A dedicated GPS logger is what you need. You just need a device smaller than your hand and some room for the charger in your backpack. You can import them back to the app later.
I'm the creator of this app. I'd like to explain the idea behind this app a bit.
Our dream is to go around the world, so we create this geo/map/game hybrid app to remember everywhere we have been in our whole life time. We want to use the exploration map to memorize our entire life when we are old and unable to walk. We also use the map to find out places nearby where we live but we never know. We actually got surprised many times that we found a lot of new places around where we live but we hadn't been in the past ten years.
I visited Japan four years ago, but honestly, I really don't remember those places I had been at that time, except few really famous places. I don't even know what hotels I lived, what roads I walked that time. And that's why I build this app. Now I can see the map and memorize what happened at those places I had been.
The app is such a great idea, so I bought it immediately, but I have to say I'm disappointed. Much of my travel abroad happened when I was young. There were no smartphones, or GPS.
But I know plenty of the places I've visited, hotels I've stayed in, train routes I've ridden, etc.
I'd love a way to "paint" the fog away manually, and maybe tag that "painting session" with some metadata (dates, at a minimum, maybe photos, etc).
But what if the hotels aren't there anymore? All you'll know is that you have been at these geo-coordinates once.
I have the same plan for when I'm old, so I take pictures with my iPhone whenever I want to hold on to a moment (and taking a photo is convenient). The image quality may be crappy, but I end up with one more GPS-tagged picture on the world map. The iPad Photos app nicely visualizes this, before that I'd used iPhoto.
Maybe you could add support for this too and overlay it with the "fog of world"?
Even though the hotels aren't there anymore. We can still memorize the hotels we visited before. They are not there, so we can memorize, right?
Mapping photos to the exploration map is planned in future version, or even for a Mac version. But there are a couple of higher priority tasks we need to do before that, such as support for sync between devices.
Please do continue your work. I'm especially hopeful to get it as a desktop app for Mac. Thanks for building something really useful but not another social network. Please don't make it social, don't make it a SaaS. Something personal and local is so much better and comforting. (My another comment https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=4592630)
I think it's a great idea. But to be persistent over my entire life, there really needs to be an export option so that when smartphones are no longer around and we got neural implants or something I can still make use of the data collected now.
Also 1% of the world seems impossible considering the line of sight when walking around. Even 1% of most countries is impossible.
Due to goal of this app is to save tracks over a person's entire life. The data is saved with super high level optimization. Thus it's impossible to export them to other services like Google Latitude.
However, we're working on database synchronization between different devices. Soon you will be able to sync your data between your iPhone and iPad through Dropbox (also for backup). We also have plan for a Mac version in the future, and due to the power of a desktop computer. Photo mapping or more options are expected to show along the fog map.
That's true it's almost impossible to explore over 1% of the world. So the app doesn't lie to you, right? Anyway, the app encourages people to explore more of the world, discover new places, and know more around where you live. Those numbers really do not matter. It's about your life, and you will know how many places (or area) you have explored in your whole life.
I think it's a fantastic idea. Will it work while the device is locked though, or do I have to walk around with my iPhone/iPad open all the time? The page doesn't really make that clear, and it's the most important decision factor for me since I'd want to just have it passively tracking in my pocket or backpack.
It works while the device is locked. However, to save battery life, locations will be reported every 40-50 meters when app is in background. Thus no fog will be removed if you only move a few meters.
The utility treats each checked-in locations as part of a track. But you don't actually follow the route to visit each places, right? That's why those locations won't be imported. You need to find a tool to convert those locations to tracks. Each track only contains one location. That will work.
(1) It's once-seen, always seen.
(2) You can use a separate GPS logger to record your tracks and import them back to the app. A dedicated GPS logger is usually small, light-weight, long battery life, and better for receiving GPS signal when there is no Internet connection.
