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From: Jaimie Vandenbergh on 25 Jul 2010 16:33
Just got this (thank you very much indeed to whoever mentioned its
existence in the group here), and I thought Zoara would like to know
that for iOS4 backgrounding it has taken the route of having an option
for "record track while app is backgrounded". Turning it off did
indeed fail to ravage the battery while I was out on a long bike ride
today, during which it was extremely useful keeping us un-lost.

Leaving it on accidentally once (in iOS4 the GPS continues to track
while the screen is locked, unlike in iPhone OS 3 I think) took a big
bite out of the battery, but I had an external one to fill it up
again.


The app itself is slightly odd. It has two versions, free and paid,
both of which come with a decent streamed free map, the OS Streetview.

With the free one you must purchase extra maps for it, but if you
already have a bunch of Memory Map map files then you need the pay-for
(�20) version which can load them up over wifi (the phone sets up a
simple web server which has a browse+upload interface). I have a bunch
of maps already, so I paid.

MM does a lovely job of loading and showing my 1:25000 and 1:50000 OS
maps, although with a slightly curious limit of maxing out at 2gig per
map file - normal map files that match OS sheets or national parks are
about 30-150 meg, so this has no obvious effect.

The app lets you load up GPX tracks over wifi, though curiously not
MMO files which are the native track/route files in all other versions
of MM. It also does the usual GPS tracking and saving, and you can
create routes by point and poke directly on the iPhone.

It has a placename search feature that downloads additional placenames
to match the maps you have loaded.

The zoom is a bit screwy, rather than being smooth like every other
map with pinch/stretch it has specific zooms that it likes and it'll
pop back to the original zoom if you don't pinch/stretch quite enough
to go one level. There are + - buttons too, which jump directly - I
tended to use those. It will optionally change map scales
appropriately as you zoom if you have several maps at the current
location.

The you-are-here marker uses the compass to draw a very handy arrow to
show the direction the top of the phone is facing. Great when picking
between two paths at 30 degrees from each other.

I've not used the app to record tracks yet, I uploaded the gpx of my
intended route for today's cycle and had it drawn on the page, then
followed that manually using the you-are-here marker.

All in all - a little funny in the UI, but its heart is in the right
place and finally being able to carry my lovely high-detail OS 1:25k
and 1:50k walking/cycling maps entirely on the iPhone is wonderful.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
"We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce
the Complete Works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know
this is not true." - Robert Wilensky, University of California
From: Andrew Templeman on 26 Jul 2010 04:41
Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie(a)sometimes.sessile.org> wrote:

> All in all - a little funny in the UI, but its heart is in the right
> place and finally being able to carry my lovely high-detail OS 1:25k
> and 1:50k walking/cycling maps entirely on the iPhone is wonderful.

Yes. I mentioned it in here last week. I like that I don't need to carry
2 or 3 paper OS maps with me when roaming into areas I am not familiar
with especially on the edge of the landranger sheets. That's what I was
doing until a couple of weeks ago.

The free version was updated for iOS 4 over the weekend. I think the
paid version has been done for a while.

--
Andy Templeman <http://www.templeman.org.uk/>
From: Jaimie Vandenbergh on 26 Jul 2010 07:01
On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:41:19 +0100, andy(a)templeman.org.uk (Andrew
Templeman) wrote:

>Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie(a)sometimes.sessile.org> wrote:
>
>> All in all - a little funny in the UI, but its heart is in the right
>> place and finally being able to carry my lovely high-detail OS 1:25k
>> and 1:50k walking/cycling maps entirely on the iPhone is wonderful.
>
>Yes. I mentioned it in here last week.

Thanks very much indeed for that Andy!

>I like that I don't need to carry
>2 or 3 paper OS maps with me when roaming into areas I am not familiar
>with especially on the edge of the landranger sheets. That's what I was
>doing until a couple of weeks ago.

Likewise, but it's a pain when out cycling - you have to stop and
everything to read the map.

(Note that I do my cycling offroad - I'm not using the phone in
traffic!)

Cheers - Jaimie
--
"Oh drat these computers, they're so naughty and so complex."
-- Marvin the Martian
From: Andrew Templeman on 26 Jul 2010 08:12
Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie(a)sometimes.sessile.org> wrote:

>
> Likewise, but it's a pain when out cycling - you have to stop and
> everything to read the map.
>
> (Note that I do my cycling offroad - I'm not using the phone in
> traffic!)


Yes. I am usually leading a group ride. stopping to take a map or two
out of my pocket draws many 'Oh no' and 'Harumph'. :-)


--
Andy Templeman <http://www.templeman.org.uk/>
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