MyTopo Maps: How To Plan Your Next Outdoor Adventure On Your iPad

With some vacation time coming up, you sit on your comfortable couch and ponder some of the possible destinations. After some deliberation, you decide to head to the beautiful Trinity Alps in northern California for a hiking and camping adventure.

Now that you know where you're going, it's time to plan your trip, which means it's time to grab your iPad and open the Trimble Outdoors MyTopo Maps app.

Once you've launched the app, select the Search from the Tools button in the lower right hand corner.

From the Search bar, you can find over 10-million locations from around the world. Type in your destination and select it from the results. You can change the map types at any time by using the Layers button along the bottom bar.

Now it's time to drop waypoints. Simply drag and drop from the bottom bar to note locations such as your campsite, a trailhead, viewpoint or peak. Once you drop a point, you can edit the name and add any pertinent notes that you wish.

Once completed, it's time to save the trip and send it to the Trimble Outdoors Trip Cloud. Select My Trips in the upper-left corner. This screen will provide several options. You can view and edit the waypoints, delete the trip or fit the screen to the geographic extents of the trip. Tapping Edit will allow you to edit the trip name and add notes. Once the trip is ready, tap on Sync. This sends the trip to the Trip Cloud, which means...

...that whether you are on your iPad, TrimbleOutdoors.com or out on the trial using Trimble Outdoors Navigator on your iPhone or Android device, the trip's data will be there.

When you are out in the Trinity Alps, launch Navigator and select My Trips, then your pre-planned trip and finally Use as Guide. Your are all set to enjoy the wild and have a fantastic outdoor adventure.

                   

For more a detailed tutorial of how to use Trimble Outdoors Navigator for accurate navigation while on the trail, click here.

Trimble Outdoors Navigator: How to Navigate to a Waypoint on Your Phone

You are out on the trail in the beautiful Trinity Alps, located within the Klamath National Forest in northern California. Surrounded by breathtaking scenery, you set up camp along Emerald Lake, one of the many alpine lakes in the area.

The next morning you embark on a hike to view many of these amazing lakes. You gather your gear and then launch the Trimble Outdoors Navigator app iPhone or Android device, which means that your trip is off to a great start. You mark your campsite with a waypoint and set off on your adventure.

After a great hike and some off-trail travel, you arrive at a snowfield above Mirror Lake and take in this awesome view:

Sliding your way to Mirror Lake

But now it's time to head back to camp. But during the hike you got a little turned around and aren't sure of which way to go...

Thankfully, you read this blog post so you know that navigation to any point on your outdoor adventure is extremely simple with Trimble Outdoors Navigator.

There a few ways you can do this.

First, go to the Map screen to view your trip and tap on the "Camp" waypoint you marked earlier. Then tap on the blue arrow, select Goto Waypoint, which then sets the point as your destination. A straight-as-the-crow-flies line will be drawn on the Map screen from your current location (the blue dot) to your goto waypoint (Camp).

You can also select Goto from either the Map or the Compass screens. This will bring up a list of every point that has been marked on your trip and simply select the one that you want as your destination.

The Goto screen

You're now ready to navigate. Go to the home screen and select Compass. You will see a compass directing you towards your camp, including the distance, bearing and your current position. Now it's simply a matter of conquering the alps between you and your campsite.

Now you're navigating like a pro

Pretty soon, you'll have arrived. Now it's on to the next point on your journey. Happy trails!

Welcome back to camp

Check out the the full trip to Emerald Lake, as assembled by Backpacker Magazine.

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How to Record an Awesome Outdoor Trip on Your Phone

You've got your boots on, your backpack is loaded with the essentials and your CamelBak is filled. You're almost ready to hit the trail...

No outdoor adventure is complete without the Trimble Outdoors Navigator app to chart your position using GPS technology, view topos and aerial maps, track stats, take geotagged photos and so much more.

While you can use Trimble Outdoors Navigator several ways in the field, let's walk through how this powerful tool can record an awesome, interactive trip report that you can showoff to your friends and family.

1) Upon launching the app, there are a number of ways to begin your trip. From either the Compass, Map or Stats screen, tap the Track button to begin the trip.

Select either TRACK or MARK

2) You will be prompted to name and categorize the your trip. By default, the trip will be named with the activity and the date. There are 30 activities from which to choose plus a "General Navigation". Choosing the activity helps organize all your trips.

Naming your trip

3) Your trip is now being recorded. While you move about, the app will track your path, as seen on the Map screen, and you can now mark waypoints or capture photos, video or audio tracks that are automatically geotagged to the location you took them. Simply tap the Mark button and then select the desired point type. Selecting Photo, Video or Audio will immediately open your phone's built-in utility, and once you are finished, you will then name the point and you can see the point's latitude and longitude.

Selecting your point type

A trip with many waypoints

4) While your trip is in progress, the app tracks 17 different outdoor stats, including speed, elevation change pace and more. To view, simply select the Stats button from the home page, which displays seven of the stats. To change which are displayed, just tap on any of the white boxes and select the desired stat.

Your Stats

5) When you have finished your trip, go to the home screen and tap the red STOP button. After that, you'll have the option to share the trip with Facebook friends, and the trip will automatically be synchronized to your Trimble Outdoors account. All previous trips will be stored under the My Trips tab.

View your previous adventures

You can also write a more complete trip report and add more photos and videos by viewing your trip report at trimbleoutdoors.com. Keep the trip private or share it with the trimbleoutdoors.com community. Learn more about all of the amazing features of Trimble Outdoors Navigator now.

MyTopo Maps BETA for Kindle Fire

We are excited to launch MYTOPO MAPS BETA, a tablet app designed specifically for the Kindle Fire. View thousands of detailed topo maps and aerial photos to plan your next outdoor adventure. This app is FREE to download from the Amazon AppStore.

Check it out. >

APP FEATURES
Search for more than 10-million locations. Find trails, peaks, lakes, rivers, ghost towns and more.





View five different map types: streets, hybrid, aerial, topo and terrain. Access more than 68,000 topo maps in U.S. and Canada that are seamlessly stitched together for fast and easy viewing. Topos scales are 1:24K in the Lower 48, 1:63K in Alaska and 1:50K in Canada.



Use the ruler tool to measure the distance between two points.




HOW TO DOWNLOAD
Hit the Apps tab from the Kindle Fire homescreen. Select the Store button in the upper right corner. Search for MYTOPO MAPS. Download the free app.


COMING SOON
This is our inital beta release for the Kindle Fire. Watch for free updates coming soon, including these trip planning features.
* Drop waypoints on to the map. Name them and add descriptions.
* Save trips to the Trimble Outdoors Trip Cloud.
* Send pre-planned trips to your mobile phone or GPS unit.

APP FEEDBACK
This is an open beta release, so please tell us what features you want. What tools will help you plan backcountry and offroad adventures? Provide feedback, talk with the developers and vote on new features. Just click the INFO button within the app and hit BETA FEEDBACK. Thanks!