Maemo Mapper v0.2.3 Released
 

Maemo Mapper v0.2.3 has been released to the masses!

Device-Installable .DEB File
Source Code

New Features:
* Added support for satellite map data.
* Added support to save last center location.
* Added support to specify announcement advance notice in Settings.
* Added estimate for number of maps to download with Download By Area.

Bugfixes:
* Force creation of the map cache directory (including parents).
* Fixed some locale-related bugs.
* Made the flite call safer, and the path is specifiable in Settings.
* Changed the look of the HildonControlbars in Settings a tad.
* Changed the way routes are followed to better support single-point, "point-of-interest"-style routes.
* Fixed bug in route-drawing.
* Fixed some bugs in download-by-route functionality.
* Trying some fixes for when the bluetooth connection mysteriously drops.
* Added some error-handling to NMEA parsing.
* Fixed some other minor, workaround-able bugs.
* Added some more comment documentation to the code.


The current priority-ordered TODO list, targeted for a future version of Maemo Mapper:
1. Support multiple map repositories between which you can dynamically switch. (If you need something like this now, take a look at mgedmin's repository-switcher scripts if you are reasonably command-line savvy.
2. Support for two new modes of GPS receiver connection: GPSD, and direct RFCOMM (via the Maemo Bluetooth Plugin).
3. Publicize subversion repository (it's current private to my LAN - if you would like to hack at the code now, PM me and we'll talk; I might be able to set you up with an account on my box that would allow you to access the repo for writing).
4. Add temporal data to track export.
5. Incorporate the GPX Driving Directions web service code directly into Maemo Mapper.
6. Make all drawing colors (circles and lines) configurable.
7. Localization (I'll need input from native speakers - volunteers?).
8. Add optional textual information (location, speed, heading, etc.) in upper-left corner of map.
9. Integrate with the dbus-based flite (if it actually works).
10. Integration with Maemo's Connectivity API's to auto-connect to the internet as necessary (like the web browser does).
11. Create official user documentation.
12. Allow "mouse selection" in the "Download by Area" functionality.
13. Replace the "Approaching Waypoint" prefix with a loud chime of some sort.

The next version of Maemo Mapper will be version 1.0 and will be the first version targeted for the new 2006 Operating System. If time permits, I will also release a backported v0.3 that will contain most of the same new features as v1.0 but will work with the old 2005 OS. If the new 2006 OS takes too long, it is possible that v0.3 will be released before v1.0.

Feel free to provide feedback and/or bug reports in this thread or via private message. If you like Maemo Mapper and would like to see it improve and/or show your appreciation, you can help me by providing suggestions for version 1.0 (in this forum) or by donating via credit card or PayPal (see the Maemo Mapper website for details).

Thanks to everyone who has contributed with bug reports, suggestions, and donations. Maemo Mapper is greatly improved because of you all, and I am confident that that trend will continue.

Using Satellite Data with Maemo Mapper v0.2
 

Maemo Mapper v0.2 includes the ability to use satellite data instead of street data. It's a little cumbersome to maintain both kinds of Map Caches right now because you have to change both the URI and the Map Cache directory every time you want to switch, but this will become easier in a future version. mgedmin's repository-switcher scripts make it a little easier.

I only include this now to better support people that only have access to satellite data (not street map data).

Here is an example of a satellite-map URI Format that works:

Thanks go to Marius Gedminas for the conversion routine required to work with satellite data.

DISCLAIMER: Using Google's satellite data may be considered a violation of their copyright or that of the copyright holders of the map data. Use of this software requires and implies that you agree that you understand that using Maemo Mapper to download maps from a commercial map repository may be considered a violation of copyright law and that John Costigan cannot be held responsible for any of your actions related thereto.

Addressing the mysterious bluetooth dropouts
 

I have added code that attempts to eliminate or handle the mysterous dropouts in bluetooth connectivity that cause Maemo Mapper to stop updating your current position while the UI continues to function. If you still experience this behavior, unfortunately resetting the bluetooth radio requires root privileges, but if you're willing, you can activate the "automatic bluetooth radio reset" functionality in Maemo Mapper by using root mode to modify the /etc/sudoers file to include the following line:

user ALL = NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/hciconfig hci0 reset

WARNING: This is technically a security risk. Adding the above line can allow outside attackers to cause your bluetooth radio to reset without root privileges. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

If you do add this line to your sudoers file, please let me know if it has any effect for you. I tried for 90 minutes to reproduce the problem to see if the reset had any effect, but I couldn't reproduce it. If the behavior does occur, it may take Maemo Mapper up to 30 seconds to identify it and execute the reset.

EDIT: If you enable the bluetooth radio reset code, remember that it will cause ALL bluetooth connections to be dropped, including connections to cell phones, keyboards, etc. This will happen whenever the connection between Maemo Mapper and the GPS receiver is unexpectedly interrupted (e.g. if you walk far enough away from the receiver).

gnuite, Just as a heads up...I keep getting "Invalid NMEA input from receiver". Previous version worked like a charm.

Do you get the message during the "Establishing GPS Fix" message or after your receiver gets a fix? Or both?
What model is your receiver?
What locale is your Nokia 770 set to?
Are you able to use GPSD or cat to PM me sample NMEA output from your receiver? (If you don't know what this means, don't worry about it.)

Might I suggest the brand spanking new https://garage.maemo.org/ for development hosting?

I've noticed that until the receiver gets a fix - at least for me - I get this same error message. Once a fix is established, it seems to work fine.

Looks good so far - thanks!

Brad.

gnuite, sorry, it might be that I am indoors with the receiver (Nokia LD-1W) is just sitting by the window. Better report tomorrow.

Great work, thank you!

I would like to contribute with the italian translations.

Please consider using GNU gettext PO system, it's well known and has a lot of useful tools for maintaining translation catalogs.

Regards

Hi Gnuite, I can translate into Swedish.

May I also suggest that we have a look at www.eniro.se, the Swedish yellow pages with options to have route planning and also photos and maps or hybrid mode. Dont know if it is possible to "harvest" maps from there. Let me know if I can help beta test some settings.

Best regards, Rune

There are several possibilities that could cause this.

If the problem is in parsing the GSV sentence, then one of the following fields must be bad: "message count", "message number", or "number of satellites in view". This seems unlikely.

If the problem is in parsing the RMC sentence, then probably your receiver does not attempt to provide any valid lat/lon data when the it does not have a fix. This is different from how my receiver works, which is to provide the "last valid lat/lon data" when there is no fix. If this is the case, then this is simply a matter of there being too many different NMEA implementations. I wish I had more GPS receiver models with which to test.

If anyone sees the "Invalid NMEA input from receiver!" message and has the ability to PM to me some NMEA output from their receiver, I can better debug Maemo Mapper's performance with their particular receiver.

The only reason we didn't see the error message before is because I didn't do any error checking before. Maybe I should revert to that behavior and hope for the best?

Gnuite, I still have that issue when I was on the road. I never saw anything else besides the "invalid...." message. Let me know how to get my NMEA output I'll be glad to help out.

And to clarify with a bit more testing... my initial tests last night were on the patio. I can get a valid fix and everything seems to work, but as soon as I start to move I start getting the "invalid..." message again and I lose the fix.

Right now, I've got the receiver in my office window and have maemo mapper running on the 770. I've noticed despite the fact that I haven't moved since I've gotten a fix there is a trail indicating movement (maybe 50 feet?) and as I type this, I see movement on the screen (I've actually drifted across the screen in slow movement back and forth).

Let me know what sort of info I can provide to help debug this problem.

Brad.

Looks good!!
 

I updated, all settings are intact. I fired it up and everything is working without any issues.

Another great job

FWIF mysterious Bluetooth dropouts seem to happen with gpsd as well: https://maemo.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=408

This reminds me very much of the mysterious WiFi dropouts that I experience: https://maemo.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=329

I just hope these are software/driver problems, and not something to do with the hardware.

I think it would be better to keep it.

I spent a day trying to figure out why my GPS stopped working in Maemo Mapper. It turned out that gpsd had silently switched it from NMEA into some binary protocol that Maemo Mapper doesn't understand. Since I don't have Windows to run the settings app that came with my GPS, I had to find the protocol description and write a Python script to switch it back into NMEA mode. Full story here: http://mg.pov.lt/blog/maemo-mapper.html

Is there a way to generate a GPX route that touches user defined waypoints? Yesterday Maemo-mapper took me to my regular shop using a route I've never used before... and it took longer than normally.

I've planned a holiday route but gnuite's GPX generator insists to go around London clockwise but I want to go anticlockwise.

Is there a (free?) prog somewhere with more control over the route?

You can set up a multi-segment route by Downloading the route in segments. For example, say you want to go from 123 Baker St. to 789 Butcher St., but you want to make sure to pass through 456 Baylor St. First, download the route from 123 Baker St. to 456 Baylor St. Then, download the route from 456 Baylor St. to 789 Butcher St. The second route will append to the first, and waypoint announcement should work when transitioning from the end of the first route to the beginning of the second route.

If you are satisfied with the result, you can save the new, two-segment route into a Route file. If you want, you can manually tweak the file to remove the "break" so that the directions now represent a single segment, from 123 Baker St. to 789 Butcher St.

Unfortunately, there is no means by which to control the exact directions that are generated.

It's a bit of a hack, but have you considered forcing the route you want to take by creating several routes (each one going part of the way you want) and then loading them one at a time?

My understanding is that Maemo Mapper will combine routines if the are loaded individually. I've done the same sort of trick with Google Maps.

Brad.

I know for a fact that it is possible to harvest maps from www.eniro.se. I have made a Perl script that is a bit shabby but does the job. It also has the ability to download a square area if you specify the length in meters. One thing about www.eniro.se, they are not using the WGS84 system used in a gps device. They use the official Swedish RT90 2-dimensional system, There are ways to transpose between RT90 and SWEREF99 which is almost precisely applicable on WGS84. But i haven't yet been able to do so, to much school at the moment :). But i have used Lantmäteriets web-converter to cheat :). It checks the WGS84 coordinates and gives the RT90 coordinates back.

My script works with GpsDrive, it should be possible to adapt it to maemo-mapper but i don't know if it should be integrated with maemo-mapper because of the small number of users in Sweden and the extra conversion between RT90 and WGS84. Just a lot of code not really used by so many people.

Maybe the map-downloading part of maemo-mapper could be lifted out in to a small separate replaceable executable?

EDIT: Lantmäteriet -> Swedish geographic survey office

Well HardCoder, since I believe there are some Nokia 770 per capita in Sweden I dont think it would be a total waste of bytes... ;) but good idea to separate it though.

Problems with Socket GPS
 

First, MANY thanks to gnuite for this awesome program! I've donated $20 (mkrueger), and I recommend everyone that is using this program consider its value and send some cash if you can. There's no question this program makes the 770 much more valuable.

I'm having a strange problem using my Socket BT GPS with Maemo Mapper. When I use it with Maemo Mapper, it seems to leave the "Establishing GPS fix" window up forever, and the bar appears empty. It does put the dot at my correct location on the map, but it won't move from there. The application is otherwise working perfectly, and I've used it to download routes and get around town (LOVE it!). It has never locked up on me (.1 or .2).

The other odd thing is that my Socket GPS seems to get goofed up after 5 minutes of running Maemo Mapper. The sattellite fix light will go out. This doesn't happen when using any other applications with it. Could Maemo Mapper be somehow trying to put my GPS in a different mode? I have to power cycle it to get it back to normal operation.

The Socket GPS works fine with GpsDrive on the same 770, so I guess I can just wait until gpsd is supported, but I'd love to start using it on the road without having to manually tell it where I am :-)

This is peculiar. The fact that it stays in "Establishing GPS fix" mode implies that Maemo Mapper is not getting an RMC sentence with a "valid" position. Even if the positions it got were "invalid", Maemo Mapper would still plot the dot, although it would be grayed out.

Can you send me the NMEA output from your receiver (using GPSD or direct rfcomm/cat)? This would help me determine the nature of your problem.

Maemo Mapper never sends any data to your receiver - it opens the bluetooth connection strictly for read-only access. What model of receiver do you have? Does it have a auto-power-save feature that would cause it to stop emitting NMEA data after 5 minutes of being disconnected?

The combination of the two of your problems might imply that the connection is getting dropped soon after it is established. The next time that Maemo Mapper seems to get stuck at "Establishing GPS fix", try disabling the GPS receiver (in the menu) and re-enabling it, and see what happens.

Did this change with v0.2? That is, did things work fine in v0.1?

Thanks for the donation, and for the feedback.

Hi,

I like your program, If You want, I can translate to Spanish your application.

Best Regards,
Ipae

Maemo Mapper v0.2.1 Released
 

I've released Maemo Mapper v0.2.1 to address the "Invalid NMEA input from receiver!" message. I was unaware that some receivers don't output speed or heading (particularly if your receiver is in "static navigation" mode) - you guys are missing out! Anyway, I've changed the code to accept empty values instead of flagging them as invalid data.

I updated the first post in this thread (and the name of the thread) to reflect the new version number and to update the links. Or, you can use these handy links right here:

Device-Installable .DEB File
Source Code

Satellite Data
 

Google maps are awesome, but there satellite maps kind of suck. Microsoft Terraserver has way better resolution, it usually only black and white but way better maps, any chance it will work with Terraserver?

Gnuite,

Maemo-mapper now seems to work even if my Globalstar BT is in static navigation mode.

There's a 'gps data valid' flag available in many of the nmea sentences. Why not use it instead of figuring out the validity of the fix by our self?

Please see this page for more: http://www.werple.net.au/~gnb/gps/nmea.html

Pekka

I'm having trouble figuring out how to output the NMEA data to a text file. Can you give me an example command that would work from xterm? I have root enabled.

I thought that was the case. I bet you are right about the 5 minute thing. Here is the info on my receiver:

Socket Bluetooth GPS

Disabling and enabling the GPS receiver (in the menu) just leaves me showing the empty "Establishing GPS fix" bar again. So basically nothing changes. The dot IS gray, as you suspected. However, using my Mac and a program called GPSUtility, I'm seeing a fix and 11 satellites. I've PM'd you some text output from GPSUtility, but I'm not sure if it's a direct feed off the GPS unit or if it is cleaned up.

Nothing seemed to change as far as the GPS problem between .1 and .2.

tiny hack to make 'Download Area' easy to use (in v0.2.1)
 

I added a few lines of code to maemo-mapper v0.2.1 to make 'Download Maps by Area' easy to use:

The coordinates of the current and previous View Center are automatically filled into the fields for Top-Left and Bottom-Right Latitude and Longitude in the 'Download Maps by Area' window.

Thus, to download an area, just tap two opposite corners of an imaginary rectangle on the current map, and then go to the menu 'Maps' -> 'Download Area...'. The corresponding values will have been filled in. Of cause you still can edit them. Now the only thing that remains to be done manually by you is to select the Zoom levels on the second tab of the window. (Being at it, I also fixed a bug in the new download confirmation dialog.)

Please consider my tiny change as a proposal to implement item 12 on Guite's TODO list for future versions of Maemo Mapper: My change is only 26 lines of Gnuite's v0.2.1 source. A source code patch can be found here: http://armin-warda.de/maemo-mapper-0.2.1-aw-0.1.patch For testing, a package with this patch applied can be downloaded here: http://armin-warda.de/maemo-mapper_0.2.1-aw-0.1_arm.deb.

Maemo Mapper does use the "gps data valid" flag - that's what determines whether the mark is blue (valid) or gray (invalid). The "Invalid NMEA input" message pops up if the receiver sends an invalid (i.e. not conforming to the spec) NMEA sentence.

I got equal result with Socket GPS device (looks like yours). Just after installing version 0.2.1 I was able to get position once, but not after that. Couple of times "Establishing GPS fix" showed some progress, but stopped forever. GPS device is not mine, so I do not have any other program or device to test it, just Maemo Mapper.

Thank you for the constant support! I do have 1 suggestion. Is it possible to add a feature that tells you how many miles you have left to your destination (for route)? That would be great. Thanks!

I also have another suggestion for the textual info add on. Would it be possible for maemomapper to take your average MPH and mileage left enroute and then give you an estimated time left to destination? That would be very cool. Thanks!

I also have another suggestion for the textual info add on. Would it be possible for maemomapper to take your average MPH and mileage left enroute and then give you an estimated time left to destination? That would be very cool. Thanks!

After having problems with disconnections from my bluetooth GPS receiver, and maemomapper v 0.1 and v0.2 lockups, I found the following:

I had been using the Bluetooth connection program from the Maemo wiki apps site to initialize connection to the GPS receiver prior to running MaemoMapper. Then, maemomapper would successfully find the receiver, but when either a power down from the display settings timout occurred, or just about anything else happened on the 770, Maemomapper would either lose connection to the receiver, or the program would lock up.
So, I just power cycled the 770 and started Maemomapper without invoking the Bluetooth program first, and everything works just fine!
Now, before I first ran the Bluetooth program, Maemomapper could not find the GPS, so I assume the bluetooth program did something to store pairing information which is subsequently used by Maemomapper.

Anyone else see this?

That's weird. I don't even use the Maemo Bluetooth Plugin, and Maemo Mapper finds my GPS receiver fine. Using Maemo Mapper in conjunction with the plugin may produce strange effects (unless you don't pair the receiver with the plugin). This should improve with the next version, which will hopefully work with the bluetooth plugin.

Gunite-

Thanks for the update, it works much better for me. But I'm still seeing the same behaviour as with v0.1, that is eventual hang from 2 to 30 minutes after the program starts.

I've left the program hung to see if it will recover, but what I've noticed now is that after the screen blanks, all I see is a totally white screen (sometimes an empty info box is shown too).

I can disable the gps (at least until the screen blanks) but when I try to re-enable the gps all I get is a "searching" message. The only way to restore functionality is to reboot the 770.

Not sure if it's related, but twice I've seen hangs when I'd think reception could be a problem (a short tunnel and heavily wooded areas). Just wanted to mention it.

I've also added the "hciconfig reset" to sudoers, just in case. No difference.

Sorry to be stupid, but previously you mention using wget to fetch data from gpsd. I read the man page and I can't see how to have wget to attach to an arbitrary socket - am I missing something?

If this was a typical linux box I could telnet to the gpsd port but that doesn't seem possible (maybe ssh would work?)

Brad.

I guess most people will buy a GPS receiver to use it with Maemo-mapper so it would be helpful to describe on the Maemo-mapper site (and in this thread) how to pair/connect the GPS receiver to the N770. My first attempt was to use the BT wizard to pair but this failed. Then I used the Maemo Bluetooth Plugin which picked it up and dislayed the MAC address. I then had to manually type this address in Maemo-mapper because it was set to 00:00:00:00:00:00 as I was using it without a GPS receiver. Once the MAC address was set, all I do is to start Maemo-mapper and it connects automatically, ie. I don't have to Connect in the Maemo Bluetooth Plugin. Interestingly the BT phone icon at the top changes, showing that a BT "phone" is connected.

It sounds that the previous 00:00:00:00:00:00 value and the presence of the Maemo Bluetooth Plugin confuse the program, probably none of this messing is necessary if Maemo-mapper is ran first time when a GPS receiver is already running.

Most of us here are of the experimenting type but it would be useful to document how to connect the BT receiver. Probably even better, the code might be changed so that it picks up the receiver without any manual intervention.

I am hooked on Maemo-mapper... what a program!