Downloadable National Park Maps

If you’ve planned visits to US national parks, you probably know that each National Park Service (NPS) site has its own dedicated page or sub-site. Each page typically has a “Plan Your Visit” menu item where you can select from choice such as Basic Information, Things To Do, and Directions & Transportation. As I plan my visit, one of the first things I do is to view maps of the national park to understand the location of the visitor center(s), trails, and other features. In the past decade or so, various NPS sub-sites began transitioning their online maps from static downloadable PDF or JPG maps to interactive web maps that allow users to pan, zoom, and click on map features within their browsers.

If you’re old school like me, you might prefer downloading static maps, printing them out, and keeping a hardcopy in your backpack. Interactive maps are convenient while at home, but downloadable maps have a major advantage: they work when you don't have connectivity which is often the case in our national parks. If the NPS site does not provide downloadable maps, check out these alternatives.

National Park Maps is a passion project by a guy named Matt who has meticulously organized his website so users can look up maps alphabetically or by state. It’s an unofficial collection of free maps. I’ve often found maps on this site that are not even featured on corresponding NPS sites. Kudos to Matt!

NPS has its own official GIS, Cartography & Mapping site where you can download maps in PDF, JPG, or Adobe print production file formats. They can be searched by keyword, state, or park. Rather than providing the static maps in a separate website, it would be nice if each NPS sub-site offered options to view both interactive web maps and to view and download static PDF/JPG maps.

If you’re interested in learning more about the technology behind the interactive web maps, there is a National Park Service Web Maps site for that too. They discuss their open source NPMapJS code library.

While NPS has embraced interactive web maps, you don’t have to give up the good old fashioned downloadable map. Whether you prefer exploring a map on your screen, downloading a PDF for offline use, or stuffing a printed map into your backpack, there are still plenty of options. Happy mapping and happy exploring!