What is it that I see ?
How do I navigate the map ?
I am logged in; now what ?
What other features do I have on bliin ?
How can I change my Visiblity ?
How does Commenting work ?
How can I send a User Message ?
What about Trips ?
How can I upload a Share ?
What about making Friends ?
How does Bookmarking work ?
What is it that I see ?
All content on bliin is in-printed with a geo-stamp, in other words: what you see is or has actally happened on a particular location. The green and blue icons are bliin users. Green icons are Live! users, blue ones are on a bookmarked location. The blue photo Share pop ups are photo’s uploaded by a paricular user on that location.
How do I navigate the map ?
Your main tool for navigation is in the left top corner of your screen.
The View Options pane lets you control different aspects of your map content.
I am logged in; now what ?
When you are logged in you can start Commenting on Shares and send messages to other bliin Users. Also the Me button appears in the top left navigation. This opens your personal management features that we discuss in the next Q.
Your personal content management pane
What other features do I have on bliin ?
Currently on bliin we have the following features – some can only be created on your mobile handset others can be created on the website.
Visibility: manage privacy of your self & your Shares (mobile & website)
Commenting: make a comment on a Share (mobile & website)
Messaging: send a message to a User (mobile & website)
Trips: record a Trip of a route you are making while Live! (mobile)
Shares: upload a photo to bliin to the location of capture (mobile)
Friends: make friends with other bliin users (mobile & website)
Bookmarks: create and activate location bookmarks (mobile & website)
How can I change my Visiblity ?
All content on bliin has Visibility settings that you can set personally. You can set your Visibility in the little green dot in the navigation (below ME).
Your Visibility can be:
Public: the world can see
Friends: only Friends can see
Private: only you can see
How does Commenting work ?
You can use Commenting to give your personal opinion about a certain Share. This way bliin users are entering data about all sorts of things: Do you like this bar ? What kind of car is this ? … etc. You can make a Comment on a Share by clicking the Share Comments tab on the Share. When you click add Comment an input box appears where you can type your Comment. The owner of the Share – and all other Commenters – receive Inbox notification – a red dot with a number – in the navigation. If you click it the Inbox pane opens and shows the Comment. Clicking the Comment Icon will take you to the Share that was commented to read the entire text.
If you are the owner of the Share or a Comment you can choose to delete Comments.
How can I send a User Message ?
User Messages can be used to quickly contact another bliin user on his mobile or on the website. Messages are visible to the recipient only. You will receive Inbox notification of your Messages.
To send a User Message click the username in a User popup; this will open the user pane to the right. In the user pane, click the send Message icon, type your Message text in the input box and click post. You can read your Messages by clicking the Inbox notification button. The Inbox Message pane opens for you to read & manage your Message.
What about Trips ?
Trips can only be created on your mobile handset when you’re Live!. Trips can be used to capture a route or a tour that you want to archieve for later or share with friends. Suppose you’ve found a splendid wine route in the south of France that you want to remember … create a Trip and bliin will save it for you. See: navigating m.bliin.com > Trips for more information on recording your Trips.
Trip playback: on bliin.com you can playback and manage your Trips. You can also send your Trip as a hyperlink to friens and family.
To playback a Trip on bliin.com select your Trip in the Trip pane and click it. The Trip will render on the map as an orange continious line. An orange user icon will be placed at the beginning of the Trip. If you uploaded Shares during a Trip, these will show as well. If you want to delete a Trip from your archive, check the box in front of the Trip and hit delete selected.
You have a number of controls to play your Trip. Make sure to close the Trip when you are finished viewing it!
How can I upload a Share ?
At the moment you can only upload Shares on your handset. On the website you can view and manage your Shares. To view your Share click the Share button in your content management pane. The Shares pane opens and lists your Shares. If you click one, you will zoom/pan to the location of your Share and the Share will expand. You can copy the hyperlink to send it to a friend. You can delete your Shares by checking the box in front of it and click delete selected.
What about making Friends ?
One of the Visibility settings on bliin is Friends. Here you decide who gets to see yourself and content that you upload to bliin. Friend making is a non-reciprocal process on bliin. In other words: your Friend does not need to accept any invitations. It is one-way traffic only! You create Friends, you Control your viewers. Same goes for dropping a Friend. Nobody will even notice.
To make a Friend click a Username and his User pane will appear to the right. In the bottom of his profile pane you will find the add Friend button. Click it and you are Friends; indicated by the bliin logo layover on the user avatar.
You can manage your Friends in the Friends pane. Your Friends statusses – where they are, if they’re Live! - are shown here as well. You can drop your Friend by simply removing him from the Friends pane or by clicking the drop Friend button in his Profile pane.
How does Bookmarking work ?
You can create Bookmarks for many reasons:
1. you don’t have a GPS but still want to share your location
2. you want to save battery power
3. you want to be able to quickly set locations that you regularly visit (home, work, etc)
4. you are at a location where GPS is not working
5. more …
You can create and activate Bookmarks on both the website and the mobile client.
When you signed up you created your first Bookmark. To create a new one click the Bookmarks button and the Bookmarks pane appears. Click add Bookmark and click on the map to position your Bookmark. When you are done, name your Bookmark. You can click the update & go there buttons to update the timestamp on your current Bookmark location or move to a new location.
