Frequently asked questions – PicTrax

Upload images to PicTrax from your mobile device:
1/ Tap on the ‘upload’ icon (plus button). You will find this button in the centre of the bottom navigation bar. PicTrax should open your mobile phone or tablet’s internal gallery.

NOTE: PicTrax may open your phone’s file structure. If that occurs, simply navigate to your device’s image gallery and album or sub folder.
2/ Tap on the image you wish to upload.

3/ If the selected image contains GPS metadata, the image will automatically be pinned to the capture location. If the GPS metadata is missing or incorrect, you can navigate by standard pinch zoom control. When the capture location has been found, tap the map to pin the location.
4/ Fill in the required info fields, or you may choose to change the image.
5/ When the upload form is complete, hit ‘Save pix’ – Your image will now upload. Please note that navigating away from this window during the upload process may cause the upload to break.
5/ You will then be taken to your image’s ‘detail view’ where you may check the image, mapped location and info for accuracy, edit the info, make public (or private) or delete the image, or leave it as is.

1. Upload a travel pic you’ve taken of a worthwhile destination to PicTrax. NOTE: Images with embedded GPS metadata will be automatically pinned to their GPS capture location. If this is incorrect or not available, you can manually pin the image by navigating to the place you were when you took the pic, and tapping the map to pin the image.
2. Like your pic. Tap and hold the heart icon to apply up to five likes. The act of applying likes is counted as a ‘Like Action’. Once applied, a Like Action and credits can’t be removed, even if the likes are removed.
3. Go to your profile and you will see that your earnings have increased by the current ‘Like Action Value’. This will vary from time to time. You can check the current ‘Like Action Value’ here.

Absolutely not! At PicTrax, we are ‘Team You’. The platform was built to assist people in the following ways;

1. Increased awareness of the world and where to find amazing destinations.
2. Making money from ‘Like Actions’.
3. Opening an avenue for personal image sales to a potential global audience – via the ability to include a URL to your own online presence in the comments section.

At PicTrax, we have taken steps to protect your rights by:

1. Preventing images from being copied, downloaded or taken by screenshot. Images taken via screenshot will have a PicTrax watermark that will prevent the image from being used commercially.
2. Requiring the uploading user to declare they have copyrights to the image.
3. Allowing an avenue for reporting in the case that a user does upload an image that they do not have copyrights to.

If you would like to crop, enhance or otherwise edit an image prior to uploading to PicTrax, please note that some image editing apps will erase the GPS metadata.

We consistently use Snapseed for image enhancement prior to upload as this app retains the GPS metadata AND saves enhanced pix to a created Snapseed gallery folder/album, which allows for easy retrieval in the upload process.

There may be many other image editing apps that retain GPS metadata – please test on one image before committing to any specific image editing app.

Your personal information will not be tracked by PicTrax or sold to a third party.

PicTrax may use your email address to;

• Communicate system information – you cannot unsubscribe from this as these communications may be required by law, i.e. updated terms of service notification in compliance with changes in legislation.

PicTrax may also use your email address to;

• Advise of bonus ‘Like Action Value’ periods, or milestones in earnings, likes or other user to user activity.
• PicTrax may also use your email address to communicate new developed features.

You will of course be able to unsubscribe from these emails.

If you are attempting to upload content in a low or intermittent data environment, the upload may break, showing a partial upload. If this occurs, please delete the image and try again at a later date, in a stronger data environment.

If the uploading device is disrupted through; going into ‘sleep mode’, moving away from the upload screen during upload, accepting a call during upload, the image may fail to upload correctly.

Yes, in both iOS and Android devices, you will have the ability to apply a ‘heart’ or ‘favourite’ an image.

This will place the image in a ‘favourites’ folder which will be much easier to access than scrolling through years’ of photos to find the one you wish to upload.

Using the Snapseed app to enhance your images is a great way to separate your enhanced pix from the rest as Snapseed will save the enhanced pix to a Snapseed folder or album.

Moving images to a new folder for upload is another way to separate the images you wish to upload to PicTrax.

Many professional photographers have beautiful images they may wish to share on PicTrax.

In order to upload these images to PicTrax, the user must be able to get the images onto their mobile phone or tablet. Here are a few methods we can endorse:

Google Drive and Dropbox: Upload images to Google Drive or Dropbox from your desktop and download to your phone’s gallery using the Google Drive or Dropbox app.

Direct connection: Connect your phone to your computer via USB or Bluetooth and transfer files to your device’s image gallery files.

Digital SLR WiFi: Many modern cameras, such as Canon, have apps that allow wifi connection to the camera for remote camera control and image transfer. Check to see if such a method exists for your Digital SLR camera make and model.

Note: We advise saving images to a new folder/album created to receive these images or it may be difficult to locate them within your phone’s image collection.

Users may make an image public or private at any time after upload, or during the upload process.

You will final all images you have uploaded in your profile page. Your images can also be found in the main view by filtering on ‘my pix’. Pics that have been uploaded by the logged in user will be distinguished by a small white dot in the bottom right of the thumbnail.

To change the public/private status of any of your images, open ‘detail view’ of any ‘owned’ image. To access detail view, tap on any image thumbnail in your profile’s ‘All’, ‘Public’ or ‘Private’ image tabs. Tap on the on-image vertical ellipses icon (…) and select the correct status from the resulting drop down menu. The ellipsis menu will be found in the top right corner of any image uploaded by the logged in user when seen in detail view.

NOTE: No further action need be taken – the image will now be accessible in the public or private domain as stipulated.

Save an image to one or more collections from detail view
1/ After tapping the on-map thumbnail of an iamge you want to collect, you will be taken to ‘detail view’.
2/ Tap on the ‘collect’ (bookmark) icon in the under-image tool bar.
3/ Name your collection or select and existing collection and hit ‘done’. You have now added the image to your collection.

You can edit your profile details by hitting the settings ‘gear’ icon in the bottom navigation bar.
Here you can:
1/ Upload or change your profile photo
2/ Tap in the editable field and make changes to your details.

Your image’s GPS meta data may be incorrect due to a number of factors such as;

1. An image sent from one device to another may have the GPS location data overwritten with the image receiver’s GPS location.
2. Satellite coverage may have been insufficient at the time of capture, causing the mobile phone or GPS-enabled digital SLR camera to record incorrect data.
3. Your mobile phone’s position may have been determined by mobile phone towers which may have used a ‘triangulation’ method to determine your position at time of capture. This method of location mapping is less accurate than satellite positioning and any resultant images may not be placed correctly on the map.

NOTE: PicTrax advises users to routinely check their images info to make sure the image placement is accurate while in the field to ensure images captured will be placed correctly when uploading to PicTrax.

If your image is not automatically pinned on the the map on upload (or incorrectly pinned), it generally means your image’s GPS meta data may be missing. This can happen due to a number of factors such as;

1. The image has been saved to a device instead of having been taken with the device.
2. The device may have GPS location services disabled or may not be capable of capturing GPS location data.
3. The image has been saved from a social media account may have had the information erased in submitting to that platform.
4. The image is not an appropriate file type and has been removed by PicTrax admin staff.
5. The image is a screenshot and not an original capture.
6. Satellite coverage may have been insufficient at the time of capture, causing the mobile phone or GPS enable digital SLR camera to fail to record GPS meta data.

Inappropriate content
If your image was reported for inappropriate content, your image will be reviewed by PicTrax admin staff and either removed from the platform if the image fails to meet PicTrax’s acceptable publishing standards, or made private, if deemed to be inappropriate for public viewing.
NOTE: No user action is required and no correspondence will be entered into after PicTrax admin action has been taken.

Breach of copyright
If your image was reported for breach of copyright, PicTrax admin staff will investigate the matter.
NOTE: To protect users from ‘internet trolls’, repeated and unfounded reporting may result in the reporting user’s account being deleted.

NOTE: PicTrax admin staff may contact both the user and the reporter to determine the most likely image copyright ownership status. Once PicTrax – through any investigative method deemed appropriate or necessary within Australian law – has determined the most likely owner, the image in question will be removed from the non-owner’s account and no further correspondence will be entered into.

Inaccurate location
If your image was reported for inaccurate location, your image may be made private to ensure other PicTrax users are not directed to wrong locations.
NOTE: No user action is required and no correspondence will be entered into after PicTrax admin action has been taken.
NOTE: No user action is required and no correspondence will be entered into after PicTrax admin action has been taken.

Poor quality or composition
If your image was reported for poor quality or composition, your image may be made private so that you may continue to enjoy your image while maintaining an enjoyable in-app experience for other PicTrax users.
NOTE: No user action is required and no correspondence will be entered into after PicTrax admin action has been taken.
NOTE: PicTrax users, through the acceptance of PicTrax Terms of Service, have agreed to abide by PicTrax acceptable use parameters and multiple breaches or numerous nuisance reporting as well as multiple breaches of PicTrax usage guidelines may see that users’ profile deleted from the platform and potentially banned from PicTrax with no further correspondence being entered into.

PicTrax needs the GPS meta data stored in many digital images in order to plot the image on the global map so that others may discover the location for themselves, or so that you can plot your private journeys on a the global map. This is the true purpose of PicTrax. Images that are not of a ‘destination’ or that will be likely to be found by another user in the future may be removed from the platform.
What data does PicTrax collect from my images?
PicTrax will access and use the following info from images you upload to the platform:
> Time of capture
> Date of capture
> Device used (mobile phone or digital SLR make and model)
> Device photographic settings at time of capture, ISO, f stop etc.
> GPS Longitude recorded at time of capture
> GPS Latitude recorded at time of capture
> Device orientation at time of capture

There are several reasons an image may be rejected from PicTrax on or after upload. These can include;
1/ Inappropriate file format
2/ Unacceptable file size
3/ Lack of copyright

There are several reasons an image may be removed from PicTrax after upload. These can include;
1/ Inappropriate file format
2/ Unacceptable file size
3/ Lack of copyright
4/ Inappropriate or explicit content
5/ Poor composition
6/ Non destination specific subject matter

Note: This platform differs from Instagram in its destination specific nature. For this reason, uploaded pictures of people, food, animals or objects that are not destination specific and do not add to the travel and photographic exploration experience for other users may be deleted from the platform.