Traverse dev log: what shipped, and why
Traverse is built by one developer and ships most weeks. This log records every feature released on the web app and the iPhone app, newest first, with what each one does and where it stops. 22 entries, last updated 2026-09-05.
Japan, properly mapped
— Four official Japanese base maps, one of them labelled in English, plus thirteen Japan-only layers covering relief and slope, landslide and flood zones, mapped avalanche terrain, volcanoes with current alert levels, and decades of aerial photography.
Marked trails, and a lot more routes
— Officially marked trails appear in search and on the map across North America with length, ascent, estimated time, elevation profile and what each trail is open to, alongside climbing and ski-touring records.
One search for everything
— One search covering summits and passes, routes, marked trails, huts and places, where every result opens in the same panel as tapping it on the map.
31 official national maps
— 39 base maps including the national surveys of Switzerland, France, Austria, Germany, Norway, Spain, Luxembourg, the United States and Canada, with national aerial imagery and historic sheets back to 1907.
A front page made of real terrain
— The Traverse home page now draws the real contour lines of Mont Blanc instead of an illustration.
What is free, and what is paid
— One subscription covering the web and the iPhone app, with slope, aspect, avalanche areas, rockfall, huts and snow cover staying free permanently.
The web app now feels like the iPhone app
— The web map was rebuilt to match the phone: the same navigation, panels and controls in the same places, and a route builder that shows distance, ascent, profile and warnings while you draw.
SnowSight: see the snow, and when it was seen
— Snow cover refreshes from the most recent usable satellite views, always shows the observation date, and lists earlier dates so you can watch the snow line move.
A tour that uses the real app, and plans you can send
— A two-minute tour that walks through the live app rather than slides, plus read-only share links for trip plans that can be saved into another person's atlas in one tap.
Guides to the classic multi-day routes
— Stage-by-stage guides to the Tour du Mont Blanc, both Haute Routes, the Tour des Écrins and the Grand Tour du Chambeyron, with distances, ascent, refuges and cols on 3D terrain.
A page for every mountain, with live conditions
— Mountain pages with elevation, routes, history and photo credits, plus a live conditions card for the mountain itself, and honest comparisons against seven other mapping apps.
Fire danger on the iPhone map
— The official wildfire danger rating for the area you are looking at, for today, tomorrow and the day after, with an explicit out-of-season state.
Every layer, with a preview and a sunlight simulator
— Real previews for every base map and overlay, grouped by purpose, plus a sunlight simulator that moves the shading with the time of day.
PeakView: point the phone at the horizon
— Named peaks and their elevations drawn onto the skyline through the camera, with a linked 3D terrain view and a saveable image.
Canada's national map, and quicker syncing
— Canada's national topographic map joined the base maps, and syncing now moves only what has changed since your device last looked.
A new website, and a logged-out map that does something
— The site and the app moved to separate homes, and the signed-out app now runs the real 3D map with its layers revealing in sequence.
SnowSight: recent snow cover on the map
— Recent snow extent drawn onto the 3D terrain with the date it was observed, starting in Chamonix and spreading across the Alps, free on purpose.
Terrain detail down to a metre
— Terrain resolved to about a metre where covered, as both a shading layer and the 3D ground itself, across Chamonix, the Mer de Glace, the Écrins, the Vanoise and Les Gets.
Routes that snap to trails and change sport partway
— Route drawing that follows trails where they exist, multi-sport sections with their own colours and numbers, and steep terrain, glacier, avalanche and wind-loading warnings as you draw.
Sign in, and your library follows you
— Routes, waypoints, plans and settings sync across devices when you sign in, while everything continues to work with no account at all.
GlacierIQ: evidence, not a colour
— Glacier outlines, ice movement and a modelled crevasse-susceptibility layer, where every point shows the evidence behind it and the date each piece was observed.
Day one of the web app
— The complete local-first web app: 3D terrain layers, atlas, multi-day plans, browser tracking, GPX import and export and offline areas, with no account required.