Author: byron

Hi folks. Byron here with an overview of our new release that we launched on Saturday, April 19. No doubt you’ve noticed quite a few changes to the layout of the site and mobile apps, but there’s a lot more that we updated behind the scenes. Here’s an overview, starting with the most visible changes:

New layout for trips with banner images too!

Based on a lot of user feedback, we changed the trip page to a side-by-side layout and added the ability for creators to upload banner images. The new layout means you can scroll through your list of places and the map will stay visible. You can also click on the point numbers to zoom to a particular place in the map.

To upload a banner image, click the gear icon to edit trip settings and choose a file to upload. We think 16:9 images work best, but any shape will cover the banner area. Ideally, the subject you want to be visible should be in the center of the image.

Also, banner images will automatically become your trip thumbnails.

Easy drag & drop photo reordering

It’s now super simple to reorder your photos (or move to a different waypoint). Head over to this post to see it in action.

True travel distances with duration estimates

We’ve added true distance calculations for all routes, and estimated durations for driving, transit, walking and bicycling routes. Distances will be added for all new trips, and you can edit your old trips to set distances for each path by clicking on the line in the map editor and choosing a travel mode. For more detail on how it works, check out this post.

The overall trip distance is a sum of the individual route distances, so it will reflect all of your changes instantly.

Improved custom path creation

We updated the custom path feature to be easier to use and allow more accurate path creation. Here’s the new interface:

Support for emojis in most places 👍

We now support emojis in most places where you can enter text. This includes the following:

• User bios
• Trip descriptions
• Place titles
• Place descriptions/stories
• Comments

For technical reasons, we don’t allow emojis in trip titles. We know you want them, but we had to draw the line somewhere. : |

New maps platform

We updated our core mapping system to Mapbox GL, which is a significant upgrade. Even though things look pretty much the same (for now), Mapbox GL has many more features and much better performance. This is a new foundation for us to offer more advanced customization options in the future.

New verifications system

We added a new system to handle email verifications, password resets and invitations. Part of this is requiring all users to verify their email addresses in order to create new maps. We know it’s a bit of a pain, but it’s important for us to maintain platform integrity and something we should have done a while ago.

This new system also makes it much easier for you to invite people to join your trips by email. Now, all they have to do is click on an invitation link.

To read more about how it works, check out this post.

Google Sign In

You can now connect your account to Google and use Google Sign In to log in to Tripline. If you already have a Tripline account, go to https://www.tripline.net/myaccount and choose Google [Sign In] to link your account. You’ll then be able to sign in with Google any time.

Infrastructure improvements & bug fixes

We made a bunch of updates to the Tripline infrastructure and fixed a lot of bugs. We’re going to be making quite a few updates to the product this year, so we spent some time getting some of the older parts of our infrastructure up to date

More on the way

We’re already hard at work on more enhancements, so stay tuned over the coming months. Some of the things that are high on our list are:

• KML/GPX track imports
• Automatic trips from photos
• Enhanced user profiles
• More map style options
• Completely redesigned mobile apps
• Easier options for removing ads/previews

If there’s something you’d like to see on this list, or if you have any questions, please send an email to support@tripline.net and let us know.

Byron here with an exciting announcement. We’ve just launched brand new apps for both iOS and Android! Both are available for free on the app stores, links below:

The apps are full-featured, including route animation, photos, comments and the ability to add people as travelers and followers. Speaking of photos, we’ve also implemented a new photo upload process that’s faster than the old system and displays your photos in much higher quality.

My favorite thing about the apps is how each trip starts out as a useful itinerary and becomes a beautiful, Instagram-like feed full of memories that you and your fellow travelers can keep forever. And you retain the context of each individual trip, which I think is is so much better than cluttered, post-based feeds.

Sure, not everyone is a fan of structure, but Tripline was built for people who really care about the trips they take and want to preserve the journey as accurately as possible, both for reminiscing and for future reference. I really believe that an organized presentation is the best way to do that. The challenge is making it simple and fun…I think these apps are a big step towards that.

We have a lot of enhancements planned for the apps in the near future. There are a ton of features that you’ve been asking for forever and we’ll be implementing some of the big ones in the coming months. Notably, distance & duration to make road-trip planning much easier, and better conversational capabilities between travelers…also to help you plan better. And lots more.

As always, if you run into any problems or want to send in a feature request, just email support@tripline.net. We’ll try to get back to you as soon as we can.

Now, go install the app…and don’t forget to leave a review on the app store!

-Byron

Byron here with a big announcement. I’ve launched a new version of the Tripline site, and it’s a huge update. If you haven’t seen it already, head over to www.tripline.net and check it out.

Other than the new visual design, the biggest thing about this release is that I’ve made the site 100% responsive, meaning it will work on any mobile device (phones, tablets etc.) including photo uploads. That was my main goal for this release, and I’m going to follow it up soon with new native iOS and Android apps once I get some sleep. For now though, you can use the main website on your mobile. The current iOS app is also still available.

The other big thing in this release is the return of animation in the Tripline player. It’s a bit different from the original in that you animate from place to place by clicking on the arrows in the player control bar (or using your left/right keyboard arrows), and press enter when you see photos to open a slideshow. The animation works really well, even on maps with hundreds of points. I’m really happy with how it came out. Here’s an embedded player so you can see for yourself.

As with any new release, there are bound to be a few bugs here and there, and there are lots of changes (and some features that I removed), so send an email to support@tripline.net if something isn’t working right or if you can’t find a feature.

Enjoy! And stay tuned for new mobile apps…I’m hoping to get those done in a couple of months.

Byron@Tripline

Hi folks, Byron here with an exciting announcement. We’ve replaced our old Flash player with a new 100% Javascript version. Here it is:

I released it late Monday night, and it was just in time. Google shut off the Flash maps API right on schedule on Tuesday the 2nd. If you were using the IFRAME embed code for the old player, the new player will display automatically in its place. If you were using OBJECT embed code, you’ll see an error message in the old player…you’ll have to grab updated embed code from your map page.

Cool new stuff

Here’s a short summary of what’s new and some helpful hints.

1. 100% Javascript, will display on mobile devices
2. Styled maps with a nicer blue for water
3. New control bar, step next/previous, first/last, zoom, full screen
4. Keyboard controls!! Use the left/right arrows on your keyboard to navigate place to place, [enter] to open/close the photo gallery, left right arrows to navigate photos, [esc] to close the photo gallery and reset the map
5. New photo gallery with super simple navigation and larger photo display
6. Fully responsive (grab the responsive embed code on the map page to get the responsive/fluid map on your own site)

What’s not there (yet)

1. Line animation
2. Soundtrack/audio

Overall, I’m happy with it as a first release. I really thought I’d miss the animation dearly, but I’ve actually found the keyboard controls and manual skipping from place to place to be more engaging. I think the animation was fun for the first few waypoints, but it wasn’t the most engaging experience. I still do miss the coolness of the moving line, so I’m thinking about ways to build it in to the new player in a smarter way. I know lots of you loved the animation (and the soundtrack option), so let me know what you think in the comments. Bonus points if you find a bug.

Enjoy!

Byron@Tripline

Hi folks. Byron from Tripline here with an announcement of an upcoming change to the Tripline player.

As of September 2nd, Google is turning off their Maps API for Flash. This means I have no choice but to retire the current Flash-based Tripline map player and replace it with a Javascript version. I’ll be deploying a release with those changes at the end of August.

The Javascript version will have limited animation capabilities at first. I’ve been working on a new animation framework, but haven’t been able to get the experience as smooth as it is in Flash, so I’ve decided that the best approach is to release a simplified experience first, and continue developing the animation until I can get it working well. You can expect a series of releases this fall with those changes and more.

If you’re using our embedded maps on your own website, I’m working on a fix that will allow iframe-based embeds to display correctly without any changes. Object-based embeds may not work, so if you’re using those, you’ll need to replace your old embed code once we release the update at the end of August. I’ll share more info on that in the next few weeks.

I realize that changes like this can be frustrating, but we’re dependent on Google’s maps platform in this case, and we have to roll with the changes they make. Longer term, there are quite a few benefits from migrating to a pure Javascript framework (e.g., visibility of Tripline maps on mobile devices), so I think the net difference will be a positive one.

Also, in case you didn’t know, it’s just me working on the product at night and on the weekends, so please be patient as we go through this change. It’s going to be good.

Thanks for understanding, and look out for more updates over the next few weeks.

Safe travels,

Byron@Tripline

tl;dr: Google is turning off their Maps API for Flash on September 2nd, so Tripline is retiring their Flash-based map player at the end of August and replacing with a Javascript version. More info soon.