Intro app questions

[+RTechS]

I started using the Official Geocaching App today, the Intro version...that is, I am attempting to use it.

 

Question:

 

* Does this app offer "turn by turn" navigation, or is there any way to make that happen? I can get to the compass, but that doesn't help much when driving.

 

* Are there no settings/adjustments to change the unit measurements, color of screen/app, etc.?

 

I found an old tutorial from 2009 which gives instructions of the app features at that time, but I can't seem to make this app do voice navigation in the way that several of the others do from the play store...

[Keystone]

I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the Intro App for Android forum.

[+kunarion]

* Does this app offer "turn by turn" navigation, or is there any way to make that happen? I can get to the compass, but that doesn't help much when driving.

Your phone has that feature (or it may be installed). I was able to select from Yahoo Maps and Google Map Apps, from the Android Geocaching App, and the iPad picked its own map for me. Select "View In External Map". Google Map seems to have voice settings, but I've never been able to test it, since I'm on wifi only, plus the droid's speaker isn't particularly loud for car use (and I can't stand using the the tablet for navigating to caches ). Once in Google Map, select "driving directions", and you get street navigation. The iPad has a pretty sweet-looking street routing display (I guess you're asking about Android). Whether or not you can actually App and drive, that's not for me to say.

 

If you're in a residential area, beware of caches that are in areas between houses. My Nuvi routinely sends me to the wrong cul-de-sac, where one might guess that walking through people's yards would be the way to go. I'd expect most street routing will do the same. You have to shut off street routing at some point, review the map and cache page, and just noodle it out.

 

* Are there no settings/adjustments to change the unit measurements, color of screen/app, etc.?

There's a setting for Miles/Ft to Km/meters. I don't see a screen color setting.

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.printer.friendly&id=12#p446

Edited December 23, 2014 by kunarion

[+wmpastor]

My Nuvi routinely sends me to the wrong cul-de-sac....

If the cache has suggested parking, that helps, but the app may not automatically lead you there. I had the problem happen once at a cache in a park. I didn't look at the cache listing map, and the app lead me to a suburban street that ran alongside the park. The only way to get to the cache would have been to walk through yards - the closest-to-the-cache on-road point was not near the park entrance.

 

In the regular app, you see the overall layout pretty well, but it's good to look at the actual site listing first (via computer or smartphone) to know generally where you're headed. Some caches will also have text about suggested access. I've done that with some of mine, but I had to abandon a search on one out-of-town cache I tried because the CO assumed searchers had local knowledge of the roads, and while I could see roads on a map, it was not at all clear where you could walk and where there were impossible obstacles (unrelated to the terrain-rating of the cache).

 

Think of the driving navigation as an extra part of the challenge.

Edited December 23, 2014 by wmpastor

[+RTechS]

I believe these settings may not be availablle in the into version of the app. I've clicked on every button in the app, and I can't get it to voice nav, for example...

 

When I click on "start" for navigation, it will show the map/route but doesnt start talking like the other apps do.

 

Across the top of the screen I have the mag. glass/search, a funnel thing to choose difficulty level, size, etc., and an icon to choose map or list view, that's it. This is version 2.2.3

 

I see no way to open or start talking nav./directions. The only thing I have is a map or list view, and I can also switch to the compass.

[+kunarion]

I believe these settings may not be availablle in the into version of the app. I've clicked on every button in the app, and I can't get it to voice nav, for example...

 

When I click on "start" for navigation, it will show the map/route but doesnt start talking like the other apps do.

 

Across the top of the screen I have the mag. glass/search, a funnel thing to choose difficulty level, size, etc., and an icon to choose map or list view, that's it. This is version 2.2.3

 

I see no way to open or start talking nav./directions. The only thing I have is a map or list view, and I can also switch to the compass.

Yes, it turns out, the intro version is an intro version . It demonstrates the compass navigation, and shows the basic functionality. Most every App demo ("intro") is designed so you can see if it works at all with your phone, it has a lot of features missing and is not a full version of the App. Either in the demo or the full version, you use the phone's existing street navigation features as other Apps do.

 

And I sure don't see the cool menu that the paid version has. Assuming you have Google Maps installed, and a web browser App, you can access turn-by-turn street navigation from the web site. From a cache page's "driving directions", open Maps (the Google Maps App). To see the compass distance and bearing, try to open the Intro App. Maybe that won't work, but I can't tell without uninstalling the paid App. But I see the option to use "Radar", which is a nice compass in the "GPS Status" App, directly from the web site. With some switching between the web site and Apps, you might get street navigation and compass navigation. Try some of the free Apps (NOT the demo kind). You may open some of those directly from the web site, or not even need the web site.

 

Install the free "GPS Status" to get the "Radar" compass, which opens directly from the App, and from the web site (using Android). That's a handy App anyway, since it shows the satellites, useful if you're trying to figure out a navigation problem. The free version of GPS Status is a demo, but even just the satellite info and the compass are pretty handy.

 

There's a free "API Partner" Geocaching App called "a:Drake", that also may be opened from a cache page on the web site. See if that does what you want.

http://adrake.cz/doku.php?id=en:start

 

I found out at 2:30AM this morning that the Google Map driving directions definitely do speak. I began hearing a voice, and wondered how long it would take to locate the source (which even may have been a police radio outside, for all I knew). But it was the tablet, plugged in, closed and "asleep", keeping me awake with turn-by-turn voice driving directions.

Edited December 23, 2014 by kunarion