Journey Trackers
Does anybody use one of these Apps? I am interseted in any comments/recommendations if you have used one, especially if you have published the results and they are available for public view. I am currently investigating using >Polarsteps< for Android smart phones and have downloaded the App to try, nevertheless I would still be interested in the views of others who have used or tried such Apps for recording their journeys.
peedee
Comments
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I am fundamentally opposed to this type of technology. If I go on a journey, I rarely know where I'm going, but when I come back, I do know where I've been. I don't need technology other than my fairly basic camera and some good old fashioned maps.
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Unlike you Grumblewagon some of us embrace technology and look on it as enhancing our lives. Like you we rarely plan our journeys apart from a desire to get to a place and return safely. It is for that very reason of not having a plan for our day to day whereabouts that started me looking for ways for my family to keep track of us. It seems to me such apps offer that opportunity with the added bonus of being able to maintain a log to look back upon without the need to purchase or maintain additional hardware. You obviously are not going to be much help in that quest so I really cannot see why you bothered to respond at all.
peedee
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Good thread PD, I too use every single bit of tech I can lay my hands on from gopros to GPS trackers on my smartphone attached to my bike. I'm an App junkie. I can't help-sorry but I'll follow your thread with interest
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This is possibly a little bit off the main topic - but I acccidentally turned on a tracking part of my camper sat nav. It proved very useful in helping me take the correct road out several choices because I could see it was a road I had been on a few days before. It was really useful for that - but bizarrely it tracked me as driving across fields with the caravan to get to my home! But I can see that an official app could be very useful.
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That maybe good for you, GW, but we're not all the same. In my opinion you're missing out on a lot but I'll always defend your right to do so.
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I know that it's on the fringe of the OP's query, but we use 'cyclemeter' whenever we go cycling, with or without the van. It works equally well for walking an even horse riding. Its map views help a lot when identifying a suitable route home after Geocaching has taken us to out of the way places. We carry OS maps on our smartphones too. But 'Cyclemeter' shows where you are, where you've been, what your speeds were, the heights and dips on your route and with some cheap additional hardware, your pedal cadence and calories used.
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I have had a look at it and find it very interesting. I also like my tech and use data loggers to track our walks. This is often very useful the next time you visit the area and can't remember exactly where you went. However, I am a little concerned about the privacy side. It is a free app so therefore they are making money from it by data harvesting. I have read the privacy statements, which they say are clear, but find them a bit ambiguous. Anyone any views on this? Could it lead to lots of extra info in your in box, about areas, places and products you may be interested in?
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Possibly Steve but it depends on how much that bothers you. I use selectors to push all that kind of stuff in my junk folders and periodically do a block delete without even looking at any of them. I also have several email addresses.
It appears to be newish app for Android, that for IOS seems to be a little older and I gained the impression they were hoping to make money from advertising. I'm still playing with it and have yet to complete reading all the terms. One thing I am struggling with is there does not seem to be a help menu, just a FAQ.peedee
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Looking at the cycle Apps is what led me to Polarsteps Jenny. One of my sons is a keen mountain biker and uses Strava. which started me thinking about recording our journeys! Polarsteps seems to lend itself much better to our hobby with the bonus your can permit others, with permission, to track you.
peedee
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Thanks Peedee. I've downloaded Polarsteps so that we can explore what it can do for us. With so much technology, it's only when you play with it that you discover how it will solve a problem you didn't know you had. Calorie consumption with Cyclemeter for example. In a different field, have you tied Amazon's voice controlled Alexa at home - multiple voice ontrolled oven timers, weather at your location, distances to other places, music, news and radio stations on demand, checking your calander, shopping lists, arithmetic, not to mention lighting and central heating control if you have the right hardware. We use the latter two via smartphones for security and prewarming the house when away in the van. All interesting fun, but useful too.
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Hi peedee, I have a couple of 'tracker' style apps all on my iPhone.
The first was Strava to record bike rides, mainly for my Grandsons interest, and the second was a by product of an app called Move which is a fitness related, unlike me, app that records steps/distance etc and is very good as a trip diary as well.
I got this via the Cornwall Council website but think it was from the App Store.
The last is an app,called Milecatcher. I have the free version and use that to record business trips. It's easy to use and you can produce reports in CSV or PDF.
EDIT-just seen the comments relating to being tracked. I have not been interested in others being able to see where I am but will perhaps look at the app you have mentioned.
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I have been spending time playing with Polarsteps. I thought the best way of learning the ins and outs was to input a tour of Morocco we did in 2010. It works very well on my desk top using W7 but I struggled with using it on my Android devices, mainly in up loading photos of the trip. It seems to only load pics from the camera files and not from any other file source. So if I used an external camera and copied them to the Android device, you might not be able to load them this way. You can log onto your account from any device so on a desktop you can load them from anywhere and organise them to match your record of the "step" It maybe the best way of using it is to record the journey with your Android phone and embilish it using a laptop or desktop either as you go along or at a later date. You also then have the advantage of using a larger screen.
peedee
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This technology is very useful for those who faithfully document every aspect of every caravan outing. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Others just relax and go touring in their vans having a great holiday, take a few photographs and then return and think about their next outing. Any interesting memories from the previous outing is in the memory of the best computer of them all -- Your Brain.
Cheers .......................K
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I use Viewranger for tracking my walking. It does use Gps which I feel is better, especially for walkers, because mobile signals don't cover all the country....this may not, of course, be so important if you only want to track road trips. Viewranger has settings for various activities including walking , driving, cycling and kayaking. I can use it all day and battery discharge is only about 45%...I carry a second power pack just in case!
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Used Polarsteps to record our latest trip and think it works quite well especially with the GPS on. In this mode many more way points are recorded which you can turn into steps to record your comments and photos about that step. You can either make these public or keep them private the latter at two levels. Either for your view only or for a limited audience. It is in near real time so your audience can see where you are at a particular time. Your comments can be as brief or as comprehensive as you like and loading photos is very straight forward.
peedee
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I'm afraid I'm a bit old school
. I have enabled google "location history" tracking in the google maps app and it keeps a track of where I've been automatically.I have location switched on for my photos and so they're all pinpointed (and as it's taken with my smart phone it has a lot of other information in the "metadata" too).
Its good for me as I don't have to remember to start an app or anything like that.
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Just personal preference, I guess Spriddler. Some folks just like to keep records and photos to look back on. I usually keep fairly detailed records of long holidays. It gives us an idea of how long it took us to get from once place to another and any problems/ hold up's on the way. I also use it to help cost a holiday - how much fuel costs to fill up the car, mpg, what sort of journeys/day trips we did while staying at a particular site, how much we spent on food/drink, how many times we ate out etc.How much it costs to stay at the sites we use etc.
When I plan our summer holidays on the continent, these days I book all the sites, work out the mileage, do all the costings and at the end of the holiday compare the theory with the reality to help me cost the next holiday. It's just my way of doing it. I feel happy in doing it that way, although I appreciate there are those who just like to go with the flow and come home when the money has run out.
For a long holiday, I also try and do a 'Story' in the stories section on here so that it might help others to decide if it's the sort of place they would want to go to - together with photos.
See 2016 Summer Holiday; 2014 Summer Holiday. Sadly both of the stories are in need of work now as they didn't transfer well from the told website to this one.
David
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One doesn't need to do it but one may like to do it.
It's always possible that, with the passage of time, one may need help to find ones way home. When that time finally arrives one's familiarity with just such an app may be welcome or not in your case.
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Hmm, I understand your interest in record keeping but which is anathema to me for anything.
Being in a m/h I never book ahead as I never know where I'll be, except the ferry a few days ahead, then I just wander around using minor roads, usually Southwards and without any specific planning and for an indeterminate period.
dmiller555
<It's always possible that, with the passage of time, one may need help to find ones way home>
That's if I can sneak out past Nurse in the first place
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Years ago we never used to book, but we occasionally found ourselves site-hopping to find a spare pitch, especially in the S. of France. Last year we took in Italy as well as as the pitches are often on the small side we just felt the need to book a large pitch. I think once you start to book some pitches the others need to slot around so it made sense for us to book the lot.
We always do in the UK anyway.David
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