Mapcial Beta

Mapcial is a location based social mapping application that allows you to subscribe to public and private events.

Note, until you subscribe to an event you won't see any other information on the screen.

When you subscribe to an event you can:

- See and share your location on the map.

- See all the other event subscribers' current location.

- Message other event subscribers.

- Browse the event's Points of Interest (POI) and routes to find further information.


The 'Android Users on Mapcial' event is a social event where users can meet and is a simple map with a few POIs to investigate.


The user guide for Mapcial can be found on the developer's website:  http://softwyer.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/mapcial-user-guide/


Events are based around user generated content from Google maps (My Maps).  These can show Points of Interest (POI) and routes, along with full informational content in HTML format.  Mapcial renders this information accurately on the Android device.


Mapcial is similar in concept to Google Lattitude, but is more anonymous and allows you to message other subscribers.  Mapcial has the following features:


- Optionally run as a service to update your location at pre-set intervals.

- Autofollow to track your location on the map.

- Find users and orient the map on their location.

- Subscribe to preset public events.

- Send a message to users of the same events

- Ignore users you don't want to see or receive messages from.

- Set 'My Place' to be a default location that is shown when you are not using the application for privacy purposes.

- Render HTML based information associated with the POI including linking through to other web sites


Mapcial will be released with free and paid options.  The free version will allow you to subscribe to one event only (you can currently subscribe to many).  The paid version will allow you to subscribe to multiple events and register new events, using the Google Map's URL.


Currently there is no 'Pro' application, but the developers are happy to register any public maps that you know of or have created.  Just email us with the URL to the map and we'll do the rest.


Planned Features

- A paid version that allows you to register your own events.

- Branded versions of Mapcial for specific events, such as the Walk-2012 application.


Current Limitations

- No ability to subscribe to private events.

- Polygons are not rendered filled.


Caveats

- Using Google maps requires good network connectivity and you may be charged to download map and event data.

- It's a beta application.  We have taken care to ensure that the application performs well, but there will be events that we have not foreseen that can cause the application to fail or crash.

- Because it's beta, we'll be delivering frequent bug fixes and adding new features.  Check on the Android Market to receive these updates.

- Mapcial Server is running on Google's App Engine.  Google offer free server hosting as long as you remain within their free quota limits.  Once the server has reached this quota Mapcial requests will be rejected.


Privacy concerns

- Your location *WILL* be visible to other event subscribers for one day.  If this concerns you then you are advised to not try the application.  Note that you can set an 'away' location by using 'My Place' for when you are not using the application.  Alternatively, if you unsubscribe before exiting, then no location will be shown.

- You may get unsolicited messages from other users.  We cannot take responsibility for the content of these messages, however if you suffer harassment you can report users to us and we will take action to remove them.  You can also block users whom you no longer want to see or receive messages from.

The purpose of this beta release is to garner feedback on usage and problems.  Mapcial has been tested only on a limited number of physical devices.  We would like to hear of these issues and you can email us at mapcial @ softwyer.com