ExploreOztraveller app - help please

Submitted: Wednesday, Feb 15, 2017 at 07:33
ThreadID: 134298 Views:3395 Replies:3 FollowUps:3
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Hi, I've bought the basic exploreOztraveller app. And not quite sure if it's what i thought it was... i will be doing a big trek (starting next week ??) and i want to be able to access maps, gps locations of where i am when i am offline/out of mobile range - which will probably be most of the time!
1) is the base map automatically available offline?
2) How do i make a 'trek' i have created, available offline,
3) can i edit a 'trek' after i have saved it, and
4) - i am disappointed that the $50 app then asks for another $50 for the premium maps - what more would that provide?
Please excuse ignorance here, im having trouble figuring this thing out!
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Reply By: Member Kerry W (WA) - Wednesday, Feb 15, 2017 at 19:03

Wednesday, Feb 15, 2017 at 19:03
Usually you will have had a reply by now. The app will do everything you need and more. I dont have time to help at the moment - best to send Adele from Admin an email (info@exploroz.com) She or Michelle will call you as soon as possible to clarify any concerns you have.

hope this helps
Kerry W (Qld)
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AnswerID: 608578

Reply By: ExplorOz Team - Michelle - Wednesday, Feb 15, 2017 at 19:35

Wednesday, Feb 15, 2017 at 19:35
I have already spoken with Linda via email about these queries so I'm not sure she was posting to get our input - probably wanted to hear from others. But here are the answers anyway. Perhaps will help others:

Firstly, yes the app will allow you to access maps, gps locations of where you are when you are offline/out of mobile range.

1. Yes the base map is automatically available offline. This is accessed from the home screen map button at the top section called Places - Map.
2. When you create and save a trek it is stored as a Private Trek. This is available to you offline to follow - to open a Private trek you open Treks List and click Private Treks shown in the bottom grey status bar. Instructions for 'how to make a trek" are found on this page - https://www.exploroz.com/traveller/feedback.aspx in the FAQ section - select the section titled "Multi-Place, Multi-Trek Routes, and Example".
3. To edit a trek after you have saved it is also included in that instruction.
4. It appears you've overlooked the value of the data in the app - the 80,000+ Places and 182 Treks that you have offline access to is a highly important part of the app's value and works with the base map or with the Premium level of map the same. We have a Facebook Traveller group page where you can ask other app users for tips/ideas etc if you are having troubles using it. We believed that it was a straightforward easy to use app as all maps, and navigation and data was inbuilt. Perhaps just spend a bit of time using it out on the weekend or take a short trip away and you'll soon see how much value it has. As I also explained in one of the emails yesterday, the Premium Map is a remastered version of our existing EOTopo 200K mapset which retails for $89 and is market value. The in-app mapset is 144K and unlike the EOTopo200K mapset can be used without any other additional mapping software on an iPad/iPhone - a big problem for iOS users is the inability to easily use raw map files which come in ECW and OZF4 and other formats that iOS devices cannot handle. Prior to the Traveller app, iOS users would have to install another software program first and then go through a lengthly and complicated process to purchase and download maps within that app to get maps working but this was just maps and not a full navigation system like Traveller. Traveller has offline auto-guided trek notes - there is no other app offering that capability. WE have 182 treks that you can use offline with full autoguidance just by clicking the trek name and the Go to button. Super easy. The complications come when you wish to customise or build your own trek route - and yes the app caters for this too - but you will have to go through a learning curve and spend some time to get up to speed on that.

I wish we had the man-power to release wonderful video tutorials but I am a one-man band and I also respond to every email enquiry received and manage all sorts of other functions in our business so my time is limited. I've done 2 tutorials prior to Xmas and have done 8 takes yesterday that I am now working into the next 3 tutorials which I hope to cover some of the questions now coming up but sorry I don't have time to dedicate so it is a bit of a slow process for me.

Anyway, hope you all find something useful here.
Michelle Martin
Marketing & Customer Support
I.T. Beyond Pty Ltd / ExplorOz

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AnswerID: 608580

Follow Up By: ExplorOz Team - Michelle - Wednesday, Feb 15, 2017 at 19:52

Wednesday, Feb 15, 2017 at 19:52
Just one more thing about the maps available in the app - whilst there is only the high-scale (low detail) OFFLINE topo map (scale = 1:2.3 Million) you do also have access to the ONLINE maps - of which there is the full scale EOTopo at 144K with seamless zoom, PLUS the best Street mapping available for Australia, PLUS satellite image maps. All these map layers are switched from the map layer control icon in the top right corner of ALL MAP VIEWS in the app. Always select and explore the various map options for your current location - I only ever choose the Streets map when I am at home as this gives more detail in suburban/city/built up areas than a topo map. When I go into a regional or outback area then of course switching the map layer to topo is going to give far more information as the Streets maps never cover far beyond urban centres in sufficient detail. You can easily do this in our app from that control and with the installed Places data you have interactive icons for all the interesting features along the way - do you realise that we feature the following Place types?

Caravan Parks, Free camps, Campgrounds, Roadhouses, Toilets, PUbs, Quarantine points, water supply points, historic trees, grave sites and cemetaries, sign posts, markers, outback intersections, trig points, vertical obstructions, uhf repeaters, mines, station/homesteads, towns, tourism points of interest, rail crossings, station gates, national parks, state forests, reserves, water catchments, beaches, mountains, rivers, creeks, river crossings over dirt roads etc. Each place is indicated with a clear symbol on the map - clicking the symbol you can access more information, photos, reviews from other travellers and there is a button to press - "Go to" that instantly starts the navigation if you wish to travel there from your current position.

In the routing, you can sometimes just get straight line information but if online, you can often get turn by turn guidance following the roads - it is limited by the roads you select. With the included 182 Trek Notes, most of these roads are all offroad/remote areas where normally guided turn by turn routing with a line following the dirt road is not avaialble - but in our Trek Notes in the app they are. These trek notes also included all the Places as points of interest along the way. Guided routing along Trek Notes is not possible from our website yet is free in the app with just the base product although you would likely prefer to have the more detailed map layer behind it to have a better reference it is still possible just to rely on the base app to follow these but why would you. For outback travellers who go off the grid/offline then you need the Premium maps - that is the way it is designed. However, we include that in the base product as for some people they can make use of the online maps that are the same scale 144K. It just required to purchase if you need to use the maps offline.
Michelle Martin
Marketing & Customer Support
I.T. Beyond Pty Ltd / ExplorOz

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Reply By: steved58 - Wednesday, Feb 15, 2017 at 22:27

Wednesday, Feb 15, 2017 at 22:27
I too have found the app not to be as user friendly as it is portrayed although i havent found time to play with it the hema maps i also bought at first glance looked easier to use but i know nothing much about mapping
Steve
AnswerID: 608585

Follow Up By: Idler Chris - Thursday, Feb 16, 2017 at 20:45

Thursday, Feb 16, 2017 at 20:45
Any powerful software will have a learning curve. You have not found time to play with it, you know nothing much about mapping, yet you say it is not user friendly. Good one Steve what a useful observation.
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Follow Up By: steved58 - Thursday, Feb 16, 2017 at 21:36

Thursday, Feb 16, 2017 at 21:36
Chris what I was trying to say was it was not as user friendly as I first thought it would be I am not an idiot as your post seems to suggest thanks
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