Gaia GPS
  • 7-Day Free Trial Gaia GPS Premium
  • Out and Back Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Everything You Need to Know About Satellite Communicators

      December 1, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Avoid Another Deadly Avalanche Season

      January 21, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Avalanche Safety with Snow Science Expert Bruce Tremper

      November 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Planning a Thru-Hike Next Year? Here’s What You…

      October 21, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      A Definitive Guide to the Best Camp Coffee

      September 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Owls and UFOs with Ultralight Expert Mike Clelland

      September 9, 2021

  • Offroad Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Cook Marco Hernandez’s Mouthwatering Camp Meals

      January 25, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Monique Song: How a City Girl Became the…

      April 7, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      TrailRecon Explains How to Become an Overlander Overnight

      March 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Stay Married on a Long-Distance Adventure

      February 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Go From ‘Desk to Glory’ in…

      January 12, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

  • Adventures
    • User Stories
  • Activities
    • Backcountry Skiing
    • Boating
    • Emergency Response
    • Fishing
    • Offroading
  • New Features
    • Gaia GPS

      Our Favorite New Maps and Features

      December 23, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      OpenSnow Weather Now Available at-a-Tap on the Map

      November 9, 2022

      Backcountry Skiing

      Find the Deepest, Lightest Powder with the Snow…

      November 8, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      New Edit Tools: Creating Your Own Routes Just…

      September 1, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Top 10 Ways to Use Waypoints

      August 30, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Meet Map Packs: A Totally New Way to…

      May 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Discover & Reserve Campsites Right From Gaia GPS

      February 22, 2022

  • New Maps
    • Backcountry Skiing

      New! Find Backcountry Skiing in Gaia Winter Map

      January 11, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Our Favorite New Maps and Features

      December 23, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Spy Avalanche Terrain with Higher Res Slope Angle…

      December 14, 2022

      Backcountry Skiing

      Find the Deepest, Lightest Powder with the Snow…

      November 8, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Activate Snow Mode with Gaia Winter

      October 26, 2022

      Adventures

      Take a Trip to Baja California with Nat…

      September 13, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia Overland: One Map to Rule Them All

      May 24, 2022

  • Home
Gaia GPS
  • 7-Day Free Trial Gaia GPS Premium
  • Out and Back Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Everything You Need to Know About Satellite Communicators

      December 1, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Avoid Another Deadly Avalanche Season

      January 21, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Avalanche Safety with Snow Science Expert Bruce Tremper

      November 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Planning a Thru-Hike Next Year? Here’s What You…

      October 21, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      A Definitive Guide to the Best Camp Coffee

      September 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Owls and UFOs with Ultralight Expert Mike Clelland

      September 9, 2021

  • Offroad Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Cook Marco Hernandez’s Mouthwatering Camp Meals

      January 25, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Monique Song: How a City Girl Became the…

      April 7, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      TrailRecon Explains How to Become an Overlander Overnight

      March 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Stay Married on a Long-Distance Adventure

      February 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Go From ‘Desk to Glory’ in…

      January 12, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

  • Adventures
    • User Stories
  • Activities
    • Backcountry Skiing
    • Boating
    • Emergency Response
    • Fishing
    • Offroading
  • New Features
    • Gaia GPS

      Our Favorite New Maps and Features

      December 23, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      OpenSnow Weather Now Available at-a-Tap on the Map

      November 9, 2022

      Backcountry Skiing

      Find the Deepest, Lightest Powder with the Snow…

      November 8, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      New Edit Tools: Creating Your Own Routes Just…

      September 1, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Top 10 Ways to Use Waypoints

      August 30, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Meet Map Packs: A Totally New Way to…

      May 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Discover & Reserve Campsites Right From Gaia GPS

      February 22, 2022

  • New Maps
    • Backcountry Skiing

      New! Find Backcountry Skiing in Gaia Winter Map

      January 11, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Our Favorite New Maps and Features

      December 23, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Spy Avalanche Terrain with Higher Res Slope Angle…

      December 14, 2022

      Backcountry Skiing

      Find the Deepest, Lightest Powder with the Snow…

      November 8, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Activate Snow Mode with Gaia Winter

      October 26, 2022

      Adventures

      Take a Trip to Baja California with Nat…

      September 13, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia Overland: One Map to Rule Them All

      May 24, 2022

  • Home

The 9 Most Popular Hiking Maps in Gaia GPS

by Angela Crampton June 22, 2018
by Angela Crampton June 22, 2018
Get these maps and hundreds more on your phone with a Gaia GPS Membership. Click here to get 10-40% off.

Start navigating trails near you this summer with the 9 most popular hiking maps in Gaia GPS.

Every map contains unique characteristics that offer different tools for navigation. Some show distance grids or points of interest, while others heavily focus on features like land shading, topographic information, and elevation. The maps you choose can play different roles in hike planning and preparation.

For a refresher course on reading a map, check out How to Read a Topo Map.

Add and View New Map Sources

First, watch below for a quick review on how to find and add more map sources in Gaia GPS for iOS. If you use an Android device, click here to watch an Android specific tutorial.

The Most Popular Hiking Maps

Gaia GPS offers over 250 maps in total. The below hiking-specific maps get added more often than any other hiking sources.

Get access to Standard and Premium maps with up to a 20% discount on a Gaia GPS Membership when you purchase on the website.

Gaia Topo

Available for free to all users, Gaia Topo provides a worldwide topographic map based on OpenStreetMap, styled like USGS topographic maps. Gaia Topo offers a functional and beautiful worldwide map with extraordinary detail at all scales and comes optimized for display on mobile devices.

Available in both feet and meters, the map also prominently depicts peak elevations, points of interest, parks, campgrounds and more.

Gaia Topo hiking map

USGS Topo

USGS Topo illustrate classic topographic maps for the U.S., from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS prints wider index contour lines for easy visibility, and typically measures maps in feet. Contour intervals vary by map, depending on the area’s relief.

Often referred to as quadrangle maps, the most used USGS topographic maps have a scale of 1:24,000 and cover 7.5 minutes of longitude by 7.5 minutes of latitude. The quads get scanned into digital files and seamed together into one continuous quilt, making them potentially less crisp and clear than modern topographic maps based on OpenStreetMap (OSM).

Learn how to read a USGS Topo map. Available with Standard Membership.

Gaia GPS USGS Topo hiking map

NatGeo Trails Illustrated

One of the most trusted and popular recreation maps available for the United State’s favorite outdoor destinations. The National Geographic Trail Illustrated maps include detailed topographic information, clearly marked trails, recreational points of interest, and navigational aids.

The Gaia GPS team has worked hard at adding more National Geographic maps to the catalog since the first release. New long-distance trail maps like the Appalachian Trail and John Muir Trail gives thru-hikers access to maps on their smartphone. Available with Premium Membership.

Gaia GPS National Geographic Trails Illustrated hiking map

World Imagery

Created by ESRI, the World Imagery base map provides satellite and aerial views of the world. Most people who use maps to navigate understand the importance of using satellite imagery to get an understanding of what the terrain looks like. Satellite maps make exploring a little simpler than using a contour map alone. Make sure to research when the satellite images were last updated. Available with Premium Membership.

Gaia GPS World Imagery hiking map

US Shaded Relief

The World Shaded Relief overlay from ESRI provides worldwide coverage and when combined with Gaia GPS base maps, produces a topographical map with 3-dimensional (3D) styling. Pair US Shaded Relief overlay to your favorite topographic map and adjust the transparency for map details. Available with Premium Membership.

Gaia GPS US Shaded Relief hiking maps Gaia GPS US Shaded Relief hiking maps

NeoTreks Land Use

The layer shows high-detail ownership boundaries for federal, state, local, and municipal lands, as well as private inholdings. NeoTreks Land Use display topographic maps for the U.S. with land cover detail and hillshading. The map marks more than 250,000 trails. Available with Premium Membership.

Gaia GPS NeoTreks Land Use hiking maps

Canada’s Backroad Mapbooks

Backroad Mapbooks’ award-winning map source provides a dynamic scale topographic base map for all areas of Canada. The map includes road networks for all major highways and freeways, arterial, collector and residential roads. It also includes industry and resource backroads and winter access.

In addition to roads, the maps include elevation contours with hillshading, land and water features, and other land uses such as parks, conservation and wilderness areas, recreation areas, Crown Land and Public Land Use Zones, First Nations Reserves, Department of National Defense Lands and more. Available with Premium Membership.

Gaia GPS Backroads Mapbooks hiking maps

SwissTopo

SwissTopo details beautiful handmade cartography. SwissTopo features elevation shading and contour lines, and emphasizes peak and range names. These maps of Switzerland are perfect for hiking, skiing, and planning trips in the Alps. Available with Premium Membership.

Gaia GPS SwissTopo hiking maps

France IGN Topo

Similar to USGS topos, France IGN Topo maps provide beautiful, accurate, hand-drawn maps. Maps include points of interest, landmarks, contours, roads, and huts (or rifugio). The contour details allow outdoor enthusiasts to explore the various mountain ranges within France, along with navigating city sights and roads. Available with Premium Membership.

Gaia GPS France IGN Topo hiking maps

Check out a complete list of Gaia GPS maps and overlays here.

Before You Go Hiking

After testing all the maps, don’t forget to create a route to follow, download the map offline, or print a paper copy before you start your hike.

Gaia Mapshiking
0
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Angela Crampton

Angela lives in the Pacific Northwest and has a hard time staying in one place. As a hiker, climber, skier, and mountaineer, Angela continues to add to her outdoor experiences. If she's not outside, you can find her knitting, sampling microbrews, and writing for https://angelatravels.com, her outdoor travel blog.

previous post
Gaia GPS Welcomes 5 New Team Members
next post
Advanced Trail and Park Search in Gaia GPS Android Update v7.0.8

You may also like

How to Plan a Backcountry Ski Tour with...

January 26, 2023

Cook Marco Hernandez’s Mouthwatering Camp Meals

January 25, 2023

New! Find Backcountry Skiing in Gaia Winter Map

January 11, 2023

How to Get Started Overlanding

January 9, 2023

Our Favorite New Maps and Features

December 23, 2022

2022 Mapped: Gaia GPS Year in Review

December 22, 2022

Spy Avalanche Terrain with Higher Res Slope Angle...

December 14, 2022

How to Use Maps to Help Avoid Avalanches

December 14, 2022

How to Find a Christmas Tree Using Gaia...

December 1, 2022

Everything You Need to Know About Satellite Communicators

December 1, 2022

Keep in touch

Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

Popular Posts

  • 1

    How to Read Topographic Maps

    July 1, 2021
  • 2

    How to Download an Entire State Map with Gaia Topo

    August 19, 2021
  • 3

    How to Save Phone Battery Life in the Backcountry

    March 25, 2021
  • 4

    Using Gaia GPS to Find Free Camping in National Forests

    March 9, 2022
  • 5

    Unlock Adventure with Gaia GPS on Outside+

    September 30, 2021

Categories

  • Adventures
  • Android
  • App Comparisons
  • App Updates
  • Backcountry Skiing
  • Boating
  • Company News
  • Emergency Response
  • Featured
  • Fishing
  • Gaia GPS
  • Gaia GPS Offroad Podcast
  • GaiaCloud
  • Hikes
  • How-To
  • Hunting
  • iOS
  • New Features
  • New Maps
  • Newsletter
  • Offroading
  • Out and Back Podcast
  • User Profiles
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • RSS

@2022 - All Right Reserved. Gaia GPS


Back To Top