Henry Ford’s famous line goes, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse, not a car.” It’s often cited in product development to encourage revolutionary innovation. But few ask: perhaps users really do want a better horse?
Before we knew it, the year was drawing to a close. What color is your autumn — the golden yellow of ginkgo leaves, or the vivid red of maples?
In late August and early September, we sent a feedback email to all users and were delighted to receive many in-depth and insightful responses. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and expectations. After organizing and digesting all the input, a clear message emerged in my mind: “I love Tasmap’s design. I want to make beautiful maps like that, but I’m running into many obstacles.”
This is our top priority now and going forward.
Guidance, education, and polish
We’ll invest heavily in improving the user experience and onboarding (you may have already noticed some of these), as well as in surfacing the full potential of Tasmap. This includes:
- Short embedded tutorial videos
- Better linking between map elements and their content
- A more intuitive editor layout
- How-tos and refinements for different layouts
- More examples
- Practical introductions to various features and use cases
Classic mode and import
- Classic mode: A layout centered on the map and places, similar to traditional Google My Maps (and other services).
- Data import: Prioritizing KMZ/KML to support fast migration of your existing map data into Tasmap.
Stability
We fully understand the frustration of encountering unknown bugs while editing. Therefore, until the goals above are achieved, we will pause the development of new features—especially exploratory or experimental ones—and focus our efforts on stability. Rather than chasing flashy new features, we’re choosing to first build a better, simpler, and more reliable mapping tool.
End notes
We’ll post development progress and updates on X (Twitter) and Discord—please follow along. If you have any ideas, feel free to share them on Discord or reach out via email. I read and thoughtfully reply to every message.
Thank you again to everyone who provided feedback. I hope you enjoy this reflective season at year’s end.