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Bearing, Distance & Line to Cursor visibility

joeloc shared this idea 11 years ago
Completed

Here`s my suggestion for a visible Bearing, Distance and Line to Cursor:


* Do not render it close to the cursor. That area is cluttered with stuff already, plus it is probably where I am most interested in seeing the map. Render it at the CENTER of the line.


* Do not rotate the text. Just render it HORIZONTALLY and calculate the position in a way that it will not intersect with the line.


* The line must be THICK, depending on display dpi. One pixel might be fine on 320x480, but not on modern xhdpi phones.


* Color is configurable: only ONE COLOR SETTING for line & text together.


* The BLACK SHADOW is crucial for this whole thing to work. Never render anything onto the map without an outline/shadow.


* The arrow head is probably too difficult (and points the wrong way?), but I liked it :)

Replies (18)

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And since there is so much usable space at the center of the line: The "vertical" distance is very important as well for biking and hiking. So why not make it


336°


12km


+424m (when you have to climb to reach the spot)


or


45°


20km


-1300m (when you may descend)


I personally would not need the bearing value, the line already indicates the direction anyway. But I dont mind if its there.

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I don`t agree with all of these suggestions. My vote is only for better visibility of the displayed text. About the details we should discuss it.

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I have one comment to the value of the bearing:


In the current version the bearing is not from the GPS location to the cursor but from the cursor to the GPS location (336 degree) as you can see in the image above.


In previous versions (< 2.5 ?) bearing was displayed as 156 degree for this example.


For my purposes I would need the bearing FROM the current GPS location to the cursor position like it was in previous version. I don`t know whether this is a bug or not but if there is a need to have the bearing like it is displayed now it would be good to make this configurable.

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Menion


What you think about a better visibility?


btw. welcome back


I hope your short vacation was nice


and you`re relaxed now.

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Hi,


My opinion:


* Do not render it close to the ARROW LINE. – YES


* Do not rotate the text – NOT SURE


* Configurable color – YES (line and text together)


* Outlined text - YES


* Arrow style – keep the existing style


But the final decision is on relaxed Menion :)

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" * Arrow style – keep the existing style "


But isnt the existing "style" just a single pixel line? You might just as well not render anything at all then. A single pixel line is completely invisible on (x)hdpi devices on anything but the most boring single-colored OSM map.


I`d think 3 pixels plus outline are the absolute minimum here.

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Or maybe 2 pixels :)

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hmm firstly I have to confirm that visibility of "line to GPS" is not perfect


anyway I`m already playing with it almost 3 hours and I`m dead (even relaxed - btw. Gynta, thanks for asking - 3 days with Locus on bike, nice ...).


I currently don`t have any united system for all these colors and lines. As I think about it, there should be better ability to set these text/lines at all, but this is currently not. My idea is to set all in best way, so there is no need for additional configuration. After some playing, result (Stefan, orange is really best) may be visible on screenshot. Orange line to GPS.


one small info: outline around text is nice, but thanks to it, I cannot use transparency!

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If you want to keep the text positioned at cursor, could you at least offset it by real cursor size? Right now the text is completely messed into my monster cursors.


And I suggest doing the "visibility tests" on a real topomap, not on OSM. OSM is a very easy case since it is mostly mono colored. Kompass, IGN, etc are much harder.

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I did tests on topo maps, result: not best but useful.


and monster cursor :) .. I`ll fix it

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ps, i did many visibility tests already and a one pixel outline was never enough. i really needed this "alpha-shadow" to make it work on every map. no idea if android allows that easily.

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>..a one pixel outline was never enough..


agree


and digits are covered too...


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yes digits are covered. It`s harder task because lines are completely independent on other map items ... task for next evenings

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Distance and Bearing:


Its much better now than before. I still think the positioning is less than ideal. A single text placed in the middle of the line between starting point (or screen border) and center cross would be better. It avoids the mess at both cursors automatically.


Also... a vertical "distance" would really be appreciated. Instantaneous information about how much is left to climb is more important than a bearing, at least in the mountains. I know this is asking for configurability again... sorry :-). The config file for advanced users could use some format strings, like "linetocursortext=%distance kmn%vertical m"


Dynamic Altitude:


This is a bit far off now, but I know I brought this onto myself by requesting a proper cursor size offset. Looks as if you add too much spacing though, it is a lot further away than the actual cursor size. Maybe some clash with the androids cursor dpi scaling?

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There is really too much going on in the center already. Distance&Bearing should be elsewhere.

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Is it possible to show bearing in degrees with more precision? For example show 61,544 degrees.

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Hello Sergey,


do you really think it have any sense? Even whole degrees are by me too precise ... what usage you expect from this?

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I use your program to search for point-like objects, such as pipes, electric poles, even at greater distances from the observation point (6-15km).

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