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kMaps Facelift

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Our new release is out and we’ve implemented many things which you have told us are very important. Thank you for making our application better and for pointing out our mistakes. Keep doing what you do, we love it and appreciate it.

Some quick technical updates for you:

The main visual differences is: new style and prioritized POIs(points of interest) on the map. Also a map projection was fixed.

Before Now
Style
IMG_2405 IMG_3298IMG_3299
Points of Interest
IMG_2424 IMG_3301IMG_3302
The projection fixes
IMG_3304 IMG_3051
Tokyo
IMG_2414 IMG_3303

We also fixed some maps for Africa.

Again, your feedback is very important to us. Every piece of feedback goes straight back into helping improve the next version.

Install/Update kMaps now, share your experiences and impressions with your friends, and don’t hesitate to review the app on the AppStore or send some feedback to support@kmaps.co

We would like to give a special thanks to Ralph Hill, Abel La O Fernandez and Bonnie MacPherson. You have contributed great  feedback which has lead to this improved this release. Thanks!

A Convienient Gesture

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One of the main goals that we have at kMaps is to always be as user-friendly and functional as possible. We want to make ‘getting around,’ as easy as possible. We urge people to give us feedback in order to shape our product to their liking. Since the release of our ‘pilot’ version we’ve had feedback coming in from multiple channels and have considered all of it. People have been expressing to us that one thing they find difficult is to drink a cup of coffee and fully interact with kMaps. Specifically, zooming in and out.

One of the features in kMaps V2, that we’re really proud of, is One Finger Zoom.  It does exactly what it sounds like. You are now able to zoom in and out with just one finger. Just lay your finger on the map for 2-3 seconds and then swipe up or down. Voila, you can get where you’re going and have your coffee too.

Enjoy this little video we made showing off One Finger Zoom.

JUST RELEASED – Better rendering, better search

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We have been 6 months silent after first version, which is quite long, but in that time we’ve done a lot.

First we would like to say thanks to those of you who gave us feedback and for helping to determine our priorities. Input is very important, especially when resources are very limited.

The main visual differences in this version, compared to the previous version, are: retina display, prioritize POI on the map, far zoom for map rendering and unlimited zoom for titles, uncrossed titles, name of cities and countries, support Arabic and Hebrew, tons of optimization.

Before Now
Max zoom
IMG_2417 IMG_2405IMG_2406
POIs
IMG_2418 IMG_2407IMG_2424
Tokyo
IMG_2422 IMG_2414IMG_2425
Hebrew and Arabic
IMG_2420 IMG_2412IMG_2426

As you may have noticed, the first version supported only elementary search by specific titles. It was possible to find something, but it didn’t support much.  Now we support search by city, country, or partial words and list multi-pin results on the map. The app also supports searching with accented words or to comfortably search without them. The search shows a result based on current map view. So, if you need to find something in other city you will need to move there first.

Before Now
Search by city or country
Not available  IMG_2409
Search by particular words
IMG_2419 IMG_2411
Multi-pin search result
Not available IMG_2416

The user interface has been improved as well. Now you have the option to filter your downloaded maps and use gestures, like one finger zoom in/out. Which can be done by holding one finger on the map for a bit and then use a swiping motion upward or downward.

We also built more maps for Africa!

Again, your feedback is very important to us. It helps us focus on your real needs and problems. Every piece of feedback goes straight back into helping improve the next version. So, without your voices contributing to our development, this project wouldn’t be a possibility.

Install/Update kMaps now, share your experiences and impressions with your friends, and don’t hesitate to review the app on the AppStore or send some feedback to support@kmaps.co

Thanks!

WHO IS KMAPS?

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This post discuses the ultimate goals of kMaps. It will touch on the initial ideas which lead to the development of our current product and will briefly discuss its future.

It was an idea that started years ago; a workaround to traffic jams. A thought of clear roads with no break lights in sight. It is a calming feeling, tossing those stressful bursts of road rage to the gutter. Not to be overdramatic, but every driver has been there; being rushed to make an appointment, only to be met around the corner by an army of cars. Why hasn’t anyone solved this issue? Why hasn’t anyone created a way to manage traffic flows? Traffic congestion does not only pertain to cars. What about pedestrian congestion, boat stalls, or plane delays? Why is there not one application to track all the traffic flows on this earth? With a large idea, comes even greater challenges.

The answer to this problem started as a web based solution, three and a half years ago. As development began, the potential user-base, began to change their habits. The mobile market took off and left web in its dust. Smartphones were everywhere and laptops started turning into tablets. The obvious decision was to pivot development to reflect a growing mobile user-base. After six months of development, a mobile platform began to take shape. With time, the first branch of the mobile interface was completed. It was an algorithm, allowing different stages of high quality, complex, vector graphic rendering. In other words, it bore us the possibility of rendering large, quality graphics. This step which will allow us to see traffic in real time, is necessary in order to address the issue of traffic congestion.

At this point, in order to connect to users on a mobile level, the decision was made to focus our attention on the travel industry. This way people would use our maps to help themselves get around. It was a perfect step because now we have a great audience that can interact with our product, while we provide them an essential utility. We then created a second algorithm, which compresses files to a very small size, as an aid to the user. If someone was to walk around with our maps in their pockets, we didn’t want to take up too much of their space.  Currently, we have our first release of the app on the market and will soon be coming out with the second version. In addition, we will be releasing our WEB client and will be extending our app to all other mobile phone platformsThe traffic dilemma is a very complex one. It will take time to understand and solve it. We have created a stepping stone to understand how traffic works. Along the way we intend to supply our users with tools such as, offline navigation and fast, quality offline search. In the future, we plan on shifting over to the online maps market offering a vast majority of features, such as, realtime location sharing and tracking, location based texting and video sharing, while also incorporating social platforms. The possibilities are endless to the users ability as we imagine a fully customizable and interactive interface. kMaps will always reflect the wants and needs of its users, so all feedback will be greatly appreciated and considered for newer versions.