GPS & connections
Live hiking GPS, off-route alerts and buddy updates
By Aus Trails · Reviewed against the current app.
Your position on a map, a warning about leaving the route and a message to a friend are related features with different requirements. Here is how each part works in Aus Trails, so you can set it up before walking.
Enable location on the trail map
Open the route you intend to walk and enable live location. The map uses the position supplied by your device to show where you are relative to the mapped trail. Allow location access in the browser and device settings if prompted.
A location fix has limits. Its accuracy can vary, and a cached map cannot improve a poor GPS fix. Compare the marker with the route and your surroundings. Keep the map and route loaded in advance if you expect to leave mobile reception.
Understand the off-route warning
The current app compares the GPS fix with the trail geometry. Its deviation threshold is 60 metres. The map also avoids treating someone browsing a distant trail from home as a nearby hiker who has wandered away.
This threshold is not a promise of 60-metre position accuracy, and the check cannot detect every wrong turn. A warning is a reason to inspect your position and route; lack of a warning is not confirmation that a route is safe or open. The feature does not dispatch emergency services.
Start and finish a hike session
A free account adds hike sessions. Choose the expected return time when starting, keep location enabled, and finish the session when the walk is complete. Position samples can be recorded during the active session and saved when it finishes.
Keep the app active for tracking. Browsers and phone operating systems can suspend background work, and permissions can change. Saving session data and recorded tracks requires the service to be reachable; check the app for any reported save errors.
- Sign in and open your chosen trail.
- Start a hike and set an expected return time.
- Keep the app active with location enabled.
- Finish the session while connected and check that it saved.
Connect your people before the walk
Set up buddy connections in advance using free accounts. During a hike session, connected buddies can receive start, finish and off-route status changes when your device can send them. Notification permissions affect whether a push notification can appear.
A saved offline map does not make buddy updates work without a connection. Arrange expectations about check-ins separately. The proposed distress-relay feature is still research, and is not part of the current app.