[closed] can't use offline maps

[tombar]

I bought the programme this weekend, but can't get maps to show offline. I tracked down the maps to alpinequest/cache/built-in maps or custom maps, so tried moving them to alpinequest/maps, but it made no difference. When I click on Explore maps, I get an error too fast to read - something to do with java.lang.illegalargumentException and Call aqonlineStorageStatusview Any ideas?

[Psyberia-Support]

Hi and thanks for your support,

As far as I understand your problem is that stored maps won't appear again once being off-line, is that right?

You should not have anything to move to make them working.
As far as you have space available on your SD memory card (or internal memory if you don't have one), all displayed areas are automatically stored. In no cases you have to move files from or to the cache folders (these are managed internally).

The "alpinequest/maps/" folder is only used to drop on-board maps created by third party applications.

Here is the online help on maps in AlpineQuest: http://www.alpinequest.net/en/help/1.4/maps. You'll find information about the map types.

I you modified files in the "alpinequest/cache/" folder, I would suggest you to delete it completely to remove all broken data, and let the application re-build the cache.

If the error still persist, please let me know so I can have a closer look.
Best regards

[Yemble]

I bought the programme this weekend, but can't get maps to show offline. I tracked down the maps to alpinequest/cache/built-in maps or custom maps, so tried moving them to alpinequest/maps, but it made no difference. When I click on Explore maps, I get an error too fast to read - something to do with java.lang.illegalargumentException and Call aqonlineStorageStatusview Any ideas?

@tombar

A couple of things to watch out for based upon my personnal experiences...

First, if you are intending to use an SD card to store the map cache, make sure that it is mounted in the device prior to installing AQ. In theory, it should be possible to move from a device based installation to an SD based installation, but I had nothing but grief when I attempted this. I ended up de-installing AQ, mounting my SD card and then re-installing. By default, AQ will prefer to install to SD.

Second, if you are tempted by the "SD memory card path" option in Settings, be careful how you use it as there is no guidence and it is not intuitive. The path required is the parent folder of the alpinequest folder, ie. /mnt/extSdCard but NOT /mnt/extSdCard/alpinequest.

I would advise leaving this field blank, unless you have good reason not to.

I should point out that in practice, AQ is very tolerent to moving the map cache around, even between devices. Some other systems would just fall over in a big heap of corruption if you attempted this, but not AQ. I have a map cache approaching 20Gb, but I remain supremely confident that AQ will not corrupt it.

[tombar]

I've uninstalled the whole thing and downloaded again from Playstore and installed. The first think I get when I press on Open is a screen asking for feedback and a message that no memory card present despite there being 4 Gb free on an 8 Gb SD card available. If i ignore that and go on, I get the map showing E USA, then press Explore Maps and get the same java error message (I get this every time I press Explore Maps)s. Under Alpinequest on my phone, I now have Cache/nomedia, Landmarks empty and logs.

[Psyberia-Support]

Hi again,
The message displayed at the startup (no memory card present) suggest that AlpineQuest hasn't found a suitable place to store the data on you device. Despite what's said by the message, it can be one of the following other reasons, and not only a missing SD card:
- Your device does have a storage space (sd card or internal), which one is full. Since you mentioned that you have 4GB space left, I guess it's not this reason;
- The AlpineQuest option 'SD Card Path' has been mis-configured, and point to an non existing or read only folder. As suggested Yemble, be careful while changing this option, and try to empty it and restart the application.
It would help if you could give the technical information: start AlpineQuest, click on the main menu button (AlpineQuest icon), select "More", then "About". At the end of the dialog, can you give: 1) Logs file and error, 2) Device ESD and DD, and 3) Application folder.

Also, the displayed error when opening the Maps Explorer, tells that the cache folder state (use and remaining spaces) cannot be retrieved, meaning that the cache folder is not existing.

Sorry for those disagreements
Best regards

[tombar]

Hi again,
The message displayed at the startup (no memory card present) suggest that AlpineQuest hasn't found a suitable place to store the data on you device. Despite what's said by the message, it can be one of the following other reasons, and not only a missing SD card:
- Your device does have a storage space (sd card or internal), which one is full. Since you mentioned that you have 4GB space left, I guess it's not this reason;
- The AlpineQuest option 'SD Card Path' has been mis-configured, and point to an non existing or read only folder. As suggested Yemble, be careful while changing this option, and try to empty it and restart the application.
It would help if you could give the technical information: start AlpineQuest, click on the main menu button (AlpineQuest icon), select "More", then "About". At the end of the dialog, can you give: 1) Logs file and error, 2) Device ESD and DD, and 3) Application folder.

Also, the displayed error when opening the Maps Explorer, tells that the cache folder state (use and remaining spaces) cannot be retrieved, meaning that the cache folder is not existing.

Sorry for those disagreements
Best regards

Got this far before then it stalled at Reply adn I'v e not been able to get back to the site for a few hours!.


I haven't touched the SD Card Path and it displays as empty if I go to it on the screen.
Logs
File /mnt/sdcard/alpinequest/logs/alpinequest.log
Error : null
Device ESD /mnt/sdcard
Device DD /data
Application folder /mnt/sdcard/alpineqyest/

I then checked in Manage Applications on my phone and had the option to put it on the SD card (apparently it wasn't), so i did and it didn't help. I then uninstalled again and re-installed and again it wasn't on the SD card. I still have the same log details etc. as before, except it now says Logs
Error: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /mnt/sdcard/alpinequest/logs/alpinequest.log (Permission denied)

[Psyberia-Support]

it now says Logs Error: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /mnt/sdcard/alpinequest/logs/alpinequest.log (Permission denied)

Ok so it's clearly an issue while accessing your SD card, like if it's locked by something else.
Are you sure that your device is not connected by USB to anything while starting AlpineQuest?
If nothing is plugged, can you try to re-start your device? (be sure to wait that any sd card scanner / checker have terminated before starting AlpineQuest again).

EDIT: what Android version do you have?

[tombar]

it now says Logs Error: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /mnt/sdcard/alpinequest/logs/alpinequest.log (Permission denied)

Ok so it's clearly an issue while accessing your SD card, like if it's locked by something else.
Are you sure that your device is not connected by USB to anything while starting AlpineQuest?
If nothing is plugged, can you try to re-start your device? (be sure to wait that any sd card scanner / checker have terminated before starting AlpineQuest again).

EDIT: what Android version do you have?

I've got Android 2.2.1

I shut down the phone and started it up again, then turned on AlpineQuest. Manage Applications still says it's not on the SD card. The log files are still the same except Error has gone back to Error: null. The bar that says what map is loaded is Mapquest Open and "You are offline" is on the screen.. If I chose Explore Maps, I now get two open folder symbols at the top (that's new) and a new message "This place is empty" (/mnt/sdcard/alpinequest/maps). I don't know much about mobile phones, as you can probably tell, and am not clear how to find what is on the SD card and what isn't, without taking it out. I have Viewranger (3.53 Gb), which I assumed was what took up half the SD card and have no problem running it (though it doesn't appear on the SD card either in Manage Applications)

[tombar]

I forgot to say there is a directory .andriod_secure with full-1.asec of AlpineQuest in it - don't know if that is relevant

Addition:
My confusion with directories is because I was reading the v 1.3 info!.

I've now installed Astro File Manager (as mentioned in an old post) and everything IS installed on the SD card, according to Astro. But now what?

[Psyberia-Support]

When you start the application and have no message about the missing SD card, then everything should be fine.
You just have to be online to initially retrieve the maps (the message on the map "You are online" means that this area is not already stored and you don't have an internet connection to get and store it).

Also, be aware that the "Move to SD card" option from the application manager just allows you to install applications on the SD card instead of the internal memory, but it doesn't have nothing to do with how the application will behave after that. Applications are not even aware of where they are installed. Installed on SD or not is just a matter of preference for you, nothing more.

[tombar]

When you start the application and have no message about the missing SD card, then everything should be fine.
You just have to be online to initially retrieve the maps (the message on the map "You are online" means that this area is not already stored and you don't have an internet connection to get and store it).

Also, be aware that the "Move to SD card" option from the application manager just allows you to install applications on the SD card instead of the internal memory, but it doesn't have nothing to do with how the application will behave after that. Applications are not even aware of where they are installed. Installed on SD or not is just a matter of preference for you, nothing more.

I thought i'd cracked it this morning - I'd been installing while connected by USB to the computer, so I uninstalled, then deleted all AlpineQuest stuff using Astro, then installed via wireless and got messages about the maps being stored, which I'd not had before, but, when I turn off wireless, I still can't load maps - I get the message "You are offline" with all of them

[Psyberia-Support]

But do you still have the "no sdcard" message at startup? And the error when opening the Maps Explorer?

We must proceed step by step because I think that there is different things happening here:
- You can install the application with or without the USB cable, move it or not to the SD card. That's not important.
- What is important is that when you use AlpineQuest, your device mustn't be connected to your computer, because when it is the SD card is NOT available for Android applications, so AlpineQuest can't store the maps. I guess that's what happened when you had the "No SD card" message and error message about the available storage space status.
- Then, while connected to the Internet, all displayed area are stored. Note that each zoom level has to be displayed to be stored. If you want to store a complete area with all zoom values, follow this tutorial: http://www.alpinequest.net/en/help/1.4/ ... store-area.

[tombar]

But do you still have the "no sdcard" message at startup? And the error when opening the Maps Explorer?

We must proceed step by step because I think that there is different things happening here:
- You can install the application with or without the USB cable, move it or not to the SD card. That's not important.
- What is important is that when you use AlpineQuest, your device mustn't be connected to your computer, because when it is the SD card is NOT available for Android applications, so AlpineQuest can't store the maps. I guess that's what happened when you had the "No SD card" message and error message about the available storage space status.
- Then, while connected to the Internet, all displayed area are stored. Note that each zoom level has to be displayed to be stored. If you want to store a complete area with all zoom values, follow this tutorial: http://www.alpinequest.net/en/help/1.4/ ... store-area.

I don't have any error messages of any sort now - not on the screen or in the log

My latest install was purely by wifi - no USB cable (and I deleted everything to do with AlpineQuest before installing)

Then, connected to the Internet by Wifi only, I selected in turn several maps (such as MapQuest Open, Landscape map etc) and, until a few minues ago, it was showing Landscape Map as loaded and, under Explore Maps, it was saying Stored several Mb , but now, if I go to Explore maps, it goes to Onboard maps [which I've never seen before!] and gives an option of My onboard maps or SD card. My onboard maps is empty and SD card shows an AlpineQuest folder (0 Files), cache subdirectory with 1 file, built-in maps 14 files and custom-maps 3 files. I chose built in maps and it says This place is empty; custom maps gives UK Topos Maps

Have just checked and my Landscape map still shows offline, but only at the same zoom level - I hadn't realised I'd have to store every zoom level - how many are there?

Edit 2: OK, I'm installing zoom levels up to 200 M - Zoom to 100% gave 10 Gb! Is there some way of knowing what zoom level corresponds to how big a file? Or to omit the low zoom levels, apart from doing them one by one? I suppose the easiest is to choose a zoom level you like, then download the area of map you want?

[Psyberia-Support]

Ok fine so now that all's working fine, it's just a matter of learning how to use the application (can take some time to understand the philosophy at first, but then its easy).

First, concerning the Maps Explorer, just click at the top left icon (a map folder with an earth on it) to display the automatically stored maps.

Then, as explained all displayed areas will be automatically stored. If you plan to go offline and will need a particular area of the map, then you can store it using the following tutorial: http://www.alpinequest.net/en/help/1.4/ ... store-area. Have a look at it, everything is explained.

To know what max zoom level you need, just zoom in until displaying the zoom you want, then start the store area tool. This one will then be set to download all zoom levels until the current one. You can then un-zoom the map to select a larger area to store, but it will keep the maximum zoom level to download unchanged. If the zoom bar turns to red, then it means that the data to store is too large of a one-short download. Reduce the area of the maximum zoom level.