National Geographic Trails Illustrated maps removed from Gaia GPS

[ovʀʟxnᴅ]

I'm super disappointed with the news I just got from Gaia GPS. I submitted a help request because one of my most used map layers had stopped loading in the web interface. I was provided a link the stated, "Support for National Geographic Trails Illustrated maps in Gaia GPS will officially end on April 14th, 2025." A Fond Farewell to National Geographic Maps — And a Look at What’s Ahead - Gaia GPS



The reason I subscribed to Gaia in the first place was because one of the premium layers was National Geographic Trails Illustrated. We were already planning our adventures around the colorful and easy-to-read paper maps. Trails, gates, roads, water, and public forests all had unique markings and colors that were immediately visible, allowing you to know so much about any given track at a glance. If they have a map of an area you're interested in, I highly recommend checking it out. They are still available in print at Trails Illustrated Maps - Trail Maps

As for my digital offline navigation, Gaia has made some unfortunate decisions of late. The removal of this important layer. The recent price hike to $60 a year. No redesign or new features to offset these negatives. After nearly a decade with this platform, my renewal for October has been canceled. I will be looking into other options moving forward. onX is interesting and user friendly, but really only has basic map and satellite layers like Google Maps. If you know of any online mapping platforms offering Trails Illustrated as a layer, please let me know!

 

[Kingsize24]

If I'm not mistaken, I believe OnX Backcountry, which is a different app than OnX, has this, or will be getting this layer soon. I'll have to check mine soon and see.

 

[Howard70]

GAIA has stopped supporting several layers without offering any real explanation or viable alternative. Along with the National Geographic layers they've rejected ERI's World Imagery which I found to be the consistently most favorable satellite imagery layer for my use. I guess I should have expected it once they were purchased by larger company that seems to follow the "increase revenues / decrease costs" model with a fairly short term interpretation.

I'll keep my subscription for a while as there are still a few things I like about GAIA - I find it's map layout nicer than CalTopo's for really large views when I'm planning routes across large areas for example.

Howard Snell

 

[DirtWhiskey]

@Howard70 completely agree. The ESRI sat layer was a big loss. The World Imagery layer is really bad. Along with with many other layers that they have disabled over the years.

Gaia has always had its quirks. But I'm used to the interface and will probably stick with them for a minute. Can anybody confirm the layer capabilities of OnX? Also critical feature that any mapping software needs is freehand route making. Pretty much the only thing keeping me with Gaia right now.

 

[welikecamping2]

I had a premium GAIA subscription for years and loved it. That is, until I started finding bugs. I found an ugly one that caused much frustration and I reported it. Even got on with one of their support engineers to show how to reproduce the bug. (It's really easy). They never fixed it. I started planning a new trip earlier this year and encountered the bug again. Reported it again and asked if they intended to fix it. Nope, but here's a free year to add to your subscription. Oh, and then since Outside bought them, I've been getting constantly spammed with Outside bs. Well, a free year is nice, but I'd rather have the very simple but hugely frustrating bug fixed so I cancelled. Took up OnX, which does not appear to have the bug. I have the premium Off-road and it does not have the NatGeo mapping. It has other layers that I find helpful and while GAIA was easier to use, I'm liking OnX better ;-)

 

[dstefan]

I had a premium GAIA subscription for years and loved it. That is, until I started finding bugs. I found an ugly one that caused much frustration and I reported it. Even got on with one of their support engineers to show how to reproduce the bug. (It's really easy). They never fixed it. I started planning a new trip earlier this year and encountered the bug again. Reported it again and asked if they intended to fix it. Nope, but here's a free year to add to your subscription. Oh, and then since Outside bought them, I've been getting constantly spammed with Outside bs. Well, a free year is nice, but I'd rather have the very simple but hugely frustrating bug fixed so I cancelled. Took up OnX, which does not appear to have the bug. I have the premium Off-road and it does not have the NatGeo mapping. It has other layers that I find helpful and while GAIA was easier to use, I'm liking OnX better ;-)

What are the bugs? Can you describe them?

 

[welikecamping2]

The bug that finally did me in was the "snap to trail" functionality when building routes. For some reason, when routing down a highway or a road that may have a parallel road, the track would loop off on the side road, then eventually re-join the actual path you want. This occurs mostly when drawing a route down an interstate, You can reproduce it by (for example), start a route at the junction of 40/25 in Albuquerque, and you want to go to Santa Fe. Set a point on 25 at the interchange, then go north and set the next point at the intersection of 25/599. When I do this, the route jumps over to 313 almost from the beginning and parallels 25 on 313 until around Bernalillo or Algodones where it returns to 25. Trying to drag the route back to 25 and it keeps snapping back to 313. Alternatively, it will route properly north on 25, but will exit at every off-ramp, then go back on the on-ramp.

Don't even try this in the midwest, where you will drive yourself crazy trying to correct every deviation, with the app working against you as hard as it can. Now, this generally does not happen off-road, but for me, I use the app for both off and on-road. I like to map to my destination which sometimes can be hundreds of miles away.

Another problem I had was with performance. While running the map in the truck, I have it on a Samsung tablet that has 32mb memory, and running just GAIA, it will eventually crash or perform very slowly if at all.

I've been using GAIA for years and have a huge library of tracks for Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. I was a fan until I started having these problems and found support somewhat unresponsive.

Finally, when I use a mapping application, I just want to use that application. I don't want to be inundated with spam messages about all the other stuff they have.

So far OnX has performed flawlessly - I just completed a route that covers 5K+ miles in a big loop from Arizona to Michigan to Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana and back. For the most part, the snap feature worked flawlessly. Sometimes it wanted to change a route, but it was a major change, not a parallel route. I can lock it down to the route I want just fine. After this trip, I should have a better idea if OnX is gonna work for me performance wise.

 

[Howard70]

@Howard70 ...Also critical feature that any mapping software needs is freehand route making. Pretty much the only thing keeping me with Gaia right now.

CalTopo can draw lines with "snap to", "connect the dots" and true freehand, at least on the web version. I think the mobile app many be limited to "connect the dots."

Ironically, Strava of all things has a really good route tool with the easiest transistor between "snap to" and "connect the dots" that I know of. Definitely not a true mapping program, but certainly part of my arsenal.

Howard Snell

 

[dstefan]

The bug that finally did me in was the "snap to trail" functionality when building routes. For some reason, when routing down a highway or a road that may have a parallel road, the track would loop off on the side road, then eventually re-join the actual path you want. This occurs mostly when drawing a route down an interstate, You can reproduce it by (for example), start a route at the junction of 40/25 in Albuquerque, and you want to go to Santa Fe. Set a point on 25 at the interchange, then go north and set the next point at the intersection of 25/599. When I do this, the route jumps over to 313 almost from the beginning and parallels 25 on 313 until around Bernalillo or Algodones where it returns to 25. Trying to drag the route back to 25 and it keeps snapping back to 313. Alternatively, it will route properly north on 25, but will exit at every off-ramp, then go back on the on-ramp.

Don't even try this in the midwest, where you will drive yourself crazy trying to correct every deviation, with the app working against you as hard as it can. Now, this generally does not happen off-road, but for me, I use the app for both off and on-road. I like to map to my destination which sometimes can be hundreds of miles away.

Another problem I had was with performance. While running the map in the truck, I have it on a Samsung tablet that has 32mb memory, and running just GAIA, it will eventually crash or perform very slowly if at all.

I've been using GAIA for years and have a huge library of tracks for Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. I was a fan until I started having these problems and found support somewhat unresponsive.

Finally, when I use a mapping application, I just want to use that application. I don't want to be inundated with spam messages about all the other stuff they have.

So far OnX has performed flawlessly - I just completed a route that covers 5K+ miles in a big loop from Arizona to Michigan to Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana and back. For the most part, the snap feature worked flawlessly. Sometimes it wanted to change a route, but it was a major change, not a parallel route. I can lock it down to the route I want just fine. After this trip, I should have a better idea if OnX is gonna work for me performance wise.

Thanks for elaborating. Yeah, Gaia isnt great with highways and some other things as well, but I have a huge base of routes and trails like you, so I keep on keeping on …

 

[Sparse Gray Hackle]

If I'm not mistaken, I believe OnX Backcountry, which is a different app than OnX, has this, or will be getting this layer soon. I'll have to check mine soon and see.

I tried Backcountry, but found that OnX Hunt worked fine for me. My predominant use is for upland hunting in the PNW, but the premium plan (on both Hunt & BC) gives you all the states. I believe it’s $99/yr.

 

[Kingsize24]

I tried Backcountry, but found that OnX Hunt worked fine for me. My predominant use is for upland hunting in the PNW, but the premium plan (on both Hunt & BC) gives you all the states. I believe it’s $99/yr.

I haven't tried hunt yet, I'd be interested to hear how you like it. I've heard you can drop pins for your kill as well, which would be useful over time.

 

[Sparse Gray Hackle]

I haven't tried hunt yet, I'd be interested to hear how you like it. I've heard you can drop pins for your kill as well, which would be useful over time.

I’ve used Hunt for about 8 years. My only complaint is that it is only available in portrait mode. I develop most of my hunts/routes on a tablet, they sync easily with my phone. When you record a map for offline use, you have several options for level of detail. The more detail, the bigger the map size. Add/delete offline maps from your devices as needed.

Having land owners identified (with tax record mailing addresses) along your route helps you know what your rights are in terms of public versus private.

In addition to route waypoints, there are a number of drop pins that help with planning. Things like established POIs, camps and water sources...

In the field, you can record your discoveries and events with notes that are helpful for future planning. These sync across your devices.

I don’t think I’m doing a good job of describing the app, but I find it helpful for exploring as well as hunting.

 

[ovʀʟxnᴅ]

@Howard70Can anybody confirm the layer capabilities of OnX?