Wikiloc oddities, searching, tips, help

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I'm currently on a camino and I've been using Wikiloc. I've discovered a few oddities that I want to report.

1) Not discovered on the camino but an oddity none the less is the red square at the bottom on the display. I believe that there is some ISO standard that says that a square is to indicate a stop button. The Wikiloc square indicates a pause button. However, once pressed you are presented with a menu to either resume or stop.

2) When I became an unpaid member of Wikiloc I set the distance units I wanted to be feet and miles. I since took a paid membership and downloaded the app. On the camino, where I want metric measurements, I still get feet and miles. The app has no way that I see to switch units. I did change my settings at wikiloc.com but apparently the app doesn't check for changes. I think that if I delete the app and reinstall it I'll get the metric measurements but I'm unwilling to play with things like that when I have something that works. I don't want to play with technology on camino.

3) To save power I have been turning Wikiloc off when signage is easy to follow. I have noticed that when I start Wikiloc again and choose the same track as before I may get a message that I am following the track in the wrong direction. With some experimenting I discovered that this happens when you are more than halfway done with the track. You may find a few things don't as expected for awhile. Things will correct themselves in a little bit. Here is what happens: At first you get a red warning popup saying you are going in the wrong direction. Dismiss the message and keep walking the track towards your destination. You then get a green informational popup saying you are following the track. Dismiss the message and keep going. Next, in a short while, you get another red warning message saying that you have been going the wrong way but this time it offers you a way to confirm that this is what to want to do. Confirm. Now things have been corrected and, for example, the stats will show you the correct distance to your destination.

I wouldn't design things this way but I can see why someone else would so I can't say they are bugs. That's why I'm calling them oddities.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Hope you are still enjoying your walk, Rick. Pilgrims considering using wikilocks I'm sure will appreciate your observations.
Buen continued camino!

 

[MikeJS]

Agree re your oddities, especially its insistence that you are walking the wrong way - can be a little of putting the first few times it happens. My last camino, Olvidado, San Salvador, Primitivo, was the first time I had used Wikiloc but I found it an excellent app. I especially like the fact that you do not have to keep looking at it as it will sound a warning if it thinks you are leaving the track. Many days I forgot it was running until it beeped at me!

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I especially like the fact that you do not have to keep looking at it as it will sound a warning if it thinks you are leaving the track.

I wonder how many hours and kilometers that feature has saved me. Most of the time the yellow arrows are there but they are sometimes hidden very well.

 

[islandwalker]

2) When I became an unpaid member of Wikiloc I set the distance units I wanted to be feet and miles. I since took a paid membership and downloaded the app. On the camino, where I want metric measurements, I still get feet and miles. The app has no way that I see to switch units. I did change my settings at wikiloc.com but apparently the app doesn't check for changes. I think that if I delete the app and reinstall it I'll get the metric measurements but I'm unwilling to play with things like that when I have something that works. I don't want to play with technology on camino.

Sorry I missed this when you first posted. You probably fixed it long ago, but if not, the setting to adjust the app is in Profile (bottom right) --> Settings (top right) --> Units, or at least that is the way it is on the iPhone app.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Sorry I missed this when you first posted. You probably fixed it long ago, but if not, the setting to adjust the app is in Profile (bottom right) --> Settings (top right) --> Units, or at least that is the way it is on the iPhone app.

Thank you. I don't remember seeing the setting button when on camino (but I've noticed it now) and in the four months since can't remember what I may have done in that time. Anyway, I'm back in the USA and the smartphone app is giving me miles. I still have the online website giving me kilometers. I'll reset that soon.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

A few more wikiloc oddities I've found.

The settings on the website and the app can have different units set (miles/kilometers).

If you are on the website and want to download one of your trails you can view "Your trails" and edit or delete them but you can't download them (as far as I've found). To get them do a general search for a members trails and then enter your account name.

If you are not a member of Wikiloc (it is free) then you can view trails on the website but you cannot download them. Members can download them from the website but apparently not from the app. Paying members get enhanced searching abilities.

 

[peregrina2000]

I think something has changed on Wikiloc, and I’m wondering if others have seen it and/or know how to work with it. It used to be that when I got on wikiloc.com, I could put in the towns I was looking for and wikiloc would take me to that part of the world. Now wikiloc is using my location and it’s harder for me to get to trails in Spain when I am in the US. The search function, I think, has changed. Has anyone else seen this?

 

[islandwalker]

Are you working on your computer or your phone? I've been researching tracks near the Mozarabe on my computer for the last few weeks and have not noticed any changes.
Here's something to try:

1. Save a page on your computer that is the Wikiloc map of a large area near where you are looking. For example, here is the page I have bookmarked on my computer. https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/map...=37.894795848739086,-3.511323894423945&page=1 Whenever I want to look for a trail on Wikiloc, I go to this bookmark, open it, and immediately see a map of Andalucia.
2. Then type a town name in the search bar on the top line, center left. Even if I type in the name of a place in Spain that is not in Andalucia, say "Astorga", for example, the Spain entries come up first.

Let me know if this doesn't work for you... I checked on the Wikiloc forums and didn't see any mention of a change in the search function.
Elaine

 

[caminka]

yup. wikiloc has updated its appearance and functions. not all are better, imo. there is no more world map as far as I could determine. instead, there is a new explore function.

if I try searching for trails and click on explore, it opens a pop-up which offers me trails in different countries.


I clicked on spain and got this. there is a lot more then just spain on the map but ok, you can zoom in.
I don't much like the new look of the trails list. there are less trails visible on the screen and their info is less clear. the 'eye' button which enables one to see the trail on the map is also a lot smaller and more hidden. but what I really don't like is that you cannot right-click a trail to open it in a new tab. you can only open it in the same tab as a map and that is really unpractical. I managed to bypass that by opening a picture in a new tab and then going to the trail that way but that is not an option if there are no pictures attached to the trail. you also cannot click on the author of the trail and open his/her profile from the map.


then I tried searching for a specific town in the provided box, I got the same choices as before the changes. it brought me in the general area of huesca on a map.

 

[peregrina2000]

Groan, if you have been following the saga of the Buen Camino App, you will see the same story and the obvious punch line — if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

 

[islandwalker]

yup. wikiloc has updated its appearance and functions. not all are better, imo. there is no more world map as far as I could determine. instead, there is a new explore function.

Wow - just in the time between when I wrote my original message and now, my screen has switched over to the new format, and complaints are being posted on the Wikiloc forum. Don't despair yet - they may fix it. They are pretty responsive to complaints.

 

[caminka]

I haven't been really following the buen camino app saga cause my phone is luckily, or unlickily, pretty stiff when it comes to apps (it's a microsoft so no surprise there). I use a computer. I can imagine that it's even less friendly on a lot smaller screen with no precise mouse for targeting.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

You can try having Google do some work for you. I tried this out today for the first time before I knew of any Wikiloc problem. My problem is on my desktop computer my OS and browser are so old many things don't work right (like seeing a search field).

I tell Google to only show results from wikiloc.com. Then I enter start and end points. I noticed that pages in many different languages show up so I picked one on English and saw the text "I've done this trail" shows up so I added that into the search since Hungarian pages are not likely to have that word.

So here is an example search:

site:wikiloc.com trail gr-11 elizondo bera

 

[peregrina2000]

Wow - just in the time between when I wrote my original message and now, my screen has switched over to the new format, and complaints are being posted on the Wikiloc forum. Don't despair yet - they may fix it. They are pretty responsive to complaints.

I just posted a complaint, but I’m not 100% sure I did it correctly. So if any other forum members want to lodge a complaint on the Wikiloc forum (and a suggestion to return to the old search function), would you also see if you can see my post in the wikiloc forum? If not, I will try to post it in the right place the next time.

 

[islandwalker]

It used to be that when I got on wikiloc.com, I could put in the towns I was looking for and wikiloc would take me to that part of the world. Now wikiloc is using my location and it’s harder for me to get to trails in Spain when I am in the US.

I just checked, using the new search feature in a private window, and you can still get around the "opening map" problem by using the bookmark trick I mentioned above of saving a Wikiloc search map of the area you are going to be searching in and then always opening your wikiloc searches from there - ie, by having a map of some part of Spain saved as a "favorite" on your toolbar. It doesn't matter what area you pick. You open to that and either zoom in (with lots more trails appearing) or zoom out, and you can quickly have the area you want.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

This post isn't about oddities; it's about sharing some newly acquired knowledge.


On computers you may notice that the URL of a trail may be shown. For example:
https://es.wikiloc.com/rutas-senderismo/via-de-bayona-bayona-irun-10095545


If you want an English version of the page change the /es. to /en.


Notice the URL has a modified name of the trail in the URL and that is followed by an ID number. In this case it is 10095545. You can use that ID number (and just the ID number) in the search box on the Wikiloc app to go directly to that track. Also, you can use it to get to viewing and downloading pages on the computer if you stick it at the end of special URLS. Here are examples:
https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=10095545
https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/download.do?id=10095545

 

[islandwalker]

I just posted a complaint, but I’m not 100% sure I did it correctly. So if any other forum members want to lodge a complaint on the Wikiloc forum (and a suggestion to return to the old search function), would you also see if you can see my post in the wikiloc forum? If not, I will try to post it in the right place the next time.

I do not see your post on either the English or the Spanish forum, Laurie. Is this where you posted it?

Wikiloc's Forum • View forum - Questions, help, problems... all about Wikiloc

GPS trail and waypoints of the world

www.wikiloc.com

 

[peregrina2000]

I do not see your post on either the English or the Spanish forum, Laurie. Is this where you posted it?

Wikiloc's Forum • View forum - Questions, help, problems... all about Wikiloc

GPS trail and waypoints of the world

www.wikiloc.com

Yes! I see it. It’s not a new thread, just a comment on another thread. Fingers crossed. And sorry, Rick, if I am derailing this thread.

I am glad to see there are workarounds, which I will reluctantly try when I am back on my computer, but would oh so prefer to have the same old same old search function!

 

[islandwalker]

but what I really don't like is that you cannot right-click a trail to open it in a new tab. you can only open it in the same tab as a map and that is really unpractical. I managed to bypass that by opening a picture in a new tab and then going to the trail that way but that is not an option if there are no pictures attached to the trail. you also cannot click on the author of the trail and open his/her profile from the map.

To me, this is the worst problem of the new changes. Thank you for the tip of right-clicking on the photo (if it is a track that has photos) to make it open in a new window. That works for trails with photos, but it is very cumbersome, as you said, for trails without photos. I am going to put a post on the Wikiloc forum.

 

[islandwalker]

It’s not a new thread, just a comment on another thread.

I see it on the Wikiloc forum now, Laurie. It must have just taken a few minutes to show up. I'm working on a post for that forum also.

We just tried various browsers to see if we could get around the removal of the "open in a new tab" feature, but cannot find a way to circumvent it in either Safari or Chrome. For tracks with a photo, you can click on the photo, as caminka says, but what a loss not to be able to do that for all tracks.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I requested Laurie to change this thread's title. Now it's almost a Wikiloc sub-forum of the GPS sub-forum. Thank you Laurie.

 

[islandwalker]

For a workaround to get two or more tracks open at once, each in its own tab or window, in order to compare them, here's a way that works for me. These steps are for a computer, not the app.

• On the search page, for tracks that have photos, right click. (Thanks, caminka)
• On the search page, for tracks that do not have photos, click on the heart symbols to add them all to a list. Then open the list from your profile (top right corner). Right click to "open in a new tab" still works in the list. When done, click on "remove from list".

This method is not ideal by any means, but for me, it's faster than copying and pasting the url's.

I emailed wikiloc support to report this problem, and they emailed me beck to say they had "filed an internal bug report for you. The technical team will review it and prioritize it along with other ongoing work." If anyone else want to email them, the address is support@wikiloc.com.

 

[peregrina2000]

For a workaround to get two or more tracks open at once, each in its own tab or window, in order to compare them, here's a way that works for me. These steps are for a computer, not the app.

• On the search page, for tracks that have photos, right click. (Thanks, caminka)
• On the search page, for tracks that do not have photos, click on the heart symbols to add them all to a list. Then open the list from your profile (top right corner). Right click to "open in a new tab" still works in the list. When done, click on "remove from list".

This method is not ideal by any means, but for me, it's faster than copying and pasting the url's.

I emailed wikiloc support to report this problem, and they emailed me beck to say they had "filed an internal bug report for you. The technical team will review it and prioritize it along with other ongoing work." If anyone else want to email them, the address is support@wikiloc.com.

I just wrote to that email address begging them to make wikiloc great again and restore the original search function. Fingers crossed, thanks for the email address. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[caminka]

For a workaround to get two or more tracks open at once, each in its own tab or window, in order to compare them, here's a way that works for me. These steps are for a computer, not the app.

• On the search page, for tracks that have photos, right click. (Thanks, caminka)
• On the search page, for tracks that do not have photos, click on the heart symbols to add them all to a list. Then open the list from your profile (top right corner). Right click to "open in a new tab" still works in the list. When done, click on "remove from list".

This method is not ideal by any means, but for me, it's faster than copying and pasting the url's.

thanks for the second tip, @islandwalker! it's still way too much clicking and pottering around, but at least it's a solution.
fingers crossed this function will get restored.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Good news folks.

On a Wikiloc page showing a list of trails I got a single click on a link to a trail to automatically open the page in a new tab and have the focus change so you are in the new tab. You don't even have to use a pop-up menu to do this. A single click!

Clicking with the middle button/scroll wheel will do the trick. I've tested this on Windows 10 with the Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Opera and Edge browsers.

The bad news:

That Explore feature where you can drill down from a country to smaller units does not work on all browsers. On most it stops at the country level. That's the case with the Chrome, Brave and Edge browsers. With Firefox and Opera you can drill down. Oddly the list of countries can be in different orders on different browsers.

 

[peregrina2000]

Just got an email from wikiloc. This is very encouraging!

Hello Laurie,

We are working several options to improve the "text" search with the new plataform, to make it work like before, without the location filtering. Right now you can do "text" searches worldwide like with the old search if you hide the map (top right of screen, when in the map page) and do the "text" search. You should get the same results as before.

Please stay tuned for the next weeks-months to see the changes.

Thank you for your feedback.

Best regards.

 

[islandwalker]

Clicking with the middle button/scroll wheel will do the trick. I've tested this on Windows 10 with the Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Opera and Edge browsers.

Yay! I am so happy! Using the scroll wheel to open the track in a new tab works on my Macbook Pro in both Safari and Chrome. Rick, I am so grateful that you found this trick and posted it. I spent a whole day looking for workarounds and never thought to try clicking with the scroll wheel. Whew! You just made my day - an especially nice contrast to the rest of today's news, since we live near to what the press is now calling the epicenter of coronavirus in the US. Who knows - sitting inside researching Wikiloc tracks may be a safe activity for weeks to come!

Laurie, that email is certainly a promising response. There were numerous postings today about this issue on the Spanish portion of the Wikiloc forum, so I think they are realizing they have a lot of unhappy users.

Wikiloc's Forum • Página principal

GPS trail and waypoints of the world

es.wikiloc.com

Elaine

 

[caminka]

On a Wikiloc page showing a list of trails I got a single click on a link to a trail to automatically open the page in a new tab and have the focus change so you are in the new tab. You don't even have to use a pop-up menu to do this. A single click!

that is brilliant, thank you!
if you scroll-wheel-click on the author of the trail, it will also open that trail in a new tab.
the trick now is to remember this and not left-or-right-click the link.

 

[islandwalker]

There have been quite a few comments on the Spanish language Wikiloc forum in recent days about the glitches in the new version of the program. One person who posts on both the English and the Spanish forum has summarized the issues, forwarded them to Wikiloc support, posted their reply (see post #5 by Nofahuer, and also the first reply by larra25 that has some good examples in it), and also posted some clarifications of how the new search function works. I think the most important tip to be aware of is how the "Search for routes in this area with the text ' .........' " works, and where and when it appears. Below is Nofahuer's resume of the changes:

Here is my experience with the new trail searching functionality (as before, the result lists only show trails that start within the map at the rigth; so, sometimes you will need to move or zoom it and, if the Search as I move the map option is off, click on the Redo search here button):​

1. Just as you put the cursor within the searching text box (that presently shows the suggestion Search for trails) a drop down appears offering two choices:
   • Nearby trails
     • Recent searches: a list allowing us to repeat one of our most recent searches.
2. As we type our searching criterium, the drop down choices will change to:
   • Nearby trails
     • List of world locations whose name includes the typed characters.
     • Search for trails in this area with the text: 'typed characters'.

Now that we know the new searching choices, let us see the results they produce when we click on one of them:​

• Nearby trails: the highest trail rank routes starting within the map at the right. Active filters: none. Searching text box: empty.
  • One world location of the list: trails around that location (the location will appear in the centre of the map). Active filters: none. Searching text box: the world location name.
  • Search for trails in this area with the text 'typed characters': trails that, starting within the map geographical scope, include the typed text in either their name or description. Active filters: "typed characters". Searching text box: empty.

For searching trails published by a specific user you will have to:​

1. From the pages with the About Wikiloc section (it is located at their bottom), click on Community members link.
   1. Search for the specific user within the showed list.
   2. Click on the specific user name in order to access to their profile screen, that shows a list with all their public trails.
   3. Only for premium users: click on the Show map button.

 

[islandwalker]

Yesterday the Wikiloc programmers resolved the "open in a new window" problem. As before, you can now open a track in a new tab or window by clicking with the right mouse button or by pressing the <Ctrl> or <Command> key while clicking with the left button.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Just FYI.

I got to wondering if there was an easier way to take a track that wasn't on the Wikiloc website and get it into the Wikiloc app without putting it onto the website first. It occurred to me that maybe the type-in field would work if you entered the URL of a track.

It doesn't work.

 

[islandwalker]

I got to wondering if there was an easier way to take a track that wasn't on the Wikiloc website and get it into the Wikiloc app without putting it onto the website first.

Rick, it seems like I've seen that info somewhere, but I just looked around in my files and can't find it anywhere. I'm guessing you've already seen these pages, but do either of them help? Probably not, because they seem to require the use of the Wikiloc web page...

How to upload a trail from the Web - Wikiloc Help

From the Trail Upload page, you can upload routes to your Wikiloc account in different ways: From the Android [Google Play] or iOS [Apple] App. From the Web wit

help.wikiloc.com

How to upload a trail from a Trail File (gpx) - Wikiloc Help

Do you want to know how to upload a route from a Track File? From Wikiloc's Website, you can upload trails from a file saved on your computer in the following f

help.wikiloc.com

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I'm guessing you've already seen these pages, but do either of them help? Probably not, because they seem to require the use of the Wikiloc web page...

I've not seen any help at Wikiloc or elsewhere. I thought a URL might be an undocumented feature because things could go haywire if the GPS file was badly formated. I'll give things some more thought before asking for an enhancement. Like requesting getting a file from the device's file system too. There are some other problems I see with this that I want to consider before contacting Wikiloc (comes from a bit of software quality background).

 

[islandwalker]

There are also two Wikiloc user forums, one in English and one in Spanish, but you don't always get an answer...

Wikiloc's Forum • View forum - Questions, help, problems... all about Wikiloc

GPS trail and waypoints of the world

www.wikiloc.com

Wikiloc's Forum • Ver foro - Preguntas, ayuda, problemas... sobre Wikiloc

GPS trail and waypoints of the world

es.wikiloc.com

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Just FYI.

I got to wondering if there was an easier way to take a track that wasn't on the Wikiloc website and get it into the Wikiloc app without putting it onto the website first. It occurred to me that maybe the type-in field would work if you entered the URL of a track.

It doesn't work.

I found a way to open gpx files downloaded to the smartphone but it isn't working for kml files.

You use a file manager app to find the file, select it to open and choose Wikiloc. Apparently, on my phone at least, Wikiloc is not registering itself as an app that can handle kml files.

Still unresolved is getting Wikiloc to open a file on the web with the file's URL.

 

[peregrina2000]

On the camino, where I want metric measurements, I still get feet and miles. The app has no way that I see to switch units. I did change my settings at wikiloc.com but apparently the app doesn't check for changes.

Rick, have you sent wikiloc the question? They are very good about responding. They used to have an internet forum,kind of like our forum, but discontinued it for lack of interest. But I have sent them questions and they are very helpful. support@wikiloc.com

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

The app now has a way to swap units in profile > settings (its at the very top but in my option camouflaged, dark green in green under dark green where most of the screen is white). Not sure how long its been there.

Another problem is that forum members can't edit old posts to reflect new realities (just an elbow into your ribs). It's likely I would have edited my original post long ago.

I know the problems and history. Just griping anyway.