Keryx Maps 1.3 is out. You can get it on the App Store for iPhone and iPad and on Google Play for Android. Windows, Linux and macOS versions are on the download page.
Keryx is a hazard map that keeps working when the network doesn’t. I wrote about why I built it in Why We Built Keryx Maps. This post is the practical part: what’s in 1.3, where it runs, and how to set it up.
What it does
- Your maps live on your device. Download the regions where you live, work and travel. The map, street and place search, and turn-by-turn routing all run on the device, with no connection needed.
- It watches those places for you. Keryx follows real-time hazard data from 45+ data feeds across 25+ sources: severe weather, floods, wildfires, earthquakes, volcanoes, space weather, radiation and more. When something touches an area you care about, you get a notification, usually within about two minutes of the data reaching us. You choose which kinds of hazards alert you.
- You can plan ahead. Area Study lets you mark an area, measure it, draw range rings and bearings, drop pins and keep notes, with UTM, MGRS and Maidenhead grids on top. You end up with your own picture of a place before you need it, and you can export it to KML or GeoJSON.
- Your family can share it. A Family plan puts everyone in one group, so the people you worry about get the same alerts.
- Your location stays yours. Your position is used on your device. Keryx was built so the server never holds it.
Where it runs
One account works on all of them, and your pins and Area Studies sync between them.
| Platform | Maps | Routing | Alerts |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone, iPad, Android | Stored on the device | On the device | Push notifications |
| Windows, macOS, Linux | Stored on the device | On the device | System notifications |
| Web browser | Streamed from the Internet | Not available | Browser notifications while open |
The phone apps also switch between your downloaded state maps as you travel. The web version is handy for planning: you can plan and save a trip there, and an installed app calculates the route.
What works without a signal
Once a region is downloaded, these keep working with no connection: the map, street and place search, routing, your pins and Area Studies, and the preparedness guides. Three things still need a connection: new hazard alerts, downloading more regions, and syncing between devices.
What’s new in 1.3
This is the release that put Keryx in the app stores. It also brings:
- Area Study. Draw, measure and annotate an area, with range rings, bearings and UTM, MGRS and Maidenhead grids. Export it to KML or GeoJSON.
- Offline street and place search. Find an address, a gas station or a hospital in your downloaded regions with no connection.
- One-click routing on desktop, with a driving view.
- Radiation alerts measured against each station’s normal level, so you hear about a real rise, not ordinary background.
- Help guides that work offline, step by step, built into the apps.
Get set up
There is a free 7-day trial. Setup takes a few minutes, plus the download:
- Start your trial at keryxmaps.com.
- Install the app on your phone or computer, and sign in.
- Download your home region, plus the places you go and the roads between. Do it now, on Wi-Fi. A map you download during an emergency is a map you may not get.
- Choose which hazards alert you, and allow notifications when the app asks.
One honest note
Keryx does not issue warnings and does not replace official ones. Keep your phone’s emergency alerts on, follow your local officials, and leave when they tell you to. Keryx is one more way for the warning to reach you.
If you try it, I’d like to hear what works and what doesn’t. There’s a feedback option in the app, or you can reach me at support@keryxmaps.com.