This object is in archive! 

Track line width/letter size/centering/slow offline map download

Géza Györgyi shared this question 7 years ago
Answered

Hello Developers,


(1) Track line width: Please allow line width scontrol in settings! I mean the thickness of color marked track lines included with the vector offline maps, that is, not created by me, not a specific route, but part of the downloaded map. These line widths are too thick on S5, possibly covering other important details on the map. There is a route line thickness control in pixels within settings, but it does not have effect on the color track lines, of course because the latter are not routes.


(2) Letter sizes: There is a big difference in letter sizes for various objects, sometimes a large town name is visible, but no other mark, and when I zoom on, others appear in small letters. Maybe the size scale could also be set, that is, the jump in size for various categories.


(3) Centering: If I allow to recenter map to actual position then, if I am inactive for some time, it often occurs that I get suddenly recentered to actual even if I was active on the screen. So I turn off centering, then I recenter. Therefore it would be good to have a switch that always centers about actual position, no matter whether automatic centering is turned on or off. If there is such, please tell me about it.


(4) Offline map download: There is a very strict download limit of offline bitmaps. 5000 tiles daily does not permit to download maps of a land, where I plan to travel, within a reasonable time. Better make it for pay, noone wants to spend weeks to download maps for even a small country. I see that the option is to buy vector, but why not allow buying bitmap. Finally, the offline bitmap for Hungary is quite outdated. The actual hiking maps published by the main Hungarian touristic-map-making company Cartographia are very good, you could buy and resell them.


Very good software, best wishes for further development.

Replies (13)

photo
1

Hi,


1) what vector maps do you use? What theme? In LoMaps you can switch hiking routes off if you need.

2) texts in vector maps can be resized in settings > maps > offline, resolution of raster maps can be resized in settings > maps >advanced >map resolution

3) centering button is in the bottom left corner

4) firstly, we are not producers of any raster maps - all terms and limits of downloading are stated by map providers. Limits vary depending on the provider. Providers protect their servers from collapsing which is why they place downloading limits so low. All the same, update status of raster maps is not our business - they are managed by their providers. We provide only LoMaps - vector maps based on OSM data.


As for Cartographia maps - they don't provide map data for mobile phones - their web portal Funiq is based on OSM data which we offer in many versions and won't add another one.

photo
1

The previous comment was a too early upload, which I cannot delete now. Below I repeat some of those questions and add some more.


--------------------------------


Dear Michal,

Thank you for your detailed answer, several questions are now settled. Here are a few more remarks, the items 1-4 refer to the same numbers in the previous list. You don't have to answer all questions at once of course.

1) Just bought my first vector LoMap, and found out how to switch off layers. I would like, however, to see the marked tracks, but thinner lines on the screen would better. Presently at crossroads the thick lines may cover much area. So it would be nice if line thickness could be adjusted, or perhaps to have a mode where only the color rectangle trail marks are shown but the lines are omitted.

2) Thank you for telling me about the overall letter size setting, but there are actually different text sizes on one map scale, like in town and street names. It may be useful to have control also over the size ratio of various text labels at a given map scale, by that the smallest size could be made larger. Illegibly small letters are superfluous on the map. In addition, you could set a lower limit for text size. If you already have such settings, please tell me where to find them.

3) I did know the position of the centering button, but I needed some experimenting to find out how it works. I noticed a quite intricate behavior, namely, if autocenter was turned off then blue does not indicate autocentering, it only shows centering, whereas if autocenter is on, then blue means it is kept on, whereas grey shows that the setting is overridden and autocenter turned off. Correct? If that is explained somewhere, please point it out to me.

How can I change the timeout (now 5 sec) for autocentering? I could not find by "search" in the manual how to reset configuration variables.

4) Indeed LoMaps are of comparable quality with the paper maps of Cartographia. So it seems that raster maps should be used only if one knows that they have more detail than OSM, like orienteering maps. Can you recommend orienteering maps that are known to work well with Locus?

5) Voice navigation sometimes says "to the left", sometimes "to six" (o'clock) in Hungarian. How should I understand the clock numbers, it certainly does not mean I must turn back, to "six". The error may be also with the translation. Is this feature configurable?

Sometimes I miss a street or trail at a junction, but am not getting any voice warning.

6) How can I end, or, alternatively, suspend an active navigation? Somewhere I read about an "end navigation" button, but do not find it.

7) There are three places where route line color and width can be configured: (i) general route (ii) navigation routes (iii) individual route configuration. It seems that a new navigation routes takes (i) but not (ii). So what does (ii) control? In (iii) I see more options, like line style, etc., can they be generally configured?

8) In the navigation window I can find the last used routes, and I can delete all of them. How can I delete some selected routes?

9) How can I add a point to be an intermediate point of an existing route such that the original route is recalculated and the new point is included in the path. Essentially the new point would be the endpoint of the first part of the route, from where the route goes on to the original endpoint.

10) The display shows a big rectangle at the starting point of a navigation route, with basic data of the route. Please tell me how to turn it on/off.

Congenial software, best wishes for your project.

photo
2

1,2) Thank you for your remarks, we'll consider them, but we are not going to add user-editing options of LoMaps to the app so far.


3) Centering button centers cursor on your position on your immediate demand, "auto-centering" does so automatically after some time. The interval can be edited in "config.cfg" file, parameter map_hold_center_method_timeout, more info in http://docs.locusmap.eu/doku.php?id=manual:advanced:customization:config

4) LoMaps are rendered from raw vector data of OSM project. OSM rate of detail varies depending on local OSM communities. We have no information how active is Hungarian community, anyway, it's obvious that OSM maps are not detailed everywhere. As for the scales, vector maps are zoomed to level 22, raster maps usually only to level 15-16 which is approximate equivalent of 1:50 000 - 1:25 000. More would result in enormous amount of data.

photo
1

Can you recommend orienteering maps that are known to work well with Locus?

- sorry, I've no idea what orienteering maps in Hungary are good or what are their sources - e.g. here in Czech rep. orienteering clubs draw their maps themselves.

5) Voice navigation sometimes says "to the left", sometimes "to six" (o'clock) in Hungarian. How should I understand the clock numbers, it certainly does not mean I must turn back, to "six". The error may be also with the translation. Is this feature configurable?

- navigation commands are not configurable. "Left, right etc." is used during navigation from A to B or along a route (voice files or TTS), clocks are used for notification of points or when deviating a route (TTS only). Clocks represent simplified compass - 9 o'clock is 90°left, 3o'clock 90°right. Are clocks used also during navigation in Hungarian version?

Sometimes I miss a street or trail at a junction, but am not getting any voice warning.

- that happens when the navigation commands are generated from a ready made route (manually drawn or imported). Locus generates the command according to the shape of the route which can sometimes result in missing commands at some points

6) How can I end, or, alternatively, suspend an active navigation? Somewhere I read about an "end navigation" button, but do not find it.

- http://docs.locusmap.eu/doku.php?id=manual:user_guide:functions:navigation#navigation_control_menu

7) There are three places where route line color and width can be configured: (i) general route (ii) navigation routes (iii) individual route configuration. It seems that a new navigation routes takes (i) but not (ii). So what does (ii) control? In (iii) I see more options, like line style, etc., can they be generally configured?

- Style of routes/tracks in general: http://docs.locusmap.eu/doku.php?id=manual:user_guide:tracks:management#track_route_style

- "navigating" route is just way of highlighting an existing route along which you are navigated or a route that is calculated by a router from point A to B ('Navigate to' function). It can be set in settings > navigation > style on map

8) In the navigation window I can find the last used routes, and I can delete all of them. How can I delete some selected routes?

- only all can be deleted at once

9) How can I add a point to be an intermediate point of an existing route such that the original route is recalculated and the new point is included in the path. Essentially the new point would be the endpoint of the first part of the route, from where the route goes on to the original endpoint.

- when the navigation has started, there's no way how to add a transit (or via) point. You have to abort the navigation and create a new one including the new via point - http://docs.locusmap.eu/doku.php?id=manual:user_guide:functions:navigation:point-to-point. If you mean editing an existing route in your database, you can edit it on map: http://docs.locusmap.eu/doku.php?id=manual:user_guide:tracks:planning#editing_already_saved_tracks_and_routes

10) The display shows a big rectangle at the starting point of a navigation route, with basic data of the route. Please tell me how to turn it on/off.

- try settings > maps > points&tracks > tracks popup content > labels on map - select "do not show"

photo
1

Thank you for your new answers. 1-2) I understand, but size control of markings may be good for users. 3) Yes, but the button does more: it can turn off autocentering. Thank you for the location of the configuration file. 4) Nice clarification.


My previous comment after your first answer was a too early, mistaken upload. I have not seen that in the browser, because it didn't refresh, this is why I uploaded a full list later. If you can delete the former comment, please do so.


I have more questions in the later long comment, please consider also items 5-10. I greatly appreciate your help.

photo
1

Only now, after my latest comments, I see your most recent answer. Excellent, thank you.

photo
1

Dear Michael,


Adding some new questions:


11a) I always would like to have navigation tracks colored by elevation. Nonetheless, I have to set that feature every time I start a navigation. Is there a general setting to fix that?


11b) New settings of thickness or elevation coloring do not take effect immediately, while a navigation is on, usually I have to restart the navigation, sometimes the whole app. That was before the new update, will test the new one soon.


12) Formerly I could make Locus Pro tell me navigation commands aloud, while display was off and the phone was in my pocket. A few months ago I lost this feature, and cannot make it reappear. If screen goes off then voice stops giving directions while navigating; interestingly directions are still given by voice. But I would like to have that rather during navigation... What may have gone wrong? I hope you will have some ideas without me having to send you the config file, but if you needed it, please let me know.


I had a problem with default directories, , if they had been on the SD card, namely, after reboot or app update they were forgotten and I had to set them again. This problem just seems to have been solved with the new update, thank you.


I greatly enjoy your map software, please go on developing it.


Best wishes,


Géza Györgyi

photo
1

HI Géza,


11a) I don't understand the question as the navigation line style can be set only in basic colour, opacity and thickness

11b) the same as 11a - what do you mean by navigation?

12) you write that " voice stops giving directions while navigating; interestingly directions are still given by voice" so I don't understand - does the voice navigation work or not?


best regards


Michal

photo
1

Hi Michael,


Thank you for your quick response.


11a) When I start a new navigation route then indeed I can only set those simple features you wrote about. When, however, I reopen "Information" on the route of an ongoing navigation then I have the option to reset style, disable the "use style of the folder", and fine tune coloring. Among else, I can set the latter to "change of elevation". Understandably, I would like to have my favorite style settings as my default, rather than having to tune them each time anew.


The coloring by "elevation change" is very useful, how come that you have not heard about that?


11b) I meant navigation turned on, for a route calculated by BRouter. Sometimes I have to exit from Locus and restart it, or at least restart the navigation, in order to have the new settings to take effect.


12) Voice navigation does not work, but directional guidance does! Sorry, I omitted "guidance" from my email.


I found something since my previous letter: If I touch the guidance panel then I get a menu, below which there is box "mute sounds navigation", which was checked. I unchecked it, but after some time, maybe also after restarts, I found it checked (muted) again. How can I have it unmuted by default?


The settings are quite complex, but the app is ingenious. I will appreciate any advice,


best,


Géza

photo
1

Hi Géza,


11a) navigation is a process of directing user along a route. For this Locus uses two modes - navigation and guidance. Navigation by default colors the route in pink and thick line - this color and thickness can be altered. Routes and tracks are displayed in Track manager - there the style of the lines can be set in many ways, see http://docs.locusmap.eu/doku.php?id=manual:user_guide:tracks:management#track_route_style

11b) I can't simulate the situation, sorry

12) check your navigation voice settings ins settings > navigation > select voice or settings > language&units > test-to-speech settings or start navigation > volume (make sure the "mute" is unchecked)

photo
1

Hi,

no more reactions here for more than a month, I'm closing this topic. If you need anything, please contact us in a new topic at help.locusmap.eu.

Michal

Locus team

photo
1

Dear Michael, I am responding on mobile to an old email, hope it reaches you.

My saved tracks are very coarse, just long lines cutting across terrain, instead of a fine curve. I set distance of track points to 10m, still my polygon has edges of 100's of meters. I have this problem since long time ago and couldn't cure it.

I hope you'll have some advice.

Best,

Géza Györgyi

Locus map pro user

gyorgyigeza1@gmail.com

On 2017. augusztus 15. de. 8:05:16 Locus Map <locus.map@asamm.com> wrote:

photo
1

Hi,

this issue is almost always caused by battery optimization of your device. Exclude Locus Map from this optimization or switch the optimization off. More info: http://docs.locusmap.eu/doku.php?id=manual:faq:gps_lost_fix_android6. Another option: increase "Maximum required accuracy" parameter in Locus track recording settings.

Replies have been locked on this page!