Case Study: Dharma Maps achieves 10× more map data and instant load times for sustainable trail discovery with Mapbox

Dharma Maps - Customer Case Study

Dharma Maps is a small team dedicated to sharing and conserving outdoor places; they partnered with State of Washington Tourism to build TREAD Map, an app that promotes recreational and sustainable tourism by connecting users to hyper-local trail and land information and diverting hikers from overused routes. Their prototype struggled to load and manage the large, highly localized datasets needed by land managers and regional experts, while requiring fast upload/edit capabilities and tight integration with in-app content.

By adopting Mapbox (MTS and Mobile Maps SDK v10) Dharma Maps scaled to roughly 10x the data with virtually instant load times, added automated GIS file submission in the admin panel, and fully customized maps to match their brand and UX. The result is a richer, faster app with seamless map-to-social-feed integration, easier land-manager workflows, and an improved ability to surface lesser-known trails and support sustainable outdoor use.

Dharma Maps

Marc Rothmeyer

Founder