Best Navigation Apps for 2026

[Glenn MacGrady]

I'm not familiar with these kind of apps, but this article reviews seven of them. Chip in if you have experience with these apps or others.

Best Navigation Apps For 2026

As much as I love the hands-on engagement and rewards of using old-school, tried-and-true navigation tools like magnetic compasses and paper maps, there’s

paddlingmag.com

• Best for topo types: CalTopo
• Best for river trippers: NRS PaddleWays
• Best all-around: Avenza Maps
• Best for logging stats: Strava
• Best for interfacing: Garmin Explore
• Best simple iPhone app: Apple iOS Compass
• Best for staying found: What3Words

 

[Mason]

I use printed maps almost exclusively for onsite navigation. A standalone GPS is used only for lapses of befuddlement. However I'm currently planning a long trip in Nunavut for this summer. For this planning, I've recently started using CalTopo (on my desktop), as one of the other paddlers has some background in it and he's already got a rough plan outlined in it. I loaded that into Google Earth, which shows the path nicely. The idea is to thoroughly preview the route to get an estimate of the amount of time it'll take us (mileage, portages), as well as look at other potential setbacks. One of the rivers we'll be going on is very low volume, and SatellitesPro (which seems to have Apple Maps installed) provides much more detail than Google Earth. This will help enormously in evaluating whether the river is navigable. It also provides sufficient detail for rapids, much more so than Google Earth. I'll be continuing with CalTopo, and might be able to give some more comments in the future.

 

[wjmc]

In many areas, "Logan Earth" - a northern developed program - also provides superior imagery to Google Earth. It might be worth a look.

One issue I have found in using satellite imagery to evaluate rapids is trying to extrapolate from the water level visible in the sat image to the water level you will experience on your trip. Both seasonal and annual variations come in to play. It's especially noticeable on small rivers without sizable headwater lakes, where levels can drop swiftly after the spring spate