Android:Beta Releases

From ViewRanger Wiki

There are two versions of ViewRanger for Android - the release version, and the beta version. The beta version has the very latest changes, but may not be as reliable as the release.

The current beta release is 3.1.5. Beta releases are available from www.viewranger.com/vranbeta.

To install the beta, use your phone's web browser to visit www.viewranger.com/vranbeta. Tap on the Android logo to download. Drag down the phone's notification bar and tap on the downloaded file to install.

We recommend you backup the Routes, Tracks and Objects_26_N.vro files from the ViewRanger folder before you use the beta. When you first run the beta, it may take several minutes to update your files.

Note: if you currently use a Google Play / Android Market version of ViewRanger, then this repelaces that version. If you do install the beta, you may need to contact us for a license key.

(The release software is v3.0.4 or v3.0.5 and is available from www.viewranger.com/software or from Google Play / Android Market.)

Many thanks to beta testers for their testing and feedback!

Current Beta Release

v3.1

New Overlay Storage

The way the overlay (routes, tracks and POIs) is stored has been changed. It is now more powerful, flexible and fast. Your routes, tracks and POIs are now visible across all types of map, there is no longer a separate list for each country / map type.

Before running this beta, we recommend you back up your overlay by copying the following files and folders from your ViewRanger folder to a safe location: Objects_26_N.vro files; Routes folder; Tracks folder.

When you first run this new beta there will be a delay of a number of minutes as it converts your routes, tracks and POIs to the new format. It will appear to pause for periods. This only happens the first time you run the beta.

Once converted, you'll not see many differences, except that as you switch between premium and online maps, you will still see the same list of routes, tracks and POIs.

Map Magnification

There are two new settings in Settings > Map settings, controlling the magnification of maps. One setting affects Online maps, the other Premium (non-online) maps. If you find the labels on your maps are small to see, increase the magnification.

This is most useful for online maps, as the labels of these have a fixed size as you zoom. If your screen has small pixels, retina style, the labels can be too small to read. Increase the setting to maybe 150% or 200%.

For premium maps it is best to keep the setting at 100%, as with these the labels do change size as you zoom. But the setting is provided in case you'd prefer a more magnified map as you zoom.

Other changes

There have been a number of other smaller fixes and improvements.

Releases

• 14th May 2012, v3.1.5
  • Correction of 175% magnification
  • Various bug fixes
  • Correction to Spanish coordinate system

• 11th May 2012, v3.1.4
  • Magnification
  • Better handling of large numbers of POIs
  • Import crash fixed

• 9th May 2012, v3.1.3
  • Various fixes

• 4th May 2012, v3.1.2
  • Initial beta release

Past Beta Releases

1st March 2012, v3.0.5

• Fixes for problems reported via Report button
• Fix for syncing problem if original GPX file contained links
• Fix for map download layout issue in landscape orientation.

15th February 2012, v3.0.4

• Fixes for problems reported via Report button
• Improved memory usage
• Runs on Android 1.6 and later (previous version was only on v2.0 and later)

27th January 2012, 3.0.2

• Further fix for route icon in Properties
• When a point is selected (POI, waypoint, buddy) its coordinates are displayed at the top of the screen.
• Behind the scenes changes.

19th January 2012, 3.0.1

• Fix for crash when phone is rotated while viewing details.
• Support for purchase of unlimited access to USA maps.
• If a point or route is using a default or unknown icon, properties panel shows correct icon.
• Draft French and German translations.

17th January 2012, v3.0.0

Maps:

• Pre-download and manage areas of online maps using the new "Create Saved Map" option.
• Improved map tile download interface.
• "Stay in Offline" setting - if you view online maps offline, the offline setting is only temporary until you restart the app. This switch ensures the app stays offline when restarted, useful if going abroad.

Graphs:

• Graphs in the Details view can zoom using pinch and stretch.
• Route graph shows height along the route, not just at waypoints
• Improvements to graph axes and labelling

Place name search:

• Gazetteers (place name lists) are downloaded automatically when you enter search.
• Improved USA Gazetteer, with 2.9 million place names.

Route Distance

• Extra route distances displayed in Details.
• Waypoints show their distance to the start and end of the route.
• Waypoints show their distance from the current GPS location, working along the route. See how far it is to the top or the pub!
• Routes show the distance to the start or end of the route from the map centre or GPS position, calculated working along the route.

Other:

• Help section, accessed via Organizer.
• GPS altitude is corrected to sea level, on download of a configuration file.

19th December, v2.4.11

• Fixes the in-app store on Android 4.0

6th December, v2.4.10

• Fixes a crash two people have had while recording tracks
• Fixes a crash in the Details view.
• Change to online map downloading affecting Android 4.0, which should fix problem of some online maps not downloading.

29th November, v2.4.9

• Corrects a problem with the compass when the phone is in landscape orientation

25th November, v2.4.8:

• Correction to store

18th November, v2.4.7:

• Some menu items were incorrectly shown in 2.4.6.
• A few other fixes

11th November, v2.4.6:

• Starting a new track when GPS starts fixed
• New symbol in Organizer for tracks and routes that need to be synced
• New app icon

4th November, v2.4.3:

• Intial beta release
• Details view revised
• Graphs added to details view and trip view
• Trip view can have multiple pages
• Synchronize improvements
• Various bug fixes:
• Android v1.5 is no longer supported, update your phone's OS if you are affected by this.

Summer 2011, v2.2

Android in-app purchase - buy maps and top up your credit in-app using the Android Market.

Pinch and stretch zoom - on phones that support multi-touch, Android 2.2 onwards.

.LOC files can be imported, using the Organizer's Import GPX/LOC.

ETA and ETE in trip view now display correctly.

A range of bug fixes and small improvements.

Updates to 2.2:

• 2.2.1, 18th August, fixed for a memory leak leading to a black screen.
• 2.2.2, 23rd August, corrects an inaccuracy in buddy beacon position sending.
• 2.2.3, 24th August, fixes a problem with buddy beacon sending and watching.

20th June 2011, v2.1.3

• Trip view Start button prompts for track continuation
• Record Track removed from create context menu (use on screen button instead)
• Fixes for Android market crash reports.
• Map Multi-Touch setting to optionally disable long-press context menu and double tap zoom. Useful if you use a case.
• Track Details shows complete start and end dates.
• Bing Map Tiles now drawn correctly when offline.
• Fixed character encoding for track/route upload.
• Routes & tracks more resilient to file system changes, reducing frequency of missing data.
• Importing tracks from GPX files, dates are set correctly.
• Fixed a problem with GPS not connecting.

27th May 2011, v2.1.1

• New "ViewRanger Store"
• Correction to coordinate entry when setting position of a point.

25th May 2011, v2.1.0

• New "ViewRanger Store"

23rd May 2011, v2.0.0

• Fix to altitude units display in trip view
• Release version

12th May, v1.5.11

• Fix to crash which could occur if there was a bad track.

12th May, v1.5.10

• Track height gain / loss calculation is faster and more accurate.
• Fixed rare problems saving tracks.
• Show correct units for altitude in trip view.
• Various other minor fixes

9th May, v1.5.9

• Various bug fixes
• Maps no longer switch back online when changing orientation
• Correct units displayed for latitude in trip view

7th May, v1.5.8

• Fix to saving problem
• Syncing takes account of current country's bounds

5th May, v1.5.7

• Improved Account Settings, including adding devices to your my.viewranger.com account
• Fixes to trip view
• Drawing optimizations when zoomed out

20th April, v1.5.6

• New French and German Translations
• Route drawing optimisation
• A number of bug fixes
• Map duplication fixed (where a phone uses both/sdcard/ and /mnt/sdcard for the same memory card)

15th April 2011, v1.5.5

Synchronization

• The main change in this beta release is the addition of Synchronization with the new [My.ViewRanger] web site. This allows you to send your tracks to the site, and share your routes between the site and ViewRanger on your mobile devices.
• You need to have registered your account at [My.ViewRanger] before you Synchronize.
• To Synchronize go to Organizer and use menu key > Synchronize. New and changed tracks are uploaded. New and changed routes are downloaded from the server. The license key list is updated.
• You can also upload indiviudal tracks - select the track, go to the context menu (long press or the on-screen menu button), and use Sharing > Upload or Upload again.
• You can upload or re-download indiviudal routes - select the route, go to the context menu (long press or the on-screen menu button), and use Sharing > Upload, Upload again or Download again.

Track problem

• The previous beta 1.5.2 had a problem that it dod not display tracks from 1.4 and before correctly. This has been fixed.
• However, tracks rcorded in 1.5.2 are not displayed correctly. To get round this, export the affected track to GPX (context menu, then Sharing > Export item to GPX), then re-import (Organizer > menu key > import / export).

Other changes

• Email addresses are accepted in the Create / connect account page as your user name.
• Greece and Spanish coordinate support added
• Improved French translations
• Various bug fixes
• Auto-splitting tracks fixed
• Bearing in trip view now works
• Unlock All option added to Organizer > menu key > Edit all

1st April 2011, v1.5.2

• Trip view, which can be configured to show a range of settings, including speed, distance, time and navigation.
  • Access using menu key > Trip view, or the view button at the top right of the screen.
  • Press and hold to change the number of fields shown, or to change what a field shows.
  • On screen button to stop and start tracks
  • Switch off auto-record in settings to get a purely manual track start and end

• The Buddy Beacon "Send beacon now" will also send any queued old positions.
• Known problems:
  • The sunset times are wrong, ignore them. (For the UK they are one hour later than they should be.)

9th February 2011, v1.4.3

• Translated new text strings
• Buttons no longer hide when creating route
• Send old positions switch in buddy beacon now works
• License key received when downloading maps in ViewRanger store

(1.4.2 was not released.)

28th January 2011, v1.4.1

• Support for tablets such as the Witstech A81G and the Advent Vega Pad.
• Fix for problem if long pressing on 'No results'.

25th January 2011, v1.4.0

• Local and online search. Searches gazetteer (.VRG) files and also optionally connects to an online search service.
• New titlebar with configurable map text, Quick-Navi button and location search button.
• Updated Context and Options menus throughout.
• New single-press context button on map view.
• Tap the navigation arrow to see the navigation context menu.
• Handles shown when creating or editing a route, so you can see the point being placed.
• Toggle between adding/moving POIs/waypoints and panning the map using the pan button.
• Map cross hair shown to indicate centre of map, the point whose coordinate and altitude is shown.
• Double tap the map to zoom in.
• Manual coordinate entry: 'Manual location' from context menus centres the map. When moving or editing a point press Edit button, or select point and use context menu.
• Numerous bug fixes and small improvements.
• Buddy PIN editing bug fixed.