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Edition 440: 22nd July, 2016 Hi ExplorOz Reader, Each day, we receive and respond to a wide variety of enquiries. Sometimes we find a lot of the same questions are raised so in our newsletters we use the Tip of the Week to discuss some of these common queries. (Note: if you have suggestions for tips that you'd like mentioned in an upcoming newsletter please let us know).
ACCOUNT DETAILSAs a registered site user of ExplorOz you have a 'Profile" where everything about your account is stored. You can access this to find useful information so take a moment to see just what's there. Of course, you'll need to be logged into your account first.
Click PROFILE to access your account details. This will drop down a list on the left below the Menu (as shown). If you are a MEMBER you'll have 4 sections to your account. If you are a VISITOR you'll have 2 sections to your account. The first 2 are the same for everyone. Here's what mine looks like:
The first section will show your Screen Name. Click your Screen Name to open a panel containing a statement of your account type, expiry date (Members), and links to access your shop order history, invoices, and classifieds. This is also where you'll find the opt in/out box to set your your email subscriptions - these include our newsletter, forum alerts, and member messages (as applicable based on the type of user account you have with us (either Member or Visitor). Also further down that page you'll also find links to quickly view pages of the Forum, Classifieds, or Member Messages that have been updated since your last login. Current weather (based on the address you have entered in your Account) will also be displayed on this page, showing Temp, Humidity, Wind, & Rainfall.
The second section is where you can EDIT YOUR ACCOUNT. In your account your Name, Screen Name, Country, Password, and Timezone are mandatory fields however this is also where you can set a password which is the used as the Security Key to view hidden Tracking & Blogs. All of this information is kept confidential and is only visible to you. The only field that will be displayed online is your Screen Name. PLEASE NOTE: this is where you go to change the email account and/or password in your account.
MEMBER PROFILEIf you are a Member, you'll have 2 additional sections - Edit Member Profile and View Member Profile. The photos and contact information that appears at the top of your Public Profile page are controlled from within the EDIT section. So is the "signature" that appears at the bottom of your posts in the Forum. Blog privacy and general profile security settings are also offered. On your Member Profile Page you can view your Tracking map and access the device management and track save/clear functions.
10 UNIQUE FEATURES OF OUR APP
| #1 | Contains the largest verified POI database of camp sites, caravan parks,
Place names, geographic features, man-made features, and points of
interest specifically of interest to travellers/outback explorers with
over 80,000 Places. | | #2 | The App facilitates the collection and sharing of crowd-sourced comments
& photos of Places with 16 years of online public contributions and
verification/data collection already behind it. | | #3 | Get free content updates anytime. App syncs with ExplorOz server upon
demand (Places & Treks)
| | #4 | Flexible map downloads - once you've enabled the Premium offline
maps you can uninstall or reinstall as needed. This allows you to manage
space on your device so you only store what you need as the whole of
Australia map is provided in 3 separate downloads to reduce files to
approx. 1.6GB each. TIP: use free Wifi when travelling through towns at
shopping centres, McDonalds etc. | | #5 | Use of the Premium mapset in the app will provide far superior mapping
detail than using our 200K raster mapset in mapping software
(OziExplorer, TrackRanger, Memory Map, Hema Navigator etc). This is
because this is the first time we've provided EOTopo offline in a
zoomable tile-set providing up to 144K map scale PLUS this is the first
time our maps contain active POIs for all 80,000 Places. Click a POI icon on the map and chose to open an info panel (to see
photos, reviews, description, contacts) or activate the GOto navigation
to obtain driving guidance. | | #6 | Online auto-routing along roads is available if you push to get "Driving
Directions", which is best used with the Streets & Paths map. Offline auto-routing is
also available using EOTopo maps when navigating Treks. | | #7 | This is the only app that offers offline auto-routing (not straight
line) to help you enjoy trips like CSR, Simpson, Tanami, Gib River Rd,
Cape York etc. This is available for any of the pre-loaded Treks - which
number over 170 and are included within the app (with free updates).
All the Trek information shown on the website is included in the app -
trip planning information, suggested POIs along the way,
and of course the route itself. Simply open the Trek in the app and
press Goto to view each leg of the journey. TIP: Treks can be edited to
suit your needs - reverse order, insert additional Places, remove
Places, reorder Places and then saved as a Private Trek to use at a later time.
| | #8 | Includes many useful navigation tools - go to any address, or
lat/long coordinate or navigate to any of the included Places (80,000
POIs). Drop pin at current location or press/hold map to drop pin on the
map. Save a list of "Private Places" to reuse for frequent commuter
navigation, or create and share new Places back to the database
(public). | | #9 | Choose whether you want the app to draw a snail trail on the map
screen as your travel - displays the last 50km of travel. | | #10 | Choose whether you want to enable live tracking - free for Members or
$29.95 in-app purchase. Track Logging via the app allows you to
record/save your entire journey even when the app is set to the
background and the screen blacked out. Just set and forget. By default,
tracking is private so is not visible on the website however if you wish
for family/friends to view your tracking whilst you travel you can send
them your security key and they can view your tracking map on your
profile page. If you would like your tracking to appear on the Group
Members Tracking Page on EOTrackMe, change the security setting to
Public. You are only identified by your ExplorOz Screen Name. After
travels, you can clear or save your tracking. Save will create a GPX
file - stored as a User Trek. TIP: Embed your User Treks into your ExplorOz or other Blogs
to display a map image of your route along with your trip photos to
make a beautiful trip journal. You can even embed your tracking map to your own website or blog for live real-time display. Completed ExplorOz Blogs can also be
shared to Facebook. |
NOTE: At this stage the only on-going issue with the app is with Android users who have less than 6GB available internal space on their device. Total storage of the full app PLUS all 3 Premium maps is 5.6GB with no option to store to an SD card. (Note: we have found a solution to this issue are working to implement this asap). In the meantime, the options for these users is to refer to Point 4 above and only attempt to store 1 of the offline maps on your device at a time - just select the one you require for the current leg of your journey (reducing offline map storage from 5.1GB to approx 1.6GB). Alternatively, move other files/app from the device to the SD card.
TALLARINGA ONLINE PERMIT
News just received to hand today from the Natural Resources SA Arid Lands Dept is that entry and camping for Tallaringa Conservation Park can now be purchased online. We've therefore just added the link and relevant updates into the Anne Beadell Trek Note and on the SA Permit page.
FOUND A MISTAKE? LET US KNOW
ExplorOz is an ongoing, online publication that has been running for 16 years. The core content areas contain extensive volumes of text across almost 1000 pages. There are currently 172 Trek Notes and 713 Articles. And then of course there are over 80,000 pages of Places - with a separate page for each POI.
A large part of our day is spent addressing all the available information sources we have to maintain accuracy in these pages but sometimes things get missed. You can help by alerting us to any errors, omissions and broken links to external sites found on these pages (excluding Forum). Many of our pages contain links to other pages on the site or to external sites. Unfortunately, whilst we try to provide you with links to important reference sites - such as where to get Travel Permits, we don't know when they make changes that affect these links. Government resource sites are renown for changing urls!
7 GOOD REASONS TO BECOME A MEMBER
Our core services to the public are designed for Members-Only, which means we have reserved the best for those that purchase a subscription and become "Members".
Members receive all 7 of the following entitlements:
1. Free tracking via EOTrackMe and ExplorOz Traveller
2. Discounts off all items 24/7 (up to 10%) in the Shop
3. Free GPS file downloads (all ExplorOz Treks, and all Places)
4. Classified Display ads for free (save $20 each time)
5. Exclusive Member site tools
6. Exclusive Member content
7. Exclusive Member (or Life Member) sticker to put on your vehicle plus "Your Guide to Membership" brochure.
Our newsletter is distributed to 53,288 subscribers on a weekly basis.
ExplorOz ® is owned and managed by I.T. Beyond Pty Ltd.
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