How to have "Log track to GPX" and "Show current GPX track" always enabled?

[Ryan]

I really love OsmAnd.  The primary reason I chose it was because of the downloadable, offline tiles.  I want to be able to use OsmAnd as my primary GPS mapping for hiking & snowboarding.  But I ALWAYS want to show the current GPX Track (showing where I have been) on the map.  It seems simple enough... I just want to 1) Open OsmAnd, 2) press Record GPX, and have my current path just display... all the time, no extra steps.  I also want to log the track to a GPX file for offline analysis.

I have the "Logging Services" plugin loaded, and each time I want to record a track, it seems like I have to 1) Go to Settings->Navigation->Pedestrian, 2) Turn on "Log track to GPX file", 3) press "Record GPX" from the right panel, and 4) click the blue globe ("Map Source" page) ->go 6 lines down->press "GPX track".

It seems like a cumbersome workflow to just start recording your track.  Is there a default setting that I am cannot find that will allow for the "Log track to GPX Track" setting to be automatically checked on and to "Show Current Track" by default?  If not, this would be a feature that I would love to see added.  Thanks.

[Victor Shcherb]

Hi,

There is a widget that allows you to start/stop "Record GPX" and even show how much distance is covered (press on settings).  

For "Show current track" unfortunately there is no option for now but this requires 2-3 clicks?

Best Regards,

Victor

2012/12/10 Ryan <ryank...@gmail.com>

[Stefan T.]

Hi Victor,

I don't want to open a new thread/question, as I have pretty much the same or very similar question:

I want to use OsmAnd also for hiking/skiing/cycling and there mainly for tracking my routes.

Last Sunday I've been out in the mountains and wanted to record the track: 

I have all background plugins loaded, I started the sleeping mode (on continuous) , so that GPS remains active even if my One X is in standy-by and I started to record the GPX track.

It worked fine for about 4-5km but at home I realized that after that OsmAnd simply stopped recording eventhough I didn't change anything on my device or in OsmAnd.

The recorded track showed in the Off-Line Data as a .1MB file and was fine up to the point where it recorded...

So my question is:

what do I have to do that OsmAnd keeps recording a track, even if the phone is "off" (stand-by)?

Are there any other settings I have to take into account? 

Seeing the (so far) hiked track is no problem - I simply chose to show the GPX track in the settings menue and it works fine, but recorind a track over a longer period is a problem...

thanks,

stefan

[Victor Shcherb]

Hi,

It can be very device/android specific problem. So,

-  it can be OsmAnd crash then you could see something in exception.log

- it can be GPS lost without recover (solution might be to try continuous monitoring at least to find corner cases of the problem) 

- it can be Android kills the program to save something (solution might be to try continuous monitoring at least to find corner cases of the problem). I don't know exactly what to do with that.

While OsmAnd background is working, you should always see OsmAnd in status line.

Victor

2012/12/11 Stefan T. <stet...@gmail.com>

[rodolfo]

I ran into the 3rd problem you mentioned. Sometimes the GPS function and GPS-status were killed when memory was getting low.
I solved this by converting GPS-status to a system app. Then it survives and keeps the GPS alive, so some other apps get killed.
Have not tried yet to convert OsmAnd to a system app, but perhaps this might also help in some cases.

Rodolfo

[gafrol]

Absolutely agree. Every GPS Device I owned so far does exactly that by default when recording a track. I think this should be changed in Osmond.

This feature got me back on track a couple of years ago when I got lost with my motorbike in the desert. I just had to follow the track line on the GPS.

Thanks Roland

[Jörg Roßdeutscher]

Hello, I respond to this old thread since I think this issue is still up to date.

I've „broken“ some GPX-Recordings last week and believed Osmand would be „buggy“. No, it isn't. Everything is there to record GPX and works. However, it ist totally messed up HOW to record.

What I had expected:
- Starting Osmand
- Pressing „record GPX“
- Done.

Result:
Osmand records my tracks, even in background, even in sleep mode. And displays the track.

What happened instead:

- I selected „record“
Result: „It doesn't record“. Well, at least that was my impression. In fact it does record the track - it just doesn't /display/ the track. That is… no good idea. Who want's to record a track but not see it?


- I found „display GPX track“. I selected it.
Good.
The next time I recorded a track I had to reenable that feature again. Bad.

- I walk around. Checked recording after a short distance. It works!
I walked a long distance. Happily I wanted to look at my track, and it was… 100 Meters long? WTF? I tested what happened and found out GPX recording stopped when the device goes to sleep. That, again is… no good idea.
Why should one want to stop tracking when the device falls asleep? In fact the opposite is true, when walking through the wilderness you sent your device to sleep mode as fast as possible to save power, and /certrainly/ it's expected to continue tracking. This is what tracking is made for!?

So, there is not a bug at all, it's just „thought the wrong way“ and overcomplicated. Users will have to learn using that features „the wrong way around“, since the „usual behavior“ of a tracking application is the other way around. You will come home and have lost your track. Painful.

Planing a track for tomorrow I've read the HowTo to make sure I don't lose data. I found out I have to:

- Enable a background service that warns me to track more often than every 30 seconds, which seems ridiculous to me. 5 seconds looks like a useful default to me, otherwise the track is mostly „off the road“ on the map.

- Then I additionally have to enable tracking.

- Then I have to make the track visible

Walking. :-)

- Then I have to switch OFF all that stuff again when returned to my car.

Sorry, but this is… no good idea.

Again, sorry, but I will use the Google Tool instead. It works as expected:

- Start App.
- Press „Record“.
- Walk.
- Press „Stop“.

Bye,
Jörg

[Areg]

Hi

I have quite different point of view for this.

OsmAnd is not a GPX recording tool, it is a Offline Navigation Application.

I found it once I got in trouble while travelling because if you are going to rely on Google Maps it requires the on-line connectivity in order to work.

OsmAnd is a Navigation Application and if you would like to record your movements instead of navigation you can enable the GPX recording and after that see it.

In this perspective I am completely happy how is the buttons and the default settings are configured.

So if you would like to just record the GPX track use the tool, if Navigate - use App - simple and easy.

Regards,

Areg

[Harry van der Wolf]

2013/4/30 Areg <vrt...@gmail.com>

I fully agree with Areg. This is a navigation app, not a tracker app. There are many of those tracker apps.
I think it is very handy that you can record a GPX-track as most (commercial) apps do, but it's not the main purpose of the app.
If I'm navigating I like it when the track gets recorded, but I certainly don't want another (colored) line on top of my navigation line (on top of the road), or trailing my navigation line.
And I want to stay off-line and not let google know where I am (location services), and I know I can switch it off but I don't even want to think about having to switch it off (or on).

Harry

[Jörg Roßdeutscher]

osmand.net:
„This project aims at providing comfortable map viewing and navigation (routing) application for mobile devices.“

So, osmand is not for navigation only. However, I think it's not necessary to discuss that. There is absolutely no need to force people to always view a track. The track should appear after starting tracking, not after starting a navigation.

And from my point of view it's a  totally broken idea to offer a tracking command and then silently fail in providing the necessary background process, making people believe they are tracking - while they don't.

I would think this is the best way:

When I chose „Record GPX“ from the menu:
- Background service is started, resolution is taken from settings, say ~5 seconds.
- „View GPX Track“ is enabled.

When I chose „Stop GPX“ from the menu
- Background service is stopped. Or it asks.

Additionally, I don't see the logic in hiding GPX-Recording in Walking Mode. Recording a track is as useful there as in the two other modes. So I think the default configuration should be changed not to hide that tools initially.

I don't think starting a navigation should trigger any of those behaviors, and I certainly don't see any use in displaying a GPX track per default while just displaying the map or navigating. However, starting a GPX track should set everything we need. And I don't see any kind of crazy abuse in using Osmand for tracking. It's like made for this purpose: Areas where you are offline and where osm-Data is better than google's. I've found no better app for this purpose.

[Rodolfo]

I agree with Areg and Harry when they say "This is a navigation app, not a tracker app", but since this app offers tracking and this is a widely used option now, it should make things as easy as possible.
The suggestions of Jörg would make the use of this option less complicated.
When Osmand is running in the foreground, the background service is not needed, but I earlier found out, that the background service has practically no influence on battery drain while Osmand is running in the foreground, so it does not do any harm to activate it automatically as soon as tracking is started and at least it would prevent the frustrating moment when you find out that your track has not been recorded.
It would also simplify the menus.

Rodolfo

[Ian Wills]

I am sorry but I disagree that OsmAnd "is a navigation app, not a tracker app". OsmAnd is, at its most fundamental, a mapping App (that is the M in OsmAnd). One way in which a mapping App can be used is for navigation, anther is tracking. They are parallel uses. 

For myself, at times I hike in unmapped areas, sometimes without tracks. In these places OsmAnd's navigation function (other than to get a bearing) is negligible  But, once I have recorded the track once I can both add new tracks to OSM via JOSM or use the gpx file to re-trace my steps. In fact, my main reason for taking up GPS years ago was to avoid past "geographical embarrassment" (sometimes called getting "lost") and the safety issues that result.

However, I agree that the OsmAnd implementation of tracking is overly complex. I also use a Garmin Oregon 300 where tracking it a trivial function. My hope is to be able to fully move over to to OsmAnd on my phone as it is lighter and can give much better battery life (up to a week's walking with the support of an external battery like Konnex). What is needed is the Garmin level of simplicity on OsmAnd.

Cheers,

Ian

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[Victor Shcherb]

I agree that tracking functionality is very technical and includes more details than needed.

I believe making Background Service enabled by default when you press button "Record GPX" track will just make it easy.

To track it we can open an issue on googlecode. 

Victor

[Rodolfo]

> "To track it we can open an issue on googlecode."

Just opened it:
http://code.google.com/p/osmand/issues/detail?id=1844&sort=-opened&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Priority%20Summary%20Opened%20Milestone

[Jörg Roßdeutscher]

On Sunday, May 5, 2013 2:19:30 PM UTC+2, Rodolfo wrote:

> "To track it we can open an issue on googlecode."
Just opened it:
http://code.google.com/p/osmand/issues/detail?id=1844&sort=-opened&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Priority%20Summary%20Opened%20Milestone

Thanks a lot! I should have done that myself but didn't think about. At least I voted. ;-)

Bye, Jörg

[Hardy]

I realize this discussion is going around in circles, and am also undecided about a good final solution. But overlooking OsmAnd's marketing I have to comment here that now we do get some really bad critics on google Play saying OsmAnd causes very heavy battery drain ... I believe that this must be caused by the background service now being activated on some occasions (manually pressing the record widget), and users not understanding what's going on...

 

Maybe we ultimately do need some sort of prompt asking "Do you also want to record tracks while your device is asleep, which will cause increased battery drain?  Yes/No "...

[Victor Shcherb]

I think this is should not be a question. I mean we made it very clear, when Background Service is running (notification), so no question for user should be when we actually drain battery ( I agree first time it could be a surprise but only first time).

I know it is going around circles also because of measurements! (I saw lots invalid measurements) https://code.google.com/p/osmand/wiki/FAQ#OsmAnd_seems_to_drain_too_much_battery_power

Victor

[Jörg Roßdeutscher]

I have complained about „battery drain“ using different trackers. I've stopped complaining. Why? Because I noticed on „normal weekdays“ I sometimes come home with 40% battery left, on other days with 80%. And I cannot explain the difference.

I've learned that you can't honestly say _anything_ about your battery if you don't check this for many days. I think if there's not an usual amount of complains then just ignore them. Their device had a bad day.

 

[Nico W]

If you want to track your walk on the screen AND record to GPX, after enabling the GPX recording in "define view" you go to the main menu again and hit "directions" now the 3 boxes (car, bike, walk) show and hit "follow". Cancel the query about the voice service not being available, and you will see a blue line following your track. And if I'm correct, it will eat it back up again if you walk the opposite way.

That is what "follow" means.

 

What I only recently found out is that you need the same "follow" button to get directions (yellow arrows and voice), which really should be under "only show" (the phone shows directions, so you can follow them).

[Harry van der Wolf]

I created a lot of custom roms for multiple tablets (mostly archos tablets). In those forums there were always posts about "this rom drains my battery" whereas others don't complain at all.
It always (yes always!) turned out that it had to do with widgets draining the battery.
Of course the background service acts more or less as a widget too, but also weather apps/widgets or news apps/widgets or stock exchange widgets/app "constantly" try to update their data thereby accessing the wifi or 2G/3G etc. connection, and thereby draining the battery even more. Only your wifi or 2G/3G can take up to 40% of the battery drain caused by these widgets.

I think that most people do not realise this.

Harry

2013/5/29 Jörg Roßdeutscher <raet...@gmail.com>

I have complained about „battery drain“ using different trackers. I've stopped complaining. Why? Because I noticed on „normal weekdays“ I sometimes come home with 40% battery left, on other days with 80%. And I cannot explain the difference.

I've learned that you can't honestly say _anything_ about your battery if you don't check this for many days. I think if there's not an usual amount of complains then just ignore them. Their device had a bad day.

 

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