New Gps tracking app for the metal detectorist.

[Eleven Cents]

I only recently discovered this thread and tried the Android version in my yard. What's the purpose of marking out a search area? Just to cache the map tiles?

One minor issue I've noticed: the markers use the default anchor point (bottom middle). Since the markers are round instead of pin-shaped, it would be nicer if the anchor point were set to the center. This would be a very simple change. Here's a link for your dev: Marker#setAnchor(float, float)

 

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[R58Shadow]

I got this app all I can say is it works great and I have had no problems with it.

 

[Eleven Cents]

In the Android version, the current search area and tracking mode are lost when the app goes into the background with the "don't keep activities" developer option enabled. This indicates a problem with the way the activity saves its state. It may also indicate a problem with the overall architecture of the app. (Anything you want to keep running the background should be in a Service, not an Activity.) If you get random reports of the app not working in the background, this could be why.

I've run into a lot of developers who don't know about the "don't keep activities" option or don't understand what it's for. Every app should still work with it turned on. Activities can always be destroyed in the background, but this rarely happens unless the device is running out of memory or the app is in the background for a long time. The DKA developer option makes it so activities are always destroyed whenever they can be destroyed. This lets developers test their apps to make sure they work properly in all circumstances.

 

[Wormslayer]

Hi Eleven.. The app works perfectly with not a single issue, and has done for nearly four years. Are you making a technical point? I'm not a coder, i'm a detectorist. Is it something I should know about and I should raise with my coder? The app really does run beautifully, read the reviews in the playstore, but if you think i'm missing a trick, i'd really like to know more.

 

[Eleven Cents]

I'm an Android developer, and I habitually leave the "don't keep activities" option turned on to test my own apps and judge the quality of apps I install. Your app does not work perfectly with that option on, which means that it will occasionally have problems in normal use. When this happens to a typical user, they'll probably pass it off as a fluke and not mention it. Most people have weird, magical ideas about how software works, and the vast majority of issues go unreported. Many apps that don't save their state properly will crash when you resume them, but yours just kind of forgets what it was doing, so you won't even get an automatic crash report.

 

[RobRieman]

Mine does not work perfectly [emoji20]

 

[Wormslayer]

Hi Rob

Yes i'm afraid there are there are some teething issues with the tracking with the new IOS version. The problem is that if you stop moving for longer than 40 seconds, the system puts gps to sleep. It wakes as soon as you start moving again, but it leaves a gap, and it may also cause the position cursor to jump about slightly as it settles from the restart. This is unacceptable. I do apologise. We are working on it, and it will be fixed.

The Android version works perfectly, as R58 Shadow and many others on this forum can attest.

 

[RobRieman]

That's great news! I'm glad it's not just me and it's the iOS. That is exactly what problem I have seen. Mine cursor will fly across the screen from the position I was at previously and land where I'm at leaving some big chunks of tracking missing.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Hi Rob
Yes i'm afraid there are there are some teething issues with the tracking with the new IOS version. The problem is that if you stop moving for longer than 40 seconds, the system puts gps to sleep. It wakes as soon as you start moving again, but it leaves a gap, and it may also cause the position cursor to jump about slightly as it settles from the restart. This is unacceptable. I do apologise. We are working on it, and it will be fixed.

Wormslayer have you tried forcing a loop for the background mode?

• Specify location background mode
• Create an NSTimer in the background with UIApplication:beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler:
• When n is smaller than UIApplication:backgroundTimeRemaining it will work just fine. When n is larger, the location manager should be enabled (and disabled) again before there is no time remaining to avoid the background task being killed.

If it's the IOS 7 problem you might find this article instructive.

 

[RobRieman]

Hi Clay, it's still a problem in iOS 10 apparently. Hope you guys can get it figured out!

 

[Wormslayer]

All fixed Rob. Although you probably know that already if you have the latest version. Good luck

 

[RobRieman]

I have downloaded the update but only had a chance to use it in the yard and it worked fine [emoji106] Any idea when some of the changes are going to be incorporated now that you have it working? Thanks!

 

[victhedog]

Second time looking at this APP
still no demo?
want to see it 10 bucks please
buy reading ios reviews will pass

 

[RobRieman]

Not gonna be a demo for iOS users. We are just beta testers. [emoji20]

 

[4x4x4]

.....Wormslayer ,
I have a 4G Android tablet. Purchased your (full) program. I cannot seem to get past the 1st page...won't open. Notes permission granted though nothing else. Any suggestions or a site to read upon ?
I don't use any social media sites.

EDIT; noticed it won't rotate either.

Please , some help.

EDIT; YouTube videos aren't helping to open.
Have your suggested GPS stabilizer program. Can change background colors though ! Pretty !

EDIT;.....AARRGG ! Brain damage......

Last Edit.... promise : an Email with Mark S. had me up and running quickly ! This was a 1st time install.
I simply needed to Uninstall then Reinstall , simple .
As I may use this program as a "walkabout"tool, with great resolution, the first open page will simply "see"where you are walking , no logging, with a satellite view , updated every 10 feet....MAGIC

Thank you, Mark for the quick response on your Gmail.

Mark.

 

[DeniseFrank]

I have used GPS before but now I am using checkmate phone services for the lone workers. I found it quite useful because it has location recording that has the entire insights about your present area. In some cases, you will have to go deep into the woods or caves as part of your work and sometimes you will be alone. While searching we never check where our companions are. At such moments I think it would be better if we had a tracking device to track their location. To ensure they are few miles apart from me and safe. We are provided with a whistle to call our friends in need but I felt a device to track them is more useful. The thing which I liked in checkmate is the emergency button. You can press the button while you are in danger and while releasing it produces the distress signal. It seems to be useful than the GPS.
And I have a question to ask the people who are using GPS here. How do you track the location if the cell phone coverage is poor? Do you shift to the maps and compass?

 

[RobRieman]

GPS does not use the cellular network. Doesn't matter if you have no cell phone coverage at all as long as the path to the sky is not blocked.

 

[Wormslayer]

@4x4x4. Yeah it was a simple fix, you just needed to allow all the required permissions.. Hows it going?

How's the iOS version going for you @RobRieman?

I have just this evening completed work on the latest Android update. Added multiple optional coordinate system formats, including UK OS Grid reference and UTM. More relevant to European users, but a long awaited big step for Tect O Trak.

 

[creade]

I've only used it as a GPS tracking. I find a spot on a map I want to go to,figure out where I want to go ,then go to the spot. Works great

 

[RobRieman]

@4x4x4. Yeah it was a simple fix, you just needed to allow all the required permissions.. Hows it going?

How's the iOS version going for you @RobRieman?

I have just this evening completed work on the latest Android update. Added multiple optional coordinate system formats, including UK OS Grid reference and UTM. More relevant to European users, but a long awaited big step for Tect O Trak.

Any updates in the works for iOS?