The National Geographic Society is helping consumers navigate their outdoor adventures with downloadable maps via an iPad and iPhone application.

The Trail Maps app is the latest in National Geographic?s long list of mobile offerings, including apps, videos and a mobile-optimized site. Consumers can download specific maps on the app to use when they are in areas without network connections to use on their mobile devices.

"Building on our experience in the outdoor recreation space and on the success of our existing map applications we decided to develop the Trail Maps app that features our USGS topographic maps," said Charlie Regan, vice president and general manager at National Geographic Maps, Washington, DC.

National Geographic is a brand of educational, nature-driven properties - including books, television and videos.

Guiding light
The app uses downloadable maps and lets users choose a map to download.

The app shows detailed areas of U.S. trails and cities using hi-res shots from Bing.

Pictures of the maps are provided by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Additionally, users can track their routes on the app and the app automatically keeps track of distance, speed and elevation that a user travels and stores past routes.

Users can also add waypoints ? or specific reference points ? to their journey.

The app lets travelers search and measure distance on the maps.

"By providing the maps and tools necessary to navigate through the backcountry, this app is ideal for planning your adventures or while enjoying the outdoors," Mr. Regan said.

Wild adventures
The goal of the app is to let users plan and enjoy the outdoors, which goes hand in hand with the National Geographic brand.

For example, in April, the brand celebrated National Parks Week and Earth Day by rolling out a group of apps (see story).

In addition to the Trail Maps app, National Geographic also has other map-and-travel related apps that let users explore national parks and view maps.

"We recognize that National Geographic has to provide its map content to users in any and all formats, both digital and print," Mr. Regan said.

"People should be able to access this information in whatever format that best suits their situation, whether in the field or at home," he said.

"We find that most of our customers find benefits to having our map content in multiple platforms."

National Geographic also has gaming apps that drive the message of graphic-driven, educational content.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York