CalTopo: Backcountry Mapping

CalTopo is mostly awesome as it has myriad features for route and adventure planning as well as team and search organization for SAR work. It has extensive tools for gathering detailed information you may not have known existed in mapping programs such as the time of day that the sun will shine on a particular aspect, the estimated time it will take you to complete the objective you’ve planned, and very recent satellite imagery so you can check whether that high-country trail you’ve been psyched to run is melted out yet. However robustly featured the preeminent CalTopo is, it would benefit from certain upgrades and then truly be a godly mapping tool: a “snap-to-trail” route building feature on iOS, 3D map view in iOS, route preview, and a recreation layer with all of the hikes, trail runs, bike trails, backcountry ski routes, etc. that are popular. Ascendancy is within your reach CalTopo team, make it happen.

1st off, I love CalTopo. I have been using the web version for years and have been a paid member for a while now. The amount of information available in CalTopo is unmatched in my opinion. The only problem that I have with the service is with the interface, especially the app. It is quite slow to load data and seems very buggy. I have to constantly force shut down the app and occasionally restart my phone for it to load things more quickly and properly. It got so annoying that I paid for Gaia to test it out because their app looks great, is quick and responsive pulling data up almost immediately. Unfortunately, while they have most of the data CalTopo has they don’t have all of it so I continue to use CalTopo. I’m really hoping they will get things sorted out in the future. It’s still worth the money bury very frustrating to use at times.

The broad range of layers provided, plus the ability to dynamically “layer layers” and cache maps for offline use, makes this my go-to navigation resource for backcountry planning and navigation. Includes super detailed place name and trail/road info missing from many other map apps. Accurate slope angle shading is a literal lifesaver during avalanche season and weekly satellite data is awesome for estimating snow cover. Only wish that the NAIP satellite data layer came with a little more detail - I usually combine with Google Earth when planning trips for better landform visualization.