A GeoPDF Map is a PDF map that you can use for GPS Navigation on a Smartphone. You can easily make your own GeoPDF maps using a FREE online mapping tool called Caltopo.com (best used with a computer), email them to your phone, and navigate with them in a FREE GPS navigation app called Avenza Maps (IOS, Android). The US Geological Survey, the National Park Service, the National Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management all provide FREE GeoPDF maps for the lands and recreation trails they manage, and recommend the Avenza Smartphone app for reading them, so this is very mainstream stuff.
When I teach Smartphone GPS Navigation for Hikers, I show students how they can create their own on-trail or off-trail hiking maps in Caltopo, save them as GeoPDF documents, open them in the Avenza GPS app, and start navigating with them. It's a straightforward process, so let me show you how it's done. Once you understand the steps, it's easy to create a custom map for every hike you take, print it out on paper, or open it on your smartphone to find your current location and follow your route.
You might also find the following background posts useful if you want to dig deeper into the details.
- How to Navigate with GeoPDF Maps
- GPS Navigation with Avenza PDF Maps in Smartphones
- Caltopo: A Great Online Mapping and Planning Tool for Hikers
Step 1: Draw a Map in Caltopo.com
Caltopo is a powerful online mapping tool that gives you the option to use a wide variety of maps, everything from USGS quads to satellite imagery. Open it up, search for the area where you want to plan a hike, and draw a route, like I've done in the map above. This is the hike I plan to do tomorrow, climbing a mountain called North Moat, before descending on a long exposed ridge, called Red Ridge. The last time I hiked the Red Ridge Trail was about 10 years ago and I remember that the trail was difficult to follow in spots. So this time, I'll bring a GeoPDF map on my phone, that I'll make now.
Step 2: Print to PDF
Pull down the Caltopo print menu and select "Print to PDF or JPG." All of the PDF maps the Caltopo generates are GeoPDF maps, so there's nothing extra that you need to do to create one.
Step 3: Select Print Area and Scale
When you select "Print", Caltopo superimposes a transparent red overlay on the map. Drag it to the portion of the map you want to print and adjust the map scale so the red area covers everything you want to print. I've selected 1:24,000 below, which is a very common scale used by the US Geological Survey.
Step 4: Generate PDF
Navigate to the left hand side of the screen and click on the Generate PDF Button. This will generate the PDF Document shown here, which has a scale at the bottom and other important information like the current declination.
Red Ridge GeoPDF MapIf you'd like to download a copy of this map, just click on this link and then save it.
Summary
There are a lot of things you can do, once you've learned a few Caltopo basics and start planning your own hiking routes. When you add GPS enabled maps to that mix, you can mix and match on-trail navigation and off-trail navigation with ease. There's definitely a learning curve to using Caltopo.com, but if you've ever used Garmin Basecamp or a similar mapping app, you won't have any problems coming up to speed. By making your own GeoPDF maps, you can explore areas where you've never been and with greater confidence, knowing that you can navigate yourself out of a jam if needed.
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