With just one click you can discover spectacular routes near you
The global health crisis is making us live through very difficult times; however, if we have achieved something positive thanks to it, it is to cure ourselves a little of the nature deficit that we had been dragging for so many years. Thus, last summer, according to Wikiloc records, the outdoor activities carried out by the members of his community -already very active-, increased by 79% compared to the same months of 2019 . Hiking and mountain biking were the activities most practiced by the users of this app that stores more than 24 million routes shared by people from all over the world, from up to 80 different types of activities (running, motorcycle trail, kayak, quad, car, horse, sailboat, snowshoes...).
The figures are astronomical, especially considering that everything started in a very amateur way in 2006 , when there was still a year to go before Apple revolutionized the world of technology, socialization and entertainment with its iPhone. "On weekends I went out with some friends on mountain bikes. We liked to share the photos by email to appreciate the good times we spent together. But I wanted more than that: I wanted see the routes we did on a map, see the kilometers, the unevenness, the places where we passed and the peaks we climbed . And with this objective in mind, I started working on a prototype that allowed me to do just that: capture the image of a route on a map," says Jordi Ramot, CEO and founder of Wikiloc.
"When my friends saw the result, they asked me to allow them to do the same, and I decided encrypt a website with login information and a personal profile where each of them could upload their own routes. I put it online, posted it on a hiking forum, and went to sleep. The next day, about 150 people had signed up and there were about 200 routes . Some, in fantastic places, such as Mount Fuji in Japan or the Argentine Patagonia. I was so surprised that I thought that maybe many other people might have this same need," recalls Ramot.
24 MILLION ROUTES IN YOUR POCKET
15 years after that, Wikiloc, with eight million users , is the undisputed leader in its sector. Search for the route you are looking for, the chances that Google will return the trails that are hosted on its website as the first option are immense. In 2011, they also expanded their presence, also creating pathways apps for iOS and Android . That was one of the biggest changes that the company experienced, because it greatly facilitated the registration of the route and, in addition, it popularized it among non-specialized users . "With the arrival of smartphones, we all came to have in our hands a device with GPS, internet and a camera that allowed us to record and follow routes as if it were a classic GPS", they remember from the Wikiloc team.
"Another big turning point was the creation of a functionality that allows download trails from Wikiloc directly to GPS devices without having to go through a computer , which greatly reduced the complexity. With just a couple of clicks, you can send from Wikiloc any trail to a wide variety of GPS devices (Apple Watch, Garmin, Suunto...) with which to follow it", they add.
Thanks to its conversion into an app, the Spanish company has become a regular presence at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which this year is held virtually on June 7. It will meet more than 30 million Apple developers, from 227 regions from all over the world, with the aim of learning more about the technologies, tools and environments they use on a daily basis. The conference will allow developers to exchange ideas with each other and with apple engineers , which will guide them on how to design apps and games for each platform.
"Every year, we look forward to WWDC to discover what's new and, above all, what developments we will be able to make to take full advantage of the announced technologies and ensure that Wikiloc works perfectly in the new versions of iOS and watchOS", they say from the company. "Sometimes, we have worked closely with Apple teams to ensure that the Wikiloc app takes full advantage of the potential of the new technologies announced at WWDC, and we have also collaborated by sharing our opinion on these developments after the conference. Last year, Apple even mentioned Wikiloc as an example app in one of the presentations.!".
SHARING IS CARING
The famous Sharing is caring meme, something like "sharing is caring" , recognizes one of the core values of the internet, a virtual place where citizens from all over the world give away their knowledge and experiences with the sole purpose of sharing them with others. Only in Wikiloc there is 43 million photos , uploaded by users along with the routes -which are automatically recorded from the GPS of the mobile or smart watch-, descriptions, names of companions with whom the path has been completed and other relevant information, such as **the difficulty or the type of activity practiced. **
"Our experience leads us to say that what moves users to create this content is the feeling of belonging to a community and the illusion of sharing with others those places where you have been, also providing tools (in this case, the route track) and information so that they can also visit that site", they explain from the company. The staff itself has also discovered thanks to the app some of his favorite places, among which are the Annapurna Circuit , in Nepal, and the Hunter's Path , in the National Park of Ordesa and Monte Perdido (Huesca).
In fact, it is Aragon , with its spectacular natural landscapes, one of the two most active communities in the country last summer: together with Catalonia , has accounted for almost 38% of the total activities uploaded, downloaded or followed on Wikiloc in Spain. To discover the ones near you, you just have to search by distance on the web or the app. What adventures and landscapes will this season bring us...?