Hey guys,
wondering if there is a way to store the map data locally?
This way I dont need to always use the wireless connection to get maps on the run, and im sure it would speed up the application too.
Of course i dont expect to store the whole world, just my city. Is there a method to do this?
tia!
sephstyler said:
Hey guys,
wondering if there is a way to store the map data locally?
This way I dont need to always use the wireless connection to get maps on the run, and im sure it would speed up the application too.
Of course i dont expect to store the whole world, just my city. Is there a method to do this?
tia!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I made myself a simple workaround - just make screenshots!
gpsVP
This is what the open source project gpsVP is all about.
http://code.google.com/p/gpsvp/
Code is free, and there is ateam working on enhancements.
I have had it running on the X1 for past week. Works great.
I have tried both Google and MS map caching. Not Openstreet yet.
In addition I created my own raster map using Mapcruncher to calibrate coords.
It take s a bit of getting used to, as user documentation is catching up.
You can seed the cache while connected to PC/Landline. Starting at the most zoomed-in level you want, the app will automatically download the higher levels maps.
Hi,
Nowadays I'm testing this one:
http://terracrosser.com/
This program has two parts:
- Mapper.exe
You have to copy it to the PC and it allow to select an area at gooblemaps or yahoomaps and tke zoom levels.
It dowloads the images with the size you have selected and at the end compress them in 1 file (that you have to copy to the PDA
- Terracrosser itself: for the PDA.
This is not a navigation program. It show in the photo or map image where you are.
The speed is not very fast, development is in progress. Also depends in how many maps have you download and the resolution of them.
Nice program and very, very nice downloader. Very simple.
I use NoniGPSPlot (http://aeguerre.free.fr/Public/PocketPC/NoniGPSPlot/EN/index.php) it's free (I donated though for the extra features & because it's awsome) and there's a free map downloading app that lets you cache maps from google, yahoo, live and openmap, builds the image (or slices to help with memory usage) at whatever zoom level you want. You just then load them into NoniGPSPlot and you've got the ultimate GPS tool, with no data connection required.
I mostly use it to log walks for Geotagging my photographs. I can download maps with footpaths on so I can plan in advance a route, the dog gets a good walk, I get some good shots and can geotag them later in lightroom, and we never get lost!
Hey,
Ususally im in places where i have no 3g coverage(for example while bicycling :] ), so i can't use google maps on my htc magic there. Im looking for something that will let me change google maps cache size, which I believe is very hard. Currently cache has only 1mb, and allows to store just small fragment of map.
There are some other solutions like, RMap and AndNav2 that can work offline, but google maps is used in several other useful apps.
Im learning android development just now so im thinking of writing some proxy app that will record downloaded maps tiles into sdcadrd, and later it would be possible to use them again without internet access.
I think all i need to do is to make google maps use 127.0.0.1 instead of google server and write proxy app that will be running on android device.
Do you think its possible?
Or there is another way to do that that I'm not aware of?
Im recommending Mapdroyd (lovely OSM maps) and its free
http://www.mapdroyd.com/
I don't know why google maps can't just cache to the SD card (let us have a setting to turn it on or off!) It would be really handy for low/no signal areas. I don't think as of now it's possible at all, but maybe google will enable it in the future.
codito said:
I don't know why google maps can't just cache to the SD card (let us have a setting to turn it on or off!) It would be really handy for low/no signal areas. I don't think as of now it's possible at all, but maybe google will enable it in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google just badly wants to know all your whereabouts to better geotarget ads ;(
Is there any way to cache or download the data for Google maps? I'm going out of the country and taking the Vibrant. I'd like to use the map (and broken GPS), but data is $15 per MB for international T-Mobile. Is there any way to download the map data and have it cached for a week? Thanks.
The license for google maps specifically says you aren't allowed to do that. You need to get something like Navdroyd that allows you to download map data. That one uses OSM data, but it's more detailed in other countries. The US data is a little rough. You might be able to get a better deal on data using a pre-paid SIM in the country you are going to as well. Might be edge/gprs only, but it's good enough to maps.
http://damiendebin.net/archives/gMapMaker/
I recall brut was at least planning to make brutmaps compatible with this, since it already can cache Google maps tiles.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=630887
Also, more simply, what about running brutmaps with caching on and viewing the area you'll be going through? That way you'll be caching tiles in advance.
One other option is to use a computer to print the maps you need to hi-res pdf. You can then use a pdf viewer to view them instead of Google maps.
CoPilot. Nuff said.
google has a map editor app that, from what i can tell (haven't tried it yet), lets you save and edit maps/directions/etc. in google maps.
It puzzles me why some ROMs have better GPS performance than others. I was on JPJPA earlier and had usable GPS navigation experiences in town, I flash JP8 and all hell breaks lose So to me, this ruled out that my phone has a hardware problem.
You can say that I live in a densely populated area in Boston, and after going through a lot of forum literature , today I carried out a little experiment.
I made a round trip to some place here in Boston, selected Copilot on my way to go, and Google Nav on my way back and here are the results:
Google Nav with "Use Wireless Networks" under location settings:
HERE
Google Nav without "Use Wireless Networks":
HERE
CoPilot:
HERE
In both trips, I took Beacon St and Longwood Ave (notice the difference).
Now while CoPilot is not exactly perfect, it performs way better than Google Nav! It didn't have to reroute or recalculate. (The circle you see in the beginning is me stopping by a gas station, yes, it was that accurate, it messes up only at the rail intersection of st paul & beacon)
I noticed a difference in the lock pattern and speed when using different programs. For example, GPS Status seems to take the longest to get a lock from a Cold Start, but once it locks, programs like CoPilot lock quickly using a Hot Start (reusing data from GPS Status)
Google Navigation, and several other programs however, seem to be using something entirely different. It seems Google Nav (and Maps btw) take the same amount of time to get initial lock whether (a) I used GPS Status prior or (b) did not use it at all.
I can only speculate at this point, but I think that Android provides more than one API to obtain GPS accuracy. I suspect that CoPilot and GPS Status (among others) use their own calculations to determine GPS position using raw satellite data, whereas Google Nav uses some built-in APIs in Android that give positioning data that are false. I believe that Google Maps uses some AGPS settings regardless of what you set in "Location and settings", and that, messes everything up. (You can see in my tracks above how google maps have bigger arcs when I made a u-turn, instead of showing a sharp turn).
A nice test would be to disable radio completely; that way Google Nav can't access AGPS data. But of course you run into the problem that Google can't operate without a valid data connection.
I just wanted to share my observations, if you guys have more ideas, lets share
Google Navigator is overrated. Co-Pilot, Navigon, NDrive are far better applications. If Trapster became an integrated layer in Google Nav, I'd use it.
Well written article btw.
Billus said:
Google Navigator is overrated. Co-Pilot, Navigon, NDrive are far better applications. If Trapster became an integrated layer in Google Nav, I'd use it.
Well written article btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks,
thing is, Google Nav did work fine in JPJPA. I'd like to use it instead because it has the latest listings and some pretty accurate traffic conditions. If we can find the problem, or find out what data or files Google Nav accesses, then we could possibly fix this problem on multiple ROMs.
Gmaps is perfect for finding and typing locations to go to, co-pilot more for the actual navigating, .. while you're driving; gmaps is way easier to use then co-pilot. But yea, less inaccuracy probs with co-pilot besides having a slower fix.
madmack said:
I suspect that CoPilot and GPS Status (among others) use their own calculations to determine GPS position using raw satellite data, whereas Google Nav uses some built-in APIs in Android that give positioning data that are false. I believe that Google Maps uses some AGPS settings regardless of what you set in "Location and settings", and that, messes everything up. (You can see in my tracks above how google maps have bigger arcs when I made a u-turn, instead of showing a sharp turn).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
coPilot and other nav apps force lock on roads besides real position until they can't do it.
Google Maps doesn't do it
And no, they can't access raw gps data, the only way is through google api
Oletros said:
coPilot and other nav apps force lock on roads besides real position until they can't do it.
Google Maps doesn't do it
And no, they can't access raw gps data, the only way is through google api
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
see above tracks. While GoogNav might "lock" you on a road, I'm posting the actual GPS coordinates that were received. It may have looked like I was on a road on my screen, but you can see the google nav tracks above that show the points the program received. The pointer hovers all over the place.
madmack said:
see above tracks. While GoogNav might "lock" you on a road, I'm posting the actual GPS coordinates that were received. It may have looked like I was on a road on my screen, but you can see the google nav tracks above that show the points the program received. The pointer hovers all over the place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All the tracks where recorded with the same program?
Oletros said:
All the tracks where recorded with the same program?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. my tracks
madmack said:
Yup. my tracks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, all the GPS data has nothing to do with the program used (Google Navigation, coPilot), it's collected from the same source, Android GPS API
Oletros said:
So, all the GPS data has nothing to do with the program used (Google Navigation, coPilot), it's collected from the same source, Android GPS API
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, my tracks *listens* to whatever the GPS is receiving when other programs are using it.
So the main program that was running was either CoPilot or Google Nav. They're the ones invoking the GPS location commands (we know that because my two tracks are so different than each others).
My Tracks, in both cases, sits in the back seats and writes notes.
madmack said:
Dude, my tracks *listens* to whatever the GPS is receiving when other programs are using it.
So the main program that was running was either CoPilot or Google Nav. They're the ones invoking the GPS location commands (we know that because my two tracks are so different than each others).
My Tracks, in both cases, sits in the back seats and writes notes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What? My tracks uses GPS API to collect data, it doesn't sniff anything from other programs
Oletros said:
What? My tracks uses GPS API to collect data, it doesn't sniff anything from other programs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might be right, but then how do you explain the two different tracks posted above ?
regardless of who is right or who is wrong, using any dedicated offline GPS software is way better than google maps/nav
of all the fews currently available for Android, i find Copilot to be the most accurate one, it shows the speed/stops exactly as when a police have a speed gun tracking me.
It is always in the correct lane of the road.
using the other GPS software have some sort of lags, or performance is poor, or the display is lousy, etc.
I agree with using Copilot
On my AT&T Captivate, my gps lock is hit or miss. I was having some major issues getting a gps lock using Google Nav but when I closed Google and opened Copilot the gps locked in after about 8 seconds and held. Google Nav kept kicking on and off. Google Maps had me doing a U-Turn on my way home taking me away from my destination, Copilot was right on track.
I want to use my device for offline maps, i think it would be the perfect device for that considering readability outdoors. I've had no success with google maps as they appear to only offer offline functionality for android 2.2 and up in version 6.9+, nor can i find a newish version that would run on the nook anyways. I was hoping someone else has found a solution for this be it with google maps or an alternative. Preferably with an ability to accept lat/long coordinates to find places.
Thanks a lot, i appreciate your time to read this and any input you may give the thread.
This would be a source of USGS topographical maps in PDF form: https://store.usgs.gov/
Unfortunately, the website seems borked.
There was a thread on GPS and Nooks.
Best bet is to interface it directly at 3.3V to ttyS1 (UART2).
You'd still need an app to deal with this all.
There's OruxMaps, it works with both online and offline maps.
to access the go-to-point feature, you need to to customize the interface:
Setting->user interface->buttons->buttons bar-> now you scroll that thing in the middle until you find an icon that looks like a marker over a line of dots and you put it in one of the side menus, now you have a go-to button.
on the same occasion you can get rid of all the GPS related buttons.