Forum: outdoors.stackexchange.com
Tags: <hiking><maps><trails><new-zealand>
Title: New Zealand recommended hiking maps, books and other resources
Question: Me and my girlfriend will go there in January and we plan on hiking for a week or so. Unfortunately there are no maps or books available for NZ hiking in my area. Could you recommend some for me?  Also I started using a GPS recently so the maps can be in any form (digital or paper), but I'd prefer to have a paper version as well.  We're looking at Rees Dart, but we're opened to any recommendations you might give us.

Answers:
sents: text: Omnimap seem to have all 1:50k maps with a delivery time of around two weeks.
text: However, Omnimap are quite expensive (US$ 16.95 per sheet).
text: By comparison, MapWorld New Zealand charges NZ$ 7.90 (US$ 6.50) per map.
text: Land Information New Zealand have a (probably incomplete) list of international resellers .
text: This list includes Omnimap.
text: Probably some of the domestic resellers also sell to foreign customers, so they might be your best bet.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/566/gerrit
score: 5
sents: text: I am from New Zealand
text: and I tend to agree with the topomap service.
text: Another great resource is the Department of Conservation Website http://www.doc.govt.nz Happy Hiking
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/1877/Agit
score: 5
sents: text: I'm a kiwi too (a director of Hiking New Zealand.com)
text: We do remote guided small group trips around NZ.
text: Some of us are starting to play around with digital map solutions.
text: A good one I found is BackCountryNavigator PRO.
text: It cost a few bucks but is excellent.
text: You can download maps for when you are out of Internet range and your GPS works on it.
text: Don't use Google Maps or Apple Maps for wilderness info -- tracks etc are unreliably marked or out-of-date.
text: excellent otherwise tho
text: With this tool you can do all your research at home and just buy the odd map as a back-up or for the more full on trips where you really can't afford a smart phone 'incident'.
text: Good luck and enjoy our wonderful back-country.
text: If you want take a look at our web site - we have a few hiking tips and ideas there too.
text: Reece dart is nice, plenty of other options, try and stay away from the crowded great walks huts if you are looking for solitude :-)
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/1878/malcolm
score: 5
sents: text: Quick tips: Go to http://www.i-needtoknow.com/milford/maps/index.html
text: They have several links for hikers, including maps.
text: One
text: you might check out is the Department of Conservation's online maps at: http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/
text: Also, Google says there's another site called www.kiwifootpaths.com that may be useful...
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/1870/Paul Zimmerli
score: 1
sents: text: NZ Topo Map - www.topomap.co.nz is a great resource.
text: You can highlight the area of map you're interested in and print it out in high quality to take with you.
text: If you have a Windows Phone then you can download the NZ Topo Map app and take sections offline with you.
text: Or if you have an Android phone, New Zealand Topo Maps Pro by Atlogis is a great app for taking sections of map offline with you also.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/2596/Gavin
score: 1
sents: text: You can browse the 1:50,000 Topographic Map of New Zealand here: https://data.linz.govt.nz/layer/767-nz-topo50-maps/ You can download it too
text: but: a) you need to register with a valid email address and create a password b)
text: the whole thing is about 10GB
text: and you can only download 2GB at at time
text: Just set a crop around the area you're interested in and you can download the maps for that area.
text: Depending on where the boundaries of the crop are you will get some entire sheets and some portions of others (see this index ).
text: The images are georeferenced and you can chose which projection/datum when you download.
text: Definitely get paper copies before you hit the trail but it doesn't hurt to study the digital versions beforehand.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/9431/ghosteditor
score: 1
sents: text: As of November 2015, Google Maps now has StreetView for the following tracks : Milford Track Kepler
text: Track Abel Tasman Coast Track Lake Waikaremoana Heaphy Track Routeburn Track Rakiura Track (Stewart Island)
text: While the purists may bemoan this, they can be a good resource for identifying challenging parts, highlights or becoming familiar with a route.
text: As always, StreetView is never as good as actually being there.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/9405/timbo
score: 0
sents: text: These are sort of a secret tip i got and took us on many incredibly awesome hikes: http://www.nzfrenzy.com/
text: My girlfriend and I travelled through NZ for a couple of months and mainly used these as a foundation for our trips.
text: We were very glad to have them and recommended them to everyone we met.
text: I was actually hestitating on sharing these because we enjoyed the fact that many of the places arent well known and not overrun by tourists.
text: It also features well known highlights though, you wont miss out on any NZ awesomeness.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/15068/Ostkontentitan
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
Recommendations and tips include: http://www.nzfrenzy.com; http://www.i-needtoknow.com/milford/maps/index.html; BackCountryNavigator PRO; www.kiwifootpaths.com; www.topomap.co.nz; and Omnimap. Google Maps or Apple maps are said to be unreliably marked or out of date. Official websites include the 1:50,000 Topographic Map of New Zealand here:  https://data.linz.govt.nz/layer/767-nz-topo50-map; and the Department of Conservation's online maps at:  http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks.
The New Zealand topographic map and DOC site are useful. Topo, Omnimap and BackCountryNavigator Pro are helpful too.