How does stuff work

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Darkvil
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jul 13, 2011 7:14 am

How does stuff work

Post by Darkvil »

This is looking like a great app,
I need to know how things work a bit (FAQ maybe) before I use it for long trips. Its running on an HTC android phone.

1. Can the app run in the background ?

1. If the app is running in background but the phone is using another app does it still report position ?

2. If its running in the background and you are on the home screen with the display off does it still report the position ?

3. What kind of data rate does it consume ?

4. Can you pre download maps before travelling ?

5. Can you use it to just report position without viewing any maps on the phone ?

6. Would I need to use a charger in the car for say a 3 hour trip, or is it not more consuming on power than just the GPS interface on its own ? (I know difficult to answer)

Thanks for your support.
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 3130
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:36 pm

Re: How does stuff work

Post by admin »

Hi,
Thanks for your very interesting questions and suggestions. There is already a small FAQs page on the Tracker portal but I will add one to the forum too. Here are the answers to your questions:

1. Can the app run in the background ?
Yes, because the tracking service always runs in the background. The runs in foreground only if a screen is displayed to the user (e.g. the map screen or the message screen). As soon as you push your home key or if you put another app to foreground the service will continue to track you in background.

1. If the app is running in background but the phone is using another app does it still report position ?
Yes it will continue to run in background. The icon in the notification bar will indicate if tracking works properly or if there is a problem (e.g. no internet connection). In case of problems the icon is red.

2. If its running in the background and you are on the home screen with the display off does it still report the position ?
Yes it will continue to run, I tested this scenario very well. I even created a power save mode, i.e. as soon as you put the app off screen it will try to consume as little power as possible.

3. What kind of data rate does it consume ?
Depends on your send interval. Today the app was running for 30 minutes on my phone and it consumed 2 MB. But it really depends on your configuration. I recommend to download an app from Market to measure the consumption on your phone (I use Traffic Monitor and I'm sure there are many other apps doing the same excellent work)

4. Can you pre download maps before travelling ?
So far not. As long as Google does not provide an explicit interface I cannot add this feature. Maybe I will add this feature for the OSM maps because the OSM library supports this feature. But don't expect this feature for the near future.

5. Can you use it to just report position without viewing any maps on the phone ?
Yes of course. Start it and push your home button afterwards.Or if you use the autostart feature the service will be started without even creating the map screen. It will be created only if you put the app to foreground.

6. Would I need to use a charger in the car for say a 3 hour trip, or is it not more consuming on power than just the GPS interface on its own ? (I know difficult to answer)
There are two problems. GPS needs much power and 3G needs much power. And for tracking you need both. So I definitely recommend to use a charger in car. If you don't have one I recommend to choose a not to small send interval. Instead of 15 seconds you could choose 300 seconds (i.e. 5 minutes). It will save a lot of power if you use GPS only every 5 minutes. If the display is switched off you will also save very much power.


Hope my answers are informative. Feel free to post more questions.
Darkvil
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jul 13, 2011 7:14 am

Re: How does stuff work

Post by Darkvil »

thanks for the excellent reply

the application works amazing much better than all the rest
I did a test and a 3 hour journey with a 180s update rate uses 2.05Mb which is tiny amazing

would be great it I had a drop down list of friends so I can select on to center the map on

a 5 star application for sure
please make a paid verions

thanks
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 3130
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:36 pm

Re: How does stuff work

Post by admin »

Darkvil wrote:thanks for the excellent reply

the application works amazing much better than all the rest
I did a test and a 3 hour journey with a 180s update rate uses 2.05Mb which is tiny amazing

would be great it I had a drop down list of friends so I can select on to center the map on

a 5 star application for sure
please make a paid verions

thanks

Started to work on the friends list today
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