So last year I was trying to figure out the best way to do this. My conclusion there isn't just one best way to do it. However, I thought I needed something so found one that worked for me. It's a combination of any source of GPX data (or almost any GPS data at all), CalTopo (for map creation, editing and printing), Backcountry Navigator (smartphone app) and a decent workflow.

Here is the guide, with screenshots of making a map of the Dog Mountain route: http://hpka.net/2014/06/11/making-yo...-on-your-phone

Hope it helps someone.

For safety, remember to go out with a paper map (one that isn't battery powered), a compass, and knowledge of how to use them. It's no error I've put the smartphone and paper guides as one longer guide.

Thank you for putting together the excellent guide. I never knew about CalTopo but they have the BC ministry 1:20k raster maps which is convenient.

Cool. Thanks for sharing.

Yep - lucky find on that. Unfortunately, I don't think AB or the other provinces have as good maps (to be honest, not even the US has maps that good in my opinion).

I also strongly recommend the OpenCycleMap layer.

Kind of wish Thunderforest Maps would be supported: http://www.thunderforest.com/maps/
But that would cost the developer funds I don't think they have. For an example of some of the map styles, go to Geocaching.com's map: http://coord.info/map?ll=49.3724,-122.96364&z=15 and change the layer in the top right menu.

Thanks for this. Totally awesome
I made my first map in preparation for Rohr. It went well, though you don't really need a map for Rohr.

To add my two cents, I discovered this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...m.Avenza&hl=en

You can open PDF maps that adhere to the PDF map standard or whatever, and then you can use them like a GPS map.

You can download the stock BC Topo Map PDFs and use them with GPS features. You can open your custom map that you print from Caltopo and also get a dot, heading, etc from GPS.



Finally a question... Is there a Dropbox share or something we can use to share PDF maps with each other?

a few thoughts. Avenza PDFmaps does not support GPX import only KML. This may change soon, or so they tell me. It's easy enough to convert GPX to KML online and also through everytrail.com (as mentioned in your guide), which has the most accurate converter.

The smartphone app, Alpinequest has the opencyclehike and openterrain maps (and many others) available in native format. Like backcountry navigator, This app also lets you pre-cache any area you are going to so that you can view your GPS track in real time on a good contour map (or BING aerial image)

If you don't use CalTopo, here's the link to the GeoBC TRIM map site where the geospatial 1:20000 TRIM raster maps can be downloaded, then uploaded to your smartphone for use in PDF Maps

http://geobc.gov.bc.ca/base-mapping/...pographic.html

Launch the app and away you go

You can share links from CalTopo, but I can't speak for PDFs necessarily... Dropbox links could be overwhelmed easily.