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Forest Service Trail Maps

Featured Planned
Nathan

This idea is to offer trail map overlays based on Forest Service Data.

As some have noticed, we've offered some addons, such as ATV trail maps in BackCountry Navigator. These do not replace a map, but show trails as an overlay on an existing map. 

While having free, offline topo maps in the US is great, some have noticed that the USGS hasn't updated the trail and road data on them since I was in grade school.The terrain is still useful, but there are frequently complaints that a certain trail or road is missing. 

If you walked into a Forest Service Headquarters, however, you can buy a folded paper map that shows the features of a particular National Forest. While generally not as detailed as a topographic map, it does show the latest in terms of roads and trails.

My idea is to offer some of this in digital format to highlight these trails on a map.

It wouldn't be completely free - but it would be cheap. It would be divided into Western US, Eastern US, and Alaska.

 

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Comments

62 comments

Date Votes
  • Clifton Bullard

    My first experience with BackCountry Navigator was a few months ago on a section of the AT in PA.  Imagine my surprise when my location started diverging from where the map said I should be!  Yes, I think this would be a wonderful feature, and would love to have it.

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  • MrK5Scott

    I think that would be awesome. I plan to use a Xoom and Backcountry for 4x4 trail navigation.

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  • Matt Anderson
    I don't use the trails frequently but would consider purchasing the overlays.
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  • kendall hopkins
    ATV addons work good. Shows some 20min. north and 20min. south of me; Ozark; Ar. Service roads would be a BIG +++. Im in!!!
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  • Matt Williams

    I would definitely purchase the overlays.  BLM overlays would be good too.

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  • Daren Lindley

    I love Back Country Navigator and would definitely by the trail overlay. That would be awesome! Thanks for the amazing product! Worth every penny!

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  • Tina

    I would definately purchase an overlay for trails.  I have been left wondering in the woods on some of those "dotted lines" that once were trails..... Love BCN!!

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  • Mark Campana
    I would buy them for sure!
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  • John Shields

    I'm new to Back country navigator, but my goal is hiking and I would love to have this.

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  • Thomas Frederick

    Yes, I would buy it for a modest fee, mostly interested in ATV, also hiking.

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  • Dirk Rooseboom
    I appreciate that. It would be great
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  • Carol
    This would be of interest to me as an off-road motorcyclist, especially as an overlay on the original USGS topographic maps. So the "old" roads (which usually still exist and are usable) could be seen as well as recent additions. I'd buy that! Some sort of overlay showing land status would be really nice too. Such as color tints indicating BLM and Nat'l Forest public lands.
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  • Andrew Goreff
    Perfect.
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  • Kyle Goldthorp
    I would buy it in a heartbeat. I'm trying to convert using BCN over my own handheld GPS unit. The only real drawback is the battery life on my smartphone doesn't even come close to competing with my handheld gps. Love this app and keep up all the good work.
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  • Daniel Crouch

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    This was changed to a ticket abpout ATV add ons

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  • trentallen
    I'm broke. Just had to sale decoys/nice shotgun so i could join duck/deer clubs and i live more on atv from sept/Jan working on it and hunting use. Plus my gamin Oregon 500t hand held touchscreen just blackout completely on me and want even show any life period trying to power on and not going to buy another one so let this app. Do it all for me.
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  • Debi Sherman
    That would be so helpful! We travel on our bicycles and atv's on the forest trails.
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  • Doug Johnson

    From what I understand so far in this thread, the maps being discussed are available electronically as "Motor Vehicle Use Maps" [aka MVUM].   An examples for Colorado are discussed here:  www.staythetrail.org/mvum.  They are simple black and white versions provided as high resolution pdf files.  I have made a few custom maps by merging the pdf MVUM maps with downloaded topo slippy map tiles using shareware programs MOBAC and MAPC2MAPC.   It is a pretty labor intensive solution, but I would be happy to share the process and/or discuss further.   If someone sees the MVUM maps in track format [eg GPX], the job would be easier.  

    The USFS is also in the process of publishing the full national forest maps in digital format.  About 25 pct of the forests are available at  http://fsgeodata.fs.fed.us/visitormaps/. 

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  • John Thomson

    Would be an awesome addition to have updated forest service trails and roads!

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  • Nathan

    @Doug, the ATV trails available are from US TrailMaps, Inc and incorporate data from many different states, agencies, and clubs.  They require no labor and are available for a small fee.This shows their coverage:

    http://atvgpstrailmaps.com/maps.html?type=atv&base=ocm&lat=34.667206991117&

    The Forest Service Trail maps we are talking about here would also be available for a small fee and not require labor. They will be based on data from the USFS Clearinghouse.

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  • Wes Siebert

    I would be interested in this addition.

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  • Richard Shelquist

    Yes! Yes! Yes!  Having the forest service trails and roads would be fantastic! Please do it.

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  • Mike Smith

    This would be an awesome addition.  all fo the trails and roads for the USFS are available in either ArcView SHP file or Googe KML.  This would be a great addition.!!!!

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  • Nathan

    They are in even more complicated formats than SHP or kml, at least at the federal level - individual forest have various formats. If you do know where the whole US is in kml or SHP, please point me to that.

    There is going to be some redundancy with what is incorporated into the MyTopo maps - I believe they have used some of the Forest Service data. I do believe this addon will still be useful, but take a look here to see what the MyTopo maps already have. 

    http://www.mytopo.com/maps/index.cfm

    Trails maps of the forest, though, would give you a full set of trails and roads even if you haven't downloaded maps for everything.

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  • Mark Phillips

    I logged in (and bought the app) just so I could say that this would be my main use for the program. I think MVUM or similar that would show the motorized vehicle roads (whether Jeep or ATM) would be wonderful. I'd gladly pay some additional amount for this capability. Thanks!

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  • Gary Burgess
    I don't understand most of the technical stuff but I'd pay for hiking trail overlaysby region or state.
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  • Paula J Stone
    I would love it and pay for it.
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  • Trevor Holyoak

    I'd like to see mountain bike trails, which typically don't allow motor vehicle use.

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  • James Bowen

    I would buy this as I spend a good amount of time on Forest Service roads.

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  • Ron Herbst

    This sounds like a great add-on. For a reasonable price, I'd definitely make the purchase. It would come in very hand for off-road trips.

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