We’re sure you’ve gotten used to (and so have we) new versions of your favorite outdoor navigation app coming out at roughly monthly intervals. In fact, we usually get so many tweaks and improvements done in about a month that we have to get it out the door. But now we are releasing news after a much longer time. Why? There are two reasons.

Already before Christmas, we had a “banger” ready for you, as we call it internally, in the form of Locus Map support for Android Auto. The version even came out briefly. But then, when we needed to release a quick fix, Google “threw a pitchfork” at us. Unfortunately, the project has been stalled since then, and several weeks of arguing with robot reviewers have not yet yielded any results. Anyway, we’re not giving up and hope to show you this news in full glory one day!

The second reason we are writing to you in the first place is much more cheerful. We’re bringing you a brand new library of routes, tracks, and waypoints, allowing you to do things you’ve never seen before. And since the library is one of the cornerstones of all our platforms, including the web and iOS, it took a little longer.

All data in one place

Common folders for routes and points

A first glance at the new library tells you a lot – the separate tabs for tracks and points have disappeared. You can now have both in one place. You can store everything Locus Map has to offer in folders – your planned and recorded routes, favorite spots, and geocaches ready to go.

Uniform work with data

Tracks, routes, and points can now be sorted, filtered, copied, moved, deleted, displayed on the map, or hidden together. Plus, you can import and export both at the same time. So everything is much more flexible and faster. If you have Premium Gold, all changes are automatically synced with your other devices and the web interface.

Up to six levels of folder nesting

Common folders aren’t everything – you can also nest them inside each other. So, for example, the “Biking Croatia 2025” folder will contain subfolders with individual trips to the Croatian islands, which can be further subdivided into routes, places with nice views, geocaches… You have many more possibilities at once. With the Premium package, you also get the option to add up to six levels of nesting to your folders.

You can customize the look

In the Android version, the new library offers four display modes. You can choose between two layouts – simple and advanced, and two types of lists for folder contents – slim and full.

By default, you see the library with a simple layout and a full list for visibility of necessary statistics. Tools for working with the folder and the data in it are available in the menu in the top bar.

The floating button at the bottom right unfolds the tools for adding content to the folder – importing points and routes, track recording, route planning, etc.

The new library on iOS and web

As mentioned in the introduction, the new version of the library database applies to all platforms on which Locus Map can be used. So syncing data across platforms and on all Android, iOS devices and on the web supports the new folder structure as well as multiple plunges.

iOS and the web also “catch up” considerably with their Android counterpart in terms of data handling capabilities in the new library:

On the web, you’ll love the improved logic for viewing items in bulk on the map – for example, you can view all routes from one folder above the map in 2 clicks. Just note that for a large number of routes, this is not an instant operation and we’d appreciate it if you keep in mind our background infrastructure that has to do the work. 🙂

Locus Map LITE for iOS has now even experimentally overtaken the Android version with the ability to browse the library with a simultaneous view of the map on the other side of the screen.

However, even here we still have some work to do, e.g. in the web library we still need to refine some controls for batch processing.

What happens during the switch to a new library?

Since the database under the surface of the application changes significantly with this change when you upgrade to the new version, your original library will automatically migrate to the new one when you first run the application. Before this process, the application will automatically perform a backup to eliminate the risk of data loss. If such a situation does occur and you find nothing in the new library, or if some data is misplaced, keep calm and DO NOT UNINSTALL the current version of the application. Contact our helpdesk right away, we will be happy to help. And you will help others.

For those of you who have Premium and use the library sync with our web portal, you will be switched to the new library on the web the first time you sync your data with the new version of the mobile app. If you sync multiple devices between each other or even between Android and iOS apps, it doesn’t matter which device you launch the version with the new library first.

However, due to the gradual release of the new version of the app on Google Play, you may have one device for which the new version is already available and another for which it is not. If this causes you problems, you can update the other device manually from our public repository at https://bit.ly/lmVersions. The iOS version should be available to everyone at the same time.

And what does the future hold for you?

The preparation of the new library has given us a lot of work. If you feel that the functional benefit does not match it, we want to reassure you that the current version of the new library is just the beginning. It is a stepping stone to further plans to develop our applications and services that would not otherwise be possible.   We don’t want to promise too much more yet, but we can at least reveal the preparation of sharing entire folders. You’ll have to wait for the announcement of other features for now. 🙂

What else does the new version bring?

Of course, the new library is not the only change to Locus Map. The update includes dozens of minor improvements and fixes. We have to mention a pair of major ones related to system permissions:

• if you want to navigate to an address from your contact list, you no longer need a special add-on – the functionality is implemented directly in the main application
• the function of automatically turning on/off the display when navigating no longer requires admin rights for the app – we have found a better solution

So, are you looking forward to spring too? We sure are!