Why is this app not named CA State Parks? Weird name to try to remember
The app itself is of value please seriously consider changing name. More people would download with a name they could find and quickly identify its purpose.
Response from developer
Hello, OuterSpatial is used by many state park agencies across the United States (including CA State Parks), and it is also used by federal agencies, city/county parks and recreation agencies, and nonprofits. So the app name can't be specific to a single agency or geographic area.
Always “updating”
Response from developer
Hello Dreasry, the behavior you’re describing doesn’t really make sense but we’d love to help get you back up and running. Can you reach out to our support team at visitors+ios@outerspatial.com? As a last ditch fix, you can try uninstalling/reinstalling the app as well.
Maps are broken
I tried zooming in in the area of a couple state parks and still the map shows no trails at all.
Response from developer
Hi SnaiDog, sorry about the problems! We don't yet have comprehensive trail coverage for all communities in the app, but we regularly add new organizations to improve/expand our coverage. That said, if you're seeing the "No Results" dialog without applying any filters, it sounds like you're running into something other than a data coverage issue. We'd love to figure out what's going on and help you get back up-and-running. If you're open to it, can you reach out to our support team at visitors+ios@outerspatial.com?
Billed?
I re-downloaded the app, there was no window saying I had been billed. I can read “contact data collected” as being my contact information. This is an assumption. It would have helped me if the developer clearly stated it was only my contact data that was collected.
I live in Alaska and checked out two trails close to me. Good information and I will probably use this app in the future.
Old Review
As soon as I clicked to download a window popped up that I had been billed. Why this app wants access to my contacts I don’t know. What does that have to do with direction. I didn’t download the app.
Response from developer
UPDATED RESPONSE: Thanks for the additional context, clickclickbam. To be clear, Apple only gives us the ability to check a limited set of preset categories to communicate privacy info about the app. We only, however, use your contact info (email address and name) for product-related functionality like sending you email notifications that you choose to receive, allowing you to participate in challenges hosted by our partner organizations, etc. All of these features are opt-in. The app is completely functional even if you don't log in, in which case you do not need to provide any contact info whatsoever. PREVIOUS RESPONSE: Hello clickclickbam, the OuterSpatial app is completely free. If you were billed for something, you were billed by another app. Additionally, OuterSpatial does not ask for access to your contacts. It sounds like you may have been experiencing issues with another app.
Where’s the filter for overnight stay?
Response from developer
Hi kslisle, we are working to expand the filter and search tools in the app, but we just added "Camping" as a quick filter type based on your feedback. So you can now filter the Explore tab (both map and list view) to show only locations that support camping. Thanks for the feedback, and happy exploring!
Where’s the transit?
PREVIOUS REVIEW: I found this app via BayNature’s transittotrails.org site, which redirected to Outerspatial, which hyped that it was now the source for transit to trails info. The description said that bike and transit directions were provided. I cannot tell you how fantastic that would be. Downloaded and spent a couple minutes getting oriented and then looking for any transit info whatsoever. If I can’t find it in 5 minutes, it’s really not useful. I can’t drive, so transit info is really important and although I am a seasoned transit rider who generally can find this info on my own, it takes time to do that for outdoor stuff. Would be nice to have that made easier. (I am actually working on such a project.) Now I have downloaded the app and found nothing, when I could have found at least something on goggle (sic) maps in the same amount of time and at the same price of $0 Is the app free? Sure, that’s great. But free and useless as opposed to the original resource through which I found the app, which was a map of transit-accessible hikes in the bay area. If this app does include transit info, it’s not easily accessible. So, not worth even the $0 I paid for it. If I sound frustrated it’s because those of us who can’t drive are constantly facing this stuff and it gets old fast. I would pay a small amount of money for this upfront but since I can’t tell if the transit info is better using a paid account, why would I risk paying for an app that doesn’t actually offer easyily accessed useful transit info for outdoor destinations?
pointless walled garden
The app’s goal seems to be to get publicly funded organizations to pay OuterSpatial to hold their data, then pay more to push users to join “sponsored communities”. Will look elsewhere for map data.
Response from developer
Hi kielni, sorry you didn't find the app useful. To respond to a few of the things you brought up: You can download an outing as a GPX file and open it in your tracking app of choice (like Gaia or AllTrails or Strava or any number of other apps) by tapping the download button on the outing screen. You can download *all outings in the app, including the Bay Area Ridge Trail's outings. If you need help with this, just search for "download" or "GPX" in the help section and you'll find a walkthrough there. Or, of course, feel free to reach out directly to our support team for help: visitors@outerspatial.com. As for what we do at OuterSpatial: we build and maintain a technology platform that parks and rec organizations can use to publish their outdoor recreation information and connect directly with visitors. We prioritize access to the platform for the steward organizations that actually protect and manage our parks, trails, and other recreation assets — which, you're right, is very different than a lot of other apps which leave these organizations out of the loop. We strive to provide these organizations with access to modern technology so they can focus their limited resources on other things and don't have to build their own custom app from scratch. We feel like this approach is better for both organizations and visitors. Ultimately, our goal is to support these wonderful organizations while also creating a compelling and useful app experience for visitors like yourself. We'd love to hear more about what would make OuterSpatial feel less like a "walled garden" for you if you're open to sharing. If so, please reach out to visitors@outerspatial.com. Thanks!
Nice idea but constantly says I’m not connected to the internet.
edit- they fixed it with the update. I wish it had more info on the state vehicle recreational areas. Hopefully it’ll improve.
Response from developer
Hi MrAntiFreeze, you ran into an issue that was introduced in the last release of the app. A new release went out earlier today that should resolve the problem. Thanks for the feedback! In the future, feel free to reach out to our support team at visitors@outerspatial.com if you run into trouble.
Grindingly slow to launch
Challenge is the wrong word
Response from developer
Hi Q_g-i-r-l, we just recently added support for challenges, so they're still a little "thin". Many of our organization partners plan to add challenges in the coming months, however, so stay tuned! As for connector trails, OuterSpatial uses trail names supplied directly by the organizations that manage the trail network. So we can't just go in and add arbitrary names or numbers to them. If you have specific examples of inaccurate trail names in an area, please let us know: visitors@outerspatial.com.
