WatrWays Docs

The instruction manual for the water.

Every layer, every button, every workflow — explained once, in order. Start at the top or jump straight to the part you need.

Quick start Map layers Map controls Live mode How-to guides FAQ

/ 01 / Quick start

Three moves and you're on the water.

Open the map

No sign-in needed. Search a river or lake, or just pan to water you know. The map is organized around water, not roads.

Turn on layers

Tap the layers button (bottom-left) and switch on depth contours, shade relief, and lake conditions to read the water before you go.

Go live at the ramp

On your phone, tap Live. Your position, speed, and charted depth follow you in real time — and you can record the trip.

/ 02 / The map manual

Every layer, explained.

Tap the layers button in the bottom-left corner of the map to open this menu. Layers stack — most people run depth contours, shade relief, and 3D together. Anything with a gear icon has its own settings panel.

Maps

Pick how depth color is spread across the map. These two are exclusive — choose one.

Low

Smooth depth gradient spread across the full depth range of the waterbody. Best for deep lakes where you want the whole range visible at once.

High

Tight depth bands — the full gradient is compressed into the first 38 ft. Best for shallow water and river running, where every foot near the surface matters.

Depth

The bathymetry itself — what is under the water.

Depth contours

⚙ settings

Bathymetry contour lines and underwater structure labels. Open the gear icon on this layer to adjust contour styling.

SideImaging

in development

Fish-finder side imaging layer. Currently in development — the toggle is a placeholder for now.

Terrain

The shape of the land and the bottom, plus real imagery.

Shade relief

⚙ settings

Hillshade and terrain relief so you can read bank shape, bluffs, and drainage at a glance. Gear icon opens hillshade settings.

3D

⚙ settings

Bathymetric 3D terrain — toggles depth exaggeration on and off so the bottom pops out of the map. Gear icon controls how strong the exaggeration is.

Water satellite

Recent satellite imagery clipped to the water. Zoom in on a waterbody to load it — a date timeline lets you flip between capture dates.

Water

How the water itself is drawn and what it is doing right now.

WatrWays

⚙ settings

Highlights every waterway on the map so rivers and streams stand out from the basemap. Gear icon lets you change the water highlight color.

Flow Map

Animated river flow along the stream network. Click any stream to trace where the water goes.

Lake Conditions

⚙ settings

Live condition bubbles — water temperature and weather statistics pulled from USGS gauges and the National Weather Service. Gear icon sets bubble size.

Live

Other people out on the water right now.

Live users

Shows WatrWays users who opted in to sharing their location from live mode. Sharing is always opt-in, from the live mode controls.

Nav Tracking

Your own recorded tracks.

Nav Tracking

⚙ settings

Shows the routes you recorded with nav tracking in live mode, with your waypoints. Gear icon controls track color, style, and thickness.

Media

Photos and cameras contributed by the community.

Community images

User-uploaded photos pinned to the exact spot they were taken. Click a cluster to zoom in.

Live Cameras

Live stream camera pins with their field of view drawn on the map. Click one to watch the feed.

/ 03 / Map controls

The buttons on the map.

This is the bottom edge of the map screen. The numbers below match the numbered list.

Live

1
Layers
Opens the layer menu described above. Everything you toggle is remembered for your session.
2
Live
Starts live mode (mobile). WatrWays asks for GPS permission, locks the map to your position, and swaps in the on-water controls. Requires sign-in.
3
Street view pegman
Drag the pegman onto any highlighted route to enter first-person street view of that stretch of water, captured by contributors.
4
Zoom
Zoom in and out. You can also pinch on touch screens or scroll on desktop.
5
Compass
Drag horizontally to rotate, vertically to tilt into 3D. Tap once to snap back to flat, north-up.

Also worth knowing: right-click (long-press on mobile) anywhere on the map for the context menu — pins, cameras, dams, photo uploads, and directions all start there. The search bar at the top searches waterways, not addresses.

/ 04 / Live mode (mobile)

Your phone, as an on-water instrument.

Tap Live on your phone and the map locks to your GPS position. The control column lives on the right edge of the screen — here is every button, numbered. Collapsed, only your active controls stay visible; the three-dot button expands the full stack.

Speed

4.2 mph

Depth

12.6 ft

Exit

Live mode on mobile — active controls highlighted.

1
Compass / 3D tilt
Drag vertically to tilt the camera into a 3D view. Tap to flatten. In live mode your heading follows your device orientation, so the map turns as you do.
2
Camera
Record video or take photos without leaving the map. Nearby USGS gauge readings are shown alongside the viewfinder.
3
Speed
Shows your current GPS speed as a floating readout — your phone becomes the speedometer.
4
Depth
Shows the charted water depth at your current position, read live from the bathymetry under your boat. A mobile depth reference as you move.
5
Share live location
Opt in to show your position to other WatrWays users on the Live users layer. Off by default; requires sign-in.
6
Nav tracking
Start or stop recording your route. Tracking pauses automatically if you leave the water and the finished track is saved to the Nav Tracking layer.
7
Drop waypoint
Drops a labeled waypoint at your current position — a good hole, a hazard, a spot to come back to. Requires nav tracking to be running.
8
Plan a route
Plans a safe-depth route between two points you pick, avoiding water shallower than your minimum depth. Optional voice alerts call out warnings as you run it.
9
More controls
Expands or collapses the full control stack. Collapsed, only the controls you currently have active stay visible so the map stays clean.
10
Exit
Leaves live mode and returns to the normal map. It sits in the same bottom-left spot the Live button was in.

Good to know: live mode needs a signed-in account and GPS permission. The depth readout is charted depth at your position — a reference layer, not a sonar replacement. Keep your own judgment (and your actual electronics) in the loop.

/ 05 / How-to

Common workflows, step by step.

Drop a pin

1Right-click (or long-press on mobile) anywhere on the map.
2Choose Pin from the context menu, give it a name, and choose public or private.
3Save. Signed-in pins follow your account everywhere; guest pins stay in your browser session.

Save pins & cameras for later

1Click the star on any pin or live camera to add it to your saved items.
2Open the saved panel from the header star to jump back to anything you saved.
3Saved items sync between the website and the desktop app when you are signed in.

Enter street view

1Look for highlighted route lines on the water — those stretches have first-person footage.
2Drag the pegman (bottom-right of the map) onto a route line.
3Use the on-screen arrows to travel along the route, just like street view on land.

Upload a route (360 footage)

1Open the upload panel from the map and select your footage — 360 video or images (MP4/MOV, HEVC ok; standard video works too). Optionally attach a GPX track.
2Start the upload. On the website, our servers process the footage; in the desktop app the same upload is processed locally on your machine.
3Once processed it becomes a first-person route — anyone can drop the pegman on it and travel down that water in street view.

Contribute sonar mapping (SL2)

1Install the WatrWays desktop app — mapping uploads are app-only, because the sonar processing runs on your machine.
2Open Account → Mapping and add your Lowrance SL2/SL3 sonar recordings. Preview the raw depth, GPS track, and side-scan first.
3Run the full processing, review the georeferenced survey, and submit. Nothing uploads until you approve it — and every log grows the depth data for everyone.

Plan a safe-depth route

1In live mode, tap Plan a route (the dashed-line icon).
2Set your minimum safe depth in feet, then pick a start and end point on the map.
3Tap Go. The planner routes you around water shallower than your limit, with optional voice alerts.

Report a camera or add a dam

1Right-click (or long-press) the spot on the map.
2Choose Camera to submit a live camera stream URL, or Dam to document a dam with its details.
3Submissions show up for everyone once saved — this is how the map stays current.

/ 06 / FAQ

Questions, answered.

Everything people usually ask before their first trip with WatrWays. Something missing?

Get in touch

What exactly is WatrWays?

A water-first map. Rivers, lakes, launches, hazards, depth data, live conditions, street-view-style footage, and community knowledge in one living map — organized around the water, not the roads near it.

Do I need an account?

No — the map is public and free to explore without signing in. An account unlocks live mode, uploading, live location sharing, and saved pins that follow you across devices.

Is there a desktop app?

Yes. WatrWays ships as a desktop app with the same map, saved items, and street view. Grab it from the Get the app page — your account and saved items sync between the website and the app.

Is there a mobile app?

WatrWays runs fully in your phone's browser, including live mode — GPS, depth, speed, tracking, and the camera all work there. You can install it to your home screen like an app when prompted.

How do I upload footage or photos?

Three ways. Route footage: upload 360 video or images from the map's upload panel — it gets processed into a first-person route anyone can travel. The website processes uploads on our servers; the desktop app does the same processing locally. Photos: right-click a spot on the map and choose the image upload option to pin photos to a location. Sonar mapping: see the next question.

What are mapping uploads?

Sonar log contributions. If you run a Lowrance unit, you can upload your SL2/SL3 recordings and they get processed into depth data that grows the shared bathymetry. Mapping uploads require the desktop app — the processing runs locally on your machine, you preview everything first, and nothing uploads until you approve it.

Where does the depth data come from?

A mix of official bathymetry, USGS data, NOAA charts, and sonar logs (SL2/SL3) contributed by the community through the desktop app, processed into the contour and 3D layers you see. Coverage is deepest where contributors have been — that is the point of contributing.

Can I really use it as a depth finder?

The live mode depth readout shows the charted depth at your GPS position — a reference, not a sonar. It is only as current as the chart under you, so treat it as context alongside your own judgment and electronics.

How do I become a contributor?

Just start adding: upload 360 route footage, contribute SL2 sonar logs through the desktop app, post community photos, drop public pins, submit live cameras and dams. Every upload widens the dataset for everyone on that water.

What if something on the map is outdated or wrong?

The map is built around editable local detail on purpose. Newer pins, notes, and photos replace stale information, and you can report anything that looks wrong from the map.

What is Watr Guesser?

The built-in exploration game: you get dropped somewhere on the world's waterways in street view, study the surroundings, and guess where you are. Solo, multiplayer, and team modes are all in there.

Does WatrWays cost anything?

The public map is free. Exploring, layers, pins, and the guesser do not require payment — accounts exist to sync your stuff, not to paywall the water.

Will there be turn-by-turn navigation?

Safe-depth route planning already exists in live mode, and navigation built around waterway realities is where the product is headed. It gets better as the depth dataset grows.

Manual read. Water waiting.

Open the map and try the layers on water you know.

Open the map Get the desktop app