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

Just downloaded it.
I’m currently sat in HK airport waiting to fly to Singapore.
I’ve set a point at Singapore airport to message the wife whose in China once I have landed.
Looks promising so far.

OK, a couple of additions/changes. (Available in a few hours)

NBT – you should now be ok with just your device GPS.

I’ve added “self alerts” – You are alerting yourself about where you are.

Someone suggested they could use this to wake them up on the train when they are approaching their station.

When the alarm goes off, go into the status screen and press “Stop Alarm”

Next week, I should have email working and a couple of other bits and bobs.

Cheers! Will update soon.

Is that your own phone number on that screnshot? I’m going to add an alert to text you 🙂

Cheers nbt! Maybe i’ll make it a premium rate number.

Tried it last night on a local loop and it worked really well! Haven’t upgraded to the latest version, so need to do that, really.

I forgot to turn it off when I got back though, which spanked my battery – I guess because of the GPS searching once I was back inside the house.

It’s a great app! Appreciate you putting it out there.

Hmm, maybe I could let you create a special hotspot, call it “Home”, which will then automatically switch the app off.

Hi, I had a ride this morning and tried it out again. Worked fine but I was also running viewranger at the same time which seems to cause conflict. When using buddy beacon on vr, vr was counting the time of the ride, but not showing my position on the map or marking a track. When I turned off buddy beacon but left vr running it then marked my posotion, created a track etc. Bit of a pain because I would probably use both.

Another small bug is with the location url that is sent in a text. The url is being split between the google map part and the actual grid ref (ie at the = symbol). This means that when my mrs clicks on the url she is just taken to the map but not shown where I am.

Finally another suggestion to add to your long list. It would be good if you could set the app to just send a text with the (fixed) location url at regular intervals rather than being triggered buy a location. Just a thought.

Thanks for your work on this, it is good.

Cheers for that, dunno what happened to the position url, seemed to work fine. (doesnt work on my own phone now), Some unexpected effect of another change, shouldnt be hard to fix.

Strange that the apps are interfering with each other, in theory they all should be relying on one background Android service. But, i’ll investigate.

The regular update thing shouldnt be hard to do.

Mackem – Member

Hmm, maybe I could let you create a special hotspot, call it “Home”, which will then automatically switch the app off.

This sounds like a good idea – just have to make sure it doesn’t turn itself off as soon as you turn it on, if you are leaving from ‘home’.

I would just se it’s how often to 2. You could set it up like that now with a message to self telling you to switch it off.

Works very well across Countries.
Wife very pleased.

Once you have made a location, I am having trouble making the size of the area larger.

But very happy with it.

Now, I have to give my wife pre-planned routes, so she know what I’m on about when I say I am just going past a certain point.

What trouble ate you having? Is it just selecting the point on the map?

I found that last night. Couldn;t find any way to explicitly set the size of the hotspot, ended up just tapping it randomly until it got to a size I was happy with

Dont you have a slider at the bottom of the screen? The metres should be in the Accept button.

I just updated the app & tried the above – added a new spot and got the slider on the bottom. Adjust the slider & the black ‘zone ring’ gets bigger/smaller with a corresponding number in the window . Then just click accept.

That’s on a Sony Xperia T, if the phone makes any difference.

ahh, that ‘s what it is! I saw a blue dot at the bottom left of the screen, under the “accept” button. I only wanted a small radius circle (covering the road junction) so was tapping the blue dot trying to get it to the desired radius. Just didn’t realise it was a slider! User error – PICNIC 🙂

I have the slider but it’s slightly out of alignment with the bottom of the screen so I’m going to guess that for some screen sizes it won’t appear in teh right place or maybe at all.

nemesis, what phone do you have?

This is my biggest problem at the moment, catering for different phones. Mapping doesnt work on emulators, so I test on my own phone, which is huge. Think I’ll buy a tiny phone, just for testing.

Samsung S4 mini so a relatively small screen.

Actually looking at it, maybe it’s not misaligned, just very close to the bottom of the screen.

Another bug though. If I long press on a point I’ve created (I thought I might get an option to delete it), the app crashes.

I didn’t see the slider on my first use.

I’ve used it after, if there is a way of amending or deleting a previous made point?

To amend a point. Either longpress on the first screen with the list of points. Or, tap on on the pin on the map.

nemesis, where are you long-pressing the point? On the fist screen, or the map screen?

On the first screen (so I’ve got a tick box and then the name of my point) – if I longpress on the name of my point, it crashes.

If I click ‘report’ does that go back to you or google?

Me, via google.

nemesis, can you edit the point from the map screen?
is it only that one point or do you have a problem with every point created?

OK – I’ve reported it for you.

It looks like it’s only the first point I had – a new one works. I expect that I created it on an old version..

I can’t delete the point though.

Hmm, if new ones are working, I suggest going to settings, apps, select HereIam and then clearing the data, then start again. I’ll check for holes in my code.

That sorted it.

Not had chance to have a proper look at your app, but looks interesting.

As a headsup I’ve been using TrackMe since Windows Mobile was a thing, you should have a look at it for some inspiration. It’s not exactly the same, but there’s broad cross-over. Basic difference is it uploads a .kml file to a server, which is then accessible on all sorts:

http://www.luisespinosa.com/central_eng.php

I haven’t explored it in ages, this thread prompted me to have another look, so I don’t know how good it is at alerts etc, but if you set it up then add your .kml file to Google Earth it’s pretty cool.

One thing to consider is that if someone is waiting for a text to say you’ve passed a point etc, what do they do if you don’t pass the point. And it’s pouring down. And you’re on your own. And the point was the top of Nan Bield etc? With a live stream you can at least see when data issues have stopped an update. If it causes partners to worry unnecessarily then I imagine a lot of people wouldn’t use it, so cracking that would be a good idea.

Anyway, good luck with it, definitely interested to see how it develops.

Think I’ll buy a tiny phone, just for testing.

My wife’s old HTC Desire C is kicking around unused.

If interested, you’re welcome to it for a tenner*

*assuming MrsV has no objections.

Cheers. I’ll have it.

Ok, a couple of things that’ll go live in a few hours.
Fixed the texting of the location bug.
Added a “Settings” opttion on the first screen, you can now set up defaults so you dont have to keep typing in the same telephone number etc…
Changed the layout, I think it’ll be better for smaller screens, and I think it doesnt look like i’ve randomly thrown a lot of buttons at a screen. You dont need to set the accuracy separately, it’s now part of the general entry screen..

doh, just noticed a typo in the screen.

Mackem

Hi, Im struggling to get this working on my Galaxy S5 but it just wont

I cant see what Im doing wrong but it just wont work

Ive tried many times, your App starts properly, I have good GPS fix etc etc just no joy

Anyone else?

cheers

What do you mean “it doesnt work” ?
Do you get maps showing? If not, check Location services is switched on.

Can you create hotspots?

Have you remembered to press the bike icon to start up the background monitor program?

Or something else?

I got a tiny testing phone today. By God, my app is shite on a small screen. Things I expected to happen automatically dont. I’ll be fixing things tomorrow. A lesson learned anyway.

Sorry for the unhelpful comment 🙂

Yes, all the above

It installed and opens as normal
I set hot zones and can label them and associate them with contacts and messages all OK
GPS fix not an issue, Ive checked its rock solid
I press the bike icon and off I go

But when I pass through a hotspot it just doesnt trigger 🙁
Ive tried multiple times with different hotspots, and have configured it to try to send a text or just vibrate my phone without joy

Hope this helps – its a great idea