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Hillmap.com is the best backcountry mapping app on the web. It combines a selection of the highest quality topographic maps available with data and analysis useful for people who travel far from the beaten path. Read about some of its features below.
Hillmap is a work in progress made by Ryan Bressler and Jen Gregory; email us with questions, comments or bug reports and subscribe to our blog.
Use the print tool to print high quality maps.
Use the split screen toggle in the upper left to compare map layers.
Use the link button to share your maps.
Use the search tool to find a named place.
Click the Hillmap
logo to collapse the topbar and focus on the maps.
Activate the Points
tab and click the map to measure the elevation, location and slope at a point anywhere in the world. Links to a weather.gov forecast for the point and a peakfinder.org panoramic display of visible named peaks will also appear.
Use the Paths
tab to construct and measure a route or trail.
Paths can be imported from and exported to GPX files for use with a GPS via drag and drop or the Tools
menu.
Avalanches are most common on slopes steeper then 28 °. Hillmap provides four ways to analyze slope angles.
Points
tab to check the slope at a point anywhere in the world.Paths
tab the overall slope of the last line added to the path is displayed to assist in measuring longer paths.Slope Analysis
layer on the Overlays
tab under Data Layers
to do custom slope analysis for anywhere in the US.Overlays
tab.Radius from click point at which to sample slope.
This is the first step in printing your customized map. After you set the parameters below, you will print from your internet browser. It's easier than it looks.
Your printer supports much higher resolution than your screen. To print at high resolution, Hillmap will open a print page that is very large on screen. Depending on your setup you will instruct your printer to fit this onto a single piece of paper in one of 3 ways:
When you click print a new window will open containing a large (Width*Pixels Per Inch) by (Height * Pixels Per Inch) pixel map of the onscreen area padded as needed to fit the dimensions you specify above and at the best resolution possible.
Use the print dialog to print this map at the proper scale. You may have to play with these values and use print preview to find what that works with your setup. Borderless high quality prints are possible using Google Chrome and the system print dialog.
The Caltopo and Microsoft Research Usgs (MSR-USGS) tiles offer the best resolution. MyTopo tiles cannot be printed larger then 8.5x11 but you can buy a map from MyTopo.com.
Warning: calculated values and the data they are derived from are often inacurate and should not be relied on as a sole source of information for travel in avalanche terrain or any critical application.