Maps & Navigation
Avenza Maps: Offline Mapping
Offline GPS maps for field work and hiking, with a Map Store of USGS, NatGeo and Forest Service maps.
Get the app
Opens the official store page
- Developer
- Avenza Systems Inc.
- Score
- 4.8
- Downloads
- 100K+ ratings
- Age
- Rated 4+
- Version
- 5.8 (275)
- Price
- Free
Screenshots
About this app
Field work is the intended use of Avenza Maps, and it's built around maps that function with no signal at all. You download or import a map, and the GPS places you on it, records tracks, and lets you navigate to features with compass tools. Professionals in surveying, land management, environmental work and GIS are the main audience. The in-app Map Store sells and gives away maps from National Geographic, the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, the US Geological Survey, NOAA, FAA and BLM, among others, covering trails, topography, land use, nautical charts and more. Custom maps import as PDF, GeoPDF or GeoTIFF. Placemarks with photos and notes, distance and time measurement, and KML, GPX and CSV support round out the free tier. Plus allows up to 20 custom imports and a limited number of geofences. Pro, required for commercial or academic use, adds unlimited imports, Bluetooth GPS receivers, Shapefile support and more.
Avenza Maps: Offline Mapping: the full guide
What the app is
No signal is the normal condition for this app. Avenza Maps loads a map onto the phone in advance, then uses GPS to place you on it, record your track and point you toward features, all without a network. The audience is field professionals in surveying, GIS, environmental work and land management, with hikers as a secondary crowd.
Its Map Store carries free and paid maps from the National Park Service, National Geographic, the Forest Service, USGS, NOAA, the FAA and BLM, covering trails, topography, nautical charts and land use. Your own maps can be imported in PDF, GeoPDF or GeoTIFF form, and placemarks carry photos and notes.
How it works day to day
A field day starts the night before, downloading the relevant quad or trail map while there's still WiFi. On site, the blue dot sits on the map with no bars on the phone, tracks record as you walk a boundary, and placemarks with photos and notes mark what needs recording. Distances get measured on screen rather than paced.
Back at the office the data goes out as KML, GPX or CSV for the desktop GIS. A hiker's version of the same day is simpler: a NatGeo trail map, a recorded route, a few photo waypoints at viewpoints.
Why people look for it
Reliable offline positioning on a proper topographic map is what people are after, and the Map Store's lineup of USGS, Forest Service and National Geographic sheets is the thing that gets named in searches. Professionals look for GeoPDF and GeoTIFF support specifically. A 4.8 rating from more than a hundred thousand reviewers is remarkable for a specialist tool.
Look and feel
The five screenshots presumably show a topographic map with a position marker, the Map Store catalogue, a placemark with a photo attached and the track recording view. In Maps & Navigation this is the serious end: the map sheet itself does the visual work and the app's own chrome stays out of the way. Expect toolbars rather than flourishes.
Updates and upkeep
A version string of 5.8 (275) includes a build number, which is the habit of a developer with a disciplined release process, and Avenza Systems Inc. is a mapping software company whose core business this is. More than a hundred thousand ratings show it's widely relied upon. Apple's store is the only one linked. No release dates are listed.
