'Touch to Reveal' FeatureFORUMS HOME SEARCH FORUMS

Over the past couple of weeks we've been testing out a simple but innovative new feature on our route maps, which has come about following a discussion on our Forums - we're calling it 'Touch to Reveal'.

Route maps look great when you can see the route boldly overlaid on the map, but sometimes this means that you can't see road names and other features underneath, which can hinder route planning and navigation. So, we've come up with what we think is a very simple but effective solution - when you touch the map we'll temporarily make the route see-through, so that you can see what's underneath it. You'll still be able to see the shape of the route, so you won't lose sight of it when panning the map, but it won't obscure your view of the details on the map.

We love this idea as it's very simple and feels intuitive, but makes it so much easier to see map details clearly compared with other maps that don't have this feature, so we thought it was worthy of a mention in our news updates.

Is the implemenation the same as discussed in the Forum?

• On the mobile app, when you touch the map while not in plotting mode (i.e. with the plot record button off), the route will be made partially transparent and the arrows and distance markers removed. Releasing your finger from the map will redisplay the route as normal.
  
  
• On the desktop site, the same approach applies, accept that the route will be made transparent when you drag the map, rather than when you press down on the mouse button, in order to avoid accidentally plotting a new point.

Great new feature!

Yes, that's correct Mark - thanks for trigerring this idea. The only addition is that you don't need to drag the map on the View Route page on the desktop site - it works when you press the mouse button down on this page.

The only addition is that you don't need to drag the map on the View Route page on the desktop site - it works when you press the mouse button down on this page.

I don't see that behaviour in the Desktop application. I am looking at a uploaded route which has a known issue .... PR took me down these steps!

I can only "reveal" the underlying route by click-holding a mouse button and then making a small drag movement. That's fine, I just want to be sure I'm not missing anything.

Even then (I'm being a bit picky, I know), the underlying detail can still be somewhat hard to make out. Could another "Line Transparency" option be added to My Settings, such that a user could set this to 100% (ie no visible line) when click/dragging?

Regards

Thanks for your feedback Mark. To clarify - you'll need to drag the map if you're using the route planner (e.g. https://www.plotaroute.com/routeplanner) on a desktop computer to use this feature but will only need to press the mouse button down if you're on the view route page on the desktop computer (e.g. https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1). 

Ah, thanks!

Very neat !  It's taken me this long to read this in "latest news" and I'd not previously noticed that the feature ...  I must have half noticed it when dragging a map but not twigged that keeping the mouse button pressed makes it transparent.  My fault - I need to keep up with the latest news !