About Public Lands Map
Public Lands Map (PLM) answers one question honestly: what land is this, and can someone camp here? The map color-codes federal and state land by manager — BLM, national forest, NPS, state, wilderness — and overlays the legally drivable roads, so the color carries the camping rule-of-thumb.
The color is the disclaimer
The map never promises legality. A BLM-colored area means: this is BLM-managed land, BLM generally allows dispersed camping, and local rules and current closures decide the rest. Every classification on the map carries its source and as-of date, readable in the popup. Where the data is thin, the map says so — the honesty is built into the color.
Where every layer comes from
| Layer | Source | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Land ownership & manager | PAD-US (USGS, public domain) | Manager and ownership polygons — the rule-of-thumb base for every color on the map. |
| Forest roads | MVUM (US Forest Service) | Legal motorized designations. A road drawn from MVUM carries a legal status, with its as-of date. |
| BLM routes | GTLF (Bureau of Land Management) | Legal motorized designations on BLM-managed routes. |
| Utah backcountry roads | Utah SGID (state of Utah) | Existence and surface only — these lines say a road is there, never that driving or camping on it is permitted. |
| Public roads (national) | TIGER/Line (US Census) | Existence and class only. A county road on the map is a road, never a camping permit. |
| Wilderness | NWPS boundaries | Walk-in areas — keeps the green honest where motorized access ends. |
| Basemap | OpenFreeMap | The vector base under everything, self-hosted for offline use. |
| Satellite | Esri World Imagery | Aerial raster, online and opt-in. |
Two kinds of road data coexist on the map, and the popup always says which is which: MVUM and GTLF lines carry a legal motorized designation; SGID and TIGER lines carry existence only.
Free to browse, $5.99 for a month offline
The map is free on the web with no account and no tracking of anonymous visitors. A one-time $5.99 pass puts a state's full map on the device for a month of offline use and navigation — past the trailhead, where this map matters most — and funds the project. The map is built on public-domain government data and static map tiles; there is no ad layer and no resale of anything.
Contact
Feedback, corrections, and data-gap reports: feedback@publiclandsmap.com. Coverage as of June 2026: the 50 US states, 13 Canadian provinces and territories, and 32 Mexican states. See also the privacy policy and terms of service.