Free mapping program to help Americans navigate BLM public lands

[Pivo]

WASHINGTON - There’s a new tool for recreationists planning visits to public lands. The Free National Mobile Map Package Program allows anyone to access maps so they have the information they need to get outside, even when they are offline.

BLM’s Enterprise Geospatial Services Team is developing these maps for 18 western U.S. states. The project will later expand to include all 50 states and, potentially, U.S. territories.



https://www.blm.gov/press-release/free- ... blic-lands

[Nighthiker]

Forest Service is planning on doing this as well.

[chumley]

@Nighthiker
Different from [ HAZ Forum Post ] ?

[Nighthiker]

Stopped by a forest service district office and asked about any new maps. Advised they dont know when the new Tonto Map will be available and that in the future maps will/may be digital.

[azbackpackr]

in the future maps will/may be digital.

Sigh... That just means more people will grow up without large format maps, which IMHO, give a person spatial awareness, a sense of where you are on the planet in relation to areas a hundred or more miles away.

[Hansenaz]

@Pivo
Sounds useful. I have a long standing gripe about "unanticipated" private property signs hindering planned trips. I guess this could provide immediate ground truth if needed. I wonder how the map information is meant to apply to corner crossing in checkerboard country?

[big_load]

@Pivo
Sounds useful. I have a long standing gripe about "unanticipated" private property signs hindering planned trips. I guess this could provide immediate ground truth if needed. I wonder how the map information is meant to apply to corner crossing in checkerboard country?

Whether it's reliable ground truth or not, I still worry about being confronted by someone who considers himself to have dominion over the territory. Sure, that's often a low-probability event, but it's unpleasant when it happens.

[Hansenaz]

@big_load
Agree! But it's frustrating to be shut down by a sign. The app might supply plausible denial....

[Nighthiker]

I had a map and documentation on an assignment on public lands. Access was gated and posted No Trespassing. I was stopped by law enforcement and advised I would be cited for Criminal Trespassing.

[Hansenaz]

@Nighthiker
hmmm...I generally find the signs in the middle of nowhere and not a soul around. Seems bad luck to be called out by a property owner and even worse law enforcement. I don't go past a no trespass sign but I might walk a fence line a ways. The app could give you info about legality of crossing a fence line. Almost everywhere I go fences are for cows, not people.

[Alston_Neal]

@Hansenaz
I agree, most fencing in the middle of nowhere is for livestock. But a little homestead with concertina wire sends a pretty clear message.

[hikeaz]

@Pivo
Reviews on its usage are near-abysmal. ERSI is no newcomer to mapping, either. Bad beta is worse than no beta.

[RedRoxx44]

Still like my large paper map collection; and I have all the Nat Geo TOPO maps for the states I need loaded on an off line solid state hard drive laptop mated with a portable printer. I just can't with my phone screen and almost all GPS-- too small and by the time I scroll in and out lose where I was in the first place.
I know the TOPO maps are not up to date on roads but there are things of interest that have been removed from newer mapping programs. If I need to figure out if a road is closed or a reroute I do an internet search before hand. The onX off road app looks interesting as far as access goes but I haven't gotten that interested in it. I just got an I Pad so could see loading it on that. There is another app for hunters which is good for land ownership. A friend of mine uses it and he says it is great; depending on cell service.

[CannondaleKid]

I have all the Nat Geo TOPO maps for the states I need

I had Nat Geo maps on my old Windows 7 laptop, and like you said, they may not be up-to-date, but they had a lot of 'old' info (like ruin sites) that I haven't found anywhere else since. I sure miss them...

Speaking of maps... it seems Google maps has gone off the deep end when it comes to changing/adding names (I'm not talking about the Gulf of A-hole here)... something like a weak wikipedia without any moderation.
I first noticed this when perusing The Rolls for the legal routes, now that I've paid the $80 for the permit.
- The ACTUAL Forest Service Road #13 is currently labeled Srv Rd #403
- The ACTUAL FR #401 going out to Cottonwood Camp from the intersection of the ACTUAL FR #143 is first named N FR143 (incorrectly) as well as the correct Srv Rd #401.
- The ACTUAL Srv Rd #143 which runs from AZ 87 up to Four Peaks, is NOT NAMED by that designation at all... it BEGINS as Cline Cabin Rd, then changes to 4 Pks Rd, and back again to Cline Cabin Rd. (While those designations are understood locally, the CORRECT designation is Srv Rd #143.)
- The ACTUAL Srv Rd #11 (From #143 to AZ 87 near Ballantine... part of the Great Western Trail) is currently labeled incorrectly as N FR#68.
- What is currently labeled 'spot Trail' is made up of PARTS of LEGAL Forest Roads, but the actual majority of it is made up of illegal 'social routes'... so I'm sure this one was named by a 4x4/ATV'er, NOT the Forest Service.

I could go on and on of other obviously social names added to Google Maps, but what's the point?
It's no wonder folks using Google Maps app get lost when trying to find any of the popular points along Bush Highway... like Granite Reef Rec Site, Phon D Sutton Rec Site, Coon Bluff Rec Site, Goldfield Rec Site.
At least several times a week people will ask me where to find a Rec Site they are literally within 100 yards of the sign along Bush Highway stating the obvious... can't fix stupid.

[chumley]

@CannondaleKid
This is the result of user-generated content with absolutely no checks. There are also glitches where trails all over the state are labeled "Arizona Trail" which always amuses me.

You can click on incorrectly labeled things and submit a correction request. If enough are tallied, I think that a real person might look into it.

A better option is to submit your own things or misundercorrect existing labels until everybody who's too dumb to figure out that you can't rely on Google Maps for anything has already driven their car into a lake.

[CannondaleKid]

You can click on incorrectly labeled things and submit a correction request.

I've done just that a number of times in the past (the last previous was a few years ago) and actually received a response and correction within days but no longer appears to be the case.

[xsproutx]

@CannondaleKid
The maps team, in general, has been been downsized by about half in 5ish years and the support personnel for things like correction... it's basically 2 hot dogs in a trench coat at this point, unfortunately. They're also using AI agents now and they're just... not very good. Combine those, and you get weird crap that takes longer to update. You should see the way it gets spun internally, though, because they'll use KPIs like, "10k+ points updated this month vs 2k this time last year!!!" but it's all junk driven AI stuff that doesn't matter/is wrong.

[chumley]

@xsproutx Almost like Napster-Limewire days when the record companies' only defense was to flood the web with fake versions of the songs people were downloading. It's not that you can't find what you're looking for, but it's surrounded by so much "Chipmunks Sing Christmas" that it almost makes the whole thing obsolete.

[xsproutx]

@chumley
You forgot the most important part: You downloaded "Metallica - Enter the Sandman" and it's 50/50 it's child **** or chipmunks. What a time that was!

Honestly I did find some good music trying to pretend to be other music though so wasn't all bad I guess

[Alston_Neal]

BLM mapping Ai generated Napster Metallica chipmunks. Yeah I'm still keeping up