gps/mappercomparison
 

ok, so i've been trying to find a viable replacement for tomtom on my palm--no luck yet. seems like there are a few options: wayfinder (but limited without significant $$$$), maemo-mapper, roadmap, and navit. looking for a comparison of features, and maybe stuff about them that i know about.

maemo-mapper: this seems the most polished. you can download pois (though i've had some probs, see separate thread), route maps, change map repositories, etc. re-routing requires online access, which is a problem. the map sizes are also HUUGE at a reasonable detail level.

roadmap: similar to the above. cool 3D view possible. doesn't seem to support POIs.

navit: vector mapping, has some potential. i haven't been able to enter waypoints successfully. i've managed to extract a map of the eastern u.s. taking up 600 megs, which isn't bad.



anything

Re: gps/mappercomparison
 

DISCLAIMER- RoadMap for Maemo is my project. While I strive for objectivity, I cannot promise it ;) I am constantly evaluating the Nav software available for Maemo in order to make RoadMap better.

Yes, but Meamo-Mapper allows for almost any kind of map as they are in raster format. I use it all the time for Aerial photos, topo, etc...

Actually RoadMap does support POIs. It doesn't have a built-in POI download option in the menu (yet). But it'll open the GPX files no problem. I just need to add it to the menu. Also, Maemo-Mapper uses Raster Data (images). RoadMap uses vector data (lines). There are pros and cons to this-

Pros- maps are much smaller, Address lookup w/o Internet works, Multiple maps can be displayed/overlayed at once. Since maps are rendered on-device, the view is highly customizable.

Cons- Only road map data is available. No Topo, photos, nautical charts, etc.

Navit has a lot of potential. It's in alpha, but in active development and moving fast. It also uses vector data. The routing engine is cool. It's hampered by the lack of Public Domain street data required to actually do routing, as is RoadMap. (Without knowing which streets are one way, how can any program route?) But that is likely to change.

hope this helps,
kernelpanic

Re: gps/mappercomparison
 

cool. i thought roadmap used raster maps as well. about to get off topic, but i haven't been able to get the getmaps or roadgps working in roadmaps, nor does pointing it in the direction of an osm .bin file seem to work. any trick to that? and how do you import the POIs? how can users contribute to adding needed (e.g. one way streets) data to osm?

Re: gps/mappercomparison
 

I'm not quite understanding you re. roadgps and getmaps. Do you mean that you can't get the GPS to work, or the app itself? (If you're using an n800 w/bluetooth GPS you have to manually add the BT address in preferences->GPS...)

Getmaps, should work fine as long as you've got wget...
[edit]
As for POIs, RoadMap will read GPX files no problem. To import POIs or routes into a trip, you cna go to- http://gnuite.com:8080/cgi-bin/poi.cgi and enter a location. It will return a GPX file that you can save. The to add these POIs to your current trip you can do menu->trip->merge trip and browse to the saved file. (This'll likely be more automated in the next release...)
[/edit]

If you could post back and be a little more specific, I'd be happy to help...

cheers,
kernelpanic

Re: gps/mappercomparison
 

ah, yes. i didn't see the config option asking for my bt address--i assumed gpsd took care of it. i had been using roadmap after connecting to gps via the control panel, which works fine. roadgps apparently needs the mac address input in preferences.

getmaps is giving me:
"--no results to write to qt21/32/3a/qt323aa409.rdm
Maps downloaded successfully!"
the qt21 directory shows a bunch of apparently empty files.
1. is there a way to use maps that i parse directly from the osm site? it doesn't seem to pull up the bin files that i place in the roadmaps directory.
2. are the precompiled maps from the roadmap site not vector or osm maps? what's the advantage of getting osm maps?

Ok, it looks like the POI engine uses google data, which i always have a couple of issues with.
1. google doesn't always give you the nearest POIs for whatever reason.
2. i can only get 10 POIs at a time. any way to get all returned results?

lastly, i can't for the life of me figure out how to map a simple route--i see an array of options for trips, places, routes, tracks, etc. how can i enter an address/poi and get directions to that point? can it be done onboard yet, or does it need to go through google?

Re: gps/mappercomparison
 

Yeah, it looks like the server is down.
Roadmap takes the binary files from the proxy and compiles maps from them. There may be a way to take the manually downloaded bin's and compile then with the (command line) buildmaps_osm binary. But I haven't tried it yet.
The precompiled maps on the Roadmap site are based on U.S. Census Bureau Tiger Data. They are vector maps. Roadmap was designed to use these maps. (Some features like address lookup only work with Tiger maps.) OSM support is new and in Beta... The primary reason for OSM is to make RoadMap useful to people outside of the U.S.
You've got a couple of options-
1. Route by address- go to 'file->get google route by address', enter your start and destination address and go.
2. Route on the map- Click your destination, then long-click it and select 'New Route to Selection'. Then go back to your location (press 'g'), click on it then long-click and select 'Set/Prepend route start'. Then goto 'file->fetch google route', done.

Both of these options use google to route. Onboard routing is not implemented yet. (There's a branch of Roadmap called Roadmap-Editor which has routing and a small group of coders including myself trying to port the functionality over to RoadMap. But it's a lot of work... Basically, It's coming, but don't hold your breath and wait for it. ;)

hope this helps,
kernelpanic

Re: gps/mappercomparison
 

ok, got it working now (gave up on getting osm maps, as i guess i don't need them) looking forward to onboard routing, and like i said, it would be great to download a huge database of pois from somewhere. one other issue is that with gps enabled, the cpu usage gets pegged. i saw another post on this, but it doesn't seem to matter what zoom i have the map at.

Re: gps/mappercomparison
 

So taking into account the initial post, what I would like to see is not yet available. Maemo Mapper works after you really understand what things do. I have not tried Roadmap and Navit is still in its infancy.

What I would really like to see is an app with onboard routing (and rerouting), turn-by-turn directions, no dependancy on an internet connection and a very simple finger-based UI. Oh yeah, and I don't want to pay $150 for a subscription of really old maps. ;)