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Long time in config.cfg navigation_announcements_times not working

Andrew Heard shared this question 7 years ago
Answered

I would like an advance announcement of upcoming navigation waypoints. The defaults are for 15 seconds, 35 seconds and 5 minutes in advance as per config.cfg setting navigation_announcements_times=15|35|300.

I have changed 300 to 600 i.e. my navigation_announcements_times=20|180|600.


Now the announcements are 10 minutes, 3 minutes and 20 seconds before the upcoming waypoint. However I never get the 10 minute notification. The other two announcements work fine. Is there a maximum value for this third parameter? What I really wanted is a hands-free notification just after the last turn has been completed of the next waypoint similar to any car GPS unit, and a notification half way between waypoints although this is not currently possible. Worth a separate topic?

Replies (3)

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Good day Andrew,

time for notifications is tested and compared to time to "waypoint" computed by Locus. If computed time is in interval 0.5 x announcement time < time < 1.0x announcement time, this announcement is told. So in case of your 10 minutes, Locus will speak this only if you are in interval 5 - 10 minutes before waypoint. You may try to increase these times to something like 20|150|300|600 for example, this may helps a little, because this range covers all times since 75 to 600 seconds.

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Thanks for the extra info Menion. I don't think it is working correctly. I reverted to 20|180|300 for test ride today. I had one test waypoint in particular which takes ~25 minutes to reach after previous waypoint but the 5 minute announcement never occurs. I'll try your suggestion...

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Hi @menion - I tried 15|180|300|600 today without any change over previous report. In particular I had a 15km track section between waypoints which took 45 minutes to ride, but I still only get the 15s & 3m notifications.

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Hi, interesting.

May you please compute this navigation route on your device together with navigation orders and export it as GPX for me .. and attach here. I'll try to simulate your ride and test it little more. My experience is that I usually hear 5 min announcement on longer tracks, so this is a surprise. Thanks

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Attached. Note this is not the original route because I had left Store Permanently unchecked. However same process to create.

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It works for me ... and maybe I have an reason.


Are you using text-to-speech for announcements? If not, try it. Problem is that old mp3 based voice files, has maximum distance as mp3 sound 1000m!! So it cannot speak more then this :).

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Thanks for checking. I'm using a file similar to morse.zip containing relevant OGG files. Is that what you mean? I haven't tried selecting the English voice - should I test with it? I would have thought if it worked for 20s and 3 minutes then it should also work for 5 or 10 minutes?

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Ah oki, this is it.

In your morse.zip are some mp3/ogg files that are played when needed. Anyway if you look inside, there are files for distances from 100 to max 1000 metres. More is not supported for now. And when Locus has nothing to play ( no distance file ), there is no turn screen on/off event, no audio notification.


If you try Text-to-speech, it will definitely work.


Hmm and what to do with these voice files ... I may improve it and add support also for other "distance files", but someone needs to create them, at least for this "morse.zip" file. Really suggest to try TTS for now.


@Willy: is it possible for you to add extra distance files into this morse zip file and send result to Petr to update it in Store as well?

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These files?

c238c60137eed10752b58222c9072c7c

I can easily add OGG files myself if filename(s) are specified. Seems a non-general solution? BTW my OGG files are not Willy's original left/right morse code sounds, but each is just identical and much louder beep-beep-beep. It works very well, just not as I now find for > 1km before waypoint. I'll definitely try TTS for test, I use it for car navigation anyway, but for cycling in loud traffic I believe my optimized & loudest possible beep-beep-beep is superior to attract attention. The frequency was chosen by sweep generator to find suitable phone resonant frequency.

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Yes these files. This whole file-based system was created based on existing voice files for TomTom navigation. And there was only limited set of voices from 50 to 1000 m , not more. And also Locus does not support longer distances ... till now, it was not needed.

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Hi @menion. With navigation_announcements_times=20|180|300|600 today and TTS I heard first notification "after 5km continue straight" but the display failed to turn on. With subsequent notification at 800m, 600m & ~50m to turn the display turned on correctly.

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Ah yes, ... damn you complicate me life :).

There is one more condition I remember. Display is not turned on in cases, there is more then 1000 metres to target. In most cases, this is waste of battery because target is still not perfectly visible on map and this notification should you just prepare that something "is coming".


have to think about it. In worst case, I may add additional config parameter to disable this behavior for these special cases.

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>Ah yes, ... damn you complicate me life :).

hopefully in a constructive manner?


Of course, feel free to decline any change. I am just looking for helpful method of hand-free periodic activation of the display for earlier navigation instructions just like any simple car GPS will provide. For example a minute after each turn the GPS will announce details of the next turn, then half way to the next turn another announcement, then of course when getting close to the turn like Locus currently provides. Instead of navigation_announcements_times=a|b|c (seconds) it could be navigation_announcements_times=a%|b%|c% where % = (km_next_waypoint - km_last_waypoint) / avg_speed.


You've given me another idea for adding "audio coach" to display on settings.

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Good evening Andrew,

sorry for a delay.

In next Locus Map version will be following changes:

  • support for TomTom based *.ogg files for distances. Files must be power of 100, so all files like 1500.ogg, 2300.ogg etc. will be supported
  • "turn on" even will be fired up to 2.000m , instead of current 1.000m

This may partially solve your request/idea and not too much break current system. Hope you find it useful. Let me know if there ( in next Beta version or final public version ) will be any issue with it.

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Excellent Menion. I'll look forward to testing it.

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Hi Menion. Not sure if this warrants a new topic or not, but it seems related to older discussions. I currently have config.cfg with navigation_announcements_times=30|180|900. All audio announcements work (TTS & custom) but the display does not auto-turn on for the 900 second (15 minute) announcement. Is this by design? My intention is to get "early" notification of next turn soon after current announcement similar to advance warning of car-based GPS system.

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Good day Andrew, this is correct. The limit is set to 2000 m. Only when you are closer, the screen turns on. Otherwise, it does not make too sense isn't it? Because 15 minutes before the target, on the map won't be any useful information for you, so why to turn the screen on and waste a battery?

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Thanks for clarifying Menion. Turning on the display 15 minutes before next turn for 15 seconds - for me it maybe useful depending on zoom level - for difficult/ critical navigation I generally increase the zoom level as I get closer to the next turn - plenty of info in a busy city for example. It seems like an arbitrary threshold. Do you need to second guess the intention of the user? After I glance at the map I mostly wave to turn off the display immediately anyway.

Also the config.cfg settings are in seconds, but the screen-on limit is in metres. So display-on limit depends on a variable speed but the setting is used by all modes of movement. It would increase certainty, and maybe easier to explain/ document, if both units were the same? Seconds seem more useful, but no big deal. At say 15km/h I'll need to set the 3rd time to 500 (only 8 minutes).

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Think about it from a different point of view. Display map and check "distance to target more than 2000 m". How much you have to zoom out to see on map 2 km distance? And at this moment, is it useful to look on the map at all?

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Hmm, maybe it is not so bad with today's huge resolutions as I see. Old settings ... ok, I'll set there higher value, let's try 5 km. This setting was mainly created to prevent the useless display of screen when riding in high-speed long distances. 5 km should be a good compromise ... and also, it is better to turn screen-on (and waste a little power) then to not to turn the screen-on at all :). Thanks

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> How much you have to zoom out to see on map 2 km distance?

>And at this moment, is it useful to look on the map at all?

yes, I do this by nature while cycle touring as overview of what to expect in next 15, 60, 120 minutes, and be able to inform other people I'm riding with

good result

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