Fatmap

[Cocximus]

FATMAP was swallowed by Strava. Too bad the winter imagery was amazing for scoping out some lines.
What’s next?

Where was the winter imagery sourced from? Does anyone else offer it? I just checked out onX, and while it has a winter option, there’s no winter layer for Whistler, for example.

[Truckee Joe]

Strava ruins everything...

[oetk2]

They said Strava was going to add the winter stuff but I haven't seen any of it yet...not holding my breath either

[ASmileyFace]

Not remotely in the know on this, but gotta think Strava is going to upgrade their “mapping” features. I’m kinda surprised that both apps held on separately for so long.

[Cocximus]

Would be nice if Garmin stepped up to this opportunity.

[singlesline]

Yeah, this has been on my radar for a while. I was paying for Strava anyways so Fatmap was "free" and I liked it better than the paid OnX subscription.

I was at least hoping they would integrate the mapping features into Strava before killing the app...

...I mean, I assumed they would butcher it. Figure you'd get improved 3d maps for your strava recordings but none of the live/exploration/layering features you get from Fatmap. But at least they'd pretend the transition was "done" before killing it.

Not holding my breath for strava to actually update their mapping features. They seem entirely focused on recording, segment timing, and the social aspects which seem biggest for running and road riding. I think that's what finally got them to put in the mild effort required to implement "dark mode"...they want users scrolling and giving kudos as they lay in bed at night like it is Instagram.

They can't even add a "lift served" mode to MTB recording that doesn't count your uphills as climbing even though the exact same feature already exists in ski mode...

[BCMtnHound]

Maybe try Sentinel Hub? Pretty up-to-date satellite imagery. We use it quite a bit in the spring for our access checks as the snow melts prior to spring tree planting.

[TOLOCOMan]

I've been spending the last couple of days saving gpx files for any route I think I might ever want to do on Fatmaps. Even transferring those over to Strava is a pain in the ass. And it still doesn't work very well. It won't let you save routed under skiing, and you can't see all your routed on a map at once. You have to know what route you want to ski and bring that up specifically. So you can't be in a new area and see where you are in relation to various routes at once. I'm hoping some magic switch will happen Oct 1, but I doubt it. I don't see the benefit of absorbing it into Strava. I totally get not having a free version, but just charge us and leave Fatmaps alone. It was an almost perfect app!

[crashidy]

Outmap.

Guy from BC created it. Not sure about routes but hand for the 3d feature which is about all I ever used fatmap for

[east or bust]

Is Fatmap currently not working for some people, or is that just in the works? Didn’t have any issues accessing it just now.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[TOLOCOMan]

Is Fatmap currently not working for some people, or is that just in the works? Didn’t have any issues accessing it just now.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

Incorporated into Strava as of Oct 1, and Fatmap will no longer work as of that date.

[TOLOCOMan]

Outmap.

Guy from BC created it. Not sure about routes but hand for the 3d feature which is about all I ever used fatmap for

Just looked into that based on your suggestion. Are you using the app Outmap, or the website outmap.app? They don't appear to be the same thing, and have different features.

One has good 3D, but doesn't seem to let me import gpx files and freezes everything I try. And the other let's me import files nicely, but doesn't seem to have a 3D feature.

[crashidy]

I'm just using the app on android. Haven't tried to import anything. The 3d feature on the app is outstanding

[oreo]

The google earth imagery isn't usually quite as good as Fatmap but it's free and easy.

Load up google earth pro, click the little clock looking button and move the sliders back to find historical satellite imagery from winter time. Works for just about everywhere usually and it's overlaid on the 3d map, similar to Fatmap.

[TOLOCOMan]

Been playing around with that Outmap app some more. The 3D imagery is actually quite good. But for the life of me, I can't find a way to upload any gpx files to it. Anyone else able to figure out how to do that?

Also tried a bunch of other apps, and none of them seem to have what Fatmap has/had. Nothing else shows the 3D winter as well, while also showing you routes and chairlifts/runs etc.

Why the fuck is Strava killing off a perfectly good app that is different from what Strava does. Surely they would be better off leaving Fatmap as is, and make it a purely paid subscription. Hell, some of us might even pay for both and they could double down...

[tang]

Agree, really bummed to lose FATMAP.
Also wish Outmap woukd work on a regular browser - I do most recon on my bigger computer screen.
Crazy to lose such a good resource. One more reason to curse strava - the first being people chasing FKT’s on like town bike paths and shit!

[Cocximus]

Yeah, fuck Strava. I send my times via PM to flex. I’m looking into creating plugins for OsmAnd. I knew this day would come, so I’ve always saved my tracks there. All I want to know is if I’m getting faster. I want a plugin that displays my Munter calculation on the current track.

[TOLOCOMan]

Been playing around with a bunch of different apps this week, and unless Strava really does something we don't see coming on Oct 1, Outmap seems like it will be the best replacement I can see. There are even some features on it that Fatmap doesn't have. You can now easily upload gpx files to it. I've been chatting with the creator a fair bit this week, and he seems to be really open to improving it with new features and so on. Pretty excited to see where it goes!

And no, I have no affiliation with it. Didn't even know it existed until crashidy suggested it!

[tang]

Promising. I hope they have a browser version. If not, then I guess google earth

[TOLOCOMan]

Seems like app only. Maybe cast your phone to the tv if you want a bigger picture at home?

[Cocximus]

PSA, the data export is pretty nice. It gives a zip with every route and POI in your account. I am pretty happy with the POI exports.

There's still no winter high resolution imagery on any of these apps. Fatmap lists the following data providers. Posting it for the record before it gets killed off. I wonder if the high definition imagery of ski areas was privately sourced by fatmap from Bluesky?

FATMAP uses content from the following data suppliers:

Airbus
Basemap.at
Bluesky
Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie 2017, Data Sources
Exolabs
IGN France: © IGN – 2021 - Conditions de licences. Copie et reproduction interdite / Copying and reproduction prohibited.
IGN Spain:
MTN25 1994-2018 CC-BY 4.0 ign.es
MTN50 2001-2018 CC-BY 4.0 ign.es
MPE200 2011-2017 CC-BY 4.0 ign.es
Mapas de España 1: 2 000 000, 1250 000, 500 000 CC BY 4.0 ign.es
All products under this license
Intermap
Kartverket (Norwegian Mapping Authority)
Lantmateriet.se
MapBox
Maxar
Ordnance Survey Data Hub
Open Street Map
OpenCageData
OpenTopoMap
Outdooractive
Snowsafe
Swisstopo
Toit? Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand
Thunderforest
UKC
USGS Topo
ViennaGIS

FATMAP has licensed and used imagery from:

Dan Patitucci
Ben Tibbetts
Jon Williams

[TOLOCOMan]

But from what I can see, it only exports your own routes doesn't it? That's also how Strava explained it too. So if you have previously used community posted routes when visiting new places, like I have, you have to manually export them one by one. So I've spent tons of time doing that over the last month. Please don't tell me I missed something and there was an easy way to export saved routes from your guidebooks...

I'm actually finding the winter imagery on Outmap pretty similar to Fatmap. Although that's all from looking at it in the house. Haven't done anything in the field in the winter with it yet.

[Cocximus]

But from what I can see, it only exports your own routes doesn't it? That's also how Strava explained it too. So if you have previously used community posted routes when visiting new places, like I have, you have to manually export them one by one. So I've spent tons of time doing that over the last month. Please don't tell me I missed something and there was an easy way to export saved routes from your guidebooks...

I'm actually finding the winter imagery on Outmap pretty similar to Fatmap. Although that's all from looking at it in the house. Haven't done anything in the field in the winter with it yet.

Yea it only exports your data. For me that was big because I saved a bunch of pins where lines start.

[singlesline]

There's still no winter high resolution imagery on any of these apps. Fatmap lists the following data providers. Posting it for the record before it gets killed off. I wonder if the high definition imagery of ski areas was privately sourced by fatmap from Bluesky?

Most of the aerial imagery suppliers like Airbus and Maxar have winter/spring imagery available...just none of the public sources ever buy it because most people want to see summer shots. Stuff like Google Earth Pro only has a fraction of the available footage. Even FATMAP only shows winter imagery in areas with ski resorts/lots of skiing...

There's also a lot of garbage footage with cloud cover that never gets used in public-facing apps but is available to purchase if you really want a specific area/timespan and are willing to work around the clouds. If you are only trying to capture the mountains, you might be able to get away with cloudcover footage.

Also, if you wanted to get fancy for mountain shots, you might actually want to get the "off-nadir" imagery--photos where the area of interest isn't being shot from straight above. Usually the public sources like Google try to only use photos within a few degrees of straight down, but if you were trying to make 3D mountain imagery, you might want the off angle shots that match up with the slope aspect.

So basically...a list of reasons why having teams dedicated to mapping for mountain sports is important. Normal consumer facing stuff just isn't suited to things like route planning in steep terrain.

[abcdethan]

Caltopo recently added 3D mapping to their features https://blog.caltopo.com/2024/09/30/new-feature-3d/