Site and infrastructure updates, February 2023 Edition.

Finally! Another blog post full of our love from the digital world! We are almost running out of scheduled blog posts, but don’t worry, we’re going to fill it up soon.

And here’s a summary of all the changes:

1. Reinhart’s getting done on his Thesis.
2. We’ll be physically shifting next week!
3. We’re planning to rebrand (#_ ), the company.
4. Reinhart Maps: Full support for Mapcode code imports.
5. Reinhart Maps: Improved support for Open Location Codes / Plus Codes import.
6. Reinhart Maps: Optional “Address” field.
7. Reinhart Maps: Choose how would you open your location in your map apps.
8. Reinhart Maps: Support for Google Maps shortlinks.
9. Reinhart Maps: Support for Streetdirectory.com link imports.
10. No need to copy-and-paste, now you can share map links DIRECTLY to Reinhart Maps!
11. Upgraded our Ubuntu servers from 20.04 to 22.04!
12. roothouse-1 and roothouse-3 are back!
13. Upgraded our Fediverse instance to Misskey 13!
14. A new feature for our MSJ admin Telegram Bot!

It’s the toughest month yet, we guessed.

Why, because we’re preparing for one our shiftiest moments in 2023. To name a few…

1. Reinhart’s getting done on his Thesis.

Even though we’re facing some delays, today we have secured at least 133 (previously 86 last week) out of 166 important things to do before our final submission. We’re getting closer to the finish line!

Check out https://skripsi.reinhart1010.id to see our latest progress!

2. We’ll be physically shifting next week!

One of our head offices (read: a cluster of PCs and Raspberry Pi-like devices over the Reinhart’s house) are moving towards a different place sooner or later.

This migration is already happening, and I can’t be less excited for this! And if you’re looking for some hints, here’s a video from GMS Jabodetabek for it:

3. We’re planning to rebrand (#_ ), the company.

What? (#_ )? Yeah, the company at https://rootverse.reinhart1010.id will be replaced with a new one, taking a fresh concept for everyone to enjoy our works and products!

But, well, we can’t be less excited to share some details for this. Instead of building a “company that does !exist” (pun intended), we’re rebranding ourselves as the world’s first vHackers (virtual hackers) that is, like VTubers, don’t exist in real life, but unlike them, we code and hack, not doing those frequent streams.

An even better Reinhart Maps.

At the end of January, we further improved Reinhart Maps to add these new great features:

4. Full support for Mapcode code imports.

That’s right! Thanks for their open API, you can import a Mapcode code to automatically generate coordinates and create new map links.

This feature is currently unavailable on “Automatically detect URLs and coordinates” option.

5. Improved support for Open Location Codes / Plus Codes import.

We implemented the OLC import support by using OpenStreetMap’s geocoding service, so you can import codes like VMF3+59 Banten to Reinhart Maps.

However, Google Maps often generates codes with more detailed hints. For example, the location of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is VMF3+59 Pajang, Tangerang City, Banten. Sometimes, OpenStreetMap are unable to parse this longer address, which puts a halt into our OLC import.

Some people are reporting this issue to us, even though there’s a workaround to omit the village, district, and even the city names in order to work. But now, Reinhart Maps can do that automatically, so it will search for:

1. Pajang, Tangerang City, Banten
2. Tangerang City, Banten, if the earlier does not work
3. Banten, if the earlier does not work

so you can now import these codes even faster!

6. Optional “Address” field.

If you’re sharing from Apple Maps, you’ll notice that the links do contain place names and address in different parts of the URL. Today, we’re excited to announce separate fields for inputting your place name or address. And here’s why we made that decision:

7. Choose how would you open your location in your map apps.

Reinhart Maps always attempts to trigger a map search instead of pinpointing your favorite map apps to show places in specfic coordinates. This is useful for map apps which supports rich place data, such as the place’s contact information, photos, and reviews.

But sure, not every map app have updated places and data, and this could mislead users to wrong location compared to the ones shown in Reinhart Maps.

That’s why we decided to let you choose to search and show these places, either by name, address, or direct coordinates!

8. Support for Google Maps shortlinks.

Before, it is not possible to import Google Maps shortlinks like maps.app.goo.gl and goo.gl/maps into our app. Now it’s possible without having you to copy-paste the Plus Codes field. Hooray!

9. Support for Streetdirectory.com link imports.

For those who are living in Singapore and Malaysia: Links for your good-old, favorite “offline maps” app can also be imported into Reinhart Maps!

Note that as of now, we are unable to open Reinhart Maps links back to Streetdirectory.

10. No need to copy-and-paste, now you can share map links DIRECTLY to Reinhart Maps!

If you’re installing Reinhart Maps as a Progressive Web App (PWA) from Chrome, please reinstall the app to enable this feature.

What we are trying to say that in supported web browser apps, or by using this Shortcut for your iPhone or iPad, you can directly install our app and share links from Google Maps, Waze, and so on directly to Reinhart Maps!

This is also possible because our app now supports the ?q= parameter to place the inputs. Another good tip for those tinkerers.

Some infrastructure updates

These announcements might be boring, but feel free to read:

11. Upgraded our Ubuntu servers from 20.04 to 22.04!

Yep, that also includes our roothouses as well our DigitalOcean VPS running our Fediverse instance.

12. roothouse-1 and roothouse-3 are back!

We decided to reactivate the roothouse checker for both devices, after months of being inactive. But beware: they won’t be as active as 24/7 for now as there’s currently no other task other than helping BINUS Today.

13. Upgraded our Fediverse instance to Misskey 13!

You shouldn’t see much difference when viewing our posts on your instances, though. But we’re doing this to improve security and enabling new features!

14. A new feature for our MSJ admin Telegram Bot!

If you’re able to access the bot today, we’re adding another new command, /convertnohp, to let you easily correct mistakes and inconsistency with Indonesian phone number formats into the international, +62 formats.

That’s all of our announcements. Back to work!