Home made GPS with mapping and tracking

I’m still thinking of going the garmin quarter turn way – because I have a Garmin 605 which I use for longer rides due to the longer battery life though from a few posts ago, maybe that’s actually not an issue with the defy. I haven’t really run long enough to be sure.

I’ve had a 6 hour ride out of mine with the screen on the whole time. Might not do much longer than that though.

My hope mount is permanently attached to the battery cover of the phone, one flick of the switch and it can transfer to another bike without issue. I wouldn’t get too hung up on the garmin mount unless you’re REALLY keen.

I think screwing the garmin mount onto the battery cover will be a good way to get what i’m after. Just need the things to get in stock!

Anyone want 2 defy hard cases? 😕

I’ve got two spare too 🙂

Clubber have you tried Tescos ?
Mine was £38 from there brand new

Cable tie should stop it bouncing out ;o)

Yeah, I’m going to give that a go

Might as well post my own solution here for anyone that is interested:

Ultimate Mobiles case (waterproof and fairly bash proof):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0057FJ41Y

Customised with some Araldite to remove the rotation option (I never need landscape) and the rattly quick-release option. 🙂

For long rides (4hr+) where phone battery life might become an issue then I have a very short (20cm) right-angled USB lead (from ebay) that runs from the case:

to a top-tube mounted tri bag:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/topeak-tri-bag-with-rain-cover/

which holds an external battery pack like this in the side pocket:

Bit chuncky Graham but looks good otherwise.

Has anyone seen any good deals online on a Defy mini (or Defy +) – I can’t get to Tesco at the mo (And I have a feeling I checked before and they didn’t have any) and I haven’t had a lot of luck finding a mini…

Yeah the case/mount isn’t perfect. It was secure, but a bit too wobbly before I Araldited it. And the clamp is too small for road bars so needed ‘modified’ too.

But it does hold the phone in a nice silicon cushion, all the physical buttons and ports are still accessible, and it is waterproof enough that I use it in the pouring rain without any concern (less of an issue for the Defy users obviously).

BTW there was a new release (v21) of MotionX GPS the other day (on iPhone at least not sure about ‘droid) – good new feature which I tested this morning is the “Jumbo display” which lets you have 3 selectable readouts take up the whole display (e.g. speed, distance, time) – ideal when you just want an easy-to-glance-at “cycle computer” type view when you are not actively navigating.

Oddly MotionX doesn’t seem to exist on Android…

Hmm… neither it does. That’s crap. I wonder why?

Small company, resources to develop only one platform I’d guess…

out of interest i dug an old Blackberry i have kicking around in a draw, Discovered that you can get endomondo for it.

Turned it on and have left it running all day, after 13hours i discovered i still about have a half charge on the battery. Will have to try it on a long ride and see what happens. Screen is a bit small but might work, Just have to do some investigation about the settings.

In Endomondo there is a “Low Power Mode” tucked away in the options.

This stops it doing the live tracking stuff to save battery.

Not exactly the same, but a cool bit of tech. I got one of these a few days ago. Put a sim in it, phone it from a mobile and get a text back with the GPS location. Normally used for tracking cars and partners, but also good for tracking team mates on 24 hr races. (It’s a TK-102)

No defy minis in my local big tesco…

Try ebay for a standard defy. Its water resistant, faster (not that it really makes a difference) and its smaller (but only just),

Weren’t the original defys really slow though?

Thanks for the suggestion though I’ll go and compare the specs

i cannot seem to get Oruxmaps to show google maps when the GPS finally gives a proper signal to my liocation, i press the top right icon “map” and then select google maps. im on wifi.
any help?

Works ok for me and I’ve done the same as you…

As a follow up, I have a replacement Defy Mini (see above…) and with a half width bit of electrical tape at top and bottom to hold the phone in the case, it’s now holding – I rode some very bumpy roads this morning with no issues.

I’m still experimenting with the maps though – OS maps are actually too detailed at the zoom level I want – I ideally want something like on my Garmin.

I have been interested (in a geek sort of way) in trying to write an app so I am considering just creating my own bike computer/mapping app. If I do, it’ll be android only but I’d be happy to share it for some testing.

got the maps working now thanks, was Works wifi having issues.

Is there some online mapping tool i can use to generate trails,
the little Defy screen is tricky to make trails on….?
MapMyRide doesnt export the right format does it?

I use bikehike to plot routes and find it best to save them as a kml file.

How can I get this route:

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/ws/4p/routes/get_route_kml?consumer_key=b513571b80685c74fa95b7755d916c24048889df4&route_id=235149077&display_distance_marker_flag=1&display_custom_marker_flag=1&last_updated=3

Into Orux maps ?

Its the Tour De Broads sportive I`m doing next weekend and it would be useful to have the gps to follow ?

Hi, Once you have downloaded it, connect your phone to your PC and copy the kml file into the Oruxmaps tracklogs folder.

Then you can open the route in Oruxmaps.

Thank you, I’ll try that tomorrow 😉

Well I bit the bullet and tried this myself. I managed to pick up a Samsung Galaxy Y for a bargain £18 from ebay, bought an SRAM ‘out front’ mount and the male adaptor to fit.

I cut off the excess from the male adaptor and araldited it to the back of the phone case. Here’s the results. Took it for a quick spin and looks like it will do just the job. I’m running IPBike for Android.

This thread has inspired me to go down this road to produce a garmin-a-like.

I’m really struggling with the maps though, i can’t see a OS (UK) option in the online list. Is there anywhere else to get hold of these, the standard maps don’t have the trails I’m interested in.

Thanks
Matt

Went to create an OS map on oruxmaps today and can’t see the option for os maps in the list, anyone else have this problem?

Previously it was there at 25k

The latest updates to Oruxmaps had some comment about certain map sources being removed ‘for legal reason’ or suchlike, so I assume that is the reason. You may be able to roll back to the earlier version if you can find the apk installer somewhere on the web.

Is there an iOS equivalent to oruxmaps?

I’m sure there will be, sorry, not fashionable enough to be able to tell you what though 😉

Ref Oruxmaps and the removal of OS maps, see this thread:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/orux-maps-question

If anyone does need the previous version of Orux maps that has the OS maps built in, I could upload it somewhere though you don’t need it to still get OS maps:

1. Download OS mapping using an old version and then upgrade (which is easy enough as you can keep a backup of the old and new apps one your phone)

2. Download on the computer and transfer to the mobile.

3. Revert to the old version (which works fine) and just stick with that.

if anyone is using the Defy+ and wants to root it easily 😉

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=37508806

Top post I’m getting in on this when I have time to assimilate it. Bed now

got one of these as i had run out of coathangers and gaffa tape…

For iOS I use Galileo, and MOBAC to get the maps (as I also use it for AlpineQuest on android)

Defy has no power button on front to wake so while mounted in a protective case I had to leave it on high brightness without the screen timeout, seemed a bit of a waste.

this handy little app will adust the display brightness with a touch slider on the screen, I found it easy to use while riding along 🙂

http://www.rubberbigpepper.com

Nice, like it!

Not using a case so don’t have this 1st world problem… However I can see it’s use to play with brightness etc to save battery power.

Just seen this thread and will read through it later.

For the record, I ended up with a spare Orange Monte Carlo which has 4.5″ screen. Some phone functions didn’t work, so didn’t want to sell. Ended up converting it into a GPS device, wiping a lot of the Orange cr@p and loading Back Country Navigator @£6.99 which includes full uk 1:25K OS maping. Works a treat, only downside is the screen has always been a bit useless in bright sunlight.

Just in case anyone copies me, thought I’d do an update. Rode my CX bike at the weekend with the mount as pictured. Half way round, the phone and case broke off the mount – the case plastic had just snapped where the bolt goes through 😯

Luckily I have a garmin 605/705 adapter on the way and a spare case so I’ll be fixing them together which I’m confident will be more robust…

Clubber, Mine did the same after a couple of OTB dismounts

Whats the Garmin solution you are going for next ?

I was going to do a plate to attach to the Hope mount, and then bond the phone case to the plate and see if that is any better !!

But a Garmin type mount to be able to use the out front mounts would be great