Dear community,

As promised to some of our members I've reached out to Sygic to try and see if we can work out a fix for recent connectivity issues with Sygic and MRA mobile.

Kind regards,

Timo

Attention community,

We’re happy to announce a major feature release as we work towards Roadmap milestone 1.2. For those unfamiliar with that term: the Roadmap outlines all of our development efforts relating to MRA Routeplanner, encompassing 10 clearly defined milestones.

Today we celebrate the full release of our new Roundtour Generator and a reworked routelab.

This is a historic moment, because the new Roundtour Generator was designed from the ground up with input from our community. Not only did over sixty-eight thousand people help us in deciding that the Roundtour Generator was to be a priority, over twenty-four thousand people provided input in a questionnaire to aid in designing the roundtour generator. By involving the community we created a democratic and representative basis for decisionmaking. In that same spirit, the core functionality of the new Roundtour Generator is also available for all MRA Routeplanner Basic members.

Some features of the Roundtour Generator will follow at a later date, though before the finalization of 1.5. These include route themes (plan a roundtour around a coastline or through a valley of castles) and further avoidance filters. The reason for this is that these features require more design and development and tie into our ambitions for revisiting the general routeplanning area as well.

In addition to the new Roundtour Generator we’re launching the re-envisioned Routelab. A no-nonsense starting point where the goal is to get you back to your favorite parts of MRA Routeplanner designed to be both recognizable for existing members whilst ensuing a modern, premium look-and-feel.
Special thanks go out to the RouteXperts and MRA Ambassadors, who have provided insight and input in fine-tuning this polished release.
As always with new software, there might be a nasty little bug or two that escaped our squashing efforts. Please let us know if you encounter anything that shouldn’t happen.

May great adventures lie ahead of you,

Your Community Manager,

Timo

Dear members of the MRA Community,

For those of you who have been around for some time, you'll know me as the Community Manager. Our original members might even remember that in 2013 I started at this company in the role of UI/UX designer/creative lead.

Since late 2020 I've been in talks with our management regarding my future in the MyRoute-app team. I strongly believe that transparency, openness and a constructive attitude towards all problems that a small company might deal with are keys to success. Over the past two years I've grown to become a driver for the further organizational maturity of our company (on which I even wrote a blog back in 2019), day-to-day coordination of activities and point of contact for our wide variety of partners.

These are among the reasons that it was time for a formal change of role, as my responsibilities and mandate have grown far beyond the limitative definition of community management. That's why since the first of june 2021 I have been apointed as the first Chief Operating Officer (COO) of MyRouteApp B.V.. With this new formal mandate I will continue our quest for company growth, team fullfillment and community satisfaction. As our team is still relatively small, I'll retain some of the responsibilities I had as the community manager for the time being while we reevaluate how we want to fulfull this role in the future. Other responsibilities have been documented and transferred. As such, I will remain active on the forum, to engage with each and every user for as long as possible as I strongly believe this place to be the true driver of success for MyRoute-app.

Hoping to provide you with ever improving services for many years to come,

Kind regards,

Timo Martosatiman
Chief Operating Officer

Hi Greenham, you're clearly upset. That said I also find it rather hard to follow your entire train of thought throughout your argument, but I'll try to distill some of your comments, complaints and thoughts in a respectable and coherent response. If you decide to answer, I expect the same in return.

Your main point seems to be that MRA Navigation hasn't received enough attention. While that might have been true for a long time, that's no longer the case. Yes, the iOS version of the app suffers from occasional stutters but over the past few weeks we've deployed a major overhaul for the app that significantly improves stability and performance. The entire core of the app that handles Navigation was rewritten. In addition, shaping points, via points and POI's are being implemented as we speak. If you don't believe me: there's a closed beta testing group that's currently testing this version. If you want I could sign you up for it, but note that this will override your main MRA Navigation (stable) version. That's also the reason why our testing group isn't public.

As for MRA Video, we've said it several times and rehearsed it here as well: especially because people have massively turned out to tell us MRA Navigation and MRA Routeplanner should be our focus, we've shifted the main focus there. We remain committed to further expanding on the social features of MRA Video in the future though. MRA Routeplanner and MRA Navigation are our focus; I believe that this aligns with what you expect us to do.

Regarding your comment on shaping and via points not being available: perhaps you've not found them yet. You can now turn waypoints into either a shaping or via point that's compatible both with Garmin. As I said, an update for MRA Navigation is in the works.

Finally a very big accusation is that we're making one million dollars a year for every 100 users. That would be true if they were all members with an annual subscription. I'd like to point out that such accusations are very damaging for our reputation and would only be fair if they'd be based on facts. Note that this is not the case. Over 95% of MRA Routeplanner users is using the free of charge basic membership. In addition: a large portion of the GOLD members are lifetime members like yourself: this means a one-time payment. In addition, the growth we're so happy with is usually seasonal: that's the period where people start riding their bikes or cars. We share this with the community because we find it relevant to let you know that there is growth in the community.

Overall I'd invite you to share your thoughts with me on what could be communicated better and perhaps some thoughts of your own, as to what you thing is missing right now. We've got an entire Roadmap planned out full of features that were literally voted on by the community.

MRA Navigation Next is in full production, designed for improved navigation in landscape and portrait mode. The app offers a recognizable yet modernized overview of your journey, so you can be sure to reach your destinations safely and on time. Watch the first 20 seconds of live footage in both landscape and portrait mode below!

watch the video

Beta
The first beta release for MRA Navigation Next will be available for free to all MRA Navigation Next and MRA Navigation Lifetime subscribers. As it stands, we aim to have a first beta ready during pumpkin season. Note that a beta will be that, a beta. As someone who has beta tested products many times, I have an advice: keep murphy's law in mind for your own sake.

highlights!
To reiterate some highlights of what's coming with MRA Navigation Next:

• Live footage of your journey in both landscape and portrait mode

• Turn-by-turn voice navigation

• Detailed traffic information

• Automatic rerouting

Attention community,

On request of you, the user, I have delved a bit deeper into the ongoing issue of waypoints not receiving the appropriate adress while using MyRoute-app.

As you all know MyRoute-app is a small company. As a result of this, many of our suppliers see this as an opportunity to request huge sums for previously cheap or even free licences. It is a continuous struggle to get fair deals. In recent negotiations Google requested that we would start paying an unacceptably high price for the feature that automatically puts the adress on a waypoint. In light of transperancy on this issue I am informing you that as a result of this we have decided to simply refuse the contract and explore alternatives. This means that all your waypoints will be named "waypoint" upon placement.

As a small company we are sometimes forced to innovate in areas we thought we had covered. At present, it is disappointing to scrap a feature because of that, but, over time, this makes us stronger and more resilient to change. MyRoute-app will never change its position on the availability of free features for our BASIC users and a fair price for paying members.

We, motorists and motorcyclists, have something special here at MyRoute-app. We listen, we do our best and we are transparent even when it would be easier not to be. We do this because you deserve to hold us accountable for our performance. We are not guided by shareholders or sheer profits, we are guided by your trust.

Kind regards,

Timo

@Purrrist

When we started 8 years ago, I was hired as the general purpose graphics designer. No experience, and no schooling. Truly, the original argument really was "I like the doodles you scratched into the school desk". 8 years ago, MRA was nothing more than a nice idea.

Back then, the feedback was that we were one of the best looking systems out there. That's easy, compared to classic Tyre and Basecamp. But times have moved on, and so has the competition. My school-desk-scratching skills aren't always up for the task anymore and there's no shame in admitting that.

Even before people started complaining (which honestly is a pretty recent thing happening, especially with the icons), we were already trying to create more room to hire the right kind of talent to once again blow the competition away with a visual design that matches the awesome functionality.

These days I try to stick to Functional Design and User Experience Design, whilst leaving the visual heavy lifting to others. It's a transitional period, but I'm certain you'll like the end results when they start being slapped over the old.

As for those who are satisfied: it is exactly why I keep control over the FD and UXD processes; our community has specific wishes that need to be taken into account regarding functionality. And while I will concede that the visual design could be better, I strongly believe that we have great functionality.

Attention Community!

Since 2017 we've been at work to not only provide the best routeplanner out there, but also to give real travel enthusiasts the experience of a fully fledged navigation system on their smartphone. This dream is MRA Navigation, and from the very beginning it has been a rocky road for some users.

After years of tackling our app woes on our own, splitting development attention between MRA Routeplanner and MRA Navigation we decided in the second half of 2020 to have our internal development team move their focus fully to MRA Routeplanner. Through a closed procurement procedure we contracted a long-term development partner for MRA Navigation, App-vise B.V. in the Netherlands.

Now, after almost a year of work we're ready to announce that the major Navigation revamp has been completed. On both iOS and Android we experience a 96.8% crashless performance, wih crashfree performance in navigation apps of <90% signalling that MRA Navigation remains a top tier navigation app. Not only that, we have added new waypoint features and POI visibility.

In the very near future we plan to finally release Apple Carplay, as well as nearby routes and a brand new roundtour generator (although experienced users will have figured out by now that using both the MRA Routeplanner mobile app and MRA Navigation provides seamless roundtour generator performance.

To celebrate this major milestone we've created a brand new landing page for you to explore. Check it out here!
https://info.myrouteapp.com/mra-navigation-landing-page-en

Today I realized that the world is returning to a semblance of normalcy. Sure, governments are still enforcing measures across the globe with each country applying their own flavor variations, but that was to be expected. Nobody with the slightest grasp of how governments work expected our presidents, kings and prime ministers to suddenly declare the end of lockdown measures. We all knew that society would be expected to follow a steady yet cautious path towards freedom.

At the end of this ride we’ll have a collective memory of an event that will forever leave its’ mark on every generation alive today. The severity of loss during these times may never be underplayed, nor the uncertainty in the lives of those whose jobs now no longer exist. This memory will surely dictate how we’ll shape the future, what legacy we’ll leave for those to come. Will we allow tomorrows’ children to hold hands, tussle in the schoolyard and play contact sports? Will we allow ourselves to shake hands upon doing business and once more to embrace good friends and loved ones? Only time will tell.

For the time being, I’d like to cherish the freedoms that have been regained. There’s no doubt about the joy of being able to go out on a trip again, even if some measures remain in place. Even now, there’s freedom to be found on the road that can only be hampered by an empty petrol tank. With the wind in your back, the sun’s heat on your face and mountains rising ahead the world certainly seems reassuringly unchanged. One must hope that whatever change is inevitable, that this will be change for the better.

As for MyRoute-app, we’ve luckily been able to get through relatively unscathed. With swift decision-making we were able to continue our work from the safety of our homes. Things have changed, but in the end we’re coming out stronger than before. It was a conscious decision to close our office, to embrace working from home with effective management and to be flexible with any measure thrown at us. I have no doubt that our team is coming out stronger from this than we went in: with better expectations of one another, with the right tools to continue working even when we can’t physically see one another and to work productively from home.

If you’ve been wondering what we’ve been up to then stay tuned. We haven’t sat still and the coming period will see many exciting announcements from our team, the most recent of which has been the addition of the long promised height-profile on your routes. We’ll be hosting webinars to give people the tools to start making amazing routes again. We’ll also continue to support our Instructors and their clubs, some of whom have already indicated that they want to organize events. Whatever the future holds, MyRoute-app will be there. Here's to that future .

We thank you for your continued support. May you enjoy many safe travels.

Your community manager,

Timo Martosatiman

Attention fellow community members,

Starting today, all MRA Navigation Next users may register for the Navigation Next Beta. More information will follow. Since we require some additional information that we may or may not have, we request all participants fill out the form below.

The form is available in all six core MRA Languages. Though please note that e-mails will arrive in English.

Dutch
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/9QBQGNS
English
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/9QBQGNS?lang=en
German
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/9QBQGNS?lang=de
Spanish
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/9QBQGNS?lang=es
French
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/9QBQGNS?lang=fr
Italian
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/9QBQGNS?lang=it

Why do we post this here? I'm posting this on the forum first and foremost, to keep the inflow of registrations manageable and ensure that our handling system stays online. An e-mail requesting this form to be filled in by all eligible MRA Navigation Next users will follow at a later stage. Again; the reason is very simply a matter of being careful and ensuring an optimal onboarding experience.

If you encounter any issues with the form, please report them here in this thread. Let's call it your first testing experience.

Kind regards,

Timo

As already said in the office, but now here as well: good job!

@Steve-Lynch Great, we'll let you know when it's ready!

@Steve-Lynch and we strongly support such spacy ambitions

I've double checked it for you and you are succesfully signed up on both Android and iOS as beta tester. You should have also received an e-mail verifying this.

@Steve-Lynch yes you are. Are you experiencing the same thing as @Drabslab with our e-mails ending in your spam box?

@Drabslab I'm getting the feeling I haven't addressed your concerns yet. Perhaps shoot me a private message?

@Drabslab as always thanks for your reply,

I apologize for the inconvenience you experienced when you tried using the form this weekend. That should not have happened, I have voiced that concern to the people who were responsible for monitoring this system in my absence. I have personally been on leave since last Thursday right up to today.

What went wrong with the e-mails is not that they ended in the spam-boxes but that they weren't sent. While this is in the end a fault of SurveyMonkey, our people should have noticed this over the weekend. I have now personally made 'knots' around this issue to ensure that the system doesn't go offline again.

During the test all Issues were addressed immediately and performance was extremely good; As the only thing that was said about the form is the buttons being 'annoying', but otherwise completely harmless in the completion procedure, I decided to use this form and continue forward. This method saved valuable time, ensured traceability of problems and allowed us to test a system that we want to use again in the future.

There are over a thousand applicants who have successfully and without complaint been able to register using this form. My earlier post might not have highlighted that the form generally works as intended and has raised a minimum amount of complaints. I hope this additional message does.

kind regards,

Timo

Hello everyone,

I see there are some concerns regarding private information being shared as well as the user experience using the application form. I'll delve into both to provide you with some additional insights on our end.

First the rationale of using a form: due to the large number of potential beta testers and known comments regarding 'speediness of response' we wanted to try something new. We made an automated form with SurveyMonkey, verification through our CRM and immediate transactional e-mailing (instant e-mail) through PostMark. The goal was instant information after filling in the form.

As for privacy: This has been a key concern in the design of the registration process. I can't really go into details but this approach is sadly what also broke something this weekend; which resulted in a lot of people not getting e-mails.

As for the User Experience of the form: we're aware of this. We also have our own talking points regarding some exceptionally stupid flaws in SurveyMonkey. That said, it is still the best solution out there. That said, the same can on occasion be said about us.

To end on a cheerful note, everyone who completed the registration should have received their e-mails now.

@Drabslab It's an odd field, I'll admit as much. It's referencing to the largest non-nation subdivision of your country that's between you and the state of belgium.

In the Netherlands, as I'm in Zoetermeer, this would be Zuid-Holland. For an american living in Houston, it would be Texas.

As for the OK buttons appearing and disappearing, you should fill out the fields and then press ok. It should take you pretty nicely through all the questions.

Attention fellow community members,

Starting today, all MRA Navigation Next users may register for the Navigation Next Beta. More information will follow. Since we require some additional information that we may or may not have, we request all participants fill out the form below.

The form is available in all six core MRA Languages. Though please note that e-mails will arrive in English.

Dutch
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/9QBQGNS
English
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/9QBQGNS?lang=en
German
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/9QBQGNS?lang=de
Spanish
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/9QBQGNS?lang=es
French
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/9QBQGNS?lang=fr
Italian
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/9QBQGNS?lang=it

Why do we post this here? I'm posting this on the forum first and foremost, to keep the inflow of registrations manageable and ensure that our handling system stays online. An e-mail requesting this form to be filled in by all eligible MRA Navigation Next users will follow at a later stage. Again; the reason is very simply a matter of being careful and ensuring an optimal onboarding experience.

If you encounter any issues with the form, please report them here in this thread. Let's call it your first testing experience.

Kind regards,

Timo

@Willy-DEOM The beta is not live yet. Once it is, you will be informed personally through e-mail and can always keep an eye on the forum.

Don't worry, when the beta is live. We will shout it from the roof!

@Steve-Jarrell No need for a dunce cap , perhaps just ponder on how you're glad that you don't have to jump to mymaps anymore.

@Herko-ter-Horst Ah thanks, I just read "it's not what I'm looking for" and figured it'd be faster for me to scratch together a few ugly screen grabs.

Keeping them 'permanent' is something I'm aware of and will be added sometime in the future.