The Montana-based mapping company turning hikers into confident explorers

Paper maps may have made a bit of a comeback lately, but let’s face it: for most of us, they’re no match for the convenience of Google Maps or Apple Maps. That convenience, however, tends to disappear as soon as you step off the grid. Enter onXmaps, a fast-growing Montana company that’s carving out a niche in the digital map world by blending old-school reliability with the kind of live data you’ll never find printed on paper.

The result is a series of subscription-based apps crafted for die-hard outdoor enthusiasts—think hunters, backcountry skiers, hikers, backpackers, snowmobilers, off-roaders, and anglers. Each onX app lets you download maps for offline use, track your routes, customize maps, and tap into intel about public and private land boundaries. In other words, it’s the best of both worlds: the trusted details of a paper map combined with the up-to-the-minute insights only a digital tool can deliver.

All of this information is intended to encourage people to explore the outdoors, while making safe and well-informed decisions. And what really differentiates onX from other mapping apps is the tools are built by adventurers for adventures, Laura Orvidas, the company’s CEO, tells Fast Company.

“It’s just a very different experience to have a map for everything versus a map and tools designed for your specific purpose,” she says. “We really target people who are adventuring further into the backcountry.”

Indeed, Americans have become an increasingly adventurous bunch. A record 175.8 million Americans participated in some sort of outdoor recreational activity in 2023, a 4.1% increase from 2022, according to figures from the Outdoor Industry Association. Among that group were 7.7 million first-timer outdoor recreation participants.

Catering to new and seasoned adventurers alike with a purpose-built strategy has proven successful: Since Orvidas took the reins in 2018, after a nearly 20-year stint at Amazon, the number of active users has surged tenfold and revenue has increased 1,300%, according to figures supplied by the private company. Of course, that period includes the COVID-19 pandemic, which quickly propelled business for onX and others in the recreation and fitness space.

Pandemic-era expansion and beyond

When lockdowns began in March 2020, the company’s primary app was onX Hunt, which experienced a 300% year-over-year surge in active users in the first few months of the pandemic. More interesting, Orvidas notes, is that time of year isn’t hunting season. Employees quickly saw an opportunity to expand its app lineup because people were using onX Hunt for decidedly nonhunting activities.

“That led us to say, we think there’s a real commercial opportunity in these other places if we made this experience way better,” Orvidas says. The company debuted onX Backcountry in 2021 with tools optimized for backpacking, hiking, backcountry skiing, climbing, and more.

Today, the company has three primary apps—onX Hunt, onX Backcountry, and onX Offroad—that charge annual membership fees ranging from $29.99 to $99.99. It’s also expanding onX Fish, currently available only in Minnesota, because the company saw an opportunity to offer a purpose-built app for lake fishing and fly angling, Orvidas says.

While growth has slowed since the pandemic days, the number of active users for onX Hunt has grown 30% since 2021. The number of onX employees has likewise grown. During the past two years, headcount has increased nearly 30% to a total of about 400 employees. Such growth might be the envy of many in Silicon Valley; tech companies have laid off more than 400,000 employees, according to Layoffs.fyi.

Being based in Montana, with other “basecamps” located around the West, means onX is able to recruit outdoor enthusiasts who therefore understand customer needs, Orvidas says. In addition to a “big entrepreneurial spirit” that exists in Montana, it’s helpful to have proximity to the activities these apps support. “We can do more of them in a single day than most other places,” she adds.

Patching together data

Behind the scenes, however, a great deal of work is involved—namely, scouring thousands of different sources of public records that don’t always agree. The company has a verification process, Orvidas says, to ensure customers have the most accurate and up-to-date data.

It will also consider all potential data sources. For example, onX recently integrated the massive amounts of light detection and ranging (lidar) data from the U.S. Geological Survey to provide detailed map views. The apps have also incorporated data about wildfires, avalanche risks, and satellite imagery that shows fall foliage or the aftermath of a natural disaster.

What does all of this mean for an app user? Say you set out for a day hike, but upon reaching your destination realize you’re not quite ready to head home. With onX Backcountry, you could chart a route to continue hiking, identifying other landmarks worth exploring, how long it will take to get there, and what the terrain looks like.

“That’s where I think our app really shines, and where it’s hard to use other products to get that same information and be able to do that kind of on-the-spot planning” Orvidas says.

Even so, sourcing data to make all of this possible can be a challenge, as Orvidas notes, which is why onX has been an advocate for various initiatives, like the MAPLand Act, to fund the digitization of map data. “There’s a wide variation in technology adoption and funding county by county, within states, across states and that’s what makes part of it so complicated to patch together,” she adds.

Improving access

There are other complicated issues to navigate, namely improving public access to public lands. The rise of the smartphone-equipped hunter, in particular, has drawn the ire of some traditionalists, who lament the impact of modern technology on the sport and public lands.

Improving recreational access for people who may not have grown up with the tradition is something to be proud of and to support, Orvidas counters. “We want to continue to make our apps easier and easier to use to reduce any barriers, so people who don’t know how to do these activities can pick up our app without a lot of cognitive load and be able to get outdoors and adventure.”

To educate new adventurers, onX offers a variety of master classes and also encourages app users to get involved in land stewardship efforts, like cleanup events. The company also strives to educate the public about its efforts to improve public access to public lands.

A collaboration with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership found that, across 20 different U.S. states, 16.4 million acres of public land is “landlocked,” or effectively off-limits to the public. “There’s not a legal way for Americans to reach these places to hike, to hunt, to camp, to forage, to fish, without trespassing,” Orvidas adds.

Currently a “small arm” of onX, Orvidas expects advocacy and stewardship efforts to expand alongside onX because the company feels a sense of responsibility to keep public lands accessible and educate the public about how to take care of those lands.

“We believe that when people are outside recreating they have a different relationship with the land than they did when they’re not,” Orvidas adds.