Looking for Nat Geo Maps in GPS software

Sorry but I don’t have any other suggestions to offer. I try to monitor the goings-on with these various mapping tools as they are discussed in forums and stuff.  So far as I know, Avenza is the only one offering Trails Illustrated map layers now, and as you’ve observed, they don’t have a web desktop app, just the mobile one.

If I were to speculate, Gaia/Outside didn’t want to continue paying whatever licensing fees Trails Illustrated was asking for their layers.   Gaia announced the “Gaia Hike” layer around the same time they announced that the Trails Illustrated layers would no longer be available.

On a somewhat related note, has anyone else noticed that the Nat Geo maps are still available to download in the Gaia app? Just this week I downloaded the entire JMT map in preparation for my hike next month. Nat Geo certainly aren’t available on the web-based version, but for some reason I still have access to them on my phone.

Maybe OnX Backcountry or GOAT Maps will have it someday. I can always hope… Until then, I’ll survive! ;)

On a somewhat related note, has anyone else noticed that the Nat Geo maps are still available to download in the Gaia app?

I’ve noticed the same thing, Ben Perry. I still have the Nat Geo apps on my phone, but it looks like they’ve disappeared from the website version.

I found the “farewell” post from Gaia (written by Eric Evans) to be dismissive of what National Geographic maps actually offer. While I use Gaia’s other layers regularly, it’s disingenuous to suggest that Nat Geo maps are easily replaceable. The strength of Nat Geo Maps has always been the big-picture overview of terrain that’s been field-tested. The colors and balance of information is just right for that purpose.

I partially blame the private equity take-over of Gaia GPS.

Saying “check out these other great layers of the future” misses the point. This feels like more of a licensing or business shift disguised as an “upgrade,” and the write-up downplays the loss.

I’d like to Nat Geo maps make a comeback somewhere else.

I don’t blame Gaia or any other GPS map company. I don’t to pay even more for a map app. If Trails Illustrated actually really understood the digital map biz, they would have come to an agreement. That TI did not do that, they are likely asking way too much. Otherwise, several map apps would have TI maps available. IMHO.