With super detailed maps, local plants and animals, and tools to start building your own atlas of nature, the new Natural Atlas is a great way to reconnect with nature this summer.
PORTLAND, OR – May 31, 2023 – Natural Atlas, a pioneer in online topo maps since 2015, last summer launch of its new app and website which gives hikers a brand new way to learn about their surroundings and document their trips and discoveries. Aiming to connect everyone to nature more, it’s the first app of its kind that marries all the practical navigational features of a hiking app with an evolving field guide that adapts to the hiker’s location.
The most common plants, animals, and fungi of the local ecosystem instantly appear upon opening the app, as well as information about geology, tides, and river levels. It’s designed to be a complete holistic platform about nature – one where hikers’ observations are celebrated and play a crucial role.
We caught up with the owner and CEO of Natural Atlas, Brian Reavis, this month to see how the project is going and to learn more on the features and benefits of this app.
“The best part of hiking is encountering something new and unexpected,” says cofounder Brandon Reavis, “nature is a source of such an endless variety of fascinating details around every corner, but we felt that existing hiking apps mostly ignored them.”
With Natural Atlas, users can record their track like other apps, but where things come to life is the noting of the interesting details. Classifying a discovery automatically places and organizes it in the user’s personal atlas of nature – a place showcasing all the interesting animals, plants, rocks, and geographic places that he or she has discovered.
In addition to being a fun activity, noting details outside with Natural Atlas also makes a positive impact by furthering everyone’s understanding of nature. For example, noting a rainbow trout from the shore of a river improves the species breakdown for that river. Noting a plant helps map the biodiversity of an ecosystem as well as helps map the range of that species.
Brian and his brother Brandon started this project out of a pure joy of cataloging their own adventures and discoveries, Learning to pay attention to the plat life and animals on their adventures and then finding a desire to find additional data on places they wanted to explore. Brian has an affinity for old USGs TOPO maps and wanted to create a world where very details TOPO maps could be regenerated at a user level.
Getting started with Natural Atlas is free, and a $39.99/year subscription unlocks premium features such as offline maps and content, route measuring, premium maps, and more.
We have been using the Naturalist apps for a few weeks now. It is really a cool system to have to review my filed notes and knowing that future travelers in the same area might be able to identify or search for items in the App that I have uploaded for review. Even though I dont know all the proper names of a plant on my hike, I still have a field note to remember my journey. i also noticed that i am slowing down a bit, looking for the unique characteristics, that I notice, but don’t really enjoy sometimes while hiking. the app gives me a tool and helps me focus on enjoying the sights around me. ~ Charlie Pankey Sierra Rec Magazine
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Beautiful maps crafted in-house, packed with detail, designed to awaken a spirit of discovery.
HIGHLIGHTS
- 11,000+ Campgrounds
- 359,000+ mi of Trails
- 46,600+ mi of Historic Routes
- 23,000+ Boat Ramps
- Emphasis on Natural FeaturesGeysers, Hot Springs, Sequoias, etc
- Tons of Unique Features Hand-Added By Our Team on Natural FeaturesHistoric Sites and more
There are all sorts of interesting things to note outside. The Natural Atlas Taxonomy has over a million classifications to choose from, including over 1.3 Million Animals, 400,000 Plants, and all sorts of other things you could encounter in nature – from campsites to types of seashells.
Help Build A Better Understanding of Nature
Every field note you take on your hikes makes an impact. The Natural Atlas platform aggregates data from a number of sources including Field Notes from Natural Atlas users to build the most up-to-date comprehensive field guide of nature.
To learn more about Natural Atlas, visit naturalatlas.com or contact hello@naturalatlas.com.
