Good app to just give me my GPS location & bearing to waypoint?

[Jonas Schneider]

What is a good GPS tracking app that does these two things good?
* Gives the GPS coordinates in a very clear way that can be copied & pasted
* Points you to the next given waypoint

[Jonas Schneider]

I am testing to one or more of this
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thedroiddev.waypoint&hl=de
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.discipleskies.android.gpswaypointsnavigator&hl=de
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.discipleskies.android.polarisnavigation&hl=de
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mictale.gpsessentials&hl=de
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.VirtualMaze.gpsutils&hl=de
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2&hl=de
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mendhak.gpslogger&hl=de

[VanguardLH]

You did not mention your brand and model of smartphone. Just checking:
does your smartphone have the magnetic sensors needed for a compass
function? It is required per your criteria.

I use a car finder app that uses GPS and would give a compass direction
to my car. Didn't realize until after trying to use it that all I could
get was maps to my car. My smartphone has no compass so no direction
needle pointing to my car. Argh!

[Whiskers]

You should get a direction arrow once you've moved far enough for the
GPS receiver to work out which direction you've moved. Even with a
built in magnetic compass, I've found Android devices to be very poor at
identifying compass directions accurately while not moving.

I find this one is useful for situations when GPS is useful but I
don't want a map. It also shows the output from any other sensors the
hardware has.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2>
"GPS Status & Toolbox – Android Apps on Google Play". I paid for the
'pro' version.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

[VanguardLH]

Whiskers <catwh...@operamail.com> wrote:

> VanguardLH <V...@nguard.LH> wrote:
>
>> Jonas Schneider wrote:
>>
>>> What is a good GPS tracking app that does these two things good?
>>> * Gives the GPS coordinates in a very clear way that can be copied & pasted
>>> * Points you to the next given waypoint
>>
>> You did not mention your brand and model of smartphone. Just checking:
>> does your smartphone have the magnetic sensors needed for a compass
>> function? It is required per your criteria.
>

> You should get a direction arrow once you've moved far enough for the
> GPS receiver to work out which direction you've moved. Even with a
> built in magnetic compass, I've found Android devices to be very poor at
> identifying compass directions accurately while not moving.
>
> I find this one is useful for situations when GPS is useful but I
> don't want a map. It also shows the output from any other sensors the
> hardware has.
> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2>
> "GPS Status & Toolbox – Android Apps on Google Play". I paid for the
> 'pro' version.

How is that going to handle change of orientation of the phone? I start
walking forward in a straight line (hopefully not across a busy street).
After around 15-40 feet, an arrow appears. Now if I turn right or left
or in the direction of the arrow, the phone moves, too, so the arrow is
no longer pointing in the correct direction. I have to walk another
15-40 feet before the GPS differentiation is significant enough to show
a new pointer, but what if I twist to reach into a pocket, to talk to
someone walking along, or otherwise rotate the phone? The arrow that
appears is static and doesn't move as the phone moves. There is no GPS
differentiation when you're standing in the same spot rotating your
phone as you rotate to change your walking direction. Seems instead you
get snapshots of direction at 15-40 foot intervals.

I'll trial the app you mention but I suspect that it will be like
watching a movie on the TV where every 15-40 seconds I turn on the TV,
get a glimpse of the movie and then turn off the TV to wait another
15-40 seconds to get another glimpse.

[Carlos E. R.]

The app simply assumes that the phone is pointing in the exact direction
of the previous movement.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

[tlvp]

On Sat, 18 Mar 2017 19:01:32 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

> How is that going to handle change of orientation of the phone?

The app you're discussing, I don't know; but the Maps app on the Moto Droid
X2, at least, offers an option how to indicate North on the map: pointing
straight up, as is prevalent on paper maps, or pointing to the true current
North, in relation to the world around the handset. Displays least
confusingly when the face of the phone is in the horizontal plane. Rotate
the phone, and the map will rotate to maintain North pointing north.

There's a compass-rose icon (far upper-right corner), touching which
toggles that setting. Perhaps your app has something similar?

HTH. Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.

[Whiskers]

I don't know where you got the idea that the display would only operate
for brief instants then vanish. In my experience the direction of
travel while you are walking, is assumed by the software to correspond
with the top or back of the device pointing in the direction of travel -
hold it in front of you so that you can see the screen with the image
right-way up. Do that and the 'target is in this direction' indicator
will quickly adapt to point in the appropriate direction, moving as you
move. Of course you should use your own senses and intelligence to walk
along a safe route rather than just go directly in the direction
indicated.

The 'GPS Status and tools' app will use all the sensors it can find on
your machine, including magnetic and accelerometers, to smooth the
output. The use of GPS signal and calculation of present position is
effectively continuous so long as there are enough satellites visible.

Waving the thing about all over the place or turning it off then on
again and other such actions will of course upset any navigation aid.