The average hiker doesn’t need a smartphone to make the outdoor experience complete â€" after all, we got along without them just a few years ago.
But a smartphone is a terrible thing to waste, and some of the apps designed for hikers are impressive and pack features that are informative and fun to use.
For the past week I’ve been tinkering around with a variety of apps that do everything from find a trail you haven’t hiked to linking you up with like-minded outdoors people for group discussions and treks. Many apps let you record your hikes, adding photos and descriptions; some feature high resolution topographic and other maps readable even on the smartphone’s small screen, that you can download and read offline.
There are free versions of most of the apps listed here, some with reduced functionality.
A word of warning. the apps use the global positioning feature of most smartphones, but leaving them on during a hike will drain your phone’s battery. It’s best to turn them on now and then, for example when you mark a waypoint, snap a photo, check your route or see how many miles you’ve gone.
the outdoor app world is rapidly evolving, and some popular ones have been absorbed by others. here are six that have received high marks from various reviewers and are used by millions of people.
The first one that caught my attention is NeoTreksGPS for iPhone and iPad with an annual subscription for $29.99, now on sale for $19.99. Mophie bundles a version of NeoTreksGPS for free with its battery life extender case.
Outdoor app afficionados may know this one as AccuTerra, which was taken over last year by Denver-based NeoTreks. This app has 5 million square miles of unique recreation maps and covers the entire United States. There’s a European version called AccuTerra Europe.
Different colors on the map tell you if a trail is in a national park, state trust land or private land. I bought the app and searched for Yosemite, activating a grid feature to download grid sections that I needed. Trailheads, peaks, campgrounds, and other features are marked with icons that reveal useful information.
Then there’s Trimble Outdoors Navigator available free for iPhone and Android phones. A “Pro†version with full access to MyTopo Maps is coming soon for $4.99. A free version of MyTopoMaps for iPad is also available.
Produced by a division of Sunnyvale GPS company Trimble, this app has 68,000 high quality, searchable maps of the United States and Canada from MyTopoMaps, which Trimble acquired last year. it also has street, aerial and terrain maps from a variety of sources, and includes a compass.
You can mark way points to the map, take geo-tagged photos and videos and key them to your route, and share your trips on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TrimbleOutdoors.com. Navigator comes with a cloud account for storing trips. This is the technology behind Backpacker Magazine’s Backpacker Pro app.
I downloaded an app called GaiaGPS that was recommended by my ranger nephew Dennis. for iPhone, iPad and Android devices, GaiaGPS sells for $9.99 during a spring sale. A simpler version with just topo maps is $4.99 on sale.
Created by TrailBehind of Berkeley, which was founded by a couple with tech backgrounds and a love of the outdoors, this app uses very high resolution, searchable U.S. Geological Survey topographic and aerial maps. There are added layers from the U.S. Forest Service, OpenStreetMap and others.
Coming soon is the ability to stack multiple layers of maps, merging aerial photos and forest service maps with topo maps, for example. A neat feature is a digital compass in a small window at the top of the screen. Prominent features such as lakes, rivers, mountains and domes are identified by icons. You can record your trips and save altitude profiles, distance, pace and photos. the Gaia software platform is also used by apps for Burning Man, aviation charting, boating and whale conservation.
There are a plenty of trails near where I live that I haven’t hiked and some I’ve never heard of. EveryTrail, free for iPhone and Android, and EveryTrail Pro for $3.99, found a bunch of them for me.
The app is produced by Palo Alto-based GlobalMotion, which was acquired in February 2011 by the popular travel site TripAdvisor. EveryTrail’s Pro version lets you download maps and gives unlimited access to thousands of hiking, walking and biking trip guides written by members. the maps are from Google (GOOG) and OpenStreetMap. EveryTrail is the technology behind CalParks, the California State Parks Foundation park guide, and North Face’s Trailhead,
It quickly found some great hikes nearby â€" I could specify how far away I wanted to drive to reach them â€" and then called up a map with driving directions. I selected the big Basin Waterfall and McAbee Loop in the Santa Cruz Mountains to see photos, a lengthy description of the trail and other goodies.
For the socially inclined, there are apps such as the free AllTrails for iPhone and Android that let you share your experiences and link up with other people. As a member, you record your hikes, get recommendations on trails from other members, join group hiking events, and find experts on different activities.
AllTrails, headquartered in San Francisco, lists about 10,000 events a month across the United States It’s about 80 percent focused on hiking at this point, the company says, but activities like mountain biking and kayaking are included, and others will be added in the near future. AllTrails recently launched Trails Illustrated, which for a $49.99 a year subscription gives you access to National Geographics park maps in digital form.
MapMyHike, free for the iPhone and Android phones (or $2.99 for an ad-free version) is a fitness oriented social app for “runners, cyclists, walkers, and other fitness enthusiasts†from MapMyFitness. it displays a hike or workout by measuring calories burned, real time speed and distances, pace and other metrics of interest to runners, cyclists and hikers. There are connections to discussion forums and community groups and event listings.
There are lots of other apps worth investigating for weather conditions, turning your phone into a flashlight and compass, or identifying birds, butterflies, animal scat and constellations in the night sky. other apps teach you how to tie knots and advise you on what gear to bring on an outing.
Contact Pete Carey at 408-920-5419
Apps for hikers: Smartphones find their place in the great outdoors [1]
Links
- ^ Apps for hikers: Smartphones find their place in the great outdoors (www.contracostatimes.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment