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USFS

FeaturedGaia GPSNew Maps

Quickly Find Campgrounds and Trails with the USFS Recreation Sites Map

by Corey Buhay
written by Corey Buhay

Plan trips faster with the USFS Recreation Sites overlay in Gaia GPS. This map layer clearly marks U.S. Forest Service campgrounds, trailheads, visitor centers, and other points of interest at high zoom levels, letting you view your options across an entire national forest. You can tap on a site to learn about fees, access restrictions, and more.

The USFS Recreation Sites layer receives constant updates as the USFS adds more sites to the dataset. The clear, intuitive icons stand out on just about any base map and scale as you zoom. So whether you’re trying to pinpoint a trailhead within a densely vegetated satellite image, or looking for campsites during the first stages of trip planning, this layer will help speed up your search.

National Forests Lands: Your Best Bet for Dispersed Camping

The U.S. Forest Service manages around 193 million acres of the United States as national forests and grasslands. These areas serve a wide-reaching mission statement, which encompasses conservation and research, as well as multiple-use recreation. That makes USFS land ideal for hiking, camping, trail running, skiing, and climbing, as well as fishing, hunting, and motorized vehicle use.

Dispersed camping is more likely to be permitted on USFS land than in other, more stringently protected areas. And unlike most national parks, national forests and grasslands are typically pet-friendly.

How to Use the USFS Recreation Sites Layer

The USFS Recreation Sites Layer is available with a Premium Membership across all platforms: iOS, Android, and on gaiagps.com. Add the USFS Recreation Site map by tapping the layers icon. Scroll down and select “Feature/Weather Overlays.” Select the “USFS Recreation Sites” map and tap the “Add” button.

Use the USFS Recreation Sites overlay in conjunction with the USFS Visitor map. The USFS Recreation Sites layer is more up-to-date. However, it’s a work in progress, so there may be some sites currently visible on USFS Visitor map that aren’t yet available on the USFS Recreation Sites overlay.

USFS Recreation Sites and USFS Roads and USFS Roads and Trails make another great pairing. The combination gives you a complete look at Forest Service infrastructure that you can overlay on top of any base map.

The USFS Recreation Sites overlay, paired with the USFS Roads and Trails overlay and the Satellite base map.
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Gaia GPSNew Maps

Map Updates: MVUM, and USFS Roads and Trails

by Corey Buhay
written by Corey Buhay

We’re excited to announce some great updates to two map layers from the USFS: the Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM), and the Roads and Trails layer. These updates include improvements to the style of the maps, as well as improved data.

To improve map readability, we created more polished, more compatible styles for both layers. The new styles adopts the same symbology used by the U.S. Forest Service on their PDF maps, making it easier to cross-reference your paper backups with your layered maps in Gaia GPS.

To improve the data, we re-rendered the maps to add more trails to the MVUM overlay, and added both snow-only and water-only (canoe and boating) routes to the USFS Roads and Trails layer.

Style Updates to the USFS Roads and Trails Overlay

For USFS Roads and Trails, the update declutters the map. Thoughtfully designed trail styles reduce visual overlap of nearby routes, letting you view more possibilities at a higher zoom level.

The symbology is also more intuitive. For example, a series of progressively dashed and dotted lines delineate trail accessibility by vehicle type. They’re also color-coded to distinguish snow- and water-only routes from maintained trails.

The new symbology is similar to what you might find in USFS Visitor maps, allowing you to mesh these maps together without having to reference separate legends.

Style Updates to the Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) Overlay

You’ll find similar style updates in the MVUM overlay. The result is a cleaner, more efficient navigation experience and better integration with other maps, including USFS Roads and Trails. Roads are now labeled by road ID number instead of name to better correlate with the signage you’re likely to encounter in the field.

To view map keys for either overlay, visit the Gaia GPS Map Legends page.

How to Use the MVUM and USFS Roads and Trails Maps

Both the MVUM overlay and the USFS Roads and Trails overlay are available to users with a Premium Membership. You can find them in the Feature/Weather Overlays category of the map manager.

If you’ve already downloaded the layer, delete and re-add it to see the updated styling.

We recommend using the MVUM overlay in conjunction with USFS Roads and Trails to make sure you’re looking at all the possibilities available to you. Since the maps come from different datasets, the MVUM overlay contains routes unavailable in USFS Roads and Trails, and vice versa.

These maps are transparent overlays that contain only linear features marking roads, trails, and other routes. As such, they’re best used layered over Gaia Topo, satellite imagery, or any other base map of your choice.

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FeaturedGaia GPSHuntingNew Maps

Unlock New Routes with the USFS Roads and Trails Overlay

by Corey Buhay
written by Corey Buhay

An overlay featuring backroads, forgotten trails, and brand-new routes currently unavailable on any other Gaia GPS map, USFS Roads and Trails expands your possibilities. Use it to explore the backcountry, and add it to your repertoire of tools for building the ultimate customized map.

The USFS Roads and Trails overlay displays a web of roads and trails sourced from official U.S. Forest Service data, and uses a color-coded scale to indicate how developed each road or trail is. In iOS, it’s also interactive: Tap a pathway in the app to get information on its width, surface type, and vehicle clearance requirements.

Because this layer is updated more frequently than the more expansive USFS topo maps, it’s a useful resource for discovering new trails that don’t yet exist on those maps, as well as for checking the status of old ones.

This new overlay is designed to supplement Open Street Map data with government-verified information. It’s an ideal supplement for existing Gaia GPS topo maps in addition to the USFS Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) overlay, as the USFS Roads and Trails layer is derived from a separate dataset. It therefore covers some areas unavailable on the MVUM overlay, and vice versa.

How to Use the USFS Roads and Trails Overlay

The USFS Roads and Trails overlay is available for iOS and Android users as well as on gaiagps.com. It will be updated four times per year as the USFS releases new information.

To access the layer, find it in the Feature/Weather Overlays category of the map manager. Then, add it atop any of your favorite base maps to see available routes clearly picked out against the background of your choosing. This and other detailed map layers are currently available to those with a Premium Membership.

You can find the legend below as well as on the Gaia GPS Map Legends page.

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