Best online map service.

For planning outings, studying the terrain, and getting maps for your mobile device (Phone)

This blog text is only about planning in a home office, van, or another place with internet access. I am not talking about stand-alone apps on the phone or how to plan with paper maps. Those will be subjects for another blog. Also, I will be mentioning easy ways to transfer plans to a phone, but there are numerous other ways. This will be an example of one of them.

In this blog, I am talking a little bit about features and my preferred planning service. This is not an introduction to planning just for the tools.

Preface

Well, I know why you are here! To find the best online planning service out there. I can save you time and tell you the situation in November 2022, in my opinion (these services develop fast, and new ones might be there that I have not found) the most usable and best feature selection is in CALTOPO, www.caltopo.com. Out of all planning programs, I always gravitate to it, and their product management has done an unbelievably good job keeping the user interface layered, so you do not need to master all the features if you use it occasionally. Still, many advanced features are accessible easily when you feel ready and need them.

WARNING:

Studying maps on your home/office/school computer is an entry-level drug that leads to more time wasted on digital outdoors and leads to lack of sleep, lost income, severed family ties, and in most severe cases, all free time spent outdoors, and money spent on outdoor gear. Other symptoms include unemployment, losing weight, homelessness, divorce, living in the van, and smelling bad. I shall not be held responsible for any of these symptoms!

Essential planning features.

Most basic things when planning are:

Identifying terrain
Finding a safe and efficient route through it (and braking route in the legs)
Figuring out how long the route (or each leg) will take
Coming out with an alternative plan(s) in case conditions are not as expected or in case of an accident.

Below are examples of these features.

Identifying terrain.

This is is map use at its basic. How the real world will look once we get there? All service providers give you an idea, but it comes down to map layers. Google Earth is very good for showing what kind of terrain is in question, is there a talus field or bush waking for hours? Google earth can even reveal where to expect crevasses on the glacier. What is really the strength of Google earth is being able to look at the horizon in the detail whilst planning and memorizing landmarks in the mountains. However, Google Earth has a Risk of going seriously wrong due to inaccuracies of satellite data (Caltopo is updating altitude data to Lidar and has better resolution). Example of a problem below.

IRL blue line is 5.7 climbing, Redline traverses a vertical wall to a route called Syke's Sickle 5.10 and tops to the ridgeline wherefrom the yellow line continues about 4th class scrambling. One can see how much trouble one can get into with planning for rugged mountains with only Google earth and a bottle of red wine! Whilst I can make nice route plans with google earth, and get distances and altitude profiles I think Google Earth is best left for looking at sceneries... The same area below was captured from Fatmaps. Fatmaps might have fewer features for planning than Caltopo but in Europe, Fatmaps has almost as much content for adventures as mountainproject, hikingproject, and powderproject combined.

OnX maps aim to be something between Fatmaps and Caltopo. They have enough crowd-sourced data about hiking, skiing, climbing, and any outdoor pursuit because they own mountain project, in fact, all projects from hiking to powder. If they can only bring that data to OnX, build good usability, and have the right features, they will have a winning combination. However, it seems like they are currently focused on other areas. The last time I saw a real development in solution was the previous year, although OnX has received massive funding (At the same time, Caltopo has improved the phone app, added weather stations, etc... However, below the same area is seen in the hybrid mode of OnX; in my opinion, of all the layers in OnX, this is clearest for looking at the terrain. Except, of course, slope angle shading for snow safety. (EDIT 2022 December. OnX partnered with Beacon Guidebooks and is giving subscribers this material as a bonus. This material is more reliable than group-sourced and makes Onx much more desirable! )

Looking at the same terrain in Caltopo we do not have a chance to turn on the 3D view. however, we can change between different maps, satellite pictures, Live satellite pictures, and change contour resolution, in fact over 40 different map overlays are available. Between all these options I find it easiest to study terrain in detail in 2D. It is really easy to be misled by 3D models of terrain.

Other features.

Slope angle shading.

So, between 40 different map configurations on Caltopo, there is an essential feature for snow safety: slope angle shading. Comparing OnX maps on the top to Caltopo on the bottom, Caltopo has much more resolution! This makes planning on the computer for the ski tour or alpine climbing approaches much more accurate and means that there will be fewer route corrections in the field. AND yes, there will be micro terrain management on the field! But fewer changes you make during your approach/tour, more straightforward navigation, and your time plan are more accurate. Although the difference might not be apparent in those small pictures, you will notice the difference on the laptop screen.

Planning a route

After identifying the terrain where we want to be and especially where we do not want to be, it is time to plan a route we will travel. While free drawing or point-to-point drawing in Caltopo and OnX maps are similar, OnX maps miss following the trail feature. Trying to freehand follow the trail is challenging, and after four or so miles makes the web solution unresponsive on the hotspot. No Bueno! On the example left, following a trail up to the top of the couloir on the Caltopo needed two clicks, one on the trailhead and one coming off the trail at the Flattops.

Both solutions give you travel distance and elevation gain and profile. However, Caltopo gives you an estimation of travel time on different modes of travel. Although you might want to adjust it for the future, it is a super cool feature. Caltopo also gives you a steepness profile for the planned route, and you can even print out legs to copy on your notebook if you navigate with a compass and altimeter.

Using the plan in the field.

I typically use my plans three ways in the field. Because I have not been impressed with any of the apps connected to these services, I have been in the habit of planning with caltopo, printing the PDF, and using a QR code on the printout to download the map to the Gaia GPS app. Then using that map and planned line on my phone. If I go to a bigger objective, I also export the GPX track and import it to my Suunto 9 Baro. This way, I can check that I am on track without taking my phone out of my pocket or my gloves off. In case I am going for a multiday adventure, or I might end up in a whiteout in unforgiving terrains like a glacier or a rugged mountain, I also make a point to point navigation plans on my notes and bring a compass, altimeter, and map. Now I can navigate even if I am out of battery on my devices. I have had electronic failures in the past, so I like to ensure that I can get off mountains safely, even without electronic aid!

This Blog was about different tools only, not about the actual planning. I shall make another blog or vlog about planning later. However, I urge you to get trial versions of these services and play around on your favorite terrain or place you will travel next. Being familiar with the planning tools and having a general idea of the terrain where you are going will make your adventure much more likely a success!

I hope this blog has been helpful!

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