Help blog

If you have been invited to join the Alpha Test program, I will send you a link to a build of the app to test. 

The advantage of the app is that it allows you to download for offline use the entire basemap of the area you will be travelling in in addition to any planned routes, stops, notes, photos, whatnot that you would like to have access to while offline. In addition is lets you record a track of your trip and post updates and photos along the way which get uploaded when you again have signal, with the press of a button.

Before installing the app, please Schedule A Trip on the site first. Make sure the start and end dates are in the future.

The app is not yet available through the Google Play Store so it must be "side loaded".

BATTERY NOTE: Please also note that with tracking enabled the app currently uses a crazy amount of power so have extra hefty battery packs with you. In future versions, there will be options for lesser accuracy in favor of saving battery life. 

The app is pretty big because of all the basemap data, so it is best to do this download while on WIFI.

From your android device open the link in your browser. 

The exact steps from here vary by manufacturer. You may get a warning asking you to enable permission to download third party apps. You may get a download status message. You may also get an option of open the app immediately.

If you do not get an option to open the app once the download is finished, open the android Files app and navigate to the Downloads section. You should see the file there. Select it.

Android will likely ask you to enable permissions for side-loading apps. The idea is that each app, for example Chrome or the Files app, needs permission to install side-loaded apps. Give the Files app this permission and the app will install. 

The app is called Adv-Traveler and now has it's own proper logo.

Open the app. It will request that you log in. Use the same email address and password that you use on the site.

The signup and forgot password features do not yet work in the app. If you need to, use the site for that.

Once logged in you will see the Active Trip Tab which will indicate there is no active trip.

For small tests, the Just Go button now works. Use it for small trips. 

For bigger trips and if you want to invite people on a trip, create a trip on the site and make sure the start and end date are in the future. (Bug workaround). You can pull to refresh the list of current trips. 

It will pause a moment and download the upcoming ride you scheduled.

If the start date you specified when you scheduled your trip is already past,  you'll need to update the start and end date using the site.

Now select the Interested? button.

It will display a drop down with the options:

• Going
• Maybe
• Watch
• Not Going

 

Select Going.

You will be presented with your list of vehicles. This is an image of my list.

You will most likely have no vehicles listed. Click the blue + button in the upper left to add a bike.

Here you can enter the vehicle you are going to use. 

The form should be pretty self explanatory. Enter the details of your vehicle. Then select Next.

On the next page you can add an avatar photo of your vehicle. Once you've done that select Next.

Now you should see your trip listed. Select Take This Vehicle.

You will now see that trip card updated to include that you are going and on which vehicle.

 

Now we are ready to get started.

Select the Go on this Trip button.

It will now download the details for the trip and any planning map you've added and display a map with your current location.

You can drag the map to pan it.

The + and - buttons zoom the map in and out. You can also use pinch to zoom. 

The button above the zoom buttons is the current location button. If you pan away from the current location you can use it to center the map on your current location. 

There are a few features available from the top left menu button, the one with three horizontal lines:

Find Good Roads and More is currently broken. 

Once you have added some posts or photos the What's On This Map feature will list everything on the map and makes it easy to find things. 

You can just touch the map to make the menu close.

The map marker icon in the lower right brings up the trip features page.

By default the app does not do any tracking until you ask it to. Once you're ready to embark on your ride, if you want to record a track of your ride, click the record button in the upper right corner of the map. It will probably ask you for permission to always use tracking.

 

Once tracking is started the location marker will be surrounded by a pulsating circle to let you know tracking is enabled.

Now as you travel, it will record a breadcrumb trail that will be displayed on the map. If you press the Geolocate button now, it will keep your location marker centered on the map. What I like to do depending on the trip is zoom in to the level that I want and then hit geo locate. That way it centers the map but keeps it at that same zoom level.

 

If at any time you want it to pause tracking, press the record button again to pause it. The location marker will stop pulsating but also when not tracking the app will likely be killed at the OS if it is put into the background.

Along the way, noteworthy events are likely to happen. You can post an update even if you are outside of cell range. Select the Map button and select Post an Update

A window will appear allowing you to enter an update much like you would do on Twitter or Facebook. Check the Include Current Location checkbox to have it appear on the map at your current location. 

 

Select Post to save it. 

It will appear as an icon on the map.

The process for Photos is much the same as are points of interest.

Background Tracking

As long as the app is in tracking mode, it should not die while in the background. There are some bugs that sometimes cause it to stop tracking or die in the background, notably on iOS.

If the app happens to crash on you in the background, restart it. You will likely see much of your track missing from the map. Pause and Restart track recording. At least some if not all of your track should appear. If it does not please make a note of it using the Post Update feature. 

Uploading

From time to time when you have signal or WIFI, you may wish to upload your progress to the site for the benefit of those left behind watching the trip from home. 

To upload your current progress, select the Upload option from the dropdown menu.. 

Ending A Trip

Once you're back home, to end the current trip, press the red X in the upper left corner to deactivate the trip.

Scheduling a Ride

To schedule a ride log in and then select the three lined menu button in the upper left corner of the page. This will reveal a drop down menu.

Select Rides to expand the menu.

 

Then select + Schedule Ride to bring up the schedule ride form.

 

Enter a title and description for your ride. Consider what riders who will be joining you will want to know in addition to those who might be following along from home.

There are currently two types of rides that can be selected:

• Street - a ride that will be strictly on pavement
• Adventure/off-pavement - a ride that includes unpaved sections.

 

Eventually I'll add other types to the list. 

Decide who you would like to be able to see the details of this ride. By default any member logged into the site may be able to see the ride. The available options are:

• Site : Viewable By Any Member on the Site - any logged in member may be able to see the site. 
• Invited : Only Invited Members May see the Ride - this limits who can see the ride to member you have specifically invited.
• Public : Viewable By the World - this allows anyone to see the ride. Use this option if you would like to share the ride to other sites such as Twitter or Facebook.
• Private : Only You May See the Ride - this options makes the ride private and only visible by you. 

 

Again, if you want to share you ride out to other sites, it needs to be set to public.

Decide who you would like to allow to join this ride. Either anyone may join or watch, or only people you specifically invite. 

• Open Ride : Anyone May Join - choose this option if you want anyone to be able to follow along or possibly join you on your ride.
• Invitation Only : Only People You Invite - choose this option to control who may watch or join the ride.

 

Note that who may join is different from who may view the ride. You might have an invitation only ride for you and a buddy but want anyone to be able to see it. 

Select a start date and time and end date and time for your ride. 

And as a final step to scheduling the ride, I suggest adding a cover photo to your ride. It makes for a more appealing presentation especially when sharing out to social media sites as this photo will be used as the cover photo when shared.

Select Schedule Ride which will drop you on the About page of the ride.

 

If you want to change any of the settings of your ride later, you can edit it by selecting the edit icon which is in the upper right corner. It's the one that looks like a pen writing in a box.

Inviting Riders

If you would like to invite people on your ride you can select the Invite Riders drop-down in the admin box in the upper right.

There are two options.

Riders who have accounts on the site can be invited using their user name.

 

On this form, enter the first few letters of the user name and then select it from the list. You may select multiple users to invite them in batch. Once you have added everyone you'd like to invite, click the Add Members button and they will be sent a notification telling them about the invitation. 

If they do not yet have an account on the site you can invite them using their email address.

 

Enter the email address of the person you'd like to invite and select the Add button to add them to the list. Once you've entered everyone you'd like to invite, select the Send Invitations button and an email will be sent inviting them to join the site and your ride. 

When a user gets an invitation, they may respond with one of four options using the buttons in the upper right.

NOTE: If you are an app alpha-tester do you use these buttons to set your status. Do it from the app instead.

• Going - the user intends to physically join you on your ride. They will be asked to select what bike they will be taking. 
  
  NOTE: On the site, this is currently awkward as the user has to add a bike to their list of bikes first, before joining the ride. This is on the list of things to fix. 
   
• Maybe - the user may attend in person but is not sure.
• Watch - the user will just "watch" the ride and get notifications from time to time when you post updates.
• Leave - the user is not interested and will be removed from the ride.

Tabs

Everything related to the ride is grouped into tabs across the top.

• About - this tab contains the description of the ride you entered when creating the ride.
• Blog - This is a space for writing longer articles about your ride. I use this on my bigger solo rides.
• Plan - This tab contains your planning map where you can store a route to follow, points of interest to see, alternate roads to explore, notes, videos, etc. On that tab click the Interactive Map button to view the map. To edit the planning map, select the three dots icon in the upper right of the map image and select Edit. Using the left menu on the map, you can upload a GPX track if you have already planned out the ride. (NOTE: An article about working with maps is forthcoming.)
• Travelogue - This tab resembles a Facebook event feed. It contains posts and photos in reverse chronological order of everyone on the ride. Especially when combined with the offline app, this is a great way of remembering events, people, places, good roads, or other notable events you might like to share with people when you're back at the bar. For example, on my most recent trip, I heard a sonic boom for the first time, so I noted it in a post. Posts appear on the map. 
• Track - When running the app, this will contain a track of the path you took on your ride. It will also contain markers for any posts or photos you added. To edit the Track map, select the three dots icon in the upper right and select Edit. From there, you can also upload a GPX track from your GPS if you are not running the app. 
• Photos - A view of just the photos added to the ride.
• Riders & Bikes - This is a list of everyone who has been invited, is going, or is watching the ride.

 

If you have signal, you can add posts and photos from the travelogue tab. Just select that tab and + Post an Update.

If you are in the Alpha Program, you can do this from the app while out of cell service.

Starting Your Ride

Once you are ready to depart on your ride, you can select the Start Ride button in the admin box. This will notify all the riders and watchers that the ride is now underway. This will also cause this ride to appear in the Underway tab.

Sharing

The share button on the ride is broken. If your ride is public, the best way to share it is to just copy the URL from your browser and past into Facebook or Twitter. 

Finding Your Ride Again

To get back to this page you can get to it from the three line menu button followed by Rides then All Rides. There are four sub tabs on the Rides tab of your account.

• Underway - rides that are currently active.
• Featured - rides that have been tagged as featured.
• Upcoming - rides that have not yet started.
• Past - past rides.

You can also search for your ride using the Advanced Search screen along the top menu. It's the magnifying glass with a plus in it. Select it to raise the advanced search form.

 

Enter some keywords from your ride and check the Ride checkbox and click search. 

You may get multiple search results. 

 

Select the title or the ride number to view the ride. 

It is also a good idea to jot down the ride number. You can just enter the number of any ride in the top search bar to immediately jump back to your ride. 

 

This is an article that will contain information about how to manage geo-location of uploaded photos.