Wildland Fire Maps on iPhone
The incident map is already one of the most useful pieces of information a wildland firefighter carries. MCG Maps makes supported GeoPDF versions of those maps useful on an iPhone without trying to turn the phone into a full GIS workstation.
Start with an online Topo Map, add the supported incident GeoPDFs you need as overlays, keep track of the places and information that matter to you, and share useful information when needed.
Start with topo or an incident GeoPDF
Every Incident includes a permanent Topo Map using an online USGS topographic basemap. You can use it with your location and Incident-wide Markers without importing a PDF.
Wildland incidents commonly distribute Operations and Division maps as PDFs. Some contain geospatial information that connects positions on the page to real-world coordinates. Others are ordinary PDFs without that information.
MCG Maps works with supported georeferenced PDF/GeoPDF maps. A supported file appears geographically over topo, so you can pan beyond its boundary, adjust PDF opacity, or turn off the basemap. Not every incident PDF is georeferenced, and not every GeoPDF structure is supported.
Know where you are across the Incident map
A paper or ordinary PDF map can tell you what is around you once you orient yourself. A supported GeoPDF lets MCG Maps relate an accepted iPhone location to the incident Map so you can see where you are in the same geographic context used for the assignment.
Location availability and accuracy depend on the device and conditions. MCG Maps checks location samples before using them and may reject inaccurate, stale, or invalid samples. With a GeoPDF overlay open, your location can remain visible on the surrounding topo surface beyond the PDF boundary. Check the Map and your surroundings rather than treating GPS as infallible.
Keep track of what matters to you
Use Markers for places you want to find again: hazards, access points, line locations, equipment or resource locations, or a point worth returning to. These are records for your own field reference, not a claim of standardized operational meaning.
A Marker keeps its location, type and symbol, description, and coordinates together. Attach photos when they help preserve context. Instead of trying to remember where something was or reconstruct it later, the location and its context stay attached to the Incident.
Search Markers and filter them by type across the map and Marker list. The symbols and classifications organize your personal field information; they do not automatically have official operational authority.
Keep the incident together
An incident may involve an Ops map, Division maps, or updated Maps as the assignment changes. MCG Maps keeps Maps and Markers organized within an Incident so the information you have built up remains available as you move between the Maps you need. Markers belong to the Incident, not to one PDF.
Download from NIFC can search current incidents and discover map products from public NIFC services. You choose the correct incident and explicitly select a PDF to download and validate. MCG Maps does not host those maps or fetch updates automatically.
Understand connected and local use
Imported GeoPDFs, Incidents, Markers, Marker photos, and local map and Marker workflows are stored on the device and remain usable without internet access.
The iPhone can obtain GPS position independently of cellular data, subject to device and location conditions. The online USGS Topo Map and NIFC discovery and downloads require network access.
Share what you find
The information you collect does not have to stay trapped in MCG Maps. Send one original Map PDF or multiple selected PDFs together, or share Marker information as GeoJSON with another MCG Maps user.
For another mapping workflow, export compatible Marker data as KML. Applications such as Avenza Maps and Google Earth can work with KML files, depending on the information they support. You choose where to share the file; this is not a direct integration with those apps.
An MCG Map package (.mcgmap) moves one Map PDF and the Incident's Marker data to another compatible MCG Maps installation. Current packages do not include attached Marker photos. Share important photos separately.
Sharing is deliberate transfer, not live synchronization.
Coordinates in the format the field uses
Set Decimal Degrees, Degrees Decimal Minutes, or Degrees Minutes Seconds as the global format. Marker detail can temporarily display another format without changing that preference, and Copy uses the format currently displayed.
A deliberately smaller field tool
MCG Maps is not a full GIS, an incident-wide common operating picture, or a replacement for operational communications and verification. It is a simpler personal situational-awareness tool for the firefighter carrying the map.
If you need advanced GIS data management, extensive layers, track recording, geofencing, or other broader mapping capabilities, a more capable GIS or field-mapping application may be the better tool.
If the job is to take the supported incident GeoPDF you already receive, know where you are, keep track of what matters, and share useful information when needed, that is the workflow MCG Maps is built around.
Put the incident Map on your iPhone
Create or choose an Incident, use its Topo Map immediately, and add a supported GeoPDF when you need one. Import a GeoPDF into MCG Maps.
Help us test it in the field
MCG Maps is currently available through TestFlight. Try it with the maps you actually use and help us find the weird GeoPDFs, edge cases, and things that don't work the way they should before the App Store release.