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November 6, 2023 15 mins

Ready to unlock the secrets of Australia's outback with your own four wheels? Buckle up for an enlightening journey as we dissect the intricacies of the ExplorOz Traveller App, a vital companion for every intrepid adventurer looking to quench their thirst for the Australian wilderness. Promising a wealth of information, from offline access to high-resolution EOTopo Maps of Australia to a library of nearly 200 Explorer's Treks and a database bursting with over 100,000 points of interest, this app is the key to transforming your travel experiences. Seasoned travellers and those planning their first outback journey will find a treasure trove of curated insights and tips from those who've trodden the path before you. 

Ever wished you could trace your route, save those magical moments, and share your tracks with fellow explorers? The ExplorOz Traveller App transcends the usual GPS functionality and brings a wealth of sharable, data-rich content to your fingertips. Learn how to create comprehensive track logs full of tantalising details about the history and wildlife of the areas you traverse, all gleaned from fellow travellers who've ventured to remote corners since 2006. This episode illuminates the power of this app, promising to revolutionise how you capture and share your adventures across Australia's diverse landscape. Prepare for a deep dive into the ExplorOz Traveller App - your ticket to an enriched travel experience.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi.
So in this episode we thoughtwe would cover off a little bit
about the Explorer Os Travelerapp and the purpose of it, what
it does, what its functions are.
So we have touched on a fewlittle comments in previous
episodes.
For those listeners that haveheard those, oh my god, you've
just got to have a look.
What's happening right now.

(00:20):
We have two Kegaroos look,they're not on set.
Someone take a picture.
They're really cool.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
We'll get a photo of those for you at home when
you're watching the listening tothe blog and also I wish I
could show listeners what we'resitting on right now, because
this is a gorgeous big tree log.
They can see it on the video,Okay this big tree log.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
I love the seat cut into it.
So, anyway, we thought we'd sithere today.
The Explorer Os Traveler appwas developed purely as a
mechanism to enable anyone tohave access to download the
whole of Australia EO Topo Mapsso that you can carry them with
you in your back pocket, on yourphone, on your tablet, for the
whole of Australia and have highresolution offline maps.

(01:05):
Obviously, it works offline ifyou've got the maps downloaded,
and it works offline to showyour location on the map because
you use a device like a phonethat has a built-in GPS.
There are a couple of devicesfor which you need to actually
get an external GPS, things likeWi-Fi only iPads and laptops,
but the app will work on allthose devices.

(01:26):
So it's as simple as having theGPS enabled device and
downloading the offline maps,and you're right to go.
One, download it and it's allthere.
You don't have to do any ofthis, selecting a portion of the
map and then only havingyourself restricted to that
portion of the map while you'reoffline.
You've got access to the wholeof Australia.
So those functions are what'sbuilt into the Explorer's

(01:49):
Traveler app.
On top of that, all the contentthat we've been curating over
the last, you know, 20 years onthe website.
These are the Explorer's Treks,of which there's almost 200 of
those, and the 100,000 POIdatabase, which we call
Explorer's Places.
All that content is deliveredfree in the downloadables.

(02:12):
When you first set up the appand obviously, when you get an
app, you're online, you'redownloading the app through the
app store and at the same time,when you open the app, you're
online and you're creating youraccount, you're logging in and
you do your downloads at thatpoint.
At that point, you can then gooffline and the Explorer's
Traveler app is designed thatyou can do all your looking at

(02:35):
the map, looking where you areon the map, looking at what's
around you on the map with thoseplaces, and having access to
pre-planned navigation routes,which are Explorer's Treks.
All offline, nothing more to do.
But on top of that, there'seven more features.
And, look, the app has actuallybecome very complex and
data-rich because it's been usednow for over seven years by

(02:58):
really hardcore outbacktravelers, people that really
are very enthusiastic aboutfour-wheel drive travels.
These are people that areregularly going out solo into
the deserts and doing K-Piawkand the Kimberley and all the
destinations that people want togo, and they are contributing
back into it.
So some of this informationfrom these people was being put

(03:23):
into our content.
Even before we had the appavailable for people to use,
they were using the facilitiesonline on our website.
So some of the content that youget in the app actually
contains historical informationthat dates all the way back to
around about 2006.
I've been noticing some placecomments so we've got some

(03:44):
enthusiastic travelers that havebeen to some remote places,
such as in the Root or RiverNational Park, talking about
some really hardcore tracks thatare very difficult to navigate
and looking at different soaksand springs, aboriginal
engravings and petroglyphs thatthey're found along the way that
a lot of people don't knowabout and that don't exist.

(04:05):
If you just are using our appand you're offline and you find
yourself in a situation you canjust look around you when you've
got the app in front of you andit will show you these points
of interest without you havingmade a pre-concerted plan to
actually go and research thatyourself.
And when you're offline, thisinformation is all interactive.

(04:26):
It has photos, it has comments,it's got all the updates.
You know exactly what date thecomment and the review for the
place was put in and thoseupdates are very visible.
Something we do quitedifferently to some of the other
popular travel apps out thereabout this destination content
that you see with these placemarkers on the map, is that we

(04:48):
don't use generic statements tosay this is a rest area, blah,
blah, blah.
We'll actually hand curate thatinformation specific to that
site.
So it's Just because it is arest area doesn't mean it has a
generic statement, and thenyou've got to go and read the
reviews to find out what'sunique about this spot compared
to another spot that's a restarea.

(05:09):
In our app we'll actually giveyou hand curated information so
it might tell you oh, there's amemorial plaque to you know air
over there and you can go andhave a read about it.
It'll also tell you all theunique features, such as what
wildlife might come, any of thehistorical information about
early explorers that may havepassed through there, and

(05:30):
there's a lot of thatinformation in the places, just
for the geography points ofinterest.
A lot of Australia's mountains alot of people don't realise
have so much history behind themand that's something that we
really want to bring alive forthe people that use our app,
because when you travel, it'sjust not about getting to the
destination, setting up camp andsaying, woohoo, I've got here.

(05:51):
Sure, okay, I understand.
But for a lot of people thatbecome really involved in the
traveling experience, it's moreabout well, how do I open my
eyes and really embrace what I'mexperiencing here?
It's not just I've driven 500kilometres today.
It's what.
What did you experience alongthe way, where you were, where
you were traveling in thefootsteps of some of our early

(06:14):
pioneers?
How can you understand thehardships of people that lived
in those days?
What's that shack over there?
You can actually go and tap anicon on our map.
It'll tell you the history.
So we've got certain icons thathave a different symbol to
describe what they are.
So we have 74, I think,different POI types.

(06:35):
One of them is historic site,for example, and so if you can
see this brown circle with theletter H in it, that's a
historic site.
And you know, oh, if I tap that, I'm going to get some factual
information which I might findinteresting.
Look, you may not.
That may not be for you.
You may be more interested ingoing.
Oh, free camp, that's what Iwant to find out about.

(06:56):
And so we have everything fromfree camps, paid camps, caravan
parks, resorts, cabins, b&bsthose type of things.
We really don't focus so muchon the the, the more resort
style accommodation that's inyour capital city.
So I can tell you right now, ifyou're looking for hotels in in
surface paradise- use anotherapp.

(07:19):
That's not what we're aboutbecause there are other apps
that provide that we're nottrying to duplicate will be a
mainstream tourism travel app.
This really is.
The explorers traveler app isfor people that are prepared to
explore and travel and be reallywanting to discover off the
mainstream, and that's whatwe're focused on in terms of the

(07:41):
content delivery in thesupplied explorers places.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
I mean it comes from our.
It comes from our development,because in our previous
discussions that we've had withyou, you know we've been saying
how we've born a lot of thisbased on our experience or what
we've wanted or what we'veneeded, and one of the things
that's very apparent, or it'scertainly apparent to Michelle
and I I don't know how manypeople do this, but we don't

(08:05):
travel with an agenda when we goaway.
We just go and we rely on ourapp exclusively to help us once
we get out there.
So you know, instead ofspending weeks and months before
we go meticulously planningeverywhere we're going to be
each day, we just want to go toa certain location and then find

(08:26):
out everything that's in thatarea that we can possibly do,
and then we just move up thehighway or move up the road a
little bit further and do thesame thing again, and so it
lends itself to having all ofthat content directly accessible
in your hand everywhere, whereyou are, all the time, no matter
where you are.
Where it is in Australia, ifit's, if it's decent and worth
seeing.

(08:46):
We hope you see it on ourExplore Travel Ruff, and that
was kind of the intent of howwe've built all of that.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Whilst we're quite different to other people,
that's because we're fortunateand we work for ourselves.
I mean the reality of life formost people is they've only got
four weeks annual leave.
And these days we all know thatadvanced booking, even in a
national park, even if it's a,you know, very basic bush camp,
has to be booked ahead of timeor you'll turn up and there's no

(09:12):
site and that's reallydisappointing.
And so I get, I fully get why alot of people are in a
different situation to us but Iunderstand what Dave is trying
to explain here.
It is such that, if your planschange, you've had a breakdown
and, oh my god, the car's beenput on the back of the truck and
now you've got a higher car andyou still want to continue your
journey.
You can abandon whatever theplan was and travel with

(09:35):
confidence using our app,because, without any planning
and without being online, allthe facts all the information
you need and all the routes areall there for you.
We use.
Something I need to explainhere a lot.
It comes up a lot of time isthe legend in the map.
To understand what does it mean?
What am I looking at?
So the first thing people seeis red lines on the map.

(09:55):
Some are dashed or dotted linesand some are solid lines.
So just very quickly, as alegend, every red road on the
map, whether it's a solid lineor a dash line, is a road or a
track.
So solid lines means it'ssealed.
Bitching my eyes tar.

(10:17):
The red lines that are dashed ordotted, that means that's
unsealed.
Now, if you look carefully,when you use the app, the
thickness of these roads changes.
So an unsealed road, as we allknow, could be like a
superhighway.
That's called a primaryunsealed road.
And then you've got secondaryunsealed roads, tertiary
unsealed roads, and then itcomes right down to really minor

(10:39):
two-wheel bush tracks, of whichyou need a four-wheel drive.
So the thickness of that dottedline the thinner it gets, the
more off-road, the more narrow,more minor the track is.
So you can use that veryquickly as a visual guide to
understand what you're readingon the map.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
You don't need any other information to tell you
about the road so you can searchyour capabilities.
I don't want to do any dashedlines, I only want the solid
lines.
Yes, so you just follow it orI'm happy with Great Central
Road.
So it's a big thick, you knowline with dashes versus a little
teeny-weenie line.
You can be fairly confidentthat you're not going to end up
on some horrible four-wheeldrive you know legendary thing

(11:18):
when you're really just tryingto navigate between two
locations.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, the style sheet in our app.
As we've mentioned in earlierpodcast episodes that we've done
, there's 260 data elements inthe app and roads is just one of
those.
Okay, but I understand thatroads is really important to
people.
But we have a legend that'sdynamic and what that means is
you can tap the map when thedynamic legend is activated,

(11:43):
which you do in the map layers,and anywhere that you tap your
finger on the screen, a pop-upbox will display a list of all
the different data elements atthat point and so obviously, if
you zoomed in and you've gotsuper detail, you'll get less
than if you zoomed out andbecause your fat finger is going
to pop up a large area.

(12:04):
If you understand what I mean,this way you can see the legend
definition, because we've gotdifferent colour coding for
different land type uses.
So native tidal versus stateforest versus national parks,
there's pink-looking lakesversus blue-looking lakes.
Tap the legend and have a lookat what that means.
That will tell you straightaway on the map screen.

(12:26):
So those sorts of features aredigital legend.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
We need to talk about the tracking system.
We haven't really gone throughthat within the travel app and
the app component Turning on thetracking system.
So one of the other things thatwe've always kind of or we've
done for a number of years, evenbefore the apps came out, we
had a tracking service wherepeople with different devices
and it started out with spotmessages and spot satellite

(12:49):
services and things like that,and there's in reach and a whole
load of other ones and wecreated an interface for those
to basically allow family andfriends to see where people are
on a map of Australia using theEOTOPO map.
So I've got that nice detailand nice information available
to show people's journeys usinga tracking system.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
But also as a backup.
People want to have ahistorical, so it's
automatically uploading andsaving, so within the app itself
.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
We have a tracking system.
You can flick on a littleswitch and every position that
you touch as you move aroundwill be sent to our server and
it will be stored and be able torender on a map or save for
future uses and things like that.
The app is also alwaysrecording you, recording when
it's open and when it's running.

(13:35):
Every time you move aroundthere is a database being
generated or the positions arebeing saved within your device
and so that you can export thoselater.
So I've gone for a great runaround the park today.
I can take my phone later and Ican say, oh, extract, give me
all the positions from today andI can then see my little circle
so I can create a track.

(13:56):
We call it a track log and it'sbasically an output, rendering
or a version of that day'sjourney on a map that you can
keep forever and use.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
But that's shareable too.
There's a lot you can do withthat track log data.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Yeah, and so you can share those with us.
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