Thread: Plans for Maemo Mapper v2.0
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YoDude is offline YoDude
2007-05-21 , 23:03
Posts: 2,869 | Thanked: 1,784 times | Joined on Feb 2007 @ Po' Bo'. PA
#44
Originally Posted by gnuite View Post
I'm on the way toward releasing Maemo Mapper v2.0. Maemo Mapper v2.0 is going to represent a major shift in the paradigm I've been using up to this point, mostly as a reaction to the release of the N800. The focus with the 770 was very much on performance, due to the limitations of the hardware. The focus in Maemo Mapper v2.0 will be on features and aesthetics, including drag-panning, heading-based view rotation, and maybe even some transparency or anti-aliasing. Heck, I'll even be testing the feasability of implementing a "perspective" view, allowing you to see more of the map in front of you.

By popular request, I will also be aiming for cross-platform compatibility in hopes of a Windows (or at least x86) release, so you can run Maemo Mapper on your laptop at any resolution you wish. (For that reason, I am even considering renaming or forking the project. Any ideas? Not GpsDrive. )

One of the big changes will be to use a database cache instead of a file system cache, to address the internal fragmentation of thousands of small files eating away at the free space of memory cards. Before I go further in the development of this particular new feature, I wanted to get some opinions about how to introduce it.

Those of you with "extensive" map caches may not appreciate having to re-download the maps that they've downloaded. I'm planning to provide a command-line utility to "convert" a file system cache to the new database cache format. Would you prefer that I also continue to allow Maemo Mapper to work with a file system cache? I can set it up so that each repository can be switched independently between a file system cache or a database cache. (It would complicate the code and reduce performance slightly.)

I guess my real question is this: does anyone see any value in maintaining the old file-system-based map cache? The only benefit I see is being able to browse through the individual map files, deleting or adding files as you see fit. The file system hierarchy is too complex for this, though, and if you're savvy enough to sort it out, you're probably savvy enough to mess with a database cache directly. Are there other, more relevant reasons to maintain backward compatibility with file system map caches?

Also, I'm open to other ideas to implement in v2.0, but keep in mind that I'm only one man, and my plans for v2.0 are already taking up a lot of my spare time. Hopefully, I'll find the time to document some of these plans in the Garage, but until then, feel free to post suggestions to this thread or the Feature Request section of the Maemo Mapper Garage Tracker.

Note: I will still, always be releasing every new version of Maemo Mapper for the 770, as well as for the N800. Some of the newer features may not run as well under particular conditions, or may require the use of swap, but it will ALWAYS be runnable (and usable) on the 770. I still own my 770, and I want to be able to run Maemo Mapper on it, too.


First off Hi gnuite,

Outstanding effort with this program! It works very well. I saw this thread this morning and have been thinking about my response all day. Sorry if I'm a bit late to the party.


I have been using Navicore for the past week or so and as far as a paradigm shift with your program goes it has already happened for me. I found that both apps can share the BT GPS receiver concurrently.
What this means to the user is that by simply switching tasks you get two views of the road ahead. In this role Maemo Mapper is very good companion software for Navicore and in fact makes the N800 an in car navigator that has features no one else offers.
I can rely on Navicore for detailed street views, rerouting, and voice directions and use M/M for tracking where I've been, a north oriented street map to show what roadways lie ahead, and my position in relationship to pre-loaded poi's.

I do like the idea of a stand alone converter for a DB. As it is right now I have one drive pretty much dedicated to M/M because of its format. Being able to construct a personal DB is also a plus because now with Navicore's detailed street maps on board I am using M/M mostly at zooms above 4, for level 4 and below I use the hybrid satellite maps as they may show landmarks that will help during the trip. I download them to a separate cache then merge them together later. It sounds like this converter will allow me to continue doing this.

It occurred to me that by going in the direction as competition for existing navigators you may always find yourself behind the curve as far as users go and will be bombarded with requests to make the program act like the latest commercial offering.

Rather than going that route I was hoping that M/M's direction would be more toward on-line connectivity and public POI DB's. That is, having the ability to connect and find POI's based on simple search criteria like "plumber" followed by a zip code and have the program plot all the plumbers on the map along with their addy's and phone numbers. Or when no zip code is given it returns all plumbers within the current map view.


Functions like these would make M/M and the N770/800 quite the travel aid.


Examples of Goggle's efforts for WinMo and Palm can be found here >> http://www.google.com/gmm/index.html

J2ME jar file here >> http://my.opera.com/yodude/blog/show.dml/375005

Whatever happens... rock on dude. You have made my N800 more enjoyable to use and as I use it more and more that means a lot.