The passion for walks and trekking is experiencing a real boom. In Italy, almost half of the population practices this activity at least once a year, with a significant increase compared to previous years. The reasons for this growing enthusiasm are manifold: not only walking is good for health, but it is also an economic activity and accessible to everyone.
Trekking also represents the ideal way to discover, with its time, the natural and cultural heritage of a region, allowing to venture into hidden places that were once known only by the local population or by few expert explorers. Today, thanks to the trekking apps, each hiker has a real digital treasure map available.
The best trekking apps
All trekking applications share some essential features. First of all, they are tools that show the geographical position of the user on a map, transmitted by the GPS module of the smartphone. The trekking itineraries located nearby are displayed on this map, allowing you to easily reach the starting point and let yourself be guided along the way.
Among the most popular apps we find Altrails, Komoot, Wikiloc, Outdooractive, Gaia GPSAnd Mountain Maps. Most offer the basic functions for free, while some advanced features require a subscription.
The filtering possibilities vary significantly between the different apps. Komoot and Wikiloc allow you to select the itineraries for a distance, duration, difference in height or level of difficulty.
The power of collaborative maps
In their free version, all apps integrate at least one OSM Map Fund (Opensreetmap), an open source map constantly improved by over a million contributors all over the world. This map is also very readable on the small screen of the smartphone and shows detailed information, from the names of the streets of cities and towns to the trail of the smaller foreigners, also including the level curves.
Komoot stands out for his personalized OSM maps, whose appearance was reworked to make them more aesthetic. The result is very pleasant visually, even if it no longer contains information than classic maps. This app also excels in the automatic routing function for creating itineraries. However, when it comes to venturing in wilder environments, especially in the mountains, OSM maps show their limits. They do not allow, for example, to correctly distinguish a rocky barrier or other dangerous areas, and often there are some important tracks and points of reference.
Precision maps for the most demanding
For those who want to explore more demanding environments in total safety, there are more detailed maps available through paid subscriptions. Outdooractive It offers precise topographical maps with season tickets starting from 19.99 euros per year. Gaia GPS It is another app that offers advanced maps, but requires a premium subscription to access all features.
Komoot It adopts a different approach: for 30 euros a year offers specialized OSM maps for specific activities such as cycling, mountain bikes or trekking. This option is less useful in countries with well -developed recreational infrastructures, where most of the other apps provide similar information for free.
The question of the connection
A crucial aspect to consider is that, by default, the maps are not stored on the phone. In fact, no device has the necessary memory to contain these quantities of data. The maps are then hosted on external servers, from which the application discharges the fragments corresponding to the area where the user is located.
This system involves two important consequences. First of all, access to the mobile network is needed to recover the maps during the excursion, which means that in the absence of a signal, the display is not updated. Although the GPS signal remains active, it is like being with a sign “You are here” in the middle of the Sahara desert.
The second consequence concerns energy consumption: in the areas with poor network coverage, the phone consumes a lot of energy to search and connect to the network. For daily excursions this is not a serious problem, as long as you do not use too many other functions of the phone. If in doubt, it is always advisable to bring an external battery for charging.
The solution: download offline
There is a much safer solution: download the map bottom that includes the track of the excursion. Alone Altrails And Komoot They make this feature paid (24 euros per year for the first, 30 euros for life access for the second), while the other apps offer it for free. The procedure is simple and is often proposed directly at the time of the selection of the excursion, as is the case on Outdooractive.
With offline downloaded maps, the navigation system works exactly as in normal use, offering the same precision and reliability even without network connection. This represents a huge advantage in terms of safety and autonomy during excursions.
Advanced safety features
Modern trekking apps offer increasingly sophisticated features to ensure the safety of hikers. It is not necessary to start the path from the exact starting point of the itinerary: the apps detect the position via GPS and start navigation from any point in which you join the route. Komoot However, it requires to specify if you want to travel the journey in the opposite direction, otherwise send rather annoying error messages.
All applications have a precious alarm system for exit from the route. A sound and sometimes a vibration warn the user who is moving away from the itinerary, even if the screen is off. Gaia GPS And Wikiloc They also offer alarms to return to the original path. You can adjust the alarm distance on Komoot And Outdooractiveeven if it is advisable not to reduce it under 30 meters to avoid false alarms due to the GPS signal fluctuations, particularly frequent in the forest.
Create and share their itineraries
The apps allow you to import itineraries in GPX format, recovered from trekking sites or shared by other hikers. Alone Outdooractive It still does not offer this function, but the company has communicated that this gap will be correct in the coming months. In addition, all allow you to create new circuits directly from the smartphone: just go to the starting point and start recording before starting the excursion.
On Wikiloconly the paths certified by the Association are public, but the app allows you to share their tracks with close people by creating “tribes”, private communication spaces. However, this service requires an annual subscription.
The most practical way to create an itinerary is to use the website associated with the app. Outdooractive It excels in this exercise thanks to its automatic routing function: when adding a passage point, the software determines the itinerary following roads, paths and small routes on the map.
Mountain Maps It offers advanced customization of paths thanks to artificial intelligence, allowing you to create itineraries based on user preferences.
Strava It is a multisport app also used for hiking, with precise GPS tracking, detailed statistics (difference in height, distance, rhythm) and a strong social component. It allows you to create paths via Heatmap and allows real -time sharing with the Beacon function. Excellent for those who want to monitor performance and confront each other, but less suitable for offline navigation or in remote areas than apps like Altrails.
Garmin Explore It is the app designed for those who practice hiking, trekking and outdoor activities, especially in combination with Garmin devices. It allows you to plan paths with topographic maps, save Waypoint, import/export GPX tracks and use offline navigation, without connection. The app integrates with devices such as Fenix, Forerunner and Innach, offering complete adventure management.
Which one to choose?
Altrails
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Komoot
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Wikiloc
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Outdooractive
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Mountain Maps
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Gaia GPS
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Strava
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Garmin Explore
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Trekking apps are essential tools for those who love to venture into nature safely and easily. The choice of the right app depends on various factors, such as the type of favorite activity, the need for detailed maps, the budget for subscriptions and extra functionality.
Each of these apps has its own strength, and the choice will depend on the personal needs of the hiking, the difficulty of the paths and the technological infrastructure of the area to be explored.
