Wednesday, Jul 14, 2021 at 14:03
I agree with maurice b. IMHO it is your data and having created it and/or uploaded it is your right to modify it and download it within data limits. I recently spent six weeks on the road thinking when I got
home I could simply download my track for my own enjoyment. Now I feel I am over a barrel to pay more. I am not much interested in being a member for any other reason. Just give me my data! I will go without if forced to pay more.
* I have used the WIKILOC app to records tracks and I regularly download my track data.
* I have used the aprs.fi system and can download my data and it is stored online for years.
* Google gives me my location data if I request without requiring an extra payment.
I read several reviews on Exploroz and decided to buy it instead of the HEMA app. Now I wished I have looked more closely at HEMA. I don't find ExplorOz has an intuitive user interface. It requires a lot of manual reading to do tasks that should be "follow your nose" stuff. For example, the "snap a photo" icon in WIKILOC automatically creates a pin on the current location and straight away opens the camera. A picture tell a thousand words and is a great way to document a trip. When traveling you do not have time to follow the protracted ExplorOz process of create a PIN then select the PIN, then find the image on the device and add it to the PIN.
I find the road/track types to varied to remember and then they change with function. We have all been using paper maps with
well developed road types styles. HEMA style you could call it. If you are going to have all these different styles at least provide a popup legend.
When planning a trip, how good would be to have an overlay with mileage numbers printed between towns as the paper maps do. ExplorOz has no simple ruler system to measure between A and B. Once again it appears to be the protracted process of creating pins, and so on. It is easy to see the "as the crow flies" distance to the next selected POI, but that is it. If I want to estimate distances I put down the tablet with ExplorOz and pick up the paper map and add up the numbers between towns.
The place description where I traveled in North West Queensland and the NT are mostly blank and photos few and far between. WikiCamp has captured the crowd sourced data and it works very
well for a once off $8. ExplorOz as missed an opportunity here.
I guess what you pay the $100 for is the maps and the ease of navigation. I wounder how good these maps are? I have not had the opportunity to fully assess this. They are certainly better than OSM, WikiLoc, and anything I could readily find on Avenza, or Topomaps. Hopefully, one day I will be able to compare them to Hema. I never did come to terms with the "turn by turn" navigation. It only works when internet was available which was not often where I traveled. If internet was available I preferred to use Google Maps. The most useful function was simple following the track on one integrated map platform that allow easy zoom functions, as I traveled. Yes, that same track that I now cannot download!
I looks to me like a good deal of AstroTurf surrounds this product. Reviews online are too generous, and 90% of the searches hit the ExplorOz web site! In my book negative reviews are just as valuable as positive ones and multiple website authors are better than one. Users are discerning and will sort the wheat from the chaff. Beyond IT has great marketing but in some ways not so good a product. The functionality requires a lot more polish and revenue model needs a little tweeting to allow user access to their own data.
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