Gaia GPS

Gaia GPS

Bad App Store binaries plague Gaia and other apps

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

UPDATE: On Thursday July 5, around 9pm PST, Apple re-pushed out the Gaia GPS v6.5 update, and presumably updates for all the affected apps. You should now be able to download the latest release, which will fix your app if you downloaded a corrupt binary.

ORIGINAL POST: Many people have emailed to say new installs and updates of Gaia GPS are crashing. This is an issue with the App Store itself, and affects many apps that had updates on July 4.

This blog provides steps to resolve the issue, background, and links to news articles and blogs.

How to Fix

  1. Some people are still receiving corrupt binaries, and others are not. You may simply want to wait to update, until Apple issues a statement saying everything is fixed.
  2. If you already updated and Gaia doesn’t work, you can delete the app, and try and download it again. Many people report this now works, though some are still receiving bad binaries as of 11am Thursday, July 5.
  3. Some users report they can download a proper copy to iTunes on their computer, and load the new version to Gaia that way.
  4. If you received a corrupt binary, and you need to recover your data, there are three options:
    1. Restore your phone from a backup from iCloud or iTunes, and wait to update.
    2. Wait for the next release of Gaia GPS, or for Apple to push a fix to this issue directly. Your data is still there, the app is just unloadable.
    3. Contact support@gaiagps.com, and we can help you get your data immediately, in a pinch. Please have mercy, because this is time-consuming for us.

Background

Apple reviewed and approved our latest update on July 4. Soon after, we began getting emails from people letting us know that Gaia would not boot – these emails came from both new users and people who updated. These reports were mostly, if not all, from people running iOS 5.1.1.

At that point, we checked our automatic crash logger, where we did not see any reported crashes. We then loaded up the app on to 7 devices. One of the devices, an iPhone running iOS 5.1.1, received a corrupt binary and would not boot Gaia. At that point, we ran the device under debug mode in XCode, booting from the build of our code we shipped to Apple. Again, we were not able to detect any crashes.

Finally, we began to suspect the issue was with the App Store itself. Soon, blog posts and confirmations emerged that other developers were having the same issue.

As of 11am on July 5, Apple is mum on the issue.

Other Links

  1. You can read about affected apps and symptoms on the Instapaper blog.
  2. TechCrunch is calling it a FairPlay DRM issue.
  3. ZDNet is suggesting a way to get a non-corrupt binary via iTunes.
  4. An app called GoodReader is providing this guidance to users.
  5. There is also a discussion thread on Hacker News.

We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused during the holiday. We’ll update our blog as we get more information.

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Gaia GPS

Paid Internship at Mobile Mapping Start-up

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

At TrailBehind, we make apps that help people find their way – whether they’re hiking, flying, or going to Burning Man.

This summer, we’re looking for a paid intern to work on marketing our hit hiking app, Gaia GPS, and probably wear a dozen other hats. You will have the opportunity to work part-time all summer and into the fall. We are located in Berkeley, CA.

Here’s a list of things you may end up doing:

  • Grow our online presence through Twitter, Facebook, and our blog
  • Work with journalists to develop stories about our apps
  • Create videos and other media
  • Make our website better

Good candidates for this position are:

  • Work without direction
  • Come up with creative solutions to problems
  • Might code a little bit sometimes, when it comes up
  • Have a passion for maps and/or the outdoors

How to Apply

Please send an email to jobs@gaiagps.com with any information that you think would help distinguish you as a candidate.

About TrailBehind, Inc.

For more information about Gaia GPS, check out our website at www.gaiagps.com

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Gaia GPS

Tools We Use And Pay For

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

We use a lot of tools to build our iPhone apps, and these are my favorites. For most of these, we pay a monthly fee, and for those where we don’t, we would! If you are one of the developers that works on these apps, we thank you and so do our users.

  • Crittercism– sends us anonymous crash reports from users, and tracks DAU and MAU – also has other features to communicate with users that we will soon integrate
  • TestFlight– the only way to fly when it comes to managing test users – we beta test many apps with many groups of people, and TestFlight keeps it simple
  • GitHub– The best hosted source control in the world. Every week it seems, they are coming out with new features that I actually use, while maintaining the site I know and love.
  • UserVoice– absolutely the best way to solicit, sort, and act on user feedback. There are other similar services, but none
  • Harvest– The easiest to use and most comprehensive time-tracking tool on the market. We end up doing custom apps for people based on our platform, and this is how we track and bill.
  • Appirater– A dead simple, drop-in library for getting user reviews. Sure, we could make our own, but this has been doing the job for us since 2009.
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Gaia GPS

Whale Alert Released Today!

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

If you love whales and iPads, today is a good day indeed. We are happy to announce the launch of Whale Alert – a free iPad/iPhone app that helps captains to avoid running giant ships into endangered whales.

The app warns ship captains when they enter areas of high risk of collision with critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, and also uses data transmitted from Acoustic Whale Detection Buoys to alert vessels to the presence of right whales in almost real-time.

We were delighted to be involved in the development of the app and to have our software platform applied in such an interesting and positive way. This project involved the collaboration of many groups:  Bioacoustics Research Program at Cornell University, Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire, EarthNC, Excelerate Energy, EOM Offshore, Gaia GPS, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Massachusetts Port Authority, NOAA Fisheries Service, National Park Service, Cape Cod National Seashore, NYK Lines (North America), United States Coast Guard and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Here are  some additional links about the project:

 

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Gaia GPS

Gaia v6.3 – issue and how to fix

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

There is a nasty, but easy-to-fix, crash you might experience in the latest version of Gaia GPS. You can fix this crash via iTunes, simply by following the instructions below.

If you do not have any important data saved in Gaia GPS (tracks, waypoints, or downloaded maps) or don’t have access to iTunes on a computer, you can also fix this crash by deleting the app and reinstalling it from the App store. You will not be recharged during the reinstall.

Fix from iTunes

    1. Plug your device into iTunes
    2. Select the device in the menu on the left
FIRST STEP
    1. Select the Apps tab at the top
SECOND STEP>
    1. Select Gaia GPS from the list of apps at the bottom
THIRD STEP > SCROLL DOWN
    1. Delete the file called “newSettings.txt” from Gaia (press the delete button on your keyboard) Then tap “Delete”.
General Problem Select newSettings.txt
General Problem step two

 

After that, restarting the app should make it work fine. The only effect you will experience is your settings (metric/imperial, etc.) will need to be set again.

We apologize for the inconvenience. Gaia v6.3 was a big release, and this bug snuck in! We hope you otherwise like the improvements.

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Gaia GPS

Recent Web Mentions

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports
We are always delighted to see Gaia in action. Here are a few recent clippings from around the web. You can also check out more stories about Gaia here.
If you see posts about Gaia online, send a note to gaia@gaiagps.com
Blogs & Forums

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Gaia GPS

We’re Hiring: User Support/Marketing Position

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

Marketing and User Support

TrailBehind now consists of 3 full-time developers, and we are looking to hire our first non-technical employee.

Your primary responsibility will be to answer user emails for Gaia GPS, and to create FAQs and other materials to decrease support requests and improve the user experience.

In addition, you may be asked to help with marketing, including things like improving our website, creating how-to videos, and improving our press coverage.

Requirements/Info

  • The position is part-time to hire. Expect 20 hours of work per week to start, potential for full-time after 3 months.
  • We are offering $15-25/hour, depending on your strength as a candidate.
  • You can work from our office in Berkeley, and after the first week, you can choose to work at home instead.
  • We would prefer you have a college degree or are working towards one, though it is not required.

How to Apply

Please send an email to jobs@gaiagps.com with a resume and/or other information that you think would help distinguish you as a candidate. We will pay attention to how good your email sounds.

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Gaia GPS

Gaia GPS to the Rescue

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

I got this email from a user on an search and rescue team, and I wanted to share what he said. It makes my day to hear Gaia really make a difference.

Our group S&R group was actually out this evening evacuating a snowmobiler with a broken femur from miles back off the trailhead.  I am a huge proponent of your software and I think I’ve gotten at least a dozen people our team using it now.  The area we were in this evening, is an area we were in last year, past midnight in a white out blizzard.  It is on top of a ridge where you have to thread your way down through various rock bands without actually going off the ridge.  Last year, after we found a lost snowmobiler we used my phone and your app to guide about 10 of us and the subject through the white out conditions and safely down through the rock formations while we couldn’t see more than 10 feet around us.  The others with their GPS units had horrible version of topo maps, and it was too cold and windy to break out the actual maps.  Using the GPS overlayed onto the actual USGS topo maps was key in getting us out safely.  So, with all sincerity, thank you for this app!     

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