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Nevery Trail.
After my longy-long description of how I update my maps, another geocacher suggested EveryTrail as an online resource that could do much the same thing. I was a bit surprised; I'd tried and rejected EveryTrail last year when I first started these things.
But when I looked at the site again, it seemed much better. Apparently there had been an upgrade since I was last there. It now boasts many features it lacked, including an algorithm that matches a photo's timestamp with the timestamps of a GPS track log. So I said I'd try it for my next hike log.
Well, I've tried it, and it's terrible.
At first, things went well. I uploaded my track log with no problem and got a nice map of my hike. I was pleased.
But my Ladyface hike had two different track logs that needed to be incorporated. It wasn't immediately apparent how to combine two logs, but after a bunch of independent trial and error, I managed it. I even managed to load in all my waypoint file.
Then things started going downhill. The site was supposed to integrate well with Flickr, so I uploaded a few pics to a new account and tried to import them into EveryTrail. Nothing. Tried again, nothing. I still have no idea if this is supposed to work.
I wanted to access my account from work, but I forgot the password, so I filled out the "forgot password?" form. It promised me that I would be receiving an e-mail to change my password. I still haven't received it two days later.
Photos continued to vex me, as the direct uploading form stalled out and crashed my browser. One photo may have made it onto the server; sometimes it appears, and sometimes it doesn't. I haven't been able to get anything I want onto the map.
But none of those things is why I'm The big problem with the site, the one which I cannot forgive, is their terrible support. The extent of their help is a video and a FAQ answering questions like "What is GPS". No alternate instructions, no detailed feature FAQs, no forums where users can answer each others' questions, and no indication that there will ever be any further support structure. I guess they just expect the site to magically work.
To be fair, it seems to magically work for many people. And good for them. Maybe I'm just doing something wrong. Of course, I can't tell, because there's no support system to tell me whether I'm just doing something wrong.
Expect another Google Maps thingie soon. In the meantime, the Picasa gallery is up:
But when I looked at the site again, it seemed much better. Apparently there had been an upgrade since I was last there. It now boasts many features it lacked, including an algorithm that matches a photo's timestamp with the timestamps of a GPS track log. So I said I'd try it for my next hike log.
Well, I've tried it, and it's terrible.
At first, things went well. I uploaded my track log with no problem and got a nice map of my hike. I was pleased.
But my Ladyface hike had two different track logs that needed to be incorporated. It wasn't immediately apparent how to combine two logs, but after a bunch of independent trial and error, I managed it. I even managed to load in all my waypoint file.
Then things started going downhill. The site was supposed to integrate well with Flickr, so I uploaded a few pics to a new account and tried to import them into EveryTrail. Nothing. Tried again, nothing. I still have no idea if this is supposed to work.
I wanted to access my account from work, but I forgot the password, so I filled out the "forgot password?" form. It promised me that I would be receiving an e-mail to change my password. I still haven't received it two days later.
Photos continued to vex me, as the direct uploading form stalled out and crashed my browser. One photo may have made it onto the server; sometimes it appears, and sometimes it doesn't. I haven't been able to get anything I want onto the map.
But none of those things is why I'm The big problem with the site, the one which I cannot forgive, is their terrible support. The extent of their help is a video and a FAQ answering questions like "What is GPS". No alternate instructions, no detailed feature FAQs, no forums where users can answer each others' questions, and no indication that there will ever be any further support structure. I guess they just expect the site to magically work.
To be fair, it seems to magically work for many people. And good for them. Maybe I'm just doing something wrong. Of course, I can't tell, because there's no support system to tell me whether I'm just doing something wrong.
Expect another Google Maps thingie soon. In the meantime, the Picasa gallery is up:
hello from everytrail
I'm a recent addition to the everytrail team and I wanted to introduce myself. I think your experience with everytrail is pretty indicative of a few things. Well, for one, while we've been pretty busy launching more and more functionality, we still have some work needed to streamline it on the site and make it easy to use. This actually is my focus in the next month and you'll see a new and improved create trip process along with some other changes in early April. The FAQs/Help page is being updated as I write this. :) I agree, that was out of date.
As for your specific problem with importing pictures from flickr, we recently fixed that bug and it's once again working fine.
You should really check out the new slide show viewer. We released it on the site yesterday and it's pretty slick. Now, you can see your trip pics in a slideshow, while following them around on your track.
I always like to hear our users' suggestions/comments/feedback about our site, so feel free to drop me an email (chad@everytrail.com) and I can give you a bit more insight into what else is coming in the next few months.
I'm regretful that you had a poor experience using the site and would welcome your help to make everytrail a better place for gps users to share their experiences. Our team is working hard to create the best online gps community.
thanks,
chad