 Pozo L Plate Warrior
Joined: 06 Mar 2012 Karma :  
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 Posted: 10:56 - 06 Mar 2012 Post subject: Looking for feedback on my own Android app |
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Hello members of BCF,
A while ago I was looking for a cheap (or free) app to ride tours on my bike using my Android phone for navigation. I couldn’t find one, so I decided to develop one myself. In my own opinion it’s working quite well right now and perhaps other people may enjoy it as well With the new motorcycle season coming up, I’m trying to get some feedback from users, as well as some word of mouth advertising of course.
I'll be happy to answer any questions here!
It’s here:
https://market.android.com/details?id=pozosoft.waypointerEvaluation
What is it:
Summarized: My program turns an Android device with Google Navigation into a touring-capable device. It’s a cheap (but hopefully not low quality) alternative to for instance CoPilot.
More info:
You can load up a route in any of the supported formats (currently KML, GPX and ITN, more available on popular request if it’s an open standard) and press the ‘drive’ button. Google Navigation only supports directing you from you current location to one destination, so it will go and point you to the first point on your route.
Just before you reach that point, my program will kick in and tell Google Navigation to go to the second point in your route, and then on to the third etc.
In the plot below you can see it in effect. The actual route that I planned using Tyre (https://www.tyre.tk/ - excellent freeware route planning program) is visible as black circles connected with straight lines, the light blue path is the one I actually drove. There are a lot more black circles than I actually indicated, there are 8 points in the route and I made it in two minutes.
I started at the top right corner. As you can see I made a mistake due to being on a large unfamiliar intersection in a main city (Utrecht), but my program/Google Navigation worked just fine to get me back on track
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10151464/NTV%20fotos/testjeUtrechtSchoonhoven.PNG
The map is pretty unclear, it’s this region: https://maps.google.nl/maps/myplaces?vpsrc=6&ctz=-60&ie=UTF8&ll=52.01574,5.002899&spn=0.218479,0.52803&t=m&z=11 The pink blob in the top corner is Utrecht, and the red dot in the lower left corner is Schoonhoven.
Any downsides?
- Google Navigation won’t show you the complete route that you still have to travel due to the way it works. You can get an indication from within my app using the map preview.
- If you’re like me and make errors in obeying Google Navigation, you might end up approaching a waypoint from the ‘wrong’ direction, as it will keep pointing you there and not automatically skip to the next logical waypoint. In special cases in area’s with few roads this can lead to you being led in a circle (only once) as Google Navigation is reluctant to have you make a U-turn.
- You always need a data connection, just as you normally would when using Google Navigation.
What does it cost?
You can use it for free for 60 days, after that I’d like to have (the equivalent of) €1 for my troubles – I spend several tens of hours on this on my spare time and it would be nice to be able to buy a drink (which I can do for every four people that decide to buy the app, I’m getting 60 cents from that euro as Google keeps the rest ) ____________________ Waypointer, the free Android touring navigation app:
https://market.android.com/details?id=pozosoft.waypointerEvaluation |
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 iooi Super Spammer

Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Karma :    
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 Posted: 11:42 - 06 Mar 2012 Post subject: |
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Nice one.  ____________________ Just because my bike was A DIVVY, does not mean i am...... |
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