theksmith 3,832 Posted July 27, 2021 nice Colorado resource: https://staythetrail.org/map/ https://staythetrail.org/mvum/ 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 3,832 Posted July 27, 2021 maps for those still using a traditional GPS device or the Garmin Basecamp software: https://www.gpsfiledepot.com/ 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4x4tographer 2,712 Posted January 14, 2022 Not so much for trip planning, per se, but to help understand the history of the land you might be standing on - Check out Native Land Digital. It's fully interactive and allows you to explore various known territories of indigenous peoples, areas where various languages were/are spoken, and more. You toggle various layers, including modern day government boarders. What I find interesting about it is that many of the layers overlap and all are "clickable". When you click on a layer, you are presented with links to various 3rd party websites, many of them operated by various tribal nations or other sources, with pretty in-depth information related to the land and language local to that area. Pretty darn cool and adds some extra depth to your travels, in my opinion. This article on Gaia has a nice backstory on the origins of the mapping project and some more detailed information on its ongoing progress. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4x4tographer 2,712 Posted July 21, 2022 Trails Offroad recently released a new site update that tightens up the look and feel and adds a great new feature: Scout Routes. Scout Routes are trails that the Trails Offroad team has pre-driven, but hasn't written a full review yet. They include a very basic difficulty rating, a few photos, about a paragraph of detail on the trail and any concerns. They also provide GPX files for download of the actual recorded route they took. These recorded GPX files haven't been cleaned up before upload, so they may include stops and deviations from the main trail, depending on what the driver did. The new Scout Routes will show up as dotted lines. CTD Routes: They've also rolled out CTD Routes (a few months back). CTD Routes are connector trails and roads to help you figure out the fastest way to get to a trailhead. These routes aren't reviewed - but the GPX files are available for download. CTD Routes will show up as grey lines. Here's an example of a Scout Route trail page: 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shellback91 1,737 Posted July 26, 2022 (edited) Gaia GPS has a new Overlanding layer they have made available. It is named Gaia Overland and a write up is available here. I am still looking around the layer to see how I feel about it, the legend looks extensive which is nice. From the layer: This is the layer in use in Gaia by itself for one of the Moab runs. It does look like it displays a lot of relevant information which is nice. Edited July 26, 2022 by shellback91 3 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shellback91 1,737 Posted July 26, 2022 After poking around some here is what I am finding. Overall I am impressed and like it. I am sure they will be improving/updating as time goes on. I thought I'd share because why not. 🙂 I have it set as the base layer in these images. I only have The Gaia Overland in Feet and the MVUM layer on my map and I can see what I need to see. This is up north with the opacity all the way down on the Gaia and MVUM layers. Opacity on Gaia Overland all the way "up", MVUM opacity all the way "down". The brown "tabs/plates" over the road that show road/trail numbers are part of the Gaia Overland layer. There are more details and POI's for lack of a better word. This is with both layers opacity all the way "up". Notice how the MVUM now labels 00161B. I am sure some of the bugs, if that is what this is, will be worked out. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ladybug 429 Posted July 27, 2022 Excellent info to share guys! And thanks for doing that!! FWIW - I love the Mines and Bedrock layers too!!! But when you're out just and about, the ones you are showing are the best!!! Many thanks! smiles, ladybug 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SonoranWanderer 403 Posted February 24 (edited) On 7/20/2022 at 7:05 PM, 4x4tographer said: Scout Routes are trails that the Trails Offroad team has pre-driven, but hasn't written a full review yet. They include a very basic difficulty rating, a few photos, about a paragraph of detail on the trail and any concerns. They also provide GPX files for download of the actual recorded route they took. These recorded GPX files haven't been cleaned up before upload, so they may include stops and deviations from the main trail, depending on what the driver did. Scout route GPX uploads are supposed to meet the same quality standards as normal write-up GPX files. Scouts uploading trails are on contract and are paid by the mile (uploaded). Scout Route GPX files and write-ups are also reviewed by senior TOR personal before being published. I can tell you the person reviewing AZ uploads (Wade) is "fussy" about the GPX quality, and rightfully so. The main point of TOR (regular or scout routes) is that each trail has been driven, as presented very near to the date published, to ensure accuracy and currency. And speaking for myself, route GPX files I upload have been carefully cleaned (edited) prior to uploading to remove "parking drift" and side trails (or missed turns) not pertinent to the route being described. I personally also use two independent GPS devices to record and validate the primary against the secondary recorded route to ensure best accuracy. ====== If anyone is interested in learning how I edit so you can build your own clean GPX files for whatever purpose, as a TOR scout, or just to hand out GPX files to friends and such, I am happy to show you. Overview: I use Garmin Basecamp. I have OSM map files downloaded into Basecamp so the software solution is completely free ($$). I then import my recorded GPX files from both GPS devices (Gaia on an IPad, Garmin Montana 700i). I will take the higher resolution recording (Gaia usually) and duplicate it for editing (keeping the original untouched) I will then use the Basecamp detailed GPX viewer to remove any excess trail lead-in and excess follow out I then begin to closely inspect the path for instances of parking drift. Places where I stopped and the GPS recorded multiple "points" but due to natural GPS drift, may appear to having my traveling and a tight circle I use the GPX viewer to selectively remove the excess recorded points I will then edit out any side trails (eg: exploring camping options), missed turns, backups, etc... GPX viewer to remove excess data points I will then visually (re)validate the edited route as true to both of the original recordings I do NOT validate that the recording follows trails as shown on the map as map data may be outdated or plain incorrect. I may use map data to split a single recording into multiple named trails TRO is changing their standards to record each named road/trail by itself instead of arbitrary complex routes The trails I upload are true to the path you need to travel to successfully complete the route. This is the intended outcome of TOR Edited February 24 by SonoranWanderer 3 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
