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I'm looking for a simple application that will run in the background, and send the current GSM/UTMS cell-id to a web server on a periodic basis (via HTTP GET).
Basically a program like cellGPS (http://www.vikinggames.hu/product.php?id=11) but for Windows Mobile. I don't really care about GPS info, since that just sucks power (and doesn't work indoors).
What I'm trying to do here is enable my home automation system to know where I am, without sucking my phone's battery to death (especially since GPS won't work indoors). GSM/UTMS cell-id is 'close enough' for me.
The application would just hit a webserver on my home machine with the current cell-id (http://webserver.com/receiver.php?cellid=4233-23) on a definable period. My own app on my webserver would record that data into a database. I can then go back and use that data to let my home auto system know "hey, Justin's almost home, turn on the HVAC, lights, etc".
It needs to be able to run in the background, no annoying icons on the screen, and start up on phone reset.
I figure since it's just sending the cell-id (which is always available), it would be rather efficient and not use much battery power (especially since I usually leave Activesync on "instant" so the data connection is usually up anyway).
Other extensions to this would let my server update twitter/facebook/etc with "Justin's at ... home/work/etc now.".
Any ideas?
wow this would be a great aplication
Two programs come to mind.... Comm Mgr Pro and rk-Location Switch.
I have not really played with these two programs much, but they do Cell tower based switching and might include some of the other features you require (but I do have to admit that they do not have all the features you want).
Dale Lane posted some c# code to programmatically get the cellID of the current tower.
The rest is pretty simple - a place to enter the url and then periodically issue HTTP GET requests.
I guess I could try to cook up something when I have some time.
Well I went and coded a sample app anyway. It just reads the current tower info at the specified interval. Is this the information that you require?
Just extract the zip to the device and run the .exe.
Note: It requires .NET Compact Framework 2.0
this sounds pretty cool. remember that cellid information is good for triangulating to about 1000 meters. you can get "justin's on his way home, turn on the AC" but probably not "justin's in the shower, begin youtube upload"
newb5000 said:
Well I went and coded a sample app anyway. It just reads the current tower info at the specified interval. Is this the information that you require?
Just extract the zip to the device and run the .exe.
Note: It requires .NET Compact Framework 2.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works great! even though this topic was supposed to be on logging it to a web database, I am not too keen on that since data charges are expensive. I would be more interested in an internal database where I can simply attach a "friendly name", say the location of the site (ie. corner of main and first st.) to some cell sites (or a group of sites) in the internal database. Similar to what nicetrack used to do on previous WM versions. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=320055
newb5000 said:
Well I went and coded a sample app anyway. It just reads the current tower info at the specified interval. Is this the information that you require?
Just extract the zip to the device and run the .exe.
Note: It requires .NET Compact Framework 2.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will check as soon as I get my Kaiser back -- I managed to shatter the screen over the weekend. doh. This sounds EXACTLY like what I'm looking for.
Someone else mentioned data charges, which I don't care about, since I'm on unlimited data (AT&T won't even sell the things without the unlimited data plan now).
Actually, I still have my older TyTN somewhere. Let me dig it up and give this a try.
jasonchan said:
Works great! even though this topic was supposed to be on logging it to a web database, I am not too keen on that since data charges are expensive. I would be more interested in an internal database where I can simply attach a "friendly name", say the location of the site (ie. corner of main and first st.) to some cell sites (or a group of sites) in the internal database. Similar to what nicetrack used to do on previous WM versions. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=320055
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a program that sort of does this now, called Trackme -- but it only does GPS as far as I know. Adding DB code would probably add a whole lot of complexity (and CPU power).
I'm sure it's doable, though, but I would hope it wouldn't be in this app. I have enough crap running in the background eating precious CPU cycles.
I wish I had a Windows machine to do development on. I'm Mac/Linux only, and don't have access to Visual Studio anymore.. I wrote an app to do this for the iPhone, but it can't run in the background due to SDK limitations. It's annoying that Microsoft hasn't made the WinMo SDK work on other platforms (although I guess Apple is doing that with the iPhone, so I don't have much room to talk).
The "goal" of this desired application is to be as lightweight as possible and offload all processing to a real computer. My phone doesn't need to do all of the work.
I can't imagine this would use much bandwidth, anyway. Even if you updated every five minutes, that's far less than 50kb per day, assuming a 64 byte URL + all HTTP and TCP headers. It'd add up to around 1.5 megabytes a month. I'd bet it'd be closer to 800-900kb/month. That's nothing compared to email/etc traffic. I would hope EU/etc carriers aren't so bad that 1.5mb a month would put you over a limit...
jasonchan said:
Works great! even though this topic was supposed to be on logging it to a web database, I am not too keen on that since data charges are expensive. I would be more interested in an internal database where I can simply attach a "friendly name", say the location of the site (ie. corner of main and first st.) to some cell sites (or a group of sites) in the internal database. Similar to what nicetrack used to do on previous WM versions. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=320055
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested it yesterday when driving home from work. Tower changes were very frequent during my drive home. But lets say that a HTTP GET request (depending on the length of the URL) is on average 100 bytes. Lets say in a day you switch towers 200 times. That would result in just under 20 kilobytes of data usage in a day. I actually calculated this for myself because I also initially thought that one would get a large bill at the end of the month for data usage, but it would seem that this isn't the case.
One could also limit the web requests to only "bookmarked" Cell IDs.
I like the idea of the original poster even though I cannot see how I could use it personally, since I do not have a home automation system.
Regarding more friendly names - I remember that I had set it up on one of my first phones to receive cell broadcast messages from the towers which included the tower friendly name. Haven't tried since, though.
The data that is made available in Windows Mobile is the following:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa921533.aspx
Don't see any friendly names of towers though
I thought of adding a "bookmark" button so that one can bookmark the current Cell ID (and possibly assign a friendly name) but this would be very awkward while driving (and the frequent tower changes).
Google has a database with Cell IDs and uses them in Google Maps but good luck getting a copy of their database
norelidd said:
this sounds pretty cool. remember that cellid information is good for triangulating to about 1000 meters. you can get "justin's on his way home, turn on the AC" but probably not "justin's in the shower, begin youtube upload"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hah!
I only need 1000 meter resolution. GPS is definitely more accurate, but it would kill the battery in 6 hours flat.
Maybe when the third generation of GPS sats start going up in a few years, GPS receivers will use less power (since the sats will be much more powerful and supposedly will reach inside most buildings).. but that's 2015 at the earliest. Who knows what HTC/etc will come out with by then.
jmat said:
I will check as soon as I get my Kaiser back -- I managed to shatter the screen over the weekend. doh. This sounds EXACTLY like what I'm looking for.
Someone else mentioned data charges, which I don't care about, since I'm on unlimited data (AT&T won't even sell the things without the unlimited data plan now).
Actually, I still have my older TyTN somewhere. Let me dig it up and give this a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only saw your post after I posted mine.
There aren't any web requests yet though, I just wanted to confirm that I was on the right track (through you testing it ). I'm willing to give it a bash because I'll learn something through the process.
Some questions arise:
Should the app dial a connection automatically, or just not send out requests if there is no active connection?
Still need to figure out how to get it to run in the background properly
I'm wondering how it should function if the phone is in standby
newb5000 said:
I tested it yesterday when driving home from work. Tower changes were very frequent during my drive home. But lets say that a HTTP GET request (depending on the length of the URL) is on average 100 bytes. Lets say in a day you switch towers 200 times. That would result in just under 20 kilobytes of data usage in a day. I actually calculated this for myself because I also initially thought that one would get a large bill at the end of the month for data usage, but it would seem that this isn't the case.
One could also limit the web requests to only "bookmarked" Cell IDs.
I like the idea of the original poster even though I cannot see how I could use it personally, since I do not have a home automation system.
Regarding more friendly names - I remember that I had set it up on one of my first phones to receive cell broadcast messages from the towers which included the tower friendly name. Haven't tried since, though.
The data that is made available in Windows Mobile is the following:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa921533.aspx
Don't see any friendly names of towers though
I thought of adding a "bookmark" button so that one can bookmark the current Cell ID (and possibly assign a friendly name) but this would be very awkward while driving (and the frequent tower changes).
Google has a database with Cell IDs and uses them in Google Maps but good luck getting a copy of their database
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tower switching will happen quite fast in big populated areas. That's why I was just going for every few minutes and not "as the tower changes".
It's too bad the towers don't "advertise" their GPS coordinates along with the other tower data. It seems like that would have been really easy to stick in the UMTS standard.
I'm surprised Google hasn't open sourced that database, or at least made an API library for it. Afterall, their users are the ones who discovered it all, not them -- Google Maps just records GPS coordinates + cell IDs and uploads them when you run the Google Maps location. I've seen that app upload several hundred kb during some runs.
Going back to the 'post on switch' thing. That might be a neat option -- to send a GET on every tower switch.. I'm going back and forth in my head on if that's a good idea or not. It'd be interesting to see how that hits battery life, though. (Since I have ActiveSync with "always push" enabled, I bet it doesn't make much of a difference).
First beta
Hi guys,
Apologies for the delay - I've been terribly busy.
I managed to create the app so it's ready for testing.
Attached is the cab file. The app consists of two components - the configuration utility and the service. The service is responsible for making the web requests and is launched at startup. You can use the configuration utility to adjust the settings as well as monitor what the service is doing.
The service will automatically dial your data connection when a web update is necessary, but it can also work via WiFi - although I don't see why you would use it via WiFi. It also supports websites that require Windows Authentication (Kerberos or NTLM should work, but do test it).
I think the app should be pretty self explanatory, but please do post if you have any questions or experience any problems.
FIY - the last error (if there is one) is stored in a log file located in:
Program Files\CellID Updater\cidlog.txt
Hope you like it!
EDIT: An update is available on the next page. I'm leaving this attachment as is just for reference purposes, but you should download the one on the next page.
CommMgrPro is creating a very big database automatically with operatorID-Cell/LAC-GPS coords sent (automatically) by the users (they can track their movements in realtime with googlemaps). Obviously GPS coords are only sent by GPS enabled devices. You can change the URL where the data is posted (HTTP GET) to point your site and I can give you a free license. Currently 3000 cells registed with gps coords and growing as the users moves....
Dani
newb5000 said:
Hi guys,
Apologies for the delay - I've been terribly busy.
I managed to create the app so it's ready for testing.
Attached is the cab file. The app consists of two components - the configuration utility and the service. The service is responsible for making the web requests and is launched at startup. You can use the configuration utility to adjust the settings as well as monitor what the service is doing.
The service will automatically dial your data connection when a web update is necessary, but it can also work via WiFi - although I don't see why you would use it via WiFi. It also supports websites that require Windows Authentication (Kerberos or NTLM should work, but do test it).
I think the app should be pretty self explanatory, but please do post if you have any questions or experience any problems.
FIY - the last error (if there is one) is stored in a log file located in:
Program Files\CellID Updater\cidlog.txt
Hope you like it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey all - my first post.
I must say, it's outstandingly honorable that you share your skills with us. So good.. (haven't installed the tool yet, hope it's no virus or tv-on/off-switcher)
One question @jmat: How do you process the cellid once it is http'd to your server? Is there a webservice that maps cell-ids to gps?
Frouk
frouk said:
I must say, it's outstandingly honorable that you share your skills with us. So good.. (haven't installed the tool yet, hope it's no virus or tv-on/off-switcher)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks and no, it's not a virus / trojan / <insert something bad here>
One thing I forgot to mention is that if the device goes into standby, the service will be "paused". Then, when the device comes out of standby, the service will resume where it left off. I'm not sure whether this is acceptable behaviour for the app, but I considered the alternative - preventing the device from going into standby will drain the battery very quickly. So you would choose when the service should send out updates by taking your device out of standby.
Another thing: you can configure how often the service checks for a new tower and whether it should send out an update if the tower is different or the same since the last check.
I'm still wondering how I can put this app to good use, personally. I don't have a home automation system and I don't need to be tracked by anyone at home. Any ideas on what other uses this app could have?
newb5000 said:
Thanks and no, it's not a virus / trojan / <insert something bad here>
One thing I forgot to mention is that if the device goes into standby, the service will be "paused". Then, when the device comes out of standby, the service will resume where it left off. I'm not sure whether this is acceptable behaviour for the app, but I considered the alternative - preventing the device from going into standby will drain the battery very quickly. So you would choose when the service should send out updates by taking your device out of standby.
Another thing: you can configure how often the service checks for a new tower and whether it should send out an update if the tower is different or the same since the last check.
I'm still wondering how I can put this app to good use, personally. I don't have a home automation system and I don't need to be tracked by anyone at home. Any ideas on what other uses this app could have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The configuration is just perfect - that way one can decide when to update just by letting the device go to sleep or not. Another thing: am I right that this app will never be as accurate as Google maps "my location"? It uses triangular approximation with more than one cell-id, right? I experienced it to be very accurate, even being on the train it exactly locates my position, amazing.
I personally intend to use such kind of app for reality/virtuality games where website visitors can track something or someone on the web and then go outside into the real world and do something or meet someone.
But jmats' idea is also amazing.
Cell name
Years ago I had Ericsson R320 (BTW great phone). It showed cell name e.g. "city centre" on the screen besides op name. I dug up my eric from the closet and this option still works. It would be great to have this as a today plugin Do you know something like that?
Handy Use of App
newb5000 said:
I'm still wondering how I can put this app to good use, personally. I don't have a home automation system and I don't need to be tracked by anyone at home. Any ideas on what other uses this app could have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you could mount a web server in your home pc (pretty simple) and track your device if it gets lost or stolen... It would be nice to recover your $700dlls phone right.
I have been searching all overr and I'm yet to see am amswer for my question? So I've cdcided to post it on the best site for htc phones. is there a way aside from the app, Pinpoint to show where you are? I mean like what I want to do is have google maps app be able to save my location and adress using the gps and allow me to save it to a contact so that this way next time I want to get to my aunts house for example I can just go to her info click adress and voila. It has a route sshowing me the route.
A strange sense of deja vu washed over me reading this, I was thinking exactly the same thing a few hours ago.
Being able to save GPS information for contacts would be something of great importance considering the devices capabilities, apps like AndNav2 could then use contact GPS co-ordinates for quick navigation, the same could be said of google maps and other applications that use GPS information.
Ageless Stranger said:
Being able to save GPS information for contacts would be something of great importance considering the devices capabilities, apps like AndNav2 could then use contact GPS co-ordinates for quick navigation, the same could be said of google maps and other applications that use GPS information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't you just save an address to the contact and then click on get directions? Or does the location have no street address?
Well yeaah that too. I was thinking of that but the thing is, my cousins house doesn't show up through maps. But it tells me the coordinates using GPS and yeeah it can still give me directions like that. Soo yeah, its sort of a half and half.
For locations without street addresses, you can still map them using lat/long coordinates. Just enter the coordinates into the address field as x,y. For example, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave would be entered as 38.89767967065576, -77.03656196594238
The My Maps Editor application might be of some use too. Basically it lets you display and edit custom maps (which means overlaid graphics on actual google maps) on the G1. Since these overlays are static, it won't route you from an arbitrary location. However if you want to see a hiking path from say a fixed street address out to a lake in the middle of the woods, this could help.
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2008/12/your-maps-in-your-hands-for-holidays.html
jashsu said:
Can't you just save an address to the contact and then click on get directions? Or does the location have no street address?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AndNav2 uses OpenStreetMap for it's navigation and metadata retrieval, and currently the UK post code search is limited to a few post codes (Zip codes). Most of my contacts won't show up. It will get better in time.....
Thanks Jashsu. Really, Like That really does help and is a very good substittue for an app. But yet another, question, Is It just my phone or Is it Google Maps, THat has a bug, When i know im home and i just want to mess around and activate gps and see my location. And it shows me some where 20 blocks away, lol i hate that!!!!
Elloco305 said:
Thanks Jashsu. Really, Like That really does help and is a very good substittue for an app. But yet another, question, Is It just my phone or Is it Google Maps, THat has a bug, When i know im home and i just want to mess around and activate gps and see my location. And it shows me some where 20 blocks away, lol i hate that!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's a google maps issue, which really screws with me when tryin to use Locale. i had a situation set to put my phone on silent if it is between 2 am and 12 pm AND i am at home, but since it thinks i'm about 1/4 mi away it hasn't worked yet.
tubaking182 said:
it's a google maps issue, which really screws with me when tryin to use Locale. i had a situation set to put my phone on silent if it is between 2 am and 12 pm AND i am at home, but since it thinks i'm about 1/4 mi away it hasn't worked yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The more powered off the gps is when you attempt to access it (and also the worse your direct view of the sky is) then the longer it will take to get a good gps lock. If you habitually turn the gps function off (or you have a program that automatically does it) then every time you turn the gps on, it has to perform a cold start. This means it will take between one and five minutes to get a bead, depending on the number of satellites your phone can see at the time.
If you use gps often then don't turn it off. The amount of power saved by fully unpowering the chipset is not worth the amount of power it consumes fully cold starting every time you need it (not to mention the time wasted waiting for it to get a bead).
If you used the gps function and then left the gps-using application or put the phone into standby, the gps chipset remains in standby. The next time you access the gps, it will be considered a warm start and will take between 1-30 seconds, depending on various factors.
rightio well obviously this phone has built in GPS and i would love to utalize this feature on the road or when generally finding places.
Thing is however the GPS works the maps do not load. i have tried google maps, and they do not load without wifi, same as the google map editor, andnav and also nav4all. None of them show the maps unless they have been pre-loaded via wifi which isnt possible most of the time. I would love for some help with this, if i could save the WHOLE map for the UK that would be great! and be able to access it offline and use it with the GPS.
Any ideas?
Also sorry if its been covered before i did do a search and couldn't find anything
Thanks
Look for "BigPlanet" on Android Market.
there are no results so im guessing its a paid app? i dont really want to spend any cash...
welshboy09 said:
there are no results so im guessing its a paid app? i dont really want to spend any cash...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know of any other offline apps for the G1. It works mostly ok, but could have a couple of more features.
PS only costs $3
PPS http://bigplanetmaps.wordpress.com/
Although the engine for bigplanet seems to be available to be licensed for other apps now, so maybe someone will release a freebe.
well i tried downloading it, and i keep getting an error saying my credit card is invalid... i live in the UK and it comes up as $2.99 in the store... plus i know for a fact it is valid, i used it with paypal almost every day, also ATM's and chip and pin in store...
Try emailing the author to see if he has allowed it for all countries...
well i don't understand why it wouldn't be, i haven't used the program to unlock the market... i simply signed up for google checkout so all the apps that aren't allowed for my country shouldn't even show up, should they? well ill e-mail him anyway
AndNav2 can download maps in advance. Zoom the region you would like to download, Menu->Precache (or whatever it was called) and select zoom level. Beware that on the highest two zoom levels you would be downloading hundreds megabytes if you are viewing large area.
i cant find andnav2 in the market though..
So get it from their website!
waze.co.il is working on (a paid) version of FreeMap
They re-written FreeMap to native android .
it should be released soon to the US market. not free, I know but they will eventually release it as free since it is open source.
Their true advantage over most android GPS programs is they offer true offline navigation program (like iGo for WindowsMobile). you download the country file into your device.
Once you did that you can navigate freely. Route calculations are done inside the device and not on some remote server.
users can upload their history routes at home , to fix map errors so it is integrated to public map.
if you have a data plan and agree to expose your location it will ping your location every few minutes and (with more people doing that) they can provide you online traffic jams info.
save2 said:
if you have a data plan and agree to expose your location it will ping your location every few minutes and (with more people doing that) they can provide you online traffic jams info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think AndNav2 does the same thing, you can download map packs ahead of time and it will upload your GPS traces if you allow it to to improve maps, and probably traffic etc.
You can find interesting things about andnav2 and Bigplanet on droidappz.com
i have seen a lot of gps application can do things like record tracking, dislay compass, coordination detail..etc.
but i also looking for gps tool which can tell me how long i have walked/drove? and also how far am i from my destination if i have set the coordination for the destination. i think this function can be archieved without using map. i saw that every nokia s60v3 smartphone with gps has this little gps utility. just wondering is there any similar software in android..thx
This might be of use:
http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.google.android.maps.mytracks
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/happy-trails-with-my-tracks-for-android.html
You can use BuddyRunner for walking/jogging times etc, I coded a driving app "Speed Proof", although it doesn't record driving times I'll add it to the todo list for the next release.
As for the nokia handset utils, nokia has a big database of mapping information, so they could easily do lots of mapping stuff on their server and spit out basic info on the phones.
like jashu said, check out MyTracks. Its similar to SportsTracker for s60, but not as "jocky". My tracks is nice because if you share teh maps, its via google maps, not some nokia service that everyone has to sign up for.
bittermormon said:
like jashu said, check out MyTracks. Its similar to SportsTracker for s60, but not as "jocky". My tracks is nice because if you share teh maps, its via google maps, not some nokia service that everyone has to sign up for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MyTracks seems like does not work without network connection. i prefer the application to use the built-in gps module only for positioning.
BuddyRunner seems like satisfying my needs..thx..
My Tracks can still work without network coverage, you just won't be able to get map tiles from Google. For any GPS app, without network coverage you won't have Assisted GPS, meaning your position fix will take longer and be less accurate.
jashsu said:
you just won't be able to get map tiles from Google
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AndNav2 allows you to pre-cache map tiles, I'm hoping they make some library similar to the radar library available to other devs so other applications can make use of their hard work too.
Assisted GPS, meaning your position fix will take longer and be less accurate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not having AGPS may take longer to get fix, and in some case it may slightly increase accuracy, but the GPS chips in the G1 will still give you accurate location data without any network connection.
Also AGPS was only added in Android 1.5 so if you are using 1.0/1.1 you won't have AGPS anyway.
gps measure does what you describe
You can try Sportypal,
It is working for Walking, Running, Cycling....and there is "free style" where you can drive or fly if you want ;-)
Sportypal is great for Android, but also is working for almost all phone platforms like iPhone,MicrosoftMobile,Simbian,Java,Blackberry...
http://www.sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/1016
My walking sesion near the lake.
Also this:
http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.sportypal
I can't, no matter what I do, get a decent offnetwork maps program to use with gps location. I had andnav2 working using trekbuddy tiles created in the andnav format and ever since I used the rom (not a cooked rom) I can't seem to do anything correctly. Andnav2 will no longer recognize the tiles I create for it...for some reason the gps consistently, no matter which program I am using, believes I am still at home when I not. I can't find a decent media player that allows me to fastforward aside from MXzing lite but that is constantly trying to use the gps, which is fine if I disable it. My main problem though is the offline maps thing I mentioned above. I just can't get it to work, anymore. Is there ANYONE that is using an offline maps program that allows gps tracking? I don't care about turn by turn nav...I care about having offline maps that will show me my gps location and follow me; which I as I said worked when I first tried but I can't repeat what I've done and the only difference I can see is the new rom. I guess I'll wipe and try the old rom but if I can't use the new rom and have andnav2 work (or any GPS app that will show accurate data) then I give up and will sell the phone to some one on this board....seriously, this shouldn't be this much of a headache when it wasn't before.
CoPilot 8 Live - Perfect - as good if not better than TomTom and much better value for money. Also will move devices with you provided you are still on Android and ask CoPilot to change the codes to link with new device (They did this for me no worries after I swapped my handset) No network needed, and maps stay on SD card. Worth the money.
Dayzee
I 2nd Copilot! IT is really good, and what the android desperatly needed!
can I download entire maptiles for the US and use them offline (no wifi no data plan) and have the gps pin point my location on the offline maps? As I said, andnav was doing this (for free) but now I can't get it to cooperate at all and the developer has abandoned the project. I'm also looking for a decent media player and I thought mxzing would be it until I found that it autoloads at start and constantly accessing the gps for some reason.
I 3rd co-pilot.
A good media player is Meridian Evolve.
I am using Rmaps and I made my own maps using TrekBuddy Atlas Creator.
It is working great and I have the GPS following me very precisely.
But of course it is not a navigation system like CoPilot. It is just an offline map and it is free.
I would go for http://www.sygic.com/index.php/en/android.html when i have some money
You can of course try out CoPilot as with any software from the market an d get an immediate refund if you don't like within 24 hours. Recent copilot update has great improvements including qwerty keyboard!!
I'd say try it out and if its not doing what you want, sell your android. we won't cry.....
I'd love to get Sygic when they include Malaysia into the maps.
IMHO Tomtom is still the best there is.
However both CoPilot 8 and nDrive are both very very good alternatives and both are available for Android from what I've seen/heard.
Tom Tom is good, but you pay a premium for a little extra over the rest. CoPilot IMO is just as good but 1/3 of the price. go figure.
And yes you download the entire maptile pack and use it offline.
Thanks for the suggestions....with a huge sigh of relief after weeks of testing and search, rmaps and meridian are the solutions I needed and thanks to this thread I now have some good alternatives for turn by turn. I have no idea how I missed these two apps in my hours of searching the market but whatever, my torture is over now
Copilot 8 live is availiable directly from the Android maket ...
megaoptimus said:
Thanks for the suggestions....with a huge sigh of relief after weeks of testing and search, rmaps and meridian are the solutions I needed and thanks to this thread I now have some good alternatives for turn by turn. I have no idea how I missed these two apps in my hours of searching the market but whatever, my torture is over now
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An Android saved...... <sigh of relief >
Dayzee said:
Also will move devices with you provided you are still on Android and ask CoPilot to change the codes to link with new device (They did this for me no worries after I swapped my handset) No network needed, and maps stay on SD card. Worth the money.
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I think the one decent person you spoke to at ALK must have left; I've tried to contact them to do this numerous times now and have simply given up on them ever calling / emailing me back. I would not reccomend the product if you expect any kind of customer service from them.
A quick google search shows I'm not the only one fed up with them for precisely this reason, moreover, I don't believe they make it clear at the outset that you cannot transfer the product between devices without doing through them - it's made extremely clear that's the case in the minmo version but not the android one
wher can i dl the capilot application??
thx
google for copilot, or search in the market.