What features would you like to see in Outdoor Navigator?

MikeB

What functionality would you like to see added to Maptech Outdoor Navigator over the next few releases?

What an opportunity! How would you like to have input and possibly shape the development of an exciting new GPS application?

Well no promises, but Jeffrey Siegel the developer behind the Outdoor Navigator application is a regular visitor to the PocketGPS forums. He tells me that they are always open to suggestions for new ways to improve their software.

The best way to move a product forward is to get some feedback from the real users of the program.

Post your wishlist here, and you never know these may turn up in a future release of Outdoor Navigator.

I already know that the 1.3 release which is due out soon for PocketPC already has (manual) routing added.

So over to you, what are your likes, and dislikes. What would you really want to see implemented? What is your most desired feature? Thumbs Up

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Mike Barrett

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 9:10 pm Post subject:

I would like to
- see traces / breadcrumbs and be able to copy them to the PC
- be able to download maps directly to the PDA based on my current Lat/Lon or on a simple location search that is PDA screen friendly

And then some...
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Lutz

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Snafu · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 9:15 pm Post subject:

I would like to be able to organize my waypoints into logical groups, such as areas or types.

I would also like to be able to exchange them with my Garmin.

jsiegel · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2003 6:35 pm Post subject:

Thanks for new feature ideas. Both are good ones. Tracks (bread crumbs) are on the list of things to do. The mark/route organization is a great idea. I just completed a 1,700 nm cruise on my boat from Maine to Florida using Outdoor Navigator. By the end, I had a long list of marks and routes and having a folder/directory structure makes a lot of sense. I have to admit that it hasn't been thought about yet.

The Pocket PC version 1.3 with routes should be released very soon. I just fixed the final on-line help and provided the final executable this morning. It has been fully tested and only needs to go through the release process.

There is a new product, Outdoor Manager, coming out next. It manages map data and allows you to pull regions of maps at one time from the mapserver web site. It will also interact with other Maptech software for routes and marks so you should be able to move data around, even to GPS units. This process will become more automatic over time as Maptech's other software adds direct support for Outdoor Navigator. There will be no charge for Outdoor Manager - it will become part of the Outdoor Navigator product.

Another thing that I'm actively working on is support Windows Mobile 2003+ Smartphone. I love the new Smartphones that have come out and want Outdoor Navigator to run on them. It will require some user-interface changes because there is no touch-screen on these new devices.

Thanks to Pocket GPS World for their review of Outdoor Navigator. I'm happy to answer questions about the product or listen to other ideas.

MikeB · Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2003 5:01 pm Post subject:

Jeff,

Thanks for contributing to our forums.

Top of my requirements for ON was Routing which looks like it is on the cards now.

On my priority wishlist now is the following

1. Track logging, including management listings and the ability to display them in different colours. I regard this almost as important as routing as this provides the capability to back track to a known location.

2. Management of Waypoints, tracks and routes in a multilevel hierarchical manner. This would be similar to the windows file manager where you can specify the structure of your information.

3. Ability to import and or calibrate maps, particularly BSB format marine charts, and maybe Memory-Map quick chart format. Or even better (for us in the UK) to be able to use the OS data.

4. Extending the downloadable map coverage into Canada, and other countries.

5. Summary display of GPS accuracy. OziExplorer has a great overview of showing Fix type, and Number of sats used in fix. ie D-7 G-5 or 2-3.

OK enough for now. Outdoor Manager is another matter, and I will add my comments when we see this released.

There are many other features that I would like to see, but these for me are a priority. I think this is a great product which has the potential to grow into serious competition for the current market leaders.
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Mike Barrett

jsiegel · Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2003 5:10 pm Post subject:

stjohn1335 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 07, 2004 Posts: 8

I would suggest custom button mapping, for 3 reasons:

1) The newer PPC Phones only have 3 hardware buttons, so 'Follow Mode' cannot be accessed (as on my Samsung i700). Meanwhile the left, right, and 'go' buttons aren't being used at all. A small patch could be released that allows mapping to these free buttons, or the addition of a menu dropdown access.

2) One could reverse the zoom directions. It seems counter-intuitive to me that the 'up' button zooms out, while the 'down' button zooms in. I always press the wrong way by accident because my street navigation software is the opposite.

3) The 'Follow Mode' modes could be divided into separate hardware buttons. For example the 'left' button could be regular follow mode while the 'right' button could be the follow plus mode.

Though I appreciate the thorough approach to testing before releasing, a small patch of this nature would be the difference between me being able to use the software and not. Heck, I'd purchase this software in a heartbeat if both button 4 and the 'right' arrow activated Follow Mode!

- - - - -

These next 3 suggestions are less critical to me but could be potentially informative additions.

1) Add 3 more data box options: current altitude, average altitude change per unit distance, and average altitude change per unit time. Of course altitude readings will have to be enabled in the GPS Status Screen.
a) If the maps contain altitude info, it would be nice to be able to press on a route line and have the popup display the altitude difference between the 2 waypoints (Yikes! 2000ft in .5 mi!!). This info could also be included in the Route Edit Form alongside 'BRG' and 'RNG'. The sum at the bottom could show net altitude change for the route.
b) If the maps do not contain altitude info, it would only work after arriving at a waypoint (once the GPS signal arrives at a certain proximity to a waypoint, the waypoint could 'grab' the altitude info from the GPS signal and append it to the waypoint info. This could then be appended to the Route Edit Form). How immensely satisfying it would be after climbing a mountaintop to check my altitude change!

2) With so many new data box features to choose from, I would like to be able to see 6 boxes at the bottom (2 rows of 3 boxes), with the option of showing just 1 row. Even though this would cut into screen real estate, the side hardware toggle button means I could get a quick glance at all the important info and then hide it again (which, by the way, I would like to remap to a front hardware button as my button 1 is on the side of my device. This way I could use the toggle feature with Otterboxes (www.otterbox.com)). Also, I would like to be able to scroll forward as well as backward in these boxes--perhaps tapping the right half of the box goes forward, the left half goes back.

3) With the route altitude data acquired from one of the two ways mentioned above, it would be nice to be able to generate an altitude graph similar to the desktop version.

Lastly, I would like to commend jsiegel's willingness to go above and beyond most companies' standard of user feedback. This software is coming along nicely and I look forward to purchasing it (once I can use Follow Mode) and seeing it develop. One thing I really appreciate is the simplicity of this program--everything is intuitive. I would hope that my suggestions would not clutter things up.

Sorry this post got so long, but I've been thinking about this for several months now!

jsiegel · Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2004 6:19 am Post subject:

Thanks for some excellent suggestions. You took a lot of time thinking about them and writing them down.

Except for the splitting of the Follow functions into two possible buttons (a nice touch) and the altitude changing databoxes, everything you mentioned is on the list to complete this year. The button assignment will be completely configurable. I've heard complaints about the zoom-in/zoom-out configuration. There is no standard for this. Every marine unit and radar that I've seen works the way that Outdoor Navigator does. I know it needs to be user-definable.

We're planning on having three rows of databoxes. Press and hold the "databox" button and a new row pops up from the bottom. Tap the button and the bottom row disappears. The three most common/important databoxes stay visible the longest.

With regard to losing buttons for Smartphone, you're right. It's poor that it wasn't considered. I'll make the unusual offer of working with you on a version that will map those missing functions to other Smartphone buttons if you'll do the testing. If for some reason it can't be done, I'll make sure that your purchase price of the software is returned. It's about all that I can do for right now.

Thanks for the compliments too. I'm shocked that other developers aren't on here making contact and getting the excellent feedback and ideas that I get. Pocket GPS World does a great service in bringing interested parties together like this.

stjohn1335 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 07, 2004 Posts: 8

Actually, I thought about offering to beta test for you, but I thought I'd be pushing it a little too far! I just want to be able to use this software, so the fact that you're willing to help is plenty reward for me. Let me know what steps to take next--should we continue via email correspondence?

jsiegel · Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2004 1:22 pm Post subject:

Yes, I think this is more off-topic now. My email address is jeffrey.siegel@activecenter.com - I'm happy to take personal emails about ideas and suggestions at any time from anyone. Write to me and we'll figure out the Smartphone buttons.

lbendlin · Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2004 6:42 pm Post subject:

Please keep us in the loop though so we can update the review acccordingly and also issue a news flash or two when new versions are out.

Thanks folks!
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Lutz

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stjohn1335 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 07, 2004 Posts: 8

Of course! I just don't want to clutter this forum with the small details. How about a round of applause to MikeB for starting such a succesful thread! Clap

MikeB · Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2004 9:07 am Post subject:

Dont worry about cluttering the forum. That is what it is here for. Feel free to start as many new threads as you want to.

Knowledge is best put to use by spreading it amongst all who want to share it, and some who dont know they need it yet.
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Mike Barrett

stjohn1335 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 07, 2004 Posts: 8

In that case, I'll post any interesting news that happens during testing, which will allow others to post their feedback. That way we'll all be beta testers in a sense!

Here is a section of the email I sent jsiegel yesterday:

I am not a developer, and I will of course try whatever design you throw at me, but I thought I'd add my 2 cents based on what I've seen from other software. There are 2 basic approaches to button mapping that have worked on the i700:

1) A menu selection that has the various buttons listed (including the directional pad) with pull-down menus next to them listing the various shortcut options.

2) A list of the various program shortcuts, and next to them a button one can press to 'listen' for a button. Whatever button is pressed gets mapped to the program shortcut.

Option 1 is certainly the more common one I've seen, but there is a program called PocketNester (a Nintendo emulator) that uses option 2. What is remarkable about it is that I can press either of the phone buttons and they can be mapped! So I get 5 functional buttons in that program. I don't know if this is something you're allowed to investigate, but I thought it is worth mentioning since it seems to be the most versatile option.

Of course these are just my thoughts; this is your product!

MikeB · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 11:55 pm Post subject:

Just an idle thought (Yes I occasionally think).

Having just completed the Wayfinder review and witnessed the power of the new mobile phone technologies is there any chance that Outdoor Navigator might get implemented on the Nokia series 60 mobile phones or the Symbian phones.

I think that there will be a massive market for this sort of application on this platform over the next year or so.
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Mike Barrett

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