Free maPZS app with new features for easier...

Free maPZS app with new features for easier planning of mountain visits.

The free maPZS app, which enables easier planning of trips and orientation in the field, is an indispensable tool for all mountain lovers with data on more than ten thousand kilometers of marked mountain trails. The app of the Alpine Association of Slovenia (PZS) is getting even closer to users with new features, namely a route composer and display of bus and train timetables at all stops in Slovenia. It is worth emphasizing that despite spring in the valley, conditions in the high mountains are still winter-like and very demanding, that when planning trips one must use one's head and not rely only on a smartphone, and that we must not overestimate our own abilities. High-mountain huts are still closed, while most huts in the mid-mountains and lower-lying huts are expecting hikers with open doors during the May Day holidays.

The name maPZS is a coined word from the English word map and the abbreviation PZS for the Alpine Association of Slovenia. It clearly and usefully displays all marked mountain trails in Slovenia and the nearby area and offers almost everything needed for carrying out a trip into nature. "Based on our own abilities, we can choose a tour according to the difficulty of the path, elevation difference, and its length. The app helps us get to the starting point of our trip, guides us while walking along the paths, and also provides data on mountain huts along the path and even on current bus and train timetables at the starting points. There are around 2500 offered paths available, and the user has the option to compose a path according to their own wishes," emphasizes Andrej Stritar, cartography editor at the Alpine Association of Slovenia and project leader for the mountain trail cadastre and maPZS.

The user-friendly tool for accessing information maPZS can be used on a home computer or on any smartphone. It is prepared in such a way that it burdens the user's device as little as possible, i.e., the phone in the field. Therefore, information about the surroundings is loaded in real-time via the phone's data connection. However, since this is not available everywhere, maPZS allows the user to download information about a certain area in advance before heading to an area with poor signal. This way, in the field, they won't be left with a 'frozen' screen.

The data of the maPZS app is extensive, up-to-date, and reliable, as it is refreshed daily from the PZS mountain trail cadastre and other publicly available databases. Stritar cites as a key advantage of maPZS over other similar apps: "The maPZS data is reliable because it is updated daily by trail maintainers, the markers of the Alpine Association of Slovenia. Every day, for example, data on possible closures on paths due to damage or remediation work or on the openness or closure of huts is refreshed. maPZS has its own map as a base, for which the Alpine Association of Slovenia is responsible. Most other apps rely on data from the public OpenStreetMap system, into which anyone can draw anything, and therefore entries are often incorrect and even dangerous, as they can mislead a hiker." In addition, maPZS allows the user to easily report damage on the path. They just photograph the damage, click, and the information about the damage is already transferred to the trail maintainer.

Until now, maPZS has offered displays of around 2500 pre-prepared paths, mostly mountain ones, but also some hiking, forest educational, tourist, and touring cycling ones. Since quite a few users wanted to view paths as they themselves imagined or walked, a new tool was added to maPZS, the so-called route composer (accessible at mapzs.si > My paths > + Create new path). "With the route composer, every user can choose a starting point anywhere in Slovenia and compose their own path from sections of paths drawn in maPZS all the way to an arbitrarily distant destination of their trip. Their maPZS will display data on the length of the composed path, the elevation difference of ascents and descents on the path, the difficulty of the path, the types of surface they would walk on (trail, cart track, road ...), the types of markings, and of course the time needed to walk this path in one direction and the other," explains Andrej Stritar. The composed path remains saved on the user's device, but the data can also be exported in gpx format and transferred to other apps or sent to friends.

A new feature is also the display of bus and train timetables at all stops in Slovenia. "MaPZS now includes all bus and railway stops of public passenger transport in Slovenia, which are connected to current JPP timetables. With this, maPZS has become a very useful tool for planning mountain visits with public passenger transport, not just mountains, but it is useful for the entire area of Slovenia. It is especially effective for planning trips that end at a different location than their start, or to return to the starting point with JPP," describes PZS expert associate Dušan Prašnikar, leader of the PZS and CIPRA Slovenia project With JPP to the valleys and on foot to the heights. By clicking on an individual stop, the current timetable for that stop is displayed, and thus we can easily plan arrival and departure from the desired tour using public passenger transport.

In the hills, spring snow and avalanche conditions will also persist during the upcoming holidays, so lower down the snow will melt, higher up it will settle and transform. "Despite spring in the valley, conditions in the high mountains are still winter-like and very demanding. There is still a lot of snow, including freshly fallen in these days, especially on northern slopes. In the morning, the snow can still be very hard and frozen, in the middle of the day and afternoon soft and can cause difficulties in movement. Already when planning a tour at home, especially to the high mountains, one must therefore be very thoughtful and responsible and choose goals that we are fully capable of. Let's not forget the fickle April weather, which additionally complicates conditions in the mountains. In addition to covered markings and paths, poor visibility thus further complicates orientation. But if we are heading higher, of course, without appropriate winter equipment it won't do. Also with a map in physical form, because relying on navigation only on a smartphone can be too little. In short, conditions in the high mountains these days are very serious and therefore in favorable weather, rather visit the mid-mountains," warns PZS expert associate and mountain guide Miha Habjan.



"High-mountain huts are still closed, as usual they will mostly open in the second half of June. The majority of lower-lying mountain huts and huts in the mid-mountains are already open. They especially expect hikers during the May Day holidays, even if the weather conditions are still more 'April-like'. Before visiting the mountains or huts, nevertheless check their openness on the website pzs.si/koce.php," recommends PZS expert associate Dušan Prašnikar.