There are several GPS apps that can work with our tracks and guides. We have tested three apps that seem to offer the best features, two of which have free versions. Each app has its own advantages and disadvantages, particularly as regards its suitability for use with our guides or park trail collections. Remember that guides offer detailed descriptions of the hike and the park, using photos, audio, and text. Park trail collections, on the other hand, provide only a path to follow. Here is a brief summary of each app.
Best App for Guided Hikes – Ramblr
This app excels in the creation and use of guided hikes, but is of limited use for the park trail collections stored on our site. It also provides rich facilities for planning your own hikes and documenting these trips.
Advantages:
- Full support for all aspects of guided hikes, including Web links and geotagged photos, audio, and video.
- Includes a central Web site for storage and review of specific hike tracks and narratives, and offers the ability to search for other users’ hikes on that site
- Full featured GPS app, with facilities for recording hikes, editing hikes, planning trips, etc.
- Free
Disadvantages
- Somewhat more difficult to learn and use, due to its feature-rich interface
- Limited user base
- Not suitable for use with park trail collections (cumbersome process for transferring tracks to the app)
Best App for Using Both Tracks and Guides in the Same App – Maps.me
This is a simple and easy-to-use app that can handle both guides and park trail collections. It is not well-suited for planning your own trips and does not record your hikes.
Advantages
- Free
- Can handle most aspects of guided hikes, except audio and video
- Can easily import hikes from an E-mail or download
- Simple to use, resembling Google Maps
- Can download park trail collections, allowing a user to store a complete set of available trails in a given park for later use
- Very extensive user base
Disadvantages
- No central Web site for hike narratives
- Limited mainly to viewing guided hikes and tracks, few added GPS capabilities
Alternative App for Guides and Tracks – EasyTrails
This app is similar to Maps.me, but adds capabilities for recording your own trips, taking geotagged photos, receiving voice instructions and alerts, and other features.
See Easytrails App Description
Advantages
- Can handle most aspects of guided hikes, except audio and video
- Can easily import tracks from an E-mail or download
- Can download park trail collections, allowing a user to store a complete set of available trails in a given park for later use
- Full-featured GPS app, with special features such as voice alerts for waypoints and turn-by-turn directions
Disadvantages
- Costs $4.99
- No central Web site to store your own hike tracks and narratives
- Limited user base
- Moderate learning curve
- No route planning capabilities
Choosing the Best App for You
To begin with, you should try out the Maps.me app. It is simple to use, and is also required if you would like to be able to download our park trail collections. If you would like a better experience for our guided hikes, you should also consider the Ramblr app. It offers far better graphics than Maps.Me and the central Web site is a good place to review our guided hikes before walking them. Beginning birders may also appreciate the bird calls available only through Ramblr. This app also provides extensive facilities for planning, recording, documenting, and sharing your own hikes. Since both apps are free, there is no harm in testing both apps at once.
Get Out There
Use our Quick Start Guide to download your app(s) and start hiking the easy way. You can so get more detailed user guides for these apps from the Getting Started Page.