Navigation Tools

2012-08-19T21:04:20Z

94.230.156.165: /* Navit */

A key application on the internet tablets is navigation. The [[Nokia N900|N900]] and [[Nokia N810|N810]] have a built-in GPS receiver; the [[Nokia 770|770]] and [[Nokia N800|N800]] can connect to a separate GPS receiver over bluetooth with the NMEA interface

== Complete Navigation Solutions ==

The following applications provide GPS-based navigation and route calculation.

=== Stand-alone ===

Stand-alone navigation apps are self-contained: they can calculate routes without needing a network connection once provided with local map data.

==== Sygic ====

Links:
* http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=34409

Pro:
* Turn-by-turn voice instructions

Cons:
* Commercial, proprietary, closed source
* Some maps not available

==== Navit ====

Links:
* [http://www.navit-project.org/ homepage]
* [http://wiki.navit-project.org/index.php/Navit_on_n770/n800/n810 Maemo <= 4 specific page]
* [http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=38800 Maemo 5 / N900 discussion]
Pro:
* open source
* turn-by-turn voice instructions
* uses vector data from openstreetmaps and free garmin maps
* 2d and 3D view option
* touchscreen interface
* flexible with a rich set of configuration options via an XML file
* almost daily development releases, good progress
* as of 2012, this is the only navigation that works without internet access, reroutes, speaks, and has a good interface with a bit effort

Con:
* works pretty reliably but still rough around the edges
* custom configuration requires modification of XML file in text editor
* Little/no developer interaction via t.m.o.
* Limited search functionality

Tips and Tricks:
* the main communication channel for navit is on IRC. You will find the core hackers there as well as some users. See the navit [http://wiki.navit-project.org/index.php/Contacts Contacts page] for details
* it automatically routes if it has a gps fix and a destination. A destination can either be set by pressing on the map and selecting "set as destination" from the appearing context menu, or via the address search.
* Easy install of latest version on N900 here [http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=746245 Install script]
* [http://bokomoko.de/~rd/navit-config.tgz Configuration Files] for the N8x0. The files should go to /home/user/.navit and expect maps named *.bin in /media/mmc2/Navit (may be changed by editing the .xml configuration files)
* There is a repository, see [http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=1191341&postcount=566 this post] and [http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=1253609&postcount=610 this post] for a nice OSD.

==== Gosmore ====

Links:
* [http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Gosmore homepage]
* [http://guest.lunatech.com/~neil/maemo/gosmore-maemo/ maemo specific page]

Pro:
* uses vector data from openstreetmaps

Con:
* Not yet stable, routing untested
* very few releases, little development progress visible
* map conversion from openstreetmap format to gosmore .pak format has to be done by user.
* I did not get gpsd working.

==== Roadmap ====

Links:
* [http://roadmap.sourceforge.net/index.html homepage]
* [https://garage.maemo.org/projects/ maemo garage page]

Pro:
* Open source
* Use vector maps from OpenStreet Map
* Rich configuration file not in XML
* Good graphics on the tablet
* Development of the software is active but the portage to the tablet is often two or three releases late

Con:
* OpenStreet maps must be processed before use. There are a few procedures to do that on PC but sometimes they crash specially with big files.
* Only one map at a time can be used
* Project is not very active

==== Monav ====

Links:
* [http://code.google.com/p/monav/ project page]
* [http://maemo.org/packages/view/monav/ client package]
* [http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/MoNav osm wiki page]

=== Cloud-Based ===

Cloud-based navigation requires a network connection to calculate routes.

==== Ovi ====

Pro:
* Free (comes pre-installed on N900)
* Good maps

Cons:
* Closed source
* Clunky
* No turn-by-turn voice instructions

==== Maemo Mapper (Maemo4/Diablo)) ====

Links:
* [https://garage.maemo.org/projects/maemo-mapper/ garage page]

Pro:
* Open source
* Pretty stable application
* Turn-by-turn voice directions
* Works by default with openstreetmap, but can also use commercial maps
* The maps download is convenient within maemo mapper and maps can be stored on the device. No PC required.

Con:
* works only with pixmaps (i.e. inefficient map storage)
* Acquiring a new route requires online connection; the connection is not needed to follow a downloaded route.

==== Mappero (Maemo5/Fremantle)====
Mappero is the result of a further development of maemo mapper in Maemo5 (fremantle).

Links:
* [http://blog.mardy.it/search/label/mappero Mappero Developer Blog]
* It uses [https://garage.maemo.org/projects/maemo-mapper/ the same garage page] as maemo mapper

Pro:
* Uses graphic acceleration of the N900
* User interface in Maemo5 look and feel
* Support for different configurable maps sources: OpenStreetMaps, Google, Yahoo, Virtual earth and what not.
* Navigation: turn-by-turn voice navigation (with configurable route providers) in your own language.
* GPS tracking
* File import/export of GPX tracks and routes
* POI handling

Con:
*Same as maemo mapper

==== Mapper ====

* [http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:Onion/Mapper Mapper] is a fork of Maemo Mapper designed for [http://www.openstreetmap.org openstreetmap] data collection.

==== [[modRana| modRana]]====
* [[modRana| modRana Maemo wiki page]]
* [http://modrana.org modrana.org]
* based on [http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Rana Rana]
* [http://maemo.org/packages/view/modrana maemo package]
* [[modranaVoiceOutputTranslation| voice output translation wiki page]]

== Map Editors / Other Tools ==

Editors:

* [http://www.harbaum.org/till/maemo/index.shtml#osm2go OSM2Go] is an editor for [http://www.openstreetmap.org openstreetmap] data.

Map viewers:

* [http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/maep/ Maep] (also available [http://maemo.org/packages/package_instance/view/diablo_extras_free_armel/maep/1.3.6/ for N8x0])
* [http://qtmapper.garage.maemo.org/ QtMapper]
* [https://garage.maemo.org/projects/tangogps-me/ tangoGPS]

== Incomplete or Dead Navigation Applications ==

=== Roadnav ===

Links:
* [http://roadnav.sourceforge.net/ homepage]

I could not get it working so far, no updates on news site since two years.

=== Carman ===

Links:
* [http://openbossa.indt.org.br/carman/ Homepage]

===Wayfinder===

* N800 and N810 come with [http://www.wayfinder.com/ Wayfinder maps] pre-installed. Routing/navigation is not enabled by default and requires a $99/3 years license. Map data and formats are proprietary.
* Wayfinder is defunct

== Keeping Data Costs Down (International Roaming) ==

Some of these tools retrieve map data on the fly, and this can be very costly if you are travelling internationally. Below, as captured from a post, are some tips that might help.

''I was travelling to Seattle from London a few months back, and anticipated the same sort of data costs. I worked around it quite easily by using MaemoMapper, and using my WiFi at home to download and cache maps for the region. I did this for Google Maps, Google hybrid maps, and OpenStreetmap, giving me the ability to switch back and forth. If I remember correctly, I pulled down map zoom levels of 11 & 9 for the entire western third of Washington, levels 9 & 7 for the specific Everett - Federal Way section, and 9-7-5 from downtown out to the areas where I was going to be staying with relatives. I then added a similar detailed set data for the San Juan Islands, as I thought we might go whale watching. Downloading took a little bit of time for each set, but it didn't distract me much from the TV show I was watching at the time. Elapsed time was 1 hour or so. This was on my N810. To download maps, look for the "Manage Maps" menu.''

''What this gives you is *not* routing, it gives you maps. If you want routing, the data cost of going online to compute a route and then use it offline with the cached maps should be low. Since there are no voice directions, you'll have to depend on your co-pilot to read from the [[Nokia N900|N900]]. Unless your co-pilot has higher gadget tolerance than mine, swapping driving duties might be sensible. For holidaying, I find maps from OpenStreetmap to be significantly nicer than the "just roads" focus of TomTom/Naviteq maps as the wiki-like nature of things positively encourages people to list parks, walking paths, etc. Windsor Castle and Great Park http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=51...layers=B000FTF and the alpine paths of Kandersteg Switzerland http://www.openstreetmap.org/?minlon=7.6556638&minlat=46.4775866&maxlon=7.6956638&maxlat=46.5175866 are two examples.''

[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Beginners]]
[[Category:GPS]]
[[Category:Fremantle]]
[[Category:Diablo]]

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