[Sucroid]

I agree, you guys don't seem to be "One and Done" developers, I would much rather pay for your continuing development, then have a static app. You definitely stand out in terms of native design. I wish more developers (and Users) would get it, that Native apps are worth the premium $. Even $10+ for a good native app (and equal quality development support) is worth it to me. It's like the new BlackBerry Ad...... DO YOU?BlackBerry - TV advert (60') - YouTube

Unfortunately, many people still think that apps need to be free.

[anon(757282)]

Read this thread. Just bought the app. Looking forward go great new navigation capability. Thank you to the developer!

[ralfyguy]

How do you delete or rename bookmarks?

[Marty_LK]

I just downloaded this app and can't figure out how to make it give directions. Anyone know how to work this app? I'm simply trying to set it to give me directions to a particular location and I have yet to discover how to do that. I've tapped every button I can find.

Where I am at right now is: I swiped the top down and selected the diamond shaped icon with the wavy arrow. That is where I'm lost. The next page allows me to "Add" a location, address or Lat/Lon, but when it adds the location the "Get Directions" isn't selectable. And I can't seem to find the text field for typing in the name of a place.

This is really annoying when a dev puts out something that takes a college degree to figure out how to use. I realize RIM products are oriented more for the business user, but why do the apps have to be so complex?

And how do I make it zero in on my current location? In other Turn by Turn Navigation apps on other systems, there is a round icon a person can press to set the view to their current location. I don't see that in this app.

[FF22]

If you look on your pb in the "misc" folder, there is a pdf manual. Maybe that would help. You can copy it to your computer to you can look at it as you run the program.

[Marty_LK]

If you look on your pb in the "misc" folder, there is a pdf manual. Maybe that would help. You can copy it to your computer to you can look at it as you run the program.

What it was doing was requiring me to input my current location first. I didn't realize this and that's why the "Get directions" button wasn't selectable. And the PDF doesn't say anything about typing in the name of a place and searching for it. I guess if a person is to use this app well enough, they will need to know the address or lon/lat of the destination because it won't let you just input the name of the destination and find it in a search-engine type system.

[greatwiseone]

I've been testing out the new Magella Compass the past week or so, and my biggest problem is the search functionality. The turn by turn navigation and the GPS tracking are generally working quite well. The app is able to find my position fairly quickly (within 10 to 20 seconds).

The search functionality is not working as well as I would expect (obviously I understand this is a work in progress). When I run some searches for specific addresses, the searches sometimes don't work. The Places list for Vancouver is somewhat out of date. The other issue is the inability to search Places's by name as the app currently only allows search of Places by categories.

Nevertheless, the turn by turn navigation is a great start, and I look forward to more improvements from the Dev. Thanks for all your hard work to date!

[Jeep_YJ]

I'm having some issues with computing routes. I live in southern Ontario, Canada and plotting a route from my town results in some really odd results.

Owen Sound, Ontario to Guelph, Ontario is linked via Highway 6. Oddly, about half way to Guelph the route turns left and takes a convoluted route via another highway and secondary roads.

I've tried several routes point to point and some do very similar things - ie the route should be a straight line, but the plotted route is a series of turns and secondary roads.

Suggestions?

Hi,

I'm having the same problem... Can't trust it... To not take you 60 some odd killometres out your way and this is at home and some other localities from mid Ontario north ward.

Database is riddled with errors. Such a shame.

Take care,

Jeep_YJ

[ast_ph]

I just bought the app. Is there a way to improve the search feature? Before typing anything you can see the state, city and country initial, but when you're about to type, it disappears. Maybe make a separate fields for each info?

[kjm2010]

Hi,

I'm having the same problem... Can't trust it... To not take you 60 some odd killometres out your way and this is at home and some other localities from mid Ontario north ward.

Database is riddled with errors. Such a shame.

Take care,

Jeep_YJ

Do you have the same types of routing errors with both the Mapquest and OSM maps which can be selected in the preferences section? I read somewhere one is better than the other depending which country you are in.

[crackberryjill]

I've used this a few times now and am very pleased with it. Maybe because I am not expecting it to be a full blown GPS unit like a Garmin or Tom Tom.

Running offline maps wasn't a problem. Just cached the closest zoom on the final area where I was looking for my suppliers.

And it looks like there are plans for caching whole regions.

For $6 it is a great deal. And I too would be willing to pay more for the updates. Must be a heck of a lot of work doing a quality app such as this.

I look forward t future updates.

[moa999]

Anyone had any success outside Canada/ US.

Updated to v3 last night and had limited success (albeit only played for half an hour)

First positive
GPS lock seems much quicker than on v2...
Maps seem to load more quickly and resize more smoothly

But then
Search for an address:
21 jump st, suburb, australia
--> Returns all US addresses on the other side of the world... hmmm not good.
21 jump st, suburb, AU
--> Same thing

Jumped into settings and changed country to AU.
Appeared to help things.

But getting Error, no route on everything I tried.
Tried both MapQuest and OpenMaps.

---

Similar to the above posters,
I would have no issues paying a few additional $s for a v4 version if it added features, I am happy to pay for quality apps (eg. just paid the $20 for the F1 app)
Also - how much are the inapp voices - you can trial the voice but then it takes you to the account login screen before even telling you the price.
Didnt bother given I cant even get a route to map.

(I also shoudl admit I am yet to read the manual)

[Willardv]

I'm having some issues with computing routes. I live in southern Ontario, Canada and plotting a route from my town results in some really odd results.

Owen Sound, Ontario to Guelph, Ontario is linked via Highway 6. Oddly, about half way to Guelph the route turns left and takes a convoluted route via another highway and secondary roads.

I've tried several routes point to point and some do very similar things - ie the route should be a straight line, but the plotted route is a series of turns and secondary roads.

Suggestions?

More testing. The route is correct when "optimized" is selected, but not with "gps guidance" option is selected or the "directions" option.

[Justthecrack]

Couple issues.

I have cached 18.9 MB of map, yet, with no wi-fi or bridged connection, I get the infamous white screen. Have closed and restarted the app, no pending tiles remain. I've obvously cached something, but what and where is it? Doesn't matter what I choose as the zoom level, I get noting without some internet. All this after spending about 20 minutes panning around my city while on wi-fi and saving tiles.

Secondly, even while bridged, cannot search for an address. Does search not work while bridged?

Thirdly, while bridged to navigate to an address searched while on wi-fi, the voice commands do not call out street names. Only "right turn approaching", or "please turn right". The voice commands should try and mimmick BB Traffic as closely as possible to call out street names and also try and give directions 2 steps ahead. This helps when turning onto multi-lane roads to know which lane to choose.

Also, came to a street where right turns are not allowed, so had to go down a block and u-turn, which threw off the navigation to take 30 seconds to recalculate.

[fwworc]

After reading the PDF and playing with the app for a bit, decided to take it for a test run. I cleared the map cache, created a route, used the 'Cache map data along route' function set to store street level to region then 'Save Pending' to store it all (32.4 mb used) and jumped in the car.

Waited for GPS to find me, opened the route and off I went. Map tiles displayed perfectly and the oddly voiced lady kept me on the right road. Huzzah!

I then decided to double back along the route, so to avoid being nagged by the nice lady I closed the route in the app, expecting to see the map tiles displayed (now without the route marking) with my location noted by the GPS marker.

As soon as I closed the route (using the X on the bottom right of the screen) the map tiles disappeared, though the GPS marker continued to work - as I drove I could see the now blank tiles being dragged about. If I reopened the route the map reappeared. Close the route again (without moving the car) and the map tiles disappeared despite the fact that I never physically left the route that had been cached. I tried all zoom settings just in case but this made no difference.

As I approached home, the map reappeared (with the route closed) when I reached the point where it would have cached some tiles as I was panning around my immediate surroundings before creating the route.

Do I conclude from this that if you use the 'Cache route' function the tiles cached will only be available when that route is active? If so that might explain some of the difficulties other users are having.

Also to those above having difficulties with the search function I can tell you that it had no problem at all finding some very small villages in Cornwall, UK. Not much help if you're in Australia...

[cbvinh]

My experience with turn-by-turn so far hasn't been very good. Blackberry Traffic drained my Torch 9850 on only an hour drive. There were a few times during the drive that the GPS lost signal and had to recalculate, right before important turns. It didn't give me much confidence in using my 9850.

I also have two Playbooks, a 16 GB and 64 GB. When I saw the posting about a new version, v3, and that it supported voice turn-by-turn, I look a leap of faith and bought it before testing it out with the trial version. Well, it wasn't a complete leap of faith as many people here felt it was great. However, here's my experience with it so far:

- Drive home: I had turn-by-turn route my drive home from work, a mere four miles. The route generated was exactly the route I usually take, so it was satisfying to see that my usual route was also the optimal one. I followed along on the route. On the first major turn, the voice alerts were given clearly ahead of the turn and easy to follow, though the street name wasn't announced, just a distance and "turn right". As I drove on, Magellan indicated that it needed to recalculate because I was off the route. I was driving straight and the next turn wasn't for a while. I canceled the request (at a stop light) and drove on. Approaching the next major turn in the route, Magellan told me I need to make the next "legal u-turn"! I canceled that request as well and proceeded. This time, the alerts for the next turn was off and I was already well into the turn by the time the alerts were given. (I'm guessing this was due to Magellan thinking I was in the wrong location without doing the "next legal u-turn".) After that, the rest of the alerts and directions were fine.

- Walking around: I wanted to see how accurate Magellan was at locating me as I walked around. (I am hoping to use the GPS route record feature for a future trip.) For this, I bridged the Playbook to the 9850. I found that the location bounced around a lot, sometimes almost a street over. My 9850, using Bing Maps, was much better at locating me. (Is this a case difference between the quality of the GPS in the 9850 and the Playbook?)

- At home, I put the Playbook on a table. (Even at home, I get pretty good GPS reception with my 9850, two Playbooks and a Touchpad.) As I was playing with the options, suddenly I was transported to the middle of the Pacific, south of Hawaii! Magellan would refuse to relocate me even after pinch-to-zoom in and out. A reboot was in order and things were fine again.

Placing the two Playbooks stationary, side-by-side, Magellan says:

- One Playbook is heading 23 degrees NE, the other, 218 degrees SW
- Magellan constantly says the Playbooks are stationary or moving 1-2 mph
- One Playbook is at 11 feet while the other is at 36 feet above sea level. This actually fluctuates quite a bit, from -5 feet to 56 feet.

Overall, I like the design and effort that was put into Magellan Compass, but I'm wondering whether the GPS in the Playbook is adequate or if Magellan needs more work to make its positioning more precise.

[jtegen]

@marty_lk: You need to add a waypoint to where you want to go. If GPS is active, the first waypoint gets automatically added. Simply add the destination waypoint to where you want to go by either lat/lon, address, place or previous location. The app allows for multiple waypoints (up to 50) for complex routing.

To set the map location to your current GPS location, select the 3rd button on the map (GPS marker) and the button in the expanded bar will allow you to recenter, track, show dashboard or set as the starting point of your route (in that order). The user's guide has a lot of this in it.

Hope that helps.

[jtegen]

To answer some of the latest questions and comments:

Map Quest does not currently allow the maps to be re-skinned (font size, colors for night mode, etc.). We will re-ask.

Routing and tile caching are separate.

We appreciate the positive posts regarding the work we are doing. We also appreciate that many users do understand the complexity of getting an application like this to work and get to the marketplace. Many would be surprise by some the arrogant email/posts we receive that are not constructive or worth responding to. We are working on version 3.1 to address the most important issues brought up by the user community. In terms of pricing. Once the product can manage more things off line and the features are solid, the price will likely increase. We can either continue to develop the app until "all" the features are in place, or we can incrementally release the app to gain revenue to continue development and have people say that it is not XYZ, when it is obvious that it is not or promoted as such.

[Willardv]

Do you have the same types of routing errors with both the Mapquest and OSM maps which can be selected in the preferences section? I read somewhere one is better than the other depending which country you are in.

I've tried both and have the same issue. If GPS guidance is selected the route is bizzare - but if I choose optimized then it is as expected. The downside to this is there's no voice navigation with optimized?

[jtegen]

Please go to our blog and send us a message from there regarding the address/locations of the waypoints that is doing this so we can look into it.

Optimized uses a different service to route and voice is not possible (license conflict). You can optimize to get the order of the waypoints correct and then select guidance for voice, but the route may be different since it is using a different service.

[Angus_CB]

jtegen; I asked this question long before v3 was released. At that time it seemed like a possibility.
Do you foresee the ability to use calibrated bitmap maps with Compass at any point in the future?
I have Topo maps that have .JPR, .CAL and .MAP calibration files.
If not Compass perhaps a separate product?
All I am looking for is something that shows where I am and to record a track.

I still haven't had a chance to give v3 a good test but from the little I have used it I like what I see. Next weekend will be a road test.

[arig77]

I purchased this App and am very pleased with it but have a couple of questions:

1. Is there an option to have the voice also say the name of the street (as opposed to �turn ahead�?

2. Is there a way to drag the route to create custom routes (i.e. directions tell me to go a certain way but I want to route it along other streets).

Thank you,

[Wolfgan]

jtegen; I asked this question long before v3 was released. At that time it seemed like a possibility.
Do you foresee the ability to use calibrated bitmap maps with Compass at any point in the future?
I have Topo maps that have .JPR, .CAL and .MAP calibration files.
If not Compass perhaps a separate product?
All I am looking for is something that shows where I am and to record a track.

I still haven't had a chance to give v3 a good test but from the little I have used it I like what I see. Next weekend will be a road test.

Try trekbuddy.net (both playbook and BBOS versions are free), I read ppl converted maps from different sources including overlays (using tools posted on trekbuddy wiki), the app just displays it and record the track if that's your goal. No turn by turn navigation functionality thou.
I hope it helps, Wolf.

[Angus_CB]

Try trekbuddy.net (both playbook and BBOS versions are free), I read ppl converted maps from different sources including overlays (using tools posted on trekbuddy wiki), the app just displays it and record the track if that's your goal. No turn by turn navigation functionality thou.
I hope it helps, Wolf.

Thanks. I have the BBOS version on my Torch and like it a lot. I had checked a couple of months ago for a Playbook version and they didn't have it. I never thought to check again.

[jtegen]

@Angus_CB: Not at this time, but could be in the future. We're trying to get v3.1 done and then need to focus on BB10 development.