Robert, I know what you mean - the idea of including lots of things in a single application sounds good. My problem with it is that it also makes it complicated. Thing of GPSMid for J2ME - it is a nice navigation program with some map info collecting features. Unfortunately you have to go through a lot of menus to get to them. In the end I re-defined the shortcut keys to make navigation harder but map info collecting easier.
I tend to think about how to use it when cycling along, so one handed operation is essential, and lots of menus to navigate get dangerous! It probably depends on how well written the UI is, and if it is configurable for what you do a lot. Graham On 8 March 2010 15:35, Robert (Jamie) Munro <rjmu...@arjam.net> wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > grahamjones...@googlemail.com wrote: > >>..... > >> > >> POI, track, and photo collection would be useful additional features, > >> > >> along with something to highlight in the directions where there is a > >> > >> FIXME or OSMbug entry nearby on the map. > >> > >> > >> > >> I think that integrating these features into Navit (perhaps as plugins), > >> > >> rather than having a separate app would be of much greater benefit. > >> > >> > >> > >> Robert (Jamie) Munro > > > > Robert, > > I am not sure that adding more features to another application is the > > best way to do it - To be useful something like POI and photo collection > > needs to be really simple, without having to go through a lot of menus > > to get there. Therefore I think it would be best to have one application > > that does navigation, and another one for collecting mapping information > > or tweaking the map on the go. > > So I am navigating somewhere, and I notice a missing POI. I have to exit > the app, load another app, wait for the map to download, navigate > different menus to the ones I am used to, then I can make a note of the > problem. I then have to exit that app, load my navigation app and hope > that it has remembered where I was going. > > Alternatively: > > I press the camera button on the phone and take a picture inisde my > navigation app. This gets marked on the map, and saved for later, and I > am presented with a menu on the screen asking me to say why I have taken > a photo, either by selecting a preset, by leaving a text note or by > leaving a voice note. Once I've pressed that, I'm straight back into > navigation. I should be able to do this with 2 clicks, e.g. when stopped > at traffic lights, or pulled over for just a moment. > > Another situation: > > Perhaps I see a road not on the map (preferably that looks like it might > go in roughly the direction of my destination). I turn into this road. > The navigation app notices I have gone off road, records a trace, and > gives me a direction and distance arrow to my destination. When I reach > a road that is back on the map, the app recalculates my route from that > point, and stops the trace. No clicks at all needed, so I can improve > the map without stopping. It can upload the trace to OSM, and when I get > home I can convert it into a street using JOSM in no time. Of course, > at any point during the above, I could have pressed the camera button to > record a photo with position and add a note, e.g. to record a junction > or to record the road name with a voice note. > > Another advantage: People aren't going to install a POI collecting app > unless they are heavily into OSM. They will probably install a sat-nav > app people have recommended if they ever want to go anywhere. They might > drive down roads not on the map either by mistake, by curiosity, or > because they know where they are going even if the map doesn't. Once > they learn they can fix the map, they may well become a keen mapper. > > Will having apps mean that I need to copies of the map on my phone? That > seems like a waste of space. So we have to ensure that they can both > read the same data file. Don't say that it will download over the net, > because probably most of the unmapped countryside has no 3G coverage. A > lot has no coverage at all. So that will be painful if it works at all. > Particularly if 2 apps are downloading data at the same time. > > No, it needs to be one app. > > Robert (Jamie) Munro > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (Darwin) > Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ > > iEYEARECAAYFAkuVGUwACgkQz+aYVHdncI3+jwCfZxf6rxRj7uDP9ZY3P4ZDgWrp > 484Anin6AaUHNaFJMblfMoIZw5Oq4iDj > =jNaA > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > -- Dr. Graham Jones Hartlepool, UK email: grahamjones...@gmail.com
_______________________________________________ Talk-GB mailing list Talk-GB@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb
