Gaia GPS

Gaia GPSNew Maps

Open TileMill projects for open data

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

In the past few months, we’ve been making a lot of maps at TrailBehind, and since we’re using open data, along with MapBox’s open source TileMill tool, we thought it would be appropriate to open source the stylesheets we developed, too.

You can now check out all of our CartoCSS style sheets and related assets from GitHub. We have styles for tiling data like state hunting game zones, US river charts, topo maps, and more. Pop over to our maps page to browse the live maps that we made with TileMill, CartoCSS, and Postgres. The is a living project, and we expect to add many more styles in 2014.

We hope that our work can make it easier for anyone out there working with open data, particularly the open US government data we are interested in. We also want to note that if you create an open CartoCSS style sheet, we’d be happy to host and publish just about any map you want to use in Gaia GPS. Pull requests are welcome!

When we founded this company and started writing apps many years ago, we always avoided cartography, instead choosing to work with 3rd parties to get our maps. We still pay to license a bunch of great maps, but MapBox’s stack of tools has thrown open the doors for us to make maps. Given we had no previous experience, that means two things – these tools are great, and you can do it too.

Here’s one of our styles, that shows some OSM data in the style of USGS topos.

OSM data styled like USGS topos.

OSM data styled like USGS topos.

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Gaia GPS

Big Improvements in Gaia GPS 5.1 for Android

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

We just dropped a big Android release in time for Christmas. If you have Gaia installed on Android, you should get the notification, or you can download it from the Play Market.

I’m most happy to say that we’ve made the maps crisp and responsive. We found that previously, by overlaying the stat control on the map, we were having unintended side effects. That and a couple other optimizations, and now we think the maps are awesome, pretty much regardless of device specs or how many trails and waypoints you have overlaid.

Here is a picture of a roadrunner from Wikimedia Commons to illustrate the concept of speed:

gallery-roadrunner

But, wait, there’s more!

This release also now lets you take photos from within Gaia GPS, just like on iOS, which neatly sync along with your tracks to GaiaCloud. This may be the very first moment in our Android history that you can really get the full Gaia experience on the Android platform – the core trio of offline maps, tracking, and geo-tagged photos.

Indeed, there is even more. Here’s the full release notes for 5.1:

  • • new stat control on bottom of map, which can display more stats, is easier to configure, and doesn’t slow down the map
  • • turn on optional zoom controls in Settings
  • • turn on tilt/rotate map gestures in Settings.
  • • new way to delete lots of items at once, based on typical Android long press workflow
  • • bug fixes based on what you report, Crittercism logs, and testing from the beta version
  • • analyzed and optimized maps – super fast and touchy-feely
  • • take geo-tagged photos, which get grouped with tracks you record
  • • photos can be synced, shared, and backed up via GaiaCloud (activate in Settings)

I think all we’re missing now is a route-making/distance-measuring tool, like we have on iOS. That will be along in January, and then we’ll have to do some work on iOS to catch up with Android!

Big plans for both iOS and Android in the spring. Please let us know how you like the new Android app, and send your suggestions to support@gaiagps.com

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Two Awesome Trips on GaiaCloud

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

I wanted to spotlight these two tracks a couple of users published to GaiaCloud today and yesterday. They both have gorgeous pictures and a cool track!

Here’s a hike near Reno showcasing a heck of a sunset.

And here’s a hike around Stinson Beach, north of San Francisco – bright red berries, beautiful trees, and a jaunt down to the sand.

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Gaia GPS Android Update

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

Yesterday, we quietly released a big update to the beta version of Gaia GPS for Android, and we plan to roll these changes into the main version next week, just in time for Christmas.

Most notably, this release lets you add photos to waypoints and tracks, and you can also tilt and rotate the map for a semi-3D mode. With photos, we’re getting very close to feature parity between iOS and Android, and we should get all the way there before the spring. The 3D additions on Android are also something the iOS doesn’t have at all. Here’s a peak at tilted topos:

Tilted Topos on Gaia GPS for Android

 

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AndroidGaia GPSNew FeaturesNew Maps

Everyone Checks in Code at Gaia GPS

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

These days, everyone “checks in” code at Gaia GPS – all seven of us checked in some sort of technical work this month. Like many software developers out there, we use GitHub.com to collaborate and keep our code in version control, and we see “check-ins” flow in each day.

This is what we do in our office each day, and how we spend the money you spend with us:

Android – Jesse & Anna – Jesse and Anna are both hard at work on our Android app, and we’ll have a new release for Gaia for Android out today.

GaiaCloud – Anting – Between classes at Berkeley, Anting has made many improvements to cloud.gaiagps.com recently, ranging from bug fixes, to KML uploads, to improvements to the Gallery page this Monday – continuing his work from his internship this summer.

Maps – Savannah – Savannah completed two maps using CartoCSS and PostGres, via TileMill – US Inland Rivers and USGS Geology. She also leads our user support, and wears many hats in general.

GaiaGPS.com – Steve – Our website has long been in need of some improvements, and Steve has done a lot to make the site convey more information and behave like a modern website. Notably, you can now browse Gaia maps on the site, and yesterday Steve overhauled the Apps page as well. The GaiaPro page is up next.

Weather – Ryan, aka GutHook – We are working with a Gaia GPS user in Maine who develops his own trail guide apps, to work on our weather capabilities. He checked in a bunch of interesting stuff this week. Like Jesse, Ryan thru-hiked the PCT.

Bugs and Misc – Andrew – As for me, I’ve has to resuscitate trailbehind.com this week, which failed after Google Maps transitioned to API v3. I also did point releases for Gaia GPS and Skipper to address user-reported bugs.

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Maps of Gaia GPS online – now with search and mobile views

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

Earlier this week, we launched a Gaia Maps page that lets people browse our map sources online – useful for potential buyers, or even users who want a convenient look at the map from their laptop or desktop.

We have also now made a few more tweaks to the page:

  • search the map for addresses
  • works well on mobile and tablet devices now too
  • added a pop-up on first view that shows you where you can read more information about the maps
  • other small tweaks

 

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Gaia GPSNew Maps

Browse the maps of Gaia GPS online

by Steve Goldberg
written by Steve Goldberg

Visitors to GaiaGPS.com will notice a new link in the header: the Maps page. One of the most common requests we receive is for a way to preview our map sources, and that’s exactly what the Maps page lets you do: interactively explore the various maps included with Gaia GPS, right in your web browser.

If you’re thinking of buying Gaia GPS but aren’t sure if it has the maps you need, now you can check them out. Or if you own Gaia GPS but are on the fence about subscribing to Gaia Pro, the Maps page also lets you view the Gaia-Pro-only map sources, including MapBox cloudless satellite and street maps, and the hunting overlays.

And if you’re a happy Gaia GPS user and want to turn your friends and family on to the app, linking to the Maps page is a great way to give them a taste of what Gaia GPS has to offer.

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Gaia GPS

Skipper v1.3 is live on the App Store

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

We re moving along with our development of Skipper, and we just released both an updated app, plus an updated set of Inland River Charts from the Army Corps of Engineers. I’m happy to report that Skipper has accrued almost 1,000 paying subscribers since we started in August, and Skipper is used by hundreds of boaters daily.

Our last update, v1.2, was a big overhaul, and 1.3 is limited to bug fixes and optimizations. A few hours after Skipper 1.3’s initial release, the app has been loaded hundreds of times and is super-solid, besides being packed with features of data collection and charting on the water.

Skipper also now has good charts of the Mississippi and other central rivers, along with NOAA charts, USGS topos, and satellite imagery of the world.

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