Best offroad map app?

Yeah forgot to mention, android here, srry.

Its awesome for finding and disputing walk in access in, say, areas where YOUR PUBLIC LAND touches the side of the road.
And I dont care what kind of grazing rights rancher bob has.
Public land is public land.


I have it mounted here when Im navigating in my truck so I can see at a glance.
Another mount on my quad handles that.



You have to make your own tracks, none of this is on the mvum anymore.
Very handy for screenshotting and calling help for grabbing an antler and dragging...


The most accurate map choices for exploring my area I think.
You just have to sort thru them and find what kind of features you need, but like I said Im used to it been using it for years.
I dont need to learn another program. Nice and simple. Easy for me to use.

Even used it on an archery buck just for fun this year



Happy (blood) trails!

 

Whats in my map folder on this phone.
I have a waterproof old rugby pro android I use also later in the season.
Maps are easily transferred from phone to phone and sd card to sd card with a computer..

 

Whole key to navapps there ^^^

Pick one
Learn it
Practice practice practice

Download maps beforehand
Topo AND aerial
Study google earth

Plan your route, get tires in the dirt and boots on the ground.

Always let someone know your plan, even with multi vehicles going.

Have fun!

 

Pfft. Google Maps works for 90% of the stuff I do. All the trip planning takes place in My Maps.



Not to mention these days almost all state and national parks have georeferenced pdf maps to download.

I tried GAIA, thought it was bloated trash.

 

I usually google map the trail and print out a physical satellite image lol works pretty well

 

You're most likely not using it correct. Not saying it to be a dick, but if you want any tips DM me an I can show you a few things.

 

I use Gaia, pick your map layer and go. Usually build a route on my laptop, pretty easy.

 

I'm a fan of Gaia. Unless it's a well recognized trail, you'll have to do some extrapolating to figure it out.

 

Google Maps (at least on iOS as of a few months ago) doesn't let you access your saved routes and POI without service. Yes, you download maps for offline, but you still can't get your saved, preplanned route (which seems stupid to me).

 

You're probably right. Mostly, I just don't like how difficult it is to wade through all the shit public tracks to find something useful.

 

If you want I can show you a few tips. They normally highlight a pretty clear path. Just dm if you'd like.

Haha no offense ot everyone else, I just know you've been a part of this community for a long while and don't want to throw it up on here and have a bunch of people getting their trucks buried on trails they couldn't handle and getting stuff shut down.


The key to most of it is that trails most likely weren't built for off roading. They probably had other intentions first. So if the terrain is showing a logical path from point A to B, using a couple different maps can confirm it quickly.

For what's its worth, I use almost Zero "Trail" maps. That's the key.

 

I use gaia for a lot more than just finding 4x4 routes, here’s a few of the layers i find useful for my work and rec

 

I've tried Google Maps and my saved places/icons just come and go as they please. Zoom in, zoom out, one minute they're there, next minute, poof. I don't get it. I've tried to use Google Earth but that's pretty much just for researching at home. Lately I've tried Backcountry Navigator Pro and liked that one but recently got turned on to Gaia and purchased Premium. Gaia does a lot more but it's a bit harder to get used to. Still trying to figure out which map layers to use. I like the MVUM map layer of course, but can't figure out which other layers work together the best. Got a little frustrated with this last night. They also have a beta going you can join and the map is much more fluid/loads much faster. They'll be coming out with a major update I think soon.

 

Gaia is awesome. Has worked really well for finding local class 4 roads and potential areas of interest. I like the different map overlays and ability to tag photos to certain locations.

 

I'm curious if anyone uses HEMA Maps. The Expedition Overland crew uses it, but most others I've come across use GAIA.

 

My two favorite for general scouting.



I use 4 maps all together. I download 3 of them for trips, with the 4th one in sections in key areas. Once you find the right layers it isn't bad. Layering is also key. Like above, the right balance makes things real easy to read.


I'm a fan of the neotreks. 99% there's a path there of some sort. But it will run you into gates a lot. I'll check it with a good topo map and a national forest map. They key is you need use all the resources to paint the big picture. The app is a tool. It doesn't actually do any planning for you. That's up to you to do. Or you run into situations like this. That purple track doesn't exist.





For my trips that I go through about 24 gallons of fuel and am about 200 miles close to civilization I probably do about 2-3 hrs of research if I'm sticking to large tracks, and much more for wheeling tracks.

 

Thanks for all the info.
I decided to download the 2 favorites and give them a try. I started with Gaia, then tried the onX.
Getting to the map on Gaia was easy enough but finding a trail was not.
onX got me to the map and I found trails within minutes. Easy to understand and we are heading for one close by today if all goes well. We are still looking for trails on the Gaia. They should give a free trial period when you download it so you can see what it really does like onx does.
SO from a newbies point of view the onX is way ahead.

 

Nice. Good luck. And happy trails.

 

Years ago I had the HEMA road atlas to the US installed on my iDevices. It was nice to have a detailed, local copy of a US road atlas and I used it often in place of a paper map.

Then HEMA bricked it, no longer supporting it as iOS evolved or something. Given I'd paid for the app from a company specializing in that kind of thing, I was disappointed in their lack of support. I've quit paying attention to whatever HEMA does as a consequence.

 

I did not like it at first but has grown on me. I use it more for mapping routes but when on routes if you dl the map or have service you can find some stuff given you have the right map.