Re: Plans for Maemo Mapper v2.0
 

He makes a good point, routing offline would be great considering a phone connection can be fairly anemic, or unavailable at times.

I would have no problem stuffing a 4gb card specifically for MaemoMapper if it provided those functions. I think ease of use, and routing should be your targets for 2.0!

Concerning the database style... I wouldn't mind moving forward and just going with the one file. I've found moving thousands of files back and forth to be painful for my memory cards and I wouldn't miss any merging benefits the old style provides.

Re: Plans for Maemo Mapper v2.0
 

The "port" will probably be built on GTK (requiring GTK for Windows), so it's not really a port so much as switching between using Hildon UI elements and "normal" GTK elements. It will uglify the code a little, but it won't bloat the executable.

I will start with a Maemo-specific design, since that is my priority, and I'll just keep in mind that I'll want it to (someday) work with normal GTK as well. Then, I'll change the maemo-specific bits to build differently depending on the target environment.

Re: Plans for Maemo Mapper v2.0
 

Maemo Mapper had "connection independent functionality" (sans routing) long before Navicore's software came to the maemo platform.

As others have mentioned, the existence of an alternative doesn't refute the desire for a free, open source solution. If that were the case, Maemo Mapper never would have come about in the first place, as GpsDrive had already been ported to maemo.

Re: Plans for Maemo Mapper v2.0
 

I've done a proof-of-concept with GDBM (a simple hash-key-value system), and I was able to reduce disk space requirements (on a 1k-block file system) by about 40%. (That number may not be representative; it is based on only about 10,000 zoom-level-0 maps.)

I'm still investigating alternatives, though. Someone mentioned CDB, but that's less useful in a constantly-changing map cache scenario. Maemo Mapper already uses sqlite3, so if I can reuse it for the map cache (POI would still be in a separate database) with sufficient performance, I will prefer to do that. sqlite3 (or any relational database, for that matter) could also give me the opportunity to implement more complex features, such as "aging out" (based on either time or fixed-disk-space) of older, not-recently-accessed maps .

I'm also open to suggestions.

Re: Plans for Maemo Mapper v2.0
 

Sounds like a great idea, but it also sounds like something that will take some work to get right. Post a feature request and I'll keep it in mind as a future feature.

Re: Plans for Maemo Mapper v2.0
 

One problem is that the convenience of being able to "move a single file" also precludes the capability to, for example, download maps to your desktop and copy them into your Nokia device. You'd have to first transfer the database from the Nokia device to your desktop, download maps to the database, then transfer the database back to the Nokia device.

It sounds like most people don't care too much about that drawback, though, so I'll just release a FS-to-DB converter, and that will be that.

I promise you that 2.0 will be usable on the 770. Some of the newer features may require more RAM (or even swap space), but they can all be disabled. 2.x will never run as fast as 1.x (which, admittedly, suffered from intense over-optimization), but it will always be usable on the 770, even if some of the more CPU- and memory-intensive features are not.

Re: Plans for Maemo Mapper v2.0
 

I also vote for the database style map storage. The "one file per tile" just is too much of a burden for the file system.

Feature request: Can you add selectable "smart" auto scale function to the Mapper? How this might work is that the zoom level depends on either:

1) Speed: Maybe at highway cruising speed the screen would cover approx. 5 minutes (selectable?) of travel. Once the speed increase/decrease the map zooms automatically. (However, stop and go traffic might become problematic...)
2) Approaching waypoint/turn: The map zooms in automatically so that the turn can be seen in the screen with maximum detail. For example once the waypoint is within the 5 minutes window (as in 1 above), this zoom function takes over so that the waypoint is always seen in the screen.

Just one idea that could be automated, which I found doing manually when traveling with the MaemoMapper...

Re: Plans for Maemo Mapper v2.0
 

Maemo Mapper is a hobby, so I don't plan on ever requiring "fair" compensation. The hobby is compensation enough! I do greatly appreciate the generosity of those who have donated, though. :)

Unfortunately, since the route direction data is based on free-form text, I have to use a generated voice. I could probably work out a way to record and use simple directions like "Turn left", but without context (like "in 500 feet" or "at Main Street"), it's not very useful.

Re: Plans for Maemo Mapper v2.0
 

John, I would like to know (either you ever want to do it or not*) how it would be possible to calculate routes offline, given that MM just loads images that could be highways and streets but could be also 2-century old maps, or satellite images (on which the streets are quite hard to identify on zooms less than 2 or 3).

Will we ever see something like this?

*I say this because lots of people are asking for it, and because it is already into the garage feature request, despite I usually download my route instantly through the phone or the day before, through my internet connection at home.

Re: Plans for Maemo Mapper v2.0
 

I have avoided taking screen real estate from the map in favor of context-sensitive (tap and hold) menus, but the advent of the GPS info panel sort of shattered that dream, so maybe it's time to add a toolbar.

You can tap-and-hold on anywhere on the map and download a route to that location from your current location. As for "Favorites": I have wanted a tap-browsable location selector in Maemo Mapper for some time. The existing text-completion is just not usable enough, especially with the maemo bug(?) that requires you to use the D-Pad to actually select a completion. I'll get to it someday...