Minimum times in track recording mode

[packham]

Hi.
I use Locus to record my tracks and I'm not sure how these two settings work together when recording a track:
(1) settings in GPS->Time between GPS locations
(2) settings inTrack recording -> Interval (seconds)

Let's say I set (i) to 10 seconds and (2) to 15 seconds. If I understand correctly:
- At time t=10s the gps is turned on and find a location then turned off.
- At time t=15s the track point should be recored but the gps is still turned off so no point is recorded.
- At time t=20s the gps is turned on again to find a location but no point is recorded.
- At time t=30s the gps is turned on, find a location and a point is recored since it's the scheduled time.

So a track point will be recorded every 30s ( =LCM(10,15)) right?

Is it possible to make the setting in (2) to overide the the setting in (1) in recording mode? In otherwords, when the scheduled time to record a point comes, the gps should be turned on to find a location and record a point then go to sleep until the next scheduled time to record a point again (regardless of the value in (1)).  This should make it easier to control the gap time in recording mode since there's only one value to set.

Sorry for the long post. I hope you understand what I mean.

[Menion]

Hi,
  yes I understand but that's not how this works. At time t=10s, gps is turned on and let's say it immediately get new location.. This location is set in Locus as "last valid location". This location is then sended to track recording object and he test it on all parameters. Time between last location is less then 15s so no point is stored. Next action is in 20s!, GPS is turned on, new valid location. This is tested, is bigger then 15s so this place is stored. In 30s, new location is taken by GPS but it's only 10s against last stored location (which was stored in 20s) so it's not saved!

  so this all works in way, that everytime GPS obtain new location, it send this to every running function in locus and this function take care about it. So settings (1) says how often will be sended this new location into system. Other values in track recording preferences take care about these new locations but not in time for example every 15s as you wrote, but in time that GPS sended signal to Locus by settings (1). Clear?

[packham]

Thanks for your explanation! So, new points are recorded at times:
t=20, 40, 60, 80, 100, ...
in other words, every 20s right?

Well you see, this number (20s) are not the same as 10s, 15s which are values set by a user in settings (1) and (2). This might cause a confusion to an average user who doesn't know how it works.

What I think is, and you could take this as a feature suggestion   , in track recording mode the gps should stay off and be turned on only when required to record a new point (in order to conserve the battery). This can be achieved by setting values in (1) and (2) to the same value (say k), so we know that every time the GPS is activated, a new point will be recorded and so the GPS is used effectively. But when I'm taking a break and standing still for a long time, I would want to set k to be bigger so that the GPS will be activated less often. But then I have to go to both settings (1) and (2) to change the values to the new k which is quite time consuming. Similarly if I'm moving quickly (in a car for example) I would want to change k to be smaller in order to have a detailed track.

So it would be nice if we can change the value k at just one place instead of two places in recording mode (and maybe put this setting in quick switch menu for easy switching). My suggestion would be to make the setting in (2) to override the setting in (1) in recording mode only. Then the user only has to change value in (2) to control how often the GPS is activated and record a new point.

Thanks  

[Menion]

you understand correctly, but I don't agree with your suggestion. Any new settings that will "connect" two settings to one will bring a lot of mess to all this. Also 20sec isn't correct. Did you tried to set 15s to GPS on/off and for example 0s to track record? I expect that you'll not have recorded point every 15s because it takes some time to get valid GPS position.

there is also a question, how big benefit is value 1, set to 15s. I'm worried that not a lot. I read in Android documentation that suggested value is 1 minute! Also here on forum a long time ago someone tested this with possitive feedback. Anyway best is still to use external bluetooth GPS which will increase a battery life by my testing more then twice.

[packham]

Hi. I think you're right. It would make the app even more complicated. I didn't realize I can set the value in (2) to 0s. This should mean any new location is recorded (if distance to previous location is more than certain value set by user)? So now I can control how often the gps is activated and points are recorded at the same time by changing just the value in (1)  :mrgreen:  Will test this settings again when I go outside. Thanks!

[Menion]

Fine, you're welcome. Yes you can set time to 0sec which mean - record every new points. Anyway count that min. distance is still used, so point will be recorded then only if distance is bigger then defined . Looks complicated but I think that all these settings really make sence and allow you to define exactly what you want. Only think I'm missing after few testing is something like "auto-separate track to parts if distance between points is bigger then X" ...

[packham]

Ahh yes I can see that setting in Google My Tracks app. But my (personal) opinion is that you should let the user decide when to start a new part manually. So the user knows exactly when a new part is started. Or at least make two modes: auto split and manual split. Just my opinion though. Your app is great, by the way, especially with the vector map support. Now I can see the whole of Britain in small details with a map whose size is only 300MB!