We decided our online map needed some work, because over the last six weeks or so traffic to the map has more than tripled. The map at gaiagps.com/map is now approaching 10,000 views a day. Also, we’ve been using the online map more ourselves for trip planning this summer, and we’re scratching our own itches as usual.
One idea we focused on is unifying the mobile and web apps. We’re using a toolbar at the top for important controls, and popovers for the menus. We’ve also implemented the same symbols for the buttons as we do on mobile – well, actually slightly updated, and you’ll see these new symbols coming out on iOS and Android soon.
This update also adds the ability to hide the POI and public trip overlays, and if you are logged in, you can change the POI overlays with finer-grained control. We also attempted to make the map less daunting for new users, by simplifying the “logged out” menu, and we’ll be measuring if fewer people immediately leave (“bounce rate”) to see if this has been effective.
We have a few more improvements for the main map to make, related to how the route-maker and layering works, and saving user-selected map sources when logged in, but we thought this was a good intermediate step to roll out. We’ll be looking for your feedback at support@gaiagps.com, and looking at stats to see if people are using the map more effectively!
