Map Marker is a true gem among location-based apps. It focuses on one core idea - saving and organizing places - and does so exceptionally well through its Android, iOS, and web apps. Instead of trying to be a full navigation or fitness platform, Map Marker excels at what many outdoor and travel apps surprisingly overlook: giving you a clean, structured way to collect locations that matter to you.
Whether you’re marking mountain peaks, viewpoints, monuments, trees, parking spots, or future hiking ideas, Map Marker lets you organize locations into folders, assign icons, add notes, and view everything clearly on a map. It stays lightweight and intuitive, yet powerful enough to export your data (GPX/KML) and integrate with other mapping or navigation tools when needed.
The result is an app that feels deliberately focused - quick to use in the field, pleasant to browse later on the web, and flexible enough to fit into more advanced outdoor workflows.
Geocaching is a global treasure hunt that combines maps, puzzles, outdoor exploration, and a touch of detective work. All you need is your smartphone. If you’ve ever wished the world had just a bit more mystery, geocaching might be the perfect hobby for you.
In this article, we’ll look at what geocaching is, why it has become so popular, and which Android and iOS apps offer the best experience today.
Locus Map is a great outdoor navigation app that I've been playing with and enjoying lately. It is an extremely configurable and powerful app which simply can't be reviewed in one blog post, so I will cover some specific features as I explore them. In this first article about Locus Map I will talk about location sharing.
There are many reasons you might want to share your location, whether as a one-time manual update or through real-time tracking. For hikers, one of the most important reasons is when hiking alone - having someone know your whereabouts could be lifesaving in the event of an accident or emergency.
It is also important to be able to share some specific location on the map, for example a meeting point, a campsite or simply a waypoint, so that others can easily find it.
There are various different ways for location sharing and this app seems to cover them all.
The condition of your hiking gear - especially your shoes or boots - plays a major role in your comfort, safety, and overall experience on the trail. Over time, hiking footwear gradually loses its support, grip, and cushioning, often without obvious signs. That's where gear tracking becomes a valuable tool.
Gear tracking is a simple but powerful feature available in many fitness apps. It lets you log the use of specific gear, like hiking shoes, backpacks, or trekking poles, alongside your recorded activities. By automatically keeping track of distance, time, and terrain, you can monitor how much wear your gear has experienced and know when it's time for maintenance or replacement.
Tracking your hiking gear helps prevent discomfort and injuries that can result from worn-out equipment. It also ensures that you're getting the best performance out of your boots and other gear for every adventure. Plus, it's satisfying to look back and see how many miles your favourite pair of boots have carried you!
gpx.studio is a free web app that provides various tools for editing your GPX files. GPX is one of the formats used by your GPS devices to record your tracks. Among other tools, this web app provides a tool to remove wrongly recorded points. In this video I demonstrate how you can remove spurious (fake) points from your GPX recorded tracks using gpx.studio
Despite it's name which suggests a viewer, GPX Viewer is a very capable mobile app for navigation, route following and track recording. It is reliable, provides a useful set of features and a nice set of maps that are visually pleasing and useful for hiking. It comes in two versions on Android, the basic free version and the paid Pro version. On iOS it comes only as a paid version.
In this article we will review the Android Pro version, since it comes with a couple of important features that are not available in the free one:
- offline maps
- track recording
The Android Pro version is available for a one-time payment of around 8.50 USD, which in our opinion is well worth the price for a very handy offline navigation app.
