ArtMan Posted November 19, 2012 Posted November 19, 2012 There is a free app called Find-a-Control, available for both platforms, which shows benchmarks on a map and allows users to display NGS datasheets for selected marks. It also has some very limited searching capability (by county and possibly other geographic term, but apparently not by PID or Description). Are there other benchmark apps that you have found useful? -ArtMan- Quote
foxtrot_xray Posted November 20, 2012 Posted November 20, 2012 (edited) Seriously? You had to ask? I'm not going to be makin' anything for iPhone, namely because of lack of device to test over, and learning curve for a new language. I'd be willing to help anyone that wanted to write something for iOS. Edited November 20, 2012 by foxtrot_xray Quote
+shorbird Posted November 20, 2012 Posted November 20, 2012 Find A Control is a good beginning, but our own foxtrot xray's BenchMap is much better and has many more features. Quote
68-eldo Posted November 20, 2012 Posted November 20, 2012 Find A Control is a good beginning, but our own foxtrot xray's BenchMap is much better and has many more features. But BenchMap is not on Google Play. Find A Control is a little temperamental for me, freezing up when on the Mobil network. It seems to work well in Wi-Fi. But if it does not work well in the field…… Quote
foxtrot_xray Posted November 20, 2012 Posted November 20, 2012 (edited) But BenchMap is not on Google Play. ..It's still in beta. I'll add and say I DO have 'Find A Control' on my phone, and have had it freeze up on me a couple times too. My biggest problem with it is the storage space it takes up (for no discernible reason) and the limited UI. Edited November 20, 2012 by foxtrot_xray Quote
68-eldo Posted November 21, 2012 Posted November 21, 2012 But BenchMap is not on Google Play. ..It's still in beta. I'll add and say I DO have 'Find A Control' on my phone, and have had it freeze up on me a couple times too. My biggest problem with it is the storage space it takes up (for no discernible reason) and the limited UI. Is BenchMap to a point where you can put it on Google play? It does not need to be perfect or complete, just reasonably functional. You can always update it later. Many of my apps are getting updates on a regular basis. Quote
foxtrot_xray Posted November 21, 2012 Posted November 21, 2012 Is BenchMap to a point where you can put it on Google play? It does not need to be perfect or complete, just reasonably functional. You can always update it later. Many of my apps are getting updates on a regular basis. Actually, yes. I'm in the process now. I'm waiting on some required graphics and approval of upgrading my google account. Quote
jbuffethed Posted November 25, 2012 Posted November 25, 2012 Is BenchMap to a point where you can put it on Google play? It does not need to be perfect or complete, just reasonably functional. You can always update it later. Many of my apps are getting updates on a regular basis. Actually, yes. I'm in the process now. I'm waiting on some required graphics and approval of upgrading my google account. Foxtrot, I love Benchmap. I've been testing from near the beginning I think when you first asked for testers. I use it all the time when I am out and cant load markings into my gps. I havent experienced any issues running it on my Rezound, Ice Cream Sandwich, on Verizon. Quote
+Ashallond Posted November 25, 2012 Posted November 25, 2012 and yet I wish you could find a iOS coder to help you. *sniff* that being said, FAC, works ok for now when I am looking on the fly unexpectedly with time to kill. Quote
+shorbird Posted November 25, 2012 Posted November 25, 2012 Just returned from a weekend visit 350 miles away. I had left all of my benchmarking gear at home, but BenchMap came to the rescue! I was able to find three benchmarks by using BenchMap's mapping and datasheet capabilities. Thanks, foxtrot xray! Quote
+IHbinders Posted December 15, 2012 Posted December 15, 2012 Looks like the link on your site has been removed Quote
jbuffethed Posted December 30, 2012 Posted December 30, 2012 Foxtrot, I just got Jelly Bean 4.1.2 leaked to my HTC Rezound. Your latest v0.0.85 works like a champ. Quote
foxtrot_xray Posted January 16, 2013 Posted January 16, 2013 Looks like the link on your site has been removed Should be up now. In the next few months I'm going through some server changes, so availability of this (and my other tools, like NGS->GPX and the Google Earth overlays) will have up and down spurts. Quote
foxtrot_xray Posted January 16, 2013 Posted January 16, 2013 Foxtrot, I just got Jelly Bean 4.1.2 leaked to my HTC Rezound. Your latest v0.0.85 works like a champ. Cool, thanks! The next release will have some UI updates for JB. Quote
+EdrickV Posted February 2, 2013 Posted February 2, 2013 There is also an app on Google Play called NGS Control Points. It apparently downloads control point location info from the NGS and can do a PID search, which will find even a destroyed mark. Different types of marks have different icons. It's not actually designed to navigate you to the mark like a Geocaching program though. I personally have GDAK setup for finding benchmarks and Geocaches since it supports multiple databases and gets it's data from GSAK. (Though, for spontaneous benchmark hunting, an app like NGS Control Points or BenchMap would be better. I haven't gotten BenchMap yet, but I also haven't really been doing any benchmark hunting lately due to a little thing called Winter. ) BenchMap, from what I've seen in pictures, looks like it would be better then NGS Control Points. Quote
+Skyboy01 Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 How long before Benchmap will be available to the rest of us? I am getting excited just thinking about the opportunity to give it a shot. Quote
jbuffethed Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Foxtrot, I just got Jelly Bean 4.1.2 leaked to my HTC Rezound. Your latest v0.0.85 works like a champ. Cool, thanks! The next release will have some UI updates for JB. 0.0.85 is working on Jellybean 4.2.2 Quote
foxtrot_xray Posted February 21, 2013 Posted February 21, 2013 How long before Benchmap will be available to the rest of us? I am getting excited just thinking about the opportunity to give it a shot. Very soon. Release was delayed due to having to move website servers for the Google Earth tools. Soon, really soon, promise. Quote
foxtrot_xray Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 How long before Benchmap will be available to the rest of us? I am getting excited just thinking about the opportunity to give it a shot. Hey all - It's released! You can go to GooglePlay and install it! It's called 'BenchMap', and you can get it from the play store here, too: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tsqmadness.bmmaps Cheers all - Mike. Quote
68-eldo Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 How long before Benchmap will be available to the rest of us? I am getting excited just thinking about the opportunity to give it a shot. Hey all - It's released! You can go to GooglePlay and install it! It's called 'BenchMap', and you can get it from the play store here, too: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tsqmadness.bmmaps Cheers all - Mike. Thanks FoxTrot. I just downloaded it from Google Play. I said 0+ downloads when I down loaded it. Am I the first to get it from Google Play? Quote
AZcachemeister Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 Excellent! Now if I could just somehow check off the marks I have already looked for and only show those I haven't. Of course, this will be most helpful when visiting a new area and I don't have the laptop with me. Quote
foxtrot_xray Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 Thanks FoxTrot. I just downloaded it from Google Play. I said 0+ downloads when I down loaded it. Am I the first to get it from Google Play? Heh - actually, *I* can't even tell that. As a 'developer' (I use the term lightly!) all I can see is total number of downloads. And none of it includes the beta folks. Excellent! Now if I could just somehow check off the marks I have already looked for and only show those I haven't. Don't worry. That's a future enhancement! Quote
+Kewaneh & Shark Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 (edited) Thanks FoxTrot. I just downloaded it from Google Play. I said 0+ downloads when I down loaded it. Am I the first to get it from Google Play? When I downloaded it last evening, it also said 0+ downloads. I didn't think that could be right with the number of people waiting. It could be that the download count only refreshes daily. It says 10+ downloads today. Excellent! Now if I could just somehow check off the marks I have already looked for and only show those I haven't. Don't worry. That's a future enhancement! That would be sweet! The ability to log Marks from the app, and the ability to download the data (points & datasheets) for areas without cell coverage would be awesome too. ______ All that said, I've been watching this thread for some time now and waiting as anxiously as the others. I've used "FindAControl" by Critigen, and "NGS Control Points" by Software workroom also. I wanted to like "FindAControl", but between the size of the app (22.5MB!) and the fact that it looked like it was designed for a tablet vs. Droid with graphics that were too small to see/read, I didn't like or use it. "NGS Control Points" works nicely and the app takes virtually no space. I've had those on my survey crews (with capable phones) install it for use in the field. They like its functionality. In the limited amount of time I've had (12 hours) to play with "BenchMap", I like what I see. "BenchMap" seems to be a bit faster than "NGS Control Points". I think (mostly) because "BenchMap" doesn't download the points as "NGS Control Points" does. The data sheets seem to load faster too. Unless FoxTrot has any objections, I may have my crews install "BenchMap" too. While "FindAControl" and "NGS Control Points" were written primarily for surveyors (which I am), I also like the fact that "BenchMap" was written by a benchmark hunter (which I also am). Bonus! Great job FoxTrot! - Kewaneh Edited March 13, 2013 by Kewaneh & Shark Quote
foxtrot_xray Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 Not a problem - you can have whomever you want install it. I can't stop you, and wouldn't want to anyways. My server's not used in the app - it's all live from the NGS and Google Map servers, so no skin off my back. Quote
+EdrickV Posted March 20, 2013 Posted March 20, 2013 Have now downloaded the app, and it runs well even on my low end Android 2.3.5 phone. Will probably use this to supplement my GDAK databases. (GDAK having the benefit of being able to have offline databases, for both Geocaches and Benchmarks, but the drawback of requiring my laptop to update the databases.) The small size is good too, as I don't have a lot of room for programs on my phone. (And most of the room I do have required rooting and removing "built-in" programs to free up in the first place.) I like it better then NGS Control Points, which wasn't really designed well for my screen resolution. Quote
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