[Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system - Page 7 - maemo.org

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MartinK	2010-07-28 , 21:33
Posts: 1,548 \| Thanked: 7,510 times \| Joined on Apr 2010 @ Czech Republic	#61

Originally Posted by Helmuth

If you're unable to make the query with a own timeout perhapt you're able to make the query using a background process and kill those if there is no response within 30 seconds?

This has the benefit hat your app is not unresponsive during the query. (but I guess more than moving the map should not be allowed during it to avoid a unexpecting state (menu open) when the background process delivers the result)

Yep, I think I'll spawn a separate thread for the queries + transparent notification (something like "route lookup in progress") + maybe a cancel button. The queries are mostly pretty much instantaneous, BTW.

Originally Posted by droll

so how do i do i use address search? is this query routed to an online search based on the tile map service i use or something else?

Modrana uses Google Directions for online routing and support for more routing providers is planed. The routing results do not dependent on the current map layer but on the current mode (can be set from the main menu under "mode"). This means, than when you set your mode as "car", you get a route for a car. When you use the "walk" mode, you get walking directions (if you ever wanted to walk from Prague to Sevastopol is just about 13 days

). The "bus" and "train" return results for public transportation and "bike" gets bike optimized routes. Not every routing option works everywhere, the most widely available are the car and walking ones.

Originally Posted by droll

every address i key in doesn't work. it would be useful if i can type in an address for search and zoom in to the target location to pick an end point for a route.

right now i am a bit lost because i sometimes know where i am but don't really know the destination location on the map even though i have its address or generic location. having to scroll around the map to find the destination to route to isn't fun when you have no idea where to scroll to.

Yep, the current implementation is not perfect. I'd like to have it like this:

first you type an addres for start or destination
modRana geocodes the address
and returns a list of possible locations
you can check where each location is and choose one as the input for routing
you can also select a point near a location as routing input
- example: you enter "Paris"
- modRana shows where it thinks Paris is
- then you choose from the map some place in Paris for routing
maybe a list of recently used addresses ?

Any other ideas for address routing improvements ?

BTW, in the current version you can already input geographic coordinates instead of an address.

__________________
modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
Mieru: a flexible manga and comic book reader
Universal Components - a solution for native looking yet component set independent QML appliactions (QtQuick Controls 2 & Silica supported as backends)

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MartinK	2010-07-28 , 22:10
Posts: 1,548 \| Thanked: 7,510 times \| Joined on Apr 2010 @ Czech Republic	#62

Originally Posted by ceroberts75

do you know why for some reason i cannot get when you update the product without going to the repo in a browser and checking?

Well, thats strange. Even the web based package browser correctly shows the latest version. Could it be a "feature" of the devel repository ? Or is it because I am currently just incrementing build numbers (0.12-9) and not the major version ? Can perhaps someone with more packaging experience elaborate ?

Originally Posted by taxaza

Do you plan to have something like bookmarks for places (e.g. home, work, friendshouse, etc)?

Yep, this is planed within the scope of the POI functionality.
Basically, the would be POI folders/categories and you would be able to add new points (from current position, coordinates, point on etc map, address, etc.) and categorize them and create new categories. Saved points would be viewable on the map, usable as routing target/destination and exportable (to GPX?). Is this what you meant ?

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Wikiwide	2010-07-28 , 23:52
Posts: 1,994 \| Thanked: 3,342 times \| Joined on Jun 2010 @ N900: Battery low. N950: torx 4 re-used once and fine; SIM port torn apart	#63

Originally Posted by MartinK

ModRana is using the upoints module for inmport and export of GPX. Upoints uses the standard Python ElementTree module for, which is what adds all the 'ns0', which should be harmless but looks ugly. I haven't yet got to testing the files created by modRana in other programs, so I'll look into it now. Considering timestamps, that is planed together with elevation, point name and description.

Well, right now there is only one timestamp: at the beginning of the file. OSM, if I understand right, needs timestamps on each individual point.

Sorry for giving you the trouble, but I would be glad if in a new version you added an option to restore an old track to OSM-readable view by adding timestamps (like: was this log originally logged every 1 second or every 2 seconds or every 5 seconds? and then add individual timestamps, based on the time-stamp in the beginning of the file)

Originally Posted by MartinK

OK, ticket added.

Thank you! Right now I just have to close the program and to reopen it to see the log.

Originally Posted by MartinK

Yep, its like this to simplify the drawing algorithm. I think it could be extended, but IMO viewing the whole world on the screen is not a very often used feature. I added a lower priority ticket for this.

Thanks! Just sometimes (like when looking at the default included tracks) I cannot know where I'm situated without map, and I cannot get map tiles for high zoom level without knowing where I'm situated. Having a lower zoom would allow to see what continent and country I need. And find out what tracks you put into each installed ModRana map

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droll	2010-07-29 , 00:42
Posts: 958 \| Thanked: 483 times \| Joined on May 2010	#64

MartinK, your suggestions around address searching is spot on. that is how i use it in other gps applications and that is how i would expect modrana to work. the list of possible matches for an address would help a lot. perhaps don't call it an address then as it may give the wrong impression? just call it location?

thank you again!

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taxaza	2010-07-29 , 05:27
Posts: 32 \| Thanked: 12 times \| Joined on Jan 2010	#65

Originally Posted by MartinK

Yep, this is planed within the scope of the POI functionality.
Basically, the would be POI folders/categories and you would be able to add new points (from current position, coordinates, point on etc map, address, etc.) and categorize them and create new categories. Saved points would be viewable on the map, usable as routing target/destination and exportable (to GPX?). Is this what you meant ?

Exactly! Thanks!

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kureyon	2010-07-29 , 05:34
Posts: 992 \| Thanked: 738 times \| Joined on Jun 2010 @ Low Earth Orbit	#66

Originally Posted by MartinK

BTW, in the current version you can already input geographic coordinates instead of an address.

Also google knows all about postcodes so try those first.

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	zvogt	2010-07-29 , 06:24
	Posts: 118 \| Thanked: 67 times \| Joined on Dec 2009 @ Saint Louis, MO, USA	#67

F.Y.I. I've purged and reinstalled the latest update, but the image being used for the desktop shortcut is still the over-sized one. But I consider that a low priority issue.

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roberto@datafidelis.com.b	2010-07-29 , 12:04
Posts: 10 \| Thanked: 3 times \| Joined on Apr 2010 @ São Paulo - SP - Brasil	#68

Congratulations MartinK. I started using it yesterday night and it looks perfect so far.
I'd like to download a number of tiles, and my PC has a much faster internet connection. Is it possible to download to the PC than copy to the N900? Itt would help a lot.
Regards.
Roberto

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Wikiwide	2010-07-29 , 13:18
Posts: 1,994 \| Thanked: 3,342 times \| Joined on Jun 2010 @ N900: Battery low. N950: torx 4 re-used once and fine; SIM port torn apart	#69

Originally Posted by roberto@datafidelis.com.b

Congratulations MartinK. I started using it yesterday night and it looks perfect so far.
I'd like to download a number of tiles, and my PC has a much faster internet connection. Is it possible to download to the PC than copy to the N900? It would help a lot.
Regards.
Roberto

Yes, it is! It helps me a lot, too!
1. Connect N900 by USB cable as Mass Storage Device.
2. Find folder/directory:

.modRana_tiles

3. You will see here subfolders, like OSM or Mapnik. Here you put the tiles.
For OSM I use:
http://tah.openstreetmap.org/Browse/tile/1/1/1/

Already existing subfolders show what tiles the application (modRana) already needed. It corresponds exactly to the tiles on the page. I just saved them one by one.

P.S. If you want many tiles, then get Python on PC, put modRana on PC, run the file modrana.py, and it will download needed tiles on the PC.

For tiles of other maps (not OSM), google or ask MartinK: he knows where the application takes the tiles from.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Logging of ModRana is fine.

But there is a small bug (or a missing feature?). If I disable GPS manually, then later the map says it looks for GPS, but doesn't mention that it is disabled and that I should enable it. A remainder would be welcome - if you open the map, you most certainly would like to enable GPS.

Last edited by Wikiwide; 2010-07-29 at 13:20.

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MartinK	2010-07-30 , 00:25
Posts: 1,548 \| Thanked: 7,510 times \| Joined on Apr 2010 @ Czech Republic	#70

Originally Posted by Wikiwide

Well, right now there is only one timestamp: at the beginning of the file. OSM, if I understand right, needs timestamps on each individual point.

I'm working on fixing the GPX output right now. I am going to get rid of the unsightly ns0: prefixes and I'll add more info to the header, so it validates (I'm using xerces as recommended on the GPX website). Then with a timestamp for each node OSM should eat it just fine.

Originally Posted by Wikiwide

Sorry for giving you the trouble, but I would be glad if in a new version you added an option to restore an old track to OSM-readable view by adding timestamps (like: was this log originally logged every 1 second or every 2 seconds or every 5 seconds? and then add individual timestamps, based on the time-stamp in the beginning of the file)

That should be doable and could be even useful for retimestamping GPX files from other sources.

Originally Posted by Wikiwide

Thank you! Right now I just have to close the program and to reopen it to see the log.

I thing I fixed this bug in the current unreleased version. The fix should in the next package version/build.

Originally Posted by kureyon

Also google knows all about postcodes so try those first.

This seems to work even in the current address route search. I tried two postcodes from USA and got a route from Alaska to New York.

Originally Posted by zvogt

F.Y.I. I've purged and reinstalled the latest update, but the image being used for the desktop shortcut is still the over-sized one. But I consider that a low priority issue.

Yeah, I don't think its that critical either.

Maybe it gets fixed by itself (icon cache refresh, reboot ?).

Concerning tile download from PC:
On the OSM wiki I found the J tile downloader. I used this version and it seem to be working and the folder/filename structure it creates should be compatible with modRana.

BTW, looks like modRana won the 3rd place in the Location & Navigation category of the Coding Competition ! Thanks everybody !!!