Database Info

Off Road GPS Software

I know TomTom is good at on road navigation. Is there any Decent GPS software that uses OS maps, maybe 1:50000 or 1:25000 off road for hill walking etc.

I've tried most of them, and I reckon the best for O.S. maps is
http://www.memory-map.co.uk
They have a CD with all of them on it.
If you don't mid georeferencing them yourself, you might also try http://www.gpsdash.com or www.oziexplorer.com.
GPSDash is the only one that lets you georeference on your PocketPC. The others make you reference the maps on the PC and export them.
Ozi Explorer is faster, and re-projects maps from other formats into WGS84 (so you can use lat/long on OS maps instad of easings/northings). if you are using a bluetooth GPS, there is an issue with using Ozi on the XDA2 (see http://216.218.220.254/ozice/faq_ppc2003.html) which you can solve using Bluetooth Tools (see the article).
A free (but basic) alternative is www.locbrowser.com
One other thing to bear in mind is that TomTom 2.7 upwards will have messed up your bluetooth stack (unless you're running WM2003SE), so you need to soft-reset your Pocket PC after using TomTom before any other GPS program will work. It happens because Tomtom doesn't release the com port even after it has shut down.
Hope that's useful!

Thanks for the suggestions, I will have a look at them. What Would be perfect is a moving 1:25000 map with a cursor where I am. With waypoints and route planning in advance, like real GPS units do.
I have not had any issues with TomTom3 however i dont have any other GPS software to test it with. Yet.
Thanks. M8.

I use Memory-Map and it has all that you mention. 1:25000 is limited at present to National Parks etc but more areas are coming. We've full reviews on our site. You also get both PC and PPC clients so can plan on the PC, upload to the PPC and then copy the actual route you took back to the PC afterwards.
MM2004 has many additional features such as 3D bump mapping on the PC to give a virtual 3D respresentation of an area. Both PC and PPC Clients can be used with a GPS.

yes i like the look of this, will download over the weekend and trial it out in the parks 20 mile away.

Possibly a little late but the trial has no GPS functionality. Just in case you were planning to test this!

Doh, thanks for letting me know, i hadnt downloaded it yet.
Whats the point of a trial that doesnt trial the full software. Its just forces people to look elwhere.

To be fair few offer any trial at all so Memory-Map are to be applauded for offering something.
And as you can only 'trial' it with the small sample map they offer which is unlikley to be of your area then its only purpose is to show you the interface etc.
It is however the best in its field for good reason and I can highly reccomend it.

OK, will take a look at their software, and the maps, for the price it does look good value.

Geotaging pictures on pda (gps question)

I have looked for any info on this over the last few weks and im really surprised that nobody else wants to do this on a pda!
I have posted in the Artemis area but nobody can help!
What im after is a 3rd party program to embed gps coordinates when i take a picture on my pda.The Artemis has a built in gps but im sure other bluetooth receivers would do the same job
I have since learned that this is called geotagging and some digital cameras with now embed the gps coordinated onto the picture. Web sites like http://www.panoramio.com/ which make a kml file to view your pics in google earth.
At the moment tho i have to find these coordinates by using picasa 2
and using their geotag option but you still have to find the location manually on google earth
download picasa here: http://picasa-server.com/?s=yp_uk&OV...MTC=s tandard
It would be so much easier to be able to just take a pic on the Artemis and have the coordinates automacally embedded on to the file!
Any new ideas please please????

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocoded_photo
it mentiones quite a few methods of including geotag into a picture. i think the best method suiting your needs would be:
Wikipedia said:
Syncing coordinates from GPX tracks into the Exif header using software that compares time stamps. The software programs RoboPhoto, RoboGEO, Quakemap, and TopoFusion, as well as the web-based services GeoSnapper and Thingster, can match up photos in this way. For the Mac, PhotoGPSEditor will do the trick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
also, i remember seeing somewhere a software which logged gps position into a simple log file, so it would be easy to develop an app which use that data without dealing with gps receiver. Now if we had a software that edits exif jpeg tags on pocketpc, we could use this gps log file... i know thats the big if...

got it sorted check this thread out http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=1143082#post1143082

(Q) GPS Track Performance Software

Hello,
I'm looking for a program that uses the built in GPS of the Touch Pro to record a track & then be able to show the time taken to do the track, the time, speed & altitude at various parts of the track, & be able to be overlayed over a satellite image from google maps or other map file.
I can't find anything that does all this. Does anyone know of a software like this?
Thanx

look for trackme. That will do everything your require.

Thanx that looks fairly close to what I wanted, I'm just not sure how well it will work since I want to use it for motor sport but i'll give it a try.
Any other programs out there?

FUN APP: HD2 Pilot Flight Display using GPS

!! FUN APPLICATION, NOT INTENDED TO BE USED IN REAL WORLD AVIATION !!
For all those flight-sim enthusiasts out there: I have created this PFD (primary flight display) which shows the speed, the altitude the coards and the attitude similar to a real PFD display in an airplane cockpit.
Although the application has been created and tested on an HTC HD2, it might work on other devices as well. Internel or external GPS and the HTC G-Sensor are required. It is planned to add a serial communication channel to a PC server component which allows to use this little proggy with MS Flight Simulator displaying the flight parameters so you can get rid of the cockpit panel on your primary display.
Just keep in mind that this is the first version of the program, so there might be *some* improvement potential.
A screenshot of the program is also attached.
Pls let me know what you think about it.
Thanks.

As a pilot I cannot find any sense in this, sorry m8.
Useless for aviation.
Useful might be an HSI-App, an RAIM-availability-check-App, a NOTAM-APP and so on. An artificial horizon on a handheld device... No, not good...

Title correction...
It is just for fun, not intended for real world aviation.
I will change the title so that it becomes more clear.

As an airbus pilot I like it! Lots of scope for further development, keep up the good work !

when I read your discrip, I had something totaly dif pictured in my mind. guess Im falling back on my sail plane lesson days.
I had round face dial and a yaw bubble pictured.
While this is cool, I would prefer to see the old analog style with an altimeter that you can set your start altitude and a yaw bubble, rather than the HUD style. just IMO.
And yes this is just for fun.
Keep it up, I will follow your project with intrest.
cheers

Good Work mate
While some are critical in their opinion I'm pleased with your app.
Keep up the good work mate and for all others who are not so encouraging ...... what do you want for an app a full blown flight simulator, the guys making an effort to develop something and sharing it for a free with us so to help him out at least .... I mean at least encourage him and make some constructive criticisms.
It doesn't cost to be nice and help to motivate others...........

Customize it
Just as a hint for those of you, who would want to use other bitmaps. I have designed the application in a way which allows you to modify or extend it. If you look into the applications program folder, you will find an XML file describing the layout of the display. You may also change or add bitmaps. The bitmaps are all located in the
HTML:
resources
subfolder. If you change the size of the offset of bitmaps, you will have to adjust some values in the XML file as well.
As you can see there all items are drawn in 3d space.
However, I am working on a HSI as suggested before. I will post it later this week.
Known issue:
- After running the application 3 or 4 times, OpenGL is not working properly anymore (not able to create rendering context). This is an issue of OpenGL. You have to restart your device for OpenGL to work again. If anyone has a solution, please let me know.

leihen said:
It is planned to add a serial communication channel to a PC server component which allows to use this little proggy with MS Flight Simulator displaying the flight parameters so you can get rid of the cockpit panel on your primary display.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be awesome!

Cool app
Certainly would be better than no attitude information in the event of a vacuum and/or elec failure.Even if just to make flying the performance instruments a bit easier.
I would defintely like to see a HSI app possibly with an open (editable)waypoint database.Anyone interested!?
Keep up the good work!

I love it. Thanks so much...
I just wonder if settings could be made permanent until being changed again so as to start the application without my having to select REAL and AVERAGE everytime.
And as a proud HTC HD2 owner, the display could me made much
larger indeed...
Congratulations and thanks again.

This is a fine app with a lot of potential esp. for UL-pilots as an emergency backup if UL-airplane-pfd fails.
Would be nice if indicators are bigger and the layout equals to Flymap, Skymap or MGL-layout
There is enough place for a nice big yaw indicator. Maybe You can get some code from GPS-tracker V2.0 (MooNah) in this forum, it already has a full working PFD incorporated.
Good luck with further devs., when next version is online I will try it in my gyroplane.

I think it's fun!!!!!
next step: build a flightsim for wm where we could use this

You will be in real danger....if you do so.
troed said:
This is a fine app with a lot of potential esp. for UL-pilots as an emergency backup if UL-airplane-pfd fails.
Would be nice if indicators are bigger and the layout equals to Flymap, Skymap or MGL-layout
There is enough place for a nice big yaw indicator. Maybe You can get some code from GPS-tracker V2.0 (MooNah) in this forum, it already has a full working PFD incorporated.
Good luck with further devs., when next version is online I will try it in my gyroplane.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As you will easily see, this PFD horizon responds to gravity, that is, to the accelerometers installed in the phone.
It has no gyros, no way to provide PITCH ATTITUDE, WHATSOEVER.
If you keep the phone perfectly vertical and quickly move forward (accelerate) it will SURELY show a pitch up...pretty much the same effects that a stand-by compass shows when changing speed (remember that?...accelerate-north, decelerate-south).
You will have the very same pitch information as the one given by a bottle full
af water suspended from a string, or a can of Coke : and it will KILL YOU as well as your passengers (if any), not to mention people on the ground.
The only usable parts of this FUN APP (as named by the author himself ) in aviation are:
1. True track (not magnetic heading).
2. Altitude (neither QNH, nor QFE related, but of course; unless your flying field happens to be at sea level and actual atmosphere matches the ISA atmosphere parameters exactly). Remember that QNH variations as well as heat will make the GPS readings very different to that of your altimeter, as height of the air column will vary a +/-4% every +/-10 degrees Celsius.
Example. Airplane flying at Flight Level 300. QNH in the area 1023. Terrain at 2000 feet. Atmosphere is ISA+15.
Therefore if we move the 1013.25 setting to 1023 there will be a reading increase from 30.000 feet to 30300 (calibrated altitude, QNH related).
That is 28.300 feet above ground (we start with this as the air column height for the calculation). Since ISA is +15 we add 15/10 times 4% and we have 28300*15/10*4/100= 1698. True altitude is 30300+1698=31988
So we are cruising at FL300, 30.000 feet pressure altitude, 30.300 feet calibrated altitude (QNH related), 31988 above sea level, 29988 feet above ground level.
GPS WILL SHOW 31988 FEET.
3. Ground speed ( neither IAS nor CAS nor EAS nor TAS), as provided by GPS system. Remember that your airplane aerodynamics are related to calibrated speeds....you will stall if too slow ore destroy the airframe if to quick !!!! But you can navigate and make good your track, of course.
Hope I have made myself understood....and that you read this at the earlier !!!

Hi!
It quite very good if the second part under we have the route. I am using the Oziexplore program, it can creates the route, and apear on screen. if this soft applied to that once, could be perfected!
Thanks

great app mate..just for fun...

Nice work thank you. On future can you make like pilot cocpit with all dash boards like in Flith simulator game if this possible. Thank you

leihen said:
!! FUN APPLICATION, NOT INTENDED TO BE USED IN REAL WORLD AVIATION !!
For all those flight-sim enthusiasts out there: I have created this PFD (primary flight display) which shows the speed, the altitude the coards and the attitude similar to a real PFD display in an airplane cockpit.
Although the application has been created and tested on an HTC HD2, it might work on other devices as well. Internel or external GPS and the HTC G-Sensor are required. It is planned to add a serial communication channel to a PC server component which allows to use this little proggy with MS Flight Simulator displaying the flight parameters so you can get rid of the cockpit panel on your primary display.
Just keep in mind that this is the first version of the program, so there might be *some* improvement potential.
A screenshot of the program is also attached.
Pls let me know what you think about it.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed as an Ultralight-Gyroplane-Pilot I like this app and since the Horizon-tab in GPS-Tracker by MooNah doesn´t work right now this could be alternative as a a last resort-backup if glass-cockpit instruments (MGL-Avionics) fail ...... (better to have this than nothing at all and I also have Flymap PPC on my HD2 if main Moving map Nav. fails)
This app has great potential since it reads the infos from G-sensor and GPS.
For the future dev. if I might add my wishlist:
1. Add to screen: slide-indicator and compass, Altitude
2. slightly more refined graphics
As a start: BRAVO, hope You have the patience to go on developing this nice app ( like Dunc001, that made in 100s of hours of work a professional weather app - Duncans Weather Panel - see there - that is more reliable than many professional aviation weather briefings).
I bookmarked this thread and hope for further developments by U
Congratulations

like the Android solution ixGyro:
http://www.ixellence.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=227&Itemid=274&lang=de

JHimmelbauer said:
like the Android solution ixGyro:
http://www.ixellence.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=227&Itemid=274&lang=de
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jepp, EXACTLY THIS would be cool on the HD2 on WinMo (Android not running on mine) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

troed said:
Jepp, EXACTLY THIS would be cool on the HD2 on WinMo (Android not running on mine) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a other solution for Windows Mobile is "Inclinometer77" -
visit http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=6677074
This App goes in the right direction, but unfortunately not to use without Gyro in a Plane, but a nice game for pilots ;-)
Happy Landings

[APP][1.6+] MM Tracker

Hi,
i created an App called 'MM Tracker' which is able to read QCT maps from Memory Map from SD Card and displays them.
The current GPS position is displayed and tracks can be recorded, saved and (re)loaded.
There is a free version called 'MM Tracker FREE' to test the App on your device.
The free version is just displaying your current position on the map.
All other features can only be used with the full version.
Features are:
Tracks are stored to SD card as GPX files
GPS track will be drawn on map
Track properties can be adapted (color, width and opacity)
Overlay Manager for Tracks, Routes and Waypoints
Waypoints can be created at GPS position or by manual entry of coordinates
Routes can be created
Displays compass on map
Map can rotate in direction of travel or by compass
Pinch zoom
Support for landscape and portrait display
MMI files can be used to search places
New maps at current position can be selected with context menu
Maps with larger/lower scale can be selected with on screen buttons
When leaving the current map a new map will be automatically loaded (when available)
'Lock to GPS' can be enabled to scroll the map while you are moving
'Screen Lock' can be enabled to prevent unwanted touch input
When device is switched off (standby) MM Tracker is still recording tracks
Displays the map scale
Volume buttons can be used to zoom in and out
MM Tracker does not support the new Memory-Map format QC3 / DRM encrypted QCT!
Important:
Due to limitations of the Android NDK currently only maps smaller than 2GB are supported! If the map is bigger than 2GB, the map tiles beyond 2GB will displayed as white tiles.
'MM Tracker' runs on Android 2.1+. For Android 1.6 there is a special version of 'MM Tracker' called 'MM Tracker 16'
The development of 'MM Tracker' is ongoing and new features will be added frequently. Feel free to suggest....
You can find all info about 'MM Tracker' here: http://sites.google.com/site/mmtrackerinfo/
Have fun...

MM Tracker is now available for Android 2.1.
As i only could test it with the SDK emulator, it would be great if you could post some feedback.
Michael

Michael,
thank you very much for releasing MM Tracker. I have downloaded the free version, and it's absolutely brilliant. I would say it works so much better than MemoryMap, since MemoryMap on WM had a problem with maps bigger than 200MB. The 2GB limit that still holds for Android makes things so much easier, in that I don't have to split maps any longer.
A few updates that I would suggest are:
speed vector
ability to read elevation data (*.qed files) and to display the elevation profile of a route or a track.
ability to read mmi data and search for a place by name.
With the above features, MM Tracker would be an ideal replacement for MemoryMap Mobile.
Keep up the good work, Michael...
ccristal

Hi ccristal,
thanks for your feedback.
The speed vector is a feature which i am currently working on. But i am not yet satisfied with the results. So it will be available with one of the next updates.
Rgearding QED and Search-Function... the problem is that i do not know how to read QED and MMI files. So for now this is not possible.
It would be great if anybody could supply a specification of the QED and MMI files
Best regards,
Michael

Map Man said:
Rgearding QED and Search-Function... the problem is that i do not know how to read QED and MMI files. So for now this is not possible.
It would be great if anybody could supply a specification of the QED and MMI files
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well... you were not supposed to know the format of the .qct file either. If you reverse engineered that one, I'm sure you can figure out qed and mmi as well...
EDIT: oops... I just realized that the QCT format is public... but we can still work on the other two. I've just opened a .mmi file with a hex editor, it doesn't seem impossible to decode. Let me investigate some more and I'll let you know...
ccristal

Yep you are right ... QCT is sort of public As you can find various descriptions in the internet it was just about to put them in code.
As far as i know the QED format is similar to the QCT format. Only the tile size differs and maybe some other details. I will check this.
And i had a look into some MMI files. Seems to be very straight forward:
1.Section defines Categories
2.Section: Placenames and coordinates
But details have to be figured out.
If you get some more informations, it would be great if you could let me know.
Best regards,
Michael

Map Man said:
If you get some more informations, it would be great if you could let me know.l
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check your private messages...
ccristal

GREAT app mapman...
Downgraded to 2.1 as dislike android 2.2..
Works well but occasionally lags a bit when moving fast cross country.
Would like to suggest OSGB grid refs and map rotation to compass direction and a compass too..
With these features it will run circles round Memory map.
Have to say there are a lot of us where am stationed who are very pleased with this app...
Looking forward to future releases and YES will be buying full version in next week or two...
regards
Lohtse

Thanks
Hi MapMan
Thanks for this great app, having been 'forced' to switch recently from an HD2 (WM6.5) to a Desire, I became resigned to the fact that Memory Map appear not to want to support Android this side of the next millennium, so the ability to use my OS maps on my HTC Desire is very welcome indeed. Thanks. !! I switched from the free app to the full version after about 2 mins of evaluation.
The App works well for my basic needs, although as commented above, the ability to see height profiles would be welcome, although in terms of my priority wish list I would welcome the opportunity to :-
1 Accurately create routes on the device - with route properties in Miles and Knots (as well as Km). I would like to be able to create routes and edit route points - perhaps by nudging them with the central optical button. This was a great problem with WM6.5 on my old HD2 where all you could do was move the very small point with a very large finger !, and perhaps in slower time look at the route elevation profile.
2 Whilst its good to see tracks displayed, I can't seem to be able to save them - perhaps I'm doing something wrong.
3 A route arrow - although not a high priority for me.
Overall a great app and given my large investment in paid OS maps, this really is worth every penny. To be honest I would have paid 10 times as much for it. I just hope you don't get hassle from MM. Thanks

Hi lohtse,
congrats, finally you got rid of Android 2.2
I spent some hours to get it on my Desire ..... tastes are different
lohtse said:
Would like to suggest OSGB grid refs and map rotation to compass direction and a compass too..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a lot of people were asking for it i have planned to implement some support for OS Grid. But honestly... i think map rotation is not on the "roadmap" of MM Tracker
Today i added the speed vector as a first step. I think compass could be a nice feature too.
Happy tracking,
Michael

Hi paul144,
great to hear that you like MM Tracker.
paul144 said:
1 Accurately create routes on the device - with route properties in Miles and Knots (as well as Km). I would like to be able to create routes and edit route points - perhaps by nudging them with the central optical button. This was a great problem with WM6.5 on my old HD2 where all you could do was move the very small point with a very large finger !, and perhaps in slower time look at the route elevation profile.
2 Whilst its good to see tracks displayed, I can't seem to be able to save them - perhaps I'm doing something wrong.
3 A route arrow - although not a high priority for me.
Overall a great app and given my large investment in paid OS maps, this really is worth every penny. To be honest I would have paid 10 times as much for it. I just hope you don't get hassle from MM. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Creating routes is definitely a feature i would like to have too. But as it is a little bit of an effort to implement, it will not be realized too early.
Tracks are saved automatically when you close MM Tracker. But you have to define a correct path for the Tracks (the latest update of MM Tracker has a more convenient dialog to choose the directories).
Regards,
Michael
P.S.: Thanks for your suggestion... i was thinking of raising the price too

hi
mapman are you uk based? if so drop me a pm...

So how easy would it be to create an Anquet Maps equivalent?
Knew I should have gone for Memory Maps!!

Hi Map Man,
Your software seems to be very interesting.
I have a winmo 6.5 and I am looking for a new phone. I know there is no solution for the new WP7 and don't like iphone. So I think about Android.
I just want to know if it's possible to import/export waypoints/tacks between Memory Map PC software and your MM tracker.
Thank you.

Hi sorimina,
sorimina said:
I know there is no solution for the new WP7 and don't like iphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we have the same opinion there
MM Tracker creates and reads tracks as standarized GPX files.
These files can be imported/exported with MM software.
Waypoints are currently not supported, but will be in future.
Best regards,
Michael

Great, Map Man.
Hope you could add waypoints import/export in the near future.
It's the last thing that prevents me to quit my winMo 6.5 for Android
Thanks for your work !

Hi sorimina,
sorimina said:
Great, Map Man.
Hope you could add waypoints import/export in the near future.
It's the last thing that prevents me to quit my winMo 6.5 for Android
Thanks for your work !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just to make my explanation from before complete:
If you export your route from MemoryMap as GPX-track and load it with MM Tracker, you can at least see the 'route' on the sceen.
Of course navigation to WP/routes is not yet possible, but maybe this helps you...
Regards,
Michael

Hi,
just want to inform you about the latest update V1.1.5
History
Feature Added: Switch between metres, statute and nautical units
Feature Added: Tracking can be started and stopped
Improvement: Status icons in statusline
Fix: ConcurrentAcces to tracklist while loading fixed (was leading to crashes at startup)
I would recommend this update, especially because of the last item in the list
Regards,
Michael

Thanks Michael, this is such a great app! Really look forward to each update, nautical units much appreciated
How easy would it be to implement quilting / auto loading of next map?
Thanks
Sean
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Hi Sean,
Soupe said:
How easy would it be to implement quilting / auto loading of next map?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
great that you like MM Tracker
But what do you mean by "quilting" ?
Auto loading of maps is actually supported. When GPS-lock is on and you leave a map, the map with the best scale which fits to your position will be automatically loaded.
(Currently no support of subdirs, but this will be fixed)
Regards,
Michael