Author Topic: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps  (Read 5772 times)

ninthace

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #15 on: 13:16:26, 24/12/18 »
The OS Maps app is great if you buy a new OS paper map.
 
It is OK - it needs more work to be great.
As I have alluded to previously, the ability to record a track while following a route would be an improvement.
The ability to preview a route by hovering the cursor over the route pin would be another.
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BuzyG

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #16 on: 11:34:01, 25/12/18 »
 
It is OK - it needs more work to be great.
As I have alluded to previously, the ability to record a track while following a route would be an improvement.
The ability to preview a route by hovering the cursor over the route pin would be another.


Possibly a case of expectation from greater experience of other GPS techniques.  As some one who has simply moved from using a paper map and compass, to the OSmaps App, I find it has more features than I need.  I still use it with my compass, as I don't trust any of the compass apps I have so far come across for my phone.  Probably my phone at fault and not the apps, as none of them give a stable accurate bearing.

ninthace

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #17 on: 15:08:29, 25/12/18 »

Possibly a case of expectation from greater experience of other GPS techniques.  As some one who has simply moved from using a paper map and compass, to the OSmaps App, I find it has more features than I need.  I still use it with my compass, as I don't trust any of the compass apps I have so far come across for my phone.  Probably my phone at fault and not the apps, as none of them give a stable accurate bearing.
Surprised you say that. It is singularly lacking in features compared with its competitors. Its big plus is that you get GB wide up to date OS mapping without shelling out more cash.  Depends how you navigate. I usually decide the route I will walk before I go so I have a route plotted. Combine this with the ability to record your track and the compass element becomes a nice to have rather than a need to have.
The OS app is a bit like driving an old Ford Pop. Fine, gets you from A to B. Then you get a Garmin which is a Porsche by comparison and going from A to B is a lot more fun.
« Last Edit: 15:11:57, 25/12/18 by ninthace »
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BuzyG

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #18 on: 18:37:10, 25/12/18 »
Surprised you say that. It is singularly lacking in features compared with its competitors. Its big plus is that you get GB wide up to date OS mapping without shelling out more cash.  Depends how you navigate. I usually decide the route I will walk before I go so I have a route plotted. Combine this with the ability to record your track and the compass element becomes a nice to have rather than a need to have.
The OS app is a bit like driving an old Ford Pop. Fine, gets you from A to B. Then you get a Garmin which is a Porsche by comparison and going from A to B is a lot more fun.


Explains a lot. Not a Porker fan and I never use the sat Nav in my car either.  I still have an A to Z wedged between the transmission tunnel and the passenger seat.  Just in case I forget the route.  Bring on the 21st century.  LoL

Jim Parkin

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #19 on: 17:44:58, 26/12/18 »

Possibly a case of expectation from greater experience of other GPS techniques.  As some one who has simply moved from using a paper map and compass, to the OSmaps App, I find it has more features than I need.  I still use it with my compass, as I don't trust any of the compass apps I have so far come across for my phone.  Probably my phone at fault and not the apps, as none of them give a stable accurate bearing.
OK that's me too.  I still just use the phone GPS as a backup - unlike in the car, where I use it to decide which route is currently the best due to traffic conditions. 

ninthace

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #20 on: 17:06:00, 27/12/18 »
Well I tried the OS app and ViewRanger together again today.  I started the OS app first on my phone and set it to record a route.  Once I was happy it was recording correctly and leaving a trace, I started ViewRanger as well to follow a route.  Again I checked it was recording correctly and lotting a trace, then double checked the OS app.  About 100 yards up the first hill I checked my phone and, lo and behold, both apps had stopped tracking.  The off/on trick worked as before and every time I checked them, both apps were working fine from then on.
When I got to the the end of my route, ViewRanger had a good trace but the OS app had only recorded the last 9km or so although I checked it was tracking throughout.
Needless to say, my Garmin was fine as usual.
Incidentally, I used VR on its own on my Christmas day walk and it was absolutely fine, as it has been every time I have used it on its own.
Subsidiary question, I flashed up the OS app on the bus to the start of the walk and noticed that the location icon just ran of the screen as the bus went along- why doesn't the app keep the map centred on your current location - or have I missed a setting somewhere?
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BuzyG

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #21 on: 20:41:42, 27/12/18 »
Been out on Dartmoor all day today.  What a beautiful day it was.  Used my free digital down load on the OSApp, as and when I needed to check where I was usually to check the name of which tor I was on as it was a section of moor I do not walk much.  The App simply did everything I needed, faultlessly. O0 

ninthace

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #22 on: 20:57:48, 27/12/18 »
Now use it, and it alone, in poor visibility to follow the weak path from High Willhays to Dinger Tor that is not marked on the map but can be seen on the aerial imagery then go from there to arrive at the West Okement River at Sandy Ford.  ;)


Oooh and by the way I want to use the app to tell you where you actually went and how far you went
« Last Edit: 21:01:34, 27/12/18 by ninthace »
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BuzyG

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #23 on: 22:51:31, 27/12/18 »
Now use it, and it alone, in poor visibility to follow the weak path from High Willhays to Dinger Tor that is not marked on the map but can be seen on the aerial imagery then go from there to arrive at the West Okement River at Sandy Ford.  ;)


Oooh and by the way I want to use the app to tell you where you actually went and how far you went


That path is like a motorway, only with much moor peat. I  love that route out to fur tor.  I also wizzed out to Cranmere pool, from Meldon, a year or so back, late one winters afternoon.  Came back that way in pitch dark.  I  did not use GPS location, though I had my phone with me just in case, just my memory and Silva  ;)

BuzyG

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #24 on: 23:14:42, 27/12/18 »
It's good that people use things in different ways. The walk I led last Sunday was in poor visibility all day.  It was on South Bodmin moor another area I know well and I had natrualy reconoitered the key way points.  There was one moment when I was not entirely sure exactly where we were ,so I glanced at the OsApp confirmed our exact location and Carried on.  The rest of the route I simply used my compass and memory.  It's a usefull skill to have and one I encorage all who walk off the beaten track to use whenever they can safely do so.  Any way I have wondered off topic a little, better navigate back to the thread.  :)

ninthace

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #25 on: 23:31:00, 27/12/18 »
No substitute for local knowledge Buzy but you don't need an app for that  :)   I'm the same on familiar ground, gps just ticks over until its needed, often just acts as an odometer. The OS app does what it does well and consistently (provided it can find the phone gps)
My ideal app tells me where I am, where I've been, how far I have come, where I have to go next, how far it is to the next waypoint and in which direction, how far I have left to go and when I should get to the finish.  It should also give me an audible warning if I have gone the wrong way, when the gps signal has been lost and when the batteries need changing. Garmin can do a lot of that.  ViewRanger can do much of that too (except the audible warnings bit).  The OS app is far more limited at present as it still a work in progress but has really good mapping on a decent sized screen.

But this is all by the by - my question is why won't the OS app and ViewRanger work together on the same phone so I have the next next thing to a satnav in functionality? Or at least, why won't they work on mine?  I like the OS mapping as it is better than ViewRanger.  The functionality of ViewRanger superior to the OS app.
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jimbob

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #26 on: 00:37:24, 28/12/18 »
HI Ninthace

VR does have audible warnings . Set up your cross track error alarm (XTE). you set it up to let you know if you have wandered of the track by whatever distance you ask it to.(google "viewranger set up XTE").

Also I don't understand how the OS app maps can be better than OS maps in VR. Having looked at both apps they are exactly the same. Or are you using OS maps on the OS app and the freebies on VR. Or did I just misunderstand what you wrote.

I bit the bullet and  pay the annual OS subscription for VR which was the same price as the subscription on the OS app.
Too little, too late, too bad......

ninthace

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #27 on: 06:08:21, 28/12/18 »
HI Ninthace

VR does have audible warnings . Set up your cross track error alarm (XTE). you set it up to let you know if you have wandered of the track by whatever distance you ask it to.(google "viewranger set up XTE").

Also I don't understand how the OS app maps can be better than OS maps in VR. Having looked at both apps they are exactly the same. Or are you using OS maps on the OS app and the freebies on VR. Or did I just misunderstand what you wrote.

I bit the bullet and  pay the annual OS subscription for VR which was the same price as the subscription on the OS app.
Thanks for that Jim Bob. Yes I have already paid the OS subscription direct to OS primarily so I can use their mapping website and I don’t want to do pay it again just to use OS maps in VR given that I am only using my phone as back up to my Garmin. When my sub runs out, I think I will switch to VR and drop OS unless they improve their app it markedly.
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jimbob

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #28 on: 12:47:04, 28/12/18 »
HI Ninthace. This thread has interested me to the extent that I have spent time on the interweb looking into the problems you found.
It looks like if you have two apps running that share a resource ( in this case GPS and Memory) then you can cause the apps to hang up.
The apps are vying with each other to get the gps signal and then compare if to the tracks in memory and even write the data to memory. Smartphones struggle to do this, actually it seems most normal domestic  computers struggle to do the same work for two different bits of software at the same time.
Also as I suspected in an earlier posting not all   smartphones are created equal.The ability to capture the gps signal does vary according to which phone (and even the manufactured age ) you use. Some have better hardware, some have better software. Getting both good together on one phone will take a bit of research but as ever google is our friend and the Galaxy 5 and 7 came out as good in July but with the underlying proviso that they are battery  hungry and not as good as dedicated GPS Devices such as the Etrex.
Too little, too late, too bad......

GnP

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Re: Stability of Mobile Phone Navigation Apps
« Reply #29 on: 14:58:25, 28/12/18 »
If you buy OS mapping online and set your purchase to autorenew it is £20 per year. If you change your mind ,even during your first year you are not penalised. As opposed to VR at £25. So it works out cheaper . In saying that, when my OS mapping plan runs out in March , I may just buy a years Viewranger subscription. I'm on the fence at the moment.
Either one is a bargain in my mind.Hope I`m ok just posting like this as it`s my first ...hello  :)
« Last Edit: 15:04:03, 28/12/18 by GinAndPlatonic »
A night under silnylon. Doesn't have the same ring to it.

 

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