New camping location app for iPhone / iPad
- Thread starter kylekai
- Start date
kylekai
Observer
You can check out the scope of the data contained in the app by visiting the data source:
www.ultimatecampgrounds.com
You can view on individual state maps all the locations and types. The data is updated monthly and recent months have seen a good increase in back-country locations.
From the web site, you can also purchase a year's subscription to a downloadable POI list, which is also updated monthly.
www.ultimatecampgrounds.com
You can view on individual state maps all the locations and types. The data is updated monthly and recent months have seen a good increase in back-country locations.
From the web site, you can also purchase a year's subscription to a downloadable POI list, which is also updated monthly.
pugslyyy
Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
Nice. If there were an android version I'd be all over it.
off-roader
Expedition Leader
Does it work offline?
kylekai
Observer
Yes, it works offline quite well. All the data is contained within the app. The only thing that might have to be downloaded are portions of the map, but usually a lot of it is cached so even that is not necessary. Of course functions such as accessing the weather or the campground web site won't work, but otherwise it works fine offline. That's one of its many features. Thanks for asking!
robgendreau
Explorer
It's a great app with great support (as you can see by the developer's presence here). It doesn't give enough info yet when you're completely offline, but it's getting there. I suggested that the GPS info be available offline so you could cut and paste or even manually enter it into another app since many of us use apps that allow map caching for offline use. But I found I used the app most often before I plunged into the backcountry (if you're outta cell range usually hunting for designated campsites isn't what you need this app for). Being able to open the campsite in Motion X or Gaia as a WAYPOINT would be a very cool idea, even offline. Right now it's great because you can open the campsite as a destination in Motion X Drive or Google or Apple map apps. You could save the campsite location in Drive and then predownload some maps for offline use, although that isn't my fav app for offroad use. Saving the location in Apple or Google Map apps was beyond me, although maybe there's a way.
The inclusion of dispersed areas is helpful as well. I realize that includes most USFS and BLM land here in the west, but when you're tired of driving and in one of those checkerboard areas where you're not sure if it's OK to boonie it's quite helpful.
And the info about showers and elevation is really useful. I wish the Benchmark atlases had that, but they don't include elevation. Again here in the west a few miles can make a big difference and although a topo map might give you the same info it's helpful in a list. Be nice if you could sort the list in the search view by criteria, like >3500'. Or at least by feature like "shower" or "flush."
It doesn't do private campgrounds, but there are other apps for that, and they usually make themselves more available. And it's pretty up to date here in the west. I've been trying to stump them, but haven't found any they don't list.
Since our fed gov't is folding like a cheap tent, it was useful that in the app you can select what agencies to search, so you could turn off BLM, USFS, NPS and just get state, county or utility campgrounds.
Well worth the money IMHO, and looks to be an app that will improve over time.
Rob
The inclusion of dispersed areas is helpful as well. I realize that includes most USFS and BLM land here in the west, but when you're tired of driving and in one of those checkerboard areas where you're not sure if it's OK to boonie it's quite helpful.
And the info about showers and elevation is really useful. I wish the Benchmark atlases had that, but they don't include elevation. Again here in the west a few miles can make a big difference and although a topo map might give you the same info it's helpful in a list. Be nice if you could sort the list in the search view by criteria, like >3500'. Or at least by feature like "shower" or "flush."
It doesn't do private campgrounds, but there are other apps for that, and they usually make themselves more available. And it's pretty up to date here in the west. I've been trying to stump them, but haven't found any they don't list.
Since our fed gov't is folding like a cheap tent, it was useful that in the app you can select what agencies to search, so you could turn off BLM, USFS, NPS and just get state, county or utility campgrounds.
Well worth the money IMHO, and looks to be an app that will improve over time.
Rob
kylekai
Observer
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the feedback; much appreciated. I submitted a new version to Apple yesterday that includes several new features and fixes, one of which is the ability to view campground info when off-line. Not sure how I missed that, but it's fixed in the next release. You can copy the lat/lon just as you can any text from the campground info text, but if this is a popular request I can put some sort of button that will make it easier to copy those values to the clipboard.
Also in the next release, if you are using iOS7, is the ability to view multiple routes to the campground within the app; no need to go to a separate map app to see the route (although you still can). As for the elevation, it's usually included in the description and it's also obtained from a government database. However, the latter hasn't been working since the federal government has shut down.
If there are any other suggestions or comments, please let me know. I check this thread often so I can answer questions quickly. It takes Apple about 5 days to release the new version to the App Store so keep an eye out for it.
-Bill
Thanks for the feedback; much appreciated. I submitted a new version to Apple yesterday that includes several new features and fixes, one of which is the ability to view campground info when off-line. Not sure how I missed that, but it's fixed in the next release. You can copy the lat/lon just as you can any text from the campground info text, but if this is a popular request I can put some sort of button that will make it easier to copy those values to the clipboard.
Also in the next release, if you are using iOS7, is the ability to view multiple routes to the campground within the app; no need to go to a separate map app to see the route (although you still can). As for the elevation, it's usually included in the description and it's also obtained from a government database. However, the latter hasn't been working since the federal government has shut down.
If there are any other suggestions or comments, please let me know. I check this thread often so I can answer questions quickly. It takes Apple about 5 days to release the new version to the App Store so keep an eye out for it.
-Bill
