Colorado bighorn sheep hunt districts, layered over US Topo.
Gaia GPS Premium Membership users now have access to detailed hunting map boundaries for hunt districts in many states, just in time for the fall hunting season—a huge improvement on the previous collection in Gaia GPS.
These new maps use the fruits of OpenBounds, an open data project we created as the basis for these maps. This article describes the OpenBounds project, how the project aggregates data, and how you can contribute to this ongoing effort.
To add hunt districts to the map, open the More Layers menu and look for them under the US Hunting Boundaries category. Read these Help Center articles for info about how to use layered maps on iOS and Android.
Data and Coverage Overview
The OpenBounds initiative aims to collect data for U.S. hunt district boundaries and public lands in a single repository, and share it with the world. We’ve used the hunting boundaries as the basis of the new hunting layers, which show district name or number. Gaia GPS Premium Membership currently includes hunt district boundaries for the states in red on the map below.
Map of Gaia GPS’s current hunt district boundary coverage.
Please note that Premium Membership currently offers partial species coverage for the following states.
- North Dakota (fall turkey only)
- Tennessee (huntable Tennessee Valley Authority lands only)
- Washington (all available species except deer)
We will continue to integrate data for additional species and states in the coming weeks.
How the OpenBounds Project Works
Gaia GPS sources the most current and detailed hunting data available directly from state wildlife agencies—then manages data submission and review for the project through the crowdsourced, collaborative, open source OpenBounds project on GitHub. Anyone can browse the OpenBounds data sources and processing scripts by visiting the project site.
How You Can Use the Data and Code
If you’re a developer, we invite you to explore the code. You may even want to copy the repository to make your own map or app. Mappers can also check out OpenAddresses, an open repository of high-quality, consistently-referenced address data that businesses, organizations, and individuals can use to match more than 100 million addresses to geographic coordinates. The amazing work of the OpenAddresses project inspired the OpenBounds project.
The data in OpenBounds is important to conservationists, wildlife professionals, outdoor adventurers, and many other people. We hope that, by collecting it one place, the OpenBounds project will make it easier for them to work and play. And like many other open source efforts, we hope the data can support other great tech projects.
Continued Work – You Can Help
The hunt unit boundaries will get updated on an ongoing basis. If you’d like to contribute, consider reviewing GitHub issues to see how you can help with data collection, or even work on the code.
You can also post your thoughts about the project to the Gaia GPS Community Forum, or email support@gaiagps.com with questions.
