Important Update 11th March 2021
The next app update of the Street Tag app with the OFFLINE mode is now ready, however, we will be delaying the release to make some rapid infrastructure changes to how the virtual tags are set out, for the purpose of balancing the demand for Street Tag use and the app performance. Over the past 6 to 8 months, we have seen an explosion in the number of tags being created on Street Tag. We have grown from 4k tags being collected daily to 100k plus daily, from 5k virtual tags being in existence a couple of years ago to 100k virtual tags created and actively being tagged daily. Over the next 12 months, we expect these numbers to increase further significantly. Along with other app performance challenges was the reason why we took on the challenge to prioritise the offline mode in Q1 2021. In other to meet the growing demands and to be at least 90% sure that the app performance will improve along with the offline mode release, our team has carried out a review and will be making this below adjustment this March before we release the next app update this March. This adjustment below will not take as long as it has taken us to develop the offline tagging to be released.
1. Currently each virtual tag is designed to have 100m spacing between them to maintain a good app performance and to manage each tag interaction with the server for validation as proof of physical activity. This mechanism was designed between 2018 and 2019, the Street Tag community has evolved significantly since then. We need to evolve this mechanism to be future-proof. We will be making some rapid changes to increase the spacing required between each tag from 100m to 200m, this means quite a lot of virtual tags will be removed. Along with these changes, the minimum points on a tag will be moving up from 10 points to 20 points minimum per tag i.e. 10 points tags will change to 20 points tags, 20 points tags will change to 30 point tags. These changes will only apply to virtual tags, and will not affect Poly Tags, Monument Tags, or anywhere where there is a QR Tag.
2. The first step that we are taking this week is to apply the 200m spacing between tags on the current live app i.e. new tags will only be allowed if there is at least 200m between existing tags and the new tags to be created by any user.
3. Between now and next week, we will work on making the necessary changes in the new offline mode app update for the changes to reflect accurately e.g. the 20 points tags will no longer have a star on them, 30+ points tags will now be the tags with the star appearance.
Our biggest challenge over the next week or so will be to be able to automatically filter all of the 100k plus virtual tags, auto-remove, auto change upgrade the value of tags etc. These changes will more than likely mean some of your favourite tags will be removed, this is why we are increasing the value of the tags. These changes will be carried out in London first, if successful, we will apply the changes across the UK and the rest of the world.
These final adjustments will significantly boost the app performance by 5x or so. Thank you for your patience and sincere apologies for this additional delay. We will share further updates by the middle of next week on our progress and when the go-live date is likely to be.