Tips and Tricks: Recording a Route

Submitted by RayDar on Sat, 02/09/2008 - 21:29.

GeoNiche can graphically record a path previously traveled. Paths that have been recorded are called routes and can be displayed on the Navigation Mode screen. GeoNiche offers several ways to record a new route or append to an existing route. Things to remember about GeoNiche routes:

  • The route most recently accessed in Routes Mode is the one used when recording starts or resumes.
  • The route being recorded continues to grow while there is a GPS fix - even in modes other than Navigation Mode.
  • A route may have gaps. This happens when, during recording, the GPS fix is lost or [Record off]* is tapped.

The simplest way to record a route is as follows:

  1. Switch to Routes Mode and tap [Cancel] until the list of routes is displayed.
  2. Create a new route by tapping [New].
  3. Enter a name for the route, if desired.
  4. Tap [Record toggle]* at the bottom of the screen.

The newly created route begins being recorded as soon as [Record toggle]* is tapped. You can stop and start recording the route by tapping [Record toggle]* again.

* The [Record toggle] button has a circle and a triangle pointing to the right.

‹ Tips and Tricks: Caches along a Route Purchase GeoNiche ›

a bug ?

Submitted by Dieter Block on Mon, 02/25/2008 - 07:57.

when I record a route, after a while (apr. 1h) the new recording steps are not visible at the Navigation screen anymore. So the last points are there but no new one´s. is there a limit of steps or a limit in the recording time? i have lot of space on my Zire so it´s not a memory-full problem.

Route Maximum Length

Submitted by RayDar on Mon, 02/25/2008 - 11:15.

There is a maximum length per route imposed by the Palm Operating System. Since a single database record (a route) can't be larger than 64K bytes, it means that a route can have only about 3600 points on it. If you record at one point per second, that means about one hour worth of recording.

There are a couple immediate remedies and a longer term one.

  • If you increase the Interval value on the Program/Preferences/Navigation Mode/Info screen to 2 seconds, you will be able to record a route for twice as long. The higher the value, the longer in real-time you can record. However, this has the side effect of updating the Navigation Mode screen less often and making the route rougher, since points are added to it less frequently.
  • When the route stops recording, you can start recording a "Part 2" route. But, if you are engaged in an activity, you may not notice that the route has stopped recording

I have added an "Automatic Route Part 2" item to my TO DO list. When this is implemented, GeoNiche will automatically create a new route when the route currently being recorded exceeds the size limits imposed by PalmOS.

((RayDar))