OpenCPN for Android Beta test 4.1.530

[joel383]

Originally Posted by Ido Nap

We seem to have different ideas about routing. Still: in a fully functional app on android you shouldn't need windows to plan your routes.
....

I agree heartily, but we are still in the preliminary phases... can't fix everything at once.

[champ8242]

Originally Posted by Ido Nap

Charging via a lighter plug won't work

You could try a different (better) lighter plug.

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by Ido Nap

We seem to have different ideas about routing. Still: in a fully functional app on android you shouldn't need windows to plan your routes.

Precisely what do you mean when you mention "windows"?

The power issue is something I detected as well. Charging via a lighter plug won't work with O running. I had to use the power converter and charge with a 220V plug.
That might be a samsung thing though. Same problem when running navionics.

Is your automotive type lighter "plug" a Samsung product made specifically for your device? If not, I'd suspect this is the explanation for your charging issue. Otherwise a poor contact due to corrosion or compaction of the contacts making for a loose fit.

About the screen image above: i don't get to see those purple blocks when runnjng O. Mine shows a yellow bar.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn GT-P5210 met Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by Ido Nap

We seem to have different ideas about routing. Still: in a fully functional app on android you shouldn't need windows to plan your routes.

<snip>

Curious. What are your ideas about routing that are superior to what you see in the OpenCPN app?

I think the word you want is "create" rather than to "...plan your routes. No?

A wee bit early to be drawing critical conclusions about an app still under development, no?

I have no problem creating routes on my android 10" tablet running OpenCPN in a linux chroot environment, and functionally there should be very little, if any difference.

About the screen image above: i don't get to see those purple blocks when runnjng O. Mine shows a yellow bar.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn GT-P5210 met Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

[Ido Nap]

Originally Posted by Wrong

<snip>

Curious. What are your ideas about routing that are superior to what you see in the OpenCPN app?

I think the word you want is "create" rather than to "...plan your routes. No?

A wee bit early to be drawing critical conclusions about an app still under development, no?

I have no problem creating routes on my android 10" tablet running OpenCPN in a linux chroot environment, and functionally there should be very little, if any difference.




Verstuurd vanaf mijn GT-P5210 met Tapatalk

[/QUOTE]
I'm sorry if my observations appear to be offending. I wanted to contribute to the beta test by sharing my observations. English obviously is not my native language.

When sailing, I usualy correct my route, depending on changes in the weather. I plot a course to a new destination. Example: last week, sailing to Bretagne, I planned to keep to the English south coast, because of hard NE wind. When we arived at Calais, the forecast was less extreme. So we plotted a new route parallel to the shipping lane and sailed directly to Cherbourg and Guernsey. That's a feature I use on the laptop running O on the microsoft windows platform. I found this was hard to do with the android beta app. I don't criticise the android beta app for this. I just shared the obsertion, and added that for me, it's an important usecase.

☺ yes, a samsung plug seems to be a good idea! Never needed it with my previous tab1 though.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn GT-P5210 met Tapatalk

[Wrong]

I'm sorry if my observations appear to be offending. I wanted to contribute to the beta test by sharing my observations. English obviously is not my native language.

Nothing offending in anything you've said.

When sailing, I usualy correct my route, depending on changes in the weather. I plot a course to a new destination. Example: last week, sailing to Bretagne, I planned to keep to the English south coast, because of hard NE wind. When we arived at Calais, the forecast was less extreme. So we plotted a new route parallel to the shipping lane and sailed directly to Cherbourg and Guernsey. That's a feature I use on the laptop running O on the microsoft windows platform. I found this was hard to do with the android beta app. I don't criticise the android beta app for this. I just shared the obsertion, and added that for me, it's an important usecase.

One reason I detest Coastal sailing. For a variety of reasons weather can be unpredictable. In South Africa local weather gurus give their best estimate of what weather will be for foreign cruisers like myself. But the ever present threat of coastal lows that do not show up on weather charts are a big hazard. However, anyone familiar with weather patterns in their customary sailing area can create a "contingency route" in advance of leaving port. It never hurts to create alternative routes in advance, acknowledging passages can be slower than anticipated and forecast weather changes encourage stopping at an alternative destination. Waypoints are cheap!

samsung plug seems to be a good idea! Never needed it with my previous tab1 though.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn GT-P5210 met Tapatalk

[socatatb20]

Hello Dave,

I have tried to enable Alarmsounds,
but it is not possible to change the Folder.

Everytime displayes the data/data/org.opencpn/cache/sounds Folder
I am not able to copy my soundfiles in that Folder.
My tablet is not rooted.
Opencpn do not accept the SD Card Folders.


Touchlet x10 quad FM Android 4.2.2

Thanks!
greetings Udo

[barnakiel]

On any mobile device, energy issues can be addressed by using a mobile battery. The battery can be charged in between while the device goes on its own juice. You will want a battery that is roughly 3x the capacity of the built-in one.

Not a perfect solution but may serve some uses.

PS Now there is that start up company in the US that promises us charging via wifi. Let's wait and see. I would buy their stock anyways, just in case it works. ;-)

b.

[bdbcat]

joel383, et al...

Today, trying to reproduce the "phantom waypoint" problem. No joy so far.

1a. I create a route. Toolbar "Route" tool. Add waypoints. Long-touch->menu->End Route.
1b. I insert waypoints by long-touch(on route)->menu->InsertWaypoint. Works fine, new waypoint appears immediately, and is diamond shape, just like the others. I can select the new waypoint by tapping it, it highlights, and I can drag it around. Tap on the chart elsewhere to clear the highlight.

So far, so good. At least for me...

2. I never see phantom waypoints. It may be related to the size of the navobj collection you have already created or imported. Do you have trouble with the simple case of one route only? And does the problem appear or get worse when the route collection is large?

3. Any other intuition regarding this "phantom waypoint" phenomenon?

4. While I am here, I would encourage suggestions on how to improve the route creation/editing UI on Android. Moving from high precision mouse with 2 buttons and a roller to low precision finger with no buttons is bound to be difficult. What can we do to improve the UI? Think outside...

Thanks
Dave

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

joel383, et al...

Today, trying to reproduce the "phantom waypoint" problem. No joy so far.

1a. I create a route. Toolbar "Route" tool. Add waypoints. Long-touch->menu->End Route.
1b. I insert waypoints by long-touch(on route)->menu->InsertWaypoint. Works fine, new waypoint appears immediately, and is diamond shape, just like the others. I can select the new waypoint by tapping it, it highlights, and I can drag it around. Tap on the chart elsewhere to clear the highlight.

So far, so good. At least for me...

2. I never see phantom waypoints. It may be related to the size of the navobj collection you have already created or imported. Do you have trouble with the simple case of one route only? And does the problem appear or get worse when the route collection is large?

3. Any other intuition regarding this "phantom waypoint" phenomenon?

4. While I am here, I would encourage suggestions on how to improve the route creation/editing UI on Android. Moving from high precision mouse with 2 buttons and a roller to low precision finger with no buttons is bound to be difficult. What can we do to improve the UI? Think outside...

Thanks
Dave

Dave,

I can only recommend pinch and zoom be used prodigously for doing anything requiring the touch of a finger. When choosing from a menu, it's easy to tap on the 'delete' option unintentionally, and lose a route that took considerable time and effort to create; unless one zooms in to ensure they will tap the right menu item first. It's also easier to create a route by pinch zooming in to aid placement of waypoints.

Hard to do anything else with a screen designed to respond to touch...

[barnakiel]

@ Dave,

I tried to re-create my problem today to no success. I must have been doing something differently when the marks appeared out of the blue. That was related to trying to click the small icon that makes the icons bar appear. I touched it and nothing happened, then I touched again to get the bar out and that's when a mark (same like with drop a mark) appeared.

But now that I tried to re-act that behaviour, I did not get the same result.

If I have the same issue again, I will pay special attention to the exact scenario and settings and I will post here again.

BTW: There is one feature that I love in another navigation App and I thought if maybe at some future stage OpenCPN could get the same function. Namely: that App allows me to browse Google maps (sat, street and topographic) and it seems to store the tiles in its cache for offline use. When I am offline, I can still use the previewed tiles and see my position displayed over Google maps (as if I were online, minus the ability to download new tiles). I think this is very useful for anybody who sails but mixes their activities with trekking, biking and other shorewise explorations.

Great job, thanks for all your work!

barnakiel

[HappySeagull]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

joel383, et al...

.......................etc

4. While I am here, I would encourage suggestions on how to improve the route creation/editing UI on Android. Moving from high precision mouse with 2 buttons and a roller to low precision finger with no buttons is bound to be difficult. What can we do to improve the UI? Think outside...

Thanks
Dave

Route UI could be simplified for android.to get rid of the pages that need scrolling down and sideways.
ie:I don't think it needs all that stuff about time,distance and speed or even colour: That's pretty involved planning stuff.
and being tempted into selecting into all the tiny dialogues just makes it difficult for screen real estate....
Is there any reason to list the routepoints? I can't do anything useful with them in the route manager anyways using my blumt spatulates.

Really, what does a route on a tablet need except the means to Activate/deactivate, Delete, or Edit :by means of dragging waypoints or deleting them...and also Extras of "exporting" it and (re)Naming it that could stay in the simplified, now-larger buttoned,larger texted (having lost the fiddly crap) route manager
Possible extras of "appending" I suppose but for myself,really, in action, it's as easy to create a new one that starts near where the old one ended, or starting over.

I can create a route fairly easily on the tablet and it differentiates between me pinch-zooming dragging and laying down a route IF I AM Careful, but I still have the annoying auto-scrolling screen if I place a routepoint near the edge of the screen . ...Or, not annoying; depending on if I see it as a permanent feature I need learn-it's a skill!...

I have a sense that opening a cascade of windows is very difficult to operate on the tablet... while it's great on a laptop. Simplification is the easiest way to reduce the cascades...or give these features a link or a tab in a menu somewhere..?

[HappySeagull]

By the by, push and hold (rightclick menu)of a wpt in a route or elsewhere might invoke the ability to drag it being they are "unlocked".
The ability to lock or unlock a mark or wpts position is an option I don't consider to be clutter in the vein of my previous comments.

[Ido Nap]

@dave
I recreated the problem I described by plotting a route and then trying to end it by tapping the route button in the menu. Each time O started scrolling automatically. Perhaps because it couldn't feel the difference between a tab to the menu and a tab to the surrounding chart?

Thinking outside the box about creating routes on a touch screen? I would suggest using routepoints. They can behave different from waypoints. In the weather routing app by sailgrib you'll see an example. That app is also menu based, but the menu is useble on a tablet. I hope this helps.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn GT-P5210 met Tapatalk

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by Ido Nap

@dave
I recreated the problem I described by plotting a route and then trying to end it by tapping the route button in the menu. Each time O started scrolling automatically. Perhaps because it couldn't feel the difference between a tab to the menu and a tab to the surrounding chart?

Thinking outside the box about creating routes on a touch screen? I would suggest using routepoints. They can behave different from waypoints. In the weather routing app by sailgrib you'll see an example. That app is also menu based, but the menu is useble on a tablet. I hope this helps.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn GT-P5210 met Tapatalk

So. What's the difference between a routepoint and waypoint? In OpenCPN there are waypoints or marks, and the icon shape for each is customizable. Waypoints are used to build routes. Routepoints?

As far as the scrolling is concerned, you can avoid the problem by zooming out far enough to see your departure and destination points. Create a straight line route between them using only two waypoints. Doesn't matter if the line crosses islands, reefs or whole continents. You're going to fix that by dragging, inserting and appending waypoints along and at each end of the route. Simple.

For most people it's not intuitive, so take the opportunity to learn from people who've been using OpenCPN on tablets for years. And I'm sure I'm not alone in this class.