Using Breadcrumbs to Chart Your Adventure

People are so open these days with their personal information. In a world were people have even started sharing credit card purchases publicly, it’s only reasonable to share their outdoor adventures and trips with others. For once, it could be the social feature that really benefits others who plan to take a break and indulge in an outdoor activity.

Breadcrumbs is a cutting edge web app that enables users to manage their adventures. The application enables users to quickly and easily bring together their GPS data, associated multimedia and share it with their friends. After the break we’ll look at how you can precisely do all that and more.

Overview

From hiking to sightseeing, Breadcrumbs can be used to track any outdoor activity. With a huge arsenal of features, Breadcrumbs app is a strong rival to any desktop based GPS management application combined with all the flexibility and universal accessibility that accompanies a modern web app.  Leveraging the 3D features of Google earth, Breadcrumbs team brings the realistic feel of the terrain that users have experienced.

By taking advantage of the Track management feature, you can organize, edit and share your adventures in a compelling format. Breadcrumbs is free to use and signing up is a simple process.

Getting Started

After activating your account you’ll be taken to a splash screen that offers to help you get started in three simple steps. As the wizard suggests, you can get started right away by importing your GPX file or Garmin data and upload any photos or videos, making use of the simple import wizard. GPX files contain all the information of your trip and is a standard format that’s used by many GPS device manufacturers. Uploading the file is the first of the six steps before you can get to share your adventure online. Just ensure that the file size does not exceed 2MB.

Selecting Track Data

Once the GPX data file is uploaded, Breadcrumbs will allow you to select the tracks you want to be displayed. As you can see, in the GPX file of the  running trail I have uploaded, there is a single track and I have chosen to include it. In the bottom left pane, the timeline of the adventure is automatically pulled from the data and displayed.

Entering Track Information

To make things easier for those who will view your adventure, you may want to enter as much information as possible in this third step. After naming the track, select the activity you were indulging in the track from the neatly compiled drop down menu.

If you plan to put together a bunch of tracks that cover a similar exercise, you can do so with the help of bundles. Consider these as the folders where related files go in and creating them is super simple.

Want to let people know how fulfilling and difficult the experience and track were? Use the star ratings and if it is not enough, use the WYSIWYG editor to say it in a few hundred words. You might also check if the track information has to be made public or not.

Uploading Images

All the images you have shot during the course of the trip can be uploaded in this step. Once you have selected the images from the desktop, hit Upload to get things going. Only JPEG images are accepted by the app and a maximum of 20 pics per track is permitted. As mentioned earlier, Breadcrumbs will automatically geotag the images but if you find a mismatch, you can add geotags manually later.

In the next step, you can upload videos following the same guidelines of step number 5. Maximum of two video files per track encoded in AVI format can be uploaded.

In the final step, you can either choose to finish the work here, make changes to the track or import a new GPX file.

Managing Tracks

After closing the import wizard, you’ll be taken to the dashboard. From the dashboard, you can comfortably manage all your tracks, edit and update them.

You can view the track in its three dimensional glory — thanks to Google Earth. Ensure that the free Google Earth plugin is installed to access this feature.

If you plan to relive the entire outdoor experience of yours, select the track and hit the play button to see the simulation of the track you have conquered.

Geotagged images and videos will show up in their respective places in the map. If there are untagged images, drag and drop images from the pane on the red line that marks the track and they will tagged automatically.

Accessing Public Tracks

Breadcrumbs has an active user base from all over the world and you can access the tracks people have shared in the public domain. Breadcrumbs presents a splendid global map with all the recent public tracks that can be accessed by country or continent.

Sharing with Others

After making sure all the details pertinent to your adventure have been added, it is only reasonable to tell the world about it. You can tweet or Facebook about the adventure from the app or get a unique URL to send it via email or IM.

Final Thoughts

To be frank, I wasn’t expecting anything interesting before exploring the app for this how-to, but after a few minutes of using it, I just fell in love with the idea and its execution. The app’s aim to map the world with your Breadcrumbs is laudable and the manner in which the entire process is simplified is just brilliant.

It was really hard to find any negative points, except for the fact that there are a bit too many jargons and features. In the future, I would suggest the Breadcrumbs team to focus more on polishing the user interface as the feature set is near perfect. If you are someone who loves adventures and outdoors, do not miss this wonderful app!

Share Your Thoughts!

What is your take on Breadcrumbs? Will you be trusting the information provided by a stranger while going out for the next hiking trip of yours?