routing
TrailRunner 3, TrailRunner mini and the Mac App Store
16.01.18 15:21 Filed in: Features
TrailRunner has a small brother called TrailRunner mini that is available on the Mac App Store.
What is the difference between TrailRunner and TrailRunner mini
If you are accustomed to TrailRunner, TrailRunner mini is just the openStreetMap based route planner -- no diary, no GPS import interfaces -- but can import files in the gpx, tcx, pwx and kml file formats!
In addition TrailRunner mini can automatically synchronize routes created and published by TrailRunner touch for the iPad or other instances of TrailRunner and TrailRunner mini (possibly running on a different machine, or to be more precise: can import routes from your dropbox).
Watch the video tutorial on what TrailRunner mini can do
Take a look into the TrailRunner tutorial to see what TrailRunner is capable of
Should I buy both versions?
Well -- as ever -- that depends…
If you consider yourself an expert routing freak with a GPS on your wrist, use TrailRunner 3. If you find TrailRunner 3 too complicated or bloated and you're only in need of a decent and simple to use route planner, go with TrailRunner mini.
In the end -- it depends on your personal bias between simplicity and features.
Well, and then there's TrailRunner touch for the iPad
TrailRunner touch is almost identical to TrailRunner mini, except that it's tailored for the iPad and the touch interface. As both support dropbox syncing, both apps can have a shared route database.
Read more about TrailRunner touch
What app do you recommend for the iPhone?
The closest relative of TrailRunner mini and TrailRunner touch is RaceBunny for the iPhone. RaceBunny is really simple. RaceBunny can record your trips and can import routes created in TrailRunner, TrailRunner mini or TrailRunner touch and display them as colored background routes.
So basically you plan a tour in either of the other Apps publish them to your shared dropbox route database and then display them as background routes in RaceBunny.
Read more about RaceBunny
Watch how background routes are set in RaceBunny
Alternatively there's Trails for the iPhone developed by Felix Lamureux. Trails is probably the best GPS recorder for the iPhone. Trails can send recordings via Wifi to TrailRunner but not TrailRunner mini. Alternatively you can send emails out of Trails to any of your devices and import the attached GPX file into TrailRunner mini, TrailRunner touch or even RaceBunny.
Read more about Trails
Why is TrailRunner 3 free/donation-ware while the other Apps are not?
I started all this with TrailRunner and it's for historical reasons that TrailRunner 3 is donation-ware.
As TrailRunner 3 is rather complicated to use, I chose to rewrite the heart of it for TrailRunner mini. The younger sibling is much easier to use and has far less features. But in an amount and complexity I can easily support and extend in the future. Something I can't do for every aspect of Trailrunner 3. Therefore TrailRunner 3 still is donation-ware while TrailRunner mini is more or less commercial software.
Bottom line
I develop all this stuff in my spare time. That's crazy, I know. So whatever app you use, have fun with them, let me know what you think and please understand that in the end -- it is the money I make with them what gives me the motivation to stick with it.
(1) TrailRunner mini and TrailRunner touch use a very fast and modern routing engine, compared to the routing engine of TrailRunner 3.
What is the difference between TrailRunner and TrailRunner mini
If you are accustomed to TrailRunner, TrailRunner mini is just the openStreetMap based route planner -- no diary, no GPS import interfaces -- but can import files in the gpx, tcx, pwx and kml file formats!
In addition TrailRunner mini can automatically synchronize routes created and published by TrailRunner touch for the iPad or other instances of TrailRunner and TrailRunner mini (possibly running on a different machine, or to be more precise: can import routes from your dropbox).
Watch the video tutorial on what TrailRunner mini can do
Take a look into the TrailRunner tutorial to see what TrailRunner is capable of
Should I buy both versions?
Well -- as ever -- that depends…
If you consider yourself an expert routing freak with a GPS on your wrist, use TrailRunner 3. If you find TrailRunner 3 too complicated or bloated and you're only in need of a decent and simple to use route planner, go with TrailRunner mini.
In the end -- it depends on your personal bias between simplicity and features.
Well, and then there's TrailRunner touch for the iPad
TrailRunner touch is almost identical to TrailRunner mini, except that it's tailored for the iPad and the touch interface. As both support dropbox syncing, both apps can have a shared route database.
Read more about TrailRunner touch
What app do you recommend for the iPhone?
The closest relative of TrailRunner mini and TrailRunner touch is RaceBunny for the iPhone. RaceBunny is really simple. RaceBunny can record your trips and can import routes created in TrailRunner, TrailRunner mini or TrailRunner touch and display them as colored background routes.
So basically you plan a tour in either of the other Apps publish them to your shared dropbox route database and then display them as background routes in RaceBunny.
Read more about RaceBunny
Watch how background routes are set in RaceBunny
Alternatively there's Trails for the iPhone developed by Felix Lamureux. Trails is probably the best GPS recorder for the iPhone. Trails can send recordings via Wifi to TrailRunner but not TrailRunner mini. Alternatively you can send emails out of Trails to any of your devices and import the attached GPX file into TrailRunner mini, TrailRunner touch or even RaceBunny.
Read more about Trails
Why is TrailRunner 3 free/donation-ware while the other Apps are not?
I started all this with TrailRunner and it's for historical reasons that TrailRunner 3 is donation-ware.
As TrailRunner 3 is rather complicated to use, I chose to rewrite the heart of it for TrailRunner mini. The younger sibling is much easier to use and has far less features. But in an amount and complexity I can easily support and extend in the future. Something I can't do for every aspect of Trailrunner 3. Therefore TrailRunner 3 still is donation-ware while TrailRunner mini is more or less commercial software.
Bottom line
I develop all this stuff in my spare time. That's crazy, I know. So whatever app you use, have fun with them, let me know what you think and please understand that in the end -- it is the money I make with them what gives me the motivation to stick with it.
 |  |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TrailRunner 3 | TrailRunner mini | TrailRunner touch | RaceBunny | |
| openStreetMap Route planner | ✔ | ✔ (1) | ✔ (1) | — |
| off-road route planner | — | ✔ | ✔ | — |
| local network of tracks route planner | ✔ | — | — | — |
| local network of tracks management | ✔ | — | — | — |
| community routes browser and import | ✔ | — | — | — |
| route profile analysis | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | — |
| shared iCloud database | — | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| activity recording (GPS) | — | — | — | ✔ |
| activity diary and statistics | ✔ | — | — | — |
| pricing | Donation | AppStore | AppStore | AppStore |
(1) TrailRunner mini and TrailRunner touch use a very fast and modern routing engine, compared to the routing engine of TrailRunner 3.
TrailRunner 3.0 -- Improvements on the way
12.03.10 17:03 Filed in: Features
A quick overview on that has changed in TrailRunner 3.0:
Reworked UI and wording
To better meet the vocabulary being used in other applications, TrailRunner will no longer speak about workouts but activities.
Also activities, routes and your network of tracks are displayed in a better UI.
All application modes now come with their own dedicated toolbar at the bottom end of the window making the UI much more clearer.
New Network of tracks editor
The new editor makes managing your network of tracks much easier. Drag selection and shift click extent selection lets you select more than one element
Operations on the action toolbar give you the toolset to effectively remove duplicate tracks and waypoints.
A list of modified tracks on the left helps you in finding out what was newly added to your network and may contain duplications to be merged into your network of tracks.
WayPoint Perimeters
As you know, tracks can be spitted by a waypoint nearby. In previous versions of TrailRunner the maximum distance from a way-point to track to make this happen was a fixed value of 10 meters.
In the new network of tracks editor, you now see this perimeter range around selected waypoints and you can drag the border to extend the range.
This is especially useful when you have locations where great chaos lies within because many routes start and end somewhere around this spot. Now you can just increase the perimeter of one representative for this location and TrailRunner will then be able to better consolidate new elements within this area.
Better OpenStreetMap Source
Changed the Background Map to CloudMade openStreetMap Fine Line with a contour overlay.
To effectively reload all map tiles, remove the
Improved Integration with EveryTrail
The community routes browser and importer now supports an improved API version for finding routes nearby on everytrail.com. Additionally TrailRunner hilights not only the location of routes nearby but also displays the tracks. So you now easily can view what courses the routes have.
Improved Diary
The diary window now displays a map and more statistical information on the selected activity.
Simplified process of localization
Over the years, the number of strings requiring localization grew to a huge number. A new database based application now helps localizers manage and update the localizations with a very easy interface that also contains a ToDo list and automatic pre-translation provided by translate.google.com
If you would like to help out with an updated or even new localization, please contact me.
QuickGuide for TrailRunner 3.0
The QuickGuide shows you all main features of the application. Great for testing everything out:
> QuickGuide
Reworked UI and wording
To better meet the vocabulary being used in other applications, TrailRunner will no longer speak about workouts but activities.
Also activities, routes and your network of tracks are displayed in a better UI.
All application modes now come with their own dedicated toolbar at the bottom end of the window making the UI much more clearer.
New Network of tracks editor
The new editor makes managing your network of tracks much easier. Drag selection and shift click extent selection lets you select more than one element
Operations on the action toolbar give you the toolset to effectively remove duplicate tracks and waypoints.
A list of modified tracks on the left helps you in finding out what was newly added to your network and may contain duplications to be merged into your network of tracks.
WayPoint Perimeters
In the new network of tracks editor, you now see this perimeter range around selected waypoints and you can drag the border to extend the range.
This is especially useful when you have locations where great chaos lies within because many routes start and end somewhere around this spot. Now you can just increase the perimeter of one representative for this location and TrailRunner will then be able to better consolidate new elements within this area.
Better OpenStreetMap Source
Changed the Background Map to CloudMade openStreetMap Fine Line with a contour overlay.
To effectively reload all map tiles, remove the
Improved Integration with EveryTrail
Improved Diary
The diary window now displays a map and more statistical information on the selected activity.
Simplified process of localization
Over the years, the number of strings requiring localization grew to a huge number. A new database based application now helps localizers manage and update the localizations with a very easy interface that also contains a ToDo list and automatic pre-translation provided by translate.google.com
If you would like to help out with an updated or even new localization, please contact me.
QuickGuide for TrailRunner 3.0
The QuickGuide shows you all main features of the application. Great for testing everything out:
> QuickGuide
TrailRunner 2.0 -- Routing and Communities
16.05.09 15:49 Filed in: Features
TrailRunner 2.0 is out, please find below what has changed in this new milestone release:
Community route exchange
The Route exchange with GPSies.com, one of the world biggest routing portals, is now grouped in one management panel.
Added a Hiking, Running and Biking filter to the GPSies route import.
Routing service and route editor and elevation download
Added routing service based on the Cloudmade/OpenStreetMap trail network.
The route editor for routes based on the personal track network was rewritten from ground up.
Elevation data for routes is now automatically being loaded from an internet service
Overall usability improvements
A new route management tool was added to the editing controls toolbar.
Download: TrailRunner 2.0
Community route exchange
The Route exchange with GPSies.com, one of the world biggest routing portals, is now grouped in one management panel.
Added a Hiking, Running and Biking filter to the GPSies route import.
Routing service and route editor and elevation download
Added routing service based on the Cloudmade/OpenStreetMap trail network.
The route editor for routes based on the personal track network was rewritten from ground up.
Elevation data for routes is now automatically being loaded from an internet service
Overall usability improvements
A new route management tool was added to the editing controls toolbar.
Download: TrailRunner 2.0