SPT Mountain Locator Compass

SPT Mountain Locator Compass by Summit Peak Technologies.

Have you ever been out hiking, snowshoeing, backcountry skiing, camping, or just driving around, seen a mountain off in the distance, and wondered about the name, elevation, or distance to the mountain? Have you ever been excited about fishing an alpine lake and wondered about the direction to the lake, and if the lake is over the next ridge or below the next peak? I have, and it can be tricky digging a printed map out of the ziplock bag in my pocket, or digging out the GPS and panning around to try and figure it out. Of course that never happens, since someone might see me and think I am lost -- how embarrassing. It just takes up valuable fishing time anyway, so why bother?

If you have started carrying your phone into the backcountry as I have, and have it handy to snap a photo of any critter that may pop up, waterfall you come across, or you just need an excuse to catch your breath, now your troubles are over. Start up the Mountain Locator App and instantly see the direction, name, elevation, and distance to any nearby feature. If I'm fishing, I set it to display mountains, ridges, and lakes. If I'm hiking, I add falls, springs, benches, cliffs, and glaciers. If I'm driving around, I have my navigator add cities and trailheads (don't be a distracted driver). Impress your friends with your knowledge of local geography. Play games with your kids to guess the distance to a mountain on the horizon. Give better answers for those "Are we there yet?" questions. You may even discover new information about features near your house.

Hold up your camera as if you were taking a picture of a mountain and see the name, elevation, and distance to the mountain in miles, displayed right on the camera video of the mountain. Move the phone around to view information for all surrounding mountains. Display information for surrounding ridges, hills, trails, lakes, ... (glaciers, cliffs, pillars, arches, craters, cities, etc.) out to hundreds of miles away. Works in any state in the US, including Alaska and Hawaii, as well as all US territories. Covers thousands of mountains, ridges, lakes, and other features in each state.

Go the the Settings tab to select English or Metric units, adjust video zoom to fit your phone camera, adjust text size for easier reading, set the number and types of features (up to 24 feature types are supported). Then return to the View tab and hold up the camera to view features. Compass bearing is shown at the bottom.