Tripline Beta – Known Issues
Welcome Beta users! Here’s a list of known issues on the site. We’ll update you on progress as often as we can.
Browser Compatibility
- We support Internet Explorer 8+, Firefox 3+, Safari 4+, Chrome and Opera. We don’t support IE6, IE7 or Firefox 2.x. If you’re seeing the Unsupported Browser page, you’ll need to upgrade your browser to a newer version:
- Internet Explorer 9: www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/
- Google Chrome: google.com/chrome
- Firefox 3+: getfirefox.com
- Safari: apple.com/safari
- I have Internet Explorer 8, but I’m still seeing the Unsupported Browser Page If this is happening to you, chances are you have a “Nested UA String”, probably caused by toolbars and other addons that aren’t built correctly. It’s a bit complicated to fix this issue since you’ll have to edit your registry keys, but here’s a link to a post that explains what to do: enhanceie.com/ie/troubleshoot.asp#nestedUA
- I have Internet Explorer 9, but I’m still seeing the Unsupported Browser Page If this is happening to you, chances are you’re running in “Compatibility Mode”. Sometimes this gets set inadvertently when you visit certain websites. Here’s a link that explains how to turn off compatibility mode: windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/products/ie-9/features/compatibility-view
Importing Places (Foursquare, Twitter, Tripit, Gowalla)
- The times on my imported places are incorrect.
- Foursquare: Fixed! We’re now importing your Foursquare checkins with the correct time based on the venue timezone provided by Foursquare. Sorry it took us so long to get this one done.
- Twitter: Still an issue. The date/time on your tweets is stored as Zulu time (GMT). Twitter doesn’t provide the GMT offset with your Tweets, so we’re using the timezone on your user profile for the offset. As soon as we can, we’re going to implement an offset lookup on our side so we can convert the times correctly. (Workaround: You can always edit the times manually in the Tripline editor)
- Tripit: Not normally an issue. Tripit sends most times already offset to local time, so we just import what they send us directly. That means the times on your imported Tripit maps will be local times, which is the most useful we think. There are some cases where the time we get from Tripit might not be local, so if that happens to you, send an email to support@tripline.net and we’ll look into it. (Workaround: You can always edit the times manually in the Tripline editor)
- Gowalla: Still an issue. The date/time on your Gowalla checkins is stored as Zulu time (GMT). Gowalla doesn’t provide the GMT offset with your checkins, so as soon as we can, we’re going to implement an offset lookup on our side so we can convert the times correctly. (Workaround: You can always edit the times manually in the Tripline editor)
Thumbnails
- When I post to Facebook, the thumbnail isn’t a picture of my map. Since our thumbnails are actually map images created by Google Maps and Facebook’s system generates the links, Facebook very quickly exceeds Google’s rate limits and the result is a missing image. There’s no way for us to detect that this will happen, so the only fix is for us to use a default Tripline image as a thumbnail. We’re working on better solutions.
- Some of my map thumbnails are missing points and lines. The Google Maps service that we use for Thumbnails has a problem with certain maps that cross the International Date Line…gotta love spherical geometry. We’re working on a fix.
Map Page
- In Chrome, the first photo in a set opens in a really small window, frame is sized incorrectly for subsequent photos. Solved! The cause of this problem is the Ad Block extension. Prior to the latest AdBlock release, you could just add “tripline.net” to the Excluded Sites list, but that no longer works. The only solution is to completely disable AdBlock. Bummer. Here’s the Ad Block bug thread if you’re interested in following their progress
Tripline Mobile
- I’m getting a “Data Connectivity Error when trying to access mobile.tripline.net on my Android phone. We’ve had numerous reports of this issue. Click here for more information.
- Some people can’t sign in to mobile.tripline.net on Blackberry. Intermittent issue, we’re investigating. Clearing memory cache and cookies solved the problem for one person who reported this.
- Layout broken on older Blackberry browsers. Some of the new functionality on the Tripline Mobile site is using elements that older Blackberry Browsers don’t support. We suggest changing your browser to Opera Mini, it’s a lot faster anyway. Just go to m.opera.com on your Blackberry and install the Opera Mini browser.
Why doesn’t my Facebook map show everything?
If your Facebook map doesn’t show everything that you can see on the main Facebook site (friends’ checkins, current location, hometown etc.), your friends may have configured their privacy settings to prevent external applications from accessing their location data. It’s also possible that your friends haven’t entered location information (current location, hometown), and Facebook may not provide coordinates for some places. We display all of the data we have access to.
If your map isn’t loading at all, that’s caused by a permissions issue with the Facebook API. Try clicking on the Tripline logo to refresh the page.
Can I upload photos from Tripline Mobile?
Yes, if you’re using the Tripline app for iPhone/iPad. Here’s a description of how it works: blog.tripline.net/iphone-users-you-can-now-add-photos-to-your-checkins/
The non-iPhone mobile site (mobile.tripline.net) does not yet support photo uploads.
Can I change the name of the Tripline tab on my Facebook Fan Page?
Yes. If you’ve installed the Tripline Maps tab on your Facebook Fan page, it’s very easy to change the name of the tab displayed to users.
Here’s what to do:
- Go to your Facebook Fan Page
- Click on the Edit Info link at the top of the page (you need to be signed in as an admin to see this)
- Click on Apps in the left column
- Scroll to Tripline
- Click Edit Settings
- Enter a custom tab name and click [Save], then click [Okay]
- Scroll to the top of the page and click [View Page] to see the new tab name displayed
Can I connect my account to a Facebook Fan Page?
Yes you can! This is a feature we launched recently, and it enables you to publish your Tripline checkins to your Facebook Fan Page (instead of your personal Facebook page), and also allows you to add a Tripline Maps tab to your Fan Page.
Here’s a link to a blog post with instructions: blog.tripline.net/new-features-for-facebook-fan-pages/
Can I share to a Facebook page?
Yes, if you’re the administrator of a Facebook page (for a business, band, etc.) it’s easy to share a Tripline map directly to that page. Here’s what to do:
- Go to the map page on Tripline
- Click the [< Share] button on the map page (next to Edit Map)
- Click the [f Share] button in the popup dialog
- Select Share: “On Your Page”
- Enter a message and click [Share Link]
- The map will be posted to the selected Facebook page
Sharing to a Facebook page
How to fix errors caused by Avast Antivirus
If you’re a Windows user with Avast AntiVirus installed, you’re probably seeing a warning message when you try to open a Tripline map, and the Tripline player doesn’t load. This post explains what ‘s happening and what you can do to fix it.
What’s Happening
Avast (and other anti-virus programs) have recently enabled features to detect what they call “suspicious activities” by websites. One of the things they look for is communication to and from websites hosted on different domains, especially when that communication happens from embedded objects (like the Tripline player). In our case, the Tripline player (hosted on tripline.net) talks to the Google Maps API (hosted on maps.googleapis.com ) which in turn talks to the Tripline player. This is what Avast considers suspicious, so it blocks the loading of the Tripline player. This started happening today (June 23, 2011), due to an update that was automatically distributed to Avast users. Obviously, there’s nothing actually suspicious or nefarious going on with Tripline or Google Maps…it’s just a glitch in the matrix so to speak. We’ve contacted Avast and we hope they’re able to resolve the issue soon.
How To Fix
There are two ways to get rid of the error. The first is to completely disable web filtering by Avast. This is the easiest thing to do, but if you’re concerned about security on other sites, it may not be the best approach.
Option 1 – Disable Avast Web Filtering
- Open the Avast console
- Click on the Real Time Shields menu item
- Click on Web Shield menu item
- Uncheck the Scan web (HTTP) traffic option
- Close the Avast console
- Reload Tripline in your browser
The second option is to tell Avast not to worry about communication from maps.googleapis.com. This is the safest way to go, since web filtering will still be active for other sites.
Option 2 – Add maps.googleapis.com/* to the exclusion list
- Open the Avast console
- Click on the Real Time Shields menu item
- Click on Web Shield menu item
- Click on the Expert Settings button
- Click on the Exclusions menu item
- Add maps.googleapis.com/* to the list of URLs to exclude
- Click OK at the bottom right
- Close the Avast console
- Reload Tripline in your browser
Adding an URL to exclusions in Avast
Obviously, this is a very frustrating situation for us, and we hope it hasn’t disrupted your day too much. We’re going to keep hounding Avast until they get this issue cleared up. We understand that they are security conscious, but there are always cases on the web that involve communication between different services, so we hope they can keep the Tripline case in mind as they roll out future updates.
We’d like to thank Tripline user Absolute Latin America for bringing this to our attention this morning, and also Byron’s dad for letting us remote connect to his computer on the East Coast (he’s running Avast) so we could figure out how to fix it.
Please send an email to support@tripline.net if you have any questions.
How can I make my photo uploads go faster?
The easiest way to make your photo uploads go faster is to downsize your photos before uploading.
- Using your favorite desktop photo software (Picasa, iPhoto etc.), select the photos you want to upload, and export them to a folder on your desktop. Usually the Export commands are in the File menu.
- During the export process, choose a small or medium size, and make sure you keep location information!
- Once you’re done with the export, upload the smaller photos.
You’ll be surprised how much faster your uploads will be, and most of the time you won’t notice the quality difference.
How do I embed a map in a WordPress blog?
Embedding a Tripline map in a WordPress blog is as easy as embedding a YouTube video…in fact, it’s the exact same process.
If you have a WordPress blog that you host yourself
- Go to the map page on the Tripline site
- Click [SHARE] at the bottom right of the player or click the [Share] button on the page
- Copy the player embed code
- Go to your WordPress blog
- Create a new post
- IMPORTANT: Switch to HTML view by clicking on the HTML tab at the top right of the post editing form.
- Paste the embed code in the body of the post
- Publish your post!
Here’s an example of how it looks:
If you have a free blog hosted on wordpress.com
WordPress has recently disabled the ability to embed Flash objects (like the Tripline player) on free blogs hosted on wordpress.com. If that’s the type of blog you’re using, your best option is to embed a thumbnail image for your map that will point people to the Tripline site.
Here’s what to do:
- Go to the map page on the Tripline site
- Click the [Share] button on the page
- Copy the code from the “Embed Thumbnail” field
- Go to your WordPress blog
- Create a new post
- IMPORTANT: Switch to HTML view by clicking on the HTML tab at the top right of the post editing form.
- Paste the embed code into your post
- Publish your post!
Here’s an example of how it looks:
Please contact us if you have any difficulty: support@tripline.net
Can I create a map with no lines between places?
Yes, recently we’ve added functionality to create maps with no lines between places. This is a great option for creating lists of your favorite places. Here’s what to do:
- Open your trip in the Editor
- Find the “display” options at the bottom-center of the map
- Choose the “No Lines” option
- Save your map
Here’s an example:
How do I set up the slideshow option?
Slideshow is a great way to fully immerse the viewer in the Tripline experience.
Step 1. Once you’ve uploaded your photos to the desired waypoints simply click on the Pad & Pen icon to open the info window.
Step 2. Under Player Animation select the Slideshow button and hit Save.
(You can individually select this option for each waypoint in case you don’t have images associated with certain waypoints. You can also select Slideshow when you are still in the Editor and upload your pictures at a later time.)