Explore Ponderay, Idaho, with this interactive street and satellite map.
This page also offers TOPO MAPS — the official USGS topographic sheets — plus USGS aerial imagery, a labelled USNG grid overlay, a distance and bearing tool, and a GPS grid-reference readout. See How to Use This Map below.
This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for Ponderay, Idaho. Use the Map and Satellite buttons above to switch between street map and aerial imagery views. Use the + and − buttons to zoom in or out, or scroll your mouse wheel while holding the Control key to zoom. On a touchscreen, use a two-finger pinch gesture. Drag the map to pan to any area of Idaho or beyond.
Click ⛶ Fullscreen to expand the map to fill your screen. To return to the normal page view, press the Escape key, click the ✕ Exit Fullscreen button that appears above the map, or on a mobile device tap the back button (Android) or the close icon (iOS).
TOPO MAPS — NEW. Click the green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map to open a second map with a Base map row offering three choices. OSM is the standard OpenStreetMap street map. Topo shows the official USGS topographic maps from The National Map — contours, hydrography, land cover and shaded relief, the same mapping used for hiking, hunting and back-country navigation in the Adirondacks, the Catskills and the Finger Lakes. Imagery shows USGS aerial photography, mostly 1-metre NAIP. The search box finds any US town, county or landmark by name, so you are not limited to Ponderay.
Reading the map like a paper quad. Click Grid to overlay the U.S. National Grid (USNG), labelled along the edges exactly as a printed topographic sheet is — at normal zoom the squares are one kilometre across, so you can read a six-figure grid reference by eye and judge distance directly off the map. Click Measure, then tap two points, to get the distance between them together with the grid bearing in degrees and mils, the true bearing, and the magnetic bearing to set on a compass.
Click 📍 My position to take a single GPS reading from your device. It marks where you are and reports your position as a USNG grid reference as well as plain latitude and longitude — USNG being the format FEMA and US search and rescue teams work from — with a Copy position button so you can paste it straight into a text message. It takes one reading and stops, rather than tracking continuously, to conserve your battery. Note that map tiles need cell coverage, but a GPS reading does not — your coordinates stay correct even where the map itself cannot load.
| City | Ponderay |
| State | Idaho (ID) |
| County | Bonner County |
| Country | United States of America |
| Timezone | Pacific Time (America/Los_Angeles) |
| Latitude | 48.305481 |
| Longitude | -116.533804 |
| Population | 1,289 |
| Density | 169.6 /km² |
| Incorporated | Yes |
| ZIP Codes | 83852, 83864 |
| Area Code | 208, 986 |
| County Seat | Sandpoint |
| School District | Lake Pend Oreille School District 84 |
Ponderay emerges as a threshold between the rugged expanse of the northern panhandle and the expansive, deep waters of Lake Pend Oreille. It lies 38.0 miles north-northeast of Rathdrum, ID (from Rathdrum, ID: bearing 26°T), and is situated 2.2 miles north-northeast of Sandpoint. The air here holds a crisp, persistent clarity, cooling as it drifts down from the shadowed slopes of Gold Hill, five miles to the north. Beyond the immediate reach of the town, the terrain folds into the basin of Hays Gulch, where the earth retains a quiet, heavy moisture. Light in the late afternoon catches the silt-laden flow of Sand Creek, which marks the local landscape with a deliberate, winding path toward the greater lake. This is a place defined by its verticality and the sheer, unyielding presence of the land, where the horizon is dominated not by the flat plains of the south, but by the jagged, darkening silhouettes of high ridges.
Ponderay maintains a character forged in the intersections of timber harvest and the steady, evolving commerce of the modern northern interior. The local economy has long leaned upon the resources pulled from the nearby woodlands, including the distant reaches of the Priest River Experimental Forest, tethering the identity of Ponderay to the labor of the woods and the movement of goods through this narrow corridor. Life here moves with a pragmatic intensity, reflecting the rhythms of a regional hub that serves as a gateway to the broader wilderness. Residents navigate a landscape where the remnants of historical industry are slowly being reconfigured, replaced by the quiet expansion of local enterprises. It is a place where the stillness of the northern woods meets the persistent, humming machinery of a working town, creating a duality that is both stark and profoundly functional.
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This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Ponderay, Idaho. Coordinates: 48.305481, -116.533804. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.
Detailed location data for Ponderay includes the ZIP code (83852, 83864), telephone area code (208, 986), county seat of Bonner County (Sandpoint), and school district assignment (Lake Pend Oreille School District 84).
Search Maps opens a second, independent map. It searches OpenStreetMap for any US town, county or landmark by name; offers USGS topographic maps and USGS aerial imagery as base layers; overlays a labelled U.S. National Grid (USNG) so the map can be read like a printed topographic quad; measures distance and grid, true and magnetic bearings between any two points; and takes a single GPS fix reporting your position as a USNG grid reference and as latitude and longitude. Map tiles require cell coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map cannot load.
Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Location data | SimpleMaps US Cities Database; coordinates matched to USGS GNIS definitive data |
| Map layers | Google Maps; © OpenStreetMap contributors; USGS The National Map topographic and aerial imagery (public domain); magnetic declination from NOAA NCEI (World Magnetic Model) |
| Wikipedia validation | Article content matched to USGS GNIS coordinates via Wikipedia geosearch API. |