Gaia GPS

Gaia GPS

Update on Gaia GPS Releases

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

As you may have noticed, Gaia GPS Lite went on sale in the App Store this week. Unfortunately, Apple also rejected v1.2 of Gaia GPS. For a look at what Gaia GPS v1.2 should have looked like, check out the Lite version – the two would have been identical except for the restrictions we put on Gaia GPS Lite.

We have also now pushed Gaia GPS v2.0, which includes all the stuff that should have gone in 1.2, along with what we have been working on in the intervening weeks. I guess the silver lining to this situation is when v2.0 comes out in a couple of weeks, it’s going to be awesome!

Why the rejection?

Gaia GPS was rejected because it had dead buttons on iPods – on iPhones you can take photos and tracks with Gaia GPS, but on iPods those features don’t work (which we state in the app description). Apple had approved this configuration twice before (1.0 and 1.1), and they approved the same configuration in Gaia GPS Lite, which shows you how unpredictable the Apple review process can be.

Our app TrailBehind actually suffered the same treatment last summer. TrailBehind provides links to Wikipedia and other websites, and at some point Apple decided that all apps that give unfettered access to the internet have to have a strong parental rating. TrailBehind had four versions approved, but then this rule was put into place, and Apple rejected TrailBehind v1.4 because the rating wasn’t strong enough.

Bad For Everyone

I’m usually one to come to Apple’s defense when people impugn the App Store. I say, for all of its problems, the App Store is a newly created billion dollar market, and it provides indie software developers a chance to make money, and results in tons of great software for users. Software on cell phones has never been so good.

However, in this case, I feel like some pretty simple policy changes would help everyone. In both the cases of Gaia GPS and TrailBehind, the versions on sale had the same problems that the new versions were rejected for, so it’s better for everyone involved to get new features and bug fixes out, and require the revision in the next release. Randomly rejecting apps for “pre-existing conditions” is just folly. These sorts of unpredictable problems are obviously incovenient for us as app developers, and they hurt the end users as well.

What’s next?

When we submitted a new binary to Apple, I wrote them an email complaining about this treatment and suggesting that they should not be rejecting new versions for this type of reason. All I got back was a two-line form letter thanking me for resubmitting a binary, and letting me know the review process would begin anew. So, I guess we’ll just have to suck it up and keep focusing on the software.

I apologize to our users, who will have to deal with v1.1 for another couple of weeks. If you are interested in getting the 2.0 release now, please contact me at andrew@gaiagps.com. We have a few more slots in our beta test group to fill, so we can send a few of you the new code.

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Gaia GPS

Mile Chime in Gaia v1.3

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

By user request, in v1.3 of Gaia GPS we are adding a feature that will chime at regular intervals when you are recording a track. It will default to chime every mile, and you can adjust this to whatever you’d like (or turn it off).

Here are three candidate sounds for this feature, created by
friend-of-the-company Dave Rullo. If you are a Gaia GPS user, email me at andrew@gaiagps.com and let me know which you prefer:

If you are interested to see what else is coming up in V1.3, check out
our roadmap/buglist.

And if you want to hear some electronica from Dave, check out his
bands: Architects of
the Atmosphere and Centrale Electrique.

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Gaia GPS

What’s New in V1.2

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

Anna, Tim, and I are pretty excited about the 1.2 version of Gaia GPS. This release really tightens up the code, particularly on 3G phones, and includes a bunch of user-requested features. As a small company, we have very limited resources when it comes to testing pre-release, but now that Gaia GPS is out in the wild, we’re really been able to hone the feature-set and stability of the app to meet the needs of our users.

We now have a really active group of beta testers who are giving us constant feedback and using the app for everything from hiking and trail running, to hunting and horse-back riding. This version is in review by Apple now, and we are hoping it comes out some time next week. Here’s what’s new in 1.2:

New Features

  • pause/resume, last track remembered at start-up, resume any old track
  • guide to waypoint
  • use Decimal, DMS, and UTM coordinates
  • type in coordinates to make map bookmarks manually, in any format
  • OpenCycle maps
  • help button for first screen
  • full-screen map button
  • “me-marker” is now an arrow that shows your bearing (or heading on 3GS phones)
  • app continues recording while locked

Improvements and Bug Fixes

  • more settings are remembered (lock contrast, waypoints, labels)
  • export full-resolution photos, and photos are now truly geo-tagged
  • much faster and more stable on 3G phones
  • fixed various UI inconsistencies reported by users
  • sounds no longer turn off iPod

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Gaia GPS

Pause/Resume in v1.2

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

This week (and weekend) we are preparing our v1.2 release. This release will include some bug fixes, internationalization, different kinds of coordinates, OpenCycle maps, a map Lock button, and several other improvements users have requested.

Probably the biggest feature for v1.2 is the ability to Pause/Resume tracks. We have this mostly up and running, and we distributed it to a couple of beta testers to play with and give us feedback. For the rest of you, here is a sneak peek at the revised Trip Screen that includes the Pause/Resume functionality and a new Help button.

With the new Pause/Resume functionality, you can stop and start the current track, as well as reload an old track to continue recording. The app also remembers the last track you were working on, and loads it up when you start the app. In the screenshot above, you press the Plus button to start a new track, and you press the Record/Pause button underneath to start and stop recording. This is all explained by the new Help button.

We’re planning to push v1.2 to the store on Sunday, so it should be ready in a couple of weeks. We have made the decision to not include GPX imports for this release, so that we can get Pause/Resume out the door. But, we’ll finish that in the intervening two weeks and hopefully get it out to users by the end of October. I like Apple products and the App Store ecosystem, but it does bug me that we have to wait two weeks to get new features and bug fixes out.

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Gaia GPS

How to Avoid the Installation Bug in Gaia GPS v1.1

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

If you are a user of Gaia GPS, please read the following before updating to v1.1, which came out on October 1, 2009.

Before updating to v1.1, you should delete any Waypoints you have saved. If you have a Waypoint saved at the time of the update, the app will crash on start-up until you reinstall. Tracks, photos, and maps are not a problem, and after the update, you can save Waypoints again.

To delete all of your Waypoints:

  1. Click the 4th Menu button on bottom.
  2. Click the Wrench.
  3. Click “Clear All Waypoints.”

If you have already upgraded, then you will need to delete and reinstall the app.

We apologize if you have lost any data. We have now created a specific test that will prevent bugs like these in future releases.

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Gaia GPS

Gaia Maps and Gaia Places On Sale Today

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

Today, Gaia Maps and Gaia Places went on sale in the App Store. These two apps feature a subset of the features of Gaia GPS for a lower price (.99 for Places and 1.99 for Maps). Some folks may prefer these slimmed down apps to Gaia GPS, but the main reason we developed them is for use on the iPod Touch, which doesn’t have a GPS chip.

Gaia Maps basically includes all the mapping functionality from Gaia GPS – offline maps, search, bookmarks, and driving directions. It also has a slightly larger map view, since we don’t need any room for a menu on bottom. Here’s a couple screenshots of Gaia Maps.

Gaia Places is the waypoint search component of Gaia GPS. It also includes a mapview and lets you click waypoints on the map. However, it doesn’t do offline maps, GPS recording, etc. Gaia Places is also essentially a reincarnation of our first app – TrailBehind – and it mimics our website – www.trailbehind.com. Here are some screenshots of Gaia Places.

It will be exciting to see how our sales do in the next couple of weeks, and if we get a boost from the cross-marketing of our apps. Coming up next (and in review by Apple right now) are a Lite version of Gaia GPS, and an International version as well. It’s been pretty crazy around our cabin these days – between doing customer service, development, and promotion. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to go hiking again soon 🙂

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Gaia GPS

Offline Maps Make Gaia GPS Groovy

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

I think the killer feature of Gaia GPS is the ability to download iPhone offline maps. Some of the other GPS apps out there cache tiles a little bit, but Gaia GPS is the only one, as far as I know, that provides the ability to select an area of the map to pre-download. There are other iPhone apps that have this feature, but no one besides us has integrated it with a GPS recorder and other releated geo-features.

Downloading a map is simple – here’s a screenshot of the map download feature in Gaia GPS. To create a map, you just bring up the map download screen, and drag a rectangle with your finger. If you choose High Detail (the button at the top of the screen), then the map will include deep zoom levels, but if you do not, the map will be about 1/4 the size. I rarely find it necessary to use High Detail.

What makes these offline maps even better is that you can download MyTopo maps – another feature only available on Gaia GPS. For my money, MyTopo maps are by far the best way to navigate outdoors in the U.S. or Canada. MyTopo maps are not international, but we have also included OpenCycle maps in v1.2, which will come out very soon. Gaia GPS also has road maps from OpenStreetMap/CloudMade.

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Gaia GPS

What’s Coming Up in Gaia GPS

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

After we pushed Gaia GPS to Apple to review, Tim, Anna, and I took a a week-long hike through parts of sections J and K of the Pacific Crest Trail. We wanted to take Gaia GPS out for the ultimate test drive while we still had time to pull the app, but also we had been working non-stop for months and just needed a break. It was an epic hike and a wonderful vacation. Since then we have been back at work, preparing the next releases of Gaia GPS.

If you are a Gaia GPS user, you should check out the release notes for Gaia GPS v1.1, which detail the app’s new features and bug fixes. This release has been in review by Apple since a week ago Sunday, so it should get out to users by the end of next weekend.

We are now working on v1.2, which we plan to push to Apple as soon as 1.1 gets approved – it should come out some time in October. For the v1.2 release, we are tweaking some things and including the following major improvements/features. All of these things have been requested by at least one user:

  • import GPX from desktop
  • enter coordinates or tap map to create a waypoint
  • pause/resume current track, and resume old tracks
  • include OpenCycle maps
  • show scale on map
  • guide to waypoint feature
  • option to export photos at full resolution
  • lock button on map page (now only on the Trip Screen)

We’ve also been getting a bunch of requests for an international version, and we pushed that to the App Store this evening. We actually have a bunch of different versions of Gaia GPS coming out – International, Lite, Maps Only, Places Only, etc. Here’s a screenshot of iTunesConnect showing all of our apps in review.

Gaia Maps and Gaia Places are less expensive apps ($1.99 and $0.99 respectively) that provide a subset of the functionality of Gaia GPS. We think these will be popular and also suited well for use on the iPod.

The Lite version of Gaia GPS is free but limits the user to having one saved track and one saved map at a time. It also doesn’t provide a search function for waypoints.

Finally, the international version uses different default maps, starts with metric units, and a couple other little tweaks.

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Gaia GPS

Review of Gaia GPS on TouchMyApps.com

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

Going into the final day of launch week, Gaia GPS is bobbling between 13th-15th place in navigation, and sales are great. The units we sold Monday-Thursday are: 55, 85, 84, 97, which is pretty good as far as we are concerned. We’re finally getting towards paying for the rent and pizza in our little Truckee cabin 🙂

Today was the first day an external review was published about Gaia GPS. It’s quite a glowing write-up on the app, complete with screenshots, submitted to TouchMyApps.com by
@edythemighty. It’s really gratifying that Gaia GPS is good enough to inspire a stranger to both buy the app, and then write this review. I just met @edythemighty when I noticed he had twittered about us.

As a brief aside, I’d also like to note that Twitter is a truly great service. We have had many referrals and reviews stem from the Twitter. People really listen when their friends recommend a product – no advertising or PR is nearly as effective as word of mouth, and Twitter magnifies that.

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Gaia GPS

Gaia GPS User Quotes

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

As we go into Day 4 of our launch, Gaia GPS is now steady at 16th place in the navigation category, and selling pretty well.

The three of us who work on Gaia GPS have really been a happy bunch through this launch too. Besides the good sales, we have received nothing but glowing comments from users. You can read the reviews on the App Store, but I’d also like to share some quotes I have received via email and seen posted on user forums.

These quotes are all from people completely unaffiliated with Gaia GPS. While I cherry-picked the best quotes, we have received absolutely zero negative feedback. I’m a sucker for a “good job” from a stranger 🙂

Via Hacker News

  • “Just purchased. Already like it better than MotionX.” – joeld42

  • “the app looks great. as a hiker the topo maps excited me more than anything else. paper maps are expensive!” – aroon

  • “This is fantastic work guys, thanks for doing this. It’s especially useful since Topozone.com became expensive.” – rrival

Via Twitter (also here)

  • “Glad someone did this RT @nick_b: Gaia GPS – new iPhone mapping app using Kalman filtering to enhance GPS results – http://bit.ly/1ML1oy“ – @mprioleau

  • “iPhone is now a full-blown GPS: waypoints, tracking, topo&city maps, stats, earth info database http://www.gaiagps.com/” – @danger_ranger

  • “Alright, suitably impressed with @trailbehind’s Gaia GPS app. Will give it a proper test run in a few minutes…” – @edythemighty

Via Reddit

  • “I may need an app created for me in the near future. Will you be available?” – odeusebrasileiro

  • looks awesome, by the way! – MercurialMadnessMan

Via Email

  • “Thanks for the good work. It’s nice to see apps like made by people who have a feel for the actual use of the app, not just “hey, let’s make a gps app ’cause the iPhone has a gps chip…”” – Bill B. via email

  • “Without waiting for your response, I downloaded the Gaia GPS app due to the positive responses. I’ve already figured out how to download maps…very intuitive” – James C.

  • “I went to the link above, and from there to iTunes to look over the app. It looks so good I just had to go ahead and buy it myself.” – Bill G.

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