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Archive for June, 2011

Location Coordinates (Plus Reverse Geocoding?) With GeoPicker

Published in coordinates, geocoding, Google Maps and GPS. 1 Comment

Application Name: GeoPicker

Description: Gives you latitude/longitude coordinates for a selected point, plus supposedly reverse geocoding (address from coordinates/position).

Publisher’s website: Android Life

Cost: Free

Version/date reviewed: v.1.2  /  6-25-11

Phone/OS: Droid X / Android 2.3

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Android Market (mobile app only)
Android Market (browser)

GeoPicker is a simple, easy-to-use geographic utility for determine latitude/longitude coordinates for a location. It also may have a killer feature for most of you: reverse geocoding for a point (address from coordinate position). But more on this in a bit …

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App fires up the GPS automatically, but defaults to a position in the middle of the US.

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Select “My Location” from the menu to go to your current GPS location. Tapping on the coordinate display toggles between degrees-minutes-seconds (boo) and decimal degrees (yay). As in standard Google Maps, pinch to zoom, or tap on the map and use the +/- zoom controls; touch and drag to scroll.

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As you scroll, a red “X” appears under the final pin location. Stop scrolling and …

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… the pin drops into location.

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From the app Menu, you can copy the current coordinates into your phone’s clipboard, for pasting into another app. Other options include getting driving directions from your current position to the selected point, toggling between Google Maps/Satellite views, and searching for landmarks and addresses.

The app also has an option for telling you what the nearest address to the current pin location is (reverse geocoding), but unfortunately this caused my Droid X to force-close the app every time. From the App Market comments, this appears to be a common problem with Motorola Droid phones; other phones may not have this issue. You can do something similar in Google Maps, albeit with less precision – a long press on a location in Google Maps will bring up the closest address to the selected location as a pop-up balloon. Tapping on that popup balloon will take you to a page with additional options like directions, Street View, and local search. However, there’s no crosshair for positioning in Google Maps, so you have to zoom in very close to be able to place your finger in the right spot.

Final thoughts: Handy utility for picking up arbitrary position coordinates, especially if you need to copy/paste them into another app. If the reverse geocoding works for you, that’s an added bonus.




Measure Distances, Get Elevation Profiles With Survey

Published in altitude, compass, distance, elevation, Google Maps, GPS, height and measurement. 0 Comments

Application Name: Survey

Description: Distance and elevation profile tool

Publisher’s website: sys-irap

Cost: Free (ad-supported)

Version/date reviewed: v.0.7.3  /  6-23-11

Phone/OS: Droid X / Android 2.3

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Android Market (mobile app only)
Android Market (browser)

The Survey app is an odd mix of different functions, some of which work well and are useful, others less so.

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Start up the app, and get three options: Measure, Short distance, and Long distance.

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“Measure” brings up the view from your camera (not visible in the screenshot above), along with a graduated on-screen scale and slider. The idea here is that if you know the distance to an object, you can set it using the slider, and the scale will adjust to measure the true size. Not really sure how useful this is, as it only works out to a distance of 5 meters max, and fairly small sizes. Seems to me it would be easier just to pull out a tape measure.

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The “Short distance” option brings up another camera view, and a superimposed ground line (red) and ground mesh. The idea here is that if you’ve entered the camera’s height above the ground in the Settings section, and if you put the ground line at the base of an object at the same ground level as you, you can determine the distance to the object, and use the vertical scale to determine the height. It works, sort of, but only to about a distance of 75-80 meters, and not very accurately at that. The Smart Measure app works in a similar fashion, but is easier to use and is marginally more accurate.

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The “Long distance” function is substantially more useful. Select this option, and you’ll get a Google Maps view with your current GPS location plotted as a base location. You can tap and drag this icon to set a different base location; unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to reset it to your current GPS location without backing out of this screen. The icon control at top left toggle between Google Maps/Satellite views (right icon), while the one at right centers the view on the current base location.

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A long press on a different location on the map creates a “survey point” at that location, marked with a camera icon. Press the “Survey” button at the bottom …

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… and get coordinates/elevations for base location and survey point, and the distance from the base point to the survey point. “G.H.” stands for “ground height”, and is determined by GPS for the base location, and always set to 0 for the survey point. You can adjust the ground height for either location with the button controls to the right.

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Tap on the camera icon, and get an augmented reality view through your camera, with the arrow telling you which direction you need to rotate the camera to have it oriented towards the survey point.

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When oriented correctly, the survey point will show up as a blue dot, labeled with the distance.

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Tap the other icon from the map screen, and get a plot of elevation from the base location to the survey point in orange. It’s not clear from the app what the green and red lines are; I believe they’re elevation plots and direct point-to-point sight lines that include the curvature of the earth’s surface, but I’m not sure.

Other issues: This app really needs better documentation; it’s not entirely clear how some of these functions work. The app description also implies that you can take geotagged camera shots of various screen views, but I couldn’t figure out how to get that to work.

Final thoughts: There’s the kernel of a good app here, and it’s worth taking a look at. But I prefer Smart Measure for distance/height measurements, and AltitudeProfiler for elevation profiles (though the latter has data download limits).




Add GPS Status Data To Any GPS-Enabled App

Published in GPS. 0 Comments

Application Name: GPS Monitor

Description: Shows basic GPS data in the status bar whenever any app enables GPS

Publisher’s website: Illyrium

Cost: Free basic version; paid Pro version adds additional features

Version/date reviewed: v.1.0.5  /  6-22-11

Phone/OS: Droid X / Android 2.3

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Android Market (mobile app only)
Android Market (browser)

Many GPS apps for Android come with a GPS status screen that shows the number of GPS satellites currently in the sky, the number of satellites for which a signal has been found, and whether a GPS location fix has been locked in. However, many popular apps like Google Maps/Navigation/Earth have no such indicator; there’s only a GPS status bar indicator that shows you whether you have a fix or not. GPS Monitor adds an additional indicator to the status bar that shows the number of satellites that a signal is being received from, the number of satellites for which there’s a position “fix”, and whether a final position fix has been obtained.

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Running the program starts up a resident service on your Android phone; anytime you start up a program that enables your GPS, the service adds an icon to the status bar (above, at left). The number indicates the number of GPS satellites from which a signal is being received, while the “red eye” indicates that no position fix has been obtained.

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Once a GPS position lock has been obtained, the “red eye” turns in to the green symbol seen at upper left; the green number indicates the number of satellites for which a signal lock has been obtained.  You can change this number to all satellites in view using the program’s Settings section, but the default setting of satellites with a signal lock is probably the best option.

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Pull down the status bar, and you’ll get more information, including the total number of satellites for which a signal is being received (the first number), and the number of “signal lock” satellites (the second number).

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The second line in the status bar dropdown is an additional information field that can be specified in the Settings section; however, I couldn’t get this to work on my phone for any of the options (from the app reviews, I gather this is an anomaly). Another available option in Settings is to start/stop the GPS Monitor service, but even after disabling this option, it started up again on its own when I rebooted my phone. It uses about 6-7 MB of RAM, something to keep in mind if you have a low RAM phone or a lot of other services running.

Other issues: The paid Pro version currently only adds an audio tone to indicate when GPS has been enabled, and when a fix has been obtained. The developer indicates that he’ll be adding GPS diagnostics to the app, as well as a “keep alive” option that will keep the GPS running even when no app requires it. The latter is great for quick position fixes, but can really burn through your battery very quickly.

Final thoughts: Unless RAM is tight on your system, installing the free version is a no-brainer; having a satellite status/number icon for apps that don’t come with it is a huge help in figuring out whether your GPS is working correctly or not. For the paid Pro version, I would wait until the additional features are added (and also whether the additional information field is working on your system).




Day/Night World Map

Published in astronomy and time. 0 Comments

Application Name: Daylight World Map

Description: Shows day/night regions in world map.

Publisher’s website: SPWebGames

Cost: Free (ad-supported

Version/date reviewed: v.2.31  /  6-15-11

Phone/OS: Droid X / Android 2.2

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Android Market (mobile app only)
Android Market (browser)

Daylight World Map is the Android version of the classic Geochron wall clock that shows day/night conditions on a scrolling world map, but without the multi-thousand-dollar price tag.

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Shaded areas indicate night (sun below horizon, while light areas indicate daylight; the yellow dot is the current location where the sun is directly overhead. Red dots are cities (which can be turned on/off), and the crosshairs show the current selected location.

The control icons on the left/right are a bit cryptic. On the left, top to bottom, they are:

  • Full-screen – Shows the map view full screen, without control icons or the ad.
  • Zoom in
  • Zoom out
  • Info – Toggles an info box for the currently selected location:

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  • Settings – Lets you select the map background, turn cities on/off, and turn the info box on/off:

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  • Exit – Exits the program.

The right controls:

  • Set location – Select this, and then choose either your phone location (at the top of the list), or the desired country:

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  • After selecting a country, you’re given an additional control to select the city:

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  • Date control – Lets you change the date for which the sunlight map is displayed (from the default, which is the current date).
  • Time control – Lets you change the time for the sunlight map (default is now). It’s in UTC (Greenwich time), so you’ll need to know the offset in hours between your current time zone and Greenwich time.
  • Time controls – The right/left arrow controls let you speed up/slow down/reverse time, and watch an animated view how the daylight zone changes. Tap on either of these buttons, and a “stop” button shows up below them to stop the animation. Tap on the “stop” button, and it changes to an “RT” button, “real-time”, that brings the display back to the current day and time.

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As a bonus, it installs an Android widget that displays a mini-map on any Android screen that has enough free space. Long-tap on the widget, and it starts up the full app.

Other issues: Crashed once on me, but otherwise worked fine.

Final thoughts: A nice implementation of a day/night world map. I wish the icons were a bit more intuitive, and easier to view onscreen. But once you learn how they work, it’s not too tough to remember what functions they represent.




Range Circles In A Google Maps View With CircleMap

Published in distance, Google Maps, GPS and measurement. 0 Comments

Application Name: CircleMap

Description: Draws range circles in a Google Maps view

Publisher’s website: pscdroid

Cost: Free (ad-supported)

Version/date reviewed: v.1.1.4  /  6-14-11

Phone/OS: Droid X / Android 2.2

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Android Market (mobile app only)
Android Market (browser)

CircleMap draws a set of concentric range circles on top of a Google Maps interface.

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The initial view shows a wide-area zoom, with constant distance circles centered on your current location. Use pinch-to-zoom to zoom in and out, or tap on the screen, and +/- zoom controls will appear at the bottom.

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As you zoom in, the distance spacing for circles changes to match the zoom; unfortunately, you have no control over the spacing. Your current location starts out in the center, but if you drag the map over, a distance measure (red line with distance in metric units) will show up, indicating the distance between your current location and the center point of the map.

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From the menu control, you can set a base location for measurement other than your current location by scrolling to the desired location and choosing “Set base point”. The “Current position” control puts your current GPS location at the center of the screen; if that’s not the current base point, choosing “Set base point” will make it so. Finally, “Change map” toggles between the standard Google Maps view and the satellite/hybrid view. The latter doesn’t work very well, as the range circles are drawn with such thin red lines that they’re difficult to see against some backgrounds.

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The pencil control in the lower-right-hand corner of the first three screenshots lets you draw freehand on the map, but the utility of this is marginal; it makes the range circles go away, and you can’t save your drawings. Tap on the double-arrow control to erase the drawing and go back to the range circles view.

Final thoughts: The only app of its kind that I could find on the market, and does a decent basic job. Would be a lot better if you had control over range circle spacing and units, and the thickness/color of the circle lines.