Re: Can we get heading display on top
 

Heading is also indicated by the blue line coming out of the dot that indicates your location. If it's not big enough for your tastes, considering increasing the Draw Width in the Settings dialog.

Re: How does auto rotate work in maemo mapper
 

Enable "Auto-Rotate" by either pressing the down button on the D-pad (in the default configuration) or by using the "View | Rotate | Auto-Rotate" menu item.

Re: Can we get heading display on top
 

also when Tracking is turned on it gives you an idea where you have been and where you are heading. which i love :D

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

Is there some way to defrag or optimize the maps .db files? MM2 used to work very quickly when I first started using it, but now I downloaded many maps and the .db file is 900mb and displaying of maps is much slower now, especially when changing zoom levels.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

In my testing, GDBM was clearly slower than using the file system directly (as it was done in versions prior to v2.0). But file system overhead inflated disk requirements by (in some cases) up to an order of magnitude. It's a tradeoff that MANY people asked for.

I also tested sqlite3 as an alternative. Although slower than using the file system directory hierarchy, GDBM was much faster (and a little bit smaller) than sqlite3.

At best, I could make it 9 bytes, but that doesn't line the memory up very well, and ARM is much more efficient with 32-bit ints that are aligned along 32-bit boundaries. Besides, hash values are calculated at most once per map access (or maybe 12 times per screen draw). That's not a lot of CPU utilization.

This was implemented in Maemo Mapper v2.3. Give it a try, and see if it satisfies your speed requirements.

That's actually quite close to how it's implemented, except that the thread division is as such:
1. One thread for the GUI (the Main Event thread). This is standard in all GTK+ applications.
2. One thread for rendering the screen (done in the background and includes cache access and file system access for maps that are already downloaded).
3. Up to four threads for downloaded maps in the background.

Linux has a great thread manager, capable of interleaving many different threads to do many different things at once. There is no reason to delay certain processing until after a period of inactivity has already elapsed - it should be processing at every moment of inactivity.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

Actually, there is a function in the GDBM API to re-organize the files, but I don't provide the functionality in Maemo Mapper itself. I'll add a button in the "Manage Repositories" dialog to allow users to "reorganize" the file. It's also the only way that the database file can get smaller. (Space used by deleted maps is marked and reused when needed later.)

Depending on the size of the database, this operation might take a while....

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

My database size is over 900mb so I sort of expect it to take a long while.
I was thinking of copying the file to my pc and optimizing it there. What packages would I need installed, and what command should I use?

I do notice a speed improvement in 2.3 over 2.2, however 2.3 does seem to crash more and harder.

Also, would it be possible to Auto-download only in some repositories and not others? Maybe put the Auto-download option on the "Manage Repositories" dialog as well, if it won't clutter it too much.

Thank you, gnuite for all the time and effort that you put into this great program, and for helping it's users!

Re: Maemo Mapper sometimes wont start
 

i am using n800 with os2007 and while MM worked fine most of the time, it sometimes refuses to start after previously exiting from the application. when this happen i need to restart my tablet to get it working again.
i decided to use turn on cpu monitor on one occassion when MM wont start. it says MM was already running and taking up 36% of system ram. i killed the process and sure enough MM was able normally after that. MM seems to have exited improperly the last time taking up valuable system resource.
just wondering if anyone here encountered this.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

gnuite, thanks for clarification.

I am really not a linux/unix guy, in real life I am doing the real-time sw to make a living, plus windows as the side dish. Our company doesn't allow to deploy linux since the dispute with SCO(?) scares them, so they drew that policy 2 years ago.

I think your guys may give dbd, qdbm or tokyo cabinet some try, to see which is the fast dbm system. I will put the source code of my modified wingdbm soon, which removes the double memory allocation, and puts all gdbm functions into one file. So it's very easy to port that to other platform in static link, you can try that as well to see any performance gain.

MM is really a great toy which is very cool. As user, we're very please to see you guys make any progress.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

If you never delete any map tile in db, then there is no gap, just the nature of gdbm, which becomes slower when the db grows too big.

If you used to delete the maps within it. Then you need to re-organize it since deleting doesn't shrink the gdbm file size actually, just leave a unused gap within the file.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

This worked for me. I am now running maemo-mapper 2.3 on my 770 with 2007he. The one thing I found was that libgps16 has been replaced with libgps17 so the above download link does not work anymore. I had to find the updated package on the site. I downloaded it from here http://packages.debian.org/sid/armel/libgps17/download I used one of the ftp links because firefox just opened the file in a browser window when I clicked the www USA links.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

I thought it might be helpful to restate the contents of the previous post and others which I have been using to modify the gps connection process so that Maemo Mapper 2.3 can connect with my Bluetooth GPS device (iBT-GPS). I have added some items that I found necessary to complete the process for my particular setup. My Nokia 770 is running OS2006 and Mapper had been working nicely until I installed a Mapper update a couple of months ago. Mapper would then no longer load at all. I have now removed that version and installed version 2.3 which does start up properly. Now all I have to do is fix the gps connection failure problem.

As outlined in previous posts, I am starting by using wget to download http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/gnua...36-2_armel.deb to my memory card. Then I
“mkdir tmp1” and use
“dpkg --extract libgps17* tmp1”
This creates a subdirectory structure which contains “libgps.so.17.0.0”. Now I get the version 2.36 update package to replace my gpsd which is currently version 2.32,
“wget http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/gnua...6-2_armel.deb”
and extract that package
“mkdir tmp2” and use
“dpkg --extract gpsd* tmp2”
This subdirectory structure contains the new gpsd executable. Now after renaming my original gpsd file I again follow the previous post
“mv /usr/sbin/gpsd /usr/sbin/gpsd.old”
“cp tmp2/usr/sbin/gpsd /usr/sbin”
“cp tmp1/usr/lib/* /usr/lib”
and continue by changing to the /usr/lib directory and adding a link
“cd /usr/lib”
“ln -s libdbus-1.so.2.0.0 libdbus-1.so.3”
However attempting to then run gpsd, with or without parameters, gave a library loading error so I ran “ldconfig” and then when I run
“gpsd -n -N -D5 -F /tmp/gps.sock”
gpsd loads and remains active. However when enabling gps in Mapper, gpsd gives messages about “channel assignment failed” and that the client “turned on raw mode”.
Therefore we will try the rfcomm steps
“rfcomm bind /dev/rfcomm0 00:0B:0D:86:C4:B7”
then, as shown in a previous post, running
“rfcomm” produces “rfcomm0: 00:0B:0D:86:C4:B7 channel 1 clean”
As later pointed out by gnuite there is no need to run
“/usr/sbin/gpsd -N -n -F /tmp/gps.sock /dev/rfcomm0”
because you can set the File Path under GPS in Mapper Settings to /dev/rfcomm0 and select it and gpsd will be loaded and unloaded as you enable/disable GPS in Mapper.
To keep the /dev/rfcomm0 device present between reboots, you modify the /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf file read at startup by bluez-utils in /etc/init.d. Change the rfcomm.conf file so that it binds at startup (bind yes), put in the mac address for your gps device and you are finished.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

But that doesn't actually tell you which direction your heading is. With the map rotated to GPS direction, it gets difficult to tell which direction the blue line is pointing. With a number displayed somewhere, it's easy to tell at a glance which direction you're going.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

If the map is rotated to the GPS direction, then that blue line is always pointed up. In that case, you can use the compass (displayed in the lower right) to figure out your heading.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

Yes, if it's there, but it's not as accurate as an actual number. For me, it's quicker and requires less mental gyration to see the heading in degrees than to mentally rotate the compass. I understand that it's not important to most people, though, and is probably more trouble to program than it's worth.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

Thanks, I found it very helpful - I haven't been using unix much lately and the more detailed description really helped.

I didn't have my GPS mac address in front of me, so I started up Maemo Mapper to look it up in the settings. I found that Maemo mapper can now connect to the GPS, so I didn't follow any of the extra steps. This is on 2007HE (4.2007.46-3) on a N770 with i-Blue 737 GPS. In Maemo Mapper settings I'm using the GPS directly, not through the File Path or GPSD options. All seems to be working properly now.

Maemo Mapper v2.3.1 Released
 

I have just released Maemo Mapper v2.3.1 for OS2006, OS2007, and OS2008.

This release adds the ability to "compact" (aka "reorganize") a map cache database file. Due to the nature of GDBM, this is the only way a map cache database can decrease in size. (Otherwise, the space used by deleted maps is reused to store new maps.)

Also in this release is a key bug fix for those who have had problems with Maemo Mapper remaining in memory even after closing it. A symptom of this is not being able to start Maemo Mapper again after closing it. If you are experiencing these symptoms, you should upgrade to v2.3.1.

I also added Swedish translation strings, courtesy Daniel Nylander.

CHANGELOG:
* Fixed bug where Maemo Mapper persists in memory after closing.
* Added ability to "compact" (aka "reorganize") a map cache database.
* Added documentation for using custom POI icons.
* Added Swedish translation strings.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.3.1 Released
 

Hi. Many thanks for your efforts. maemo mapper rocks!

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

I am developing a new map file system for MM2.x right now, and want to plug it into MM2.2 to see any improvement.

I still like MM1.x file system, which is a lot faster. The draw back is the size of space map files take, since most modern SDHC card uses 32k as the default allocation unit, while the map tile file average size is around 6k, so 80% space is wasted. GDBM is not a very good solution I think. It's not scalable, it will slows down quite big with the tile number grows, on the other side the op file system just slows down a little, because most directory table or even fat table are cached.

My compromising solution for speed and space is to to still use MM1.x file structure, but each map file will hold up to 8 map tiles. The x directory name is (x>>2), y file name is (y>>1). In this way 8 map tiles in one file will be as m=(x>>2), n=(y>>1), so they are (m, n), (m+1, n), (m+2, n), (m+3, n), (m, n+1), (m+1, n+1), (m+2, n+1), (m+3, n+1), 8 tiles. Because of the nature of N8xx display resolution, one file reading can cover the whole screen. The speed may be even better than MM1.x.

As for the file size, my calculation shows that each tile wastes about 2k space in average, down from MM1.x's 26k, which is a significant improvement. Also a smart cache system can be implemented just using a few M bytes memory(MM2.3 uses 32M). The algorithm will be using the "distance" between the current displaying map tile and stored map tile, to decide which cache slot will be released if required. The cached map file with the biggest "distance" will be freed first, thus it only caches the around navigating area.

The only drawback of this file system is that you can't use the multi-thread downloading, I haven't figure out the way how multi-thread can do that, since you may hit the chance that different dn threads may try to modify/insert tiles into one map file.

That's my 2 cents of improvement idea, hope the developer can consider it and do some test. I am trying to develop a module based on that, but I have to say I have some trouble with the linux platform setup issue.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

I used Maemo Mapper the first time this weekend, on a trip from central Oklahoma down to Austin, TX. I loaded up a mess of google street maps, because I knew I was going to be poking around in Austin and then later in Ft Worth.

VERY useful, particularly when the directions to some place in Austin I'd been given weren't good enough, and we had to find the place via the GPS maps instead.

Three times on the way home, however, the mapper app closed itself. Each time but the last, I just restarted it; the last time, it restarted, but could never find the GPS receiver. I wound up actually shutting my N810 down and waiting 30 seconds and then restarting it, and it was happy from that point on.

Don't suppose there's a logfile somewhere I can pull up to see why it crashed?

This was on my new N810, and the help files were very straightforward; setting it up was easy to do (although I had to figure out what zoom level I wanted to load, and that was trial-and-error there).

-Jennifer

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.3.1 Released
 

Thanks for the continued updates Dude!

***

I have found a 2GB ceiling per DB on my N800...
That is, once 2GB is reached in my VE Hybrid DB, MM closes if I attempt to download another map. If I rename the DB and start a new one everything is fine again... until I reach 2GB.

Is this unique to me, VE hybrid, or the tablet/OS ?
Or; is it a limitation of the DB file?

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.3.1 Released
 

Both GDBM and Linux support large files (in excess of 2 GB), but that support has to be compiled into the binary. Either GDBM or Linux has NOT been compiled for Maemo with large file support.

One alternative (which is obviously not ideal) is to split your database into two separate files, e.g. one for the United States, one for Europe, etc.

A programmatic solution would be for Maemo Mapper to start splitting database files itself based on heuristics, but that complicates the implementation (potentially requiring Maemo Mapper to search multiple databases per tile access). I will have to investigate further....

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.3.1 Released
 

Thanks again. :)


In the mean time... How can I run V1.4 on OS2008?

Now that the price of MMC memory has dropped, it is no big deal to have 4GB of space for the old file system.
The value of this app for me is being able to reliably drill down to level 4 (new system) anywhere in my work area (about level 12) ... 2GB doesn't quite make it...

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

Is it just me who is trying to use WMS (OGC-specification) with Maemo-Mapper? Or is it just my device that has unexpected behaviours with OS2008?

On my N800 device MM crashes allways, if I do not escape special characters (?&=) when configuring WMS repository. Now - when using escaped characters on MM's repostiory url - on server side I get request from MM which does not look like it should be. Query has lot of carbage that does not belong to configured query.

Log on server side (Apache), 10.0.0.64 is the MM client:

10.0.0.64 - - [24/Jan/2008:13:23:59 +0200] "GET /cgi-bin/orto_3067_wms0,000000service%3Dwms%26version%3D1.1 .1%26request%3Dgetmap 0x0,00001000008d2p-1022yers%3Dorto_kkj_mv (null)rs%3D900913%26bbox%3D0,000000,0,000000,0,000 000,0,000000%26width%3D256 0,000000e+00ight%3D256 HTTP/1.1" 404 336

For example, values/parameters 0,000000 and 0x0,00001000008d2p-1022yers are something unexpected.

Is this problem of Maemo-Mapper or could this be some OS2008 library issue?

I'm using proj library, and it is able to do necessary transformations when using command line tool (cs2cs).

And SRS=900913 (or 600613 :)) , see http://crschmidt.net/blog/archives/2...ection-900913/

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.3.1 Released
 

v1.4.x has not yet been ported to the N800. I haven't had time to do it, but even when I do, 2 GB of maps in the v2.x format will probably use a lot more space than 4 GB of maps in the v1.x format.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

I'll take a look at it. I haven't tested the WMS maps in a while - I may have broken something....

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

Thanks!

please let me know if you find or not something.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.3.1 Released
 

I, too, would like to see v1.4.x on the N800 running OS2008. I've been running v2.x.x for a while, and have several concerns. This is not to say that I don't think Maemo Mapper isn't the greatest piece of software I've encountered in the past five years--I'd just like it to be better.

One, it is slower. I couldn't care less about rotating maps and whatnot (I have and auto-north seeking mindset) but the whole process of storing and retrieving tiles is sluggish. The little hourglasses (which sometimes stretch across the screen )and the 'Processing Maps' bar get tedious compared to the snappy performance of 1.4.x.

Two, the 2GB limit is troubling. I'm up to 1.8GB on one file, and don't have an easy way to split it up into something smaller without starting from scratch.

Three, I don't think I've missed anything, but I don't see a way to delete maps from the data base. (Which begs the question, why is there a 'Compact' button in the latest version?)

Four, thank goodness for Nutter and his wonderful little applications. I was almost ready to throw in the towel and start redownloading everything. At least I can import my old 1.4.x files into a 2.x data base without downloading everything again. And I can suck files from IE without having the Gsat repository sieze up because Google thinks I'm downloading too many files. Half of my concerns would go away if Nutter comes up with another app that lets me swap stuff into AND out of a database file. Hint, hint.

I was able to format the MMC card I was using for the 770 with a 1k cluster size, and can fit nearly as many tiles on it as in the similar size 2.x database. But (and this is a big but) the large number of files are getting very difficult to manage. Just backing them up or transferring from one computer to another takes forever. Zipping them up helps a little but even that takes a while with >200,000 files.

Summary: I'd like to see v1.4.x on OS2008, and I'd like to be able to edit the database files.

All hail Gnuite. If you haven't made a contrbution to Maemo Mapper via PayPal yet, do it today. I have, and probably should do it again.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

Thank you, Gnuite, for your work on Maemo Mapper. It's really a pleasure to use. This brings me to my question-- is there a "night mode"?

I've searched these threads for any mention of it, and have come up empty and tired. If there isn't such a feature, are there plans to implement it, or does someone have an idea how hard it would be? I remember the PSP homebrew "Map This!" had it and also used downloaded Google Maps as its repository (not sure if that's helpful).

Regards

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

There is no night mode, nor do I have any plans to implement it. I guess I always figured that's what the brightness setting is for. I guess it probably wouldn't be all that hard to just invert the maps....

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

The difference between a night mode and just dimming the screen is very dramatic. It's a very useful option, and available on every other mapping program I've seen. All you need to do, really, is invert white and black. Getting rid of all that white makes a big difference, and dimming the screen way down makes everything hard to see. If you offer it, you offer it, and if you don't, you don't, since it's a free program. It would increase the usability, though.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

Well, every other mapping program pretty much uses vector stuff. ;) Inversion is going to be quite the same thing as what the vector-based units do.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

I'm not sure of exactly how to invert raster maps, and it may not work well with some of them, but the simpler ones are visually very similar to vector maps. I'm not claiming that it would be easy, just that it would be useful.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

I have searched the Maemo Mapper help file and this forum, and I can't seem to find out how to find a route to an address in Maemo Mapper. The help file says to click Find > Route. There is no Find menu item, much less a Find > Route. I have lookec at every menu item in the application, and although I can go to an address (by digging way, way down into the menus -- and that really ought to be easier), I see no menu item anywhere for displaying a route to that address.

Am I simply overlooking it?

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

Menu, Route, Download. You have to download the route while you have an internet connection, and you can then save it. To open a saved route, Menu, Route, Open. I have no idea where you're seeing Find.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

It says in the Help file, under routes, to click Find > Route. As far as I can tell, no such menu item exists.

As for downloading a route, that does not even make sense to me. If I went somewhere often enough to need to save a route to it, I probably would not need directions. And I seriously doubt that someone out there has created "saved routes" from every possible location to every other possible location. Isn't the whole point of using a GPS is to find routes from wherever I happen to be to where I want to go, dynamically, while on the road? If I were at home with a network connection, I would just print directions from Google Maps.

Am I missing something here?

N810 crashes on same db file that works on N800
 

Got a new N810 and I copied my map directory from my N800 to my N810 by plugging both into my laptop via usb. The problem is that when I access too low a zoom level from the N810, maemo-mapper crashes. Using the same map file on my N800 looking at the same place at the same zoom level, it works fine. Running mapper from the command line, it crashes with a gdbm error. I then tried scp'ing the files over to make sure the files weren't corrupted some how during the transfer but I get the same error. I've seen this on Google Streets going below zoom 5 and Google Satellite though I can't recall the zoom level. Any reason this would be happening?

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

Thanks for the response-- I figured it wouldn't be very hard to invert as well. I think many people would agree that night-mode is preferable to dimming. Now that you know there's interest, would you consider implementing it?

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

@bblackmoor: It's not possible to do autorouting on raster maps. MM has to have an internet connection to calculate a route. You have to get the route before you start your trip. In order to do autorouting and rerouting, vector maps are necessary, and gnuite has chosen to use raster maps. If you want autorouting and rerouting, you'll have to look elsewhere.

@gnuite: One more request. Is it possible to reverse a saved route? That would be very useful, since one of the more common things to do is get a route to someplace, and then return home. Having the ability to reverse the route without an internet connection would be very nice. I have no idea how hard this would be.

Re: Maemo Mapper v2.2 for OS2006/OS2007/OS2008
 

Thanks. Nokia Map/Wayfinder doesn't have these problems, so I guess I will stick with that.