Going places by yourself... surrounded by friends

While other apps concentrate more on the group meeting place and time, pTreks goes further by monitoring progress and providing information and help to all of its participants. Other apps don't do this and pretty much leave you alone once the group starts doing its thing.

pTreks is not a map routing program. You won't use it to make or show routes. Use Google Maps, Apple Maps, Garmin Basecamp, etc for that. There are many other applications that are designed to do this and do it well.

pTreks also is not trying to be a trip visualizer, like Relive. If you want to see your trek, use some other application. pTreks is used to show groups of people doing a similar physical activity where the locations of each of its members are important information.

pTreks is available as a web app through any modern web browser and as dedicated mobile apps for both iOS and Android.

They are very similar and provide almost identical functions, but the web app will have some more issues with precise location detection due to the many roadblocks that web browsers put in to protect the user's privacy. In short, it's not the best user experience for tracking positions.

The dedicated apps for mobile devices almost always have built-in GPS support if they are modern phones and easily can supply the location information that pTreks needs. Gestures are supported and makes it easy to move from screen to screen. But, in the web browser, a lot of information can be displayed in one page since there is unlimited scrolling with web pages that would not be easily done in a mobile device.

However, the web app is excellent for monitoring progress. For example, others that may not be directly participating in the trek can watch the full progress of the participants. You can see where everyone is at any time, read the Points of Interests that may be dropped by participants, and see if someone needs accident or medical attention. You can even send messages that others will see from you sitting at home!

In short, use the web app if not participating directly and you only want to monitor progress. Use the web app also to create the groups and treks since it really is easier on a desktop. But use the dedicated mobile app for iOS and Android phones when actually doing the trek so location data is collected more accurately and easily.

pTreks is designed to mimic almost exactly what I and my buddies do prior to and on a ride on our motorcycles. We usually come up with a rough plan on when and where to go, and sometimes on who to invite. We announce it usually by email and send that email to those that we want on the ride. Sometimes others find out by word of mouth and ask to join as well. The email contains the information on where, when and how. We meet at an agreed upon place and then go on the ride. We then watch out for each other and make sure the entire group stays together without anyone getting lost. We send emails and texts to those at home that need to be aware of our progress.

pTreks manages most of this and organizes it in an electronic manner. There are groups of people that can get the electronic invitation for the trek. And because it is electronic in a group that has members, others that may not have been directly invited can see it and ask for permission to join. Of course, pTreks allows completely private groups and treks in case you want to just go with your friends and no one else. The trek information contains the where, when and how as well and also allows the uploading of relevant documents, such as maps, routes, hotel information, etc. Once the trek begins, pTreks can help with keeping everyone together and safe by showing everyone's position on a map. And those at home can track the groups's progress and take comfort that all is progressing smoothly.

Use as much or as little of pTreks as you want. Use it to organize people with like-minded outdoor acitivities together and to keep in contact and organized. Announce trek activities and use treks to maintain information on trek participants during the activity. Or just announce the treks and forego the trek mapping of information. It's all up to you.

You can expect increase power consumption since it uses the GPS receiver. This is also why you can select the amount of time for the trek map to refresh. Lower time intervals and less map refreshing will decrease power demands. Note that this version of pTreks does not perform geolocation when it is in the background and power consumption by pTreks will go to essentially zero.

Of course, when you are on in a vehicle with power, connect your phone to a power source and spare the battery.