Conversing with BillionGraves

     I posted earlier today about my 2nd Try with the BillionGraves.com Android app. This post was my immediate reaction to my experience. I had emailed BG with my feedback and have been emailing back and forth with them to clarify some issues.

     I should state that I'm not trying to be negative or bring down BillionGraves.com. I'm simply frustrated. I think they've got a great idea, but it has just yet to work properly for me. 

     I emailed BillonGraves and told them that I'd tried to create two cemeteries and failed, as well as that I'd had problems with GPS using their devise, while I had no problems using three other GPS apps on the phone.  I'm going to paraphrase their response and condense it a bit.

• Creating A Cemetery
• This appears to be an issue with the user interface not being user intuitive and me not being able to figure it out. Some folks might say, "of course that's what you're supposed to do," but this doesn't make sense to me. 
• Here's a photo of the phone when you're creating a cemetery:
  
• So the last question is: "Are you in the cemetery?" The only apparent answer is "no." So I didn't click that button and went ahead and saved the cemetery, which gave a "success!" response. 
• But apparently when I didn't select anything I was saying no - which I thought might happen, but what else was I supposed to do? There's not a "yes" button. And why did it say "success?" 
• Apparently, "This is a bug in the program that we currently fixing" and "In order to create a cemetery, just make sure that you answer yes to the question: Are you in the cemetery?" 
• To which I replied: There is not a "yes" button and sent them the above photo. So they said: "I apologize for the confusion, I will let the developer know about it. I think we could easily program two buttons in. Make the button so it shows "Yes" with green light showing [click on no]. It should read before you save it: Are you in the cemetery? Yes"
  
• What I get from this: They are still rushing the app. First they rushed it without a feature to create cemeteries. Now they have a confusing app with known bugs that was released as an "update." They need to take their time and test the apps before release. There are tons of folks willing to be Beta testers who won't fuss when it doesn't work since it's a Beta test.
• GPS Issues: 
• They said that "the Android you are using is on our approved list, so it has been tested multiple times for compatibility with BillionGraves." 
• However, "after researching your Android phone, I've discovered that it is known for GPS problems. The problem seems to lie in the programming rather than the hardware. However, I will be informing our Android developer of the problems you've been having so we can find a solution for you." 
• So I recommended that they move the Samsung Epic G4 to the "maybe works" list, to which they replied: "our approved listed comes from Android"
• What I get from this: BillionGraves themselves haven't actually tested the Android app, but is relying on Android to do so. Do I expect BG to honestly track down all these different phones and test them themselves? No. Do I think Android actually sent folks out to cemeteries to test the app? Doubtful. Do I expect BG to find and utilize volunteer Beta testers to do so? Yes. Because obviously, relying on Android isn't working out.

     Anyone else pick up on a theme here? Beta Test! If this app had been released as "beta," "early release," or "testing," I'd have no issues with the problems I've been having. Bugs happen. However, when a company makes a big announcement that a new product is available I expect it to work. 

BillionGraves.com: 2nd Try

If you haven't already, read my previous post, "A Disappointing Day with BillionGraves."

     I received a tweet from BillionGraves.com yesterday, letting me know that their Android app had been updated to include the "add a cemetery" function. I wasn't planning on trying it out today, but my other plans fell through, so I was able to use my mom's phone (I don't have an android or iphone) to test the app again. Unfortunately, my results weren't much better than last time.

     First, I decided to try something I hadn't last time: go to a cemetery already listed in their database and upload a photo. I went to Shadowlawn Cemetery, only a few minutes from my house to try this out. It's hot out (93°), so we parked in the shade and approached the closest grave. Here's how that went:

"Signal Strength: Very Bad." Hmm... let me give it a second so it can find us. Waiting, waiting... Let me check, yeah, the other GPS driven apps know exactly where I am... Let me move away from the trees. Waiting, waiting... "Signal Strength: Very Good." Ok, great. It took a few minutes, but now I'm good to take some pictures. Click, click, click. Twelve Graves later: "Error!""Signal Strength: Very Bad." What?! I moved five feet! 

     I waited around a bit more, but never got my signal back. Oh well, whatever. I really wanted to create a cemetery anyway. So we drove down a little access road and past a pond into East Shadowlawn. Yes, according to the ladies in the cemetery office, these are two different cemeteries, though they almost touch. And this one wasn't in the BillionGraves database. My Uncle Wayne is buried in this one, so I headed over to his grave.

     First I created the cemetery. The function for this is a bit hidden: you go to the Cemeteries page and scroll all the way to the bottom, past numerous "nearby" cemeteries. It took me a minute to figure it out, but after only a minute "Success!" So, I head over to my uncles grave:

Oh, he's right on the edge near the trees, wonder if I can get a signal? "Signal Strength: Very Bad." Wave the phone around... hold still for two minutes... walk in a six foot range for three minutes... Go far away and stand in the open. "Signal Strength: Very Good / Shadowlawn Cemetery." No, we're at East Shadowlawn! Search for the cemetery I just created... it's not there. Recreate the cemetery - maybe I made a mistake? Nope, still not there. Grr!

     Ok, maybe it's confused by it's proximity to the other Shadowlawn? I didn't really have anything else to do - lets go to some more cemeteries. We stopped at the Gwinnett Memorial Gardens, also already in the BillionGraves database.

"Bad Signal,""Bad Signal"... "Very Good Signal". Ok, that wasn't so long of a wait this time and it knows which cemetery I'm at. Click! Next grave... "Bad Signal". Seriously?!? I took two steps left! Waiting, waiting... Waiting waiting.... Waited over 5 minutes, no signal.

     Now at this point, I didn't figure I was going to be able to create a cemetery, but I wanted to give it one more try. I went out to the cemetery that I'd been to when I first tried out the BillionGraves app: White Chapel Memorial Gardens in Duluth.

Create the cemetery. "Success!" Walk over to my grandparent's graves. "Bad Signal," Bad Signal"... "Very Good Signal / Garner Cemetery." Nope, that's not the right cemetery. According to the map in the BG app, that cemetery is about 15 miles away. I give up!

     After arriving home I checked the website to see if the two cemeteries I'd created would show up there. Nope. Also, there seems to be a time delay on profile updates. Although the photos I'd taken were on the website immediately under "my photos," it took over three hours for three hours for them to be credited on my dashboard as "images uploaded." Also, it took a while for the photos to show up on the cemetery page. There seems to be a multi-hour time lag for the website to update.

     At this point, I want to give up on this app. On the other hand, I want this app to work. It has a lot of potential, despite its issues: being able to create cemeteries and connect with GPS devices. Heck, maybe it's just this particular phone? However, the Samsung Epic G4 is on the list of good phones on BG's blog. Regardless, if it's a problem with the phone, please let me know! Otherwise there are some issues with the app that need to be fixed for this website to worthwhile for me.

___

     I emailed BillionGraves with some feedback today and did receive a response. I'll write another post about that tonight.

A Disappointing Day with BillionGraves.com

     Last week BillionGraves.com announced the availability of their app for Android phones. My mom had just gotten a Samsung Galaxy Epic G4, so I quickly downloaded the app (my phone is an un-supported generic smart phone). We planned to go out to my paternal grandparents graves today and try out the app - but we shouldn't have bothered.

     According to the email sent out by BillionGraves, the new Android app "has all the essentials." Their blog post boasted the same, as well as a list of phones the app would work on (mom's was included).

     Before going out to this cemetery, I checked the website to see if it was listed. It wasn't, but that's ok, because, according to the FAQs, I could add the cemetery from the app once I was there. Sounds great!

     Except it wasn't. We arrived at the cemetery with my mom's phone, ready to take some photos. I started by attempting to add the cemetery, but couldn't find the function. My mom and I spent at least 20 minutes trying to make the app work. I logged onto BillionGraves.com via my own phone, double checking the instructions for adding cemeteries. Well, there aren't actually any instructions, just a statement saying that it's possible to do so. At the same time, the FAQ also states that an Adroid app isn't available. Obviously, these haven't been updated in a while.

     I sent a tweet out about my problems and relatively quickly received this one in reply:

@ValerieC84 The functionality to add a new cemetery from an #Android device will be in the next update of the app. #genealogy

@ValerieC84 The Android can't add cemeteries yet, but you can take pics, then tell us where the cemetery is and we'll move them in manually.

     Um, what?! There had been no mention of this limitation in any of their online FAQs or announcements. Honestly at this point I was extremely angry.  I'd wasted a lot of time, as well as my mom's, trying to do something that it wasn't possible to do. Instead, they are recommending that I upload photos to the wrong cemetery, which they will adjust. How does that make sense?

     BillionGraves needs to immediately update their FAQs and possibly write a blog post announcing these restrictions. They should have included a notice in their app about the limitation as well. I'm just glad I only wasted an hour of my day and didn't decide to test out this new app on a road trip.

     UPDATE, 6/30/11 5PM: See a response from BillionGraves.com in the comments. They have now updated their FAQ to specify that cemeteries cannot be created via the Android app.