ViewRanger updates and bank holiday

posted by Mike Brocklehurst on Friday, August 27, 2010

Android

We have just released a new beta version of the ViewRanger software for Android phones. This adds support for the compass, adds a scale bar and improves the reliability of the buddy beacon and navigation.

The beta is available from www.viewranger.com/vranbeta and the release notes give details.


iPhone

The iPhone version of ViewRanger has been updated to version 1.1.2, available to update through the app store. This fixes a couple of problems in the previous release. The last main release, v1.1.0, added support for iOS4 and the iPad. A new release is coming soon.


UK public holiday

Monday 30th August is a public holiday in the UK. Support is available throughout the holiday weekend by email, and the store is open 24 hours a day.

Have a great holiday!

Explore Holmfirth - Home to The Last of the Summer Wine.

posted by cw on Friday, August 27, 2010

As the world's longest-running sitcom, The Last of the Summer Wine, comes to an end on BBC television this weekend, why not download one of ViewRanger's GPS guided walking routes around Holmfirth - home to the show.

Routes include "A Taste of the Summer Wine" from AA Publishing, and "Holmfirth - Last of the Summer Wine Country" from Walkingworld.



Walkingworld's "Holmfirth - Last of the Summer Wine Country" is a fantastic short circular walk focused on the Last of the Summer Wine village of Holmfirth. It allows you to see some of the landmarks made famous by the long-running programme and also takes you through the varied, deeply valleyed countryside for which the area is famous.

The AA's "A Taste of the Summer Wine" tells us that Holmfirth and the Holme Valley have been popularised as "Summer Wine Country". The whimsical TV series, starring the trio of incorrigible old buffers Compo, Foggy and Clegg, has now been running for a quarter of a century. These larger-than-life characters, going back to their second childhoods, have proved to be an irresistible formula in the hands of writer Roy Clarke. Last of the Summer Wine was first seen in January 1973, as a one-off Comedy Playhouse episode. The response was so good that a six-part series was commissioned. The rest is history, with Summer Wine becoming the UK's longest running comedy programme. The cast have become familiar faces around Holmfirth. So much so that when Londoner Bill Owen (lovable rogue 'Compo') died in 1999 at the age of 85, he was laid to rest overlooking the little town he had grown to call home. Bill Owen's real-life son Tom joined the cast to play Compo's long lost son, and together with plenty of newcomers, the series seems to have plenty of life in it yet. Visitors come to Holmfirth in their droves, in search of film locations such as Sid's Cafe and Nora Batty's house. But Holmfirth takes its TV fame in its stride, for this isn't the first time that the town has starred in front of the cameras. In fact, Holmfirth very nearly became another Hollywood. Bamforths - better known for its naughty seaside postcards - began to make short films here in the early years of the last century. They were exported around the world to popular demand. Local people were drafted in as extras in Bamforths' overwrought dramas. Film production came to an end at the outbreak of the First World War and, sadly, was never resumed.


To discover these routes in ViewRanger, search for "Holmforth" under Routes > Search by Text.

ViewRanger GPS at Number 1 in iTunes

posted by cw on Tuesday, August 17, 2010



Wow! ViewRanger GPS has made it to Number 1 in the iTunes Navigation apps chart.

We appreciate all your support - and we'll continue to try to build the best outdoor GPS app for outdoor enthusiasts and leisure users around the world.

ViewRanger GPS Highlighted In the Media

posted by cw on Monday, August 16, 2010

You may have already seen ViewRanger GPS feature in last weeks The Gadget Show, where it helped Ortis win the Great Outdoor Challenge and be the first to navigate to the top of the Pap of Glencoe - by downloading a route from the ViewRanger GPS route library.

You can catch up with the navigation part of the challenge at The Gadget Show's website: http://fwd.five.tv/gadget-show/videos/challenge/great-outdoors-challenge-part-three (UK viewers only).


ViewRanger GPS has also been selected by The Sunday Times, this weekend, as one of their "five-star must have" applications, in their guide to the best apps of the year. Just 26 apps, including games, were selected in this ultimate category of excellence.

Today, Nokia OVI has selected ViewRanger GPS as their "App of the Day" - and have highlighted how ViewRanger makes it easy to discover and access guided walking and cycling trails around you. Read the article at the OVI blog.

And we're pleased to say that ViewRanger GPS is currently sat at Number 2 in the iTunes Top Navigation Apps making ViewRanger far and away the most popular outdoor mapping app. And ViewRanger GPS also continues to have an excellent star rating, one of the highest amongst any app in the iTunes navigation category. So thank you to all who have rated our app!

ViewRanger GPS came out on top in the Great Outdoors Challenge on Channel 5's The Gadget Show this week.

In the final part of their challenge, Gadget Show presenters, Ortis Deley and Suzi Perry had to navigate their way to the summit of the Pap of Glencoe, with Suzi using a traditional outdoor GPS unit whilst Ortis was kitted out with a Google Nexus One mobile phone equipped with the ViewRanger GPS app with Ordnance Survey topographic mapping.

Suzi was ahead as both presenters entered this final stage of the Challenge. However, Ortis was able to triumph and finish first using the walking routes available for live download within ViewRanger GPS.

You can catch up with the navigation part of the challenge at The Gadget Show's website: http://fwd.five.tv/gadget-show/videos/challenge/great-outdoors-challenge-part-three.