Locus Map - forum

Hello,
this thread is for general feedback and testing of new versions of Locus Map Watch add-on for Samsung Gear and Galaxy Watch.

Currently only closed beta version for registered users is available and is distributed only using Galaxy Apps (on both phone and the watch because of Samsung limitations). Registered users should be able to install and transfer the add-on to their watch by opening this link (http://apps.samsung.com/betastore/appDetail.as?appId=com.asamm.locus.addon.gear) directly on their phone (Galaxy Apps should capture the link and open add-ons store page)

The closed beta version should communicate with the latest Locus Map Free or Pro versions directly. When the official "public/open" beta comes out it will be only available for Locus Map Free (again due to some Samsung companion app policies, we will probably have to make separate Locus Map Pro Gear add-on even though both add-on versions will be practically identical).

The add-on requires Locus Map phone app to run, it is not (at least yet) stand-alone.

There are two main screens available:
- Map screen: features zoomable and scrollable map with autocenter/rotate function button.

- Track recording screen: Offers function to select one of your tracking profiles and start the track recording. Then there is multi-page dashboard when the recording is active. You can pause/resume/stop the recording or add waypoint. Dashboard values are configurable by long-pressing them directly and choosing a value from the displayed option list.


Not yet available features:
- navigation directions: partially implemented but not available. Navigation directions will be available directly on top of the map as an overlay when the navigation is active.
- heart rate measurement: something we would like to add, but the implementation has not even started yet.


Known (serious) bugs:
- screens might not display correctly or at all on Gear S2 (seems to be mostly the case right after installing the add-on. On second or third run the things seem to sort out themselves for some reason)

- the add-on refuses to connect to the phone if the phone is in "sleep"(i.e. has had the screen turned off for a while). Just turning on the phone screen makes the add-on suddenly reconnect. Confirmed with Samsung S7 (Android 8) and Gear S3 - if you are also affected by this problem please let me know.


I don't have access to the latest Galaxy Watch so any kind feedback from that watch would be helpful.

Please share with me any bugs, crashes or any other feedback which would help me improve the app for you.

Thanks a lot and hope you will enjoy :)

Milan

Wonderful!! I got to play with this for a bit today.
I have Samsung:
Galaxy S8 phone, Android 8.0.0
Galaxy S3 Frontier watch,  Tizen 3.0.0.2

I tested with a walk around the neighborhood, driving to a park and searching for a geocache.

I found the position updates on the watch to be quite delayed.  I usually had to raise the watch 2 or 3 times before the position updated on the map.  So maybe it was something like every 10 seconds before my position updated?  I had the phone set to using Google Satellite maps.  I tried it again using an offline OSM map and although the display update of the map tiles was faster, the position update was still too slow for my taste.

If the phone screen shut off or I manually shut it off and put the phone in my pocket, the screen stopped updating altogether.  I thought if I turned on "run Locus as a service" this might not happen.  I also turned off battery optimization on the phone.  I'm not sure yet if that cured the problem.

I recorded a track and then put the phone away.  When I stopped the track, I got an error message of "can't connect to Locus - can't save" or something like that.  Turned the phone screen on and hit the stop recording button and it saved the track OK.  I never got the chance to specify WHERE to save the track, it just used the last track folder location that I had used before.

On my second track attempt, I started track recording.  Then I also selected "Hiking" in the Samsung Fitness App, which also records a track and heart rate.  Both ran concurrently and both recorded the same track.  One oddity was that the first time I raised my wrist, the Locus track screen came up.  After that, the Samsung track screen came up whenever I raised my wrist.  I could navigate back to the Locus track screen OK.  But the next time I raised my wrist, it defaulted to the Samsung screen again.  Not a big deal and I suppose not many people would run two different track recording apps at the same time.  I just thought it odd that the watch did not return to the last used screen each time.

I found the waypoint icons on the screen to be much too large.  And the default directional pointer was HUGE on the screen. Quite distracting.  Is it possible to make them smaller?

What I really, really want to see is something like the compass screen.  When hiking or geocaching, I'm usually navigating towards a waypoint.  I start the navigation and then put the phone away.  I'll periodically pull the phone out to check on my progress, noting the bearing, heading and distance.  I'd love to see this displayed on the watch so I could leave it in my pocket and just check the watch every now and then.

I tried setting the app as a Widget but it does not show up in the list of available widget apps.

I have a suggestion... If you have to make separate versions for Pro and Free, shouldn't the Pro folks get it first?  They are the ones who paid. And I would think more active.... Just a thought.

Well, that's all for now.  Thanks for starting the development of this!

I have Samsung:
Galaxy S7 phone, Android 8.0.0
Galaxy S3 Frontier watch, Tizen 3.0.0.2
Locus Map Pro v.3.34.1

[CZ]
Naprosto souhlasím s JohnCNA ve všech zkušenostech
- zpoždění s aktualizací polohy při zobrazení na druhý nebo třetí pokus
- ikony jsou větší než je třeba - rušivý efekt
- kompas, ten by byl super! směr a vzdálenost, to potřebuje každý geocacher ;)
- widget na rychlé spuštení

Jinak super práce, chválím moc a těším se na další rozvoj ;)

[EN]
I totally agree with JohnCNA in all my experience
- delay with location update when viewed on second or third attempt
- Icons are bigger than needed - Disturbing effect
- compass, that would be great! direction and distance, each geocacher needs it  ;)
- quick start widget

Otherwise super work, I very much praise and look forward to further development ;)

I just did the following test while running a store errand.

Made sure Locus was set to Run as Service and battery optimization was off. Selected a waypoint and Guide On. Turned off the phone screen. Selected map on the watch. Map worked and updated as I drove with phone screen off.

A couple times when I raised my wrist, the watch had gone back to the watch screen and I had to navigate back to the Locus screen and select Map again. I can't tell if the app stopped or just went into the background.

Hello @JohnCNA @3am
thank you very much for the thorough testing. As I feared you have confirmed the connection issue on Galaxy phones when the screen is turned off. This issue and GUI issues on Gear S2 will now be a priority to solve.

As for other feedback
- map icons/cursor too big: Yes I also have that feeling, Menion and I will try to tweak the sizes so the map looks more optimzed for the watch screen

- compass screen: would be nice, won't probably be in the first version though

- widgets for the app: Also nice idea. Probably not usable for the map, but the compass could work very well. I will research the widget possibilities later.

- laggy map: well the map should refresh only once every 5 seconds if it is not being interacted with in any way. Of course when the map screen wakes up or is shown it should feed the data immediately (at least "Loading" or "Initializing" label should show up in the center). We will try to tweak it more, maybe the issues are caused by the unreliable connection issues.

- watchface shown instead of Locus Map on watch wake up: There is a logic in the app that Locus Map app should show automatically when the watchface shows up if the app was not closed explicitly by the HW back/home button. If this does not work then there might be some bug. Of course other application with the similar logic can force its way up to the top but you should not see watchface only.

The add-on will be targeted for the Locus Map Free first because of Locus Map Free Beta versions which we can release more easily and more often than standard Locus Map Pro version. Of course we will want to also support the Pro users as soon as possible (when the add-on is stable enough).

Hey, just got my mail, immediately installed it and all seems to be working well. I'm in the office so I can't try out much, but it looks like during recording, you can't see the map - that would be a shame. Maybe once recording starting, we could be sent back to the map screen, with a small button that goes to the recording interface ? By default, I think I would want to both look at the map and record my movements at the same time.

Hello Testi,
thank you for the feedback! There is a serious communication bug in this beta but it is manifested only when the phones screen is off for some time, so you might not have noticed it yet. This should be fixed in the next Locus Map version.
Regarding the map and track recording switching - could you please describe what exactly is the issue or what you would like to improve? Do you miss quicker possibility how to switch between map and track recording screens? Or would you like map view to be part of the track recording dashboard?
Otherwise you can switch between track recording and the map freely, the track recording is running in the phone so you can even exit the watch application and it has no effect on track recording until you explicitly stop the recording using the watch again or your phone directly.

Hi,

I send you an email a little while ago to beta test the app. I have not received any confirmation so far. It would be great if I could beta test the app on my galaxy watch and galaxy s9!

Thanks,
Gerhard

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know that the closed beta will stop working with Locus Map Pro afte the today's update.
I will probably release a new beta version targeting LM Pro because I expect that most of the testers are using LM Pro and not the free version.
Anyway sorry for the delays, I am kind of swamped now right before the holidays with some higher priority work that I need to attend to instead of the add-on.

By the way have you tried the add-on lately with the latest versions of Locus Map? The add-on should be able to connect to the phone practically any time now and the notification (foreground service) should appear in the Phone's notification area with the information that the watch is using Locus Map.

Best Regards
Milan

Hi,
first of all, thanks for the add-on and your efforts to making it!

Just downloaded the watch app and updated the locus pro on my phone yet I failed to start testing it. I ticked the Connetct with add-on option on the phone but my watch says that "please initialize Locus on the phone first".

LM free works with the LM free add-on, only the pro versions don't connect.

Update: the free version only worked once and after that I keep receiving the same "please initialize.." message.
I have a lg g4 which has LM free (3.35.2) and LM pro (3.35.2). On the watch both the free (0.0.8 ) and pro (0.0.8 ) versions are installed.

Could someone post a quick set up guide dummies like me can start testing the add-on.

Thanks for your help.

P.s. hope it is the right thread to ask shuch thing.

@SmiCH Hello,
there is nothing to set up really. The versions of LM and the add-on that you use should communicate correctly. The message you see should only be displayed when the user tries to use the add-on without running LM on the phone even once (there is some one-time initialization that needs to be done by M during the first start after the installation).
Can you confirm that both LM Pro and Free is starting correctly after the update? And that the watch is communicating normally except the LM add-on? Which watch are you using to run the add-on?
Thank you

P.S. Oh I have just noticed there might be a bug (at least on my Gear S2) and that message might appear for a while when you start the add-on, but it should really disapper in a second or two if the communication is allright.

Hi,

I have also had the same issue as @SmiCH.

With Locus Pro 3.35.2 and Locus Map Pro Watch 0.0.8 on a Samsung Galaxy Watch (the phone is a Galaxy S7) I get the please Initialize message.
With Locus Free 3.35.2.2 (test version) and the free version of the watch app it works (although locus crashed on my phone after about 30mins)

I have cleared the locus cache and all data, plus reinstalling and rebooted but no improvement.

All other watch to/from phone communication seems to be working.

Thanks

For everyone - if you encounter any Locus Map crash especially with the new version or new functionality it would help us immensely if you could capture and then send an Android bug report (http://docs.locusmap.eu/doku.php?id=manual:faq:how_to_create_debug_log) to us after such event.

@robuk Hi,
thank you for helpful input and for the confirmation of the "Please initialize ..." bug! I could not unfortunately reproduce it with Galaxy S7 and Gear S2. I am on vacation right now so I will try to dig around some more after New Year.

Thanks @milan.cejnar, good news I have completely uninstalled Locus Pro and re-installed it, which seems to have fixed my issue. I will try it properly next time I go out for a walk.

Hi,

After uninstalling and reinstalling the pro version on the phone, now it seems to be working to me as well. 

I tried it with a long car tracking and with a short walk and worked well without any difficulties.

@milan.cejnar, just to answer your previous questions, I have a gear s3 that communicated well with my phone it was just the add-on. The LM pro and dree versions seem to start and work properly.

Today, I tried the add-on on a 9 km hiking track with several waypoints, on the following setup:

Samsung Galaxy S9+; Android 8.0.0
Locus Map Pro; run Locus as a service switched on, battery optimization was off, navigation was active on the track
Samsung Galaxy Watch 46mm
Locus Map Pro add-on beta version

First impressions:
- Connection between the telephone and watch was very stable, the watch lost the connection only once but then it reconnected quickly.
- The watch showed the navigation directions (and distance to next waypoint) on top of the map.
- By raising the watch only once, neither the map position nor the navigation directions (and distance to next waypoint) were updated. I usually had to raise the watch 2 or 3 times to update the map position and the  navigation directions. Sometimes it was even not enough, I had to raise the watch several times to get it updated.
- A few times even several raising of the watch could not update. This time tapping on the autocenter button did the job instead and updated both.
- Icon sizes are fine for me.

Hello guys,
thank you for all your feedback.
The issue with the connection is weird, but I am glad that reinstalling Locus Map has helped, even though I see how this can be very incovenient.
After that I am glad to hear that the connection is pretty stable. The next thing I will focus on is probably the map not updating fast enough after the display is shown, as I have also seen this couple of times.

(I use Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Locus Map Professional, Gear S3 Frontier and the professional Beta app)
I always see that the map/position is not updated when I look at the watch. (caused me to take the wrong turn a couple of time). The watch display switches off after about 8 seconds which is not enough for the watch to connect and update the map and the latest position.  The display timeout is set to a1minute, but I believe because I use the Wake up gesture the display switches of so quickly. When I now switched off the wake up Gesture, the map and position refreshes in about 12 seconds. So I believe we should not use the watch wake up gesture, but a timeout of at least 30 seconds.
An idea: maybe you could display some kind of message or animation that the map/position is being refreshed.

Feature Requests:
There are two items (only) that I think could be improved.
1. Map view in tracking mode: When I am in tracking mode I can switch with the bezel between screens/data fields, but I cannot see a map view. I have to go out of the tracking mode (while tracking continues), and go into the map view and then back. This is quiet cumbersome. Could you display a map view also in tracking mode?
2. Elevation Profile: My use case with Locus Map and the watch app, is the following: I plan a route with the phone app and then I follow the route during the actual hike using the watch app. What I would like to see is the current and planned elevation profile in the tracking mode (with possible zoom in using the bezel). This way I can easily the climbs ahead...

(I use Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Locus Map Professional, Gear S3 Frontier and the professional Beta app)

Hi All:

I agree with Info Orland: a simple swipe in tracking mode should bring you to the map. A back button should bring you back to tracking screens if naturally a swipe cannot be differentiated with a drag of the map center. Or maybe in this mode the map should remain centred to the actually position and only the zoom with the bezel active... The swipe would bring you back to the other tracking mode displays.

Anyhow. Great job with this first version

Hi All:

Took my Samsung Galaxy S Tab Android 6.0 and a Gear S2 and a Galaxy A3 8.0 and a Gear S3 for different hikes in the past days. Works like a charm. Thanks to Milan Cerjnar & co. This add on makes Locus even more great than ever.

Hi,

I would like to test as well, but I don't want to reinstall Locus on my phone.
Is there another way to come across the "... Please initialize Locus on the phone first..." problem?

Thanks!

Gesendet von meinem SM-N930F mit Tapatalk

@big Hi,
yes there is actually. If you see any communication warning right from the start and the watch seems to be connected properly otherwise, then you can try to either

1) Reinstall Locus Map on your phone or
2) On your phone go to system Settings > Applications > Samsung Accessory Service and clear the data&cache for this Samsung application.

I recommend to run Galaxy Wearable application after attempting the second method to make sure the watch got reconnected properly after clearing the data of Samsung Accessory Service app.


Regarding the map in the track recording dashboard, the map has actually already been a part of the track recording dashboard in the very first prototype. But we made the screen separate so that the swipe/rotate input could be used to zoom and pan. I could add the map to the dashboard with software zoom buttons and disabled panning and would not distrupt the dashboard control but I fear it might be confusing to have two map displays with a different behaviour.

Thanks Milan! The second method works! All good so far!
Will continue testing...
Cheers big.

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Hi!
yesterday I recieved a Galaxy Watch, and now beta link say me that is closed in Samsung apps, its possible to send me this addon, I'm very interested, I ve Locus Maps Pro,

thanks in advance,

@JoinMA
Hi,
the original beta is indeed closed, please install Locus Map Pro Watch add-on normally through Galaxy Apps on your watch.
I also recommend clearing cache of Samsung Accessory Service on your phone with LM Pro add-on.

I was so far on the fence about Smartwatches, missing the real killer application, especially on Tizen - to me, the Samsung devices always seemed to have the best hardware and now with Gear S3 and Galaxy Watch also the best looks.
Now with Locus for Tizen, that killer application might have come. But I have a few questions left, perhaps somebody can answer those?

• What are the differences between Tizen and Android Wear add-ons? The Wear add-on is older, so does it also have more features?
• Are database points and tracks shown on the map, too? Can I tap on points for further information? Or is it just a static map image?
• Can I connect the watch to different phones, and if so, is this also no problem for Locus? Admittedly, this is more a general question, but I could also imagine that the watch app stores available recording profiles, which might differ on different phones.

Thanx for your help !

@slarti76 Hello,
thank you for your interest in the Locus Map Watch add-on for Samsung and interesting questions.

- The Wear OS and Tizen add-ons are very similar, almost identical in fact. There are some changes to the UI layout and in the Tizen add-on it is not currently possible to name custom waypoint during track recording (default naming is used). The main difference now is probably a missing HR sensor support, which should basically work in Wear OS, but at the moment there is no support to synchronize HR data from Samsung watch to Locus Map during track recording. This is something we would like to add rather sooner than later but we haven't really explored this function yet.

- You should see roughly the same rendered map as on the phone, but as you say, the image is pretty much static, there is currently no way to interact with any map items.

- Pairing your watch with different phone pretty much equals factory reset so it is not something you would probably normally do everyday. But otherwise it is perfectly possible and there should be no problem.

Best regards
Milan

@milan:
Thx a lot for your answer. Unfortunately, that pretty much disqualifies more or less any Tizen watch for me. I have a phone for everyday, one for mountain sports, and one for travels. While a reset would perhaps be just about acceptable for a longer holiday, it certainly isn't for a weekend hike.
In case anyone's interested: With Android Wear, it's at least possible to switch phones without factory reset: https://www.xda-developers.com/pair-android-wear-without-factory-reset
I can only hope that Samsung realizes sometime in the future that that's a good thing...
Well, now I'll check for Android Wear watches...

Quote from: slarti76 on January 23, 2019, 15:57:31
@milan:
Thx a lot for your answer. Unfortunately, that pretty much disqualifies more or less any Tizen watch for me. I have a phone for everyday, one for mountain sports, and one for travels. While a reset would perhaps be just about acceptable for a longer holiday, it certainly isn't for a weekend hike.
In case anyone's interested: With Android Wear, it's at least possible to switch phones without factory reset: https://www.xda-developers.com/pair-android-wear-without-factory-reset
I can only hope that Samsung realizes sometime in the future that that's a good thing...
Well, now I'll check for Android Wear watches...

Having upgraded my Samsung phone to a newer model, I was indeed annoyed when I paired the Galaxy watch to my new phone. Yes, it completely wiped all the apps and settings on the watch just to pair to a different phone. It was easy to restore everything from the auto backups, but it was annoying nonetheless. I can see why they do it that way for security reasons, such as if the watch was stolen. That would be a nightmare to deal with if you had multiple phones to use it with and wanted to periodically switch phones back and forth.

Hi Milan,
recently I made some experiences with the combination Samsung Galaxy S7 and Gear S3.
Actually it works quite stable and the functionality (map view, start/stop function and selection set of data ) is really suitable to use the watch as a kind of remote control.
hence it would be closed to perfect if the set of data  could be extended to the ANT+ sensors which can be paired with most Galaxy Smartphones  (e.g. heart rate or speed sensor).
maybe you can consider this point for future updates.
In any case - thanxs for your great work.

Cheers
Jo

Hi again
I now bought the Galaxy Watch anyway. Switching phones is in fact reasonably doable when using Samsung backup. Of course, app settings are not restored (including Health data, which is ok when using Samsung Health on the phone, too), but the important stuff like watchface, widgets and app order are. So I'll do that for longer trips with another phone, and for shorter ones, I'll just go without connection (don't need mail notifications on a hike, anyway). [that's nonsense, of course, as Locus won't work then - so either do the reset-switch-cycle or go w/o Locus on watch]

Apart from that, I find the Locus app very nice, but I agree with others before that the recording mode should have a map page, too. Going back to map and then back to the dashboard again is just the kind of annoying actions that you don't want to do on a trip (back button - tap the small icon and then again). Please consider, as proposed before, to add a zoomable, non-movable map screen as part of the dashboard. Thx!

@joart @slarti76
thank you for the information and the feedback about how you are using or would like to use your watch and the app. I will keep these improvement tips in mind.

Well, alternatively (but probably more complicated) would be to include a Widget that displays the dashboard data and a tap leads you to the map. Just dreaming...  ;)

Oh, one more question:
What GPS is the app using? The one in the phone or is everything just being transmitted from the connected phone?

@Milan:
I got another idea/request:
Right now, the map displayed is the exact same as on the phone. So any zoom factor is also used on the phone. That's not so great, as I change the phone's zoom factor with my presets, e.g. having higher zoopm for biking because the phone's further away. But the watch is always more or less same distance.
So it would be much better, if the phone had its own zoom factor. Would that be possible?

@slarti76
hello,
GPS data are currently taken solely from the phone since the app cannot work in stand-alone mode anyway.
You are right that the same zoom factor might be unsuitable for both the watch and the phone depending on your preset/usage. To be honest we still have to debug some issue in map rendering core because some overlay icons and symbols are a bit off by a various factor depending on DPI screen ratio of the watch versus the phone. So maybe the zoom factor will not be such an issue once we fix these little problems. But even so, it is a valid point and could be useful, thank you for noticing this :)

Currently trying out a Galaxy watch, after some pause and an Android wear watch before.
After some times running and once skiing I can say: Locus app works (Thanks!)

Of course, there are various details that could be improved from my perspective.

I am missing the heart-rate field in dashboard (showing the values of hr-belt connected with the phone) - should that not be one of the first values to think of? Of course, it would be very nice, if the watch's builtin HR sensor could be used too.

Clock (current time) would also be an interesting field for dashboard - not having to switch to watch time display and back. Sometimes on screen activation the current time is overlayed at the top for a very short time - did not find out when and why it does or not.

Not very nice is the fact that it always takes a moment until values refresh - so at first you always see the old values from previous/last time screen was active. I would prefer to spend that little extra energy to also update in the background - or at least refresh-before-show!

A pity it cannot be operated with buttons. But probably the Galaxy buttons are quite specific in what they are meant for by Samsung? At least, the screen seems a bit less sensible regarding unwanted touchscreen events than the Fossil Q Explorist I used to have.

But I cannot see much sense in the little start/switch screen. You press the back-button to get there and then need to touch to go to either map or dashboard. Usually you will go there to switch. Why not directly switch with that button - and exit with a double-button-press (or if not allowed other way around). Then at least one could use the watch with gloves only using buttons and the rotatable bezel (with both dashboard and map).

Perhaps you can consider. Thanks.

Can we expect any updates at some point or is this not in active development anymore?

@slarti76
The add-on is still actively maintained and there was a small update not that long ago with added support for the new Galaxy Watch Active and with some fixes related to the unwanted add-on auto-starts.
Though I have to admit that active development of new features has a bit lower priority since beginning of this year due to workload related to the Locus Map 4 and Locus GIS release which are both expected later this year.

hello, i have purchased your wonderfull app for my samsung note 9, i wasusing the addon in my wear os, in that case my huawei whatch 2 was able to send to locus map the heart rate. Now i have switch to tizen os, with my galaxy whatch 46mm. all is good, but the lacks of the heart rate is a pounch in an eye. i hope that you will add the heart rate feture in the near future. for now, if there is something that i can do to help the developers please tell me.

i use locus map in my galaxy note 9 in association with a samsung galaxy whatc bt 46mm, if you want i can tray and test what you want.

I and others customers wil be ok to pay something for this feature. thanks, let me know when you think to implement this.

@raziel.trb@gmail.com
Hello, yes, this feature is still missing unfortunately. I want to have it implemented by this time but there are other issues with higher priority that I need to attend to. Sorry about the delay but I cannot promise you any specific deadline for this feature yet.

Dear, are there any news about heart rate sensor in this add-on?  Thank you for you reply.

Hello,
unfortunately, work on Android Wear platform is currently stopped.

Also about tizen platform?

Inviato dal mio ELE-L29 utilizzando Tapatalk

Yes for now. Milan who takes care of these both projects has left our team and we are currently not searching for his substitute.

I'm not sure (as well as many people) about the future of Android Wear, but Tizen is definitely something we plan to work on later.

Hi,

any Chance to get this to run on my Samsung Gear S (SM-R750) ?
Tizen 2.2.1.4
Cause i dont find the Addon in the Galaxy Store..
Thanks

Cheers,

Mario

Hello Mario,
unfortunately, as I mentioned before, work on this add-on is currently paused (definitely not terminated). Sorry.