Summary

Overview
Features summary
Create a map

Select an area
From an archive
Receive a map
Manual map creation

Features

Measure a distance
Show the speed
Add markers
Add a landmark
Lock the view on current position
Visualize a recording in real time
Import a GPX track
GPX recording
Follow a track

Settings

Start on the last map
Download folder
Rotation mode

Overview

TrekMe is an Android trekking app to get live position on a map and other useful information, without ever needing an internet connection (except when creating a map). TrekMe is designed to work with any WMTS source such as USGS in USA, IGN France, Swiss topo, OpenStreetMap and so on. You can download an area of your choice so the cached tiles are available for offline usage.

Perhaps most importantly, TrekMe is designed to consume few CPU resources, to preserve the device's battery.

Features summary

Support in-app map creation from:
- United States's USGS
- France IGN (requires a subscription)
- Spain IGN
- Swiss Topo
- OpenStreetMap
Marker support (with optional comments, and photos)
GPX tracks import
Lock the view to the current position
Orientation indicator
Speed indicator
Distance indicator
GPX track recording

Some features require a premium subscription, such as:

Create an unlimited number of folders to organize your tracks
Remove the limit of map size
Add beacons to be alerted when getting close to specific locations
… and more

Create a map

There are three ways to create a map:

Select an area from an official source provider like IGN or USGS,
Import from an archive,
Receive a map from a nearby TrekMe user (over Wifi)

The preferred and easiest way is the first one. Below are detailed each of these methods.

Select an area

In this mode, you use a specific map provider. Google map is a well known example of map provider. But their maps aren't ideal for hiking. When possible, it is better to use maps with more terrain details.

For example, USGS is USA's official map provider. France's IGN is ideal when you are in France and its territories. However, not all countries have similar service. OpenStreetMap has a worldwide coverage. In particular, OpenStreetMap HD has a much better quality.

Some providers require a subscription to download their maps. The others are free for maps of reasonable size.

From the "Create map" option menu, you get to choose between available providers:

When you've made your choice, the map appears shortly. Beware that USGS only provides detailed levels for USA. Actually, other providers only cover their relevant country, except for OpenStreetMap which covers the entire world.

From there, you can zoom into the area in the world you want to capture. If this isn't the most handy way to find your area of interest, there are others ways:

You can center on your current location, using the location button at the top.
You can search for a particular place, using the search button in the top bar.
Import a GPX track, using the menu at top-right corner. This feature is available as part of the Plus and Pro offer.

When you found the place you're looking for, you may adjust the position of the blue circles, which define the area to download. When you're ready, press the "Validate" button at the bottom of the screen. You then see the menu below, from where you will start the download.

WMTS map providers have different zoom levels, generally from 1 to 18. In most cases, you don't want levels 1 to 10 for your hike, and level 17 is not always necessary. Unless you know what you're doing, it's advised to keep the default level presets.

The number of tiles that will be downloaded depends on the size of the area, and on minimum and maximum levels. So the simplest thing to do is to adjust the area to download. The number of tiles increases when the minimum zoom is low and the maximum zoom is high. This is indicated by the estimated size in Mb. Downloading hundreds of Mb may take hours.. so choose carefully your area to only download the tiles you actually need.

Finally, press the download button. A download service is launched and you get a notification. From the notification center of your Android device, you can either:

See the download progression,
Cancel the download

When the service finishes the download, you get a notification and a new map is available in the map list. You can set a presentation image so you can easily identify it in the map list. To do so, press the edit button at the bottom left of the map card (in the map list menu).

From the map configuration view, you can:

Change the thumbnail image,
Change the name,
Save the map

Resume a stopped download

When a map download was stopped (either manually or e.g when shutting down the device), the map is now incomplete. You can tell that by the warning bellow:

You can resume the download by using EDIT > "Analyze & repair". The map repair will fetch the missing tiles. This is possible if you have TrekMe Plus or Pro. Otherwise, it's advised to delete the incomplete map.

Import from an archive

A map can also be created from an existing archive. The archive can be made by yourself or someone else (see below to create an archive). An archive is a zip file. To import from an archive, use the main menu and choose "Import a map". Then, press the button "Import from folder" in the middle of the screen. Navigate to the folder which contains the archive(s) and select that folder. Then, TrekMe shows you the recognized archives, which you can individually import.

Receive a map

See Map Sharing.

Features

Measure a distance

Distance can be measured using two different tools in TrekMe:

As the crow flies distance

This is an option from the top-right menu while viewing a map: Adjust the distance by dragging two blue circles.

Along track distance

While following a track, it's sometimes handy to know the distance between two points on that track. For example, you can evaluate whether you have enough time to reach some point, then go around before nightfall.

This is an option from the top-right menu while viewing a map: "Distance on track". It can be activated/disabled. When enabled, two blue circles appear on the nearest track from the center of the screen. The portion of the track between the two blue circles is highlighted in red, and its distance is shown.

The distance accounts for elevation only if the track contains elevation data for each point.

Show the speed

The speed indicator overlays the speed in km/h at the top of the screen. Note that it requires a few seconds before the speed can be displayed.

Add markers

Press the marker button to add a new marker at the center of the screen:

The marker can be moved by dragging the blue circle. When you're satisfied with its position, tap once anywhere on the blue circle.

Tapping a marker displays a popup:

From here you can:

Navigate to the marker using Google Maps (top-right icon),
Edit the marker (change its name, add a comment or a photo),
Move it,
Delete it

Add landmarks

A landmark is a specific marker. A purple line is drawn between it and your current position. So it helps when you need to always know the direction of a specific place, which may be outside of the area that your screen covers.

Often, we want to display our orientation in the same time. We can also add several landmarks:

Lock the view on current position

Sometimes, you want the view to automatically follow your position. To do that, use the menu as shown bellow:

Then select "Lock on position". Now, everytime the application gets a location update (approximately every 2 seconds, up to 5 seconds), the view centers on this new location.

Visualize a recording in real time

When you start a recording from the "GPX Record" option menu, the recording can be seen in real time on any map that covers your current area. It appears as an orange route.

Even if you close TrekMe, you will find your live route the next time you open it, until you stop the recording.

TrekMe

Install / Use

README