[Closed] My first Android App (..and you might find it useful)

Sounds ace, I reckon I might give that a go.

Thats actually a really great idea. kudos.

good idea

I am 2 miles away, norwich

I am 5miles away get the pie 'n' chips in t'oven

Sounds good. Bookmarked to have a look later...

Good idea, just had a look. Any plans for iphone app?. I would happily give it try. Would be handy for commute so my wife can break off cleaning etc to make sure my dinner is on the table as I walk in!!!

Great idea will give it a go! Useful for us solo riders.

Cracking idea that, good work. For those on IOS, the RoadID app does something very similar.

No plans for iPhone just yet, I'm still learning about Android.

Like.
This is excellent. I have a txt preprogrammed for my trip to work so I can txt my BFF when I get near her house so I don't have to wait outside for ages..
This could be used for that yeah? Set it to send when I pass the traffic lights 2 miles from her house?

Excellent

I could set it up to message my biking mates every time I pass a trig point whilst they're still at work/stuck at home.

yup, i like the sound of this (but I'm another non-android)

would be useful be useful for a -

'hi babes, don't go mental but your nice clean house is going to get visited shortly by swamp thing and he's horny'

a few miles out...

good idea. in addition how about including whatsapp support for your next revision?

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Any chance of integrating with whatsapp? Could allow a myriad of additional options given fewer limits on what you can send.

SMS is probably better than email as 1. you don't need data, and 2. a text is more likely to be sent in areas of dodgy signal - areas where you might not even be able to make a voice call.

Hmm wierd

I can't get the location map to load, I'm just looking at a pale blue screen

First thoughts - since we're GRRR rugged mtber types, it'd be useful to be able to switch the map to satellite view so that we can see trails that aren't roads.

When I stop a trip it stays on the 'stop a trip' page with the big red button - I would have expected the button to go green to allow me to restart.

The app is still running in the background (notification showing) after I've stopped the trip and I've got no way to get back to the starting screen (to start a new trip or create more alerts).

Looks good though 🙂

App could be very handy on long distance challenges (SDW, WHW etc.) for sending progress updates out to the support crew.

it'd be useful to be able to switch the map to satellite view so that we can see trails that aren't roads.

+1

And a further idea - I saw that the location appears as a circle of fixed size - can that be adjusted - for example for many rides/routes, you could expand that to 200m and it'd still be fine as you'll still only pass through it once.

This could be really handy at Mountain mayhem, or any other team race.

"I just passed the 3/4 of a lap mark, get to the start line, I'll be really angry if I have to come and drag your arse out of the tent again"

OT - One of favourite memories of MM - rider comes in, looking quite tired and relieved to have finished his lap. No one there. Shouts for "Colin". Colin's not there. keeps shouting for Colin. Colin's still not there. Rider swears a lot. Colin's still not there. Rider rides off to do another lap. I spent the rest of the event wondering what happened to Colin when the rider did find him 😆

right got the app working. Will see if it sends a text on the way home. Think its a great idea BTW

Love this. Mrs DM keeps wanting me to get a tracker app but I'm not that keen on her knowing my exact location 😉 I'm assuming this just sends a message and not the location?

What a brilliant idea!

Can you set up multiple points? my missus is always banging on about where am I and what route have I taken, if I can set up three or four then she'll at least know roughly which one I've decided on!

By the looks of it, it sends the specific text you type in.

Though it would be good if you could provide the location as an option (bit.ly web link maybe?)

And yes, it appears that you can set up multiple locations and a different message for each one.

I was all ready to come in here and say "pffffft. that's not useful" or "pfffffft. it's been done" - But actually, I think that has a place 🙂

Patent it before Strava or Endomondo steal your idea.

Just clicked install - do you want feedback at all??

DrP

Patent it before Strava or Endomondo steal your idea.

Probably too late 😉

Mrs DM keeps wanting me to get a tracker app but I'm not that keen on her knowing my exact location

I was going to say that the missus and I do the same thing just using "Find My iPhone" - has the distinct advantage that it is built in so you don't need to remember to start anything for it to work.

Still, good idea OP and definitely has a place.

Sounds like a great idea. Can I ask the op -
What APi did you use for building the app - was it eclipse?
What machine are you running it on? I tried to run an android emulator through eclipse on my windows 7 machine and it hung for ages.
Cheers.

Sounds really useful - shall test it out soon.

oh! another idea might be to allow a set delay on message send. for instance if someone wanted to let their partner know when they get to the pub, they might prefer it if the message went out a bit later than when they actually got to the pub. 😉

well I'm going to let my wife know when I'm "nearly home" from work.
However, working about 1800m away from home, this idea is a bit arbitrary!

But it's the principle!

DrP

Just downloaded. Thanks!

From a safety point of view rather than texting when each point is reached what might be useful would be if you could enter some waymarkers and an expected time of arrival. If you didn't reach the waymarker by the ETA + a user selectable tolerance then a txt would be sent? Can see pros and cons of each way to be fair.

I'm at work, so I'll respond properly later. Thanks for the feedback. Satellite map instead is easy. Do that tomorrow. Already thought of an emergency location point, if not there by specified time, then send message.

they might prefer it if the message went out a bit later than when they actually got to the pub

couldn't they just send the message themselves then after the first five pints? 😉

Great idea! Can I ask, does it need a data connection once you've set off riding, or just the gps and normal phone signal?

Just GPS and phone signal Once you are out and about.

Thanks, I guessed as much. It's a really neat idea, and I'll be using it!

Not compatible on my Hudl 1 🙁

Looks good though.

Been testing it for a week or two now and it's quietly beavering away, it's a good little app.

Two things I'd like to see,

I'd prefer being able to insert contacts into the notification setup, rather than having to look up phone numbers and type them in.

Looking for it in Play store turned up half a dozen apps with the same name (although they do something else entirely).

I think it'd be pretty useful for me as I don't ride many places with no mobile cover. Good effort Mark!

Bob, I added a contacts look-up to the live version.

I used Eclipse for the development. I use Genymotion for the emulator, the native one is pants. But, for mapping and such like I just plug in my phone. That's defintely the best way to test.

As for notifications, what should happen is that when you start a trip the notification message is persistant, when you end the trip, the notification chnages to "Trip ended" and then you should be able to get rid of it with "Clear notifications"

The whole start/end trip is a bit clunky I admit. I'll have a think about that.

Again, cheers for feedback and suggestions.

I've just given it a quick test by walking round the block and it worked perfectly, on a sony z3. As has been said, the start/stop, it's running/not running needs to be clearer; and it would be good to be able to change the 'hot spot' size - 25m is pretty precise.

Also I'd concider a paid for (99p?) 'pro' version with the extra features (email, adjustable spot etc.) because I really think this could prove very popular, especially in places with a less than perfect data network. Good luck with it!

Like the idea as my wife is always concerned that something may happen when out on the bike...

So trying this out - like the idea of satellite view as can see tracks easier when offroad. Finding it hard to select a point added in error (placed hotspot on map at low resolution so hotspot doesn't actually cover the road).

Many thanks

I've installed it - good idea. What would be useful would be to be able to import GPX files in advance and choose points along that route.

Satellite images as above would be good.

Perhaps a button you could stop and hit wherever you feel like which sends a text with your GPS location tagged on it? Would be great for meeting up with riding mates.

Minor niggle. The keypad to name and set the locations overlaps the 'accept' button on my phone, with no 'done' button appearing on the keypad, so you have to hit back to return to the rest of the form.

We like this 🙂

http://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/android-users-heres-something-you-might-like/

Like this.

I'll have a play about, but I'm thinking about installing it on my daughters phone. She's notorious for not answering the 'are you in town/friends/cinema yet?' texts, so we can set up a destination before she heads out to let us know she's arrived.

cool.

Very good, like it.

Same requests as everyone else really:

>Satalite view or open street map would be really good.
>Some sort of SOS button would be really good. If it could send a preset message to one or multiple pre-set contacts with your current grid ref etc that would be pretty clever.
>GPX import very useful also.

Ok. I've just submitted a new version onto the store. It'll take a few hours to become available.

You can now choose map types.

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and you can automatically add a location url to your SMS. If you get the SMS on a smartphone it should open up google maps to the location.

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I've changed the database the program uses, hopefully it'll upgrade automatically. But, if it craps out just uninstall the old program and install the new one. If you need to do this it'll mean re-inputting your points, sorry.

This sounds fantastic Mark. Great work! We will use it so we can automatically keep in touch with the uplift vans. One question, if there is no signal will it keep trying to send until there is? I'm on iPhone but my other guides aren't so it should work for them. Thanks!

simple answer is, I dont know.

I assume it'll do whatever the phone normally does, whatever that is. I'll have a play and find out.

"This app is incompatible with all of your devices" 🙁

Not surprising, as my phone is utter garbage. Great idea though!

Nice idea and I think I will get this

Cheers OP

Just thought of another thing based on your new db comment - the ability to backup your points to a file location so you don't lose them when changing phone.

I skimmed some of the comments, but has anyone suggested a 'help I have fallen and can't get up' button?

the ability to backup your points to a file location so you don't lose them when changing phone.

Can probably back up to google drive or something similar.

This is a brilliant idea for an app, lots of potential uses have already been suggested in the comments here.

I'd keep it nice and simple, make it really slick, and who knows it could be very popular. Nice one :).

The lastest version is up on the Play store now.

Tomorrow we'll have expanding/shrinking circles. (ie adjusting the size of a hotspot)

Sounds great Mark, I´ll give it a bash next week since my holidays start on Monday 🙂

Great idea. Well done. I will be downloading it when I get home.

Being ever-competitive, I assume it could be used by a number of users at once? i.e. Trailquest type stuff? All users could set it up to notify one phone number when certain points are reached. Just a thought...

Bug reports

1. when adding a location, the cancel button is behind the text 'Add location to Message' so I can't actually easily press it (it ticks/unticks the box instead) though I can just press the back arrow instead.

2. Every time I click start (the bike icon), the app crashes

What phone are you using?

Did you download the original app and then get the latest one?

Cheers.

Hi Mackem

Had the same problems as nemesis.When clicking the bike icon it crashed. This was after an update from the version i installed last night and updated this afternoon.

Solved the problem by uninstalling the App and reinstalling it - the only issue is that you then lose all the hot spots you had set up. Hence would be nice to be able to back up these.

Great app now with the different views.

Hope the feedback helps

Many thanks

PS phone is an original HTC One Mini

Sorry about, mucked up the database upgrade. Well, half of it. Hopefully I wont need to change the Database again, I've added all the fields I think i'll need for the additions people have talked about. It seems I need to do more testing on small screens. My own phone is huge.

I've reinstalled and it's OK now. Looks good.

Nice idea! Just downloaded it and will give it a good test. I'm in Canada, do you know of any country-specific issues that might crop up?

One suggestion - Can you add a "time" option to the frequency selection e.g. only send text between hours of 4pm-8pm. Useful for regular out & back routes like a commute, where you only want to send a text on your way back home.

Not aware of any country specific issues. I'll think about the time thing. The reason I have the "how often" thing is for out and back rides, so a frequency of "Second time" just sends the message on the way back.

This could be useful for some of our lone working stuff at work - it would text my boss (as I am meant to do) when I arrrive home....

Newest version should be abvailable in a few hours. When you add or change a hotspot from the map you can now specify the radius of the hotspot. Just slide the slider to change the size. It goes from 0 to 1000m. I think that should be enough, if not I can change it.

Just hit the Accept button - it tells you the radius in metres. The default is still 25m. I need to create a big settings/default screen.

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Thanks!!!!!!

I had exactly this idea a year or so ago so Im well chuffed

Im not techy so tried to deal with the local yoof coders who were too busy and a small software house down the road who wouldnt let me in the door without seeing £20,000

So Im glad someones done it 'cos its gonna be my new favourite app

Bong bong
Put the kettle on Im 5 mins up the road on my way home

Cheers

You start up two bongs when you're 5 mins from home? Dude!

I just gave it a go and it worked perfectly. Should be pretty useful.
"Put the kettle on" would be a good name for the app 😀

Just downloaded it, looks good. I'll try it out over the weekend.

Looks good, but I can't create a hotspot? when I tap on the csren, it tells me "location services not switched on". I'm using a Moto G 4G, and have ot set to "Device only", i.e. just GPS - the places I'm going to be setting hotspots don't tend to have wifi and maybe won't have phone signal either, do I really need to set it to one of the options that talks to googles all the time?

Just installed it.

Initial impressions are i like it.

additional feature i would like is to maybe have a login so i could post my location. i.e. the mrs could put in hereiam/andybrad and it would show her where i was?

I like the logo 😀

NBT. I think I messed up the error checking there, I'll get it sorted. My latest update seems to have got lost in the ether. Unfortunately tech-support (me) is away for the weekend.
Andy brad, your idea would mean me storing logins and such like online. It's not something I want to do right now. How about if she texts you with with a certain phrase, it'll automatically text her back with the location?

No worries. I'm a developer by trade but I'm not a technical geek (I have a smart phone but no data plan etc) so I may be a perfect testbed. Email in profile if I can help at all

Just downloaded it and had a play, very good!

Will come in handy for a long-distance ride I'm planning for April as I'll be riding to my sister's place. I can now automatically text her as I get close and she can be ready for my arrival 😀

Why cant I find it in the store ?