Database Info

google maps cache .dat file hacking

I don't have a data connection, yet I have a GPS-capable device and thus to use mapping software on the fly I need to preload maps beforehand. There are a number of solutions out there that I've tried (MGMaps, Google Navigator, GPS Tuner, etc.), but they all have very limited functionality.
I've found that Google Maps itself is the best piece of GPS mapping software. It stores map data on internal storage in \application data\googlemaps\cache-GLM.dat. I've seen reports that this file has a size cap imposed by the application, but I have yet to notice this--my current cache file's size is 24MB, and it just seems to get bigger as I explore more area (on wifi).
So my question is, can this file be hacked, so that one could in principle preload arbitrary map areas into it? Is it some common format of which I am unaware? Can anyone analyze the file and figure out if there's some way to manipulate it? I tried opening it in like winrar obviously but no success. If this could be figured out it could provide a lot of utility to a lot of people I think, eliminating the need for all the inelegant third-party Google Maps interfacers like MGMaps.
I attached a small example of the cache-GLM.dat file. (It's an overhead of my office. Guess my occupation.)
Thanks!

Did you have any luck with this??? I'm trying to find a solution to this problem myself, but no luck thus far. Keep me posted. Thanks

Download maps onto dev phone

hey guys
i'm traveling to a location for 2-3 days and the roaming & data access charges are exorbitant. I already have created a my maps in google maps showing all my favorite restaurants. Can i somehow display this in google maps along with GPS?
I'm guessing gps would be free and if i turn off my cellular service, i won't be able to get google maps to show. However, is there a way to download the maps for a particular area and cache it? Any other application i could download and overlay my restaurants on it?
Thanks

I believe there is an app that lets you do that.
Here is the link:
http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.nevilon2.bigplanet

Thanks for your quick response. It doesn't seem to allow Hey loading up my customized maps which i have saved in My maps on google onto this app
Thanks

Hmmmmmmmm.....
This gets me thinking. Though it would take a longggggg time... If someone were to cache an entire area on their computer, would it not be possible to copy that cache to the SD card? Then you could use the Map cache?
Perhaps that sounds pretty vague, but how hard would it really be? The map cache is already able to be moved onto the SD?

momentarylapseofreason said:
Hmmmmmmmm.....
This gets me thinking. Though it would take a longggggg time... If someone were to cache an entire area on their computer, would it not be possible to copy that cache to the SD card? Then you could use the Map cache?
Perhaps that sounds pretty vague, but how hard would it really be? The map cache is already able to be moved onto the SD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All ready tried that. Had to write my own app to use the maps and i could only locate myself on the map. No Routes, no meta data.
Adding those tiles to gmaps cache is what is tough.

[ADMIN TOOLS] What Apps/Widgets/Shortcuts do you keep in your toolbox?

There's plenty enough threads discussing the best twitter clients or which SMS app is best...But except for the odd tidbit mentioned in a post by someone, I don't see any particular discussion (if I've about what folks have in their "toolbox" for doing things like capturing logs, running test, etc...
Here are some of the things I've found, please feel free to share any gems you may have found.
Antennas: Monitor GSM/CDMA cellular network http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.technolatry.antennas/
Any Cut: Any Cut allows you to create Home shortcuts to anything http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.appdroid.anycut/
aLogcat: View color-coded, scrolling (tailed) Android device logs directly from your phone http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/org.jtb.alogcat/
Dev Tools: With the Dev Tools application, you can enable a number of settings on your device that will make it easier to test and debug your applications http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/debug-tasks.html#additionaldebugging
GPS Test: GPS Test shows basic GPS signal (SNR) and satellite information
http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.chartcross.gpstest/
BASH: drop it in /system/bin and you're off http://android.modaco.com/content/software/301932/bash-4-1-native-app-for-android/
Wifi Analyzer: Turns your android phone into a Wi-Fi analyzer http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.farproc.wifi.analyzer/
Titanium Backup: The ONLY tool that can backup/restore/analyze your apps + data + Market links http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/

I'm not sure if this is along the lines of what you were saying, but I use the 'url monitor' widget from the marketplace. It's free, and it monitors a list of URL's to check their status. I host several websites as well as my own exchange server so this is very useful. It's always good to be working on a problem before people tell you about it.

Thanks for mentioning titanium backup! I've never heard of it before so I decided to check it out. I liked it so much I bought a license.

Few more for the list...
Apps Organizer: Create labels/categories for all your apps...Titanium Backup uses the categories from this app for filtered views! http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.google.code.appsorganizer/
MyIP: MyIP displays your current IP address, name and connection type http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/radonsoft.net.myip/

Just wondering, whats the need for a bash shell? While useful in many cases, I fail to see how its helpful on the N1

Does Titanium Backup only backup your apps+data? I mean...it doesn't reorganize the desktop to it's previous state...right...or is that function only in the paid version? I would have gotten the license already, but I thought that it would re-organize the desktop as well. Maybe I'm missing a step?

Namuna said:
Few more for the list...
Apps Organizer: Create labels/categories for all your apps...Titanium Backup uses the categories from this app for filtered views! http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.google.code.appsorganizer/
MyIP: MyIP displays your current IP address, name and connection type http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/radonsoft.net.myip/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait...titanium backup supports apps organizer? I was about to wipe my phone and was wondering how this was going to work. I exported my categories anyway but if that is a step i don't have to fuss about...fantastic.

Just wondering, whats the need for a bash shell? While useful in many cases, I fail to see how its helpful on the N1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, I use it when I SSH into my N1. Working in BASH is a part of what I do at work, so I've got lots of shortcuts/aliases/scripts that can be dropped directly to my N1 and used.
I mean...it doesn't reorganize the desktop to it's previous state...right
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TB can indeed restore your home screens! You have to manually find the backup with 'launcher' or 'home' in the name and manually reload it though (which is confusing since TB has a 'restore all apps +all system data' batch option)...But yes, it does restore the desktop
Wait...titanium backup supports apps organizer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. Create your labels in AO, then assign your apps to those labels...Then when you go into TB->Filter, you'll see that you can now filter your apps by those labels! VERY convenient. Attached are some pics of the dynamic-duo in action.

For more goodies to add...
FCC Test: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Broadband Test application provides consumers with information about the quality and speed of their mobile data connection http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.ookla.fccbroadband/
root explorer: The ultimate file manager for root users. Access the whole of android's file system (including the elusive data folder!). http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.speedsoftware.rootexplorer/
MountUSB: (Included with the DesireROM) MountUSB is a one-click tool which allows you to mount or unmout your SD card as an USB mass storage device. http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/at.abraxas.mountusb/

Multitasking / Keeping Apps in foreground state

If i understand Android correctly, it sends applications into a "background" mode when switching tasks? I would like to prevent that. There are some apps (like games or browser) that need quit a bit of time restoring the last state so this would be usefull for some tasks.
Is this possible ?

TyrionWarMage said:
If i understand Android correctly, it sends applications into a "background" mode when switching tasks? I would like to prevent that. There are some apps (like games or browser) that need quit a bit of time restoring the last state so this would be usefull for some tasks.
Is this possible ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, switching to background mode just marks the application as not displaying anything. The way memory management on Android works, if foreground apps (i.e. apps that are actively displaying on the screen) need memory and there's none available, then background apps will be put into a stored state that frees up memory for the foreground apps. Coming back from that stored state is probably what you're noticing. Android also tries to keep a certain amount of unused memory around and will put background apps into stored state to achieve that. We do have pretty limited memory available on this device so some level of pausing is always going to happen. See also: http://andrs.w3pla.net/autokiller/details
You may be able to reduce how many background tasks are put into storage by tweaking the minfree parameters (using e.g. Autokiller Memory Optimizer from the market) to tell Android to aim for a smaller pool of free space.

Mioze7Ae said:
Well, switching to background mode just marks the application as not displaying anything. The way memory management on Android works, if foreground apps (i.e. apps that are actively displaying on the screen) need memory and there's none available, then background apps will be put into a stored state that frees up memory for the foreground apps. Coming back from that stored state is probably what you're noticing. Android also tries to keep a certain amount of unused memory around and will put background apps into stored state to achieve that. We do have pretty limited memory available on this device so some level of pausing is always going to happen. See also: http://andrs.w3pla.net/autokiller/details
You may be able to reduce how many background tasks are put into storage by tweaking the minfree parameters (using e.g. Autokiller Memory Optimizer from the market) to tell Android to aim for a smaller pool of free space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, i'm will give it a try. Is it also possible to max out swap before sending apps to background? I think restoring the ram-state from sd would still be faster for several apps.
Edit: reading your post again, i'm not talking about a tasking switch delay, but apps that completly reload themselves when switching tasks (DolphinMini page load,DungeonHunter as examples). Just to prevent any confusion...

TyrionWarMage said:
Thanks, i'm will give it a try. Is it also possible to max out swap before sending apps to background? I think restoring the ram-state from sd would still be faster for several apps.
Edit: reading your post again, i'm not talking about a tasking switch delay, but apps that completly reload themselves when switching tasks (DolphinMini page load,DungeonHunter as examples). Just to prevent any confusion...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh... Sorry I misunderstood. I don't know anything relevant to that case.

I've spent a few hours trying to find how to make certain Droid apps maintain their foreground state when put in the background with no luck. Perhaps it just can't be done.
I'm thinking of the Cydia iPhone app called Backgrounder which lets you choose which apps maintain foreground state when put into the background.
This is necessary, for example, with a note application where you are switching between taking notes and looking up info. Every time you switch back to the note app, you need to go back into your note, put it in edit mode and navigate to the section of the note you were editing. If it were acting like a foreground app in the background, when switching back to it it would already have your note open and be in edit mode with the cursor where you left off.
K9 mail has a similar problem where if you have an email open, switch to another application, when you go back to K9 it takes you to your inbox again where you have to navigate to the email you had open before switching.
Is there a tool similar to Backgrounder for Android?
Thanks.

nheacock said:
I've spent a few hours trying to find how to make certain Droid apps maintain their foreground state when put in the background with no luck. Perhaps it just can't be done.
I'm thinking of the Cydia iPhone app called Backgrounder which lets you choose which apps maintain foreground state when put into the background.
This is necessary, for example, with a note application where you are switching between taking notes and looking up info. Every time you switch back to the note app, you need to go back into your note, put it in edit mode and navigate to the section of the note you were editing. If it were acting like a foreground app in the background, when switching back to it it would already have your note open and be in edit mode with the cursor where you left off.
K9 mail has a similar problem where if you have an email open, switch to another application, when you go back to K9 it takes you to your inbox again where you have to navigate to the email you had open before switching.
Is there a tool similar to Backgrounder for Android?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looking for such tool too. Making app to stick with its foreground state even though it is actually in the background. (Make it appear in notification?)

ZDBox is a useful tool... you can download from market its free and the app has the abbility to:
★ Traffic counter: Monthly/daily mobile data usage overview, shows remaining data traffic, detailed data usage information for each app.
★ Do not disturb: Just set days and the time when you need your privacy and you won’t be disturbed by your phone. Set phone to silent, vibration or airplane mode.
★ App lock: Protect apps with a password or pattern, for exmaple your contacts, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp,Gmail and so on
★ Task killer: Kill all apps at once, define protected apps which won’t be killed, set auto kill when screen gets locked, mark single or multiple apps to kill
★ history eraser：clean your（Browser history,market search history,Google Map search history,Gmail search history,Clipboard）
★ Notification bar: One tap on the bar shows remaining battery time, running apps, how much data traffic is left and if app lock is active or not. A tap on these informations starts ZDbox.
★ Uninstaller: Shows used/available internal and SD card memory. Apps can be easily uninstalled. Single or multiple (batch) uninstall possible.
★ App to SD: Move apps to your SD card. Single or multiple (batch) move possible. Only for Android 2.2 and 2.3.
★Cache Cleaner:With Cache Cleaner you can clean your cache of phone.protect your secret without a trace.
I hope you can use for keep your running applications with that app...
sorry for my english...

davidequiz said:
★ Task killer: Kill all apps at once, define protected apps which won’t be killed, set auto kill when screen gets locked, mark single or multiple apps to kill
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will not help since the task killer which kills the background apps in inside the android system not an external one.
We must find a way to control the internal one then...

nheacock said:
I've spent a few hours trying to find how to make certain Droid apps maintain their foreground state when put in the background with no luck. Perhaps it just can't be done.
I'm thinking of the Cydia iPhone app called Backgrounder which lets you choose which apps maintain foreground state when put into the background.
This is necessary, for example, with a note application where you are switching between taking notes and looking up info. Every time you switch back to the note app, you need to go back into your note, put it in edit mode and navigate to the section of the note you were editing. If it were acting like a foreground app in the background, when switching back to it it would already have your note open and be in edit mode with the cursor where you left off.
K9 mail has a similar problem where if you have an email open, switch to another application, when you go back to K9 it takes you to your inbox again where you have to navigate to the email you had open before switching.
Is there a tool similar to Backgrounder for Android?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guys, I'm so much looking for a solution of this same thing. The closest I came to is Ram manager. Has a xda threat and can be found in the play store. But it also can't manage to lock an app and prevent its killing (although it helps a lot). I need my navigation always running and it is silently killed or stopped while I'm looking at my mail or have a phone call. This is ridiculous. Have you found a solution. Some way to protect an app from killing and lock it in the foreground. I mean how are they able to do it for the apps which are in the system tray!? Like antivirus apps and tons of other. I can't believe xda experts don't know how...

I would think that Antivirus apps run a service.
In Mioze's CM6 there are build prop edits that might work, but I never tried them.
Code:
# apps to be kept in memory (specified by process name)
# use with caution, RAM is limited!
sys.keep_app_1=
sys.keep_app_2=

I am not an expert and can't tell the difference between service and an app running. What you're saying makes sense, but I need clear instructions somewhere to make an app protected from killing. Thanks for helping.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Wrong forms this milestone xt720.
Sent from my SGH-T759 using xda premium

I pretty much fixed android multitasking - even on ense 4.0 and 4.1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1900626
Testers welcome.
And for locking an app in a foreground state, my SuperCharger can do that via BulletProof Apps menu.

zeppelinrox said:
I pretty much fixed android multitasking - even on ense 4.0 and 4.1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1900626
wI
Testers welcome.
And for locking an app in a foreground state, my SuperCharger can do that via BulletProof Apps menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested that and almost became an expert. I'm not so sure if it is completely solved, although I have to admit that you have done a great and recognized job.
Just tell me can the script for bulletproof apps work alone, without the supercharger script. Many ROMs have their own memory settings and one is afraid to cover them with supercharger script settings.
But if bulletproof script can run and do the job on itsown then the problem is really fixed.

Yeah its separate.
Alot of devs say dont supercharge because they dont want to be showed up and scare their users lol
But hundreds of roms come supercharged anyway.

zeppelinrox said:
Yeah its separate.
Alot of devs say dont supercharge because they dont want to be showed up and scare their users lol
But hundreds of roms come supercharged anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for answering!
So I'm going to try running only the bulletproof script without the supercharger script and set an app to be UNbillable.
Should I set it to run on startup!? I'm using custom ROM. The last revolution HD.

The init.d script would run automatically.
So you dont need to configure anything.
Whatever app is in the hitlist will get bulletptoofed soon after running the app.

zeppelinrox said:
The init.d script would run automatically.
So you dont need to configure anything.
Whatever app is in the hitlist will get bulletptoofed soon after running the app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am trying to get this configured. But I only want to run the bulletproof script, not the 99SuperCharger script. I just want to keep my rom's memory settings, cause I am OK with them.
But both of the scripts (99SuperCharger and bulletproof) are going to reside in the init.d folder of my custom rom. So they will both be started, aren't they?
How can I make only bulletproof script run at boot. Should I just delete 99SuperCharger from init.d?

[APP] Force2SD

Force2SD moves user (not system) apps to SD that the OS normally doesn't allow movement of. Needs root and 2.2.
Source code available.
Official release is now in Market. For test versions, click the source code link.

I added apk file size to the display.
By the way, one reason I like this even for apps that can be moved to SD in normal ways is that it does its scan much faster, at least in my configuration, than apps2sd or Settings|Applications.

And I also added an option to move apks back from SD to internal storage.

is it normal that it only shows userapps? eg. maps, facebook etc does not show up on the list

doenis said:
is it normal that it only shows userapps? eg. maps, facebook etc does not show up on the list
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't show things in the system partition--those shouldn't be taking space away from user apps. Are these apps in the system partition (/system/app)?

yes, they are in the /system/app folder. are you saying that moving those apps to the sd wouldn't count towards free space on hte device? i am looking for a way to move maps to the sd, as it takes up the most space of all the apps that can't be moved.

doenis said:
yes, they are in the /system/app folder. are you saying that moving those apps to the sd wouldn't count towards free space on hte device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right: the /system/app folder is on a separate partition. Normally, apps install in /data.

This seems like a great tool for full wipes prior to loading a new ROM. Then TiBu would only be needed for the app data correct?
Sent from my Thunderbolt using the Tapatalk app.

Is there something different to "pm setInstallLocation 2"?

Nice app, it also seems to be working on android gingerbread (NAND HD2) 2.3
Edit: Except for widgets. but that's no problem

Great idea. Downloaded. Moved 2 apps to SD, then checked out list for SD to Phone (nothing moved, just looking around) and got a FC. Will keep for a while to check out future updates.
Ideas for future:
-app icons (so you can tell WHICH angry birds app you're moving )
-file size before / after move
-total available space
-multi-select (something that would GREATLY improve the app over settings)
Keep it up!
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

only froyo huh.. =( great work though

Thank you.

i just wanted to check, can moving some of these apps that can't be moved normally cause the apps to stop working or should they just all carry on working as normal?
thanks for the great app
maff90

Hi,
this app is very good.
Add to Market!
with friendly greet
starbase64

Thanks seems to work on cricket zio froyo. Thanks again

Mustang302LX said:
This seems like a great tool for full wipes prior to loading a new ROM. Then TiBu would only be needed for the app data correct?
Sent from my Thunderbolt using the Tapatalk app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if it would work. On my Archos 43 when apps are moved to storage, the OS does not include them in packages.xml when it generates a fresh packages.xml after resetting Android. As a result, storage can contain orphan apps after a reset. Of course, if you restore packages.xml from a backup, that should work.
I just back /data up with tar.

maff90 said:
i just wanted to check, can moving some of these apps that can't be moved normally cause the apps to stop working or should they just all carry on working as normal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apps that are moved don't get their on-boot notification. If they absolutely need their on-boot notification to function (e.g., apps that start up some service on boot), they won't work. Likewise, input method apps (e.g., Swype) won't be available after a boot, though you might be able to enable it manually afterwards in the Settings. I wouldn't move Android Market. I did move Amazon App Store and AppsLib with no problems, though. I don't know what happens if you move a browser helper, like a pdf viewer or flash--these might need to register on boot or something like that.
See here for more information: http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/install-location.html
Moreover, it's probably better not to move tiny apps, because apps moved to storage take longer to have their icons show up in the launcher after a boot. I moved most of my apps that are over 200kb.
If an app doesn't work after being moved, just move it back.

saynotopunx said:
Great idea. Downloaded. Moved 2 apps to SD, then checked out list for SD to Phone (nothing moved, just looking around) and got a FC. Will keep for a while to check out future updates.
Ideas for future:
-app icons (so you can tell WHICH angry birds app you're moving )
-file size before / after move
-total available space
-multi-select (something that would GREATLY improve the app over settings)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
0. I wonder about the crash. If you have adb set up and can duplicate the crash in the latest version (I posted 0.10), watch with adb logcat to see where the crash happens and send me the log.
1. App icons will really slow down the application list fetching. Maybe I could include app icons in the list for moving to SD, but the list for moving from SD is very slow.
2. The file size I show is the apk file size. This does not change with the move as far as I know.
3. Total available space shows up in the current version.
4. That's more work than I want to do.

Some more answers and comments;
1. I uploaded version 0.10. This fixes hangs in low memory situations due to the package installed broadcast being sent to all apps. The solution is drastic: as soon as the packagemanager reports success, I kill the thread. This may cause some problems. Let me know if it does. Seems to work fine for me, though. Also, version 0.10 lets you conveniently delete apps right from the list--just do a long-hold on the app, and you get an uninstall option.
2. Force2SD works pretty much like pm setInstallLocation 2, except it moves apps individually, after they were installed. I don't want to set all my apps to install automatically in storage. If you want to duplicate its functionality manually, what it does is: pm install -r -s /data/app/filename.apk
3. I don't really want to spend $25 at this point to register with Android Market. Once my open source astronomy app is done, I'll want to do that, I guess.
4. For people who want icons to tell different versions of Angry Birds apart, I have a simple "solution": just move them all to SD--they're large apks, and you'll save a lot of space. (Actually, they can be moved with the standard OS tools.)