A route line, not directions from A to B
A navigation app finds a road between two points. A hike works differently: several days, passes, camps, alternate routes and side trips. In Trace Map the hike is the main thing, and the route line is its backbone.
- Along trails — the line snaps to OpenStreetMap footpaths, not to roads.
- Straight — for open ground, glaciers and compass legs.
- Freehand — drawn with a finger and smoothed.
Modes mix within one line. Any vertex can be dragged; undo and redo are always there.
Days, camps, alternates and side trips
The line is split into days at a camp, and each day gets its own shade. From a fork you draw an alternate route — dashed on the map, with its own mini-schedule. From a camp you add an out-and-back side trip without the big pack, timed with a different factor.
11 point types
Camp, pass, summit, water, ford, danger, escape route, fork, checkpoint, place and note. A pass carries its grade from 1A to 3B and the saddle height. Every point has a planned arrival time, a stop length and an auto check-in radius: 50 m, or 100 m at passes.
An arrival time for every point
Moving time for each leg comes from distance, ascent and descent, adjusted for your pack and with rests included. Starting from the day’s start time, every point gets a planned arrival. Pin any time by hand and the rest are recalculated from it. The formula and an example are in the hiking time calculator.
Point card: weather, sunset, pass details
A point card shows the weather for the planned time at that altitude, sunrise and sunset for the date, and a warning like “you’ll arrive 40 minutes before sunset”. For a pass — its grade, height and description from the pass catalogue, photos of the place and a Wikipedia excerpt.
Elevation profile, terrain and layers
The elevation profile is linked to the map: slide along the profile and the spot lights up on the line, and the other way round. Layers: route map, satellite, 3D terrain and contour lines.
GPX in and out
Import a track or route from GPX — from another app, a watch or someone’s trip report. Export gives you the line and points named like “13:40 Gumachi Pass 1B”, readable by any navigation app. A finished plan can be sent to your companions and followed on the trail.