How does one create a map for hikers?

I want to create a map with hiking trails for hikers. Sounds simple, but how?

Ancient history. I once created maps by hand. I traced contours from topo maps and drew the trails by hand, really tedious, hard to update, etc. They were published in a New England hiking club newsletter years ago.

Enter the 21st century and I want to create new maps. Maybe that means I trace trails on a computer instead of on paper, I don't know.

Target audience: hikers interested in trails on specific mountains and parks. Level of detail and accuracy, casual. In other words sufficient to get hiker on trail, then to summit, spots of interest and so forth. Contour lines nice but not essential. To be published on the internet or printed.

So, what app or software should I look at for use on laptop or iPad? I have the Apple Pencil that can be used for drawing on iPad. I don't have a GPS, nor do I know how to use one, which I can imagine might be useful in capturing the layout of a trail.

Constraints. Living outside the land of the free and the brave, I may be unable to capture topo data electronically from some database or other. Such information is not generally available (legally to my knowledge) for my mountains of interest. In fact typical internet maps for my areas have deliberate distortions introduced per decree of controlling authorities. I have heard of individuals getting into trouble just tracing their hikes with a GPS. There are other considerations and regulations that I haven't bothered to mention. Those are my problem to sort out. Still, I have hopes of publishing the maps. We shall see.

But the technical side of making a map, that's where I need help getting started. Mapmakers here, please clue me in.

Have you used caltopo?

Http://caltopo.com

Tim

Basic method:
1) Obtain a digital map of the region (topo preferred for hiking).
2) Obtain or generate GPS tracks of trails
3) Plot GPS tracks on map with appropriate software.

I see you are aware of the legal issues...

How I do it here in the NE USA:
1) I have several digital topo maps of the region: Garmin Topo (100K and 24K scales). Garmin-compatible topos for the US and other parts of the world are available from https://www.gpsfiledepot.com. (China: https://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/301/ (1:1M scale topo--not very good for hiking))
2) I walk the trails with a GPS and record the tracks or obtain GPS tracks online. (There are many sources of online tracks, however their accuracy may vary.) (Note: GPS tracks in GPX format are text. You can edit them with track editing tools or a simple text editor.)
3) I use Garmin MapSource to plot the tracks on the map. Garmin BaseCamp (software for handling newer Garmin GPSes) and Garmin MapSource (software for handling older Garmin GPSes) can read GPX files and plot the tracks on a variety of maps. Both are available from Garmin (free and legal)--see http://www.gpsfiledepot.com for details.

(I can also do the same the National Geographic TOPO!, but it is no longer available.)

The above is one method for creating "consumer" quality maps using consumer software. The pros use Graphical Information Systems (GIS) software. Such software is available in free, network-based, and commercial versions. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geographic_information_systems_software for one list.

Doug

Can't help you on the technical issues but very curious as to what you'd like to map in the US that hasn't already been mapped and what features would differentiate your map?

Stan said:

Can't help you on the technical issues but very curious as to what you'd like to map in the US that hasn't already been mapped and what features would differentiate your map?

Click to expand...

Note the OP's location and comments about the legal issues... I think we can surmise that he is not seeking to make a map in the US.

Doug

Kind of tough to forget that in some areas of the world making a map is potentially a criminal act.

www.OpenStreetMap.org

OpenStreetMap also lets you modify its maps. Think of it like Wikipedia for maps. You can add or modify trails, roads, rivers, bridges, etc. HOWEVER, I am not certain this capability applies to China! According to the "Legality" section shown here, it's illegal to engage in "private surveying and mapping".
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_China

There's also the issue of "map offset": https://polastre.com/2013/02/what-the-map/

If you don't want to change a map, just use what's shown, then consider using Caltopo.com (as suggested by others). You can display map layers from OpenStreetMap or "TF Outdoors" which is based on OpenStreetMap. For example, here are hiking trails shown in the Yellow Mountains west of Huangshan.
http://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=30.13957,118.16404&z=15&b=oo

You can draw a route on the map (the line can "snap to" the existing hiking trails or roads) and then export it as a GPX file. Caltopo lets you share maps with a link (like this or like this) or print them in whatever scale you want.