the Explore blog » technical http://www.exploremetro.com/blog Explore Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:30:24 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/imitation-is-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/imitation-is-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery#comments Fri, 04 Mar 2011 11:06:47 +0000 matt http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/?p=1105 The Shanghai Daily have a Flash metro map, located at http://live.shanghaidaily.com/station/swf/metro.html.

Looking at it, certain visual elements seem a little familiar.

For example, let’s take a look at our Explore Shanghai legend. A semi-transparent white rectangle, with blocks for the lines, and a key for the “station”/”interchange station”.

Now, let’s take a look at the Shanghai Daily’s legend. Hmm. Also semi-transparent white rectangle, same layout, same labels, same symbols.

When you click on a station circle on ExploreShanghai, the other lines fade out to highlight which lines travel through that station.

On Shanghai Daily’s map, the exact same behaviour:

Their’s has a rabbit. Must be different.

Now, I generally have respect for the Shanghai Daily, and I’m very happy for the competition: but if you’re going to rip off someone else’s work, at least be honest about it.

]]> http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/imitation-is-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery/feed 1 Choose your preferred language in our ExploreMetro apps http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/choose-your-preferred-language-in-our-exploremetro-apps http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/choose-your-preferred-language-in-our-exploremetro-apps#comments Mon, 20 Sep 2010 06:00:54 +0000 matt http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/?p=888 The ExploreMetro iPhone apps auto-detect your iPhone/iPod’s system language and show either English or Chinese labels. That’s useful for most people, but sometimes you’d prefer to be able to choose the language manually.

We’re pleased to announce that by popular demand, the next version of all the ExploreMetro apps will allow you to select your language manually via the Settings.app. See this Youtube video to see how simple it is to change.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkC-I6S6PRI

]]> http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/choose-your-preferred-language-in-our-exploremetro-apps/feed 2 Metro maps now twice as fast! http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/metro-maps-now-twice-as-fast http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/metro-maps-now-twice-as-fast#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:59:54 +0000 matt http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/?p=305 We’ve just pushed out a change to all our maps (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong) which dramatically increases speed and responsiveness! You should now find dragging the map around and planning routes faster than ever before.

]]> http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/metro-maps-now-twice-as-fast/feed 0 12 more fixes and improvements http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/12-more-fixes-and-improvements http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/12-more-fixes-and-improvements#comments Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:15:48 +0000 matt http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/?p=281 We want to make the ExploreMetro maps as good as possible, so we’re constantly fixing bugs and making improvements! Here are a selection of fixes made recently. If you spot any glitches, bugs, or text errors, or you have any suggestions to improve our maps, please get in touch!

  • Shanghai: Added prices for the routeplanner for new Line 8 stations
  • Fixed appearance of tabs in IE6/IE7
  • Improved some Chinese translations
  • Added some extra redirects from old pages
  • Made stations centered on the locality maps in the metropedias
  • Shanghai: Fixed Chinese preloader
  • Hong Kong: Added exit maps
  • Updated blog to new version of WordPress and fixed blog sidebar
  • Fixed map sizing in Firefox
  • Updated printable PDF versions
  • Shanghai: Fixed new line 8 station names
  • Fixed positioning of station names in Chinese
]]> http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/12-more-fixes-and-improvements/feed 0 A brand new ExploreMetro.com http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/a-brand-new-exploremetrocom http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/a-brand-new-exploremetrocom#comments Sat, 10 Jan 2009 03:20:38 +0000 matt http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/?p=162 I’m delighted to present the new ExploreMetro.com, a site for general and business information about our metro and subway maps.

New pages on ExploreMetro.com

Here’s a quick tour of the new site

  • Homepage
  • About us – Information about ExploreMetro, who we are
  • Maps – Links to our metro and subway map sites around China
  • Advertising Solutions – Information about our forthcoming local advertising platform
  • Blog – You’re reading it right now
  • Contact us – Contact us by email, web form or Twitter

Please feel free to explore the site and send us any feedback!

]]> http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/a-brand-new-exploremetrocom/feed 0 And we’re back http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/and-were-back http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/and-were-back#comments Sun, 22 Jul 2007 15:41:06 +0000 matt http://exploreshanghai.com/blog/and-were-back ExploreShanghai.com is now accessible again in China.

]]> http://www.exploremetro.com/blog/and-were-back/feed 0