Show HN: I made an offline-ready hiking trail companion app

This is great. I&#x27;ve been working on an adventure motorcycling trip planning app which has similar requirements of being able to work offline as you ride your preplanned trip.<p>Yours is a good example of what can be done by keeping it simple and not getting wrapped around the axle with complicated frameworks.<p>It makes me regret all the time I&#x27;ve spent trying to figure out the absolute best tech stack to use rather than just working on finishing the damn thing.

This is fantastic. I currently live in Rocky Mountain National Park where I climb, hike, and ski nearly every day - my partner also works for the Park Service. We have been using Gaia and love it but your UI looks fantastic and I&#x27;ll get it installed.<p>It reminds me of a very simplified interface of CalTopo.<p>One question, are you open to PR&#x27;s? If so, I&#x27;d love to see slope angle added into this in the same format for avalanche awareness along a trial.<p>Great work!

Very clear README on how to use and configure. Leaflet seems like a great resource. Also particularly appreciate this included advice for users:<p>&gt; &quot;You should always research your trip ahead of time, plan training hikes, become familiar with the terrain, carry a physical compass and map and know how to use them.&quot;<p>Here&#x27;s an idea for an app: one that teaches users how to find their position with nothing but map and compass (though having a non-GPS, i.e. barometric, altimeter is also useful, particularly in poor visibility).

Nice app. Can you explain why you chose ArgGis as your tile provider [1]? A lot of the struggle of making a public map app is that map tiles are hard to host and not cheap to buy at scale.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;jamealg&#x2F;KT-companion&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master&#x2F;scripts&#x2F;app.js#L84" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;jamealg&#x2F;KT-companion&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master&#x2F;scripts&#x2F;...</a>

We need an open source version of AllTrails using openstreetmap. With comments, since they are useful to know if the trails are still usable (some are now 4 seasons, some are outdated).

Pretty cool.<p>For uses like that I use Mapy.cz app which uses OSM and contrary to the name works all over the world. It’s very good for trail hiking although I haven’t used it in US, it’s probably as good as OSM data.

Looks very nice!<p>Do you know <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;faroutguides.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;faroutguides.com&#x2F;</a> (formerly GutHook)? They have offline-friendly paid maps of a lot of the largest scenic trails in America.<p>I hiked the Appalachian Trail last year and FarOut was standard kit.

&gt; Track location over time and display it on the map. Turn that into a downloadable GPX<p>Right now I use &quot;Easy GPS logger&quot; for this although it lacks a map aspect. It hasn&#x27;t been too bad on my battery, either. But it&#x27;s a feature I&#x27;d like on a hiking app.

Woah, nice! I recently got interest to get into hiking and downloaded current apps for it. One of the &#x27;business model&#x27; for current top hiking app - AllTrails - is to get offline coverage. Awesome to see an implementation of such feature here.

Very nice. I really appreciate the simple implementation and plan to load it with some of my favorite Kentucky hikes.<p>I was not aware of the Knobstone trail even though I live relatively close in Lexington, KY. We&#x27;ll be hitting it for some day hikes this winter.<p>Thanks!

This is really cool! The app has all important features one needs!<p>Since the UI&#x2F;display has a major impact on battery, it would be nice to have a dark stylesheet and map style.<p>Regarding location tracking in the background, this is not working inside web browsers. Even for Android native apps a lot of user actions are required in order to make background location tracking possible. Moreover google play might not approve an app, which has background location tracking [1].<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;developer.android.com&#x2F;training&#x2F;location&#x2F;background" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;developer.android.com&#x2F;training&#x2F;location&#x2F;background</a>

I am looking for a map app for Android atm.. Here is what I asked on r&#x2F;androidapps. Maybe one of ye could recommend something?<p>Is there a map app that has same satellite imagery as google maps but isnt google maps?<p>I do a good bit of mountaineering. I use &#x27;OSMAND&#x27; when driving to the parking spot and &#x27;World Topo Map&#x27; when hiking on foot. One problem with world topo map is that the satellite imagery is not great, having the far superior google maps satellite imagery would really be beneficial so I could see where small trails are relative to me. Unfortunately the google maps Android app itself is unusable trash imo. Is there a good app like OSMAND or World Topo Map that uses the same satellite imagery as google maps? If it also has the option to save the data and work offline that would be very useful also. I would pay for an app that fufils those requirements np. Thanks!

Thanks for creating and releasing this. I started getting into walking after the pandemic. There is a nice suburban trail near my house and I have walked several hundred miles on it. This app is inspiring me to take my newfound love of nature and trails for a day trip or even a multi-day trip. I am grateful for your advice to do my homework including learning to use and carry a compass and a map. To wit:<p>&gt; You should always research your trip ahead of time, plan training hikes, become familiar with the terrain, carry a physical compass and map and know how to use them.<p>Have you any additional advice for someone who has not really done a multi-day trip before? I have never heard of AllTrails; I will check it out.

I would also recommend checking out OsmAnd Maps in this space. I use it both for hiking and cycling. I love the UI customizability, for example being able to overlay a satellite map on top of a trail map and having a slider to adjust opacity – this really helps with orientation. On the cycling front it is the only app I know that has a sensible route planner and turn-by-turn navigation. It&#x27;s open source too, and based on OSM data: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;osmandapp&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;osmandapp&#x2F;</a> (No affiliation, just started using it after Gaia GPS lost my data.)

I appreciate that you can scrub through the elevation chart to show the corresponding location on the map. Not every hiking app does this, unfortunately!

On a slight tangent, one app I&#x27;ve wanted recently is where I can automatically generate run routes of a certain distance from my location using google maps or something. Basically put a pin where I start, where I finish (maybe the same place), and distance, where it then offers various possibilities I can pick from. Does something like this exist?

Pretty cool, though I&#x27;d just want an app that shows hiking&#x2F;walking tracks, even when zoomed out. OSM has such a great db of tracks, but trying to discover them is near impossible unless you know they&#x27;re there. (you gotta zoom in so far, as soon as you try to get an overview the tracks disappear)

Nice. I wish there was some web API to record geolocation in the background over time. I understand the privacy implications, but if it was an API only available to installed PWAs, and with an indicator similar to native apps when recording geolocation in the background, I feel like that would be acceptable.

That’s so cool!<p>Hey if you don’t mind since you built it, what are the advantages of PWA vs native&#x2F;flutter mobile app? I’ve been messing with SwiftUI&#x2F;Kotlin and recently switched to flutter earlier this year.<p>Thanks and congrats !

Nice!<p>We use CalTopo.com (Works everywhere, not just California) and GaiaGPS.com for offline mapping and track recording. Both allow offline use after downloading map tiles.<p>CalTopo allows you to add lines and markers and polygons to your map beforehand in the web app or in the field on the mobile app. It does have a number of analysis features, but it&#x27;s not as multi-day-hiking-specific.)

I like this a lot.<p>The All Trails cost seems too much for me, because my hiking is limited to 1 or 2 trails.<p>I&#x27;m going to see if I can draw my own trail with the GPS visualizer this weekend!

Although not identical in features, I heartily recommend WorkOutDoors (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.workoutdoors.net" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.workoutdoors.net</a>) to anyone who owns an Apple Watch. It&#x27;s brilliant as an offline hiking buddy.

This is great! Thanks for sharing!<p>Can I ask you how calculated the slope gradients (if I&#x27;m reading that right? like red = steep?)

Can you recommend any resources for setting up the service workers and manifest for a PWA?

Nice project, sleek UI and performant. Didn&#x27;t realize Indiana had hills like that!

Very nice work! Sleek interface. I&#x27;ll need to field test it soon ;)<p>Have you by any chance also evaluated MapLibre (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;maplibre.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;maplibre.org&#x2F;</a>) as an alternative to Leaflet. I&#x27;m just wondering if anyone has any insights on how they compare. I use MapLibre for one of my side-projects [1].<p>What are you using as source for height data (I see the curve colors represent the altitude). I&#x27;ve noticed that one of the most commonly used datasets [SRTM](<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lpdaac.usgs.gov&#x2F;products&#x2F;srtmgl1v003&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lpdaac.usgs.gov&#x2F;products&#x2F;srtmgl1v003&#x2F;</a>) has some deviation compared to OSM data in high latitudes. E.g. some peak locations from OSM don&#x27;t match to the contour lines from SRTM. But I have never found any further infos about this.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cubetrek.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cubetrek.com</a>

As a non technical person, can I download and use the app? How?

This is really good.<p>I am personally a big fan of Alltrails and their pro-subscription (with offline maps), but it is huge achievement to string this together in a couple of weeks.

Very cool, but fwiw Gaia does all of this beautifully. I&#x27;ve used it for years to pre-cache maps and track my progress.

This is cool. My single favorite app I. This category is MapOut. Seems to be pretty similar, 100% offline topo maps with additional things like route planning, detailed trails, GPS, etc. The killer features for me are the detailed offline mode so it works great no matter my reception, and that I can email GPX or any other export format and within 30 secs the route I emailed is showing up on my app. Really makes it easy to route create on a computer and send to MapOut with no fuss.<p>I have no affiliation, but it’s the only paid app I appreciate as much as I do.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;apps.apple.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;app&#x2F;mapout&#x2F;id477094081" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;apps.apple.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;app&#x2F;mapout&#x2F;id477094081</a>

Have been looking for something like this! Alltrails and many other products (even paid Pro, which i have) is total garbage. There is a huge market for a great offline-first hiking&#x2F;exploring maps app.

Google had an app called MyTracks[1] a while ago which was a very nice and simple way to have an offline google map and record your tracks. They deprecated and open-sourced it. Apparently, it&#x27;s living on as OpenTracks[2].<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;MyTracks" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;MyTracks</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;opentracksapp.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;opentracksapp.com&#x2F;</a>

While we&#x27;re on the Hiking topic: I recently created a web app in my free time to visualize GPS tracking files in a 3D terrain.<p>You can upload your GPX or FIT files and it generates the 3D Terrain using Babylon.js<p>It&#x27;s called <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cubetrek.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cubetrek.com</a>

Since people are mentioning the apps they like, for USA users, I can heartily recommend Topo Maps US (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;apps.apple.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;app&#x2F;topo-maps-us&#x2F;id1033846196" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;apps.apple.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;app&#x2F;topo-maps-us&#x2F;id1033846196</a>) which is completely free and the work of a single developer.<p>It&#x27;s fully offline and uses USGS Topo, Imagery, and Basic Imagery. The downside is that it takes a while to download the tiles (only once though) because you do download all the tiles for the area you select.<p>He also has a version for Canada, which I haven&#x27;t tried.

&quot;trail sense&quot; is great app in this category <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;kylecorry31&#x2F;Trail-Sense" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;kylecorry31&#x2F;Trail-Sense</a>

Thank for this, that&#x27;s a good design decision.

What I want:<p>- I select trail<p>- App generates map PDF with numbered markers (milestones)<p>- phone has GPS active, but only shows single number, milestone. Preferably on lock screen, without unlocking phone.<p>Distraction free, tiny drain on battery.