Things are getting quite exciting here at HiiKER! Since the launch of the new and improved app last year, we have been working tirelessly to improve the user experience and implement new features to help our community discover, plan and navigate their hiking adventures safely.
In January of 2023, we announced that we were making offline maps free on HiiKER. This meant that any user could download their planned route to their device and access it at any time, regardless of poor connection and have confidence in knowing where they were on the map. Since then, we have focused all of our energy on ensuring that the product is reliable and has the functionality required for the 200 million hikers of the world.
We also knew that while we had thousands of verified route options available, it wasn’t enough. We needed to do more to offer new and experienced hikers plenty of options for their hikes. So we reached out to organisation like the National Parks Service, The US Forestry service and many other international organisations whom develop and manage trail data, to present their qualified information to our community.
Today, we’re excited to announce that we have added over 20,000 new routes in the US and over 10,000 new routes in Europe. We also are going to be releasing over 50,000 new routes in the US over the next few months.
As for functionality, while we have been busy improving our current tools, we have also released a number of amazing new features to help you plan and navigate your next adventure.
Print Custom trail maps
Now you can print your own custom trail map using HiiKER. While we do everything we can to ensure that the app is sufficient to keep you safe on route, having a paper back-up is essential to a safe hike. Using the trail planner on the app, you can print these maps directly from you mobile phone on a home printer. You can read our guide on Custom Print Maps here.
Custom Waypoints
Planning your hikes just got more exciting. Now you can place your own custom waypoints on any map within HiiKER. This can be useful for long-distance hiking as you need to add a campsite or resupply spot that is not currently on HiiKER.
You can also use it for planning different spots where you will camp, take breaks or even to meet up with other hikers.
If you are organising a trail race, waypoints can be useful for sharing to competitors, so that they know where aid stations are, where there are particularly tricky turns and where race marshals are going to be situated.
You can read the full guide on how to use Custom Waypoints on HiiKER here.
Live Locator
Another key safety feature we launched earlier this year was Live Locator. With this feature you can share your live location to anyone using a unique URL.
When you share this URL with anyone, they will be able to access your live location either through the app or on any browser. This means that your safety contact doesn’t even have to have the app to be able to see your location.
One important note to keep in mind is that this feature does require a mobile signal to work and can drain battery life. Best to use it sparingly or in conjunction with a power pack.
Read the full guide on using Live Locator here.
New Maps
We love maps. And we know you love maps! That’s why we are committed to building the largest library of hiking maps on any hiking app. We already have lots of great map makers on the app and in the coming months we have some exciting new partners coming on board!
In the past few months we have added:
- US FS Topo maps – Highly detailed Topographical maps of the National Forest network across the USA
- US National Park maps – User-friendly maps of all US National parks
- Fraternali Editore – Excellently detailed topo maps of the Northwest of Italy (Including the Italian Alps)
- Edizioni Il Lupo – Beautiful topo maps of the Apennine region of Italy
You can check out all of our premium mapping providers here
We want to hear from you! What features would you like to see on HiiKER?