The Hokkaido Wilds diamond logo (410px high)
The Hokkaido Wilds diamond logo (410px high)

PRESS RELEASE | Announcing the launch of GeoPDF maps for print and navigation

Hokkaido Wilds Favicon
Posted on Nov 13, 2019
by
2
Hokkaido Wilds Favicon
Posted on Nov 13, 2019
by
5 2
Sapporo City, Japan | Popular Hokkaido adventure website HokkaidoWilds.org announced Wednesday the launch of a new line of online topographical maps in GeoPDF format. Users of the site can download the PDFs for free, and can see their current location in real time using the free Avenza Maps™ app for iPhone and Android. Users can still download the PDF maps to print using home or convenience store printers.

Aimed at backcountry skiers, hikers, and canoeists, the GeoPDF topographical maps are available on the site as well as the Avenza Maps™ mapstore. Avenza Maps™ mapstore is trusted by big-name map producers such as National Geographic and the US Forestry Service. Our GeoPDF topographical maps are available for all ski, hike, and canoe routes published on HokkaidoWilds.org after October 31st 2019. Routes published earlier than this date will be updated with GeoPDFs as time allows.

Example GeoPDFs (see our Avenza Mapstore here: https://www.avenzamaps.com/vendor/4777）

Map licensing – Like all content on HokkaidoWilds.org, all the site’s maps are available for re-use by third-parties under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license – the maps can be re-used, distributed, sold, and adapted even for commercial purposes (details here: https://hokw.jp/attri).

About HokkaidoWilds.org | The Hokkaido Wilds is a non-profit website that exists to inspire people to explore and enjoy Hokkaido and the surrounding areas’ extraordinary outdoors by ski, bicycle, foot and canoe in an informed and responsible way. In addition to detailed written route guides with great photography, we also provide GPS route files, custom English-language GeoPDF topographical maps (using Japan government map data), and safety notes. HokkaidoWilds.org enjoys the support of a number of local Hokkaido NPOs and tourism promotion bureaus.

PDF version of press release: English | Japanese

Contact
Rob Thomson (Founder, HokkaidoWilds.org)
TEL: +81 (0)80-4228-6132 (Japan mobile)
Email: rob@hokkaidowilds.org
Instagram: @hokkaidowilds

Hokkaido Wilds’ Avenza Maps™ Map Store

https://www.avenzamaps.com/vendor/4777

Avenza Maps™ app

Comments | Queries | Discussion

2 thoughts on “PRESS RELEASE | Announcing the launch of GeoPDF maps for print and navigation”

  1. Val

    Hi there great resources. The idea in Avenza is to plot the routes on top of these maps to be able to navigate to destination?
    Also out of curiosity can Japan GSI maps be added somehow to Avenza maps?

    Reply
    1. Rob Thomson

      Hey Val, with our maps, we have the routes marked on the maps already. They also use Japan GSI map data, so are essentially very similar to the ‘raw’ GSI maps (but our maps have English place names). If you want the basic Japanese GSI maps with just the Japanese placenames, you might find some on Avenza if you have a search. Pacific Spacial Solutions has uploaded many: https://store.avenza.com/collections/pacific-spatial-solutions-inc?query=&page=0

      Reply

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

See More Like this

Ski Touring
Routes

Cycle Touring
Routes

Hiking
Routes

About
Hokkaido
Wilds

Download may take some time

BADGE by @joekkaido

Instagram Facebook Twitter Etsy Link

Hokkaido Wilds Foundation

We’ve got affiliate links on HokkaidoWilds.org to help fund the Hokkaido Wilds foundation.

The Foundation gets a small commission on sales from affiliate links, but we only link to stuff we think is worth checking out for people keen on the outdoors in Hokkaido and Japan.

The Hokkaido Wilds Foundation is a fund where 100% of funds are donated to Hokkaido volunteer groups involved in sustainable, safe, and responsible access to the Hokkaido outdoors.

Learn more here

ADVANCED FILTERS

Filter by location

About Filters

REGION: The general mountain/geographical region the route is in.

BEST MONTH(S): Time of year a route is suited to visiting. Some pop all season, some are more limited.

DIFFICULTY: How strenuous a route is, and how technical it is. Full details here.

FREERIDE/SKITOUR: Very subjective, but is a route more-of-a-walk-than-a-ski or the other way around? Some routes are all about the screaming downhill (freeride), some are more about the hunt for a peak or nice forest (ski-tour). Some are in between. 

MAIN ASPECT: Which cardinal direction the primary consequential slope is facing, that you might encounter on the route. More details here.

ROUTE TAGS: An eclectic picking of other categories that routes might belong to.

SEARCH BY LOCATION: You can find routes near your current location – just click on the crosshairs (). You may need to give permission to HokkaidoWilds.org to know your GPS location (don’t worry, we won’t track you). Or, type in a destination, such as Niseko or Sapporo or Asahikawa etc.

Please let us know how we can make it easier to narrow down your search. Contact Rob at rob@hokkaidowilds.org with your suggestions.

PRESS RELEASE | Announcing the launch of GeoPDF maps for print and navigation Difficulty Rating

Category

Grade

Points

Strenuousness

Vertical Gain

D

25

Time ascending

D

0

Technicality

Altitude

D

0

Hazards

D

Navigation

D

Totals

25/100

GRADES range from A (very difficult) to D (easy). Hazards include exposure to avalanche and fall risk. More details here. Rating rubric adapted from Hokkaido Yukiyama Guidebook 北海道雪山ガイド.