Wikiloc Share Experience

Context

Wikiloc is, at its core, a trail-sharing community, but the sharing experience had grown outdated, functioning as little more than sending a link. Looking at the data, we found most shares happened on mobile and were trail-focused, but not all trail shares carried the same intent: sharing your own trail is emotional and personal, while sharing someone else's is practical, meant for planning, saving, or recommending.

The new Share Trail flow: Photo, Map and Link templates to choose from

Design strategy

Rather than one generic share modal, the flow became: choose a template, preview the result, then choose where to share it. A photo template pairs a cover shot with the elevation profile and key stats; a satellite map template shows the full route from above; and a link template keeps things quick for a plain share. Every template carries the same anatomy of distance, elevation and the Wikiloc mark, so shared content is always recognisable.

Browsing between the Photo, Map and Link templates before sharing

The 3D flyover video

The most ambitious format was a cinematic 3D flyover: a vertical video that flies over the trail on a satellite terrain map, built specifically for Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts. It wasn't about performance stats. It was about the place, the terrain, and the feeling of having been there.

The 3D flyover video, rendered over satellite terrain with the trail's waypoints

From a trail to a story

Once generated, a trail's photo or map became something worth posting: not just a link buried in a caption, but a story with the mountain, the distance, and the Wikiloc mark front and centre. Friends could see exactly where you'd been and how far you'd gone, at a glance.

Shared trails becoming stories: the Matterhorn, mountain ridgelines, and a mapped route

Bringing the video to mobile

3D video generation happened on-device, in the mobile app, so on web, sharing a 3D video meant bridging the gap. We designed a simple QR flow: scan the code, and the Wikiloc app opens directly on that trail's 3D video screen, ready to generate and share.

Scanning a QR code from web to generate and share the 3D video from the app

Outcome

The redesigned Share experience turned a plain link into something worth posting: increasing share volume, improving the visual quality of shared content, and giving Wikiloc a distinctive, recognisable format across social platforms.