If trails have names in osm.org but names are not present in OM, please let us know, it's a bug.
If you're using imperial units, you can also quickly estimate difficulty by doing the following:
- take the total elevation change, in hundreds of feet, eg 900ft = 9 * 100ft
- take the total distance, in tenths of a mile, eg 2.1 mi = 21 * .1 mi
- divide the elevation by the length and convert to a percentage: 9/21 ~ 43%
- grades are like so:
0-40%: relatively easy
40-70%: moderately big elevation, may be hard to sustain
70-100%: steep terrain, may involve some scrambling
>100%: very steep, technical terrain. Sometimes involves ladders or a static line in particularly steep sections
For example, there's a pretty lengthy trail near me called Shining Creek, that's very sustained, but I wouldn't call it steep. It's got 2300ft of elevation change over 3.9mi, which corresponds to a 58% steepness, aka the upper end of a moderately difficulty hike if sustained.
As with all things outdoors, technology will only ever get you so far. Situational awareness and emergency preparedness are skills you should have if you're going somewhere you've never been before. Always prepare for more than you expect, and if you're not sure that you're prepared once you get to somewhere sketchy, it's always best to turn back.
I used it extensively this year, mainly because it has hiking and bicycle paths that are not marked at all on Google Maps.
It works off-line. This is so valuable to me, especially when hiking.
One time I was lost deep in a mountain/forest, and the app found a GPS signal to show my location and direction, saving me from unexpectedly spending the night (for which I was not prepared). I suppose any map app is capable of this, but I was so glad.
It's also capable of giving directions.
And, unlike Google Maps, I can trust that the app is not collecting and misusing my location data.
Of course, as an open-source project, there are some rough edges. I have GMaps installed just in case, and on a few occasions I had to resort to using it. But I was pleasantly surprised by Organic Maps, so far it's my favorite mobile app for maps.
But with Organic Maps, I find it has all the trails (at least on two separate one and a half month hiking trips in Andorra), and since they're all included with the base data, you can mix and match trails and do whatever you want.
Pain points: The search isn't so great, there's a lack of names for trails and no real way to tell the "grade" of a trail. It could be a super easy walking path or some barely marked scramble.
But overall I love it and it's way better than the commercial hiking offerings (WikiLoc, AllTrails, etc)