Maemo Mapper v1.0 for the 2006 OS

[gnuite]

Latest release: Maemo Mapper v1.1

Device-Installable .DEB File (https://garage.maemo.org/frs/download.php/81/maemo-mapper_1.1_armel.deb)
Source Code (https://garage.maemo.org/frs/download.php/82/maemo-mapper-1.1.tar.gz)
Complete File List (https://garage.maemo.org/frs/?group_id=29)

Application Catalog:
Web location: http://repository.maemo.org/contrib/
Distribution: 2.0
Components: free non-free

At this point, all new development is occurring on the 2006 OS version of Maemo Mapper (v1.x). The 2005 OS version (v0.x) will always be available, but it will not benefit from bug fixes and feature enhancements. Of particular interest in Maemo Mapper 1.0.2 is the addition of frameworks for localization and in-program help.

About localization: the localization framework has been added, but I will leave it to the fluent to translate the English text into different languages. If you would like to have direct access to the SVN repository for translation purposes, just make a request through the Maemo Mapper Garage page (on the Summary page).

If you would like to see Maemo Mapper translated into your language, but don't have the resources to do the translation yourself, add a Tracker item concerning your requested language. That will let people know that you're interested in a translation to that language.

The same goes (sort of) for documentation. The in-program help infrastructure has been added, but if you happen to take a look at it (through the Help application; direct access via Maemo Mapper is a little buggy), you'll see that it is seriously lacking (there's basically nothing there).

If you would like to contribute documentation (maybe because you really want to help out, but you have no coding skills, or maybe my C is too ugly to read), then request to join the Maemo Mapper team as a documenter, which will give you access to the in-program help in SVN as well as the online documentation section in the Garage (which you'll note is also quite empty).


NOTE: There is a known memory leak in v1.x with respect to the "Download by Area" and "Settings" dialog boxes. This leak is not present in v0.2.4. The widgets created by those dialog boxes are created each time the dialog box is invoked, and they are never destroyed. I don't know if it's a bug in the 2006 OS, but if I try to destroy those dialogs, the program crashes the next time that dialog is created (even though the instances are entirely separate - very frustrating). The leak is relatively minor, though, and won't affect normal operation.

[gnuite]

Maemo Mapper has recently been added to my Nokia 770 apt-get repository (an "Application Catalog"), which means that you can now install and update it automatically via the Application Manager. Just go to the "Tools | Application catalog..." menu item and add a "New" catalog with the following web address (with the rest of the fields default):

http://gnuite.com:8080/nokia770

[dsmudger]

Copied and updated from the 2005 OS thread:

Well I just tried it out on the new 2006 OS (thanks again for getting it out so quicky :))

Disclaimer: I didn't use it under 2005 OS, so I might be missing a trick...

Well anyway, initial report:

[] Couldn't install it by clicking the .deb on gnuite.com. Started downloading and quit unexpectedly every time (though this worked ok with Maemopad+ and SQLite). Downloaded it to internal memory and installed using the 'Install from file option in Application Manager. This worked without any problems. Be interesting to see if others manage ok with the direct link - so do try that first...

[] On first start, Mapper insists on scanning for a GPS (don't have one, but want to use Mapper as a Google Maps browser) until you gove it a fake MAC address (I just used "Abc"). From then on, it doesn't scan when you go back into the options, vastly speeding things up (otherwise it's quite unresponsive while scanning).

[] After a false start not knowing that I had to find something to go in the URI prefix field (used http://kh0.google.com/kh?n=404&v=12&t=%s ), I figured the way to go was to go to Maps and select "Download Area...". I figured the zero coordinates would be fine for a starting point esp. since the zoom tab defaults to a zoomed-out view. Unfortunately, pressing OK causes the app to quit. I'm off to look in the 2005 OS thread for a different URI that might work better...

[] Sometimes just going into the Settings causes the app to quit. Not a huge issue at this stage since startup is so fast.

Thanks and keep up the great work! :D

[dsmudger]

OK, so I found
http://mt.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.11&x=%d&y=%d&zoom=%d
in the python script/switcher thread.

Putting that in, selecting Download area, OKing the defaults, then setting auto download, works great!!

Sooo much faster than even specifically 770-friendly Google Maps sites...

[cybe]

Feature idea:

It would be nice if one would be able to draw by hand on to the map, or perhaps a link "edit this map" in Sketch/Gimp. (?)

[disq]

works, as I restored my OS2005 backup to 2006 i didn't even have to configure it again. (n770 had a problem mounting my ext2 partition where i keep my map downloads tho, that's another thing)

feature requests? ok
bookmarking locations. show bookmarked locations on the map with floating pins (little pins with triangular flags on them?)
also i'd love to have layer support, (multiple toggleable layers? chosen/downloaded from a configurable list of repositories?) so one can enhance the maps by toggling layers of subway/public transport or landmarks for instance. (of course we need the reps for those)

[fpp]

Sooo much faster than even specifically 770-friendly Google Maps sites...
I wasn't even aware such sites existed... share some pointers ?
Thx,
fp

[dsmudger]

share some pointers ?
Sure thing:
US/global version with added search box http://maps.i40.com/
UK verision without the search http://ukmaps.i40.com/

Thread all about them here:
http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1135

[dsmudger]

Off topic, but curiously the i40 maps don't fill the screen any more on the new 2006 OS :(
Never mind, Maemo Mapper is the way... :p

[fpp]

Thanks ! I had read that thread at the time and forgotten all about it :-)
of course it came back to the surface just before I found your answer here...

[dueyfinster]

Thanks Gnuite, works great! Like an above poster said, I did have trouble installing it at first, but I suspect this is an error with Opera/Application Manager crashing.

Are we requesting features? I request the information options, like speed, velocity, direction etc. be displayed around the map and be configurable. Also it would be soooo cool if all of these, plus Maemo mapper itself could be a background widget on the new configurable home screen, sound good?

Thanks!
- Neil

[bradpitcher]

dumb question: What's the location of the mmc card so I can put the cache there? /media/mmc1/?

[gnuite]

dumb question: What's the location of the mmc card so I can put the cache there? /media/mmc1/?
Yes - /media/mmc1 is the root, so if you have a subdirectory in your MMC card called "maps", the correct Map Cache directory will be "/media/mmc1/maps".

I'll add a file chooser there eventually, so that you can choose a directory graphically.

[9a6or]

gnuite, does flite work in 2006OS?

[ElGatoFlojo]

w00t! I've got it working as well with the 2006 beta. I did have a few things. The first being I guess its not /media/mmc1 as opposed to the old /media/mmc. The second being that its a WAY cool feature that it try's to guess the bluetooth address of your GPS. How-ever with my bluetooth phone on in my pocket. And my roomates bluetooth enabled Mac, even with the GPS sitting right next to it the Nokia would never pick the right one. Still a very nifty feature to have that it at least try's.

Otherwise, all seems well at this point. But dang....I'm really missing my xterm already.

[gnuite]

gnuite, does flite work in 2006OS?
My version of flite (the one on gnuite.com, that works with Maemo Mapper) does not yet work with 2006 OS.

[chichi]

New release: Maemo Mapper v1.0

Device-Installable .DEB File (http://www.gnuite.com/nokia770/maemo-mapper/maemo-mapper_1.0_armel.deb)
Source Code (http://www.gnuite.com/nokia770/maemo-mapper/maemo-mapper-1.0.tar.gz)

This is the first release that supports the 2006 OS. From now on, the 1.x series of Maemo Mapper represents the 2006 OS version, while the 0.x series of Maemo Mapper represents the 2005 OS version.

This release is functionally equivalent (mostly) to Maemo Mapper v0.2.4, which was just released. The exceptions are a few minor details that were able to be fixed thanks to the new APIs in the 2006 OS.

There is a known memory leak in v1.0 with respect to the "Download by Area" and "Settings" dialog boxes. This leak is not present in v0.2.4. The widgets created by those dialog boxes are created each time the dialog box is invoked, and they are never destroyed. I don't know if it's a bug in the 2006 OS, but if I try to destroy those dialogs, the program crashes the next time that dialog is created (even though the instances are entirely separate - very frustrating). The leak is relatively minor, though, and won't affect normal operation.

It is great to have GPS program under 770 device. More functionalities are enabled.

One comment:
why not move these discussion into maemo? There we might be able to file bugs to enhance the application.

[maxilogan]

I tried it and installed and worked ok (without a GPS receiver, tough)

Only issues:
- won't display on the left bar as a running application, so when I put it in background, no way to recover it again.
- I couldn't get it reading maps on the mmc, but I've not done lots of tests, maybe it's my fault

[gnuite]

I tried it and installed and worked ok (without a GPS receiver, tough)

Only issues:
- won't display on the left bar as a running application, so when I put it in background, no way to recover it again.
- I couldn't get it reading maps on the mmc, but I've not done lots of tests, maybe it's my fault
Has anyone else experienced either of these issues? I can't reproduce them in the SDK or on the device, so it might be a bug in the OS itself? Did you try rebooting the Nokia 770?

[bradb]

won't display on the left bar as a running application, so when I put it in background, no way to recover it again

And does the menu show the default icon? Every application I've installed has exhibited this behaviour until I reboot. Then it works fine.

Ok, so I wish it would ask me which menu item to use instead of extras, but that's a minor gripe :-)

Brad.

[gnuite]

And does the menu show the default icon? Every application I've installed has exhibited this behaviour until I reboot. Then it works fine.

Ok, so I wish it would ask me which menu item to use instead of extras, but that's a minor gripe :-)

Brad.
If you still want to move it, you can use the "Task Navigator" in the Control Panel - click the "Organize" button and you can move around any or all of the menu.

[bradb]

If you still want to move it, you can use the "Task Navigator" in the Control Panel - click the "Organize" button and you can move around any or all of the menu.

Thanks! Seems like odd functionality to tie to the "Task Navigator" though, but it works.

Brad.

[9a6or]

Has anyone else experienced either of these issues?Nope, I have the icon and can read maps from the card (/media/mmc1).

The voice announcement was a cute feature, could someone please recompile flite for Maemo-mapper 1.0. Admittedly not the intended use of voice announcements but I have added some funny text in the gpx route file, my son was rolling on the floor (seat, that is) when after the convoluted announcement Mr Roboto added: "But what if I fail?" (by Neo).

[disq]

And does the menu show the default icon? Every application I've installed has exhibited this behaviour until I reboot. Then it works fine.

Ok, so I wish it would ask me which menu item to use instead of extras, but that's a minor gripe :-)


i wonder if the package maintainers added a "gtk-update-icon-cache -f /usr/share/icons/hicolor" to the "debian/postinst" script, it may have to do something with that. there's also another trick which activates the .desktop file (renaming it from .inactive to .desktop) after the icon cache has been updated, there's an example on maemo's hello-world-app. a comment in postinst (in the helloworldapp) suggests that it's not necessary if there's a "maemo-select-menu-location" later on the (postinst-)script.

do you remember if maemopad+ also had this problem? (it has the gtk-update-icon-cache and the maemo-select-menu-location in postinst)

[gnuite]

New release: Maemo Mapper v1.0.1

Device-Installable .DEB File (http://www.gnuite.com/nokia770/maemo-mapper/maemo-mapper_1.0.1_armel.deb)
Source Code (http://www.gnuite.com/nokia770/maemo-mapper/maemo-mapper-1.0.1.tar.gz)
*NEW* Application Catalog Web Address: http://gnuite.com:8080/nokia770

I fixed a bug and made the install process more complete (no more reboot necessary). I also created an apt-get repository so that you can use the Application Manager's "Application Catalog" feature to gain easy access to updates. Just go to the "Tools | Application catalog..." menu item and add a "New" catalog with the above web address (and the rest of the fields default), and you can automatically install and keep updated Maemo Mapper.

[bradpitcher]

Thank you!! :D

[maxilogan]

And does the menu show the default icon? Every application I've installed has exhibited this behaviour until I reboot. Then it works fine.

Ok, so I wish it would ask me which menu item to use instead of extras, but that's a minor gripe :-)

Brad.

Thanks a lot to you and gnuite. After rebooting the 770 it works flawlessly and... guess what? You can arrange menus now... I'm sorry I set it in italian, so I'm not sure I'm addressing you the right way, but if you access the control panel and choose (this is the hard part, because of the translation..) "Selecter" (it's a sort of 770 with a compass), you can then move all you want, also creating new sub-menus.

Bye, Omar

Edit: it is not clear at all.. I am talking of the OS menus, not Mapper
Edit II: ok, seems this will be a long message ;-) Didn't see that gnuite already gave the right translation and istructions to re-arrange menus.

[fredoll]

Same here :
- Default icon on the Extra menu
- no display on the left bar

Edit : I installed 1.01 & the menu icon is ok but I still can't manage the task : should the WMClass thing be set in the desktop file ?

Edit2 : A reboot did it ! Everything's fine now !

Fred

[dsmudger]

*NEW* Application Catalog Web Address: http://gnuite.com:8080/nokia770
Just go to the "Tools | Application catalog..." menu item and add a "New" catalog with the above web address (and the rest of the fields default), and you can automatically install and keep updated Maemo Mapper.
Thanks for the new release :)

Did the above and started the update process - about the time the download finished, Application Manager quit with an internal error.

Now there are no updates visible when I refresh the package list so I'm not even sure if the update worked OK. Couldn't find a way to reliably check the current version number, other than looking in Application Manager which could well be wrong now after the crash? Well FWIW, it now reports 1.01, 111kb

For this and any other problems, is there any way I can get some debug info/log files to you?

[r3pek]

the application manager has a log. you can check it at menu -> tools -> logs under the application manager.

[dsmudger]

Oh thanks, hadn't noticed that. But it looks like this feature isn't implemented yet in the 2006 beta. Although I've installed a fair few packages now, the log is empty and there's no reference to the crash.

Just says:
osso-application-installer 4.19, IU Version 1

[disq]

the log only logs package refresh process (404 errors etc) and gots reset when you quit app installer.

also it crashed on me too

[mapa]

Has anyone tried to delete the maps after downloading?
I first downloaded some maps from google maps, and after that I tried to delete those but it is not possible?

The File manager shows that the maps have read only tag on, and I cannot change it. So probably Maemo mapper downloads the maps with different rigts than there is usually?

[gnuite]

Has anyone tried to delete the maps after downloading?
I first downloaded some maps from google maps, and after that I tried to delete those but it is not possible?

The File manager shows that the maps have read only tag on, and I cannot change it. So probably Maemo mapper downloads the maps with different rigts than there is usually?
Maps are created with read and write permissions, but even if they weren't, that wouldn't affect the ability to delete the files (you can delete read-only files).

Sounds like there might be a software problem with Maemo or a hardware problem with your MMC.

[mapa]

It seems that the interrupted maps download corrupted the memorycard somehow.
Inside the maps/8/xxx folder which should contain pictures was more folders named like ¤#%/(%¤#"
So I copied all data off from the memorycard and reformatted it. Now it works like a dream again :)

[penguinbait]

I just updated via the repository and it went fine. I then started maemo mapper and the 770 rebooted.

Came up fine after reboot? It was probably just my 770, your code seems pretty solid :)

I see the download maps by area is filled out correctly now, awesome :) (this was the only bug I had seen)

I continue to be impressed by your wonderful application.

[penguinbait]

It seems that the interrupted maps download corrupted the memorycard somehow.
Inside the maps/8/xxx folder which should contain pictures was more folders named like ¤#%/(%¤#"
So I copied all data off from the memorycard and reformatted it. Now it works like a dream again :)


It seems highly unlikely that the interupted maps download corrupted the memory card. In fact it seems highly unlikely to me that your issue had anything to do with "maemo mapper" I have had a few problems with my mmc, including having the entire thing, all partitions become "read-only", I fsck the mmc and fix the errors, and it ran fine after that.

[armin]

http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16141&postcount=143

(...unfortunately I posted this in the ITOS2005/Maemo-Mapper 0.x thread, but it belongs into the ITOS2006/Maemo-Mapper 1.x thread...)

[Westy]

Is it possible to use multimap.com or streetmap.co.uk instead of google maps.

The reason why I am interested is that at certain resolutions of the two above you get the UK OS maps which are superb for hiking etc.

Thanks

Will

[mapa]

I tried to use the gpx driving instructions with this 1.0.1 version of maemo mapper, but every time when I try to open a file I get a note "Error parsing gpx file."
Should the gpx instructions work?
The route which I tried is on finland. From Tupos to Puolanka.

[gnuite]

I tried to use the gpx driving instructions with this 1.0.1 version of maemo mapper, but every time when I try to open a file I get a note "Error parsing gpx file."
Should the gpx instructions work?
The route which I tried is on finland. From Tupos to Puolanka.
Can you post or PM to me an example GPX file that cannot be imported?

[ReinhardE]

I love the application very much.

Would it make sense to add an energy efficient tracking mode, one could use when hiking. BT could be activated every 5 mins or so.

And a bit OT: Is it possible in the 2006 OS to use BT with the cover closed (like WIFI)?

[gnuite]

I love the application very much.

Would it make sense to add an energy efficient tracking mode, one could use when hiking. BT could be activated every 5 mins or so.

And a bit OT: Is it possible in the 2006 OS to use BT with the cover closed (like WIFI)?
Bluetooth uses very little battery power - it's the display that drains the battery when using Maemo Mapper.

That said, the whole point of Maemo Mapper is for visualization. If you want a simple GPS tracker, just use rfcomm and cat to a file (which can later be converted to GPX by one of the millions of NMEA-to-GPX converters out there).

I'd suggest using GPSD, but now that I think about it, I don't know if it's ported to the 2006 OS yet. I can probably port it pretty quickly if anyone is interested. I'll have to do it eventually in order to test Maemo Mapper's GPSD support (unless someone else ports it first, of course).

[gnuite]

I've (finally) updated the GPX Driving Directions Web Service (http://www.gnuite.com/cgi-bin/gpx.cgi) to output real UTF-8, so it should now work with Maemo Mapper for directions that include non-ascii characters. This also affects Maemo Mapper's internal Driving Directions downloading.

For those of you who kept getting "Error Parsing GPX File" errors, please try again and let me know if you still get the error. If you do get the error, please PM me an example of Source and Destination addresses that give you the error.

Thanks, and I apologize that it took so long to bring the web service into the twenty-first century.

Note: I have not been able to test any directions that contained Unicode characters that are not also in the ISO-8859-1 character set, mostly because I couldn't even find any Google Maps directions that included non-ISO-8859-1 characters. If you can find an example of a Source and Destination that result in directions with non-ISO-8859-1 characters, please PM them to me. Thanks!

[ReinhardE]

That said, the whole point of Maemo Mapper is for visualization. If you want a simple GPS tracker, just use rfcomm and cat to a file (which can later be converted to GPX by one of the millions of NMEA-to-GPX converters out there).

Thanks for the hint! gpxd together with gpxbabel (overkill?) work perfectly.

[fredoll]

Very good !
I was able to download a fully functionnal GPX from you website & directly from Maemo (places include France & Ireland so plenty of accented letters !!!)

Thanks

Fred

[HardCoder]

I have made a mockup of my suggestion for the look of maemo-mapper.
A toolbar would help ease the GUI navigation. I have attached a image.

From the left.
The first two globes represents the map view, street and satellite.
Maybe the globes should be replaced by a dropdown menu, depends on how Gnuite solves the multiple map sources issue.

The third icon is also a view, not a map view but a view over the satellites with signal strength, speed, heading, height etc.

The 4:th icon brings up a dialog to choose what information should be shown on top of the two mapviews. (speed, position, heading)

The 5:th is a measuring tool polygon train style...

The 6:th is the route downloader.

The 7:th is a marker for points of interest.

No 8 Sound on/off (the chim when approching a waypoint)

No 9 help

No 10 Settings dialog.

Just a few suggestions.

Of course there should be a toggle switch in the menu to hide/show the toolbar.

[Monteaup]

Also an "Error parsing gpx file." on Downloading route outside the USA. ?

i.e.
Route from Frankfurt to Frankfurt works.
Route from Berlin to Berlin works.
Route from Frankfurt to Berlin -> Error parsing...

I found some MTB tours on http://www.gps-tour.info. They are working well... love this software !!

[pdq]

For those of you who kept getting "Error Parsing GPX File" errors, please try again and let me know if you still get the error. If you do get the error, please PM me an example of Source and Destination addresses that give you the error.

Note: I have not been able to test any directions that contained Unicode characters that are not also in the ISO-8859-1 character set, mostly because I couldn't even find any Google Maps directions that included non-ISO-8859-1 characters. If you can find an example of a Source and Destination that result in directions with non-ISO-8859-1 characters, please PM them to me. Thanks!

I've tried a couple german ones and they all worked. Thanks for fixing this. You can get a file with non-ISO-8859-1 by demanding a route somewhere in Europe where the street names contain umlauts and such. For example, try from "berlin-steglitz germany" to "berlin-wannsee germany", it contains a lot of ß and one ö.

There is still that cosmetic bug where it turns "Abc Straße" into "Abc Stravenueße" i.e. incorrectly expanding the a to avenue (which it does not when its written in one word like in "Abcstraße".

Btw. I also discovered a bookmarklet to generate a gpx file at:
http://www.elsewhere.org/journal/gmaptogpx
Unfortunately the format is not quite compatible with maemo-mapper but I assume this could be fixed easily enough by modifying the java script.

Regards,
Reiner

[gnuite]

I've tried a couple german ones and they all worked. Thanks for fixing this. You can get a file with non-ISO-8859-1 by demanding a route somewhere in Europe where the street names contain umlauts and such. For example, try from "berlin-steglitz germany" to "berlin-wannsee germany", it contains a lot of ß and one ö.
Well, my reference example that I used for testing was "Berlin, Germany" to "Paris, France", which contained those kinds of characters and worked fine in my testing, so I'm not worried about those characters.

Those characters (and pretty much all characters used by western Europe) are in ISO-8859-1, as indicated by this website (http://czyborra.com/charsets/iso8859.html). It's cyrillic or greek characters (for example) that are not in ISO-8859-1, and I haven't found any google maps directions that work in regions that use those characters. I'm not even sure Google Maps's directions support non-ISO-8859-1 characters, since its HTML documents are returned with "charset=ISO-8859-1".

The maps themselves (the graphics) contain non-ISO-8859-1 characters (just look at Japan, for example), but I can't seem to make any directions in Japan, or Greece, or anywhere else that doesn't use ISO-8859-1, so there isn't actually any non-ISO-8859-1 text.

[Ipae]

Hi Gnuite,

As I wrote to you in another post, I have translated to spanish this version of Maemo mapper, but I dont Know to make a deb, so I want to send to you.

I dont find a word o phrase to translate "Lead Amount", if you guide me, I will be please.

Bye,
Ipae

[Texiwill]

Hi,

I tried all the repositories of maps I could find and the zoom button just zooms the screen and DOES not show new maps, even with my GPS on. I know the GPS is working as the download map area shows what should be there.

THe GPS I am using is the Mobile Crossing BT-308.

If I disable the GPS and just use the zoom feature it 'downloads' the maps but does not display them. Its very strange.

Thoughts?

[gnuite]

Hi,

I tried all the repositories of maps I could find and the zoom button just zooms the screen and DOES not show new maps, even with my GPS on. I know the GPS is working as the download map area shows what should be there.

THe GPS I am using is the Mobile Crossing BT-308.

If I disable the GPS and just use the zoom feature it 'downloads' the maps but does not display them. Its very strange.

Thoughts?
You're downloading with "Auto-Download" enabled? If not, turn it on and see if you start seeing maps.

If that doesn't help, check your map cache to make sure that there are actually maps in that directory. If the directory is not writable for Maemo Mapper, then no maps will be downloaded.

[kbellve]

Same problem is happening to me....maps stopped downloading with auto download or download by area.

I have to check permissions, etc...

[Ceklund]

Those of you who can't download maps while connected to GPS - isn't it true that the 770 cannot be connected to more than ONE bluetooth connection at a time? That means just the GPS plus a WiFi connection, or just a cellphone in data mode, but not GPS and cellphone simultaneously. Please tell me I have that wrong, cause that sucks- but it's what I read in the manual.

If that's the case, the DEV could program in a pause between GPS and 770 to allow the 770 to connect to your phone and retrieve the maps, then disconnect phone and reconnect GPS link, rinse, and repeat? It would HAVE to be programmed this way to work on a single BT connection scheme.
---------
On another note- TO DEVELOPER: will you add a button near the maps default location that lets us non-genuises move our default path by hunt a click? I don't know how to tell it where my mmc is by text. Also, what are the chances you'll give us a button to click that will move all of our current maps to the new location with just a click? I want them off my 770 and all on my mmc, where I don't mind using the space.

Thank for Maemo Mapper- it's functionally awesome.

[bradpitcher]

[B]isn't it true that the 770 cannot be connected to more than ONE bluetooth connection at a time?
No, this is not true. I have many times used maemo mapper with my bluetooth phone for internet and my bluetooth gps at the same time.

[mrp]

Google maps does not seem to cover Estonia. I'm about to travel to Tallinn/Estonia. Where could I get a maemo mapper compatible maps of the city area?

[Texiwill]

You're downloading with "Auto-Download" enabled? If not, turn it on and see if you start seeing maps.

If that doesn't help, check your map cache to make sure that there are actually maps in that directory. If the directory is not writable for Maemo Mapper, then no maps will be downloaded.

What permissions should be on the directory? I moved my map cache to an mmc else I could not see ANYTHING. Not enough space. I get the highest level world map then a zoom does not go to other maps it just makes that map fuzzy. Auto Download is on. The directories are created but not the files.

-Edward

[gnuite]

What permissions should be on the directory? I moved my map cache to an mmc else I could not see ANYTHING. Not enough space. I get the highest level world map then a zoom does not go to other maps it just makes that map fuzzy. Auto Download is on. The directories are created but not the files.
If the directories are being created, then you have permission to write the files, and the situation is strange. The only thing I can think of that would cause that would be having no disk space in the map cache, but you said that you changed your map cache to be in the MMC to avoid that problem, so I assume you have space available on your MMC.

Are you connected to the internet? You must be connected to the internet before you start downloading maps in Maemo Mapper - Maemo Mapper will not automatically connect to the internet. Try playing an internet radio station while you download the maps - if the radio plays clearly while the "downloading" occurs, but no maps are actually downloaded, then there might be a problem with your MMC (check to see if you can write files into a directory in the map cache.

[Texiwill]

If the directories are being created, then you have permission to write the files, and the situation is strange. The only thing I can think of that would cause that would be having no disk space in the map cache, but you said that you changed your map cache to be in the MMC to avoid that problem, so I assume you have space available on your MMC.

Are you connected to the internet? You must be connected to the internet before you start downloading maps in Maemo Mapper - Maemo Mapper will not automatically connect to the internet. Try playing an internet radio station while you download the maps - if the radio plays clearly while the "downloading" occurs, but no maps are actually downloaded, then there might be a problem with your MMC (check to see if you can write files into a directory in the map cache.

Also connected to the internet when trying to do this. Directories created plenty of space. It just does not budge. Reinstalled, etc. Perhaps I am doing things wrong. My map server is www.i40.com. It brings up the 'world' map. Then I move the screen to say New England, and press the zoom button, it just pixelates the big world map but says its downloading maps, however there are NO maps in the map cache, just directories. Plenty of space on the MMC.

-Edward

[bradb]

My map server is www.i40.com

Hmmm... I bet that's the problem. What do you specify as your URI?

Brad.

[Texiwill]

Hmmm... I bet that's the problem. What do you specify as your URI?

Brad.

http://www.i40.com

[bradb]

http://www.i40.com

Looks like a blog page to me - I'm getting redirected maybe? Is that exactly your URI???

I'd try one of these (http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13676&postcount=2) URI's - works for me.

Brad.

[kbellve]

Re: Not downloading maps

OS2006.
Problem with either this url: http://mt.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.11&x=%d&y=%d&zoom=%d
or this one:
http://mt.google.com/mt?n=404&v=ap.6&x=%d&y=%d&zoom=%d

I am using a patched version of Maemo-mapper that supports two settings, but the problem still exists if I go back to gnuites 1.0.1 version as well.

I have about 250MB of the street map already downloaded.

I also have a setting for satillite maps and that was working fine until a moment ago and just stopped with the same problem as the street maps.

I have a 1GB MMC card installed.

Edited to add more information:
Directories appear to be created but the jpgs are not added. All the directories are empty.

I can copy a jpg that was downloaded previously when it was still working into an empty directory just fine.


Another update:
Satilite maps started to work again, but only for some zoom levels. I did clean up my MMC card a bit. I am only 33% full on the card.

My current theory is it is a VFAT problem either due to the number of directories or the number of files.

Another update:

Satillite maps work on Zoom level 4 and above, but not Zoom 0,1,2,3.
Road maps don't work on any Zoom level now.

[gnuite]

I wonder if Google is on to us...

[jackjansen]

I think google have changed their map sites. All other sites that refer to mt.google.com and kh.google.com show the same symptoms as Maemo Mapper and manual typing of what-we-should-now-probably-call-"old" urls.

A quick look at the javascript in maps.google.com reveals new hostnames mt0.google.com and such, but with urls that appear to have a different naming convention (at least for the magic n= and v= arguments.

[penguinbait]

seems to be working for me?

[penguinbait]

Did the rfcomm patch ever get implemented in maemo-mapper? If not is there a bin of 1.01 floating around anywhere?

[Ceklund]

This is the best software on the 770. Thanks for what you've brought to this community, gnuite (JC).

I can't wait now for Flite.

I also wish that someone would compile all of the Maemo Mapper information to date in one post and make it Sticky as the first post in the Apps folder. I mean, this post has just under 6000 hits... it's time to compile the instructions for the new 770/GPS owners out there.

One idea... could we have two URI fields? Have one kind of map set for detail levels 3-top but assign a different mapset to 0-2 for whatever reasons? We might want the the URI with actual pictures for street level and google lined for higher up, or vice versa...

More Praise:
I already had the 770 for numerous reasons ... but thanks to you, I got a GPS mapping system for only $90 more (price of the i-blue). No need for a Tom Tom for $700 !!

Heheh.... Take care, gnuite. :)

[Ceklund]

Suggestions:


A: Car Speed Alarm

For those with lead feet and no cruise control... what about a
quick feature that allows us to set a max speed and sets off an
alarm when we cross the line? Give us the option of a default
sound or allow us to choose our own from /mmc.
-----------------------------------------------------------

B: Info Box Settings

Allow us a choice of font size for the Info Box...? Heh, my dash is so far away the text looks like specks... need to ramp it up some. Or even give option for Full-Screen flicker... just .5 to 1.0 of a second onscreen if Info Box is in full-screen mode, or just make the white area around text partially transparent...?
-----------------------------------------------------------

C: Us. . . We the blue-dotted of Maemo......

Can we be a triangle showing us our orientation instead?
-----------------------------------------------------------

D: Total Miles

When we load a route, for the first few seconds after the green line pops up, can we have an info screen dislay the Total Miles of the Trip?
-----------------------------------------------------------

E: Dim screen by hardware key

In day, I want it bright, but as nights falls, it's too bright. I don't want to to have to stop to turn it down... only two buttons are left to map... the home key and the one above it... maybe these could be mapped to Brightness Down/Brightness Up?
-----

And finally, a question: How do we use the Auto Center features? I hoped by clicking the Lead amount up, I would be able to see more of the route left to travel than what I'd already travelled onscreen, but I stay in the center always no matter what.

Thanks, I hope these suggestions are okay.

[gnuite]

Suggestions:


A: Car Speed Alarm

For those with lead feet and no cruise control... what about a
quick feature that allows us to set a max speed and sets off an
alarm when we cross the line? Give us the option of a default
sound or allow us to choose our own from /mmc.
Interesting, but this is not Maemo Mapper's job. Must... resist... feature creep...


B: Info Box Settings

Allow us a choice of font size for the Info Box...? Heh, my dash is so far away the text looks like specks... need to ramp it up some. Or even give option for Full-Screen flicker... just .5 to 1.0 of a second onscreen if Info Box is in full-screen mode, or just make the white area around text partially transparent...?
I don't know if I can affect that font size, but I'll look into it.


C: Us. . . We the blue-dotted of Maemo......

Can we be a triangle showing us our orientation instead?
Unfortunately, no GPS receivers (or, at least of which I am aware) report orientation. I could make an assumption based on most recent heading, but that's the best I could do. I'll consider a triangle, but there already is a velocity line, so I don't think it's necessary (except maybe for hikers, but they should have compasses anyway :)).


D: Total Miles

When we load a route, for the first few seconds after the green line pops up, can we have an info screen dislay the Total Miles of the Trip?
Textual information will be provided in a sidebar in a future version of Maemo Mapper, including trip info.


E: Dim screen by hardware key

In day, I want it bright, but as nights falls, it's too bright. I don't want to to have to stop to turn it down... only two buttons are left to map... the home key and the one above it... maybe these could be mapped to Brightness Down/Brightness Up?
The menu key and home keys cannot be remapped. Or, if they can, I'd never want to, since they _are_ already mapped (home key "minimizes" to display the Nokia 770 Home, and the "key above it" is the menu key.)[/QUOTE]
With such precious few hardware keys, I doubt I could justify allocating one to control brightness.


And finally, a question: How do we use the Auto Center features? I hoped by clicking the Lead amount up, I would be able to see more of the route left to travel than what I'd already travelled onscreen, but I stay in the center always no matter what.
There's a menu item to control your Auto-Center type (between None, Lat/Lon, and Lead), or you can use the "Enter" button (the center of the D-Pad) to toggle between Lat/Lon and Lead (and to snap back to your previous center type if you have since panned away from being centered).

[9a6or]

I badly miss the voice announcements (flite). Gnuite, could you please add a warning sound at least. Other thing is that I sometimes have to use Route/Reset while driving but this is not quite safe... is it possible to call that function perhaps when the enter button is pushed? It's easier to push it twice to get the announcements back than to call the menu.

[gnuite]

There are no bugfixes in this release, but there are a few feature request implementations. Of particular note is the addition of the localization and help frameworks (see below for more details). Mostly this release was to re-organize the package in preparation for the final release of the 2006 OS and for inclusion in the new maemo contrib repository.

Speaking of which, the gnuite.com repository, although it includes Maemo Mapper v1.0.2, is being deprecated in favor of the maemo contrib repository:

Web location: http://repository.maemo.org/contrib/
Distribution: 2.0
Components: free

The repository is open to all Garage developers, so hopefully it will begin filling up with other Garage packages.

Of course, if you prefer, Maemo Mapper's Garage page will still allow you to download the source or the deb's directly from the file download page (https://garage.maemo.org/frs/?group_id=29).

About localization: the localization framework has been added, but I will leave it to the fluent to translate the English text into different languages. If you would like to have direct access to the SVN repository for translation purposes, just make a request through the Maemo Mapper Garage page (on the Summary page).

If you would like to see Maemo Mapper translated into your language, but don't have the resources to do the translation yourself, add a Tracker item concerning your requested language. That will let people know that you're interested in a translation to that language.

The same goes (sort of) for documentation. The in-program help infrastructure has been added, but if you happen to take a look at it (through the Help application; direct access via Maemo Mapper is a little buggy), you'll see that it is seriously lacking (there's basically nothing there).

If you would like to contribute documentation (maybe because you really want to help out, but you have no coding skills, or maybe my C is too ugly to read), then request to join the Maemo Mapper team as a documenter, which will give you access to the in-program help in SVN as well as the online documentation section in the Garage (which you'll note is also quite empty).

And if you want to contribute, but have no coding skills and no documentation skills, you can help by providing feedback, suggestions, and bug reports, all at Maemo Mapper's Garage website. And you can still choose to donate on the Maemo Mapper Homepage (http://www.gnuite.com/nokia770/maemo-mapper/) - thank you to everyone who has already donated.

[9a6or]

I asked this in the Garage forum but as I was the first poster there, I write here too. Where can we get flite to announce waypoints in v1.0.2?

[gnuite]

I asked this in the Garage forum but as I was the first poster there, I write here too. Where can we get flite to announce waypoints in v1.0.2?
Ask moimart (http://moimart.org/) - he first implemented it for the 2005 OS, but there hasn't been a version for the 2006 OS yet. And for those of you keeping track at home, yes, that means that it remains untested in Maemo Mapper at the moment. The switch to the dbus-based flite was more out of anticipation than anything else - the dbus-based approach is a better one.

[9a6or]

I wrote to him in his blog. In the meantime I guess we'll have to rely on the chime (nice feature)and read the announcements, can't wait to try it out tomorrow.

The project in Garage is managed very professionally.

[Kesey]

To use Maemo Mapper as an in-car GPS type device is an internet connection required? If I'm going on a roadtrip without an internet connection is there a way to save off maps and have the bluetooth GPS use those to navigate?

Basically, I have a 700 and don't want to buy a TomTom as well. But I won't have internet access.

[kbellve]

To use Maemo Mapper as an in-car GPS type device is an internet connection required? If I'm going on a roadtrip without an internet connection is there a way to save off maps and have the bluetooth GPS use those to navigate?

Basically, I have a 700 and don't want to buy a TomTom as well. But I won't have internet access.

You will need to predownload the maps while you have an internet connection. Once you have the maps, Maemo Mapper will use them with the GPS. You can tell Maemo Mapper to download maps along your proposed route.

[wesq]

Gnuite, thanks for the great software!

I have a small feature request. I would like to estimate distances visually, but it's hard as currently there is no indication of how the map matches distances in real world. It would be nice to have some kind of indication of the current scale of the map. Indicator could be for example a small "measure stick", in the bottom of the map, just like in many real maps. Other option would be to have just a text at bottom left corner that would tell what distance is the height of map view and what distance is the width of view. The description could have been clearer, but I hope you understand what I mean.

[9a6or]

Gnuite, sorry for not using Garage but this thread is probably read by more.

As flite is still under development, I rely on the "ding" when a waypoint announcement pops up. This is quite a good compromise but unfortunately the system alert is so soft that it is not audible in the car (especially at motorway speeds with radio on) even though the sound level for system sounds is on the highest setting of 2.

Also, I normally have the system sounds turned off. It would be good to keep the announcements independent from system sounds, a bit like the separate volume control for incoming GTalk calls.

Is there any way to assign a sharper sound to waypoint announcements?

[Xyzo]

Hi!
I'm using maemo-mapper for some time: great job!
I've noticed that it keeps displaying "scanning for bluetooth devices" as soon as I try to change the settings: as it is scanning, the software is very slow and it becomes difficult to enter settings (specially URLs). Is there any way to prevent it from scanning? I'm not using any GPS.
Laurent.

[lbattraw]

Hi!
(snip)
s there any way to prevent it from scanning? I'm not using any GPS.
Laurent.

Try disabling the GPS, then entering something in the MAC field for the GPS settings (doesn't matter as long as it's a few characters a-f or 0-9). Exit out and then next time to get in it should not scan.

Larry

[gnuite]

Try disabling the GPS, then entering something in the MAC field for the GPS settings (doesn't matter as long as it's a few characters a-f or 0-9). Exit out and then next time to get in it should not scan.
This is an effective workaround. In fact, I use this approach all the time on my PC during testing. It's silly to require this, however, if "Enable GPS" is off, so it will be fixed in the next version of Maemo Mapper.

[gnuite]

For those of you not subscribing for updates at Maemo Mapper's Garage page (https://garage.maemo.org/projects/maemo-mapper/), version 1.1 has just been released. Here's the opening paragraph of the release notes (https://garage.maemo.org/frs/shownotes.php?release_id=57):

Maemo Mapper v1.1 includes many changes, most notably are color customization, temporal track data, context (press-and-hold) menus, a Dutch translation, plus a few bug fixes. Due to the number of changes in this release, I am anticipating a few bugs (I already found a minor
that will have to wait until v1.1.1), so please keep this in mind if you run into some.

See the full release notes (https://garage.maemo.org/frs/shownotes.php?release_id=57) for more details.

For your convenience, this release is available in the Maemo Mapper Garage Files page (https://garage.maemo.org/frs/?group_id=29), as well as in the Maemo Contrib repository:

Web location: http://repository.maemo.org/contrib/
Distribution: 2.0
Components: free non-free

[fpp]

How does one put packages in the Contrib repository ? I guess it would be a better place for the Privoxy port than attached to a post in this forum as it is now, but I have no idea how to go about it...

[armin]

How can I compute the length of a track or track-segments
(= distance travelled) from a GPX-file I generated with
Maemo-Mapper?

Do you know a free web service or linux software, to which
I can input my GPX-file and which then outputs the length
of the track or track segments?

[gnuite]

How does one put packages in the Contrib repository ? I guess it would be a better place for the Privoxy port than attached to a post in this forum as it is now, but I have no idea how to go about it...
Easiest way is to register your project at https://garage.maemo.org/ - I don't know what the official policy is, but that's how I got invited to add to the repository.

[gnuite]

How can I compute the length of a track or track-segments
(= distance travelled) from a GPX-file I generated with
Maemo-Mapper?

Do you know a free web service or linux software, to which
I can input my GPX-file and which then outputs the length
of the track or track segments?
A quick google search yields this treasure trove of geocache-related scripts:

http://geo.rkkda.com/

I believe the geo-dist script is what you're looking for. They're general unix-compatible shell scripts - mostly (if not entirely) bash scripts.

[Ceklund]

I am using Maemo Mapper on my job now... so I probably owe you a donation as soon as I can afford it, heh... increased efficiency = much praise. People are noticing the change. Thanks!

Enhancement:
1) I've noticed that I'm needing quite often now to find my way home from wherever I am, I wonder if you won't add a 'Home' function that gets our current location, puts our predefined 'home' address in automatically and brings up the green route line all with the touch of a button or something ike that? Route>'Home' ?

2) Another idea I had was to offer a 'Swap' button near the windows we put in our start and end addresses inside of Route>Download? How it would work: When we get to our Destination, the green line turns off as per nomal but the info does not clear out of the windows until we choose to clear it.... so we can load up the Route>Download and then just hit 'Swap' to flip the Start and End fields and then hit OK to track our way backwards.... ?

3) I have several blocks of google maps where the image was just starting to download when my cell dropped the connection, and now those maps have gaps in them...literal black spots and zoomed big blocky cells, Maemo Mapper thinks it's already been totally downloaded, but it hasn't. It's frustrating to look at, the center of town where I use the most (naturally, heh)... I could delete my map folder and reload, but I spent too much time getting it all setup... all I'd ike is a 'force reload of this map page' feature... in case this happens, we can just fix it.

Thanks! MM is the best!

[Ceklund]

For those of you not subscribing for updates at Maemo Mapper's Garage page (https://garage.maemo.org/projects/maemo-mapper/), version 1.1 has just been released.

I can download it, but cannot install 1.1... the App Installer doesn't recognize it, and even with the Repository added you gave, it does not show up in 'Programs To Install' area of App Installer.

Please help? Thanks.

[Edit: NM, it was tring to d/l as extension .armel ... I renamed it to .deb and it installed fine. Thanks!]

[Ceklund]

Just finished your release notes... I am very curious about temporal track data... and wondered if you might provide a couple examples of how someone might use it... ie, what it is for.

Please forgive me if this is common knowledge... I didn't seem to get it... my fault.

Thanks, gnuite.

[gnuite]

Just finished your release notes... I am very curious about temporal track data... and wondered if you might provide a couple examples of how someone might use it... ie, what it is for.
It just means that each track point now that Maemo Mapper keeps track of now also has a timestamp with it. So now, when you Save a track, Maemo Mapper not only saves the coordinate data, but also the time at which you were at each coordinate.

Most commonly, it is used to "play back" a trip using special replay software. It can also be used to estimate average speed or total trip time (or time between any two points, etc.).

[Ceklund]

Okay, that makes sense, thanks...

gnuite, will you comment about post #89 (a few posts back)? If you have the time, that is.

Thank you, good sir. ;)

[armin]

A quick google search yields this treasure trove of geocache-related scripts:

http://geo.rkkda.com/

I believe the geo-dist script is what you're looking for. They're general unix-compatible shell scripts - mostly (if not entirely) bash scripts.

Andrew Turner <ajturner AT highearthorbit DOT com> pointed me to this Ruby-Script:
http://highearthorbit.com/projects/geolocation/gpx.rb

Slightly modified variant (km instead of miles, output track segment length, workaround for a -0.000 rounding error leading to a sqrt-abort):
http://armin-warda.de/gpx.rb

[hallax]

Hi,

First, Gnuite, thanks for developing Mapper! I have been using it for a few days now when cruising in southern Finland and it works just great! Also I just upgraded to 1.1 and no problems there either. I use Nokia LD-3W for GPS.

Of course there are a few things I´m missing ;-)

1) Is there a way to download and save POI data? It would be great if I could download for example certain gas stations, stores and hotels in selected countries. I belive many of these companies provide their POI data in their websites, so it should be possible to save this for Mapper?


2) It would be great if I could create some fixed locations like home, work, etc... And before downloading a route, I could browse for fixed locations to be used as origin or destination.


3) Also it would be good if all the other POI locations downloaded (gas stations, hotels, etc. mentioned in the first chapter...) could be used as fixed locations.


4) I´m not sure how the lenght of the velocity vector is calculated. But it would be great if it would present the estimated distance travelled in next 30 seconds (or mayby configurable time for each zoom level?) with current speed.



These are just my ideas after using Mapper for a few days as an incar navigation system. See pics.

I also miss some other features but they have already been listed in the Mapper Garage site.

I think Mapper definitely already is quite usable. Of course there are some nice features more expensive and focused TomTom offers but this is a very good start. Keep up the good work!

- Hallax

[gnuite]

1) I've noticed that I'm needing quite often now to find my way home from wherever I am, I wonder if you won't add a 'Home' function that gets our current location, puts our predefined 'home' address in automatically and brings up the green route line all with the touch of a button or something ike that? Route>'Home' ?
The "Download Route" dialog uses autocomplete based on previously entered sources and destinations, so that's a bit of a shortcut already. When POI is implemented, you'll also be able to select from a list of points of interest. Neither of these particularly addresses your requested functionality exactly, so I'll consider adding the concept of a "Home" location.

2) Another idea I had was to offer a 'Swap' button near the windows we put in our start and end addresses inside of Route>Download?
Again, the autocomplete can be used to address this, but I'll consider saving the last used addresses. The swap button is a good idea regardless, so I'll definitely add that.

3) I have several blocks of google maps where the image was just starting to download when my cell dropped the connection, and now those maps have gaps in them...literal black spots and zoomed big blocky cells, Maemo Mapper thinks it's already been totally downloaded, but it hasn't. It's frustrating to look at, the center of town where I use the most (naturally, heh)... I could delete my map folder and reload, but I spent too much time getting it all setup... all I'd ike is a 'force reload of this map page' feature... in case this happens, we can just fix it.
See Feature Request Tracker Item #25 (https://garage.maemo.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=25&group_id=29&atid=188).

[penguinbait]

Is there any chance there would be an easy way to log all nmea output while mapper is running?

[gnuite]

Is there any chance there would be an easy way to log all nmea output while mapper is running?
Not until GPSD is ported to the 2006 OS (is it?) and Maemo Mapper gets GPSD support (see Feature Request Tracker Item #8 (https://garage.maemo.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=8&group_id=29&atid=188)).

Edit: until then, there is at least one (rather ugly) workaround that I can think of (NOTE: I haven't tested this and I don't know if it will work. I'm not responsible for any damage this procedure may cause to you or your software/hardware):

1. Connect to the GPS receiver using rfcomm to, e.g., /dev/rfcomm5

2. Set up a "named pipe" called, e.g., "/tmp/my_pipe", by entering the following commands into an xterm (or create a script an run that):

mkfifo /tmp/my_pipe
tail -f /dev/rfcomm5 | tee /tmp/my_pipe >> /home/user/MyDocs/Documents/MyNMEA.txt

The script should "hang", waiting for input.

3. Use "/tmp/my_pipe" as your "Receiver MAC" in Maemo Mapper, utilizing its "undocumented" rfcomm support.

4. When you're done with Maemo Mapper, you can rm kill the script with ctrl-C or "kill", and remove /tmp/my_pipe, or you can keep them both around, leaving the "cat"/"tee" running in the background until the next time you run Maemo Mapper. You can even run the above script at startup if you always want it to be available, and set up a cool naming scheme based on the time of day or the number of NMEA files you've created.
(Note: tee will probably "queue up" the NMEA data from /dev/rfcomm5 until something (in this case, Maemo Mapper) reads it, so it's probably not a good idea to leave the GPS receiver on and Maemo Mapper off at the same time for a long period of time. It won't wreck your system, but it might cause the tee to crash, meaning you'll have to restart the script.)

[gnuite]

1) Is there a way to download and save POI data? It would be great if I could download for example certain gas stations, stores and hotels in selected countries. I belive many of these companies provide their POI data in their websites, so it should be possible to save this for Mapper?
Not yet - see Feature Request Track Item #22 (https://garage.maemo.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=22&group_id=29&atid=188)


2) It would be great if I could create some fixed locations like home, work, etc... And before downloading a route, I could browse for fixed locations to be used as origin or destination.

3) Also it would be good if all the other POI locations downloaded (gas stations, hotels, etc. mentioned in the first chapter...) could be used as fixed locations.
When POI's come, you will be able to select them in the "Download Route" dialog as either a source or destination. Arbitrary numbers of "fixed locations" starts to turn into a POI set, so I don't think I'll provide any additional functionality specifically for "fixed locations" - just use a POI set (you will be able to load as many as you want).


4) I´m not sure how the lenght of the velocity vector is calculated. But it would be great if it would present the estimated distance travelled in next 30 seconds (or mayby configurable time for each zoom level?) with current speed.
The length of the velocity vector is based on (surprise!) speed, so you can sort of use it to judge "distance travelled in next 30 seconds", but the ratio is fixed relative to the screen size, so you'd have to scale it based on your zoom level. I decided not to make it fixed relative to actual geographical distance because that would make it either invisible in the "very zoomed out" case or entirely too long in the "very zoomed in" case.

[penguinbait]

Thanks, I will try it out tomorrow... I appreciate it

[penguinbait]

I have been trying multiple ways to get this to work, in 2005, I could just cat /dev/rfcomm0 after I connect, this no longer works, and I can not seem to get any data out by cat or tail or anything else. Works great with mapper out of the box, but I want to get my gpstracker script working again. I tried your suggestions but no success.

any other ideas ?

[fpp]

Gnuite,

Albeit belatedly, I add my voice to the choir of praise that's been echoing down these halls ever since the first release...
Although I'd been following the mapper saga with interest, I hadn't actually tried it out because a) I didn't have a GPS and b) I knew a reflash to the new OS was coming.
Well I switched to the 2006 image last weekend and got my GPS today so at last I've just installed the mapper.
And of course, despite all the jaw-dropping comments I'd read here before, I was still surprised at how easy, fast and impressive it all was :-)
Thanks for the fantastic app - I can't wait to actually use it while driving/riding !

PS: is there any way I could give the mapper a list of coordinates for known fixed speed radars, and have it beep on approach ? It could have saved me 90 euro last month, and if everyone sends you 10% of those avoided fines you could have a sustainable business model there :-)

[gnuite]

PS: is there any way I could give the mapper a list of coordinates for known fixed speed radars, and have it beep on approach ? It could have saved me 90 euro last month, and if everyone sends you 10% of those avoided fines you could have a sustainable business model there :-)
Not sure if this is a serious request or not. :) But when POI comes to Maemo Mapper, I might add an optional feature which would, when you get within a certain range of a POI, beep and display the description of the POI. This might help you out.

BEEP! "Speed Radar Site - SLOW DOWN!"

Personally, I choose to avoid breaking the law enough to attract the attention of highway patrol. :)

[fpp]

Oh, it's dead serious on this side of the Pond, believe me... These things were more or less invented and perfected by the Brits and have been sprouting all over France (at least) these past few years. Money machines, we call them. Armored boxes on the side of the road, containing a doppler radar speed meter, a digital camera, and a DSL modem. If you're over the limit (even just a little, where a human cop might let it pass) it takes a picture of the vehicle, uploads it to a processing center where OCR software reads your plates, finds your name & address and prints the invoice which you get in your mailbox a couple days later. Very 21st century. You can even pay online.

As the locations of these fixed radars are known (although more are being added all the time, obviously), there is quite a cottage industry here in Europe with these specialized GPS boxes for cars and bikes that have no screens, do no navigation or mapping : they just hold an upgradable list of those radars, and their only function is to beep when you approach one (or sometimes display the speed limit).

Interestingly, these thingies are priced much lower than real navigation systems like TomTom -- at just about the cost of the entry-level fine... so I was only half-joking :-)

BTW - that POI system would be just fine !

[penguinbait]

Personally, I choose to avoid breaking the law enough to attract the attention of highway patrol. :)

sounds like someone who has something to hide ???


hehe ;)

[hallax]

Not yet - see Feature Request Track Item #22 (https://garage.maemo.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=22&group_id=29&atid=188)


When POI's come, you will be able to select them in the "Download Route" dialog as either a source or destination. Arbitrary numbers of "fixed locations" starts to turn into a POI set, so I don't think I'll provide any additional functionality specifically for "fixed locations" - just use a POI set (you will be able to load as many as you want).



good! this is exactly what I meant.

it probably is not too hard to create your own POI set with all your frequent locations. the sets are simple XML files i think?

also it would be great if i could attach a POI-type for each POI set. And a POI-type (hotel, gas station, personal, speed trap...) could include some configuration data like graphics and actions when approaching a location etc.



The length of the velocity vector is based on (surprise!) speed, so you can sort of use it to judge "distance travelled in next 30 seconds", but the ratio is fixed relative to the screen size, so you'd have to scale it based on your zoom level. I decided not to make it fixed relative to actual geographical distance because that would make it either invisible in the "very zoomed out" case or entirely too long in the "very zoomed in" case.

ok. it would be great if I could choose the time for each zoom level. I would use somthing like 5-10 sec in zoom level 0 and mayby 30-60 sec into zoom level 6. the velocity vector would be dynamic and represent the distance to be traveled based on current speed and chosen time on current zoom level. this would make it more easy to estimate distances on the map.

A nice feature would be a text box containing the time and distance to the next waypoint and to final destination. with this feaure the need for dynamic velocity vector would not be that important.


After installing 1.1 I have been testing mapper a bit more. here are some bugs I?ve found:

1. with 1.0.2 all downloaded routes contained the waypoint data with kilometers. now i get miles although i have selected km in settings.

2. the auto-update with routes does not seem to work. it did with 1.0.2

3. if i save a route with auto-update selected and then load that route, the auto-update does not work. i think this was the case with 1.0 2 also.

4. not sure if this is a bug or not but i configured the announce so that it fits well when in downtown. but when i am on the highway, the announcements come too llate. could the announcement advance notice setting also be configured for each zoom level?

By the way, gnuite, how do you prefer receiving these bugs/feature request?

-hallax

[gnuite]

1. with 1.0.2 all downloaded routes contained the waypoint data with kilometers. now i get miles although i have selected km in settings.
The waypoint data is independent of the "kilometers/miles" setting. Maemo Mapper displays exactly what is in the GPX file (it doesn't try to convert units). The units used in the GPX file generally depend on the locale of the route source and/or destination (directions in the U.S. use miles; in Europe , kilometers; etc.). The source of directions hasn't changed in some time, so I'd be surprised if you entered the same source/destination and got km in v1.0.2 and miles in v1.1.

2. the auto-update with routes does not seem to work. it did with 1.0.2
Odd - it worked for me in my testing. I'll try again.

3. if i save a route with auto-update selected and then load that route, the auto-update does not work. i think this was the case with 1.0 2 also.
You cannot auto-update a loaded route. You can only auto-update using "Download Route..." (i.e. not "Open Route...").

4. not sure if this is a bug or not but i configured the announce so that it fits well when in downtown. but when i am on the highway, the announcements come too llate. could the announcement advance notice setting also be configured for each zoom level?
The amount of advance notice scales linearly with your current speed, which should be sufficient to provide sufficient notice in town and on the highway.

By the way, gnuite, how do you prefer receiving these bugs/feature request?
If you're trying to clarify things, either the ITT forums or the Maemo Mapper forums (in the Garage) are appropriate. If you want to then formalize your feature request (preferrably after getting feedback from me and other forum members), you should enter it as a Feature Request tracker item in the Garage.

[cybe]

Are there other mapsource alternatives for Maemo Mapper than Google Maps?

I've hacked some of my own maps; cut and pasted other maps onto the right position on google map tiles, and will probably do this some more of this again soon. Anyone else done this?

Wish Maemo Mapper gets that support for multiple map folders and a quick switch function soon.

Attached two screenshots. In zoom level three theres something wrong though, have to investigate what.

[lmf]

Hi

I'm using maemo mapper v1.1 (OS2006).
I entered the source and destination (used firefox on WinXP), then did copy&paste of the result to a file benidorm-Warner.xml and placed that on the card.
Tried it again, and got the same error.
(I can't download the route from the 770 itself because I'm behind a firewall, and I need a socks server to access you site)

I've uploaded this xml file here:
http://rapidshare.de/files/25668086/benidorm-Warner.xml.html

please test it.
thanks.
:rolleyes:

Hello,

Today I tried to create a gpx file.. but got the "Error Parsing GPX file" error... again, and again...
Using your GPX Driving Directions page, I got a 300k file, which always gives that error...
just try this:
source: benidorm, spain
destination: 40.233183,-3.594503

How can I get this to work?
(I had N770 European Localization settings at first, and then changed that to "American", but the error remains)

thanks.
:rolleyes:
I tried your source and destination on my Nokia 770, and it loaded the route fine. There shouldn't be any localization issues - I had hoped that I had nailed all of those down. There were some UTF-8 issues in older versions of Maemo Mapper - which version are you running?

[gnuite]

Are there other mapsource alternatives for Maemo Mapper than Google Maps?
You can use any set of maps that you like, so long as they are chopped into 256x256 blocks and are arranged in the directory structure as required by Maemo Mapper (official documentation will be available someday, but until then, you can use Google Maps's tile X and Y coordinates (and Zoom levels) as a guide.

Attached two screenshots. In zoom level three theres something wrong though, have to investigate what.
This might be a byproduct of some image optimization code that Maemo Mapper uses for scaling. It probably only works with 24-bits-per-pixel data, so if your image has an alpha channel, that might be the cause. I think 8-bit color indexes should be okay, since they get converted to 24-bits-per-pixel data, and I'm pretty sure that's what Google Maps tiles use, but I could be wrong about that.

[gnuite]

I entered the source and destination (used firefox on WinXP), then did copy&paste of the result to a file benidorm-Warner.xml and placed that on the card.
This is probably your problem. XML uses the UTF-8 encoding (by default - I think this can be changed). In order to support the ñ character (and other non-ASCII characters), you need to use multi-byte UTF-8-encoded characters. In UTF-8, the first waypoint in the file you uploaded actually looks like this:
Head northeast from Calle de Emilio Ortu<f1>o. Go 0.7 km.
The <f1> character is screwing up the parsing. You're better off using "Save As..." and moving the resulting file to the MMC. Otherwise, you should use an editor that supports UTF-8 and copy/paste with that.

Or, you can try adding encoding="latin1" to the "<?xml?>" tag, but I can't guarantee that that will work.

Or, you can just replace all the non-ASCII characters with ASCII characters. :)

[lmf]

This is probably your problem. XML uses the UTF-8 encoding (by default - I think this can be changed). In order to support the ñ character (and other non-ASCII characters), you need to use multi-byte UTF-8-encoded characters. In UTF-8, the first waypoint in the file you uploaded actually looks like this:
Head northeast from Calle de Emilio Ortu<f1>o. Go 0.7 km.
The <f1> character is screwing up the parsing. You're better off using "Save As..." and moving the resulting file to the MMC. Otherwise, you should use an editor that supports UTF-8 and copy/paste with that.

Or, you can try adding encoding="latin1" to the "<?xml?>" tag, but I can't guarantee that that will work.

Or, you can just replace all the non-ASCII characters with ASCII characters. :)

Adding the 'encoding="latin1" ' does nothing.
If I do "save as" (with firefox) from your webpage, what I get is the html code of the GPX Driving Directions page (!!!!)... not the directions xml file ... So, the only way to get this is to copy&paste the result.
If I select UTF-8 in firefox, the result is the same.
Those characters are generated by your gpx page, not me.

Before posting this, I did try to remove all the "weird" characters, but the error is still reported.
It simply does not work.

[Ceklund]

:D gnuite, I love how you worked out the new driver-orientation, with the line extending out. I had imagined this with a triangle, but after seeing the line, it's obviously more useful that way. Great job.

Next. In your item list of enhancements you're going to work on, my idea for larger announcement popups, it states the reason for adding this is for ?people with bad eyes.? I have 20/20 vision, heh. Sometimes people have valid resons for requesting a feature that devs cannot predict, that's all. In this case, I installed the 12 Point Font themes. I believe the native 770 font is 16 Point, thus my popups are miniscule, even for my 20/20 vision. Hehehe.

Enhancement Ideas
1) Routing Alternatives. Sometimes, how Maemo Mapper computes the route seems a little off for my needs at that moment, and I would like an option to hold down the center button for 3-4 seconds and -blam!- it generates an alternative route based on different rules. If current routes are generated by rules like 'take the shortest path not deviating from major roads' then the alternate would gen routes based on rules like 'take the shortest path including dirt roads' heh.

2) Screensaver Mode
In this mode, when Fullscreen, the screen shuts off but the Bluetooth and cellphone connections stay active, waking up at each announcement popup... to save battery life on longer trips where you don't need yur route for a long time. So the screen's sleeping and waking are determined by the 'Advance Notice Settings.'

3) Automatic Destination Zooming?Autozoom? More of my time is spent fumbling for the zoom keys as I near my destination than anything, and I've noticed it's putting me at greater risk because my attention is focused on this process. I would like a mode where it automatically zooms in for you as you near your destination... I would be happy to drive-test the correct settings to help get them right, but I am guessing thus: a) at 8 blocks to 6 blocks, Autozoom to zoom level 2. b) at 3 to 5, Autozoom to level 1. Less than 3 blocks, Autozoom to level 0. This feature would improve overall safety, and just feel slick.

As always, I love your work, gnuite. These are just ideas, and you're only one man. If you can't use'em, I truly will understand. But thank you nevertheless... I've seen your Enhancement list and it's pretty daunting. Keep up the great work. :D

[gnuite]

Adding the 'encoding="latin1" ' does nothing.
If I do "save as" (with firefox) from your webpage, what I get is the html code of the GPX Driving Directions page (!!!!)... not the directions xml file ... So, the only way to get this is to copy&paste the result.
If I select UTF-8 in firefox, the result is the same.
Those characters are generated by your gpx page, not me.
Yes, the UTF-8 characters are generated by my GPX page. Firefox understands UTF-8 (as do most browsers). Notepad or Wordpad, however, do not write UTF-8 by default, so if you copy from a UTF-8-understanding browser into a UTF-8-misunderstanding text editor, you will inadvertently be converting the UTF-8 characters into the "latin" character set, aka iso-8859-1, rendering the file invalid XML and unreadable by Maemo Mapper.

"Save as..." in my also-mozilla-based browser saves the XML, not the form page, so that must be a peculiarity of Firefox, so maybe you can try with IE or Opera.

If not: I don't use Windows much, so I haven't used any UTF-8-native text editors in it, but a simple google search led me to Notepad2 (http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html) - try it and let me know if you still have problems. If so, message me and attach the file that Notepad2 created (yes, I cleaned out my ITT message box, so messaging me works again).

Sorry for the inconvenience. :-/

[gnuite]

Next. In your item list of enhancements you're going to work on, my idea for larger announcement popups, it states the reason for adding this is for ?people with bad eyes.? I have 20/20 vision, heh. Sometimes people have valid resons for requesting a feature that devs cannot predict, that's all. In this case, I installed the 12 Point Font themes. I believe the native 770 font is 16 Point, thus my popups are miniscule, even for my 20/20 vision. Hehehe.
Then why do you use the 12-point font theme? :) I haven't gotten around to looking into the popup font size. I don't even know if it's possible to set the font size - it's not in the API so far as I've seen.


1) Routing Alternatives. Sometimes, how Maemo Mapper computes the route seems a little off for my needs at that moment, and I would like an option to hold down the center button for 3-4 seconds and -blam!- it generates an alternative route based on different rules. If current routes are generated by rules like 'take the shortest path not deviating from major roads' then the alternate would gen routes based on rules like 'take the shortest path including dirt roads' heh.
Unfortunately, I don't write the directions. I just forward them. I'm a middle man. Don't blame me. (Yes, sometimes they produce longer-in-time routes for me, too. I only wish I could base the directions on MapQuest.)


2) Screensaver Mode
In this mode, when Fullscreen, the screen shuts off but the Bluetooth and cellphone connections stay active, waking up at each announcement popup... to save battery life on longer trips where you don't need yur route for a long time. So the screen's sleeping and waking are determined by the 'Advance Notice Settings.'
You're demoting Maemo Mapper to a screensaver? :(
Actually, your suggestion is a good one - I just won't call it "Screensaver Mode" - "PowerSaver Mode" sounds better. :)

Until then, you can take Maemo Mapper out of full-screen mode to turn off the perpetual keep-the-screen-on behavior (as long as you set the appropriate option in Settings). I'm pretty sure the announcements will cause the screen to come on. I could be wrong - give it a try.


3) Automatic Destination Zooming?Autozoom? More of my time is spent fumbling for the zoom keys as I near my destination than anything, and I've noticed it's putting me at greater risk because my attention is focused on this process. I would like a mode where it automatically zooms in for you as you near your destination... I would be happy to drive-test the correct settings to help get them right, but I am guessing thus: a) at 8 blocks to 6 blocks, Autozoom to zoom level 2. b) at 3 to 5, Autozoom to level 1. Less than 3 blocks, Autozoom to level 0. This feature would improve overall safety, and just feel slick.
There's already a feature request for auto-zooming based on speed. I've also considered an auto-zoom mode such that the nearest of either the last or next waypoints is forced to be visible. I'm lukewarm on both of these ideas, or anything that attempts to automatically control zoom level, but I'll probably experiment with it eventually.


Thanks for the feedback.

[ReinhardE]

Then why do you use the 12-point font theme? :) I haven't gotten around to looking into the popup font size. I don't even know if it's possible to set the font size - it's not in the API so far as I've seen.

hildon_banner_show_information_with_markup() works fine for me. You
wrap the text inside of something like <span size='xx-large'>%s</span>

[hallax]

The waypoint data is independent of the "kilometers/miles" setting. Maemo Mapper displays exactly what is in the GPX file (it doesn't try to convert units). The units used in the GPX file generally depend on the locale of the route source and/or destination (directions in the U.S. use miles; in Europe , kilometers; etc.). The source of directions hasn't changed in some time, so I'd be surprised if you entered the same source/destination and got km in v1.0.2 and miles in v1.1.

I didn´t enter the exact same source / destination, but I´ve only used Mapper in southern Finland. And I´m positive that with 1.0.2 I got directions in kilometers.

Now after several tests I´ve only got miles. The regional settings of my 770 don´t seem to have any effect on this one. But this is probably a feature by Google...



Originally Posted by hallax
2. the auto-update with routes does not seem to work. it did with 1.0.2

Odd - it worked for me in my testing. I'll try again.

I did some additional testing. This bug has something to do with regional settings of my 770. If I use "English / United Kingdom" as my reagion, the auto-update works. But if I use "Suomi (Finland)" it doesn´t work...



You cannot auto-update a loaded route. You can only auto-update using "Download Route..." (i.e. not "Open Route...").

Ok. Could this be a feature? If I download a long route (from Finland to southern Europe for example) it might be nice to save the route. And then just open it every morning in a new location with Auto-update enabled. I´m not sure if this actually would make any difference though. After POI functionality it´s so easy to calculate the route again...



The amount of advance notice scales linearly with your current speed, which should be sufficient to provide sufficient notice in town and on the highway.

Ok, I can live with this. ;-)


- Hallax

[hallax]

There's already a feature request for auto-zooming based on speed. I've also considered an auto-zoom mode such that the nearest of either the last or next waypoints is forced to be visible. I'm lukewarm on both of these ideas, or anything that attempts to automatically control zoom level, but I'll probably experiment with it eventually.

One vote for the current "[#19] Add Feature to Auto-Adjust Zoom Level Based on Speed"!

For me it sounds better than "Auto-Adjust Zoom Level Based on waypoint distance".

- Hallax

[lmf]

Yes, the UTF-8 characters are generated by my GPX page. Firefox understands UTF-8 (as do most browsers). Notepad or Wordpad, however, do not write UTF-8 by default, so if you copy from a UTF-8-understanding browser into a UTF-8-misunderstanding text editor, you will inadvertently be converting the UTF-8 characters into the "latin" character set, aka iso-8859-1, rendering the file invalid XML and unreadable by Maemo Mapper.

"Save as..." in my also-mozilla-based browser saves the XML, not the form page, so that must be a peculiarity of Firefox, so maybe you can try with IE or Opera.

If not: I don't use Windows much, so I haven't used any UTF-8-native text editors in it, but a simple google search led me to Notepad2 (http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html) - try it and let me know if you still have problems. If so, message me and attach the file that Notepad2 created (yes, I cleaned out my ITT message box, so messaging me works again).

Sorry for the inconvenience. :-/

Finnally... It worked...
Copy&Paste form Firefox(XP)... into notepad2... then save to xml file... and put that in the mmc card...
(Note, I had so manually select Encoding=UTF-8; and Line Endings=LF)


just a few sugestions...

->When the n770 is in offline mode, if "enable gps" is on, the program should disable offline mode... or at least ask to do so... otherwise, the program will scan forever... and never find the gps...
(I always forget this... and wonder why the gps is not found...)

->also, by double tapping the screen, or when switching on "enable gps", by default the program should switch to auto lat/long centering...


->sometimes, a there's a problem with some tiles... which have the wrong zoom level (dont't know how that happens). It would be nice to have an option to "delete an area", or at least "download refresh" the area on screen (overwriting the previous tiles).
I had a problem like thins with a few tiles in zoom10, so the only solution was to delete this folder, and download it again...

thanks for the support. :)

[lmf]

...
I did some additional testing. This bug has something to do with regional settings of my 770. If I use "English / United Kingdom" as my reagion, the auto-update works. But if I use "Suomi (Finland)" it doesn´t work...



Ok. Could this be a feature? If I download a long route (from Finland to southern Europe for example) it might be nice to save the route. And then just open it every morning in a new location with Auto-update enabled. I´m not sure if this actually would make any difference though. After POI functionality it´s so easy to calculate the route again...



Ok, I can live with this. ;-)


- Hallax

It would be nice to define a set of POI, and then automate the download all possible routes between those points...

ps: someone posted a photo of maemomapper with a few POI with icons (trafic lights and McD$). can this be done? how?

[uNtouched]

You guys might wanna check this one out too...it's free. http://terraserver.microsoft.com/

[gnuite]

->When the n770 is in offline mode, if "enable gps" is on, the program should disable offline mode... or at least ask to do so... otherwise, the program will scan forever... and never find the gps...
(I always forget this... and wonder why the gps is not found...)
Good idea. Maemo Mapper currently detects when the cover is put on, turning off the scanning when that occurs. It should also turn off scanning when Offline mode is enabled. I never use Offline mode, so I had never thought about it.


->also, by double tapping the screen, or when switching on "enable gps", by default the program should switch to auto lat/long centering...
The "Enter" button (center of the D-Pad) does this. When you are already auto-centered, it toggles between the two auto-center modes. When you are not auto-centered (because you panned), it enables your most recent auto-center mode.


->sometimes, a there's a problem with some tiles... which have the wrong zoom level (dont't know how that happens). It would be nice to have an option to "delete an area", or at least "download refresh" the area on screen (overwriting the previous tiles).
See Feature Request Tracker Item #25 (https://garage.maemo.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=25&group_id=29&atid=188).

[gnuite]

It would be nice to define a set of POI, and then automate the download all possible routes between those points...
Good idea. I'll make this possible in the "Download Along Route" functionality when POI's come.

[armin]

http://armin-warda.de/maemo-mapper-1.0.1-aw-0.4_armel.deb contains an option to disable the default behaviour 'Maemo-Mapper disconnects from GPS when the device cover is closed'. Thus it allows you to operate Maemo-Mapper with a closed device cover, which protects the touchscreen. (Like maemo-mapper-1.0.1-aw-0.3_armel.deb, it also supports two sets of URI/Map parameters, and easy toggling these.)

I think the option to perform GPS tracking with closed device cover is an important feature for outdoor activities with Maemo-Mapper & GPS, such as hiking, running, cycling,..

(NOTE: you must also disable the corresponding device's global setting: 'Tools' -> 'Control Panel' -> Connectivity' -> 'Disconnect when cover on device').

It would be really great if gnuite could add such a feature into his Maemo-Mapper mainline, which is already at v1.1.0, while my modification is still based on v1.0.1 (this has no timestamps in gpx-files).

http://maemo.org/pipermail/maemo-users/2006-July/001588.html

[gnuite]

I think the option to perform GPS tracking with closed device cover is an important feature for outdoor activities with Maemo-Mapper & GPS, such as hiking, running, cycling,..
Maemo Mapper is not a tracking program. It is a display program. Since Maemo Mapper can perform no useful display functionality when the cover is on, it turns off all of its functionality in order to save battery power.

[Ceklund]

Today on my route I had to make more than 1 delivery at once and decided to try to add a route to my existing 1st route. I discovered hat while it was possible (a big plus), it was too cumbersome at this stage to use (a big negative)... cancelling ea other out, heh. To add a route on top of your current route, you have to go into 'Route>Download' and copy the lat/long from the clipboard. It was at this point I found my first bug So.... bug report.... 'Waypoint>Copy lat/long to Clipboard' returns answer 'latitude:46.0000000'... it actually says 'latitude' and does not have longitude at all. To enter a lat/long into your text field to obtain a route, it takes the '46.000000, -121.0000000' format with no words etc, so the copy feature of press-and-hold should load the lat/long this way for us, too, heh.

Enhancement:
Please add, in the 'Route>Download' popup window, a button to click that says 'Add Dest' for Add Destination. Clicking this pops up another window with one text window field, and two buttons, ok and cancel. If we put in our address and hit ok, the route appends to the end of the last route generated automatically, allowing us to quickly load any number of destinations before we ever get on the road. Of course, now that we have a bunch of green lines on the map crisscrossing each other, you may have to make all but the CURRENT route yet another color like grey or yellow. And as we arrive at one destination and begin our track to the next destination on our multi-route setup, the 2nd route then becomes the new green one.

Of course, not all GPS' provide perfect results, so if there is a feaure to have multi-routes that change colors as you enter/exit each stage of your multi-route setup, then we'd need a 'Force Arrival of Current Route' button somewhere to tell Maemo Mapper that 'hey, my GPS is stupid cause we ARE there now, so go ahead and start the next segment of the route... changing segment colors, etc...'

Aaaargh, I've added too much to your plate.... not my intention. I'd just like a clean way to add multiple routes into one huge setup while yet NOT adding confusion. I can force MM to do this, it just takes me 5 minutes, and I can't be sitting in my car that long... if you can use the idea, great, otherwise I understand.

Later.

[movez]

Hi, I just tried maemo mapper, and it really works well.

I've just noticed a problem with the gpx site at http://gnuite.com:8080/cgi-bin/gpx.cgi.

If I use as a source or destination a location in the northeastern italy, it doesn't work: try for example to get the file from roma to bilbao and it works, try from roma to venezia and it doesn't work. The same with other cities

[gnuite]

bug report.... 'Waypoint>Copy lat/long to Clipboard' returns answer 'latitude:46.0000000'... it actually says 'latitude' and does not have longitude at all. To enter a lat/long into your text field to obtain a route, it takes the '46.000000, -121.0000000' format with no words etc, so the copy feature of press-and-hold should load the lat/long this way for us, too, heh.
Yes; this has been fixed, but hasn't been checked into SVN yet.


Enhancement:
Please add, in the 'Route>Download' popup window, a button to click that says 'Add Dest' for Add Destination. Clicking this pops up another window with one text window field, and two buttons, ok and cancel. If we put in our address and hit ok, the route appends to the end of the last route generated automatically, allowing us to quickly load any number of destinations before we ever get on the road. Of course, now that we have a bunch of green lines on the map crisscrossing each other, you may have to make all but the CURRENT route yet another color like grey or yellow. And as we arrive at one destination and begin our track to the next destination on our multi-route setup, the 2nd route then becomes the new green one.
It already works this way. Opening (or downloading a route without auto-update) appends the route to the end of your existing route. You have to "Clear Route" first in order to replace a route.

Downloading a route with auto-update replaces your current route because the auto-update must update from your current location to a single location (the entered destination), so it doesn't make sense to append an auto-route to the end of another route.

[gnuite]

Hi, I just tried maemo mapper, and it really works well.

I've just noticed a problem with the gpx site at http://gnuite.com:8080/cgi-bin/gpx.cgi.

If I use as a source or destination a location in the northeastern italy, it doesn't work: try for example to get the file from roma to bilbao and it works, try from roma to venezia and it doesn't work. The same with other cities
The GPX Driving Directions site only works with directions that work in Google Maps. If the given source and destination do not work with Google Maps, then they will not work in the GPX Driving Directions site. In your case, "roma italy" to "balbao spain" works in Google Maps, but "roma italy" to "venezia italy" does not. I don't know why the former works in Google Maps but the latter doesn't - perhaps they don't have enough road data.

[Ceklund]

It already works this way.

Downloading a route with auto-update replaces your current route because the auto-update must update from your current location to a single location (the entered destination), so it doesn't make sense to append an auto-route to the end of another route.

I apologize for not being clear enough about what I'm after, heheh, but I am not asking for the functionality because I discovered last night that you programmed it that way already.... I was hoping (when your plate isn't so full with the other stuff) that you would make a way to enter the multiple routes more streamlined for faster data entry. I am happy to feedback the idea to save you the hassle. It could go like this....

Route>Download.... popup window. Route popup window has these features, as discussed from previous threads plus this one:

1) Use GPS location checkbox (in its current pos)
2) Auto Update checkbox (in its current pos)
3) Origin and Dest text box (in cur pos)
New:
4) Swap button (swap Origin fields with Dest by clicking once)
5) Clear Fields button. (Data in Origin and Dest fields should remain populated until cleared by user in order to expediate item #4 from this list.
6) 'Grab Dest' button. This could be the defacto multiple route feature, so it would be to where we append our routes. (This button grabs the Destination coords from the previous route added by user but puts it in Origin field automatically because we're appending another route now, so auto-update feature greys out to prevent being checked. Destination field clears to make room for the next destination to be typed in.)

This feature would just make it very fast to load multiple routes.

And... I'm still gunning for all non-current the routes being another color until you get to them, so you need to number each route internally as the user adds thrm via the Grab Dest button, etc...

Examples of full concept: Say I'm taking the family on a vacation. Disneyland, Six Flaggs, and Universal. I load all three via 'Grab Dest' one at a time and set off. Disneyland is green, the other two are yellow on my route. I get to Disney, and head toward Six Flaggs, Disney turns off, my new route Six Flaggs turns green, Universal is still yellow. Once we get to Six Flaggs, it turns off and now turns our Universal route green. This coloring system also prevents confusion when lines cross on multi routes ... because only the current route will be green. (I say green and yellow here only to clarify my idea, each color can be whatever each user defined in their own Colors setting.)

Or say I type in an addy to a party. After six hours of hilarity, it's time to go, but it's dark and I can't remember the way out. I bring MM up from the desktop and go into Route>Download and click Swap, and hit ok. Voila! The way out!

Once this multi-route functionality is added (IF) we might then ask for a way to reorganize our routes to save gas. Say we have 8 places on our route, and 3 of them nearly overlap by a few blocks.... could we move routes around to put those three together 1...2....3.... in order? We often times can't tell how close deliveries will be until after we've added in all of our address in MM and then pan around the map, but a lot of green lines makes it confusing. We might at this point need a way to visualize all the Destinations more easily by turning off the green lines and just have a flashing dot where your destinations are to see which ones are close in order reorganize them? In this 'Destination Visualization' mode, each Dest has the number floating over it that you entered it as. If we click on that Destation's flashing icon, a window pops up with 16 buttons numbered 1 through 16 that reads "Swap With Which Item #?' You then pick something else. We could do all of our reorgs, and then exit that mode to reenable MM's regular use. Just a thought....

I hope I am helpful here and not an irritant, hehehe. Yours truly,

ceklund

[gnuite]

Route>Download.... popup window. Route popup window has these features, as discussed from previous threads plus this one:

1) Use GPS location checkbox (in its current pos)
2) Auto Update checkbox (in its current pos)
3) Origin and Dest text box (in cur pos)
New:
4) Swap button (swap Origin fields with Dest by clicking once)
5) Clear Fields button. (Data in Origin and Dest fields should remain populated until cleared by user in order to expediate item #4 from this list.
6) 'Grab Dest' button. This could be the defacto multiple route feature, so it would be to where we append our routes. (This button grabs the Destination coords from the previous route added by user but puts it in Origin field automatically because we're appending another route now, so auto-update feature greys out to prevent being checked. Destination field clears to make room for the next destination to be typed in.)
Tell you what. I'll add to the "Download Route..." dialog box a "Use End of Current Route" checkbox right below the "Use GPS Location". I think that should be sufficient to handle your use case. I don't want to turn Maemo Mapper into a bloated "GPX Route Editor" - that's not what it's for.

I've already mentioned that I would add a swap button. A clear button may also be useful.

As for the different colors, I'd rather not introduce another color for routes. If you prefer not to see so many routes at once, then just save them as different GPX files and load them separately.

[bmidgley]

I only get *parts* of the pacific to show up and only from zoom 0-10. Everything else is just black screen.

Using mm 1.1, 2006 OS
uri is
http://kh.google.com/kh?n=404&v=6&t=%s

Ideas?

[bradb]

Not until GPSD is ported to the 2006 OS (is it?)

FWIW, I've put a port of gpsd 2.33 on the 2006 application catalog today. There are no gui clients, and cgps seems broken, but 'gpspipe' works (and, of course, so does gpsd).

DBUS support is compiled in but untested.

Brad.

[bmidgley]

Another nice thing about using gpsd is we can pretty easily set up the 770 to be a bluetooth gps repeater for those times you want to tinker or compare the 770 head-to-head with another pda.

[cjackiewicz]

First: thanks Gnuite, good work.

Because I needed, I implemented poi for maemo-mapper. All poi is stored in sqlite database, code is very ugly, but works for me. See screenshot.

http://eko.one.pl/index.php?page=Nokia770_software#POI%20for%20maemo-mapper

Cezary.

[zascan]

[#10] Implement GPX Driving Directions Internally
Does it mean that won´t be necessary to be connected to Internet in order that maemo mapper shows the route? Is that possible?

[gnuite]

[#10] Implement GPX Driving Directions Internally
Does it mean that won´t be necessary to be connected to Internet in order that maemo mapper shows the route? Is that possible?
No, you will still need access to the internet. It just means that you won't have to go through http://gnuite.com:8080/cgi-bin/gpx.cgi in order to get directions (which is what the code does now). This is good for people behind firewalls that don't allow them to access websites at port 8080. It should also increase performance slightly, at the slight cost of added code in memory.

[lbattraw]

Very nice! This is important to have in a GPS program and I'm excited to try some points with it. Do you have any plans to allow creation/editing of POI on the 770? This would be ideal for marking places you'd like to return to or just manually entering POI on the fly.

Larry

First: thanks Gnuite, good work.

Because I needed, I implemented poi for maemo-mapper. All poi is stored in sqlite database, code is very ugly, but works for me. See screenshot.

http://eko.one.pl/index.php?page=Nokia770_software#POI%20for%20maemo-mapper

Cezary.

[cjackiewicz]

Do you have any plans to allow creation/editing of POI on the 770?

Creating poi on n770? Why not, I will do that.

UPDATE: need some code clean-up, but working.

[penguinbait]

It looks like gpsd has been released for 2006, any idea when it will be available for use in maemo-mapper? I think you said this would solve my NMEA output problem?

[9a6or]

It seems that flite (voice announcement of waypoints) will be delayed, see the latest blog entry at http://moimart.org/ :(

[lbattraw]

Creating poi on n770? Why not, I will do that.

UPDATE: need some code clean-up, but working.

Any chance of a diff or binary?

Thanks!
Larry

[gnuite]

It seems that flite (voice announcement of waypoints) will be delayed, see the latest blog entry at http://moimart.org/ :(
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[9a6or]

gnuite, a more noticeable announcement of waypoints is badly needed. The ding is a bit too faint but acceptable. Flite is delayed. The textbox displaying the announcement is not easy/safe to read in a moving car. Someone above seemed to have a way to icrease font size, any chance of implementing this? I'm travelling to Italy next week, all maps/routes are ready to go...

[cjackiewicz]

Any chance of a diff or binary?

Thanks!
Larry

Today afternoon, on my website.

Cezary

[hallax]

hi,

Nice job Cezary, good to have new developers working on mapper!

I belive POI will be very important part of future Mapper. And as quite integrated core functionality (compared to for example enabling tracking with cover closed), IMHO it should be developed like gnuite has planned it. All this to enable all the planned funtionality and not just presenting poi data on map.

Maybe you could join the mapper development team?

just my 2 cents.

- hallax

[ElGatoFlojo]

So, I've been using the 2006 OS and the updates to mapper and I've been having a problem. When I go to download a route, I start typing and it pulls up 'previous' selections. Like if I type in a '1' it will display the last address I used that had a '1' in it. How-ever, I'm unable to click, stab or do anything to select the address that appears. I have to type the whole thing in by hand. Am I missing something obvious?

I'm using the version from the packages that get updated automatically, should I should have the latest version.

btw, I'm also driving to Oregon soon and will be taking it all the way there and back :-D

[MischaMolhoek]

hi all,

last week i downloaded a python script for downloading maps of google.
it was a bit buggy , so a made it a bit more robust. enjoy

ps: use at your own risk ;)

call example: (get the netherlands zoom level 3)

./getmaps -t 53.820112 -l 3.087158 -b 50.233152 -r 7.69043 -z 3

---->8----->8------

see attachment

[penguinbait]

So, I've been using the 2006 OS and the updates to mapper and I've been having a problem. When I go to download a route, I start typing and it pulls up 'previous' selections. Like if I type in a '1' it will display the last address I used that had a '1' in it. How-ever, I'm unable to click, stab or do anything to select the address that appears. I have to type the whole thing in by hand. Am I missing something obvious?

I'm using the version from the packages that get updated automatically, should I should have the latest version.

btw, I'm also driving to Oregon soon and will be taking it all the way there and back :-D


I had noticed the same problem, but if you user your 770 direction pad and push up or down you can see which one it selects and use the button in the middle of the direction pad to make the selection. It can be hard to tell which one is selected, especially if there are only two. It would be nice to see a color on the selected address, but it does work.

[mvwood]

Hi all,

can somebody let me know how i can download maps for the netherlands?

regards...

[ioan]

can somebody let me know how i can download maps for the netherlands?


you can try http://www.avraam.org/winmapper.htm

[gnuite]

So, I've been using the 2006 OS and the updates to mapper and I've been having a problem. When I go to download a route, I start typing and it pulls up 'previous' selections. Like if I type in a '1' it will display the last address I used that had a '1' in it. How-ever, I'm unable to click, stab or do anything to select the address that appears. I have to type the whole thing in by hand. Am I missing something obvious?
Yeah, unfortunately this appears to be the behavior of Maemo for autocompletes. As has been noted, you can't use the stylus to select one of the autocomplete suggestions - you have to use the DPad. And it can be difficult to see which one is actually selected if there are only two suggestions...

I hope the Maemo developers work on usable autocomplete.

[heikki770]

I am travelling in europe with Mapper and everythng has been great, but today google stopped to give out waypoints! Route is still coming Ok (thank god for that), but no waypoints. I drowe 4 times to wrong direction today (as many as whole week before that)! Can anybody find reason and cure for this?

[ReinhardE]

I am travelling in europe with Mapper and everythng has been great, but today google stopped to give out waypoints! Route is still coming Ok (thank god for that), but no waypoints. I drowe 4 times to wrong direction today (as many as whole week before that)! Can anybody find reason and cure for this?

Looks like Google is changing the format frequently.
It would be nice, if maemo-mapper could support importing alternatives like
http://www.elsewhere.org/journal/gmaptogpx
(they seem to be up to date)

[gnuite]

Looks like Google is changing the format frequently.
It would be nice, if maemo-mapper could support importing alternatives like
http://www.elsewhere.org/journal/gmaptogpx
(they seem to be up to date)
Can you post an example GPX file produced by that software so that I can try to fix Maemo Mapper?

[hallgreng]

It may be that I am selectively blind, but is there any way to CREATE a waypoint in maemo-mapper without use of a GPX file or GPS?
I have cached map data that I will be using on a trip, and I would like to be able to mark locations with small decriptions on it. Is this possible already, or am I requesting a feature?

[ReinhardE]

Can you post an example GPX file produced by that software so that I can try to fix Maemo Mapper?

It's only a bookmarklet, so installation should be no issue for firefox.

Format differences:
Two files can be created: one for the route (in track format) and one for directions (with direction descriptions as <cmt> instead of <desc>)
in waypoint, route or track format.

[lbattraw]

I believe this is possible with the patched version done by cjackiewicz, on this page:
http://eko.one.pl/index.php?page=Nokia770_software#POI%20for%20maemo-mapper

The feature you're looking for is POI-- Points of Interest. With this version it's possible although you can't edit/remove them currently. Make sure you add at least one point of interest manually (As shown on the web page) or it will crash when you try adding one in Maemo Mapper.

Larry


It may be that I am selectively blind, but is there any way to CREATE a waypoint in maemo-mapper without use of a GPX file or GPS?
I have cached map data that I will be using on a trip, and I would like to be able to mark locations with small decriptions on it. Is this possible already, or am I requesting a feature?

[Ceklund]

Gnuite,

I have the newest version of Maemo Mapper and everything was working fine 2 days ago, but starting today the announcement features no longer work at all. There is no chime as I approach waypoints like it used to, and the text popups no longer actually pop up!

The green route line is still there and my blue-dot position is shown, but that's it. I've checked all the settings a dozen times... they haven't changed, but somehow these features stopped working.

The only thing I diid was install the Descent II game (which I can't play because they provided no levels on their site like they said they did), and I installed xournal and Ogg Vorbis. Can installing apps break current features inside MM? I so, that sucks.... I'll uninstall them. YOUR app takes top priority.

Later.

[gnuite]

Gnuite,

I have the newest version of Maemo Mapper and everything was working fine 2 days ago, but starting today the announcement features no longer work at all. There is no chime as I approach waypoints like it used to, and the text popups no longer actually pop up!

The green route line is still there and my blue-dot position is shown, but that's it. I've checked all the settings a dozen times... they haven't changed, but somehow these features stopped working.
Were the green dots (along the green line) still there? If not, then the waypoints aren't being generated.

I just tested the GPX Directions web page, and no waypoints are being generated. As was suggested earlier, it looks like Google Maps has changed their output format. I'll have to fix GPX Directions to work with the new format. Fortunately, this doesn't require a change to Maemo Mapper.

[gnuite]

I just tested the GPX Directions web page, and no waypoints are being generated. As was suggested earlier, it looks like Google Maps has changed their output format. I'll have to fix GPX Directions to work with the new format. Fortunately, this doesn't require a change to Maemo Mapper.
I've fixed the GPX Driving Directions web site to support the "new" Google Maps output. Waypoints should be back - give it a shot and let me know if any particular pairs of sources/destinations don't work.

[Ceklund]

Hmmmm.... now, 50% of the time when typing in the address and hitting OK to connect to the GPX service, it suddenly drops my cellphone connection and when I hit YES to trying to reestablish the connection, it just won't connect and have to reboot. MM is becoming harder to use as the bugs crawl up out of their hiding holes. Let's squash'em! I wish I could help, but I'm not a programmer, but feedback can help, too.

Later....

PS: The chime and popups are back now... THANKS! You're quick! :)

[hallax]

Gnuite, any schedule for new Mapper version with new features / bug fixes?

;-)

- Hallax

[gnuite]

Gnuite, any schedule for new Mapper version with new features / bug fixes?
Not a concrete schedule, no. I've been working 70 hours a week on my "real" job, so I've had very little time of late, but that ends in a few weeks, after which I'll have more time for Maemo Mapper.

I'd say the next release is out no later than a month or so from now. Critical bugs may prompt a more immediate bugfix release, but I don't know of any bugs that critical yet (maybe #50 - I haven't investigated it yet). Until then, cjackiewicz's patch works pretty well for POI.

[lucaluca2]

Hi,
Festival Lite (flite) for maemo mapper 1.1 2006OS??
gps altitudine in maemo mapper?
thanks from italy

[cjackiewicz]

Make sure you add at least one point of interest manually (As shown on the web page) or it will crash when you try adding one in Maemo Mapper.


Crash? When? Without any poi in database?

UPDATE: yes, stupid error. I fix this problem.

[armin]

Here is a modified version of John Costigan's Maemo-Mapper v1.1 with a second set of URI/Cache, e.g. for easy switching between street maps and satellite images. The ESC-hardware-key now toggles the URI/Cache settings, while in the original version it toggles show/hide tracks.

The modified version also has the option to operate with closed device cover: you can disable the default behaviour to disconnect the bluetooth GPS connection when the cover is closed, if you unset 'Tools' -> 'Control Panel' -> Connectivity' -> 'Disconnect when cover on device' (Gconf-Key /system/osso/connectivity/IAP/disconnect_on_cover).

John's Maemo-Mapper focuses on in-car navigation. My modifications are useful for non-car navigation, e.g. while cycling, hiking, walking, running: satellite images are sometimes (but not always ;-) more useful than street maps for off-road navigation, operation with closed device cover is useful if you temporarily store the device in a pocket, but still want to record your track.

Before I already applied these modifications to version 1.0.1, now I ported my modifications to the current version 1.1.

Modified package:
http://armin-warda.de/maemo-mapper_1.1-aw-4_armel.deb

Source patches:
http://armin-warda.de/maemo-mapper-1.1-aw-1.patch
http://armin-warda.de/maemo-mapper-1.1-aw-2.patch
http://armin-warda.de/maemo-mapper-1.1-aw-3.patch
http://armin-warda.de/maemo-mapper-1.1-aw-4.patch

Modified source:
http://armin-warda.de/maemo-mapper-1.1-aw-4.c

[Ceklund]

MM won't connect to GPX service for last two hours. Help!

I'm at work and can't do my job w/o MM!

What's up?

[ElGatoFlojo]

Same here, I can't download routes or anything. And I haven't had way points for awhile now! Add to all of that, I'm on a trip right now and I was actually relying pretty heavily on the MM!

[gnuite]

Yeah, sorry, I'm looking into it. It was working the other day, so Google must have changed something again...

[khay0911]

I don't know if this is related to the same problem everyone else is having or just an error configuring MM on my part. I'm having the same problem as Westey was having where the screen is completely black except for the blue dot in the center. I was able to find the uri to enter and it appears to download the maps, but still just a black screen.

[ReinhardE]

Quite some time ago there was a question concerning maemo-mapper and hybrid images. Looks like there is no major obstacle displaying them - only some more hacking and having multiple mapping directories as precondition.

The following patch should be applied after armin's patches. With one directory for google earth and the other with uri:
http://mt.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2t.19&x=%d&y=%d&zoom=%d
you get the effects of the screenshot, when switching directories.

Currently it's only proof of concept and not really useful - more work has to be done.

[neilcoburn]

I have the same problem - just a black screen with a dot. Maemo Mapper says 'establishing GPS fix' but nothing happens. can anyone help please?

[bac522]

Since there's a problem connecting to the GPX server, anyway to generate routes using an external app and load them in maemo mapper? I've done a search in the forum, but didn't really find anything conclusive.

[frethop]

I use "GMapToGPX", on http://www.elsewhere.org/journal/gmaptogpx. This page will describe access to some Javascript that will take Google Map directions and generate GPX from them. You generate the directions with Google Maps, then pull up the Javascript, and it generates the GPX. There is a "Track" button that generates the track data that Maemo Mapper needs.

I generate the file on a PC and copy the file to the 770.

It's great and works well so far. I just discovered it.

-F

[frethop]

Another site where you can draw your own routes onto Google Maps is Marengo Route Planner (http://www.marengo-ltd.com/map/). Here, you lay your own waypoints and the Javascript thing will generate the GPX.

Unfortunately, you have to change "rte" to "trk" and insert a "<trkseg>" tag pair by hand. However, a script can take care of that (I have not written it...yet).

-F

[thigh bone]

and yet another option is to convert that same google maps javascript that frethop describes using gpsbabel:

http://www.gpsbabel.org/htmldoc-1.3.0/fmt_google.html

[fredoll]

GpsBabel would be a nice start for incorporating the functionality directly into Maemo Mapper.
I compiled it on maemo SDK without any problem but when executing it, it gives me an error XML Reader:PArse : not well formed (invalid token).
So I suppose we're at the same point than gnuite (may be gnuite's site uses gpsbabel ?)
O Fred

[gnuite]

The GPX Driving Directions web service (http://www.gnuite.com/cgi-bin/gpx.cgi) is back online and working with the latest output from Google Maps.

No, Maemo Mapper doesn't use gpsbabel, but it looks like we use similar techniques.

[fpp]

Great, thanks gnuite !

[cjackiewicz]

Hi,
my next patch: GPS Info, display some textual GPS information (lat/lon, speed, satellites info, gps time (with local time zone). Details: http://eko.one.pl/index.php?page=Nokia770_software#GPS%20Info%20for% 20maemo-mapper. See screenshot.

[avdigital]

Hi all,

If you experience download troubles of the google maps, you can use this new link:

http://mt0.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.17&x=%d&y=%d%zoom=%d

The old link(s) posted on this forum did't work (for me) any more.

[BanditRider]

And I've has success using this uri for satellite maps:

http://kh.google.com/kh?v=3&t=%s

[zascan]

Hi,
my next patch: GPS Info, display some textual GPS information (lat/lon, speed, satellites info, gps time (with local time zone). Details: http://eko.one.pl/index.php?page=Nokia770_software#GPS%20Info%20for% 20maemo-mapper. See screenshot.
I've downloaded your script,and it works fine. Would be possible to see towards what direction we go?
Thnks for you work.
Greetings.

[richardg1952]

Just purchased a Bluetooth GPS Receiver GPT-700. From settings selecting scan finds the device and displays it's MAC address. After selecting OK and enabling GPS, a popup shows searching for GPS, then it switches to Establishing GPS fix where it stays...forever. Is there something I'm missing in the setup?

[ReinhardE]

Is there something I'm missing in the setup?
You need enough free sky for GPS to work. It doesn't work under a bridge, under water, inside your home ...

[richardg1952]

You need enough free sky for GPS to work. It doesn't work under a bridge, under water, inside your home ...

I just tried that, walking outside under open sky, no tall buildings, clear day. The status bar an Establishing GPS fix never progresses past the halfway point. I get the same result indoors.

[richardg1952]

What is the format for address entry for http://www.gnuite.com/cgi-bin/way.txt? For example, if I want to map way points between:

8905 SW Nimbus Drive, Beaverton, OR 97008
12286 SW Scholls Ferry Rd, Tigard, OR 97223

Everything I try gives:
Error: An error occurred while attempting to retrieve the driving directions - are the source and destination valid?

Thanks.

[ReinhardE]

8905 SW Nimbus Drive, Beaverton, OR 97008
12286 SW Scholls Ferry Rd, Tigard, OR 97223
May be 'Nimbus Ave' works.

The routes are derived from google maps, so you can try out directions there. Whenever google maps asks for further specification, you simply get an error with maemo-mapper.

[kabtoffe]

What is the format for address entry for http://www.gnuite.com/cgi-bin/way.txt? For example, if I want to map way points between:

8905 SW Nimbus Drive, Beaverton, OR 97008
12286 SW Scholls Ferry Rd, Tigard, OR 97223

Everything I try gives:
Error: An error occurred while attempting to retrieve the driving directions - are the source and destination valid?

Thanks.

Personally I use Google Earth to get the coordinates of the places and input them. Google doesn't know anything about adresses in Finland.

[gnuite]

I just tried that, walking outside under open sky, no tall buildings, clear day. The status bar an Establishing GPS fix never progresses past the halfway point. I get the same result indoors.
The "progress bar" is a rough indication of the signal strength that you currently have. A full bar means you have plenty of signal. A half-bar means you may or may not have enough signal to acquire a fix (depending on your receiver). If it doesn't make it past the "Establishing GPS fix" progress bar, though, then your receiver is not indicating to Maemo Mapper that it has a valid fix. It may still provide lat/lon information (and Maemo Mapper will still use it), but it in that case it may be wildly off (so most receivers don't even bother guessing).

If you can never get a fix regardless of where you go, I would return the receiver and look for one with better sensitivity.

[gnuite]

What is the format for address entry for http://www.gnuite.com/cgi-bin/way.txt? For example, if I want to map way points between:

8905 SW Nimbus Drive, Beaverton, OR 97008
12286 SW Scholls Ferry Rd, Tigard, OR 97223

Everything I try gives:
Error: An error occurred while attempting to retrieve the driving directions - are the source and destination valid?
ReinhardE is right - when in doubt, enter the address(es) in http://maps.google.com/ and it should tell you what (if anything) is wrong with the address.

[lbattraw]

Very nice!! Great work, glad to see more progress on MM.

Larry

Hi,
my next patch: GPS Info, display some textual GPS information (lat/lon, speed, satellites info, gps time (with local time zone). Details: http://eko.one.pl/index.php?page=Nokia770_software#GPS%20Info%20for% 20maemo-mapper. See screenshot.

[chrwei]

just took a 700+ mile round trip and MM worked quite well. biggest issue (and one that annoyed the wife to no end as she had to "fix" it) was that it kept loosing the GPS and only rebootong the n770 would bring it back. I do have "user ALL = NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/hciconfig hci0 reset" in place and running the command in an xterm does not produce an error. in MM when the gps connection is lost and reconnected I get a very generic "error while scanning" message. the GPS seems to work fine otherwise and the time it takes to error seems completely random. first time was after 6 hours of driving, and then it was very frequent (10-20 minutes) until I unpluged power from the GPS and ran it on battery, then it was only every 3-6 hours. it seemed most likely to fail right before a complicated interchange :( . maybe the hci reset isn't enought? could the bluetooth drivers be unloaded and loaded again? and any idea on how to prevent it from needing reset in the first place?

also, trying to "download along route" at zoom level 3 and lower for 700 miles seems to overwhelm it even with swap enabled. ended up just zooming in on the towns I wanted and downloading those manualy for the lower zoom levels.

my only other gripe is that google driving directions are on crack. it would occationaly tell me to go off onto a secondary road when the highway simply S-curved a bit. due to this, the turn-by-turn pop-outs wold not appear without manual intervention. anyone know of a way to export Streets-n-Trips directions, or a GPX compatable service that works as well?

overall, quite the lifesaver! kept me from being completely lost when i decided to avoid the i-80 construction in south Chicago on the way back and jaunt across rural IL and IN from i-65 to i-57 via secondary roads :D (wife hates it when I do this too)

[thigh bone]

just took a 700+ mile round trip and MM worked quite well. biggest issue (and one that annoyed the wife to no end as she had to "fix" it) was that it kept loosing the GPS and only rebootong the n770 would bring it back.

I did the same on a long trip recently! I've since learned from a post on here that switching to offline mode and back also fixes things and is a little easier.. possible without wifely help, even :)

It happens often enough to me that a button on the screen, or a key combination to initiate the reset would be useful.

[chrwei]

ah, I guess going offline could unload the bt driver

[cjackiewicz]

It happens often enough to me that a button on the screen, or a key combination to initiate the reset would be useful.

Good idea. Here you are: http://eko.one.pl/index.php?page=Nokia770_software#Resetting%20BT%20 radio. ESC button now is "BT radio reset" button, of course you still need add line to your /etc/sudoers. Code taken from previous version of maemo-mapper. Please, test it.

[avdigital]

just took a 700+ mile round trip and MM worked quite well. biggest issue (and one that annoyed the wife to no end as she had to "fix" it) was that it kept loosing the GPS and only rebootong the n770 would bring it back. --- long story ---

I had the same issue and also did the 'sudoers' trick but didn't work for me.

After my vacation with the Nokia MeamoMapper System I tried the '/dev/rfcomm' trick and this works perfectly; no loss of BlueTooth GPS connection at all.

I modified my Nokia so it will automaticly connect to the GPS unit when I startup Meamo-mapper. Modify the /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf file. (first gain root access to do this)
Replace the sample values with your own values (MAC address) and set BIND to yes. Then the connection will be established at each reboot.

Now even when I switch off the GPS or get away from my Nokia with it it reconnects immediately when switched on or get nearby again.

Question: Is it so that the BlueTooth hardware is now always active (and searching) and is draining the battery more if I don't use Maemo-mapper?

[chrwei]

Question: Is it so that the BlueTooth hardware is now always active (and searching) and is draining the battery more if I don't use Maemo-mapper?

I'd think it would, though you could switch to offline mode and then it wouldn't (btw, where is this offline option? I odn't think it's just unchecking "enable gps" because that did not "fix" it)

[fpp]

It's in the menu when you press the on/off button once.

[fpp]

Hi all,
If you experience download troubles of the google maps, you can use this new link:
http://mt0.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.17&x=%d&y=%d%zoom=%d
The old link(s) posted on this forum did't work (for me) any more.
Damn. Crap. Blast.
The old URL indeed doesn't work anymore, but this new one doesn't either, at least not here over Europe... and I was going to try out maemo mapper on the holiday trip on thursday... Oh, well.

[gnuite]

I had the same issue and also did the 'sudoers' trick but didn't work for me.

After my vacation with the Nokia MeamoMapper System I tried the '/dev/rfcomm' trick and this works perfectly; no loss of BlueTooth GPS connection at all.

I modified my Nokia so it will automaticly connect to the GPS unit when I startup Meamo-mapper. Modify the /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf file. (first gain root access to do this)
Replace the sample values with your own values (MAC address) and set BIND to yes. Then the connection will be established at each reboot.

Now even when I switch off the GPS or get away from my Nokia with it it reconnects immediately when switched on or get nearby again.

Question: Is it so that the BlueTooth hardware is now always active (and searching) and is draining the battery more if I don't use Maemo-mapper?
By adding the device to BIND, it doesn't actually keep the connection open all the time (and it doesn't try looking for the device, either).

What really happens is that, whenever an application opens the /dev/rfcomm device for reading (or writing, I imagine), the bluetooth driver only then looks for and connect to the device. If the device is not present, I think it returns EOF or a failure condition or something. When the application closes the "file", the connection is dropped.

So, it won't drain your battery unless you leave Maemo Mapper on (without the cover on the display).

Using rfcomm this way may, in fact, be the (unfortunately) ideal solution to the dropout situation, until Nokia (or whoever) fixes the bug that causes the dropouts.

GPSD may also be a potential solution, since I think it uses rfcomm.

[thigh bone]

Damn. Crap. Blast.
The old URL indeed doesn't work anymore, but this new one doesn't either, at least not here over Europe... and I was going to try out maemo mapper on the holiday trip on thursday... Oh, well.

if you use firefox an easy way of getting the current url is to go to google maps and then open "Tools -> Page Info". Under the Media tab you can then see the urls for each square on the map.

Then just remove the number after mt and replace the x, y and zoom values with %d to get:
http://mt.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.17&x=%d&y=%d&zoom=%d

looks like the one in the earlier post had an extra % in there

[lucaluca2]

Hi,
my next patch: GPS Info, display some textual GPS information (lat/lon, speed, satellites info, gps time (with local time zone). Details: http://eko.one.pl/index.php?page=No... 20maemo-mapper. See screenshot.


information the altitudine?
hi

[avdigital]

By adding the device to BIND, it doesn't actually keep the connection open all the time (and it doesn't try looking for the device, either).

....

So, it won't drain your battery unless you leave Maemo Mapper on (without the cover on the display).

Using rfcomm this way may, in fact, be the (unfortunately) ideal solution to the dropout situation, until Nokia (or whoever) fixes the bug that causes the dropouts.

....



Ok, no worries then! Great, keep up the good work! :)

[avdigital]

Damn. Crap. Blast.
The old URL indeed doesn't work anymore, but this new one doesn't either, at least not here over Europe... and I was going to try out maemo mapper on the holiday trip on thursday... Oh, well.

Strange, it works for me (in Europe)...

[cjackiewicz]

information the altitudine?
hi
Possible to show. But maybe in another window ("gps details" etc.)

[fpp]

if you use firefox an easy way of getting the current url is to go to google maps and then open "Tools -> Page Info". Under the Media tab you can then see the urls for each square on the map.

Then just remove the number after mt and replace the x, y and zoom values with %d to get:
http://mt.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.17&x=%d&y=%d&zoom=%d

looks like the one in the earlier post had an extra % in there
Thanks a lot for spotting it, that was the problem. Phew :-)

[avdigital]

Strange, it works for me (in Europe)...

Sorry, the link I did post was indeed wrong. I used the good one on my Nokia. Thightbone link is correct.

[fpp]

Well you had me in a bind for a while there, but now all is well again :-)

[ReinhardE]

It should be possible now to select a font size for the announcement popup.

[fpp]

OT aside - sorry if it's been asked before, but what is that red icon up in the toolbar in your screenshots ?

[gnuite]

OT aside - sorry if it's been asked before, but what is that red icon up in the toolbar in your screenshots ?
That's the Google Talk presence indicator, which represents your online/offline/away status. I think you need to have a Google Account set up in the Nokia 770 in order to use it. Red with a slash means "Offline"; solid green means "Online".

[fpp]

Thanks ! I've never used GTalk (or Gizmo), just waiting for Taioca to support plain SIP, so I'd never seen it...

[bac522]

Not sure where to put suggest on improving Maemo Mapper but I used it the other day and loved the thing. What would be a cool feature is dynamic map rotation so that the direction you are heading always comes from the top down, that way when a waypoint comes up you quickly know whether it's a left or right turn. Sure the banners pop-up but I don't like taking my eyes off the road for too long even to read them. Of course flite might eliminate the need for this feature, but that isn't available for 2006 OS yet.

[gnuite]

Not sure where to put suggest on improving Maemo Mapper but I used it the other day and loved the thing. What would be a cool feature is dynamic map rotation so that the direction you are heading always comes from the top down, that way when a waypoint comes up you quickly know whether it's a left or right turn. Sure the banners pop-up but I don't like taking my eyes off the road for too long even to read them. Of course flite might eliminate the need for this feature, but that isn't available for 2006 OS yet.
See Feature Request Track Item #20 (https://garage.maemo.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=20&group_id=29&atid=188) both for the feature request corresponding to your suggestion and as an example of how/where to submit feature requests.

[mvwood]

Hi

I have a problem with the maemo mapper and the bluetooth gps.
the problem i encounter are after say 30 sec. is that it looks like the connection is stil running but it is not. the strange thing is when i close the cover and op it agian then the bt reconnects again for about a min or 2 and then agian it freezes.

I installed the latest versions of:

Maemo Mapper v1.1
Maemo Bluetooth Plugin version 0.5.0,

and use a Oasis Media Bluetooth GPS Receiver its the same as the ADAPT AD-300 Bluetooth GPS.

any one got an idea ? how to solve this problem...

thanks

mark

[chrwei]

did you add the hci reset line to sudoers?

[bac522]

See Feature Request Track Item #20 (https://garage.maemo.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=20&group_id=29&atid=188) both for the feature request corresponding to your suggestion and as an example of how/where to submit feature requests.

Thank you.

[tdmajic]

is there an option on maemo mapper to see how miles the trip is & also an option 2 change the route than the one supplied? thankx

[gnuite]

is there an option on maemo mapper to see how miles the trip is & also an option 2 change the route than the one supplied? thankx
There is not yet a feature to show how many miles are left in the route.

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking in your second question. To load a new route, use the "Route -> Clear" menu item, then "Route -> Open..." or "Router -> Download..." to load a new route.

[tdmajic]

On most mapping programs I use i.e. microsoft streets and trips, you can change the route by selecting either shortest, no tolls, quickest and so forth. After playing w/ the maemo mapper for a awhile I figured out it doen't offer those options yet. Even with out them (options) it still will be an invaluable tool for as go through cities around the country!! Thankx to the developers for putting the time in to make small minor miracles like these happen. :D

[gnuite]

On most mapping programs I use i.e. microsoft streets and trips, you can change the route by selecting either shortest, no tolls, quickest and so forth. After playing w/ the maemo mapper for a awhile I figured out it doen't offer those options yet. Even with out them (options) it still will be an invaluable tool for as go through cities around the country!! Thankx to the developers for putting the time in to make small minor miracles like these happen. :D
Unfortunately, Maemo Mapper doesn't actually generate any directions. It just defers to Google Maps for the directions, and currently Google Maps doesn't offer any route options. Maybe someday it will...

[MaxP]

Anyone have any idea as to how to get maemomapper to fetch the same maps as google maps does? I would like to download and view some non uk/us maps which don't appear to be available on maemomapper .

PS Just got my 770 - it's excellent.

[tdmajic]

here's a quick ? bout mm. when auto dn ld is on & IT SAVES ALL THE ZOOM LEVELS to the 770 while connected to the internet, can mm retreive those same zoom images while not connected to the internet ? also if i save the route does that save the map images too? when traveling i don't always have access to the net. thanks.


-Derrick

[tdmajic]

Anyone have any idea as to how to get maemomapper to fetch the same maps as google maps does? I would like to download and view some non uk/us maps which don't appear to be available on maemomapper .

PS Just got my 770 - it's excellent.
i believe you have to connected to the internet to dn load any maps. you'll need to turn on auto-down load along w/ having a map url entered in the map section of the of the settings menu. if you just to just dn load some maps try googleing some & then save them as a jpeg image.

[gnuite]

here's a quick ? bout mm. when auto dn ld is on & IT SAVES ALL THE ZOOM LEVELS to the 770 while connected to the internet, can mm retreive those same zoom images while not connected to the internet ? also if i save the route does that save the map images too? when traveling i don't always have access to the net. thanks.
It can't "retrieve" maps without access to the internet, no. And it doesn't save map data automatically when you save a route - try "Maps -> Download Along Route" in the menu (need internet access).

[MaxP]

i believe you have to connected to the internet to dn load any maps. you'll need to turn on auto-down load along w/ having a map url entered in the map section of the of the settings menu. if you just to just dn load some maps try googleing some & then save them as a jpeg image.

What I mean is that if I view a country in google maps such as Australia I can see roads, but in maemomapper there are only roads for the UK and US. I believe this is what google maps used to be like, so it is as if the url I am using for the API is out of date - or google is keeping it that way. Look at Australia in maemomapper and then google maps to see if you get the same behaviour .

[tdmajic]

[What I mean is that if I view a country in google maps such as
Australia I can see roads, but in maemomapper there are only roads for the UK
and US. I believe this is what google maps used to be like, so it is as if the url I
am using for the API is out of date - or google is keeping it that way. Look at
Australia in maemomapper and then google maps to see if you get the same
behaviour .
QUOWhat I mean is that if I view a country in google maps such as
Australia I can see roads, but in maemomapper there are only roads for the UK
and US. I believe this is what google maps used to be like, so it is as if the url I
am using for the API is out of date - or google is keeping it that way. Look at
Australia in maemomapper and then google maps to see if you get the same
behaviour .
TE=MaxP]What I mean is that if I view a country in google maps such as Australia I can see roads, but in maemomapper there are only roads for the UK and US. I believe this is what google maps used to be like, so it is as if the url I am using for the API is out of date - or google is keeping it that way. Look at Australia in maemomapper and then google maps to see if you get the same behaviour .[/QUOTE]
i understand what ur asking now. let me look & see

[gnuite]

What I mean is that if I view a country in google maps such as Australia I can see roads, but in maemomapper there are only roads for the UK and US. I believe this is what google maps used to be like, so it is as if the url I am using for the API is out of date - or google is keeping it that way. Look at Australia in maemomapper and then google maps to see if you get the same behaviour .
The current URL used by Google Maps is http://mt0.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.21, so try using "http://mt0.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.21&x=%d&y=%d&zoom=%d" as your "URL Format" in Maemo Mapper.

[tdmajic]

The current URL used by Google Maps is http://mt0.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.21, so try using "http://mt0.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.21&x=%d&y=%d&zoom=%d" as your "URL Format" in Maemo Mapper.
Yeah that's the url I'm using. followed you're advice from earlier & found it in an earlier post. another ? if you don't mind. since mm needs internet access 2 pull up any maps, do i need to continue saving the map folders in my docs? using alot of memory. thanks

-Derrick

[gnuite]

Yeah that's the url I'm using. followed you're advice from earlier & found it in an earlier post. another ? if you don't mind. since mm needs internet access 2 pull up any maps, do i need to continue saving the map folders in my docs? using alot of memory. thanks
If you want to be able to view the maps again later, then yes, you have to keep them in the flash file system.

[tdmajic]

thanks once again 4 the insight.

-Derrick

[MaxP]

The current URL used by Google Maps is http://mt0.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.21, so try using "http://mt0.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.21&x=%d&y=%d&zoom=%d" as your "URL Format" in Maemo Mapper.

Gunite, many thanks for this (and for maemo mapper) - it does just what I want. For the record I was using:
"http://mt.google.com/mt?n=404&v=ap.6&x=%d&y=%d&zoom=%d"
I guess this was an older URL.

[indio]

Hello everybody, and thank once more to gnuite for a wonderful app.

two questions:
1. It seems maemo mapper does not work with a proxy server. This is a serious disadvantage, some ppl only see the web through a proxy(including me ofcourse). Maybe it could just respect the $http_proxy var?
2. [irrelevant] How much time did it take you to code this app gnuite? I am very curious.

Thanks a bunch.

[Luna]

If you want to be able to view the maps again later, then yes, you have to keep them in the flash file system.

Keep in mind that the cluster size on the larger MMC cars will kill you. For instance, my metro area cached was was a total file size of around 57MB. Size on disk 760MB!

It would be nice if we can have areas in a compressed file that are looked at first then the filesystem based cache secondarily.

What would be even better would be a local http daemon that serves the data from a mps file . Fileformats are a pain sometimes:)

[gnuite]

Keep in mind that the cluster size on the larger MMC cars will kill you. For instance, my metro area cached was was a total file size of around 57MB. Size on disk 760MB!
You can reduce file system internal fragmentation by using a smaller block size in your VFAT format. You can do this with the "-S" option of mkfs.vfat. I use a block size of 512 bytes.

If you are serious about cramming as many maps into your card as possible, you should use ext2 and use hard links to represent map tiles that are "the same data" - water maps are all solid blue, so you can save the additional 103 bytes per tile.

Other map storage mechanisms have been considered and discarded in favor of the RAM and CPU efficiency of using the file system (including adding and removing maps on-the-fly).

[gnuite]

Hello everybody, and thank once more to gnuite for a wonderful app.

two questions:
1. It seems maemo mapper does not work with a proxy server. This is a serious disadvantage, some ppl only see the web through a proxy(including me ofcourse). Maybe it could just respect the $http_proxy var?
Good idea - I'll look into it for the next version.

2. [irrelevant] How much time did it take you to code this app gnuite? I am very curious.
Everything so far? Probably around 200-300 hours, including making/managing releases. Much more if you include online tech support. :)

The first version took less than 40 hours (a lot of that was spent learning about NMEA and the mercator projection). The remaining hours have been spent making everyone else happy by adding feature requests. :)

[ioan]

Keep in mind that the cluster size on the larger MMC cars will kill you. For instance, my metro area cached was was a total file size of around 57MB. Size on disk 760MB!

format your card in fat32 (using windows). fat32 has the cluster size 4KB (4 times smaller than fat16).

[Luna]

format your card in fat32 (using windows). fat32 has the cluster size 4KB (4 times smaller than fat16).

Oh yeah, a different cluster is the obvious solution (or like gnuite said use ext2 and write a proggy to ln all of the files with the same md5 to a common file). I was thinking of people possibly wanting to shuffle data of commonly used cities that do not understand this issue.

I've been playing with the idea of server. Like said, there is alot of redundant data. I could further subdivide the data and really clean house. Just rebuild the zoom level 0 and server up the rest in the 256x256 blocks.

[gnuite]

I've been playing with the idea of server. Like said, there is alot of redundant data. I could further subdivide the data and really clean house. Just rebuild the zoom level 0 and server up the rest in the 256x256 blocks.
If you try limiting the data to just zoom-level-0 blocks, though, you're not going to get a very readable image (in terms of text _and_ in terms of road lines).

[indio]

Thanks Gnuite for your reply. I bow to your trully elite C skill :).

I am trying to get some basic information through my GPS receiver using python. What I want to do is just get my current position, compare it with another waypoint's coordinates and get the distance.

Could point our some documentation I could study? I am too new to GPS so I dont know where to start. I think getting just the difference of two coords(the current fix and an arbitrary point) will be less difficult than navigating a map.

[ReinhardE]

I've been playing with the idea of server. Like said, there is alot of redundant data. I could further subdivide the data and really clean house. Just rebuild the zoom level 0 and server up the rest in the 256x256 blocks.
Under the assumption that all tiles in all zoom levels are around the same size, you only save 25%, if you delete all levels greater than 0 (due to the geometric series 1 + 1/4 + 1/16 ...).

[Luna]

Under the assumption that all tiles in all zoom levels are around the same size, you only save 25%, if you delete all levels greater than 0 (due to the geometric series 1 + 1/4 + 1/16 ...).

Correct. That is why I have no problem with retaining the higher levels, it is when you hit level 0 and 1 that you have the big hit (and those are the only ones I'm really concerned with). When you look at the typical usage, I'm either zoomed midway or all the way in looking for details.

This is just for discussion though. A MPS file base server is the real way to go if I put any time into this. Gnuite's excellent work and my current work obligations will make this a hard task to truely begin :)


BTW, are jpegs decoded by software or in hardware?

[Luna]

If you try limiting the data to just zoom-level-0 blocks, though, you're not going to get a very readable image (in terms of text _and_ in terms of road lines).


What? You cannot read text that is quarter point in size ? :)

[ReinhardE]

BTW, are jpegs decoded by software or in hardware?
Even if you give files names like 54823.jpg they need not be jpeg files. When you try jpegtopnm you get an error, while pngtopnm succeeds. So google-map files could be of type png after all.

[Luna]

The headers say png.

I did a little test to see the level of redundancy in my level 0 folder. Here are the stats: 169 folders, 16900 files total, 12355 distinct files. I did this via MD5 hash comparision. Now I need to split each of the 16900 files into 4 or so separate images and see how it pans out.

[gnuite]

Even if you give files names like 54823.jpg they need not be jpeg files. When you try jpegtopnm you get an error, while pngtopnm succeeds. So google-map files could be of type png after all.
Google Maps uses PNG for street maps and JPG for topographical maps. It doesn't matter what the extension is - I just picked jpg for the sake of simplicity. It probably should have no extension, but it's too late to change that now, and with an image extension, at least people know that it's an image (even if it's not the right image type).

[gnuite]

Thanks Gnuite for your reply. I bow to your trully elite C skill :).

I am trying to get some basic information through my GPS receiver using python. What I want to do is just get my current position, compare it with another waypoint's coordinates and get the distance.

Could point our some documentation I could study? I am too new to GPS so I dont know where to start. I think getting just the difference of two coords(the current fix and an arbitrary point) will be less difficult than navigating a map.
If you use rfcomm, accessing the GPS Receiver is as easy as opening a file (and the interface is the same). Most likely the input stream will be in ASCII following the NMEA protocol, so google it for info about that.

Once you have your current position (from, e.g., the RMC sentence in the NMEA protocol), it's easy to calculate the surface distance between two points - there are numerous code examples on the web.

The code for maemo mapper is not all that complex, especially the parts that do the NMEA parsing and geographical calculations. The hard part is the matter of proper UI design considering the form factor.

[tdmajic]

are there any other gps programs that can be used on the n770? mm is a really cool app. but i really can't depend on the routing portion of the app. uses the long way all the time.