Locus Map 4, discussion (beta)

[Menion]

The new base topic for discussion about soon coming to Locus Map (version 4).

When?
The realistic release date is in February 2021.

How to help?
Best to use it like the regular version and report possible problems & spread praise

Latest version for download

Sub-feature topics:
- Online LoMaps & Online LoPoints: here
- online/offline BRouter routing: here

What changes?
Locus Map Free > will be changed to Locus Map and actively developed. Changes in this topic will be included mainly in this version.
The system will be similar ... functionality for free will be +- equal to the current Locus Map Free. With an active subscription, current "Pro" features will be activated + a bunch of new features we work on last two years.

Locus Map Pro > will be changed to Locus Classic and will be in permanent maintenance mode. What does it mean? Still updated together with Locus Map with fixes and minor improvements to keep it fully working & stable. Ideal for users who like the current solution and don't like changes or planned subscription model. I believe, more than a fair offer .

To be fully fair, I rather do not want to say "forever". I personally set a minimal maintenance mode for five years. Work on both versions will bring the need for some extra time investment, so it depends on how much... But 5+ years is the minimum. And who knows what will be after five years ...

Reference to the older topic related to alpha testing.

[balloni55]

Hello menion
today i noticed missing icon of added app to sidepanel
Icons of several apps are missing inside selection window, with LMP all icons are displayed

[freischneider]

Hello menion
today i noticed missing icon of added app to sidepanel
Icons of several apps are missing inside selection window, with LMP all icons are displayed

Same with me. But only with some apps. Camera and Cache Calculator are displayed. WhatsApp is not displayed.

[T-mo]

Hello Menion
nice progress - as always. Thanks

• route planner - map layer - map & theme not working (seems to be only that, shading & grid works)
• search - contacts > the contact-list shows names and addresses, but after selection it is noted 'required search options are not available'
• req: search - recommendation: also add OpenStreetMap (I guess it might be https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org) as it's well known and appreciated by a lot of people (I currently choose graphhopper to not use any of the kraken - this might be ok though, I also appreciate graphhopper)

[freischneider]

Behavior when moving the map with Hold Map Center:
Initial situation:
Map is fixed to GPS. Map rotation is switched on.

Now I move the map. Rotate map switches off but remains in the last orientation. After 5 seconds it jumps back to GPS position and rotate map is active again. (This behavior is a good thing)
Now I want to move the map and look for something. So that it doesn't jump back after 5 seconds, I have to constantly move something. Or I move and immediately click on GPS.
Then the map to the GPS is switched off (good that way). But map immediately turns north. It should stay in this orientation (as in the behavior above).
When I switch GPS on again, Locus has memorized that the map was previously fixed to GPS and fixes it again (good thing).
But Locus didn't notice that map rotation was switched on.
Locus should remember the behavior and restore it.

[Tapio]

As for the map center button. "Hold map" is the only menu option on longtap. A submenu with just one entry feels wrong. I think it would feel very right, if after longtap it toggles the hold state.

[Raddino]

Just started to use this beta version and I have few points

1) click on geocache > click on Log cache as draft in bottom ribbon > window for Field note will appear > click on Cancel (don't want to log the cache) > old cache detail shows instead of the new one. I was expecting to be back on map with the new cache detail.

2) click on geocache > click on Waypoints > click on waypoint detail > if there is a link in description it's not possible to select it/click on it. In old cache detail if I long pressed on the link in description I was able to select the link and I got automatically option to open in Google Chrome.
-> it seems it's working when I create a new WP and add url to the description but it's not working if I have cache imported from Geoget and there's more text in the description then just URL


Overall it looks good and looking forward for more testing.

[flyingman_ch]

When geocaching, I miss the button to jump to the website of the cache.

[balloni55]

When geocaching, I miss the button to jump to the website of the cache.

click on GC-code, it is clickable

[slarti76]

Hope everyone had nice holidays, despite the, ehm, "circumstances"...

Is this now also the place for cloud sync-related posts? https://forum.locusmap.eu/index.php?topic=7114.0 wasn't active for a while. So I'll post here.

So I finally did some actual real life testing of sync. What I first did was:

• On device A, I had an older version of my database. Only slightly older, just a handfull of tracks and points missing. No actual discrepancies, to my knowledge. Sync not active yet.
• On device B, I had my "original" db (and made a backup, of course) and installed LM4 beta for the first time. Started cloud sync, everything was uploaded fine.
• Now on A, I chose "Full sync" from the advanced menu. The result, however, was that I got duplicates of everything that was in both databases. Of course, the new data was downloaded to A without problem - but this was not the result I wished for, obviously.
• So I deleted cloud data and uploaded from B again - but now I chose "Full download" on A. Worked flawlessly. But there was a track being displayed on A that didn't exist in the database just downloaded from B. Not only was it still displayed, I could even click on it, see its details, including the folder where it's in, showing (correctly) that this folder was currently empty (0/0). I thought restart should fix that (caching problem), but didn't, track was still shown and clickable. Now I chose "Hide" in its context menu - then it was gone and not to be found again.
• Lastly, I changed something on B and synced to A. Worked in principle, but I had to manually start the sync on both devices.

Now my take-aways:

• I think I read before (in that other thread) that the duplicates in my first sync are to be expected. Don't get me wrong, I'm OK with that. Actually, such a "merge without delete" function can be a lifesaver if you accidentally get clashing changes and don't know which device has the correct (or just better) data. So by all means, please keep this option. But the description should be honest. It says "compare all data..." - this implies that duplicates are found. I suggest to rename the function Full merge and as description: "Merge local & cloud data. No deletions on either side, but also no detection of duplicates." If you later on implement a comparison that identifies duplicates, it can then still be called "sync"
• That thing with the removed track still being displayed is obviously a bug...
• I probably didn't wait long enough for the auto-sync to kick in. Will try again with waiting. But is there a way to adjust the auto-sync interval?

[Viajero Perdido]

When geocaching, I miss the button to jump to the website of the cache.

Reminds me...  I spent a little time with the beta, sofa-testing, and recording a few tracks.  Apologies if any of my comments have been mentioned already; I haven't followed that other thread closely.

I like that I can set the compass page as a one-tap option from the map.  (I complained about that recently.)

I wish a tap on the geocache log ICONS would have the same effect as a tap on that tiny arrow, take me to the logs.  I use the logs a lot, and the arrow is a tiny target.

"Cursor distance to GP." is confusing.  Firstly, I can't imagine what "GP" is short for.  Secondly, isn't "cursor" the cross hair showing the map portion of interest?  That's my understanding of "cursor" in English.  Instead, this number appears to show the distance from current location to the selected point.  I would use "Current distance" as a label.

Somebody asked me to try switching between multi-cache waypoints.  Yes, looks good, I can use this.

Some POIs show bilingual, including a language I don't use, eg "PicnicSite/Picknickplatz".  (An OAM issue?)  If I switch between POI sets, they seem to accumulate so several appear at each point.  In the past this has been useful: I'd select a LoMap to activate the POIs, then an OAM map because I like those better (V4!!!).  (But usually I don't enable POIs; find them a bit distracting.)

Overall, looks great!  I see you've been busy.

[Menion]

Hi guys,
sorry for a delay in my answers ...

@balloni
missing icons ... hmm interesting side-effect. Thanks, I think I've found it!

@T-mo
- route planner > got it, thanks
- search > hmm app still look for old "Search" screen, but we have new (search & LoPoins in one) ... fixed, thanks.
- Nominatim as is not made for public usage (based on their logical "Terms of use"). I'll try to implement and test the MapBox search system. Later we may try to install Nominatim on our own server ...

@freischneider
Thanks for the description, but I'll need more precise steps as I'm unable to follow it ...
- turn on centering & rotation
- move with map, map stop rotate
- long click on the GPS icon in the toolbar and turn GPS off
- map is still rotated by the last value. I also see "centering active" (hold center) and a small compass icon above
- when I then turn GPS back on, it immediately starts center & rotates like at start ...

@tapio
interesting idea! ... hmm, isn't there missing the "Set custom GPS position" feature from Locus Map Pro? It depends on how much is this feature usable and if "toggle" should replace it.

@Raddino
1) Log your visit > ah, thanks very much!! "Log your visit" from the top-right menu (when the button is not at the bottom panel) works correctly, but here was by mistake the incorrect method. Thanks, fixed!

2) Hmm I'll need some sample GPX file here for the test, thanks

@slarti76
thanks for very complex test!
In the three point, you made a "full sync". App anyway compare duplications only based on internal generated ID, not by the content of points/tracks so result was a duplication of data. This feature is mainly useful as fallback if you notice that any local data or server data were not correctly synchronized and do not want to upload/download. Anyway description should be more precise, thanks for the tip.

Visible track is interesting. Probably some track that was on the A device deleted, but remain on the screen?

Auto-sync starts after 30 seconds when nothing changes in the database. Anyway it is still necessary to start it manually on the second device. Full-automatic (so sync also on other devices when something changes on one device) is planned on January.

@Viajero Perdido
Click on logs ... understand. Let's give it try for a while as is. I'm little worried that half of the screen wide stripe may cause some touch & scroll problems.

"Cursor distance" ... heh, it should be "GPS" not just "GP." Anyway as I look on it, agree ... I'll change it just to "Distance".

Problem with POI names > depends if you have enabled offline or online LoPoints source (visible in the side "Map content" panel. So check this + screenshot may be useful.

[Tapio]

Re "hmm, isn't there missing the "Set custom GPS position" feature from Locus Map Pro? It depends on how much is this feature usable and if "toggle" should replace it."

Tbh, I have no clue about that option, never used it. In LM3 and vertical view, it's not possible to tell what it is about... btw.

[slarti76]

Visible track is interesting. Probably some track that was on the A device deleted, but remain on the screen?

Yes, exactly, that track was deleted (folder now empty), but still shown.

[Raddino]

@menion
it seems that the issue is when there is a HTML in the waypoint description. simple <b> or <br> makes the links impossible to use.
testing gpx - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QWBaXzN1RI5APfwgo-qTfg6X_aM6O5aK/view?usp=sharing