Our most exciting update for Vision yet is just around the corner. Find out more about the upcoming changes.

When will Update 3 arrive?

Update 3 for Vision will be released on Monday 22nd May 2017 at 9 PM GMT. The system will be down for up to two hours whilst we update our platform and environment.

What's changing?

A new login page and password reset

We've refreshed the login page to match many other system changes this update brings. But it's not just cosmetic changes we've made.

Previously, if you got your username or password wrong, we failed to notify you of the problem. Our new login screen will now tell you that there is no matching account so you can check your details and try again. For security reasons, we won't tell you which part is wrong, but at least you know its input error, rather than a system error.

A long-requested feature was the ability to reset your password, for example, to change it to something more memorable, or if forgotten, reset it. You'll now find a link at the bottom of the login page allowing a reset of your password. You can read more about the process here.

A new menu bar

We've refreshed the menu bar to make way for new features (read more below) and aid simpler system navigation. The icons are very relatable to their function, but we didn't stop there and added clear, descriptive tooltips to help you remember which is which.

We also included a logout button in the top-right. Simply closing your browser was enough to do this in the past, but we found some customers felt more at ease with its presence - and Vision is all about making things simple and unconfusing.

Projects are back!

Some of our earliest adopters will remember projects existing in Vision. Unfortunately, the way we implemented them was detrimental to the majority of our users with relatively simple systems in that it required them to select a project upon login when they only had one.

As a result, we took them out and promised to bring them back later with a much better implementation. Here they are!

Projects are now created by the user rather than the organisation, which means that you can choose to work the way you want to, rather than being constrained by the needs of your colleagues. It helps users with access to lots of layers across multiple countries/organisations to better segment their work and get to where they need to be quicker. Find out more here.

Screenshots are here

For a long time, many users have requested the ability to print the map to PDF. We haven't been ignoring you, but generating a PDF of the map as you see it isn't as easy as it should be - as anyone who tried simply hitting print in their browser will attest to!

One option was to use the snipping/screenshot tools built into Windows and Macs or use third-party tools like SnagIt, but our users wanted the software to do it for them.

Additionally, we wanted to look at the reasons why our users wanted a PDF so specifically - and make sure our implementation gave as many users as we could what they needed. Popular requirements included adding the map to a legal agreement, including it within a presentation, and sending by email.

We're now pleased to inform you that we've added a new button in the toolbar to take a screenshot and download an image file in the popular, high-quality PNG format. This makes it easier to insert in documents and emails than PDFs, and if you still really need a PDF, then you can print the image to PDF afterwards using your PC or Mac.

Note to users of Internet Explorer and Edge browsers. Unfortunately, the technology to do this is not supported by these browsers. If you try to use the function, it will ask you to download Chrome or Firefox. These browsers will give you a far better experience of Vision as they process the data much faster.

Sticky search results

It seems our users are split down the middle in their opinion of how the search results automatically disappear after a short while. We've listened to arguments on both sides and have been working to deliver a solution that fits all.

Now, if you click on a search result it will operate the same as before, but if you want to stick a pin onto the map until you decide to remove it, you can! Simply click the new button in the search result.

We've also moved the search results into the left-hand area rather than using a separate area. This helps users with smaller screens retain more map space.

System administration

It has always been our goal to allow users to configure their own systems, letting you get what you need in seconds, not hours or days. However, we deemed it more important to first get the core system right, and with all of our customers giving positive feedback now was the time to start implementing this.

You can use system administration to do the following:

• Change your details
• Change your password
• View the organisations you are linked to, and:
  • The layers they have given you access to
  • The permissions you have for their data
• View and manage your projects, including which layers are in them

In future updates (and they're coming soon), you'll start being able to manage far more such as your layers, classifications, users and more!

Better support

We've been tweaking our help centre, adding more articles and improving existing ones to get you the help you need faster than before.

We've also now added a new email to provide better support. If you want to get fast support by email, try our new support@vision-mapping.com address. This will create a ticket and all of our agents will be notified - rather than waiting for your usual contact to get back to you when they are able.

Bug fixes

Our users will know that we pride ourselves in having a great record with very few system bugs being reported. That said, the system grows ever more complex in the background and occasionally, a few slip through.

The following bugs have been fixed in this update:

• A single click on an area will open the information window. A second click on the same area will best fit that area to the map. In some circumstances, a third click on the same area in a row would turn off locations displayed on the map until the map was moved and they were redrawn. This is no longer the case.
• When creating a report, we had two cases of report users disappearing on save (one was in our demo system). The reason for this has been identified and corrected so this will no longer happen. A special thank you to Gary at Puddle Ducks for reporting this in a way which helped us replicate the issue and fix it.
• When creating a report, adding the same user twice would cause an error. This has been fixed.
• When a user was given access to a territory layer, but not any of the layers hierarchically beneath it, attempting a Demographic Export would throw an error. This has been fixed.