What's new

Top 10 exports for free + a leaner interface

New Top 10 exports for the free plan — free users can now download GPX, KML, CSV, or GeoJSON of their top 10 candidates. Pro and Business still get the full ranked list and the field-package ZIP.

Improvement One header bar instead of two — the CaveFinder bar merged into the sibling-app bar. The map view picks up about 50 px of vertical room, most useful on phones. The Simple/Pro toggle is gone — your plan is the mode now.

Improvement Upgrade-to-Pro banner in the side panel — free users now see a clear "GET PRO" callout in the Setup and Results tabs.

Improvement Tier counter visible whether you're signed in or not — "Free 0/3 weekly" stays in the header for anonymous users too, so you always know where you stand.

Bug fix USFS / NPS public-land polygons no longer block map clicks — those shaded layers were swallowing clicks if you tried to draw a search box or drop a pin over them.

Bug fix Drop-pin and Saved Points reachable on the Setup tab (Pro) — the panel was nested inside results, so it disappeared after "New Search." Now it's accessible before, during, and after an analysis.

Sign-in polish + verification fix

Bug fix Sign-in window no longer dismisses on a near-miss click — clicking just outside an input field while typing your password used to close the window. Fixed.

Bug fix Verify-email false-positive on newly-registered accounts — a small set of users who had just verified their email through id.cavefinder.app were still seeing a "please verify your email" error. Fixed.

Clear errors + faster loads

Bug fix Analysis errors no longer leave you stuck at 5% — when an analysis failed mid-run, the progress overlay was silently vanishing on mobile and leaving you with no controls. You now see a clear error toast and your controls come back so you can retry.

Bug fix Onboarding card buttons work cleanly — the × and "Let's Go" buttons on the welcome card were sometimes intercepted by another overlay. Fixed.

Improvement Redeem promo code, promoted — the upgrade screen now shows "Redeem promo code" as a peer button next to upgrade, with a one-line explainer for beta, conference, and grotto codes.

Improvement Faster page loads — JavaScript and CSS are now minified at deploy time, shaving about a fifth off the static payload.

Smarter search + homepage refresh

New "Before you draw a box" reminder — a one-time-per-session note reminds you that CaveFinder ranks the terrain you give it. Karst selection is on you.

Improvement Smarter search suggestions — searching "Mammoth Cave" now surfaces the National Park in Kentucky ahead of tiny hamlets elsewhere in the country.

Improvement Real screenshots on the homepage — Mammoth Cave scan and Ridgewalk shots replace the SVG placeholders.

Refreshed accuracy numbers + Ridgewalk polish

Improvement Accuracy numbers on the landing page refreshed — we now show how often known cave entrances land in the top 10, top 25, and top 50 ranked candidates (40.4% / 59.5% / 73.7%), measured blind against a validation set of over 10,000 known entrances across multiple karst types. See the methodology page for the full breakdown.

Bug fix Ridgewalk "pick a start point" now shows your pin — when you tap "pick a start point" or "pick an end point" and click on the map, a labeled marker now drops at the clicked spot.

Bug fix Ridgewalk plans now include every candidate you select — previously the plan silently capped at 30 targets. The full set now makes it into the PDF, GPX, and route map.

Improvement Ridgewalk PDF no longer shows depth estimates — depth guesses were often wildly inaccurate. Scores, coordinates, slope, and notes still come through.

Improvement Ridgewalk plans download instantly — no more waiting for an email. You get the PDF/GPX/HTML in your browser.

Old saved analyses work fully + scoring refinement

Bug fix Marking candidates on older saved results now works — opening a saved analysis more than 24 hours later and tapping "Not a cave" or "Cave confirmed" now persists correctly. Same for generating a Ridgewalk plan from an old saved analysis. Ridgewalk on an old saved analysis takes a few extra seconds the first time (we re-download the elevation data), then caches it.

Improvement Scoring model refined — confidence scores retuned from our latest validation run. Known caves are more likely to appear near the top of the ranked list, especially on fine-resolution (1 m) LiDAR.

Bug fix Analyses no longer get stuck mid-progress — fixed a server-side issue where a worker could silently crash partway through, leaving the progress bar frozen.

Mobile fixes + 1 GB GeoTIFF overlays

Bug fix Mobile "Find Caves" gives real feedback — tapping after drawing an oversized area now shows a clear message about the limit, instead of silently doing nothing. Same for not-signed-in users.

Bug fix No more frozen map after dismissing a prompt — mobile draw and find controls stay visible if you close the sign-in prompt.

Improvement Larger custom map overlays (Pro) — up to 500 MB per file, 8 loaded at a time (1 GB total storage), 15 uploads per day. Previous per-file cap was 150 MB. Large rasters are resized for display without rejecting the file.

Improvement Clearer upload error messages — specific reasons replace generic "Upload failed".

Improvement Overlay session notice — overlays auto-expire after 24 hours. A note reminds you to export before leaving.

Bug fix Mobile onboarding fit — welcome screen scales correctly on all phones and shows different walkthroughs for Simple-mode vs Pro-mode.

Detection accuracy + region-aware scoring

Improvement Detection accuracy improved — scoring model updated after validation against over 10,000 known cave entrances across multiple karst types. Two scoring bonuses with no measurable effect removed.

Improvement Region-aware scoring — the analysis now applies regionally tuned confidence weights based on the geology of your search area.

Rectangle drawing + map stability + pricing

Bug fix Rectangle drawing on desktop — drawing by dragging now works. Previously required two separate clicks.

Bug fix Map stays put after results load — the map no longer auto-zooms when analysis finishes.

Bug fix Pro subscription pricing — monthly upgrade flow now correctly shows $9.99/mo.

Depth accuracy + mobile map controls

Improvement Depth accuracy — overhauled how candidate depth is calculated; depths now reflect what you'd see standing at the rim.

Improvement Mobile map controls — base layer and overlay panel collapses by default with a tap-friendly toggle.

New Mobile progress — live progress messages and percentage shown on the Find Caves button during analysis.

Improvement Mobile results — panel auto-opens when analysis finishes; toggle button to show/hide results.

Bug fix Mobile refresh — refreshing no longer force-zooms into a previous analysis.

Account & billing page

New Account & billing — dedicated page at /account to view your plan, usage, and open Stripe's secure portal for payment method, invoices, and cancellation.

Improvement Sign in on the account page with email and password — no need to open the app first to manage billing.

Improvement In-app Account modal: clearer Pro / Business badges, billing hints, and a link to the full account page.

Self-contained Ridgewalk plan HTML

New Ridgewalk plan HTML — optional self-contained HTML in your export ZIP (maps and branding inlined as base64) for offline viewing. The app may also render the screen PDF via WeasyPrint or Chrome when available.

Faster analysis + smoother progress

Improvement Faster analysis — up to 40% faster on large areas.

Improvement Smoother progress bar — real-time animation instead of jumpy updates.

CSP hardening

New Enhanced security — Content Security Policy hardening across all pages.

Improvement Smarter progress tracking with smooth frontend animation.

Ridgewalk Planner overhaul

New Three route modes (shortest, loop, one-way) and improved terrain-aware pathfinding.

New Interactive route planning UI with drag-to-reorder waypoints.

Expanded geology support

New Better results in a wider range of terrain types (Pro feature).

Improvement Improved detection accuracy across different terrain types.

Stripe payments + Pro tier

New Stripe payment integration — Pro tier with monthly and annual billing.

New Early access founding rate — $49.99/yr locked in for early subscribers.

Bug fix Tile cache performance for repeat analyses in the same area.

Initial public release

New Cave entrance detection, interactive map, and free tier.

New Export to CSV, KML, and GPX formats.

New Known Caves layer from OpenStreetMap.

New Field verification — mark candidates as Cave, Not Cave, or Unsure after visiting.