[MemoLanes] Public Beta is out!

TL;DR
MemoLanes public beta has started, come and give it a try: https://app.memolanes.com/

MemoLanes is a route tracking application designed to conveniently record and securely store your travel footprints while providing rich visualization. Through continuous exploration of the world, you can create unique digital traces, allowing you to revisit and relive your treasured travel memories. Some background stories about developing this app can be found in this blog post of mine.

After two and a half years (weird chinese meme intended[1]) of development, we are proud to announce that MemoLanes has started public beta testing! This means that as long as you don’t mind some potential stability issues and missing of certain details in the beta software, you should come and try it 🙏. Currently, we provide the iOS beta version on TestFlight and offer APK downloads for Android users. Later, we will also provide the beta version on Google Play and bring this app to more platforms (e.g., HarmonyOS). You can find more information on our official website.

Many basic features in this public beta version should be pretty stable. It also has many cool additional features, including but not limited to:

Time Machine
Multiple Layers
Import Data from Fog of World
Import and Export Data in KML/GPX Format
Flight Track Optimization

Some more cool and exciting features (such as 3D globe view and better map rendering) are under active development and tweaking, and we believe they can be released soon. Of course, more features are on our roadmap, waiting for us to implement. If you are interested in these, welcome to check out our progress on Github or join us: https://github.com/MemoLanes/MemoLanes

(Some personal ramblings) On one hand, it’s surprising that a project I started back then has come this far; on the other hand, it took two and a half years, which is much longer than I expected, making me realize that one might not be able to do that much in a lifetime 😅. In these two and a half years, we released about 30 beta versions. Countless times after work, late at night, on high-speed rails, and on planes, I opened the code editor and worked on this. From the app name, icon, to every sentence and every detail, we repeatedly discussed and struggled with decisions. It was a long way. Finally, I must thank all the friends who participated in this project together; everyone invested a lot of their personal time and energy. Also, thank you to very patient, careful, and emotionally supportive closed beta testers; your recognition and encouragement have supported me to this point 🙇.

2023-04: Started writing down basic ideas