[Feature] Live maps on android phone app

[+Sol seaker]

There is nothing more important to a mobile app than live maps.

 

The Groundspeak phone app for android is a fine app. The one thing it's missing is live maps.

 

Groundspeak's app is good. Please consider making it great and giving it what it needs most.

 

Please consider including it in your app.

 

This is really the main need I have of a phone application.

 

thank you.

 

Perhaps if there are a lot of other people interested in live maps then it might be taken seriously.

Anyone?

[+The Real Boudica.]

I agree the map on the unmentionable app is the is the most useful feature especially in an unknown area. I don't generally use it for actual finding of caches anymore but keep it for the map feature to see where nearby caches might be and help with parking etc. I used it at the weekend when our planned walk was a failure and we wanted to get at least one cache on the way home. I have all the nearby caches loaded in to both GS app and geobeagle but that was no help in figuring out accessibility from the route home, but we were able to look at the map and pick an easily accessible parking spot for a walk to the nearest unfound cache(it still worked for me at the weekend!).

 

If you are out for a unplanned trip its almost impossible to know where to start if you can't see an overview of all caches on a map. And although my phone is my only gps, for most cachers who primarily use a handheld, surely the usefulness of the app is for those unplanned excursions or moments when you have extra time on your hands. Your aren't going to get the extra revenue from them who already have all the functionality of the other features on their handhelds without live maps.

[cerberez]

I seriously agree! In the app world, $10 is a lot, so the app should really try to keep up with the, ahem, other geocaching program...

 

My favorite feature from that one: the arrow for your position, showing your heading. combined with the better map, it makes the approach much more intuitive... Can we please get these features?

[+niraD]

There is nothing more important to a mobile app than live maps.

Really? Nothing? I can think of a lot of features that I consider far more important than live maps (e.g., importing PQ data, exporting field notes, using user-provided coordinates for puzzle caches and multi-caches, offline operation). I've even disabled the "Auto Cache Download" feature in Neongeo.

[+Sol seaker]

I say, "nothing more important" perhaps because of what I use the app for.

 

Many others may do the same.

 

I use a good GPS for regular caching. I load it at home and then go on planned adventures.

 

There are many times I'm in another town for business or something. I may end up with spare time before or after an appointment that I hadn't anticipated. I'll whip out my cell phone and pull up "live maps." With this I can see in a few minutes, all the caches nearby. I'll then load the coords into my GPS and grab some new ones.

 

I don't use the phone for a daily caching tool. For the dedicated cacher, it does not make a good caching tool. It may be a good introduction to geocaching, but for someone who wants to stay with the game it has too many limitations and problems (battery life, not being waterproof, only good within cell range, etc.)

 

However, as a tool for finding caches when you didn't expect to, it's fantastic.

[Moun10Bike]

It's not a live map, but did you know that you can pan the map to a new location and select "Search Here"?

[+niraD]

Sol seaker, maybe we mean different things when we say "live map". I assumed that you meant that the app would constantly load new maps as you traveled along, automatically showing the caches near wherever you are now. I found that feature annoying when I was trying to find specific caches (or stages of a specific multi-cache) and the "Auto Cache Download" feature kept cluttering the map with other nearby caches that I didn't care about.

 

But it sounds like you just want to see the nearest caches on the map, without necessarily loading more automatically as you move somewhere else. Groundspeak's Geocaching app already does that.

[+Sol seaker]

Sol seaker, maybe we mean different things when we say "live map". I assumed that you meant that the app would constantly load new maps as you traveled along, automatically showing the caches near wherever you are now. I found that feature annoying when I was trying to find specific caches (or stages of a specific multi-cache) and the "Auto Cache Download" feature kept cluttering the map with other nearby caches that I didn't care about.

 

But it sounds like you just want to see the nearest caches on the map, without necessarily loading more automatically as you move somewhere else. Groundspeak's Geocaching app already does that.

 

Perhaps you could help me out then.

I have searched for where it might be, but I haven't been able to do that.

Can you walk me through it?

 

Yes, I want to be somewhere I've never been before, and turn on the app and have it know exactly where I am and show me the caches nearby.

thanks!

[+niraD]

What works for me is:

Find Nearby Caches > Menu > View on Map

 

That gives me a map of my current location, with the locations of the nearby caches shown. Doesn't that work for you?

[cerberez]

What would work for me is if the map view had an indicator of what direction I was facing!

[+niraD]

What would work for me is if the map view had an indicator of what direction I was facing!

I was going to suggest that you post a separate thread for this feature request, but then I noticed that you already did.