oscar the grouch
Jeep Nut
Give mytrails a shot. It's amazing
Gaia for Android, anybody using this?
- Thread starter Comanche Scott
- Start date
I've been experienceing a few bugs as well.
I'm running Gaia on a Samsung Galaxy Tab somethingorother.... the pn is SM-T800 if anybody cares.
There are 2 main issues I'm seeing:
First, when in heading up mode it jumps around like crazy. Like it can't get a solid compass fix. The tablet is in a windshield mount and sits just above the in-dash LCD of the LR3 - possibly something there is causing magnetic interference (?). It's completely unusable in heading-up, so I only run it in North Up.
The second and more worrying issue is that it only intermittently shows my saved tracks. As an yesterday I mapped a short 7 mile trail run for an upcoming trip. That night when I got home it wasn't there. ******? Checked in the saved tracks and it shows it there and it's turned on but nothing. Zooming in/out a few times and changing maps and suddenly it returned. OK, now I zoom in and start scrolling around the track and parts of it disappear at random. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't. Nothing I do seems to bring it back with any certainty. I just have to hope it will decide to draw the complete track.
Anybody have any suggestions on why I'm having this issue? I've tried a full re-boot of the tablet and of course restarted the app but none of that made any difference. It's pretty hard to follow a track when parts of it randomly come and go.
I'm running Gaia on a Samsung Galaxy Tab somethingorother.... the pn is SM-T800 if anybody cares.
There are 2 main issues I'm seeing:
First, when in heading up mode it jumps around like crazy. Like it can't get a solid compass fix. The tablet is in a windshield mount and sits just above the in-dash LCD of the LR3 - possibly something there is causing magnetic interference (?). It's completely unusable in heading-up, so I only run it in North Up.
The second and more worrying issue is that it only intermittently shows my saved tracks. As an yesterday I mapped a short 7 mile trail run for an upcoming trip. That night when I got home it wasn't there. ******? Checked in the saved tracks and it shows it there and it's turned on but nothing. Zooming in/out a few times and changing maps and suddenly it returned. OK, now I zoom in and start scrolling around the track and parts of it disappear at random. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't. Nothing I do seems to bring it back with any certainty. I just have to hope it will decide to draw the complete track.
Anybody have any suggestions on why I'm having this issue? I've tried a full re-boot of the tablet and of course restarted the app but none of that made any difference. It's pretty hard to follow a track when parts of it randomly come and go.
Jeep or Tacoma
Explorer
another dumb question
Ijust purchased my first tablet which I am going to set upas a dedicated gps in my jeep. Yes it has a gps chip.. but here is the question are apps or programs like back country naviagtor Gaiai and cal topo the base map where as things like motion x are the actual add on gps to the tablet if the tablet doesn't have a built in one ? Or am I hopelessly lost ( no pun intended)?
Ijust purchased my first tablet which I am going to set upas a dedicated gps in my jeep. Yes it has a gps chip.. but here is the question are apps or programs like back country naviagtor Gaiai and cal topo the base map where as things like motion x are the actual add on gps to the tablet if the tablet doesn't have a built in one ? Or am I hopelessly lost ( no pun intended)?
tarditi
Explorer
Not sure if I'm understanding your question, but some GPS apps pull all data from a connection to the web, others can use offline maps - none (that I'm aware of) have "basemaps" like a dedicated GPS device, but you can emulate that functionality with a pre-loaded offline map and loaded in POIs.
Nav Apps:
Google Maps now allows much easier offline apps and turn-by-turn directions, but you need to know where you'll be traveling and load the maps in advance, sometimes smaller (data dense) sections at a time for more urban areas.
I've had good luck with BackCountry Navigator Pro for hiking, but really like Locus Pro for driving - it's more comparable to Google Maps (turn-by-turn directions), mostly, and very extensible. Load all sorts of maps (free and pay are available) and mods. I set my map location as my SD card and loaded detailed maps for the entire region(s) I will be in and around. Not terribly robust looking for POIs unless you enter them in advance, but a good setup otherwise.
FWIW, I run my android phone in conjunction with my Garmin nüvi 2797LMT gps (7" screen, lifetime traffic and map updates + running topo or vector maps, depending on the usage).
My phone can also run torque, google music, yelp, etc. when we're around cell coverage, so I hate to tie it up as a nav device. I never got great results with my Samsung Galaxy Tab as a dedicated nav device, though... was a little slow for my needs.
I hate to say it, but you really need to just see other people's setups and play around with your own configurations to get the right nav solution.
Nav Apps:
Google Maps now allows much easier offline apps and turn-by-turn directions, but you need to know where you'll be traveling and load the maps in advance, sometimes smaller (data dense) sections at a time for more urban areas.
I've had good luck with BackCountry Navigator Pro for hiking, but really like Locus Pro for driving - it's more comparable to Google Maps (turn-by-turn directions), mostly, and very extensible. Load all sorts of maps (free and pay are available) and mods. I set my map location as my SD card and loaded detailed maps for the entire region(s) I will be in and around. Not terribly robust looking for POIs unless you enter them in advance, but a good setup otherwise.
FWIW, I run my android phone in conjunction with my Garmin nüvi 2797LMT gps (7" screen, lifetime traffic and map updates + running topo or vector maps, depending on the usage).
My phone can also run torque, google music, yelp, etc. when we're around cell coverage, so I hate to tie it up as a nav device. I never got great results with my Samsung Galaxy Tab as a dedicated nav device, though... was a little slow for my needs.
I hate to say it, but you really need to just see other people's setups and play around with your own configurations to get the right nav solution.
1Louder
Explorer
No those are all apps that use the built in GPS. They display where you are, create tracks, display tracks you can follow, etc. Of course you should download maps offline so they work when you are without phone service (if you have a data plan). I suggest you read the knowledge base on the GAIA web site to learn more. It is my preferred application. That does not mean you have to buy it. It will give you a better understanding on how these things work though.
tarditi
Explorer
Additionally, if a device does not have a built-in GPS receiver you can get external ones (wired or bluetooth) - but you need the receiver to detect the GPS locations and perform the geolocation functions.
Some devices with cellular can triangulate their position based on cell reference, but this only works in areas with cell coverage.
Also, some devices can use accelerometers in conjunction with last good known position to estimate heading/travel for short periods like in tunnels or parking decks, but might quickly revert to "signal lost mode."
Good primers:
http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/travel/gps.htm
Some devices with cellular can triangulate their position based on cell reference, but this only works in areas with cell coverage.
Also, some devices can use accelerometers in conjunction with last good known position to estimate heading/travel for short periods like in tunnels or parking decks, but might quickly revert to "signal lost mode."
Good primers:
http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/travel/gps.htm
Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
I totally get where you are coming from. It's a bit daunting to start. Once you've worked with it a few times it gets much easier.
To help me get a handle on things, I watched some YouTube videos.
Here is one from the developer, and there are some more good ones on BCN as well.
From the videos I watched on Gaia, it seems the terminology is pretty much the same, as is the layout, but Gaia may be a bit more intuitive (I haven't used it myself, only watched some tutorial videos).
Hth,