I appreciate the reply, but think you got it backwards. I don't get any datum line or rocket trace when I'm using the Google Map.
I just got to my destination with the Nexus 7 2013, the EggFinder LCD/HC-06 and EggFinder GPS tracker doing a drive-around with the Google Maps off line. I fired up everything at home off WiFi and discovered I didn't have the zoom level I needed. I had previously downloaded a "pile of tiles" but not the level I'd like. The maps I had came up fine off line. I went inside, downloaded and saved the local zoomlevel tiles I wanted. I zoomed out a bit, selected "follow me" and tracking was good.
I can confirm sed6's observation there is no datum line or track seen on the Google map itself. If I zoom in real low to where there is no maptile, I can see the track and the datum line against the white background. It's in there, it's just not being seen the same time the map is displayed. When I change zoomlevels I can see the track line (which is a dark navy in my case) and the datum "flash" briefly. I think this is a minor quirk but the program is still very usable. I did note that the rocket "red pushpin" position is updated quickly and the blue position GPS was a bit sluggish on my device. The Blue position seemed to update "slower" than in a previous version of GPSRL. I don't know, might just be my Nexus 7. The rocket EggFinder GPS position is "dead on" in the map whereas my device will be from 3 to 20 feet "off" ie. I can stand next to the Eggfinder GPS transmitter and the map will show me 20 feet away at it's worst. Hmmmmm, be sure to put a sufficiently loud beeper or screamer on the shockcord so I can hear it in tall grass. Some of this can be due to my local device GPS and I can try this with two other dual boot tablets I have that are dual Android/Windows to compare. Nonetheless the program is very usable in it's current state.
Remember, even if one misses an offline download of a particular zoomlevel, the program will still track the rocket against a white/light grey? background with the datum line seen. The technique is to zoom out a ways because the rocket could fly off the screen if the starting zoomlevel is too tight. I did that when I tracked one time without the map. I had to "zoom" out until I found the rocket and readjusted the position to where I want it. If one can "see" the datum line they can hit "follow me" at a tight zoomlevel and follow the line. Without the datum line seen on the map that's more difficult to do but if you get a sense of where the rocket is, it's easy to proceed in the right direction.
North is "up":smile:
Also depending on one's device, it might be hard to see the screen out in the sun as the datum line is thin and can be hard to discern. I put my device in a flat black painted box to act as a sunscreen which helps. Not perfect but helps. Some phones the screen disappears in the sun and is useless to use as a tracker.
Francois, you might want to change the presentation of the datum line so it is more prominent, perhaps use a thicker or "darker" line and of course see if you can get the track and datum displayed on the offline map field. Second, there are three Altitude indications in the upper left of the display. Sure it's easy to see which one is the rocket because the packets in the air will be higher than ground level. :wink: I think one of them needs to say "Distance" or "Distance From" and not altitude? Also is there a memory limitation for the map downloads? Some apps will only download so much for cache and then start over-writing. Is there a limit or is it only one's memory size that's the ultimate limitation?
Incidentally on a high speed internet line, I found the open source maps to be a slower download. Keep that in mind if one wants to download tiles in advance.
Again, many kudos for your program Francois. Besides Altus Metrum's tracking programs that only work with their devices, yours is the easiest to get going. Believe me, I've had help hacking away at three Ham Radio programs,
Xastir, APRSISCE/32 and YAAC and it was not easy to get them to work with these NMEA trackers (a.k.a. the EggFinder or NMEA devices). These other programs can display more information and generate all sorts of files like .kml on the fly which is great but doesn't help with the learning curve any. You've solved the problem of tracking a rocket on a map without having to be a Ham radio operator or stupendously computer savvy. I do Ham stuff,
have tracked with APRS trackers, used Altus Metrum's software with a Tele-GPS/Tele-BT and one is not missing much if they're a sport flier and simply want to find a rocket with GPSRL. I think it's great that the price of admission
has been dropped so dramatically in the past years for GPS tracking. Leads to everyone's enjoyment without having to worry about losing $$$$$ hardware.
Folks, if you're going to be using the program regularly, toss Francois a few $$$$ if you haven't already. Will ya?
:
https://rocketlocator.com/donations/donations/
Kurt Savegnago