A smartphone should probably go alongside water, warm clothing and sandwiches on your National Cycleway "to take" list.
Provided you have reception, a phone keeps you in touch with the outside world, but that's not all.
Mobile devices are increasingly used to explain areas visited.
For example, scannable information points, called iPou, are being installed at Te Tihi O Ruru, the track leading to the summit of Rainbow Mountain, south of Rotorua.
This track offers something unusual, even by world standards, an opportunity to cycle across an active volcanic field, Te Ara Ahi (Thermal by Bike).
The Department of Conservation is working with Ngati Tahu-Ngati Whaoa, to establish iPou along the trail, which can be scanned by smartphones. The first of a planned series of more than 30 in the region have been installed at two locations.
A scannable image mounted at the head of the pou links mobile devices to a video clip relevant to the location.
This can relay anything about the location, from geothermal facts and visitor information through to forestry facts, or naming rare geothermal vegetation.
A track leading to the summit of Rainbow Mountain was first to receive an iPou. It stands alongside a bench overlooking the Paeroa Ranges, about halfway up.
"There are plans to add a series of iPou between the Paeroa Ranges and the Horo Horo bluffs," says Shanan Tana of Touch Media, which produces the devices.
"Content received from each iPou can be updated regularly to reflect current events and topical conversation," says Mrs Tana.
Plans are underway to link the iPou to a video clip of a kaumatua from Ngati Tahu-Ngati Whaoa, describing the history of the mountain and the lives of tangata whenua lost in numerous battles on the coloured slopes.
The iPou at Te Kopia complements a boardwalk built to facilitate safe public access to geothermal features.
"Te Kopia is home to some pretty rare vegetation and some awesome hot mud pools. It's in DOC's interest to protect the native vegetation while facilitating safe public access for all to enjoy", explains DoC ranger Colette Wi.
"Visitor information and interpretation is no longer restricted to wordy signs! It's fantastic to see a new type of communication associated with visitor attractions in the Rotorua District," says DoC partnerships ranger Caraline Abbott.
As part of the same project, information on forestry in the area has been added at the three alternative entrances to the Summit Track and Crater Lakes walk.
And in addition to the iPou, panels have been put up to explain the humble beginnings of the nearby Kaiangoroa Forest.
Before the end of the year, a "pou whenua" will be dedicated to those who have lost their lives in battle in the area will also be established in the area.
A local quarry, Robbie McDowling, has donated a six tonne rock which has been inscribed.
"The pou whenua will be a landmark for the people of this land, complimenting the stories told though the iPou." says Mrs Abbott.