Alberta GPS Maps: Updates, Versions & Changes

Alberta – VERSION 2025

Release Date: November 2024
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General

• Enhanced Road 
• Enhanced Road Names 
• Enhanced  ATV, Snowmobile, Multi-use Trail, Paddling and TCT data
• New Hunting LEH Areas
• New Private Campsites
• New Overland Routes
• New Ranger Stations

Roads

• Updated over 500 km of roads 
• Named an additional 350+ roads

Trails

• Updated almost 2,300 km of trails (ATV, multi-use & snowmobile), including 200+ new Trailheads and Staging Areas

Oil & Gas

• Added 317,600+ Resource Sites

Recreation & Geographic POI  
Added over 1,180 new recreation & geographic features 

• Close to 200 new Trailheads
• 750+ New Hunting LEH Areas
• 240+ new Private Campsites
• 100+ new Picnic Areas
• 250+ new EV Charging and Gas Stations
• 50+  Backroad Attractions
• 50+  Waterfalls
• 20+ Ranger Stations
• Close to 20 new Overlander Routes

Alberta – VERSION 2023

Release Date: August 2023

General

• Enhanced road names 
• New Municipal district borders
• New EV Charging Stations

Roads

• Updated over 1,300 km of roads
• Named an additional 2500+ roads

Trails

• Updated almost 1,800 km of trails (ATV, multi-use & snowmobile) 

Recreation & Geographic POI
Added over 195 new recreation & geographic features 

• Close to 34 new Trailheads
• 28 new Ghost Towns
• 60 new Golf Courses
• 250+ new EV Charging and Gas Stations

 

Alberta – VERSION 2022

Release Date: August 2022

• Refined the routable and non-routable road networks
• Updated over 600 kilometres of roads including over 415 kilometres of routable roads
• Enhanced road names and named an additional 118 roads
• Updated the ATV, Multi-Use Trail, Paddling Route & Winter trail systems
• Added new Brake Check Areas and Rest Areas
• Updated Crown Land boundaries
• Added over 535 new Adventure/recreational, geographic and water, and public service points.
• Added 16 new Lodges and Resorts
• Added 10 new Paddling Routes
• Added 76 new Public Service Points of Interest
• Added 49 new Multi-Use Trails
• Added 7 new Wildlife Viewing Areas
• Added 16 new Winter Recreation Points of Interest
• Added 342 new Brake Check Areas
• Refined Urban area features

 

Alberta – VERSION 2021

Release Date August 2021

• Refined the routable and non-routable road networks
• Downgraded all unnamed resource and rec roads
• Modified Alberta unpaved collector roads to better match resource road line styles
• Updated the ATV, Multi-Use Trail, Paddling Route & Snowmobile trail systems
• Added over 740 Alberta Conservation Sites
• Enhanced the Alberta Public Land Use Zones (PLUZ) with a new green line and fill
• Added/Updated over 1,600 Adventure/recreational, geographic and water, and public service points.
• Enhanced the Park Points of Interest adding area and a new easier to see green and white symbol
• Updated and enhanced Fishing Points of Interest including adding area, maximum depth and elevation to several hundred points
• Updated and enhanced Hunting Points of Interest including adding or modifying species such as big game, game birds and other species to most hunting areas
• Updated and enhanced Paddling Points of Interest including adding difficulty, River Grade and Class, Portage Length to hundreds of points
• Updated and enhanced the Canadian Rockies, Central and Northern Alberta area Adventure Points of Interest
• Significant modification to road, trail and other lines for better viewing
• Modified fishing, hunting and park boundary lines and areas for better viewing
• Refined Urban area features

 

Alberta – VERSION 2020

Release Date August 2020

• Now includes Night Mode
• Enhanced Crown Land visibility (colouring)
• Refined the routable and non-routable road networks
• Addition of over 350 new or refined points of interest including our recreational, geographic and water, and public service points. This includes the following additions to our Adventure POI: 
• 128 Backroad Attractions
• 149 Paddling Routes
• 20 Snowmobile & ATV Routes
• 67 Trails (Multi-Use Trails)

Alberta – VERSION 2019

Release Date July 2019

• Now includes Provincial Grazing Lands as well as Pasture and Alberta Provincial Leased and Crown Land
• Added 2,800+ km of motorized trails for ATV’s and Snowmobiles including close to 70 new trailheads and staging areas.
• Added close to 550 km of Multi-Use Trails including the Trans Canada Trail with 265+ new trailheads
• Updated the Great Divide Trail extending from Montana to Kakwa Wildland Park
• Added 70 km of Paddling Routes including close to 50+ new access and portage locations
• Now includes Livingstone and Porcupine Hills Public Land Use Zones
• Now includes Birch Mountains, Birch River, Dillon River, Kazan and Richardson Wildland Provincial Parks plus close to 30 new Provincial, National and Urban Parks including 90+ new Campsites, Backcountry Campsites, Day Use/Picnic Areas, Recreation Areas and Huts/Shelters
• 60+ new Wildlife Viewing points of interest including Scenic Areas and Fire Towers
• Added close to 60 new Winter Recreation adventures for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing
• Enhanced close to 150 new First Nations Reservations
• Added thousands of mile markers along Railway Corridors
• Enhanced the Snowmobile Route cartography for improved display

Alberta – VERSION 8.0

Release Date April, 2018

• Enhanced the Canadian Rockies parks and adventures
• Added close to 2,000 km of Motorized Trails for ATV’s and Snowmobiles including 45+ new trailheads and staging areas.
• Added 2,500+ km of Multi-Use Trails including the Trans Canada Trail with close to 200 new trailheads
• Now includes Castle and Castle Wildland Provincial Parks plus 160+ new Provincial, National and Urban Parks including 100+ new Campsites, Backcountry Campsites, Day Use/Picnic Areas, Recreation Areas and Huts/Shelters
• 130+ new Wildlife Viewing points of interest including Scenic Areas and Fire Towers
• Added close to 100 new Fishing Lakes, Rivers and Streams
• Added 60+ new Backroad Attractions including historical sites and points of interest
• Added 20 new Recreation Areas
• Added 15 new Winter Recreation adventures for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing
• Enhanced cartography for improved display of Parks, Conservation Areas, Crown Lands, creeks and activity points of interest on GPS units

Alberta – VERSION 7.0

Release Date November 2016

• 5,000,000+ searchable Alberta Legal Subdivision Sections, Quarter Sections and full LSD grid locations.  Includes Quarter Section boundaries.
• New addition of Lake Bathymetry depth contours for 150+ fishing lakes, rivers and streams.
• New cross-country ski trail networks.
• 60,000+ KM of improvements to our backroads network.
• 3,000+ KM of additional multi-use, cross-country ski and Trans-Canada Trails.  Includes close to 300 additional trailheads.
• 2,000+ KM of additional motorized trails for ATV-OHVs and Snowmobiles.  Includes close to 50 additional trailheads and staging areas.
• Improved our national, provincial and urban parks.  Includes 100+ additional campsites, day-use/picnic areas, backcountry/canoe campsites, recreation sites and huts in major parks and recreation areas.
• 50+ additional winter recreation activities.
• 20+ additional wildlife viewing areas.

Alberta – VERSION 6.0

Release Date November, 2015

• Added 4,000,000+ Alberta Legal Subdivision (LSD) grid references, 40,000+ new wellsite locations and optimized oil and gas resource facility search ability.
• Updated our Hydrology (Lakes, Rivers, Creeks and Glaciers), Pipelines, Railroads and Transmission Lines using 1:20,000 scale resolution.
• Close to 20,000 km of improvements to our backroads network.
• Close to 3,000 km of additional paddling routes.
• 250+ km of additional motorized trails for ATV-OHVs and Snowmobiles. Includes 50+ additional trailheads and staging areas.
• 150+ national, provincial and urban parks. Includes 130+ additional campsites, day-use/picnic areas, backcountry/canoe campsites, recreation sites and huts in major parks and recreation areas.
• 2,000+ additional public services.
• Close to 100 additional attractions and historic sites.
  
  

Alberta – VERSION 5.0

Release Date November, 2014
In addition to extensive resource data updates including industry routable roads and oil and gas facility points-of-interest, we have added a wealth of multi-use and ATV/OHV trails, paddling routes, portages, winter access roads and more!

• NEW! Oilfield Pipeline right-of-way corridors
• Updated Reservoir and River sections
• NEW! Over 60,000 km of Industry and Resource routable roads including Oilfield winter access roads
• MORE! Resource and Oilfield road labels including private and leased roads
• Up-to-date Urban Street Roads available including residential and Highways
• NEW! Resource Kilometer posting
• 1,400 km of newly discovered multi-use Trails added
• Over 400 km of ADDITIONAL Snowmobile Trails
• Over 800 km of NEW ATV/OHV trails
• ADDITIONAL 800 km of Paddling routes & updated Portage trails
• NEW! Hundreds of thousands of kilometers of Oilfield Pipeline corridors
• NEW! Resource POI locations for Gas Plants, Battery sites, Compressor and Disposal facilities
• Added Water POI features including Rapids, Rocks and Waterfalls

Alberta – VERSION 4.0

Release Date September 16th, 2013
Over 26,000 km of new roads routes, enhanced recreation points of interest and searchable street names! Listed below are the details:

New Functionalities:

• New 3D View GARMIN functionality (applicable for Garmin units with 3D View capability and in GARMIN Basecamp).
• Improved road levelling, contours and points of interest showing more details sooner.
• New Detailed Shaded Relief for all of Canada. (A great tool for viewing elevations as well as changes in geography/lay of the land).
• Elevation profiles for GPS tracks and trip planning.
• Enhanced contour display.
• Faster, more accurate guidance and trip planning now with “Via” Routing.
• Route Profile view on Garmin MapSource.
• Install multiple Backroad GPS Map products on Garmin Basecamp.
• Ability to transfer multiple maps to GPS unit (DVD customers only).
• The latest Contour and Elevation information including: Summits, Peaks and Geographic Points.

Roads:

• New Searchable Street Names feature.
• Updated Route Roads – added 608 km
• Updated Non Route Roads – added 26,159 km

Trails:

• Updated Multi-use Trails – added 68 km
• Updated OHV/ATV Trails – added 69 km

General:

• Updated Alberta Points of Interest locations
  
• Updated POI for Trails (ATV, snowmobile & multi-use)
  

 

Alberta – VERSION 3.0

Released April 9th, 2012
Version 3.0 of the Alberta Backroad GPS Maps features better industrial and city road information, more multi-use and motorized trails, improved contours and several other improvements. Listed below are the details:

Roads:

• Updated city and street roads
• Upgraded resource roads for the north
• More roads than any other recreational map source out there (including Bush Map, Ibycus Topo Maps and Topo Canada)

Trails:

• Added over 400 km of motorized and snowmobile trails
• Updated and added to the multi-use trails including refining the Calgary Area trails
• General:
• Improved colouring for FLUZ & restricted areas
• Improved colouring for buildings, cities, runways, Indian Reserves
• Refine trail line styles to draw better on computer and handheld units
• Updated Contours
• Updated Points of Interest
  

BRITISH COLUMBIA, ALBERTA & ONTARIO
Version 2.0-2.2

2.0 - Released May 30, 2011

• Easier to see Backroads
• Improved logging road routing
• More named logging and Backroads
• Better road differentiation between Main FSR and Secondary Roads
• Thousands of new or updated trails and trailhead POI’s
• Tens of thousands new geographic feature names – search by water or land feature
• Searchable cities, towns and rail stops
• Many more parks, including urban parks
• Added buildings, city areas, airports, cemeteries and other urban land features
• Updated city and rural roads
• Optimized zoom levels for better viewing of POI’s, major parks, lakes and road systems
  
  

2.1 - Released July 30, 2011

• Improved routing over long distances
• Creeks, trails, roads etc. text is now properly displayed on older Garmin GPS models (Map 60CSX, Map 76CSX, Etrex, Astro, Rhino 500, etc.)
• Display colour contrast improvements for these older Garmin GPS models
• Optimized display of road names and highway symbols
• Improved unclassified roads, pipelines, etc. visibility level in Mapsource and Basecamp
• Addressed contour display including labeling and viewing levels as well as instances of contours showing above water
• Improved tile redraw speed
• Fixed gaps in seamless maps as seen in Mapsource and Basecamp
• Addressed issues where certain points were being symbolized incorrectly
• Refined installer package
• Added restricted use areas (for BC snowmobile)
• Searchable and smart background Wildlife Management Units
• Thinner contour lines so logging roads and trails are easier to see
• Improved BasecampTM, MapSourceTM and RoadTripTM searching including adding Backroad Symbols and POI’s
• Dramatically expanded Custom POI categories

2.2 - Released September 25, 2011

• Improved routing yielding more intelligent routes
• Route calculation is quicker
• Fixed gaps in seemless maps to help connectivity issues between problem tiles
• Refined installer package