Knowing that there are a few folks who use this app I figure there may be a couple of things some may not realise you can quickly and easily do. This is generally geared more towards helping yourself if you ever have to make a call to rescue as you can give them your precise location.
However for those of you who are good sensible folks and like to leave well planned route cards, this can also help by letting you accurately fill in coordinates of your legs and trips.
Ok so first up here is a shot of the main screen using the 1:50,000 OS of the Sperrins, you can easily see the general buttons and also see your exact location. What some folks may have missed is the numbers at the top, these are the coordinates of the cursor location. It is important to remember this as while you can have your gps locked to your current position if you scroll around looking at your route the numbers at the top will also change. So if you want an accurate figure for your current position you need to hit the gps button (center bottom), then wait until it locks to your position.
The format of the coordinates tends to switch to the map type default, so in this case the OS system likes to use the national grid reference. Being nice and super accurate you are being given a 10 digit reference (try it with a paper map and roamer and see how tough it is). However you can get a figure using any format you wish. If you click the OPTIONS button bottom right you get the following window popup.
You can see in this shot my gps lock is off as I had been scrolling around on the map, it can be another handy reminder when you see the red X that the numbers are not going to be your current position. Hitting the ENTER COORDINATES button brings up the following window.
Here you have your OS sheet, and your standard E/N grid reference number. Tap the top button for a drop down menu and you can select a variety of different location methods.
However you may not have an OS map purchased and downloaded on your phone of your actual location, it could be a totally new area or you may have simply got very lost and wandered off the area that is mapped on your phone. In this case the screen shows your location in a sea of blank white area, in addition the app can no longer give you the information regarding location as before. Since your are no longer on an OS map per se then the app cannot give you an OS grid reference. But there is a way around this so that no matter where in the world you are you should be able to give your location accurately to anyone trying to find you.
First hit the general menu button, it is the 3 lines at the top left of the screen. It brings in the menu sidebar, from there hit organiser, followed by maps.
Here you can buy more maps, or swap between different maps stored on your device, and finally access many free maps. These tend to be provided in most countries and can be anything from a national cycle route map, to a normal but watered down street map for tourists. So for this example I will go into the online maps and select the second one down "open street map".
Selecting view will change your device to use this map and download the needed parts to show your location. Being a generalised map it has no restrictions like the specific maps, and as such you don't suffer from white spaces of "no map present" areas. The first image is just a zoom out of the UK & ROI and you can see it seamlessly flows as you would expect something like google maps to do. The second image is the same area as the start of this post and you can see how basic a map it is.
This is not a problem as you do not need this map for navigation but just for finding an accurate location reference that can be passed to a rescue service. Or if you happen to have a paper map of the area you can use this method to get a reference you can transfer to the paper map to allow you to continue navigating with a compass and bearings.
So tap the GPS key in the bottom center, once your device has locked onto your current location select the OPTIONS key bottom right. Then select ENTER COORDINATES as before and tap the drop down menu button at the top of the pop up window. From there select the LAT/LON (decimal) option, you could use the LAT/LON (" ") option too but some folks do not feel comfortable with giving a reference using degrees/minutes, so the decimal will save you any hassle.
Now you have a reference you can pass onto a rescue service that is as accurate as the first 10 digit national grid reference without having to have the OS map on your device, in addition this lat/lon number will be recognised just about anywhere in the world. Or if you have a paper map of your area and have the skills to convert the figures, you can now transcribe your actual location to paper and carry on as if nothing was ever wrong.
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Topic: Viewranger Tips (Read 7789 times)