Release modRana

[cube48]

http://www.modrana.org


PND'd modRana, great map/navigation app that I'm happily using on my N900. As it is written in Python, I just changed the screen resolution of 'neo' to 800x480 in the main script, added custom icon and packed it. It will appear in Other Education app category in the menu. (Update: According to PND standards, there is only one suitable subcategory - Geography - which falls under Education. Kinda unfortunate that the Map/Nav category was totally forgotten when standards were defined.)


On Pandora, I didn't manage to connect it with BT GPS following the BT GPS guide from wiki but maybe sombody else will have better luck and shares the trick with us.


Just followed this guide to get it working with BT GPS.


Even without GPS it might be usefull as it allows batch map downloads for offline use. Maps are stored to appdata folder on SDCARD.


App has also some other nice features and it's still under active development . (check the link for full features list and screenshots)


Update 1:


Added the link to BT GPS connection guide.


Update 2:


12.6.2011


From now on the latest version can be found in OP repos.

modrana.pnd

 

[Nintendo]

w0000000000000000t~ Thank you More useful stuff is needed!

 

[Vitel]

Is it in any way better than TangoGPS?

 

[cube48]

I didn't try the TangoGPS so I can't say. I'll propably give it a try just to compare.

 

[Esn]

Thanks for this, I'll try it out.


By the way, do you think you could edit the wiki's GPS article to add in information about this new GPS program? The information there should be kept current, but this is not a subject with which I'm familiar.

 

[cube48]

I would wait until somebody makes modRana working with GPS. I still have no luck with it. I get to point where the BT GPS is connected but it seems that modRana is not able to communicate with gpsd stack. I must admit that I have no idea how or what else to check. (hmm wait ... how about contacting the author of modRana and asking how it 'reads' GPS data?)


Concerning the TangoGPS, I was not dare to install it to NAND. So I tried to download the sources of it and compile it on Pandora using C/C++ DevelopmentTools but it complained about missing/old pkg-config. And there I stopped. Unfortunatelly I have no full-featured linux box to play around with setting up the proper devel/compilation environment.

 

[Esn]

A short Pandora-specific usage guide would be appreciated. When I turn it on, it shows me a map of some city in Germany, as far as I can make out. How do I change my location to someplace else?

 

[freamon]

Concerning the TangoGPS, I was not dare to install it to NAND. So I tried to download the sources of it and compile it on Pandora using C/C++ DevelopmentTools but it complained about missing/old pkg-config. And there I stopped. Unfortunatelly I have no full-featured linux box to play around with setting up the proper devel/compilation environment.

Yeah there's a siily bug in how many configure scripts call pkg-config --atleast-pkgconfig-version. There's a couple of ways to fix it (see the thread in Beta Testing), but even when you do, it then complains that it's missing libraries for libsoup, gconf and bluez (which is true). I'll add these libraries at some point and have a play with compiling tangogps.

 

[cube48]

Tadaaa, this guide explains how to connect your BT GPS. Following that I was able to get modRana to receive my current location.


I'm not sure if there's any other way how to 'store' your default location (last known to be accurate) than receiving coordinates from GPS.

 

[cube48]

Small update:


Pieces are starting to fit to each other. I just installed eSpeak (voice synthesis tool) and voila, multi-language voice navigation works now in modRana. As I mentioned in other thread, don't expect local non-english street names to be pronounced properly but commands like "turn right after 200 meters" are fine in other languages - voice language can be changed in modRana's navigation setting menu. The author of of modRana made it truly 'flexible'. If modRana finds eSpeak on your system it uses it for voice navigation.


And thanks to the fact that eSpeak is already available in Angstrom repos, the only thing that is needed is:

sudo opkg update

(optional, just to make sure that you have the latest list of available packages)

sudo opkg install espeak

This will install eSpeak together with it's dependencies to your NAND but don't worry, it's compact and it will not eat your precious space. (app. 1,4 MB according to eSpeak page) This way it can be available for other applications relying on it.


I've also asked the author of modRana, just to be polite, if I can publish the PND to repo.openpandora.org. I know it's opensource but there is no sign of any licensing info on modrana.org so I just wanted to be on the safe side.

 

[budweiser]

How do I set my home location on this ?


How do I store favorite locations (frequintly traved destinations)?


Thanks Bud

 

[cube48]

There is nothing like 'home' location in modRana. It just 'remembers' your last known GPS position and centers on it after start.


You can also create POI by going to Menu > POI > add new POI and then select from:

• manual entry - if you know the coordinates
  
• from map - scroll the map to your point of interest and tap the map
  
• current position - saves your position read from GPS unit
  

During the process, you can assign a name, description and category of POI.


After saving your POI, you can recall it from Menu > POI > list POI > select your POI > show on map.