For anyone interested in basic Caltopo map making…

Sorry. Maprika is garbage. Horrible experience trying to align anchors when the basemap shows almost no features in wilderness areas. Crashed twice while I tried to do so with a single test map too. Deleted with gusto.

As I said, there’s a bit of a learning curve to it. USGS Benchmarks (“X”) are your friends. ;^)

Downloaded Maprika to iPhone a couple hours ago, downloaded and converted a couple of local park PDF maps to high-resolution JPEGs with Mac OS X Preview, emailed to iPhone, loaded into Maprika, assigned 10 GPS anchors to each – all with no problems. Next step is to see how these maps work in the real world. If good, I’ll upload those to Maprika.com.

I’ve taken the wrong map or no map a few times for local day hikes. Maprika will be much better than carrying a photo of the faded trailhead map behind scratched plastic!

YouTube has several Maprika how-to videos:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=maprika

Thanks Bob!

— Rex

Rex, glad you like it!

I’ve had pretty good results using as few as 4 anchor points, as long as they’re really solid features near the corners of the map.

Sr. Al: you, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. I used the two sources below to get the old version back as well. Amazing!! Thanks for posting.

For Apple products, this is what I used, since Sr. Al’s source was for Androids:

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/12/25/how-to-download-older-versions-of-ios-apps/

http://helicopterforum.verticalreference.com/topic/19986-avenza-pdf-maps-for-ipad/

The only takeaway from the second source listed is that the “code” for the old PDF Mapper is: 818622985. Read through the first link, and watch the embedded video. Then read the second link, paying closing attention to Post #6 in the forum by 01CelicaGTS, and you’ll understand.

Been using Maprika for the last year with good results. https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/108379/#post-2238961

Did Caltopo lose its right to use ArcGis maps because it became a paid site?

I know this is kind of old but just getting to the tutorial and have a question.

On a geospatial .pdf map when you go to export the .pdf to the map application can you do the whole area in one selection and then zoom in for the detail on the map application or does the detail only match what it would print on a normal pc of paper?

Hi Mike, if I understand your question correctly, you can zoom in on the app to get more detail.  The key to detail is not making your map too big on Caltopo in the first place.  Keep the scale at 35000:1 or below and the print images are good and so are the images on your phone.

Mike, i wanted to add to Al’s comment that if you are a non-subscriber user of Caltopo you are limited to letter size prints (8.5″x11″), however if you are a paying member you can print much larger sizes (ie 36″x48″ or other custom sizes) and fit a lot more in a single file without compromising resolution (scale).  Of course keep in mind that the larger the print the more memory it will take in your device.

I really like Caltopo and I’m amazed is the single handed effort of a computer whiz.  At least that was the case last time I checked.  I’m a paying member of Caltopo as i like to support his efforts.

Another thing you can do with the downloaded pdf is to increase the resolution and sharpness with Photoshop. That doesn’t change the original resolution but it can definitely help when zooming in.

You can also us Ps tools to lighten/darken adjacent quads as needed, because sometimes they can be annoyingly different, or use contrast to tweak the contour lines a bit, or adjust anything else that’s bothering you.

Thank you all for the great tips. I have been using gmap4 for exploration and trip planning and just this year started using caltopo along side it and I am  still trying to work out all the things it can do. I usually leave a link to a specific map when I am out alone with the wife as part of the trip plan and it seems that caltopo may be a little better at that and it seems to have a better interface to drawing tracks or routes on the map and getting mileage. Does anyone have an opinion on how accurate the mileage when you move from the map to real world conditions? I have found that estimating mileage on a map is fine on flatter ground but when things get a little steep map mileage does not seem to be as accurate.