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Exping 2023 - The Journey Paves the Way for Milestones
tl;dr As we stand on the threshold of a new year, reflecting back on 2023, it's incredible to see how exping has leapfrogged from 1.0 to 2.0. We've experienced a fervor and sentimentality that has deeply affected each member of our exping team.
In December, we rolled out our Web 0.5 and App 1.8.1 versions as our last accomplishment for the unforgettable year of 2023.
As we stand on the threshold of a new year, reflecting back on 2023, it's incredible to see how exping has leapfrogged from 1.0 to 2.0. We've experienced a fervor and sentimentality that has deeply affected each member of our exping team.
This fervor is a testament to our unwavering commitment to each feature we build, while the sentiment comes from every minor breakthrough that has earned us considerable appreciation from the marketplace and our cherished creators.
We record every moment of enthusiasm and emotion, which can give strength when in doubt and hesitation. At the same time, we remember the setbacks encountered this year, reminding us to stay focused and continue exploring in the noisy environment.
In wrapping up the year 2023, we'd like to tell the story of exping's journey from various angles. This includes the reactions we've gotten from the market, the value we've delivered to creators, and the personal voyages each team member has embarked upon.
The Journey Paves the Way for Milestones
In our last year's annual wrap-up, we set an ambitious outlook for 2023 - to shatter norms and discover more possibilities in the realm of "map creation".
Now, as we take stock of our year-long iterations, our undeterred focus on "map creation" stands tall. We've brought to life a multitude of "rule-breaking" features and realized many of our cherished dreams.
In February, exping finally landed on major Android app stores and made its formal courtesies to Android enthusiasts.
Unbeknownst to many creators, exping had been catering to Android users all along. Launch day saw a wave of Android-users taking to our XiaoHongShu notes to voice their rallying support for exping.
However, we also fielded a fair share of feedback regarding the Huawei crash issue. It was the swift response from our dedicated developers that kept the initial anticipations of our Android community from falling short.
Crafting a content-rich map goes beyond merely expressing places and routes – the interconnected experiences between places and routes must also be displayed.
In exping, the Curation Editor carries this seemingly unremarkable yet crucial task. With the sophistication of our features, the early version of the editor wasn't up to the challenge of carrying more content. It became evident that creators struggled with adjusting connections between different information sectors flexibly.
To tackle this hurdle, we went ahead and overhauled the entire Curation Editor, rolling out a redesigned version at March. This revamped editor, equipped with a simple drag-and-drop interface, grants creators the flexibility to swiftly insert text, images and manipulate place-routes dynamically.
After months of hard work, we finally had a breakthrough at the end of March — exping was chosen as a part of Huawei's Daily Selection.
What's even more exciting, as we turned the calendar to April, exping climbed from the top11 to the top5 in the graphics and design category of the App Store in just 3 days.
These small milestones have given immeasurable encouragement to the team, making us more confident in taking every subsequent step.
The mark of a good map is its ability to offer readers prompt and precise access to the information they're hunting for, complemented with intuitive and user-friendly navigation. Without proper organization, a map can easily descend into a chaotic maze of place data, reducing its usability and intrigue.
To achieve this, exping needs to improve its map organization, to help creators present content more effectively and to help users find the information they need quickly and accurately. Therefore, we launched the GROUP feature in May, allowing creators to create different groups according to their preferences, categorize and manage routes and places more freely, supporting up to 20 group displays.
That's not all! May also marked the launch of exping's alpha collaboration feature.
This functionality transcends the constraints of single-person creativity, paving the way for substance from many creative minds. It allows creators to share their unique insights about places or routes on a joint map canvas. Creators can invite friends, family, classmates or colleagues to participate in map creation, adding places, drawing routes, etc., to easily create maps rich in information about gatherings, journeys, work, and so forth.
July saw the launch of the transformative Quick-Link feature. Now, creators can bridge the digital and physical world by embedding information like contact details, registration forms, food ordering, and purchase links directly into place maps. The Quick-Link feature brings each place to life with endless possibilities, weaving various forms of interaction. With just a click, map content transforms into actionable steps. Information is not just content anymore; it's a window for exploration.
In the same month, exping web editor grew silently behind the scenes, releasing its v0.1 version.
August welcomed the addition of the Stickers feature. It enabled creators to enhance the map with photos at any location, crafting unique, personalized content. Explorers can gain a deeper understanding of a location by previewing these photos, making map exploration interactive.
The newly designed official website also went live. We streamlined and optimized the website's information architecture to provide a more intuitive, swift user experience. This significantly boosted the website's efficiency. Moreover, we seamlessly integrated modifications in our vision and brand image into the website's fresh design, rendering it richer with additions like a blog, changelog, and help center.
After a gap of 5 months, we made an exciting achievement in August as our app exping was featured in the App Store Today. Antecedently, exping had a moment in the limelight, seizing second place in the Graphics and Design category of the App Store.
As stated in the beginning of the article, it's these warm and touching moment that spur us to greater heights, reinforcing our determination when we teeter on the brink of doubt.
As promised, we launched Route 2.0 in November. This breakthrough, a reincarnation of exping from version 1.0, is a testament to our team's triumph in product design and advancement.
After all, milestones can only exist if there's a path to follow. We have always believed that excellence speaks volumes about itself and attract more creators with the same pursuits, discovering even more possibilities with map creation.
Power of map creation
Map creation acts as a medium binding exping and its creators together.
We've witnessed the possibilities that arises when creators, each bringing unique experiences and hailing from a diversity of fields, collide with exping. Creators express and narrate their experiences from life or work through maps and this multi-dimensional exploration has allowed us to discover the value of our product and whether it's worth persevering with.
01 Join me on a journey free from obstacles
'Barrier-Free Travel with Me' is a map created by a mapmaker on the app exping.
The creator depicted their firsthand encounters with 'accessible facilities' during their self-driving tour on exping, including wheelchair ramps, accessible passages, and accessible restrooms etc, set by scenic areas for people with disabilities.
On the map, the creator uses different emojis to rank the standard of accessibility: a red heart means the accessible facility meets the national standards, an orange heart means it is functional yet does not meet the national standards, and a yellow heart says the facility is barely usable.
This map brought to our eyes many unnoticed details in life, and these details and fundamental facilities are crucial for 'barrier-free travel'.
Beautiful landscapes are everyone's to enjoy, and an 'accessible map' that is true to the core can provide invaluable insights for those with impairments who love to set foot on new lands. After all, this is the very reason for exping's existence.
02 Youth Never Ends
Every graduation season, classmates who once fought side by side are about to set off to all corners of the world to embark on their new journeys in life. The days they spent together on campus bear witness to their youth, and after graduation, they wish to meet the future in the name of youth.
The creator marked the map with the location of the high school and the respective colleges where the classmates have been admitted. This special classmates directory captures the precious memories of youth. Everyone can use this map to connect with classmates in different cities and enter each other's university campus to experience the future they once dreamed of together.
03 A Special Wedding Invitation
"We sincerely invite you to our wedding."
Before the wedding, there are many ceremonies that the newlyweds have to participate in, making it hard to balance the reception of friends and family on the wedding day. Compared with traditional wedding invitation methods, creating a special wedding invitation with a map not only conveys sincerity, but also easily solves communication issues.
The creator marked detailed wedding guides on the exping map, including transportation routes, pick-up routes, hotel accommodations, and nearby tourist routes, allowing friends and family to quickly understand the day's routes and local tourist information in advance.
04 A New Customer Acquisition Channel
Quick Link has opened up a new channel for business users to acquire customers. It can combine different media such as telephone, webpage, video, etc., and reach target users directly through the map.
The creators mark property information on the map, allowing potential customers to browse properties more intuitively, greatly reducing communication costs. At the same time, contact information, web page links, etc., are added to the quick commands at the location, so customers can easily complete the reservation.
05 New Media, New Vitality
In some industries such as communities, associations, institutions, etc., it is necessary to continuously update relevant news and trends through new media platforms such as public accounts, video accounts, and X, so that readers can accurately and quickly grasp information. When the content involves geographical location, it is difficult to convey information to the reader intuitively through text alone.
The creators used exping to create a series of convenient maps, allowing readers to clearly see the distribution of each location. At the same time, creators can share the map link, embed the complete map into the article or menu bar, and can update the content in the map in real time. This way of conveying location information with the help of maps provides new ideas for new media workers and injects new vitality to the platform.
This represents just a fraction of the maps available within 'exping.' However, it gives us a glimpse into the powerful potential map creation holds, equipping creators with diversified solutions to tackle geographical complexities encountered in everyday life or work.
The impact of map creation goes beyond this plethora of benefits. We are confidently looking forward to 2024, witnessing a dynamism between creators and map creation that will spark more fascinating innovations.
exping Team
Bunny：“
In the past year, the map explorers on exping have brought us many surprises. We were astonished to find that exping's maps have left their marks in multiple fields such as rural rejuvenation, grassroots management, social activities, and cultural heritage, where explorers presented the unique scenery of different regions in a map format, coinciding perfectly with exping's ideology of storytelling through maps.
Not only that, explorers who work in companies have also expressed their love for exping. In scenarios such as real estate sales, customer relationship management, and corporate client presentation, exping, a fast and coding-free map tool, helps users to rapidly display information on maps in a business environment, and seamlessly integrates into platforms such as websites, chats, and documents, greatly enhancing the presentation effect of information.
With different users exploring their unique ways of usage, exping faces a variety of choices on its journey of progression and iteration. There are user experience issues that need optimization, expectations for new features, and demands for in-depth features from different segment markets. Resolving past issues, fulfilling expectations for new features, and properly handling the progress of requirements are the biggest challenges faced by the exping team over the past year.
As exping moves ahead with constant improvements, catering to users' unique requirements presents challenges. Balancing user experience optimization, new feature rollouts, and deep-seated, niche user needs are areas faced head-on last year.
Your feedback has been instrumental in this journey. Valuable insights from a broad range of users helped us understand the diverse ways exping maps are being used. Some find joy in trip planning, others in social sharing and many in using maps in their work. Every piece of feedback, adopted or not, has been highly appreciated for the user insights they offer.
Fortunately, exping's reliable team makes everything progress in an orderly manner. Over the past year, our team has been constantly adjusting itself. Despite minor setbacks and speed bumps, our commitment towards our objectives remains unwavering. We hope your enthusiasm for exping remains high in the days to come.
With the rollout of new premium services last year, we aim to enhance user experiences and receive your support. We hope our premium users feel the value addition and enjoy the new experiences. We look forward to the continued contributions and the exceptional map stories from our explorers, spreading the joy of novel map creation, and inspiring more users to embark on this voyage. ”
xjunllllllau：“
Exping's journey from a mere start-up to a multifaceted platform encapsulates the transformation from "Know your interest" to "Express anything on map", offering insights into diverse possibilities through its user interface.
In 2023, the mobile app gradually transformed numerous user pain points into substantial functionalities. The Web Editor slowly evolved from basic features, and the official website was also renovated, with more abundant and comprehensive content. Although it's just a beginning, it's never too late to get started.
As a faithful user of exping, for every travel plan, I will use quick links, checks, map stickers, and other functions. When discussing the next destination with friends, I would open the app to mark the places we want to visit for selection. It has already begun to become one of my travel tools. From a team member's perspective, wouldn't it be great if exping found its way into everyone's daily routine?
Finally, I hope everyone enjoys using it, and hopes that exping truly achieves "Do anything on map", becoming a part of the daily routine and following your heart's desires; in advance, wishing your friends a very happy New Year on the map🧧. ”
Weiwei：“
During my fascinating six-month journey with the exping team, I've had a hand in more sub-projects than most. I've worked on the design for exping.ai, our web eiditor, and our brand new official website. I've also dipped my toes in a bit of development work. It's been incredibly rewarding to witness our web editor and official website come to life and meet everyone. I am equally glad to see that exping has been increasingly favored and consistently recommended by multiple platforms.
Designing the web editor wasn't a walk in the park. Moving exping onto a larger screen was tougher than it looked on the outside, but I owe much of the navigation of a user in his sixties.
On a more personal note, being part of exping's products and design has been vital for my growth - especially rekindling my passion for coding. From starting with some simple visual effects for the AI Hackathon to the web editor, and onto exping's revamped official website, I've realized that I've written more code than I thought over the past six months, giving me a deeper appreciation for the coding.
Even though I'm primarily a designer, I don't confine myself to just design, product design, or coding. The aim of all my work is constant: creating a superior product. ”
Kunlin：“
In 2023, our development team underwent significant shake-ups. We welcomed two new developers while one left, bringing the total to four. We were also excited to have design talents join our crew.
The colleagues who graduated from the "Web Crash Course" are able to independently complete the development of the official website and web editor. This year, pair programming with AI has gradually become a work method of the team.
Stay focused, and uphold high-quality, efficient execution on all development tasks. ”
Lantah：“
Reflecting on 2023 brings joy in my heart as a software developer. It was the year exping managed to achieve a steady growth – and thankfully, I managed to avoid being sacrificed by the “handsome” tester.
That's right, I am a member of the "Web Crash Course" launched by Kunlin himself. This year brought me numerous rich experiences and, most importantly, I picked up a skill that safeguards my employment status. Feels good!
Knowledge is endless and growth comes from learning. You say life is like a dream, and I agree. As long as I can breathe, the future is promising. ”
Levn：“
As a new developer who joined this year, since graduation, I have struggled all along, ridden the storm, and finally boarded the rapidly growing giant ship of exping.
When I really got in touch, I found that exping really originates from life and returns to life. Whether it's recording a trip, recording a beautiful moment somewhere, all these make me feel that what I do and the effort I put in are meaningful.
I used to work for a living. In the future, I want to work for living. Charge!!! ”
Zewei：“
exping is growing at a rapid pace, with team members thriving impressively. Indeed, the number of bugs has also skyrocketed, doubling and even more compared to last year — an increase in quantity without an increase in price.
During this year, I was nervous and tread lightly, you asked if I could... Apparently, I have come through. No major incidents have occurred with the product online. This is attributed to the rigorous review of codes by development gurus and the efficient testing process led by testing rookies. It also reflects the team's high regard for user experience and product quality. We are invincible, keep the momentum going.
As we step into the new year, we will maintain our careful navigation, steadily ticking off our testing tasks with efficiency. ”
Jack：“
For me, 2023 was a year of accompanying the rapid growth of exping.
It was riveting to watch exping evolve from initial stages to executing rapid strides - acquiring its first commendation from Apple to acing top three positions in the App Store categories, making subtle inroads on Xiaohongshu to ruling the charts on TikTok. This progression not only amplified our presence on major social media channels but also led to an expansion in our user base.
As an operator of exping, seeing them create map works full of imagination, occasionally encountering their enthusiastic endorsements and sincere praises on social media, these are even more satisfying and fulfilling than the app's virality. The users' creativity and feedback have brought us a lot of inspiration, and these are also reflected in product optimization, making exping better. We hope to become stronger next year! ”
Cici：“
2023 marked a year where exping steadily caught on, with a growing user base coming to appreciate its offer. Despite the journey being strewn with challenges, we managed to hit several notable milestones.
At the same time, I was very fortunate to have made my small growth this year, exploring many interesting directions and forms of content creation, no longer confined to tourism and store exploration content.
The most memorable was during this year's graduation season when we posted a tutorial on how to create a graduation freeloading map on social media platforms, attracting many graduates to create their own freeloading maps on exping to commemorate their struggling youth. The significance behind map creation is not necessarily the presentation of the final result, it is more about the feelings and memories carried by the creation process.
Eager to introducing map creation's charm to a wider audience, we look forward to exploring more engaging and diverse approaches in 2024. ”
CLU：“
Another year has passed, "Everyone is a map creator" is our firm belief, and we are working toward creating the ultimate map creation tools.
It has truly been a year of discovering new possibilities, and considerable healthy growth for "exping". Having achieved a balanced financial standing, we managed to conquer a crucial milestone imperative for our steady development. What started off as a small cohort now flourishes with a vibrant team of 12!
This year we also released many updates, my personal favorite is the ability to switch to viewing mode with one click when editing the map. Group subdivision of sites, mapping on the map can be a variety of reference images, explanations, etc. Finally, there is one of the most important parts for the entire exping, the Web.
The Web Editor is still in the early stages of iteration, with only 4 people working on it. Currently, it can basically meet the basic place marking, route planning on the PC and tablet. The overall feedback is roughly as expected, more of it is still used in work scenes, rather than under travel. Collaboration Alpha is something we have been exploring and polishing, how to allow more people to create together, then the Web is bound to be the most important client in the future.
This year's biggest regret is that we've been polishing a product line for a while, only to halt it right before hitting the publish key - exping.ai. Exping.ai is an upgraded version of the prototype we worked on in the Let’s Hack AI marathon in May - AIGM (generating maps with natural language), Copilot for Map (AI-assisted map completion).
Limited resources and data problems prevented us from launching it publicly, to our deep regret. On the bright side, this endeavor afforded us an excellent experience in GIS data modeling – something we’ll draw upon in order to perfect and release exping.ai when circumstances permit.
"Finally, in this year, I've observed more distinct creations and stories. I also brought the story of 'exping' to the TEDx stage, hoping to continue assisting everyone to 'exping the world', to explore, experience, and showcase the world! Our team is immensely grateful for your unwavering support this year, and we pledge to supply even better tools to cater to your creative expression needs. Together, let's make something truly extraordinary." ”
Possibilities on the map
Exping is heading towards a future that is more inclusive, evolving into a map tool that's not only purer but also universally applicable. As we design features, our goal is to maximize versatility, diminishing restrictions on functionalities and empowering users to choose their applications.
Take the "Checks” feature for instance. It isn't merely for logging visits, but rather, serves a greater purpose of marking various states. In combination with the collaborative map, it can show the site selection voting results of the team. It can also carry out user preference and hot spot surveys through public check-ins. In fact, this function has many unexpected usages.
In 2024, we’re focusing our efforts on the web editor. We will refine and enrich user experience, stepping closer to a more professional editorial stage. For mobile users, we're committed to crafting a superior product experience, inviting a growing audience to engage in map-based expression.
We’re thrilled to reveal our plans for a brand-new project in 2024. You should keep an eye out for it!
Last but not least, we genuinely appreciate the time you've taken to read this.
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