26th June 2008 Reply

Hi there,

I just wanted to suggest a couple of changes to the travel map which I'd like to see implemented if possible:

1. Being able to select the hybrid view as the default view rather than the standard
2. Not needing to have country markers. It would be great just to have the city markers. To me having the country markers as well makes it look like there's another city I've visited somewhere in the middle of the country.
3. Adding the route links between each of the cities so people can visually see the travel route that I'm following.

Cheers, Cindy

28th June 2008 Reply

Hey Cindy,

Thanks for the suggestions.

I tend to agree that we could have a hybrid view selector.

About the country markers, we have these because when we first started nearly 5 years ago this is all a traveller could choose was a country. However again I don't think we really need to show the country markers now that we have more than 10,000 cities.

The route links is a tricky one. On each individual blog we allow you to display a map which has a route map for that particular trip (which is what I think you are wanting on your map page and on your homepage but for every trip you have been on). In your case it looks as though you are just travelling and not working. However many of our travellers live and work in foreign countries so I think this one is a little more tricky. That is why we have these maps the way they are. Do you have any suggestions how we could both suit your needs and those on working holidays who are based in one location and taking short trips?

This obviously depends on what other members have to say too...

Happy travels!

30th June 2008 Reply

Hi there,

You could add an option to the end of each blog to link it to a previous blog if you want to, thus creating a travel map across different blogs. Users who don't want this option just don't select it and can still use the maps within each blog if they choose. Using the maps within each blog won't work for me because that would mean I'd have one blog for a 10 month trip which would result in one very long piece of text! :-)

Cheers, Cindy

2nd July 2008 Reply

Hey Cindy,

Thanks again for making those suggestions.

You've given us a couple of ideas that we'll have to look into with our IT guys which we'll get back to you about..

Happy travels!