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Maps web portal

Francisco Jose shared this question 2 years ago
Answered

With Locus 4 there is a new web portal. But it has very few functionalities; no POIs, no map overlays (at least for Gold membership), and so on.

As a former gaia GPS user, I know they have a very powerful web portal, not only in the sync dimension, but mainly in the planning dimension. I think it is the best off all gps web portals for now.


My suggestion is analyze their solution and re-think why Locus needs a web portal, and if it still needs it for the new product strategy, plan accordingly. Or discontinue it.

Replies (5)

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With LM4 only being properly released this week, the web portal has only been going for litereally days for most people

So rather than delaying for many months, by releasing now, and getting the subscribers, getting the syncing up and running, time can be spent later doing extra features, but at least revenue will be coming in.

POIs is on the list for over next few months.


Gaia has been around for years after all

Viewranger also has a good web portal, but it has really limited in app features.


Why would Locus rethink and discontinue, a much wanted features, when its only been available for days.

A web portal is usefull, makes it easier to plan,

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I like Locus; I do 4x4 adventures and Locus is my choice, as back-up of Garmin Overlander. Gamin Overlander also has a web portal that is very useful for sync and plan, with satellite and topo maps, but has few functionalities, although more advanced than Locus one.

My question is because I don't see a plan with deliverables for the web portal, and I think it'll be a great advantage, for users, as well commercially. I'm already Gold, and is the first time I buy something that is still incomplete in a true beta stage. But I know Locus, and that future shall be better than now. But what think first time customers of Locus 4 Silver or Gold?


In other words: web portal shall be an instrument for planning and sync, or only a viewer?

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I do not plan the Web Portal yet. There I can not set my usual Theme (OAM_Elevate_MTB). With this I see all trails colored and find them faster. Points and Poi are also important but theme is more important. From time to time I also need the saddle site card. That's why I will continue to plan on the mobile phone.

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@Tobse In the mean time, using an andoird emulator on PC, and syncing routes back across can help...

@Francisco

What would be usefull is if there was a published roadmap, showing planned features

1. this would encourage new signups, as people could see requested features in the near future. Rather than changing to a different app ( Gaia, Viewranger) That currently has those features, as once people have jumped ship to anotehr app, if the missing feature then arrives, its difficult to go back.

I admit myself I stopped using locus for a few years and used viewranger, as I need web access and sync between tablet and phone, after viewranger was bought out and stopped development, I was really pleased sync was coming to LM4.

As it was an anounced feature.

2. A roadmap will help people asking for the same thing on the ideas portal...

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Hi guys, I am the core developer of synchronization service and Web planner. First of all I would like to thank you very much for your trust and feedback! Very appreciated.

Regarding your questions:

  1. No POIs - this is not really true. We have our own POI service (LoPoints online) that are integrated into web planner and you can see it from zoom >= 14. You are probably referring to your own Points database which is not visible in planner, yet. We were a little bit surprised how important this feature is for you thus it is great that there is already idea (https://help.locusmap.eu/topic/23870-web-planner-my-library-points) with a lot of votes for it ;-). We have already changed our priorities and moved this up on our list.
  2. No map overlays - yes, you are right. Currently only track from your library can be considered as an possible "overlay". This is also something we definitely want to add but it is definitely one of bigger tasks so ti will take as some time. Anyway, you can vote at least for multiple tracks here (https://help.locusmap.eu/topic/23769-web-planner-display-multiple-tracks) or create your own idea about specific map overlay you are missing (general overlays is a huge topic on its own).
  3. Gaia - thanks for mentioning. I will definitely have a look for the inspiration :).
  4. Need of web portal? I totally understand that current state of the web planner is not usable for everyone. There is a huge amount of work in from of us and I believe that soon we will be able to offer similar and probably better experience in some areas than our competitors. We released web planner in this BETA stage because we believe that it is better to offer our users something rather than nothing. It is also important for us to collect feedback and work in iterations rather than work on something for x years and then releasing something that could be even not usable :).
  5. Plan of deliverable - I would be very happy to give it to you but truth is that we are still in early stage and priorities are changing from day to day. We agreed that for now we do not want to make any official promises what and when will come. Currently the best way to give us feedback is to create and vote on individual features. We are watching it carefully and if something highly desired appears we try to put a priority there ;-).
  6. Is web planner viewer only? Definitely not! Right now you can plan and save your route to the cloud which is synced to your devices (GOLD premium only). You can also make small edits to your tracks (change name, activity, group, ...). More edit features coming soon ...

Kind regards,

Ondrej

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Ondrej


As well as Gaia, viewranger would be good to look at for ideas...

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For sure we are watching all major web planners and taking ideas of it :) - personally I was not aware of Gaia. To be honest we have a lot of ideas in drawer ... but limited man power to bring it to live. Thus the best approach to bring something to Locus is to create specific idea (ideally referencing existing solution if possible) and collect votes for it.

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