Someone explain why GAIA gets so much love

[jsek29]

Can someone explain why Gaia gets so much love? I have tried using it and do not understand why people talk it up so and why they pay for essentially a lesser version of google maps or maps.me.

My use case is plan on the go, I don’t sit down and plan out “routes” in advance. I want to be able to find my way from the driver’s seat, not from a computer on WiFi. We are full time in the road and cannot always guarantee connectivity. On top of that, recording “trips” or “routes” is of no use to me. That is what the map is for, so I don’t have to keep track of all the roads I drive.

Gaia is difficult to find a useful map, I have to download blocks and hope I get it right. The maps are all about the same, and no routing. What am I missing that everyone thinks is so great?

 

[sbrown77]

Just because you have no use for different map layers, route recording, or the ability to plan routes on a computer doesn't mean other people don't.....

I like Gaia for those exact reasons. People who love Gaia typically aren't just driving around, even if they are it provides a lot of features GM doesn't. All the different map layers are great for different outdoor pursuits - hiking, dual sportin', hunting, mountain bikes. It's easy to share routes. The USGS and USFS topo layers and public/private land layers are great for hunting season and beyond. You can save photos/beta on certain waypoints. Using public tracks in popular areas is a great way to find new routes.

I could go on but really, it provides a lot of features GM doesn't. Different strokes for different folks. Spend more time in the app and learn how to use it. Downloading maps is pretty simple....

 

[jsek29]

I agree, just because some features are not useful to me doesn’t mean others won’t find them useful. I am trying to figure out how useful it could be to me. Or if it can be useful to me. I am eager to hear the reasons people like it.

I have figured out how to download maps, it is just a clunky method.

 

[PirateMcGee]

Because I can download any layer I could possibly need for anything for $30 a year and I can do so way faster than on-x....

Best mobile mapper there is.

 

[grizzlypath]

For some additional perspective:

• property lines and ownership info
• public land lines and info
• having all USFS landmarks on or hidden
• topo or satellite or old USFS or new USFS or a million other
• 24/36/72hr snow forecast
• Trailforks - biking routes
• USFS Roads & Trails - forest roads and hiking routes
• Active (and historical) forest fire overlays
• and tons more

On top of that, I have Google Maps, Google Terrain, and Google Earth imagery layers imported and sometimes use those too. I find the Google Earth satellite imagery layer to be the best satellite layer available.

So it's powerful, but I totally get that it can be confusing. Other apps such as On-X are much more user friendly, by far! But less powerful (for now).

Anyway, those are some of the reasons I use it. I track hiking, biking, boating, waypoints, driving, etc. I'm not a shill, I think the folders system is garbage and ultra confusing, but for $30/yr it's been super worthwhile for the type of exploring and going out that I do.

 

[locrwln]

Like you, (OP) I wasn’t getting why people liked Gaia either or any of the topo apps out there. I don’t create routes or particularly know where I’m going when I leave. We usually choose a direction or maybe an area and there are plenty of times that our original plan goes out of the window and we are going somewhere completely different. I hate that I can’t just choose an entire state and download it. Well, that changed with the Gaia “Overland” map layer.

I have downloaded most of the western US and so far, the maps are there when I’m out of cell coverage and I’m getting the map information I want. It will also do routing off grid if you are looking for a specific spot and if there are roads it can usually get you going in the right direction.

So after all that, I would suggest downloading the overland base layer. I don’t have any of the other layers as I have found that they seem to clog up the system.

Jack

 

[dstefan]

Another fan of Gaia here. Same reasons cited by other’s

One unmentioned feature I really found useful on two recent trips is the historical wildfires layer. Helpful to see the burned or not areas and age of the past fire damage.

 

[Superduty]

Gaia Topo (Feet or Meters) as well as the Overland Layer can all be downloaded in large swaths. This was a huge improvement in my opinion. I too have the whole western USA downloaded in Topo (feet) and Overland layers.

I also like the NPS maps for national parks. If there is a Nat Geo map for the area you are in, those are great maps as well.

Now my problem with Gaia......I am running it on a 4 yr old Samsung Android tablet. It doesn't run great. Most of my maps are loaded on the SD card, which may be part of the problem, but I am not sure. I might get an ipad mini with 256gb at some point.

Tip - if you are downloading maps, ONLY download one map layer at a time and wait until that finishes before you start your next download. I can't tell you why, but my experience is that it just works better.


I recently tried ON-X. I like it to find USFS dirt roads. The thing I dislike about it is the ability to download maps for large areas. This is particularly true if you want maps in the mid or high detail levels. At the mid and high detail levels the download ability is useless for driving. You can really only download areas big enough for hiking.

 

[Herbie]

I switched to Gaia after years with Backcountry Navigator and Backcountry Navigator XE.

I found map selection, importing, and management with the BCN products to be a much bigger hassle, and pre-planning routes (which IS something I do) was WAY harder there. I was fed up and frustrated, and the low entry cost of Gaia made it an easy pill to swallow to try something different. (I still have a year or two of BCN XE "Gold" support from being a kickstarter backer years ago, but it's basically going to waste as I find the tool too frustrating.)

I started with Gaia not long before the Overland layer came to be, so my experience is that large map downloads, etc. are all easily managed. We used Gaia during our recent 2-week Oregon trip and found it VERY easy to do driver-seat route picking (vs. planning) and we explored a TON of tracks. The ability to have multiple layers was also a big help, as we were frequently crossing in/out of multiple parks, BLM, and (once or twice) private land.

 

[Laps]

I didn't renew my subscription to GaiaGps this year for several reasons but now that the "Overland" map layer is available I might resubscribe, but given gas prices I doubt I will be able to do any 30 day western trips this year. I live in Tennessee so Gaiagps is complete overkill for exploring the Appalachians.

 

[jsek29]

Gaia Topo (Feet or Meters) as well as the Overland Layer can all be downloaded in large swaths. This was a huge improvement in my opinion. I too have the whole western USA downloaded in Topo (feet) and Overland layers.

I also like the NPS maps for national parks. If there is a Nat Geo map for the area you are in, those are great maps as well.

Now my problem with Gaia......I am running it on a 4 yr old Samsung Android tablet. It doesn't run great. Most of my maps are loaded on the SD card, which may be part of the problem, but I am not sure. I might get an ipad mini with 256gb at some point.

Tip - if you are downloading maps, ONLY download one map layer at a time and wait until that finishes before you start your next download. I can't tell you why, but my experience is that it just works better.


I recently tried ON-X. I like it to find USFS dirt roads. The thing I dislike about it is the ability to download maps for large areas. This is particularly true if you want maps in the mid or high detail levels. At the mid and high detail levels the download ability is useless for driving. You can really only download areas big enough for hiking.

The method On-X uses for downloading maps is frustrating, to say the least. It has to be a headache for them too, from a data management standpoint. Otherwise, they seem to have similar functionality as Gaia. Gaia’s map access is stronger though.

 

[2.ooohhh]

With gaia my ipad essentially becomes that ultimate book of maps. I have everything at my fingertips from NOAA nautical charts for work to sectional aeronautical VFR charts, and national park maps for weekend trips.

 

[jsek29]

So what I am gathering is that people like it for the wide variety of maps available. And it seems cheaper to pay the $30/year than the per map fee on Avenza.
It also seems to have about the same use features thatold stand alone GPS units did.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Absolutely true, different strokes for different folks. Nothing wrong with Gaia if it works for you. I prefer to spend my subscription money with Caltopo, which I just find more useful. It does decent routing, has an ability to act as a map tile server for other applications (requires the top subscription, though). There's fewer specialty maps but the ones they have are top shelf. Several really useful overlays.

There's no question Gaia has done a pretty good job of bringing convenience to getting good base maps and routing on them. The main thing is I still use a desktop computer and handheld GPS receiver, so Gaia doesn't offer much for me is all.

I might mention some have non-technical issues with Gaia/Ouside/etc, mainly their privacy policy, though that's not a knock on the core service.

 

[IdaSHO]

For us, the USGS Topo, Private Property, and Public land layers alone are work every penny.

But unlike a lot of peeps it seems, we do not need turn by turn GPS on the blacktop
It simply isnt designed for that.

USGS topo is used primarily for off pavement travel in public lands (typically trailhead hunting), and hiking trail info for backpacking & hiking.
The public land and private property map is used often during travel, to verify we are on public lands, and not private.

All that said, people that live in areas with little to no public lands will likely see very little benefit.