One of the most requested features since we launched ExploreMetro’s apps for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad is offline street maps. It’s really handy to have a metro map for Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Taipei, Singapore or Hong Kong in your pocket, but many travellers don’t have a 3G connection while travelling, so they’re not able to access the Google Maps we provide for each station.
How do I get offline street maps?
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We’re hard at work getting ready for version 5.0 of our metro maps for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The new update will incorporate lots of your suggestions and improvements, to make sure we live up being “Asia’s best metro maps”.
Here are just a few of the things we’re working on:
Do you enjoy using our iPhone/iPad metro maps? We’re looking for around 20 people to become beta testers for new versions of our apps! What this means is, before we launch new versions to the public, you’ll get a chance to try out the new version, give your feedback on new features, and let us know about any problems you had.
We’d be really grateful for the help! If you want to take part, it’s simple:
We’re pleased to announce that version 3.1 of our metro maps for iPhone and iPad, fixing the crashing bug for users with iOS3, is now available on the iTunes App Store. It’s a free update for all users.
We’re recently become aware of a problem affecting the version 3.0 of our iPhone apps. Some people may find that the app crashes immediately after displaying the ExploreMetro logo.
It affects all 6 city apps (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei). The problem happens if you are running an older version of iOS (3.0, 3.1 or 3.2). You can either:
Sorry for the inconvenience!
如果您运行3.0、3.1或3.2版iOS，一个漏洞可能会造成该应用死机。如果这对您造成了困扰，您可以选择以下两种方式种的一种：
The Taipei Metro station at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center now serves both the Neihu Line (brown) and Nangang Line (blue). As of February 27, 2011, riders will no longer need to take a shuttle bus to transfer lines, cutting transfer times between the two lines dramatically.
The brand new Explore Taipei 3.0 includes the new interchange, so you can plan routes, and check times and prices for your journey. Find out more!
Today, we’re launching a major update to our apps! Explore Beijing, Explore Shanghai, Explore Guangzhou, Explore Hong Kong, Explore Taipei and Explore Singapore have all been updated to version 3.0. This includes new native support for iPad and iPad 2!
We’ve taken the best features of the iPhone/iPod touch experience and redesigned them to work on the iPad’s larger screen. Here’s what you’ll see when you start Explore Shanghai.
Of course, the metro map takes centre stage. You can search for a station with the search bar, or tap on any station for timetables and route-planning:
Notice the “flip” button? A great new feature is the ability to “flip” the screen to see a large Google Map of the station and surrounding area:
Other nearby stations are highlighted. You can also tap the “locate” button 
to centre the map on your current location.
Because the apps are “Universal” apps, they work both on iPhone/iPod touch (including retina graphics!) and iPad/iPad 2. If you’ve already bought one of our apps for iPhone, you can install it on iPad for free. And of course, updating to version 3.0 is free. Not downloaded yet? Our apps cost just $1.99 on the iTunes App Store: download now!
We’d love to hear your feedback about ways to improve our apps. Do get in touch if you find any bugs or have any suggestions!
We were delighted to see that Explore Beijing for iPhone has been featured by Apple in the “New and Noteworthy” section of the China iTunes App Store. To celebrate, we’re cutting 50% off the price this weekend! You can download Explore Beijing for just $0.99! Hurry, sale ends soon!
A couple of announcements this week: the Shanghai Metro announced that work was underway on three new lines: Metro Line 12, Line 13 and Line 16, as well as an extension to the existing Line 11.
Line 12, linking the northeast of the city to the southwest, will have 32 stations along 40 kilometers, passing through eight districts. Passengers will be able to transfer to Line 1 and 13 at Hanzhong Road Station, to Line 2 and 13 at Nanjing Road W. Station and to Line 1 and 10 at Shaanxi Road S. Station.
Line 13 will include 14 stations, with 16 kilometers of track stretching from suburban Jiading District to downtown Jing’an District. Three stops on Line 13 were in operation during the World Expo last year. The full line is expected to include this section, and extend to Pudong New Area, said the authority.
Line 16, which will have 13 stations, will mainly operate in Pudong’s Nanhui area. It will connect to Line 2 and 7 at Longyang Road and end at Lingang New City.
In addition to the three new lines, the authority is extending Line 11. Its 21-kilometer second phase stretches from Jiangsu Road Station, crossing the Huangpu River and linking to Pudong’s Luoshan Road Station.
Not to be outdone, Beijing announced EIGHT lines were now under construction, all scheduled to open between 2013 and 2015, including the world’s first “low-speed” maglev line.
ExploreMetro will soon be making an exciting announcement of it’s own! Our iPhone apps will soon support the iPad (and of course, the iPad 2)! Check out the video for a preview!
Our metro map apps will soon support the iPad! We want to ensure it’s a great experience, so we’ll be optimising the interface to work better on the bigger iPad screen.
Check out the screenshot of the version in development, and look out for an announcement over the next few weeks!
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