Geokov is a web application for outdoors recreation trip planning, information exchange, as well as environmental and natural resource field work and research.
The site is still fairly young, and is constantly evolving. Three areas, namely backcountry recreation, environment map maker, and education have been the focus of development.
Backcountry recreation:
Topographic maps can be accessed through the same interface as the regular Google Maps map types (satellite, terrain, map, 3D Earth).
So far 1:50000 scale map of Canada, British Columbia 1:20000 and USGS 1:24000 (complete US coverage) topo maps are available.
Geographic latitude / longitude coordinate lines and UTM grid lines can be added to the map. Known coordinates (such as waypoints) can be located on the map.
For few provinces / states, trails and recreation sites are overlaid on maps, and there is functionality for submitting and viewing backcountry condition reports.
Links for each region's conditions (weather, road, avalanche, trails, forest fires) and useful resources are listed on the region’s page.
Panoramio photos and Wikipedia descriptions of many natural features such as mountains, lakes, parks, and forests can be spatially located on the maps.
Map Maker (Environmental data):
The map maker allows for convenient and fast creation of customized maps. There is no need for specialized software or prior mapping and GIS experience.
Maps can be created by overlaying icons, lines, and polygons over different base maps for outdoors field work and research, trip planning, search and rescue, etc.
So far, for couple Canadian regions it is possible to add data feeds of various environmental, resource and administrative data from government servers. Such data layers can be used individually or in combination in creating customized maps.
Education:
Comprehensive introduction to topographic maps and resource list for avalanche awareness and safety are presented.
This section will expand with related information essential for outdoors recreation and field work.