Has anyone been able to easily access trail maps on an iPhone ? I thought this would be easy, but most of my favorite resorts only have very large PDF versions of the trail maps available. Takes forever to download the map and then every time you zoom or scroll it takes like 30 seconds for the map to render. Is there an iPhone setting I'm missing ???
Trail Maps on iPhone ???
- Thread starter snowbum
- Start date
Thanks for the links !! Honestly, I never knew all these apps existed. All of them are somewhat useful.... but of the 4, only the Snocator app has trail maps. The regular trail maps on Snocator are fairly useless because you can't see names of the trails. The GPS trail maps .... which is a fantastic idea by the way .... are just too slow to render even after you have the map downloaded. The app crashed twice on me also. Seems like a great concept, but I don't know if they will ever be able to work out the kinks. From the sounds of the reviews, it seems like the experience only gets worse on the mountain.
So then I did some searches and found a couple other options:
iTrailMap -- FREE. But.... again, you can't see the names of the trails !!! I can't believe how useless that is to create an app with trail maps, but not make them readable !!! But then what are you gonna do... its free
Alpine Ski Trail Maps -- .99 cents , but completely worth it !! The maps are very clear and they have every resort I care about. They also have links to the resort number and homepage ... which could come in handy to get the snow report in the morning.
So then I did some searches and found a couple other options:
iTrailMap -- FREE. But.... again, you can't see the names of the trails !!! I can't believe how useless that is to create an app with trail maps, but not make them readable !!! But then what are you gonna do... its free
Alpine Ski Trail Maps -- .99 cents , but completely worth it !! The maps are very clear and they have every resort I care about. They also have links to the resort number and homepage ... which could come in handy to get the snow report in the morning.
Pajarito-Bred
New member
Quote " Is there an iPhone setting I'm missing ???"
Yes, the setting you're looking for is "OFF" Cell phones on the hill aren't the evil they used to be, but...
What's wrong with the time-tested methods of:
A) paper map, which you can easily share with your friends. Yeah, if it's windy, it's a pain on the lift, but if you drop it, cost is zero, not $300.
B) the signboards which, with only a few exceptions, are at the top and bottom of each lift.
C) If your skiing ability allows for a low risk of getting in somewhere gnarlier than your skill level, just point 'em and explore!
I suppose if you are skiing at Alta but you want to see a trail map of Taos, the IPhone is the best option....
Yes, the setting you're looking for is "OFF" Cell phones on the hill aren't the evil they used to be, but...
What's wrong with the time-tested methods of:
A) paper map, which you can easily share with your friends. Yeah, if it's windy, it's a pain on the lift, but if you drop it, cost is zero, not $300.
B) the signboards which, with only a few exceptions, are at the top and bottom of each lift.
C) If your skiing ability allows for a low risk of getting in somewhere gnarlier than your skill level, just point 'em and explore!
I suppose if you are skiing at Alta but you want to see a trail map of Taos, the IPhone is the best option....
Get over it old man. It's technology - not some crazy evil electronic monster. What do you think... I'm going to pull out the phone and zoom-in on the trail map while I'm riding ??? I use it basically at the same times I would normally look at paper trail map. In the lodge, at the top or bottom of a trail (and NO, there are not always posted trail maps), or even the night before when I'm scoping out trails for the next day. I think your old ass has probably become bitter because of all the punk ass kids flying down with headphones --- which I admit is annoying and stupid.
I think the point of trail map software on an iPhone is not to use in on the hill in lieu of a paper map. If it's GPS enabled it could be used to produce a record of your ski day, somewhat like we've seen JSpin and Patrick do with their altimeter watches.
Adam just got an iPhone 3G. I plan to forward this thread to him in case he wants to test anything.
Adam just got an iPhone 3G. I plan to forward this thread to him in case he wants to test anything.
Pajarito-Bred
New member
I have to say that Snowbum's response is disturbingly accurate....
The most annoying thing about the iPhone is that I DON'T HAVE ONE, since although the technology is impressive, I'm too much of a cheapskate to spend the price of a lift ticket every month for the privelige of using it. (and can't stand to toss out my perfectly good one-year-old Nano for a snazzy new Touch unit which will be obsolete by the end of the ski season).
I don't usually ski with my Ipod, but could if I really wanted to-- might try it just to prove snowbum wrong. Who'd of thought that the Deep Purple, Foghat, Led Zep, Pink Floyd that we listened to on our skiing roadtrips would ever be played on the oldies stations, superseded by some new cRAP that I can't stand? How can I ever get over dealing with that, Young Man?
Snowbum's wrong though, about my lack of enthusiasm for new technology-- I've enthusiastically embraced a lot of new technology, like plastic buckle boots, ski brakes, polarfleece, short twin-tip skis (Olin Mark IV Comp's, the hottest new ski during President Carter's administration) and even shaped skis.
Heck, I've even tried the latest music player technology, by renting an Astraltune player back in 1981. It was the size and heft of a college chemistry textbook, worn using a chest harness, and used plastic cartridges called "cassette tapes" which had two spools of magnetic tape on which music was recorded in "analog". This was a huge improvement over the 9" diameter spools of reel-to-reel tape players which weren't really suitable for taking on the chairlift.
But even that first pair of shaped skis is obsolete now, my X-screams demoted to back-of the ski closet rock skis.
The most annoying thing about the iPhone is that I DON'T HAVE ONE, since although the technology is impressive, I'm too much of a cheapskate to spend the price of a lift ticket every month for the privelige of using it. (and can't stand to toss out my perfectly good one-year-old Nano for a snazzy new Touch unit which will be obsolete by the end of the ski season).
I don't usually ski with my Ipod, but could if I really wanted to-- might try it just to prove snowbum wrong. Who'd of thought that the Deep Purple, Foghat, Led Zep, Pink Floyd that we listened to on our skiing roadtrips would ever be played on the oldies stations, superseded by some new cRAP that I can't stand? How can I ever get over dealing with that, Young Man?
Snowbum's wrong though, about my lack of enthusiasm for new technology-- I've enthusiastically embraced a lot of new technology, like plastic buckle boots, ski brakes, polarfleece, short twin-tip skis (Olin Mark IV Comp's, the hottest new ski during President Carter's administration) and even shaped skis.
Heck, I've even tried the latest music player technology, by renting an Astraltune player back in 1981. It was the size and heft of a college chemistry textbook, worn using a chest harness, and used plastic cartridges called "cassette tapes" which had two spools of magnetic tape on which music was recorded in "analog". This was a huge improvement over the 9" diameter spools of reel-to-reel tape players which weren't really suitable for taking on the chairlift.
But even that first pair of shaped skis is obsolete now, my X-screams demoted to back-of the ski closet rock skis.