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Guest paulee2

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Thanks for this good news re. Google maps offline Rico. Sorry if I'm being really dim, but what is the "menu capacitive button" and where will I find it please?

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Guest paulee2

Hi Rico, here are the links to the bits I've bought for my bike.

tough case - http://www.ultimate-mobiles.co.uk/mobile-phones/samsung/samsung-galaxy-s3/cases/ua-tough-waterproof-case-galaxys3___2458.htm

holder for dry weather - http://www.ultimate-mobiles.co.uk/device-holders/mobile-phones/universal-mobile-holder-black___1671.htm

mount - http://www.ultimate-mobiles.co.uk/mounting-attachments/bicycle-mounts-attachments/ua-pro-handlebar-attachment___1093.htm

I had a very frustrating time with the mapping system for the ride in France - leaving tomorrow. This could be down to my general inexperience with the phone and GPS systems, but I don't think so. Despite me getting helpful advice from the app developers about being able to store OpenStreetsMap routes into cache (for up to 60 days) when I have tried this using a local route to me it has always failed! I do get a red line showing the route and an arrow that follows this route, but the map detail tends to disappear, which is a big nuisance. Yesterday I also had problems with the map rotating by itself, screen saving cutting in, when I'd tried to prevent it and the programme freezing up!

I wasn't quite sure what to do to try and improve things, but I've switched auto rotate, emptied the cache and tried to improve the screen timeout problems. Walking around my garden this morning I've loaded up a local and a French route to the scale we'll be riding from, worked through the route to get the tiles into cache, switched into airplane mode and then slowly worked my way through the routes. Every time I've tried this it has worked perfectly! I'm not sure what I have done to make such improvements and I worried that it appears to be just "luck" and that the system may work differently on a different day. I've even been wondering whether my wireless cycle computer may be interfering with the phone GPS system and I have also looked at other mapping systems, but it's all a bit late!

Screen Timeout is still a problem as it would be nice not have the screen cut out, or dim down, but I'll keep experimenting with this. Just hoping that the mapping does work while we're away. We do have my friends iPhone with a Navigon system installed as a backup and some printouts from the Route You routes I've done, so we'll never be too lost.

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@paulee2

Might be a bit late if you are leaving tomorrow but BikeComputerPro (the paid version -about £3.50) lets you save openstreetmap or Androidmaps offline, and you can upload gpx routes to it to follow. I've not tried it as I've only used the free version (which doesnt support uploading gpx routes, just tracking) but it works well. I seem to to remember that you can disable screen timeouts and map rotations with it.

http://bikecomputer.roproducts.de/

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Guest paulee2

Thanks Rob, something to try if necessary when we get back I think. Went for a ride this afternoon and everything worked really well. Fingers crossed that the problems are mainly due to me!

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Guest Rico_89

WOW that first case looks awesome.. robophone :) Thx.

Sometimes when I go running my RunKeeper app won't locate my position and this use to leave me really pissed off because I'd have run the route, then edit it later. However I found that when this happens I just open the Google Map app and it always locates my position, then I exit Google Maps, open RK and my GPS signal shows as strong/good. might be worth a try.

Also I'm pretty sure GPS radio signals work off of a different frequency so I doubt it could get messed up by your bike computer.

Lets us know how it goes. I'm sure there is a solution to data free navigation but I guess it's just a matter of trying different things and finding out what works and what doesn't.

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WOW that first case looks awesome.. robophone :) Thx.

Sometimes when I go running my RunKeeper app won't locate my position and this use to leave me really pissed off because I'd have run the route, then edit it later. However I found that when this happens I just open the Google Map app and it always locates my position, then I exit Google Maps, open RK and my GPS signal shows as strong/good. might be worth a try.

Also I'm pretty sure GPS radio signals work off of a different frequency so I doubt it could get messed up by your bike computer.

Lets us know how it goes. I'm sure there is a solution to data free navigation but I guess it's just a matter of trying different things and finding out what works and what doesn't.

I fitted my Garmin eTrex to my bike to help navigate on a charity ride from St Bees to Robin Hoods Bay and it did interfere with my cycle computer.

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Guest Rico_89

I fitted my Garmin eTrex to my bike to help navigate on a charity ride from St Bees to Robin Hoods Bay and it did interfere with my cycle computer.

Anything is possible but in that situation you'd have to know a bit more about the location of each device. Wireless bike computers work on 2.4 GHz and your Garmin system doesn't emit anything, so it's strange that it interfered with your bike computer because your mobile phone is more likely to mess that up. I mean the lack of insulation around the wiring may cause a problem but the manual should warn you of that, stating to keep it a minimum distance away from certain electronic items.

Edited by Rico_89
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Anything is possible but in that situation you'd have to know a bit more about the location of each device. Wireless bike computers work on 2.4 GHz and your Garmin system doesn't emit anything, so it's strange that it interfered with your bike computer because your mobile phone is more likely to mess that up. I mean the lack of insulation around the wiring may cause a problem but the manual should warn you of that, stating to keep it a minimum distance away from certain electronic items.

Thanks for the info. I checked the Garmin handbook and it said nothing specific about interference. I use the G300 now so it isn't a problem any more.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest paulee2

Got back from France last night. Very pleased to report that the mapping system worked really well most of the time, but it did continue to loose some of the background map data on occasions, despite me saving my mapped routes for the maximum of 60 days and loading each route every day. This was intermittent but even though the map background would be lost the actual route was still visible complete with the direction arrow to follow, so could never really get lost.

I had not problems at all from interference between my wireless cycling computer and the phone. The battery pack worked very well and I was able to run the phone with mapping and music all day with no problems. In fact, the phone alone was generally sufficient each day if it was only used for the guiding.

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Guest Rico_89

......... and who knows maybe ICS will be released by then :P .

... can you believe it, I was right lol :D

Excellent, good to hear it worked out ok, and there's some good info in this thread too.. As you do more treks your system will most likely evolve and only get better with time and experience.

Ok my next prediction. ".. who knows maybe I'll win the lottery by the weekend :P ".

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Guest unaszplodrmann

Got back from France last night. Very pleased to report that the mapping system worked really well most of the time, but it did continue to loose some of the background map data on occasions, despite me saving my mapped routes for the maximum of 60 days and loading each route every day. This was intermittent but even though the map background would be lost the actual route was still visible complete with the direction arrow to follow, so could never really get lost.

I had not problems at all from interference between my wireless cycling computer and the phone. The battery pack worked very well and I was able to run the phone with mapping and music all day with no problems. In fact, the phone alone was generally sufficient each day if it was only used for the guiding.

Check out MOBAC. It's great for making custom atlases for use with various mapping apps. Some maps sources have been removed recently, but it is possible to drop some files from previously releases into the current release to make them available again. For example, I created a 4 layer atlas of my local area for use in Oruxmaps. It consists of Google Earth, Ordnance Survey 1:25k, Ordnance Survey 1:50k and Google road map images... It is so much more useful than plain Google Maps, especially offroad.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest paulee2

Hi unaszplodrmann, thanks very much for your recommendation. I've had a quick look at the Mobac site and although it does look very comprehensive, it also looks complicated (for me) and the RouteYou/Ulugh site works well for me. It does look as though there are lots of very good mapping sites available for free that are reliable and accurate. I guess it's down to the one you find first that suits your requirements and that you become familiar with. Incidentally, Ulugh are introducing improvements to their offline mapping early next year and they've asked me to do some testing for them prior to the launch. I'm happy to do this because if it works for me, then anyone can get it to work - i.e. "mapping for dummies"!!!

Rico - it took me longer to upgrade to ICS than I thought, mainly because I couldn't find Wi-Fi near me that was capable of allowing this size of download - my house was all hard wired. I have now upgraded my Virgin internet to Wi-Fi and it's much faster. The download went well but I lost all of the apps that I'd previously downloaded, even though I did backup everything as recommended. I found out today that the upgrade has also removed GiffGaff and left me without a data connection. After a lot of messing around I reset the APN and deleted the Tesco settings it had installed. It now works fine and I'm running android 4.0.3 B936 - not sure if it is the B936"F" that I have read about on this site though. Is it normal to loose apps and go back to an old network, originally Vodafone when you upgrade?

The phone now has all of the Vodafone rubbish that came with the upgrade. Is there a way safely remove this from the phone? Being new to smartphones and enthusiastic, but inexperienced, should I leave the standard upgrade or is there something better - CM9/10?

Thanks for any help.

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Guest paulee2

Just downloaded the latest upgrade and it went really well. Thank goodness, nothing lost, all layouts as before and seems to working fine. I guess it's good that I never deleted the Voda junk from the earlier upgrade (just moved it all out of the way) as it looks like this could have made future upgrading more difficult.

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Guest Rico_89

Missed your reply when you posted.. Anyway I know you've got it sorted but I used the giffgaff app to install the APN settings. It's a clumsy copy and paste job, for ICS, but it's easy and it works.

As for losing apps then .. yeah when upgrading to a new operating system then I'd expect to lose them.. But honestly I would prefer a complete reinstall for that kind of upgrade just in case some things are not compatible.

To remove apps you can use titanium backup but you'll need root access, just make sure to make a Nandroid backup in CWM first so you can get back to a stock configuration for any future upgrades.

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