Monte Rosa, the highest peak in Switzerland, rendered with satellite imagery and a Swiss Topo overlay in CalTopo.
What's the Best 3D Mapping App for Backcountry Skiing?
Backcountry Skiing and Splitboarding require keen navigation skills to find terrain and stay safe. One of the key tools we have to navigate the backcountry are mapping apps. A feature that has revolutionized how we use maps in the backcountry in recent years is 3D rendering - the ability to preview terrain in 3D before even stepping out of the car or out of the tram.
We're going to showcase the world's best 3D mapping apps for backcountry skiing and splitboarding and provide a feature-by-feature comparison table for them below. Some of these apps are fairly new to the scene and others are old standbys that have new 3D features. If you have experience with these apps, post your favorite features in the comments section!
Overview of 3D Mapping Apps
✅ = 🧊3D available on all platforms
🤖 Android 🍏 Apple 💻 Desktop
CalTopo ✅
✅ 🧊3D on 🤖 Android, 🍏 Apple 💻 Desktop
A robust platform with newly added 3D functionality and a recently upgraded mobile interface. Caltopo's lengthy feature set and nearly endless map layering options make it a great tool for backcountry skiing, alpine climbing, mountain biking or any other activity. The desktop and mobile apps integrate seamlessly, making it easy to plan trips at home on a laptop and bring your plans to the field on your phone.
Gaia GPS 🤖💻
🧊3D on 🤖 Android, 💻 Desktop
A reliable and intuitive player in backcountry mapping apps for over a decade. In 2021, it introduced 3D mapping on its Android app and desktop interfaces, but Apple users are still waiting for 3D functionality. It's simple and appealing user interface has made the app easy for users who are less-tech-savy, while still providing extensive features.
OnX Backcountry ✅
✅ 🧊3D on 🤖 Android, 🍏 Apple and 💻 Desktop
Is a 3D forward, USA-based app for mobile and desktop. OnX has focused its energy on US based mapping, so the functionality outside of the USA is limited. OnX has a few unique and useful features for backcountry skiers, like private land maps and avalanche terrain exposure scale (ATES).
OUTMAP ✅
✅ 🧊3D on 🤖 Android, 🍏 Apple and 💻 Desktop
Great 3D visual terrain previewing and fast feeling user interface make OUTMAP shine. It lacks some of the technical tools, but provides a lot of nice features in the free version.
Relief Maps 🤖🍏
🧊3D on 🤖 Android, 🍏 Apple
A mobile app with a nice interface with limited desktop capabilities. While using the desktop interface we we're able to change the perspective to be useful for our needs. This may be due to the app focusing on mobile functionality and we guess that the desktop app will have better functionality moving forward.
Mapy.cz 💻
🧊3D on 💻 Desktop
Is a Czech internet and mobile map application with worldwide map coverage and localization into many languages. It uses OpenStreetMap platform for map databases outside of the Czech Republic. Mapy.cz currently supports 3D rendering on the desktop app, but not on mobile. Mapsets are limited compared to Caltopo and Gaia, but still quite good and the app is free.
Feature Comparison Chart of 3D Mapping Apps
Embed Google Sheet
A Deeper Dive
If you're still curious about which 3D Mapping App is the best for backcountry skiing and splitboarding, we'll explain more about the user experience and features we like and dislike about each here:
COMING SOON
CalTopo
✅ 🧊3D on 🤖 Android, 🍏 Apple and 💻 Desktop
Gaia GPS
🧊3D on 🤖 Android, 💻 Desktop
OnX Backcountry
✅ 🧊3D on 🤖 Android, 🍏 Apple and 💻 Desktop
OUTMAP
✅ 🧊3D on 🤖 Android, 🍏 Apple and 💻 Desktop
Relief Maps
🧊3D on 🤖 Android, 🍏 Apple, limited on Desktop
Mapy.cz
🧊3D on 💻 Desktop