Gaia GPS v9.0 - observations and questions
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satcp
Jul 20, 2014, 7:07:29 AM7/20/14
to gaia...@googlegroups.com
[Tested Gaia GPS v9.0 on iPad 2 and iPad 4]
First of all, kudos to the new Gaia GPS version! The interface feels much more polished and faster than the previous version. I really like it! Nevertheless I have a few remarks:
* Initially I liked how the new version displays maps much sharper on Retina displays (iPad 4 vs iPad 2 in my case). However, out in the field this actually turned out to be a disadvantage: Labels like place names, street names, height lines, river names,... are so small on the Retina display, they become almost impossible to read. Because most map sources are still tile-based and all devices get the same tiles, the Retina iPad displays everything twice as small at the same zoom level! Zooming in doesn't help because then it displays the next zoom level... twice as small. Only when zooming in further than the maximum zoom level things finally get bigger.
I assume it's not practical to offer map sources rendered at different DPI settings for all various screen configurations. So can we please have an option on the "Settings" screen to display maps twice as big even if that kind of ruins the advantage of a Retina display?
* I like how you can enable and disable layers on the "More Layers" screen to keep the "Layers" menu clean with only relevant maps. However, I'm unable to remove the "US Topo (CalTopo, USGS)" layer. It's not shown on the "More Layers" screen and swiping left does not give a "Delete" option. This layer has absolutely no value on this side of the pond. I'm also unable to get rid of the "World Imagery (MapQuest)" layer. I can remove it, but it returns automatically on the next application launch.
* What happened to the OpenCycleMap / Cycling Topo map source (also called "World Topo" by Thunder Forest in the previous version)? I can still see and use it from my layers menu but it is not listed on the "More Layers" screen. I'm a bit worried what happens if I would happen to delete it from my layers menu.
* I'm not really using the areal/satellite imagery map sources, but I noticed that "World Imagery" by Google doesn't work properly. Beyond zoom level 12 it suddenly turns into regular road map. "World Imagery" by ESRI or "Imagery + Roads" by Google work just fine, though.
* What exactly defines the icon that is shown for the various map sources (areal/satellite, road map, topo)? Map "OpenLandScapeMap (topo)" for example does have the icon of a road map while it's clearly a topographic map while "HikeBike.de" is shown as topo while it doesn't provide any topographic details.
* If you work in offline mode with downloaded maps and are zoomed in beyond the maximum downloaded zoom level (mainly to see things bigger on the Retina screen) and then move around the map, the areas that are outside the initial view do not get displayed at their maximum (downloaded) zoom level but completely blurry at a much lower level. You then have to zoom out to a zoom level equal to or lower than the maximum downloaded one for the screen to redraw correctly.
* When on the screen where you can select the area to download for offline use, there's a rounding bug in the size displayed in the top right corner. Once the area is over 999 MB (accuracy up to one megabyte), the size is rounded to gigabytes (997, 998, 999, 1.0, 1.0 ... 1.0, 2.0).
* The zoom level and size labels on download map screen do not always reflect the actual zoom level used for downloading. If you do not tap exactly on the slider "button" but slightly right or left from it, the button moves but the zoom level and size labels do not update. It's even possible to move the slider all the way to the left while the labels still indicate maximum zoom level 18. The download will be using the zoom level of the slider - not what is displayed in the labels.
* On the same screen (download map for offline use): If you select an area and press "Save" you are asked for a file name. It is however impossible to cancel that dialog.
* The white arrow in the blue button to fold out or collapse the "Trip/Saved/Settings" panel is pointing in the wrong direction after rotating the screen with the panel expanded.
* Tapping "Last Sync" on the "Settings" panel performs a new sync operation. However if "Sync/Backup" is disabled it still performs the sync. That sounds a bit illogical but personally I don't mind it. Worse is that doing so silently switches on "Sync/Backup" without being visible to the user. It's not until switching to another screen and then returning to the "Settings" page the change is visible.
First of all, kudos to the new Gaia GPS version! The interface feels much more polished and faster than the previous version. I really like it! Nevertheless I have a few remarks:
* Initially I liked how the new version displays maps much sharper on Retina displays (iPad 4 vs iPad 2 in my case). However, out in the field this actually turned out to be a disadvantage: Labels like place names, street names, height lines, river names,... are so small on the Retina display, they become almost impossible to read. Because most map sources are still tile-based and all devices get the same tiles, the Retina iPad displays everything twice as small at the same zoom level! Zooming in doesn't help because then it displays the next zoom level... twice as small. Only when zooming in further than the maximum zoom level things finally get bigger.
I assume it's not practical to offer map sources rendered at different DPI settings for all various screen configurations. So can we please have an option on the "Settings" screen to display maps twice as big even if that kind of ruins the advantage of a Retina display?
* I like how you can enable and disable layers on the "More Layers" screen to keep the "Layers" menu clean with only relevant maps. However, I'm unable to remove the "US Topo (CalTopo, USGS)" layer. It's not shown on the "More Layers" screen and swiping left does not give a "Delete" option. This layer has absolutely no value on this side of the pond. I'm also unable to get rid of the "World Imagery (MapQuest)" layer. I can remove it, but it returns automatically on the next application launch.
* What happened to the OpenCycleMap / Cycling Topo map source (also called "World Topo" by Thunder Forest in the previous version)? I can still see and use it from my layers menu but it is not listed on the "More Layers" screen. I'm a bit worried what happens if I would happen to delete it from my layers menu.
* I'm not really using the areal/satellite imagery map sources, but I noticed that "World Imagery" by Google doesn't work properly. Beyond zoom level 12 it suddenly turns into regular road map. "World Imagery" by ESRI or "Imagery + Roads" by Google work just fine, though.
* What exactly defines the icon that is shown for the various map sources (areal/satellite, road map, topo)? Map "OpenLandScapeMap (topo)" for example does have the icon of a road map while it's clearly a topographic map while "HikeBike.de" is shown as topo while it doesn't provide any topographic details.
* If you work in offline mode with downloaded maps and are zoomed in beyond the maximum downloaded zoom level (mainly to see things bigger on the Retina screen) and then move around the map, the areas that are outside the initial view do not get displayed at their maximum (downloaded) zoom level but completely blurry at a much lower level. You then have to zoom out to a zoom level equal to or lower than the maximum downloaded one for the screen to redraw correctly.
* When on the screen where you can select the area to download for offline use, there's a rounding bug in the size displayed in the top right corner. Once the area is over 999 MB (accuracy up to one megabyte), the size is rounded to gigabytes (997, 998, 999, 1.0, 1.0 ... 1.0, 2.0).
* The zoom level and size labels on download map screen do not always reflect the actual zoom level used for downloading. If you do not tap exactly on the slider "button" but slightly right or left from it, the button moves but the zoom level and size labels do not update. It's even possible to move the slider all the way to the left while the labels still indicate maximum zoom level 18. The download will be using the zoom level of the slider - not what is displayed in the labels.
* On the same screen (download map for offline use): If you select an area and press "Save" you are asked for a file name. It is however impossible to cancel that dialog.
* The white arrow in the blue button to fold out or collapse the "Trip/Saved/Settings" panel is pointing in the wrong direction after rotating the screen with the panel expanded.
* Tapping "Last Sync" on the "Settings" panel performs a new sync operation. However if "Sync/Backup" is disabled it still performs the sync. That sounds a bit illogical but personally I don't mind it. Worse is that doing so silently switches on "Sync/Backup" without being visible to the user. It's not until switching to another screen and then returning to the "Settings" page the change is visible.
Andrew Johnson
Jul 25, 2014, 2:05:37 AM7/25/14
to Gaia GPS
Hi there,
Thanks for your notes, and please see my replies inline. I marked several bugs we'll look into.
We'll look at a few of these for 9.0.2, and 9.0.1 came out yesterday.
Regards,
Andrew
On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 4:07 AM, satcp <googl...@satcp.be> wrote:
[Tested Gaia GPS v9.0 on iPad 2 and iPad 4]
First of all, kudos to the new Gaia GPS version! The interface feels much more polished and faster than the previous version. I really like it! Nevertheless I have a few remarks:
Thanks!
* Initially I liked how the new version displays maps much sharper on Retina displays (iPad 4 vs iPad 2 in my case). However, out in the field this actually turned out to be a disadvantage: Labels like place names, street names, height lines, river names,... are so small on the Retina display, they become almost impossible to read. Because most map sources are still tile-based and all devices get the same tiles, the Retina iPad displays everything twice as small at the same zoom level! Zooming in doesn't help because then it displays the next zoom level... twice as small. Only when zooming in further than the maximum zoom level things finally get bigger.
I assume it's not practical to offer map sources rendered at different DPI settings for all various screen configurations. So can we please have an option on the "Settings" screen to display maps twice as big even if that kind of ruins the advantage of a Retina display?
Yeah, that's just right... we were talking about this, and I think we're going to add a switch as you describe. I think some people want the larger text, and some want the sharper text. It's a choice you have to make for retina display of a raster map source (that doesn't have special retina tiles).
When we get the vector topo map source to be better, I think everyone will largely abandon rasters, for this and other reasons.
* I like how you can enable and disable layers on the "More Layers" screen to keep the "Layers" menu clean with only relevant maps. However, I'm unable to remove the "US Topo (CalTopo, USGS)" layer.
It's not shown on the "More Layers" screen and swiping left does not give a "Delete" option. This layer has absolutely no value on this side of the pond. I'm also unable to get rid of the "World Imagery (MapQuest)" layer. I can remove it, but it returns automatically on the next application launch.
There's a technical issue with removing some of the sources. We're aware this is problematic for non-US users who don't use USGS, and we'd like to address it, but haven't because it's not trivial. Maybe soon though, we have work going on in that code.
* What happened to the OpenCycleMap / Cycling Topo map source (also called "World Topo" by Thunder Forest in the previous version)? I can still see and use it from my layers menu but it is not listed on the "More Layers" screen. I'm a bit worried what happens if I would happen to delete it from my layers menu.
That is one of the sources that is hard-coded in by default, and can't be removed.
* I'm not really using the areal/satellite imagery map sources, but I noticed that "World Imagery" by Google doesn't work properly. Beyond zoom level 12 it suddenly turns into regular road map. "World Imagery" by ESRI or "Imagery + Roads" by Google work just fine, though.
Please give it another try now. You may need to shut down the app completely, and then remove and re-add the source.
* What exactly defines the icon that is shown for the various map sources (areal/satellite, road map, topo)? Map "OpenLandScapeMap (topo)" for example does have the icon of a road map while it's clearly a topographic map while "HikeBike.de" is shown as topo while it doesn't provide any topographic details.
Some rough code defines it. We could improve it to show better icons, but haven't made it a priority.
* If you work in offline mode with downloaded maps and are zoomed in beyond the maximum downloaded zoom level (mainly to see things bigger on the Retina screen) and then move around the map, the areas that are outside the initial view do not get displayed at their maximum (downloaded) zoom level but completely blurry at a much lower level. You then have to zoom out to a zoom level equal to or lower than the maximum downloaded one for the screen to redraw correctly.
Thanks, we'll look at that.
* When on the screen where you can select the area to download for offline use, there's a rounding bug in the size displayed in the top right corner. Once the area is over 999 MB (accuracy up to one megabyte), the size is rounded to gigabytes (997, 998, 999, 1.0, 1.0 ... 1.0, 2.0).
We'll look at this too.
* The zoom level and size labels on download map screen do not always reflect the actual zoom level used for downloading. If you do not tap exactly on the slider "button" but slightly right or left from it, the button moves but the zoom level and size labels do not update. It's even possible to move the slider all the way to the left while the labels still indicate maximum zoom level 18. The download will be using the zoom level of the slider - not what is displayed in the labels.
Ditto.
* On the same screen (download map for offline use): If you select an area and press "Save" you are asked for a file name. It is however impossible to cancel that dialog.
I noticed that too, we'll also look at this, but maybe not fix it right away. It's been that way for a while.
* The white arrow in the blue button to fold out or collapse the "Trip/Saved/Settings" panel is pointing in the wrong direction after rotating the screen with the panel expanded.
We'll look at this too!
* Tapping "Last Sync" on the "Settings" panel performs a new sync operation. However if "Sync/Backup" is disabled it still performs the sync. That sounds a bit illogical but personally I don't mind it. Worse is that doing so silently switches on "Sync/Backup" without being visible to the user. It's not until switching to another screen and then returning to the "Settings" page the change is visible.
This too :)
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Andrew Johnson
Aug 15, 2014, 4:56:44 PM8/15/14
to Gaia GPS
Hi again,
I just wanted to comment that a bunch of these were cleaned up in 9.01 and 9.1, including a Setting to change map text size (you want bigger text for OSM-based maps), the arrow on the instruments bar, added a cancel button for Saving maps, and others.
Much more to come of course, and we appreciate your continued feedback!
Regards,
Andrew
satcp
Aug 16, 2014, 8:19:34 AM8/16/14
to gaia...@googlegroups.com, and...@gaiagps.com
Thank you for the reminder, Andrew. I had noticed the new update but did not yet come to actually testing it. Anyway, I just took a moment to look at the new version and update my list of observations.
[Tested Gaia GPS v9.1 on iPad 2 and iPad 4]
[Tested Gaia GPS v9.1 on iPad 2 and iPad 4]
* Initially I liked how the new version displays maps much sharper on Retina displays (iPad 4 vs iPad 2 in my case). However, out in the field this actually turned out to be a disadvantage: Labels like place names, street names, height lines, river names,... are so small on the Retina display, they become almost impossible to read. Because most map sources are still tile-based and all devices get the same tiles, the Retina iPad displays everything twice as small at the same zoom level! Zooming in doesn't help because then it displays the next zoom level... twice as small. Only when zooming in further than the maximum zoom level things finally get bigger.
Thank you for the new "Increase map text size" feature in v9.1! This makes the iPad 4 much more usable again.
However, the new feature does not always seem to have effect. It seems to depend on the current zoom level. The following was observed on an iPad 4. The zoom levels may be different on another device.
Increase map text size:
- 17.5 .. 17.0: works
- 17.0 .. 16.5: no difference
- 16.5 .. 16.0: works
- 16.0 .. 15.5: no difference
- 15.5 .. 15.0: works
- 15.0 .. 14.5: no difference
- 14.5 .. 14.0: works
- 14.0 .. 13.5: no difference
I didn't bother testing the entire zoom range but there's a very clear relation in there.
This may be intentional, but I somewhat expected the new "Increase map text size" feature to shift the entire zoom range by 1, but it appears to shift only by 0.5.
Zoom levels of the tile zoom level changeovers:
- Increase map text size OFF: .. 17.0 16.0 15.0 14.0 ..
- Increase map text size ON: .. 17.5 16.5 15.5 14.5 ..
Don't get me wrong - I'm already quite happy with the new feature "as is" but I wonder whether this was on purpose because the text is still (half the time) smaller than on a non-Retina display.
* If you work in offline mode with downloaded maps and are zoomed in beyond the maximum downloaded zoom level (mainly to see things bigger on the Retina screen) and then move around the map, the areas that are outside the initial view do not get displayed at their maximum (downloaded) zoom level but completely blurry at a much lower level. You then have to zoom out to a zoom level equal to or lower than the maximum downloaded one for the screen to redraw correctly.
This issue is still present in v9.1.
* When on the screen where you can select the area to download for offline use, there's a rounding bug in the size displayed in the top right corner. Once the area is over 999 MB (accuracy up to one megabyte), the size is rounded to gigabytes (997, 998, 999, 1.0, 1.0 ... 1.0, 2.0).
This issue is still present in v9.1. It really is not a big issue. It does not have any negative impact other than indicating the wrong estimated map size on very large areas, but it looks somewhat "unfinished".
* I'm not really using the areal/satellite imagery map sources, but I noticed that "World Imagery" by Google doesn't work properly. Beyond zoom level 12 it suddenly turns into regular road map. "World Imagery" by ESRI or "Imagery + Roads" by Google work just fine, though.
Fixed in v9.1!
* The zoom level and size labels on download map screen do not always reflect the actual zoom level used for downloading. If you do not tap exactly on the slider "button" but slightly right or left from it, the button moves but the zoom level and size labels do not update. It's even possible to move the slider all the way to the left while the labels still indicate maximum zoom level 18. The download will be using the zoom level of the slider - not what is displayed in the labels.
Fixed in v9.1!
* On the same screen (download map for offline use): If you select an area and press "Save" you are asked for a file name. It is however impossible to cancel that dialog.
Fixed in v9.1!
* The white arrow in the blue button to fold out or collapse the "Trip/Saved/Settings" panel is pointing in the wrong direction after rotating the screen with the panel expanded.
Fixed in v9.1!
* Tapping "Last Sync" on the "Settings" panel performs a new sync operation. However if "Sync/Backup" is disabled it still performs the sync. That sounds a bit illogical but personally I don't mind it. Worse is that doing so silently switches on "Sync/Backup" without being visible to the user. It's not until switching to another screen and then returning to the "Settings" page the change is visible.
Fixed in v9.1!
Great job so far, Andrew, Anna and the rest of the team!
Andrew Johnson
Aug 17, 2014, 12:37:34 AM8/17/14
to Gaia GPS
Thanks for having another look, I still have some outstanding notes.
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