onX Expands Dispersed Camping Layer Coverage in Offroad and Backcountry Apps
Dispersed Camping Layer now spans Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands
Just in time for summer camping season, onX, the leader in outdoor digital navigation, today announced a major expansion of its Dispersed Camping Layer. The update extends coverage from mapping 166,638 miles of Forest Service roads to now include 193,079,484 acres of mapped Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land.
Dispersed camping, or the practice of camping outside developed campgrounds and facilities on public lands, has grown in popularity as campers seek more remote experiences and flexibility beyond reservation-based campgrounds.
Yet answering a seemingly simple question like “where can I camp on this route?” has historically been complex, requiring campers to decipher a patchwork of inconsistent sources: scanning PDFs and closure orders, skimming route descriptions, forum threads and blog posts, or cross-referencing clunky Motor Vehicle Use Map PDFs. In many cases, campers are left guessing in the field, unsure whether they’re camping legally, safely, or sustainably. By bringing dispersed camping information directly into the navigation experience, onX makes it easier to understand where camping along vehicle-accessible roads and trails is permitted.
“Dispersed camping is how a lot of our most passionate users prefer to experience public lands, but figuring out where it’s actually legal has always been a pain point,” said onX Offroad Content Manager Chris Cordes. “We worked with data directly from federal land management agencies to build something that finally makes camping opportunities clear at scale–across 40 states and hundreds of millions of acres. The layer shows where you can camp, and–critically–where you can’t. This allows people to spread out across that landscape, instead of crowding in the same ‘well loved’ spots. As a result, everyone wins: land managers see less concentrated impact, and users find the solitude they’re actually looking for.”
onX’s Dispersed Camping Layer coverage is particularly significant across the West, where public lands are most expansive. Nevada and Alaska each contribute more than 40 million acres of mapped BLM land, while Utah adds over 18 million acres and Wyoming over 16 million. On Forest Service land, California leads all states with more than 30,000 miles of mapped dispersed camping corridors, followed by Idaho (21,774 miles), Oregon (20,978 miles), and Montana (15,506 miles).
The layer also maps significant dispersed camping access across the Midwest and East, including more than 4,200 miles of Forest Service corridors in Michigan and nearly 2,000 miles in Wisconsin. “These are notoriously difficult regions to find dispersed camping in”, Chris Cordes notes, “and we’re excited to make it easier for people to find and enjoy these beautiful places.”
For more information on the Dispersed Camping Layer and how to use the feature with onX Offroad visit https://www.onxmaps.com/offroad/app/features/dispersed-camping-maps.
onX Backcountry users can find more information https://www.onxmaps.com/backcountry/app/features/the-ultimate-camping-app
About onX
Founded in 2009, onX is a pioneer in digital outdoor navigation, developing software that helps inform, inspire, and empower outdoor recreationists. onX Hunt, onX Offroad, and onX Backcountry make up the company’s suite of apps and are built by explorers for explorers. Because off the beaten path experiences are at the heart of what onX does, the company also leads initiatives to protect and expand access to public land. Since 2018, onX has worked with various partners to secure and improve public land access through direct funding and by supporting key legislation with data analysis and research.