We are celebrating 1,000,000 amazing people
We can't believe it. This month, Map My Tracks has received its 1,000,000th registered user. That is a lot of amazing people that we have to thank.
We thank each and every one of the million users for taking the time to try out the service. We thank you all for your support throughout the years to make Map My Tracks what it is today.
Back in 2007, we had a dream of creating a community based on the love of the outdoors. Its foundation was around using mobile phones to track your outdoor activities in real time for others to follow live. Back then, pre-iPhone/Android, we relied on some, now classic, Nokia phones to bridge to external GPS devices via Bluetooth. How we have come on!
Since that time, Map My Tracks has grown to be a thriving community of worldwide users who all share a passion for the outdoors. For the data-minded among us, we have put together a breakdown of the Map My Tracks ecosystem which goes to show that you are all stars.
We are always amazed at the variety of activities uploaded to Map My Tracks. Now, nearly 40% of all activities on Map My Tracks are tracked live from all corners of the world.
On a more personal note, I can’t thank the team behind Map My Tracks enough. We are a small team of three that punch well above our weight. We have a passion to exploit technology to make people’s lives more enjoyable. That, and our one million users, is what drives Map My Tracks forward each day.
So what’s next?
The Map My Tracks road map is always evolving. In the short term, there will be some notable updates to the Map My Tracks app. In the medium term, we plan to integrate Fitbit with Map My Tracks to sync data between the two services. In the long term, we plan to make Map My Tracks the home for another one million users.
Again, a million thanks to our amazing one million users.
Nick
Map My Tracks founder
Segment leaderboards now include weather conditions
Segments are a great way to measure your performance over short stretches of a ride, run or walk but up until now the segment leaderboards have not been telling the whole story.
With today’s update all segment leaderboards include the weather conditions experienced during an activity and, mostly importantly, how the wind direction affected it. This makes is super simple to see if the leaderboard if full of tailwind efforts or if a headwind has slowed down your performance.
Each activity is now attributed with headwind, head crosswind, crosswind, tail crosswind or tailwind classification. It also include the wind speed, direction and temperature experienced during the activity. See it in action here and here.
It’s the second weather related update this week which we hope you like. If you’d like to create segments from your own activities then they are easy to set up. Here’s how.
Have fun.
Better understand your performance with weather data
We've all been there when there was a block headwind slowing you down or a tailwind pushing you along. Now with each new activity uploaded to Map My Tracks you got a record of the weather conditions experienced.
Wind speed/direction, temperature, humidity and conditions are all now available to review for each activity. With the new weather data you can compare performance across difference conditions to see the effect it makes.
It’s a small but handy addition which we hope you enjoy.
See the benefit of your everyday steps
The Map My Tracks Step Counter app has been updated with an improved layout to better show off your everyday steps.
This update, now available to download from the App Store, includes a new breakdown that shows off your distance covered, calories burned and goals over each day, week, month and year.
Version 3 of the Step Counter also includes some new characters to choose from. Along with the original family of characters there is now a ghost and robot to help count your steps.
The Map My Tracks step Counter & Calorie Tracker, by Map My Tracks, is a pedometer and calorie tracker that automatically tracks your everyday steps, distance covered and calories burned.
Just carry your phone in your pocket or bag and it will count how many steps you have covered, how far you have walked, and the calories you have burned. It’s always on, with no battery loss, counting how many steps you cover each day.
This update can be downloaded from the App Store now.
Super charged Map My Tracks Moments highlight more key stats from each activity
Map My Tracks Moments now highlight even more key moments from any activity. Map My Tracks Moments were launched a little while ago but they have recently benefited from an upgrade that helps to tell the full story.
Key moments highlighted in any activity include the moment you hit your top speed, the moment you gained the highest elevation, the moment you completed a segment, the moment you hit your maximum heart rate, and the moment you took any picture. Moments also include comments from friends, likes and overall stats.
While we have been testing this we have been enjoying how Moments present activity data in a way that makes it easy to tell what has happened. Moments are presented in a timeline which makes it easy to see the progress throughout any activity.
Moments can highlight your performance in a race. RodArchibald’s 10 mile time trial perfectly demonstrates all his moments. Our very own Nick and his walk showcases the photos that have been pinned to the activity and as they have GPS data the moment location is also featured.
As ever, we hope you enjoy the new upgrade. Let us know what you think on Twitter, Facebook or by email.
Your guide to tracking live at events
We have put together this handy guide to help the thousands of riders and runners attending events this summer. This guide will tell you how to get set up to track live so friends and family can follow your progress and also how others can follow your progress.
Step 1
If there is an official event set up on Map My Tracks, and you are participating, then click on the ‘Attend’ button on the event page. If there is no official event then either create one yourself or skip to Step 2 By declaring that you are attending the event, your progress on the day will be shown on the event maps.
Step 2
Download one of the Map My Tracks apps to your iPhone or Android mobile phone. There are two apps to choose from.
Map My Tracks Endurance is a long distance live tracking app. It’s great to track live for well over 12 hours. It’s a super simple app that is designed to only update your location so that others can follow your progress live.
Map My Tracks OutFront is a performace tracking app that is best suited for live tracking for up to 3-4 hours. OutFront measures your performance including speed, distance, heart rate and much more.
Both are available for iOS and Android phones.
Step 3
On the day of the event, launch the app you’ve opted for and start tracking live. If you are using OutFront you need to set the status to ‘Online public’. If you are using Endurance that you need to ensure it’s set to ‘Visible to everyone’. Once you have started tracking you can pocket the phone and get on with your event.
Friends and family can follow live on the day
On the day of the event, there are a few ways that friends and family can follow people’s progress.
If there is an official event on Map My Tracks then you can follow their progress on event maps on the Map My Tracks website. If there is no event then an individual’s progress can be followed on their Map My Tracks profile page on the website.
Our OutFront app also lets friends and family follow user’s live. It’s the best way to follow other people’s progress. Open the app and either use the Activity Map to see who is tracking live or search and open a user’s profile page to follow their progress.
Friends and family can follow people’s progress free of charge through the app or website.
If in doubt on how to get set up get in touch with us on Twitter, Facebook or our support channels.
Live stream your group rides or runs on Map My Tracks
Map My Tracks has always been about live tracking. Our apps can be used to let friends and family follow people's progress live around the world.
With the recent update to our iOS and Android apps it is now possible to follow groups of people on the Activity Map. This is makes it a perfect match for club bike rides, or when friends are out on a ride or run together, so that everyone can follow each other’s progress.
The Activity Map features anyone that is tracking live and also shows the last know location of other nearby friends using Map My Tracks. So now if you get split up you can use the Activity Map to help find each other again.
Just like any other activity on Map My Tracks, the Activity Map observes people’s privacy zones so if you pass through, or finish up, within a privacy zone the Activity Map will not show your location. If you have not yet set up Privacy Zones then you can do so within Settings on the Map My Tracks website.
As well as the Activity Map, the recent update also includes a Friends Map that shows only the details of people you follow on Map My Tracks. Just like the Activity Map it follows friends if they are tracking live. Finally, the recent update also include a Profile Map that features a cluster of markers that showcase a person’s public activities on Map My Tracks. In all cases, the maps only feature public activities which gives each person control over what information is shared.
Both the iOS and Android apps have been updated with these new features. Download the app from the App Store or Google Play.
We’re looking forward to seeing how everyone uses these new features.
Compare yourself with others on the leaderboards
Both the iOS and Android Map My Tracks apps have been updated to feature leaderboards that showcase your performance against others.
The all-new Leaderboard features the total distance covered by you versus other users across each week and month, across all sport types. The Leaderboard is based on public activities only which means that everyone has control over what activities are included for all to see.
During the time that we have been building the leaderboard we have found them to be a great way to discover new users from around the work doing some amazing things.
At present ludoperegrinus tops the walking leaderboard due to the fact that he has been walking everyday for the past month on a journey across Northern Spain.
Likewise, Dezellis tops the cycling leaderboard for the past month largely due to riding a steady 55 miles everyday!
To start climbing the leader board make sure your activities are synced to the website and are made public.
We hope you enjoy the new leaderboards as much as we do.
Seamlessly migrate from Google My Tracks to Map My Tracks
With the recent announcement that Google My Tracks is shutting down we thought it would be helpful to outline how users can easily migrate from Google My Tracks to Map My Tracks.
In short, it’s super simple to migrate from Google My Tracks data to Map My Tracks.
The simplest way is to take advantage of the personal email address given to any Map My Tracks users. Once set up simply email over any activity from Google My Tracks to your Map My Tracks email address.
Here’s how to do it.
Step 1 - First create a free Map My Tracks account.
Step 2 - Get you Map My Tracks email address from Settings > Account Settings.
Step 3 - Export individual activities by email from Google My Tracks to your Map My Tracks email address.
That’s it. Each activity emailed over will be added to your Map My Tracks email account.
Once all the data is ported over it can be viewed within the Map My Tracks android app as well as online.
In addition to all the usual Google My Tracks features Map My Tracks also includes live tracking options, segments, photo sharing and online tools to examine every second of your activity.
