-Trail feature on gaiagps.com and seamlessly sync routes between all of your devices.

Choose between 4 different routing modes: hiking, cycling, driving, and manual. View a live elevation profile as you create your route and change your map layers during routing to help with planning. Easily toggle between Topo and Satellite Imagery, or other map sources.

Advanced Track Recording Statistics

Improved statistics for track recording gives you more accurate measurements and improves accuracy of statistics on the website, too. To read more about the statistics improvement, read this blog. Please note that statistics in the app may still vary slightly between the Android app and website, but they should be pretty close – the website and app use the same underlying data, but slightly different algorithms right now.

You can read the full release notes here: http://updates.gaiagps.com/android/android_6.6.0.html

Email us at support@gaiagps.com with any questions. If you have a feature request, consider posting your thoughts to the Gaia GPS Community Forums.

November 15, 2016

Android App Updates Gaia GPS iOS

Improved Statistics in Gaia GPS for iOS, Android and gaiagps.com

by Ashli Baldwin November 9, 2016

written by Ashli Baldwin

Gaia GPS now estimates track stats more accurately, and the stats match across the platform, on iOS, Android, and gaiagps.com.

We say “estimate” because raw GPS data includes precision errors that no amount of science and algorithms can totally correct, but co-founder Anna Johnson has done a lot of research, empirical analysis of data, and experimentation to make Gaia GPS stats estimates reflect reality as much as possible.

Improved and Expanded

In the past, Gaia GPS on iOS had the best statistics calculations, using the most sophisticated methods to throw out erroneous readings and filter streams of data. Users noticed discrepancies between stats reported on iOS and gaiagps.com, and even more so between stats on Android and gaiagps.com.

For this round of work, Anna both improved the stats on iOS, and then made the other parts of the platform calculate stats in the same way. This results in better and more consistent stats everywhere.

Update to Gaia GPS 10.9.2 for iOS, or version 6.6 for Android to get the improved algorithms. You can read the full release notes here: http://updates.gaiagps.com/

Gaia GPS Track Statistics Page on iOS, Android and gaiagps.com

Feedback Welcome

As noted above, and in our article on the why GPS recordings differ from reality, no algorithm will work perfectly for all data, and also some GPS chips work better than others. Some people will still find that they don’t agree with the stats as reported, when comparing them to values they find on maps, signs, or other GPS programs.

But regardless, we welcome feedback on Gaia GPS stats, and we can continue to analyze more data and find better methods to improve the stats. Email support@gaiagps.com with any questions or comments. If you’d like to report a stats discrepancy, include a link to your track on gaiagps.com.

November 9, 2016

App Updates Gaia GPS

How to Edit Waypoints on gaiagps.com

by Ashli Baldwin November 8, 2016

written by Ashli Baldwin

You can now reposition your existing waypoints on gaiagps.com. Easily edit the waypoint name, too — choose from an automatically generated list of names, or give it a custom one.

From the waypoint details page, click “edit waypoint”
Click and drag to reposition the point
Edit the waypoint name in the left hand menu, or click the dropdown for a list of choices
Select ‘save’ to finish editing

After editing the waypoint, open Gaia GPS on your iPhone or Android and changes will automatically sync over. If you don’t have automatic sync enabled, you can trigger the sync or enable automatic syncing from the Settings menu.

Email support@gaiagps.com with any questions or comments.

November 8, 2016

Gaia GPS

Meet Nathan Copeland – Gaia GPS Adventure Support Team

by Nathan Copeland October 31, 2016

written by Nathan Copeland

Nathan joined Gaia GPS in October 2016 as a part of the Communications Team, to support Gaia GPS users and write technical documentation. Nathan has a deep background in modern mapping, and a lifelong love of the outdoors, which will benefit the Gaia GPS community greatly.

Prior to Gaia GPS, Nathan spent five years with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation as a Fisheries Technician. His work spanned creating sampling maps, surveying fish populations, and analyzing and archiving field data.

Nathan and his wife reside among the waving wheat of Oklahoma and have become avid Gaia GPS users as they document their wilderness-focused road trips around the US. So far they have visited 38 states and visited most of the national parks in the Western US. Nathan also enjoys using Gaia GPS for planning road trips to explore new trails and discover places.

Nathan can pop up anywhere on the weekends, with adventures ranging from the elite wave of an obstacle course race, chasing white bass on the river, hiking trails in the woods, or throwing heavy stuff at a Scottish highland games.

Nathan Copeland, Adventure Support Team

October 31, 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

Adventures Emergency Response Featured Gaia GPS User Profiles

Gaia GPS Assists in Backcountry Rescue

by Ruthie Irvin October 11, 2016

written by Ruthie Irvin

Wood River Fire & Rescue execute a rescue mission using Gaia GPS

From Dispatch to Planning

On June 13, 2016, three fire departments responded to a technical rescue in the Wood River Fire & Rescue service area in Idaho. The patient had tendon damage from falling, as well as some broken leg bones. The injury happened in the backcountry, but Wood River’s extraction team knew the general area—west flank of Kelly Mountain—and headed out immediately.

The victim’s spouse shared a set of GPS coordinates, but the team received them on the road, with no access to the internet for planning. Fortunately, two people on the initial rescue team had the Gaia GPS app on their devices, with downloaded maps for recreational backcountry skiing in the area. After inputting the coordinates, they could study the maps in Gaia to answer questions like, “How close can we get by road?” and “What’s the best approach for access?”

On their way to the location, the Hasty team (first group sent on a rescue, to determine patient’s condition and plan the overall rescue) received a set of updated coordinates, which they then mapped in Gaia GPS. The update didn’t add up—the new location added 10 minutes of flight time to the rescue, which indicated a drastic error. “We know these aren’t the right coordinates because I can see this isn’t anywhere near where these people said they were,” Bass Sears said of the erroneous points.

Since the hikers frequently adventured in the area, the team knew to stick with the initial Kelly Mountain spot. Review of the dispatch calls later revealed that a simple switch between Degrees Decimal Minutes and Decimal Degrees coordinates accounted for the issue.

The rescue team knew something seemed wrong with an “updated” set of coordinates (Shown on Gaia Topo in feet)

The Rescue

Stokes litter: a stretcher designed specially for use around obstacles

Once the Wood River team reached the injured patient, they established a need to carry them via a Stokes litter, and descend 1500 vertical feet to the nearest dirt road that was accessible by air transport. The silence of their initial ascent quickly filled with tons of chatter about the terrain, the maneuvers required to successfully complete the rescue, and radio traffic.

A team of 12-14 people assigned to the rescue on foot, only 2 of them paid full-time employees, worked together to deliver the patient to safety. Sears said that even an hour or two planning for the rescue would have eliminated airlift assistance that day, but using coordinates and Gaia GPS to develop their plan meant the difference. After 6-8 hours of transport, and four helicopter loads of rescue equipment and personnel dropped at the staging area, they safely delivered the patient to the air ambulance.

Emergency responders rest after a job well done

The Power of Preparation

GPS technology changed emergency response work forever, but SAR and Fire departments can’t provide expensive standalone GPS units to the thousands of volunteers across the country—that’s where Gaia GPS comes in. At the end of last year, Gaia GPS started a pilot program to share the app and GaiaPro subscriptions free to emergency volunteers, like wildland firefighters and search & rescue responders. In the last 10 months, over 1,000 people have received this powerful navigation tool at no cost, and gone on to use it in their lifesaving work.

Sears cautions that GPS technology also serves a major purpose for the victim of an accident saying, “If you know where you are when you need to get rescued, it’s going to happen a lot faster.”

If you have questions about how Gaia GPS can help keep you safe in the backcountry, write to us at support@gaiagps.com for more information.

October 11, 2016

Gaia GPS

Cumulative Stats and Improved UI for Folders on gaiagps.com

by Ashli Baldwin October 6, 2016

written by Ashli Baldwin

Check out gaiagps.com for a completely redesigned folders interface, which enables hierarchical drilldown, search, and multi-select edit features for folder contents. To top it off, folders also now show cumulative stats for contents, something folks have often requested since folders launched on iOS, Android, and gaiagps.com earlier this year.

Cumulative Stats

View total distance, time, and ascent for every item in a folder.

Search

Search for data within a folder. No more searching for a waypoint in a haystack.

Nested Layout

Drill down into sub-folders with ease. From the folder details page, click individual folder names to navigate to their contents, or click the parent folder name to return to it.

Organize Efficiently

The redesign also allows you to edit individual items directly from a folder page. Click the down arrow to the right of an item to access a sub-menu that allows you to rename the item, toggle the sync, or toggle public visibility.

Feedback Welcome

Many of the changes made to folders on gaiagps.com came from user requests on the Gaia GPS Community Forums. You can participate in the forums by adding new feature requests, and commenting or voting on existing ones.

Please email support@gaiagps.com with any questions or comments.

October 6, 2016

Contours-Meters overlaid on the Mapbox Aerial layer.

Gaia GPS New Maps

Contour Line Overlays in GaiaPro

by Kate Dougherty October 5, 2016

written by Kate Dougherty

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.

Contours-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.

October 5, 2016

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