[closed] New Feature list

[Craggy]

I went on a wild camp/hike on the weekend and used AlpineQuest throughout. I had a big smile on my face every time I took my phone out because I was so impressed with the power of the app! (Im sad like that!)

There are a few things during my hike that I thought would be useful to add on. Some should be fairly simple to add.

1) Have a time threshold for break times. After using AQ for a long hike, I’m fairly happy with the break detection, but I don’t consider a 1 minute stop to check navigation/take a photo as a break. Very quickly you hike can become littered with little 'micro breaks'. To get around this I suggest having a break threshold option that allows you to select 1,2,3,4 or 5 minutes. Any break lower than this time will be classed as hiking.

2) Total time and hiking/active time. I hiked for 2 hours, then camped for 12 hours (stopping tracking), then hiked for 10 hours (on a new segment). the total hike time shows as 24 hours, when in reality the total hike time was only 12 hours. it would be good to show the time as follows (using my hike as an example):

Time Active 12:00 / Total 24:00
Segment 1 time 02:00
Segment 2 time 10:00

I appreciate that the individual track times may mean that it may get quite crowded on long, multi segment hikes. The hiking/active time should include breaks, but not the time in-between segments.

3) User weight. Thanks for the calorie addition, it is great. One thing that I would like to see is the user weight saved per track. The user weight may change from track to track, particularly when carrying different packs. At the moment this is nice to have but this will be essential if you plan on adding a section on the app that allows users to add up the total time/distance/calories etc of multiple hikes. (Wishful thinking!).

4) Allow waypoint tracks etc to have a transparency slider. This is relatively minor, but i noticed that my rough waypoint track that i was following sometimes got 'in the way' of my actual map, and I couldn’t see the path i was following. allowing the track to be transparent would help alleviate this.

5) Inclusion of the rectangular bearing compass on the map screen. It occurred to me that I was never really going to spend any time on the compass page of the app, but the bearing section was quite useful (the horizontal bar that show the green target triangle lining up with your position). This would be useful if there was an option to include this on the map screen, it could be at the top of the map page with the current info boxes below. This would allow you to navigate using the map, but also keep tabs on your waypoint direction. It would also be useful if the bearings N, E, S and W were on this. This seems like it would be useful if you chose not to display the track you were following (see transparency request). Even just as a compass with the NESW bearings on it, it seems that it would be useful (and less intrusive than the current compass overlay option - so could potentially replace this?).

[Psyberia-Support]

Hi and thanks for these feedbacks.
There are a lot of interesting things here, and it's funny to see that some of them have already been asked (at least something similar), I guess they are really missing....

1) That's clever. I'll add this new setting, you're right it could be good.

2) I have already discussed about that with various users and it seems that there is no real consensus on taking into account time and distance between segments or not... The thing is that I can't change this just like that, it will be an important behavior change. However I also could add a stat setting for this. I'll see what I can do.

3) I can add the user weight as in information field for tracks, and use it when computing calories. This is easy I'll do it.

4) It could be nice to have that. Unfortunately I had a closer look and it will require lot of work, even if it seems easy.
Right now, you can turn off the border, select a large landmarks display size and define a transparent color like "#22008600", but the render is not good. I keep this in mind but won't be done so soon.

5) This one will also require more work. Different similar things have been asked, like a small navigation panel at the bottom. This is a very good idea, but I never found the time to work on that. When I do it, I'll try to take into account all requested things...

So to sum-up, 1) and 2) will be added "soon", 3) for next version I hope, 4) and 5) "one day"...

By the way, thanks a lot the the nice Google Play comment (I guess it's you)

[Craggy]

Thanks for the response.

4 and 5 were the same issue really, and would be nice to have, but didnt really affect my hike much. The current follow process while the track is invisible is adequate for my needs, but its nice to know that you will consider the feedback for when you get time. (and the technical issues around number 4 i fully understand)

1 and 2 are things that I did find problematic during my hike, so im very happy that you will be taking these on board.

3 will save me a bit of faffing, and as I said, if you do end up adding a multiple track stat dashboard page, this is essential. thanks for looking at adding this so promptly.


Yep, those comments were mine and well deserved.

I have used many apps like this and until trying this, thought trimble was the best but AQ blows it away. on top of that, the development team are very responsive so it really helps users feel some sort of ownership having the app become 'customised' to your needs.

Keep up the good work!

[Craggy]

regarding suggestion 2, to avoid any issues with people who wanted the gap inbetween waypoints counting and those who didnt, I suggested that both be included.

I personally would be interested in both stats, the whole duration of the hike (inc the camp) and the amount of time ive spent actually hiking. I would also find it useful to know how long I have been on the current section of the hike (hence the seperate segment splits.)

These all seemed to be things that I found myself checking on frequently during the hike. I would imagine that over a multi day hike, trying to calculate how long you have been on a particular segment may become a bit of a pain!

[Psyberia-Support]

Hi again,
I have a good news for you, you can already have your stats computed for each segment: long press an exported track and select "Browse content". Then all segments are listed, and you can have details (including stats) for each of them.
Also, I have added 1) and 3) for next version. For the breaks, I have raised the default value to 2 minutes, and available values are from 1 to 5 mins.
Have a good WE

[Craggy]

Thanks,

being able to split tracks down into their individual segments like this is really useful for being able to check on how we did on a multi day hike.

Unfortunately this is only really useful for tracks that have already been completed as it doesnt appear that you can do this on the current track that you are recording - this is where it would be particulary useful.

One of the most common questions im asked during a hike is "how long have we been hiking". This question is essentially how long have we been on the current segment. this information isnt easily available without having to check/calculate times etc.

Thanks for adding 1 and 3 so promptly, these will really prove useful for me.

[Craggy]

Had a good Weekend too by the way!

Went on a nice ridge walk which took a lot less time than expected, so I used AQs excellent landmark functionality to plot a new track. it is extremely useful being able to plot a course so quickly and get an estimate of how many miles the new trek will be!

[Psyberia-Support]

Thanks for the feedback!
I have released version 1.4.8 including points 1) and 3).

[craggy]

Thanks,

I have tested both additions and the break time threshold works really well. I have gone back over my recorded hikes and the breaks are much more representative of what was actually taken. All of the little micro breaks are now gone and only actual breaks remain. I am very happy with this addition!

I tested the weight stored per track and noticed that when editing the user weight in edit details the weight is sucessfully saved to the track, however when creating a new track the weight is not saved to the track. (The current user weight is used and not the weight at the time of the hike). Is this by design?

[Guest]

I can understand that legacy tracks will not have the data saved to them, and will use the variable current weight, but new tracks should automatically save the current user weight as a permanent attribute?

[Psyberia-Support]

Right now the current recorded track doesn't have info stored (the name, desc, etc are only asked at the export time), so you're right that you can't use the custom weight feature for the current track.

Concerning the general behavior of this feature, I don't think it's a good thing to store by default the weight value.
The calories are primarily computed based on the common user weight. The new stored user weight is just a way to override the common value is particular cases, but doesn't replace it. As long as you want an user weight to be equal as the default one, just leave the field empty. If you want a different one, you'll have to manually edit the field anyway.

However, if you really want the default weight to be stored in exported tracks, I can add an user setting for that.

[craggy]

Thanks again,

A setting for this would be very useful, as I will end up having to manually attach the current weight to each track so that it sticks.

[Craggy]

Hi,

Just wonderign whether you have given any more thought to having an option to auto save the user weight to a track.

The current Process is that I adjust my user weight depending on my weight and my pack size before I go on my hike, this way i can track calories as I hike. When I save the track the weight is not saved and I often forget to go in and save it to the track. after a few weeks/hikes I rememer and then have to try and remember what my total weight was for each track I did.

Workign on the assumption that people will have their current user weight set while doing the actual hike, it stand to reason that that is the weight they would want attributing to the hike when saved.

its only minor, but it does trip me up quite often!

Many thanks

[Psyberia-Support]

Hum sorry I didn't came back on this, but as of version 1.4.9 there is an user setting allowing you to include the current user weight when exporting a track (in the default format only).
You can find information on user settings here: http://www.alpinequest.net/en/help/1.4/user-settings.
To activate the option, you have to create a file called "user_settings.conf" in the AlpineQuest folder and add the line:

Code: Select all

tracker.export.fill_user_weight=1

As we discussed before, this is quite particular use and that's why I haven't added a common setting.

Let me know if you have any issue with the user setting.

[Craggy]

Fantastic,

I have added this config file and it works like a charm.

Thanks for implementing this, great work as always!