Adventure travel reaches new heights with hiking, biking, skiing app

WHILE the thought of getting lost in an unfamiliar place may seem endearing, the reality is different.

But with the rise of all-terrain mobile mapping, this scary predicament may be a thing of the past.

Mobile mapping is already a big player in the outdoor recreation market with Google Maps and Google Earth leading the industry.

However, these platforms are far from useful when leaving urban areas. The GPS signal weakens and rural tracks aren’t always accurate.

So for those wanting to take a spontaneous hike, cycle off the beaten track or find a fresh ski trail, a lot of pre-planning is involved.

But European startup FATMAP might be about to change the way adventurers navigate the wild.

While other mapping platforms such as TrailForks and Ramblr offer basic mapping and information sharing, none provide adventurers with the exceptional 3D mapping that FATMAP does.

Source: FATMAP

Described as “Google Earth on Steroids” by adventurer and writer Nick Heil, this app has five times the resolution of Google Maps and features which detail a trail’s gradient, aspect, elevation, avalanche risk, and distance.

It’s so snazzy, you’ll never want to go back to navigating boring city streets again.

There is also a wealth of detailed descriptions for every trail. These have been put together by seasoned adventures who know the ins and outs of the trails.

FATMAP has also teamed up with professional adventurers, mountain guides, and famous names from the sporting world such as mountaineer Kenton Cool and ski legend Xavier De Le Rue to create highly comprehensive guidebooks.

The guidebooks include a trail’s difficulty level, the obstacles on the route, how to access the trails and gradients.

There is also the option to watch a simulated flyover of the trails, leaving very little to the imagination, which is great when you’re skiing 30 miles per hour down an off-piste slope and don’t want to hit a boulder.

To an extent, this app takes out the danger of hiking, biking, and skiing untrodden trails, and being able to analyze your chosen route from every angle before setting off is revolutionary.

Equally, if the route you want to explore isn’t yet on FATMAP, you can plot it yourself and add photos, directions, detailed description, and hazards.

Then, either keep the trail for yourself or share it with the wider FATMAP community.

Source: FATMAP

If you’re still not convinced FATMAP is better than a regular ordnance survey map, then perhaps you’ll be swayed in knowing you can use this app offline.

Offline maps – the holy grail of adventure.

For just US$7.99 a month or US$40.99 a year, explorers can go off-grid and off-line and still have astonishingly clear digital maps to navigate.

Apart from the offline premium package, the app is free because the founders want to create an entire adventure platform available to everyone.

But they need more explorers to tag their adventures to grow the app’s presence in Asia.

Currently, only trails in Japan, Australia, and New Zealand feature on the app. While the routes in each country are plentiful, most of them are only suited to skiers or summer hikers.

Downloading the app at FATMAP.com or on Apple and Android app stores and head out on a perfectly calculated adventure.

Don’t forget to map it!

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Source: travelwireasia.com