Vancouver Island Mountain Biking (VIMB)

pedalhound · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:26 am Post subject: OpemStreetMap.org

I don't remember if this has been shared here or not...but it shows a ton of trails in the HV area...kinda neat.

http://www.openstreetmap.org/
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barbarian · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 11:30 am Post subject:

yes
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dubbreak · Bro Joined: 02 Jun 2012 Posts: 21

Lots of GPS programs use or can use openstreemaps. I used it with an app on my android phone first time I went up to partridge hills so I wouldn't get lost.

Lol, didn't quite work (hard to use without a handlebar mount). Ended up doing a loop on a lower hill and never making it to the peak. It was useful for finding my way back to the parking lot though.

I uploaded a trace to osm.org but I can't see how to overlay them online.

GrahamP · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 2:41 pm Post subject:

It's very inaccurate for the bike trails, especially on Partridge. I've used it a bunch. There are much better options, stay tuned Smile

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pedalhound · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 9:24 pm Post subject:

I can't wait to see what you guys are working on.
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dubbreak · Bro Joined: 02 Jun 2012 Posts: 21

GrahamP · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 9:28 am Post subject:

There is still no app for reading Geo-PDF's on Andriod. The two leading companies are working on a Droid app, but it keeps getting delayed. It seems the number of different devices with the different GPS chips etc. and the fact it keeps changing monthly is a nightmare to program for.
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barbarian · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 10:22 am Post subject:

Lame - be like the cool kids and get an iPhone
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dubbreak · Bro Joined: 02 Jun 2012 Posts: 21

I dunno. Those sound like poor excuses.

I know the difficultly of dealing with different gps chips (wrote a parser for one format at my previous job, now the coworker I left behind is having to write support for another format because they changed chips Razz

). It is a pain to deal with the chips as there are a few different standard format (nmea, tsip etc), varients of those and some chips will just support a subset or maybe have a few quirks.

That being said the android location APIs abstract that for you. You don't have to deal with the underlying chipset at all to get location data. There are open source android apps they can even look at to see how they are doing GPS data. It's done on tons of apps that work on nearly all devices (except for some old ones that are blacklisted for having poor gps performance).

My guess it's either PDF display libraries that are the issue, or they are making enough money on iOS that there is no drive to spend money on an Android version (that or they don't have people currently capable of coding an android app as iOS dev is quite different from Android). Android users don't spend as much as iOS users.

dan · Maps are better than Pr0n Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 1837

We are currently building Geo-referanced pdf's for;

Harbourview (pretty much done but are looking into attaching the trail descriptions.)

Tzouhalem (about half done)

the Dump (also about half done)

Cumberland (Just started)

They work really well for showing where you are real time on the trails.

If anyone is interested in demo-ing the HV map PM me and I will set up the first 5 people to respond.

Very Happy

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pedalhound · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 12:11 pm Post subject:

dan · Maps are better than Pr0n Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 1837

Yes I was also quite happy with my android and not assimilating to the masses.

Due to work, I have had to join Facebook, Twitter and now I-Phone.

What next?
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dubbreak · Bro Joined: 02 Jun 2012 Posts: 21

GrahamP · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:05 pm Post subject:

I've been in touch with Avenza, and the PDF Maps app for Android is forthcoming. Are there a couple of obstacles to overcome with the amount of different handsets (hardware and software) on the market, and I assumed the GPS was one of them, but from your comment, maybe not.

We looked into stand alone apps, and the costs are too high. Plus everyone seems to be able to do iOS, but not something for Android :/ (don't quite get that).

The great thing about Geo-PDF's is there is no upgrading of the app to be done, and no new OS compatibility to worry about on our end, and we're not limited to distribution models, the Avenza Map store is just one method.
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GrahamP · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:06 pm Post subject:

barbarian · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:33 pm Post subject:

dubbreak · Bro Joined: 02 Jun 2012 Posts: 21

GrahamP · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 3:42 pm Post subject:

I know. I approached them from a perspective map vendor hoping to get more concrete info. The answer I got was there are actively working on it and it will be released "within 2012". Take it how you will, but with nothing else out there, I'm being hopeful.
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dubbreak · Bro Joined: 02 Jun 2012 Posts: 21

The "within 2012" gives me some hope as I don't remember other postings giving a deadline of any sort. 2013 is surprisingly soon. Also the fact that you are a potential vendor gives it more weight.