By default, SpotWalla will try to display around 100 locations. It does this by automatically determining the initial days of history and fill percentage. You can adjust what's displayed by using the widgets in the adjustments area. To see more locations you can increase the number of days of history and/or the fill percentage. Just click the Go button when you're finished and a new map will be displayed.

While viewing a trip you can show and hide the traffic layer by toggling the Show/Hide Traffic checkbox located on the left side of the viewer. Traffic information is not available in all areas or at all zoom levels. The traffic information displayed is current as of when the page was loaded. For more information on coverage areas see: Google Maps Traffic Coverage Area

The location legend shows the icons used to mark the various location types.

To maximize the viewing experience, set your browser to full-screen mode when in the trip viewer. It's a beautiful thing.

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Now that you have a device setup, configured and locations are flowing into SpotWalla you're now ready to create a trip. Ensure you're logged in and click the Trips link in the upper right menu. Toward the top of the page, click the Create a Trip link. The sections below discuss the information needed to create a trip.

Required Information

All trips must specify the following information:

• Device - The device you're using to document this trip.
• Name^* - A short name for the trip.
• Description^* - A short description of the trip.
• Start & End Dates - The trip's start and end dates. These dates are based upon the timezone setting of the device being used to document the trip.

Security Options

The trip's security settings determine its exposure to the rest of the world. Trips can be public or private, allow the public to download the locations and allow viewers of your trip to leave comments.

• Secure Zones - If the device has secure zones, will this trip apply them?
• Password - If you assign a password to your trip, viewers will have to supply this password before they're allowed to view the trip.
• Hide Trip - Checking the box to hide and prevent the trip from being embedded or appearing in searches is a one way in which a trip can be made private.
• Download? - Checking this box allows the world to download your trip locations in various formats.
• Comments? - If you want to allow viewers to comment on your trip, check this box.
• Hiding the time component of each location will prevent others from trying to calculate your speed.
• Speed Data? - SpotWalla calculates your speed, but this data is an approximation and cannot and should not be deemed as accurate. It is a good indication of movement and could prove useful to those viewing your trip. If you select this option, speed data will be displayed for each location on the map.
• Selecting the types of messages that appear on a trip is an effective way of controlling your exposure. For instance, if you use OK messages to mark where you're spending the night, you may want to display those locations on a private trip and not display them on a public trip.

Note: If you allow the world to download your trip locations and you've chosen to hide the time component in the popup windows, the time component will not be hidden in the downloaded data.

Map Options

A trip's mapping options allow you to control the look and behavior of the map displayed and include:

• Profie - The profile indicates the type of trip you're taking or more specifically, the mode of transportation used to take the trip.
• Icons - You can also set the type of icon displayed for each message type/location that doesn't mark the start, end or last known location. Currently, there are two different types of icons. First, a numbered icon which displays the location's sequence number. Second, a simple dot that's colored to indicate the message type. Here's a table with the icon options (actual size)...

  Type	Numbered Icon	Dot
  Tracking
  OK
  Custom
  Help

• Map Type - The map type determines the type of map initially displayed. It can be one of Normal, Satellite, Hybrid or Terrain. The default map type chosen is the one specified in your Account Preferences.
• Lines - Normally, a line is drawn from one location to the next location. This line isn't intended to show the route traveled, but make it easier for viewers to follow the locations in sequence. Unchecking this box will supress the lines from being drawn.
• External URL - This can be a URL to anything else on the web such as a blog, pictures, ride report, etc.

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Trip links can be found and copied from the Trips page. Follow these steps:

1. Ensure you're logged in and click the Trips link in the upper right menu.
2. Locate the trip you're interested in reviewing.
3. Underneath the trip's name and description you will see the link(s) you're interested in copying:

   The link box contains the basic trip link. Use this link when emailing family and friends or posting a link to your trip in a blog or forum post. You can also use this link to embed your trip. If your trip is configure with a password, this link does not contain the password.

   If your trip has a password, the link w/ password box contains the trip link with the password. This link is only displayed if your trip has a password.

   The embed box contains a link to the Embed Viewer. You can use this link when embedding your trip in a webpage or blog or forum post. For more information on embedding trips, see the section: Embedding Trips

4. Click inside the box of the link you want to copy. The link will be highlighted automatically. Copy it to the clipboard using your mouse and paste it into an email, blog post, etc.

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The basic syntax of the IFRAME element used to embed a trip is:

<iframe
        src='embed link goes here'
        width='800'
        height='600'
        scrolling='false'
        frameborder='0'>
  Embedding failed because inline frames are not supported by your browser or the web server.
</iframe>

If the viewer's browser doesn't support IFRAMEs, the Embedding failed... message will appear instead of the trip. The width and height parameters determine the width and height of the IFRAME respectively. The other parameters affect the IFRAME's characteristics. For more information on the IFRAME element, refer to your favorite HTML documentation.

The embed link goes here text will be replaced by one of two links:

1. A Trip Viewer link. This is the link to a fully-functional map. It's the same map that you're most familiar with. The left side pane contains all the trip information, location legend, etc.
2. An Embed Viewer link. This map doesn't show the left pane, but still allows the viewer to interact with the map.

These two link types are discussed in detail below.

Trip Viewer Link

Because of the full-page nature of the Trip Viewer, embedding a fully-functional map is possible. To find your trip's link, see the section: Linking to Trips. Once you have the link, simply replace the embed link goes here text with it. For example:

<iframe
        src='http://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1'
        width='800'
        height='600'
        scrolling='false'
        frameborder='0'>
  Embedding failed because inline frames are not supported by your browser or the web server.
</iframe>

If your trip is configured with a password, consider using the link that contains the password. Otherwise, the viewer will be prompted for the password.

One issue with embedding a trip like the one above is that a link to the SpotWalla Home page is present at the top and bottom of the left pane. If the viewer clicks the link, they will navigate to the home page within the IFRAME. Not really a good option. To remove these links, add the showHome parameter to the link like this:

<iframe
        src='http://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1&showHome=no'
        width='800'
        height='600'
        scrolling='false'
        frameborder='0'>
  Embedding failed because inline frames are not supported by your browser or the web server.
</iframe>

Embed Viewer Link

To obtain your trip's Embed Viewer link, see the help section: Linking to Trips.

Now that you have the embed link, simply replace the embed link goes here text with it. For example:

<iframe
        src='http://spotwalla.com/embed.php?id=2&width=600&height=600&scale=on&zoom=default'
        width='600'
        height='600'
        scrolling='false'
        frameborder='0'>
  Embedding failed because inline frames are not supported by your browser or the web server.
</iframe>

If your trip is configured with a password, it will be visible in the embed link. The Embed Viewer will not prompt the user for the password.

The Embed Viewer link contains a number of parameters whose values you can control. They are:

• id - You probably don't want to change this one. It's your trip's identifier. If you want to embed a different trip, copy that trip's embed HTML rather than trying to change this value. Of course, if you think you know what you're doing, go for it.
• width - This value controls the width of the map. Note that the <iframe> element has a width parameter too whose value should probably be at least equal to the width of the map. You play with it, though. This value defaults to 600.
• height - This value controls the height of the map. Note that the <iframe> element has a height parameter too whose value should probably be at least equal to the height of the map. You play with it. This value defaults to 600.
• p - If your trip is configured with a password, this parameter must be present and set to the trip's password.
• scale - When omitted or set to off, a scale control will not be added to the map. When set to on, a scale control will appear on the map.
• zoom - When omitted, a zoom/navigation control will not be added to the map. Otherwise, the following values will modify the behavior of the zoom control:

  off	Does not display a zoom control on the map.
  default	The Google Maps API determines the appropriate zoom control for the device.
  small	Displays a small zoom control.
  zoom	Displays the pan control as well as the large zoom control.
  android	Displays a zoom control at the bottom of the map with the look and feel of the one used on an Android phone.

• refresh - Use this parameter to turn on/off auto-refresh of the embedded page. When this parameter is omitted or set to no (the default), the embedded page will not automatically refresh. When this parameter is set to yes the embedded page will automatically refresh every ten minutes.

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1. Ensure you're logged into SpotWalla and click the Trips link in the upper right menu.
2. Locate the trip you're interested in reviewing.
3. In the Actions column you'll find a listbox with the various download types and a Go button. Choose the download type and click the Go button.

Note: Public downloads contain detailed information about each location.

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• If you really want to secure a trip, select the options to keep it hidden from searches, password-protect it and don't allow downloads.
• If you don't want to show the exact time at which a location ocurred, select the option to hide the time component of each location.
• Remember that downloaded data contains the time component of each location.
• Consider securing the device used to document this trip. For more information on how to secure a device, see the section - Secure Zones.
• Each trip has a unique identifier which is embedded in the trip's URL. Prior to July 13th, 2010 all trips were assigned a unique, but sequential identifier. This made it easy for web crawlers and people who haven't anything better to do to view trips. Now, however, each trip identifier is non-sequential and more difficult to decipher. You may generate a new URL for a trip for whatever reason. To do this, click the New URL link on the Trips page.

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SpotWalla doesn't store your pictures so you'll need to host them somewhere on the web. We're big fans of the kind folks at SmugMug, but any website will do the job. Some popular picture-hosting websites are:

• Flickr
• Picasa
• Photobucket
• SmugMug
• Snapfish

You can associate up to two pictures with each location. A small picture is mandatory. A large picture is optional. The small picture is be displayed when someone viewing your trip clicks a location icon and the popup window appears. If the viewer clicks the small picture, the large picture is displayed, if one exists. The size of the small picture should be kept to around 300x300 pixels. The large picture can be as big as you choose.

Perhaps the easiest way to add a picture to a location is by viewing one of your trips, but you can also add a picture to a location when browsing a device's messages. Follow these steps when viewing a trip...

1. This won't work if you're not logged into SpotWalla. So log into SpotWalla, if needed.
2. Click the Trips link toward the top of the page.
3. Find the trip you want to view and click its name/link. You should be viewing your trip now.
4. Using the map, find the location you want to update. If you cannot find the location, use the widgets in the Adjustments section of the left pane to display more locations. After you find the location, click its icon. A popup window will appear on the map.
5. Click the Update Picture link at the bottom of the popup window. If you don't see this link, go to step one. A window appears containing the location detail including two editable fields for the links to the small and large pictures.
6. Enter the small picture link. The link should begin with http://. For instance:

   http://photos.jasonjonas.com/Motorcycles/Trips/Mt-Saint-Helens-June-26-2006/20060628-2190/338629972_6LC9D-300x300.jpg

7. Enter the large picture link. The link should begin with http://. For instance:

   http://photos.jasonjonas.com/Motorcycles/Trips/Mt-Saint-Helens-June-26-2006/20060628-2190/338629972_6LC9D-L.jpg

8. Now click the Update button. If the links are valid, you should see the small picture at the bottom of the window. If you entered a large picture link, you will be able to click the picture and see the larger picture.
9. Click the Close Window button when you're finished.

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