The map information bar runs along the top of every map. It shows live information about the crosshair in the middle of the map and about your own location — coordinates, elevation, distance, bearings, the weather and more.
The bar has three slots you can fill with whatever information you like. You can change them, along with your coordinate system, crosshair and location icon, from the settings icon on the bar.
In this article: What’s on the bar · The Compass screen · Choose what each slot shows · The slot options · Coordinate system · Crosshair · Location icon · Other settings
What’s on the bar
From left to right:
- Search — opens search, so you can jump to a place, a hike or a grid reference.
- Three slots — Coordinates, Elevation and Distance by default. Tap Coordinates to open the Compass screen. On iPhone, tapping any other value copies it to your clipboard.
- Compass — always there, just before the settings icon. It shows which way the map is turned: tap it to turn the map back to north, or press and hold it to show or hide the mini compass.
- Settings — opens the settings for the bar.
Under the bar you’ll see the mini compass, if it’s switched on — a strip showing the direction your phone is facing — and the scale bar. See How do I use the HiiKER mini compass?
The Compass screen
Tap the Coordinates value on the bar to open a full-screen compass, with your position written out in every format at once:
- DD — decimal latitude and longitude
- DMS — degrees, minutes and seconds
- UTM
- your national grid, if you use one — OSGB, Irish Grid or NZMG
- a what3words address, where it’s available
Tap Copy on any row, or Share location to send them all in one message. The screen uses your GPS position (My location) when it has one, and the centre of the map (Map centre) otherwise.
On older versions of the app, tapping Coordinates copies them to your clipboard instead. Update HiiKER to get the Compass screen.
Choose what each slot shows
- Tap the settings icon on the bar.
- Tap Slot 1, Slot 2 or Slot 3.
- Choose what you’d like that slot to show — or Empty to hide it.
The slot options
Each slot can show any one of these. Values about a place use the crosshair in the middle of the map; values about you use your GPS position. Where the Android label differs, it’s shown in brackets.
Map Information
- Coordinates — the position of the crosshair, in your chosen coordinate system.
- Elevation — the height of the ground at the crosshair. It’s only shown when you’re zoomed in reasonably close, so zoom in if the slot is blank.
Navigation
- Horizontal Accuracy — how precise your GPS position is. If it reads ±10 m, you’re probably within 10 metres of the spot shown on the map.
- Distance — the straight-line distance from you to the crosshair, as the crow flies.
- Direction of Travel (Degrees) — the direction your phone is pointing, measured from north.
- Bearing to Map Center (Degrees) — the direction you’d need to travel from where you are to reach the crosshair, measured from north (0° is north, 90° is east). It’s worked out along the curve of the Earth, so it stays accurate over long distances.
- Elevation Change — the difference in height between you and the crosshair: how much climbing (or descending) stands between you and where you’re pointing.
Current Weather (at the crosshair)
- Temperature (Degrees) (Temperature)
- Rainfall (Current) (mm/h) (Rainfall (Current) (mm)) — rain over the past hour.
- Rainfall (Forecast) (mm/h) (Rainfall (Forecast) (mm)) — rain expected over the next hour.
- Snow fall (mm/h) (Snowfall (cm)) — current snowfall.
- Visibility — how far you can see clearly.
- Wind Speed — the current wind speed, 10 m above the ground.
- Cloud cover (Cloud Cover) — how much of the sky is covered by cloud, from 0% (clear) to 100% (overcast).
Empty hides that slot — handy if you only want to see two values.
Change the grid reference / coordinate system
- Tap the settings icon on the bar.
- Scroll to Map coordinate system (Map Coordinate System on Android).
- Tap the drop-down and choose an option. For OS grid references, choose Great Britain Grid Reference; for Ireland, choose Irish Grid Reference.
The options are World Geodetic System (Lat, Long), Latitude/Longitude (DMS), Great Britain Grid Reference, Irish Grid Reference and New Zealand Grid Reference. See Understanding map coordinate systems in HiiKER for which to choose.
Customise or hide the crosshair
- Tap the settings icon on the bar.
- Scroll to Map crosshair.
- To hide the crosshair, switch Activate crosshairs off.
- To change its look, pick a style under Choose crosshair and a colour under Choose color.
Top tip: miss ViewRanger? Choose crosshair option 2 in red for a throwback to a great app!
Customise your location icon
- Tap the settings icon on the bar.
- Scroll to Customise current location icon.
- Choose the icon you’d like to show your position on the map.
- If it’s too small, make it bigger: Small (Default), Medium or Large (under Choose icon size on iPhone, Size on Android).
Other settings on this screen
- Show mini compass — shows or hides the compass strip under the bar.
- Hide current location marker — hides your location icon from the map, which is handy for practising your navigation skills. Switch it off to bring the marker back.
- Disable touch screen — locks the map so taps do nothing, for example while your phone is in a pocket. To unlock it, tap the lock icon that appears on the map.
- On iPhone, RESET TO DEFAULT at the bottom puts everything on this screen back as it was.
Related: How do I use the HiiKER mini compass?, Set Grid Preferences / Map Projections and How to use the main map.
Is there any way of getting it to show the elevation difference between the current location and the cross hair? I can see options for the horizontal distance, and showing the absolute height, but not the relative height.
Hey Simon, Thats added. Will be out in the next version! Thanks for the feedback.