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!

Článek The new library brings major improvements to your data management se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

Although the map is the main thing you see when you turn on Locus Map and what you need to work with it, the app can display much more on the main screen. The map itself can contain multiple layers - points of interest LoPoints, terrain shading, various overlays... On top of that you can see user points and routes, plus various ancillary graphics like lines, circles, coordinate grids, etc. Today we'll see what all can be displayed on the main screen, and also how to "clean up" the screen as quickly as possible.

Content panel

You'll find the place where it's all controlled near the left edge of the display.

The content panel has a series of toggles and buttons, divided into several thematic headings:

• Maps
• Tracks & Routes
• Points
• Miscellaneous
• Settings (disabled by default)

As is common with Locus Map, you can customize the content panel to suit your needs - turn on the toggles you use and hide the ones you don't. A selection of options can be found in the top bar of the panel. You'll also find three settings items that are hidden in the default panel configuration.

The map is essential

Although a robust map manager is available for managing maps in the app, a toggle switch in the content panel is preferable for quickly viewing and changing maps on the main screen. Tap on the name of the currently displayed map to open a menu of recently used online maps and downloaded offline maps covering the local area. And since the vast majority of users use no more than about 3 maps at a time, the quick switch is the best solution.

Hike, bike or a city?

Some maps, such as our LoMaps, can be switched to different themes depending on how they are used. 

If you have such a map active, a theme switcher will be added to the content panel.

This consists of three buttons. The first selects the theme itself - for LoMap this is Hike and Bike, Ski, City and Road.

The next button will show you the legend of the map you are using if you are unsure of a marker on the map. The third button shows the map theme layers, which can be shown or hidden as needed. For example, a hiker doesn't need to see bike route markers.

Shading or slope gradients?

Locus offers shading to make the terrain on the map more plastic. While the classic "eyelet" toggles shadows on or off, tap the button name to see additional options - for which maps to show shadows, and also the type of shading.

A map over a map

If one map is not enough, Locus Map can display two map layers on top of each other. Click the button to open the overlay map selection dialog with a transparency slider. 

Use the eyelet to toggle the overlay on or off.

Places on the map

An integral part of the map are points of interest and information about them - LoPoints. Online LoPoints are always available when you are connected, offline LoPoints are downloaded together with the LoMap of the area. You can view them over any map, including satellite maps. Here you can easily show or hide them all at once.

My points and routes

You control the display of your own points and routes directly from My Library. You can activate them individually, in groups or in whole folders. In the content panel, you will find only the main "switches" to turn all displayed points and routes OFF.

Which place is the closest?

This button does not turn on anything on the map, but instead pulls the closest points in the selected category from the map and sorts them according to their distance from you. You have a choice of LoPoints, caches, user points, users visible via live tracking and more. 

Photos

Photographs taken with a mobile phone usually include information about the exact location of the photo. Tap on the "eye" to view these photos above the map. 

Locus Map can display not only your own photos, but also images sent via Whatsapp and other social media. Tap the button name to set which folders Locus Map will take photos from.

Something for geeks

Mapper’s notes

OSM notes are a specific layer for those of you who want to contribute to the improvement of the map. Just by turning on the layer you can see the places where there is some error in the map. If you click the full button, you can report the map error or change to the OSM mapping community yourself.

Active items

Behind the somewhat mysterious and generic name is the ability to control the display of external geodata files (custom maps, routes, points...) that are added to the app via "Map Items". Here you expand the list of their layers and set the transparency. A bit too much digital wilderness for the average hiker or biker, so you can deactivate this option in the panel settings with peace of mind.

Would you like some more graphics?

Grids

A layer for old-timers and map lovers who are not satisfied with the map location and coordinates in the top panel. Here they can turn on the WGS or UTM coordinate grid, or the kilometer grid.

Lines and circles

We've also added the option to turn on the graphical tools settings in the content panel - it's not in the basic menu, you have to activate it in the panel configuration (see above). This way you can quickly turn on time and distance circles, orientation and direction lines, magnifying glass and other elements.

Clean up!

So we have a lot of content, the map is full of routes, caches and various other graphical ballast. How do we quickly get back to just the map?

• You can hide all your tracks, routes and points with one (or two) buttons with a broom symbol.
• LoPoints are also easy to get rid of, just select which one you're currently using - online or offline - and tap the eyelet.
• Similarly, you can quickly hang up photos, notes or the grid.

However, there are still some features hanging around on the map that you've added using the graphical geocaching tools, or caches that streamed in while using the live map... These are all reliably removed by the "Temporary map items" button with the trashcan symbol. It's not in the default panel menu, but if you frequently work with the live map or various cachers’ tidbits, activate it.

Since Locus Map handles a lot, there's quite a bit in the content panel as well. If you don't use everything we've written about here, remember that you can disable unnecessary features! This will make the panel much more concise and clear:

Článek Home screen, it’s not just the maps se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

Custom points, geocaches, displaying several routes at once… Finally, this massively expected functionality, which we call the ugly word "multicontent" in the office, is fully available in our web planner-library at web.locusmap.app.

Sync

To get your user content on the web, you need to sync your Locus Map with the cloud. As we wrote here, here and here, a Premium Gold subscription is required for this and you have to start the first synchronization manually. Then just log in to web.locusmap.app with the same account as in the application and you can browse your routes and points.

Show points on the map

The Points category has been added to your web library, displaying all your user points of interest, caches, etc .:

You can add your points on the map in whole folders:

You can "activate" as many points as you want, but they may not all appear above the map at once (there’s a limit against browser congestion). In addition, where points overlap, the browser concentrates the points into groups. So in order to see a specific point on the map, you need to zoom in on the map.

You can find a specific point in a folder and click on it to display it on the map. At the same time, the details of the point will show on the left:

When you move the cursor to a point, a popup opens offering to add the point to the planned route, view details or the entire folder:

A geocaching trip

Geocaching players quite often use Locus Map, in which they have a lot of caches downloaded. Thanks to the new functionality of the web library, it can now display these caches in the web route planner and plan the fun for the whole day.

Just select the appropriate activity (on foot, by bike, by car, it can also be combined) and gradually add caches to the route:

The panel on the left shows an itinerary with distances, estimated time on the route and other statistics, below the map is a graph of elevation with marked stops:

Now you just need to save the route, automatic synchronization will take care of moving it to the mobile application. And you can go.

More routes on the map

In order to be able to plan a route that you have not yet taken, it is good to know where you have already traveled. So show on the map all the trips you have already been on. In the web library, select all the routes you need. They will be highlighted above the map and you can start planning:

What else can you look forward to

We're still working hard on the web planner, so you can expect more tweaks in the future. For example:

• more options for sharing routes and points
• filtering, sorting routes, points and searching for them
• graphs with additional route information
• display of road types and surfaces
• summary statistics of routes in folders
• import and more variants of export of routes and points, etc.

So what do you say about the new library and planning options? Let us know in the comments.

Článek Finally, you can plan routes between caches on the web se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.