Merging CalTopo and SARTopo Servers

This is an update to how we run the sites and how you can access your data, but no action is required by you as a user.

We’ve always run two sites in parallel: CalTopo, for on recreational use cases, and SARTopo, which focuses on professional uses cases, such as search and rescue, through additional object types like operational periods and assignments.

While these sites run on the same infrastructure and even use the same database server, their data has always been separate. Beyond customer support and marketing issues, this has been particularly problematic with the mobile app, requiring some users to sign out and back in when swapping between their recreational and SAR roles.

What’s Changing

Coming soon (as early as next week or as late as mid January 2022), we will be merging the two sites together. Once the merge is complete, both sites will continue to work, but data will now be shared between them.

After the merge, the mobile app will also give you access to both servers’ data – no more needing to sign out and back in to a different server if you have both professional and recreational data. As a result, the next major app release will remove the screen asking which server you want to sync to.

Who Does this Affect?

• If you only use one of the two sites, this change should not affect you.
• If you have data saved on both sites, then when you click on the “your data” button at the top right of the map viewer, you’ll see all your CalTopo and SARTopo maps together in one place, no matter which site you are viewing.

Map URLs

All existing map IDs and URLs will continue to work as-is. However, the ID will change when a map originating from one server is viewed on the other. SARTopo maps will get prefixed with an “S” when viewed on CalTopo; sartopo.com/m/ABCD will also be accessible as caltopo.com/m/SABCD. Similarly, CalTopo maps will get a “Z” prefix when viewed on SARTopo; caltopo.com/m/ABCD will be viewable as sartopo.com/m/ZABCD.

Team Accounts

If you are a member or admin of a team account, nothing about your account changes other than that you’ll be able to login to CalTopo or SARTopo to access your team.