Paper maps are not dead, but this digital map app is an innovation for off-road explorers

Since the dawn of humanity, explorers and travelers have tried to understand the world around us by using stars, landmarks, and eventually roads. The first maps were created in Babylon sometime around 600 BC as rough scratches on a clay tablet. The Greek scholar Ptolemy is often credited as the inventor of cartography, or the study and practice of map-making.

Digital mapping company onX takes this a step further, overlaying satellite imagery on maps with three-dimensional topographic lines and information on public and private property boundaries. This app offers distinct data for those most interested in hunting, fishing and off-roading, encouraging safe exploration and helping to avoid trespassing on clearly marked private property.

“Anyone who creates maps is a historian,” says Molly Stoecklein, Senior Communications Manager at onX. “Maps tell a story and it is a great responsibility to create these maps in a way that everyone can understand.”

So onX takes this to heart.

Are paper maps dead?

As a child, I would trace my route on my parents’ Rand McNally road map to better understand where I was in this big, wide world. Today, most of us are used to using Apple Maps, Waze and Google Maps, to name a few navigation apps.

Unlike paper maps, modern web-based maps can be zoomed in, out, and panned. OnX creates its own content and segments it into different tiles per zoom level. Then the cartography team decides what content to display and how to visualize it at each zoom level. For example, at a low zoom level, you can see the outlines of state borders, high-elevation topography (like mountains, rivers, lakes), and off-road hotspots. Zooming in reveals more detail as trails appear, as well as property lines and interesting recreational destinations. Mapbox is a third-party company that develops the underlying “map viewer” technology that onX uses to display these tiles and their design in 2D and 3D.

A map is only as good as the data it is based on, Stoeklein explains. Most navigation apps on the market use “off-the-shelf” data sources, she says, one-stop-shop sources like Open Street Maps (OSM). But these apps don’t modify or change any information. Instead, onX integrates thousands of other sources, like data from the city’s local geographic information system, data from the forestry department, and more.

“No dataset is too small,” says Stoeklein. “We compare these data and select the most accurate and up-to-date elements from each one. For example, the data for a hiking trail in OSM may differ geospatially from the data for the same hiking trail in the forestry office’s data.”

OnX staff compares these different sources and uses human input from the quality control team to gather more information, then selects the track that most accurately represents what an app user would see in the field.

“Some people see this app and say printed maps are dead, but I say that’s not true,” says April Leone, an engineer at onX and frequent fielder. “I think this is a good way to augment it with real-time information and inputs.”

Leone has participated in the Rebelle Rally, an eight-day, 1,500-mile off-road competition for women, several times before. As we tracked previous Mojave Desert checkpoints for the rally, using onX routes for practice, the intersection between paper and digital data and how they complement each other became clear. During the rally itself, GPS-enabled devices are strictly prohibited, but our practice runs using the onX app illuminated routes and approaches to higher ground that I hadn’t previously thought of.

Swiping down with two fingers transforms the flat digital map into a three-dimensional view that helps better understand the terrain. The paper topographic map represents the larger area. Together we had a panoramic view of the public lands.

The dichotomy between exploration and protection of natural resources

OnX allows adventure seekers to explore far and wide, often further than they could before the app was launched. There is some caution around digitizing mapping technology, as environmentalists raise concerns about wildlife and the fragile desert environment. The biological soil crust in Utah, for example, is an important part of the ecosystem for plants and animals and cannot be easily replaced. Sticking to established routes is vital to the survival of the terrain, as well as off-road sport.

The vast majority of off-road enthusiasts know and adhere to the guidelines of TreadLightly!, a non-profit organization dedicated to ethics in the sector. The organization’s goal is to “balance the adventure needs of off-road and all-terrain vehicle users with the need to protect the places they ride and explore.” With this in mind, hundreds of certified onX trail guides complete TreadLightly! training before being allowed to participate.

Once in the system, onX’s hired trail guides map their routes, take photos and describe the surface in detailed, easy-to-read text. The routes, represented in lines, dots and shapes, are reviewed and monitored by the company. Behind the scenes, onX’s cartography team has already done the background work to create an artistic representation of the map that makes sense to off-roaders.

“The map contains a lot of information and we need to figure out how to simplify it,” says Stoecklein.

The app technically works worldwide, says Stoecklein, explaining that some users have used it in Iceland, Thailand and parts of South America and Africa. After all, the satellite imagery and GPS tracking are already built in. However, onX’s base maps (topo, 3D and higher resolution aerial imagery) and content (trail data, etc.) are currently only available in North America, primarily the US, Canada and Baja.

So buckle up, choose a route and explore the area.