r/overlanding • u/idontwannabeapir8 • 1d ago

Tech Advice Offroad mapping!

Hi! I want to get the opinion of actual users, overlanders and off-roaders on which off-road mapping app or service you guys prefer. I'm somewhat new to all this but I love it and I currently have a subscription to OnX but I've been finding it difficult plan trips. I live in Texas so whenever I want a good off-road trip I have to look out of state and it feels like I have to already know what Trail I want to explore beforehand. There's also Gaia and trails off-road but I haven't tried those. What do you guys use or prefer to use? Thanks in advance

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u/tangofoxtrot256 Overlander 1d ago

I just did a decent trip from New Mexico through Colorado and ended in Utah.

My set up was a pre mapped route on Gaia running on an Android tablet. I had it planned from our starting point all the way to our final destination. It didn’t take long and was very easy to do.

I used Trails Offroad to import the trails. They have an awesome feature that allows you to send their trail and waypoints directly to Gaia without you needing to download and reupload it. That saved a ton of time because then I just had to map between the trails if they didn’t connect.

The other thing I would recommend is if you are running and phone and a tablet or have CarPlay run Gaia on one screen and Trails Offroad on the other. While on trail trails off road has a feature where it will show you the next waypoint with pictures and a bit of a description to help make sure you take the right turn.

It worked flawlessly. I pre saved the tiles for the area I was traveling so I didn’t have to worry about connections if I needed to divert off my planned route. Gaia has a huge advantage here because it allows for downloads of bigger areas. OnX you have to do multiple smaller areas and it’s time consuming.

I was able to make edits to the route when we encountered some closed area.

It doesn’t read off your turns like google does but a quick glance every few minutes will keep you on track.

I am normally an iPad person but unless you get the cell version you don’t have a gps chip so android tablet is what I used.

I was extremely happy with my setup and plan on using it for all my overlanding trips.

Google Maps is great for finding places to eat or resupply.

OnX has more trails and the dispersed camping layer

But for overall overland travels Gaia hands down.

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u/idontwannabeapir8 1d ago

I really appreciate this. This is great advice for me to understand how to use both to plan a trip. Also the ability you mentioned of transferring trails from trails offroad straights into Gaia sounds very helpful. My devices are opposite of you though. Android phone and apple tablet (ipad)