[cook46933]

RFE (Request for Enhancement)
Is there a way to make the compass face larger?

Yes, our next release should have a bigger compass image.

[davoid]

Well done guys, I've just followed this thread with great interest and installed several of the updates. It's a great app.

I have a couple of requests, though. Is there anyway of making it connect to my bluetooth puck on its own? At the moment it keeps searching for satellites until I open another nav program like nav4all and then the puck connects to nav4all. I then close nav4all, and B* then takes over the bluetooth connection to the puck and it works. Now, I'm glad it works, but think it would be much better if I didn't have to piggyback off another application in order to connect to the puck.

Another thing. It would be a nice feature if it prompted you to enable your bluetooth, as I don't have mine running all the time (to save battery) and I keep forgetting to activate it when starting the app.

Hope this feedback helps.

[davoid]

PS. Nav4all connects to the puck right away, whereas BlackStar is on number 245 and counting...

[cook46933]

I have a couple of requests, though. Is there anyway of making it connect to my bluetooth puck on its own? At the moment it keeps searching for satellites until I open another nav program like nav4all and then the puck connects to nav4all. I then close nav4all, and B* then takes over the bluetooth connection to the puck and it works. Now, I'm glad it works, but think it would be much better if I didn't have to piggyback off another application in order to connect to the puck.

Another thing. It would be a nice feature if it prompted you to enable your bluetooth, as I don't have mine running all the time (to save battery) and I keep forgetting to activate it when starting the app.

Thanks for the feedback, it is always welcome.

I use a BT puck with my Curve, my puck is a Freedom 2000 keychain GPS. I have had problems where it may not connect, but if I do not see the blinking blue LED, I exit out and open it again and it usually works. If you don't see the blue LED within a few seconds, I don't think it will connect, you need to exit and try again. And when you exit out, use the Exit menu option or the escape key, not the red "hang up" button. The hang up button just pushes B* to the background, it does not exit.

I have been considering that a BT issue, not a B* issue because the same thing happens to me with other GPS apps like Nav4All. But if there is something we can do to improve that, I will try to find out.

I have also experienced losing my BT connection sometimes if the backlight comes on. Again I considered that an issue with my GPS as the Freedoms are well known for losing the BT connection with some apps such as google maps where the GPS doesnt think it is needed anymore and goes into power saver mode.

We do have some things in place to reconnect the GPS if the signal is lost, but the BT connection has been one I have not been able to recover, yet. I have not given up on the issue though.

What brand of puck do you use?

[davoid]

I use the Freedom 2000 Keychain. Yes, I know about the auto powersave - mine usually shuts down while B* is still trying to find satellites, even though the puck has found a valid signal. It's frustrating when the satellite led is flashing, but the bluetooth one is on solid.

[davoid]

wow. it just connected first time, and with no other nav software running!

[cook46933]

I use the Freedom 2000 Keychain. Yes, I know about the auto powersave - mine usually shuts down while B* is still trying to find satellites, even though the puck has found a valid signal. It's frustrating when the satellite led is flashing, but the bluetooth one is on solid.

OK, it is the same as mine then. Well, to get you by, try the method I mentioned. If your bluetooth led on your phone does not start blinking within a few seconds, then exit B* using the exit menu option not the hangup button. Then go back into B*. If the counter does not start back at 1, then it did not really exit, it was just pushed to background.

It seems like if the BT connection is lost during use or is not made within the first few seconds, it never will unless you exit then go back in.

[davoid]

OK, it is the same as mine then. Well, to get you by, try the method I mentioned. If your bluetooth led on your phone does not start blinking within a few seconds, then exit B* using the exit menu option not the hangup button. Then go back into B*. If the counter does not start back at 1, then it did not really exit, it was just pushed to background.

It seems like if the BT connection is lost during use or is not made within the first few seconds, it never will unless you exit then go back in.

Yes, it works now. Turning on the bluetooth first helped also. When I turned on the app first, then the bluetooth, it was far more problematic. What do you think of a check to see if it's on - and if not, offer to turn on bluetooth? I'm sure other apps do this.

[cook46933]

Yes, it works now. Turning on the bluetooth first helped also. When I turned on the app first, then the bluetooth, it was far more problematic. What do you think of a check to see if it's on - and if not, offer to turn on bluetooth? I'm sure other apps do this.

Definitely added to the list of future enhancements.

[sam1ee]

This posting is for those that question the accuracy reported by B*. I verified that the accuracy reported is correct and far better than most GPSs. This was accomplished with GIS software. I will explain how I did this:

1) I have B* and BBmaps installed on my 8110. Yes it is possible to have bbmaps on an AT&T phone and on OS's higher than 4.3. Mine is running on 4.5.0.93.

2) I opened B* and waited for satellites. Accuracy jumped between 5 and 7 feet.

3) I opened BBmaps. It reported that I had acquired 9 satellites. I used the "Send Location" function on BBmaps. I sent my location as an email to an engineer assistant.

4) He opened the email and took the lat/lon from the address and plugged it into his GIS software.

This is where the verification comes in. We were parked on the south side of a road. The road is 30 ft wide. We usually take measurements from the centerline of a road for our locations. so we were about 15 feet to the south of the centerline. The GIS software put us at about 16 feet off of the centerline to the south. Actually I was about 14 feet south of the centerline of the road. With north being up that takes care of the Y-axis, error equals about 2 feet. Now for the X-axis. This can be handled a few ways. Either measuring east-west from a known point or by using compass degrees and shooting an azimuth to a known point. There was a tree approximatly 30 degrees from my location (50 feet away.) The reverse azimuth from the tree to the vehicle would be 210 degrees (30 + 180). On the GIS software it put the tree at approximately 28 degrees from my reported location. That is pretty darn close. That would be an error of 2-3 feet from my location. After showing the engineering assistant my phone and the software he was impressed with the accuracy of the GPS on the BB and started complaining about his store-bought Garmin only getting 12-15 feet accuracy. (The Garmin would have reported my location further from southern edge of the road.)

Of course this is only a single test of accuracy. Several more times would be needed to verify. The data would have to be collated and graphed. Then we could look a bell curve and use the statistical median as our verification. But it is a start. Questions? (Who's overwhelmed?)

Bottom line: BB GPS is pretty darn accurate. Believe it when it says accuracy 5.78 feet!

[BruceRTL]

Please trust me when I say that no one wants to believe the accuracy is true more then I do but here is an experiment I just did after reading your post. I'm sitting in a chair in front of my computer. I'm not wondering around my house. I tell B* to set a new waypoint and then turn around and select that same waypoint as the destination. B* is reporting 5.12 feet accuracy yet the waypoint I just told it to go to is reporting 15 feet away. How can that be if the accuracy is 5.12 feet? In fact as I watch B* for 30 seconds or so, the distance to destination got up to 22 feet without the accuracy changing more then a foot or so - yet I haven't moved. Having said all of that, It's a great program. I'm not complaining - I just don't think the accuracy is any better then my hand held Garmin. I just want BlackBerry to calculate it correctly - that's all. And don't think for a moment this is a problem with B*. BlackBerry is reporting the same accuracy internally as what B* is reporting on screen.

Here's another trick/bug that will show you how far off it is. LOL I know this is just a bug and I'll look through the source code and try to find it. If I do the above experiment using the MGRS coordinate format instead of dd:dd.ddddd it really gets whacked out.
First I go to options and select MGRS leaving the distance in miles. Next I clear out all waypoints and set a new waypoint right here in my chair. Then I tell B* to use this point as the destination. Now it tells me that I'm 1,243.05 miles from my destination. Dang! What UP!
I'll look into this bug/feature and report back what I find.

[sam1ee]

When I do the exact same thing I get accuracy 4.49 feet and distance 8 feet to 22 feet. Yes it jumps around a bit, but you have to realize what the accuracy is telling you. It is saying you are a radius of 4.49 feet away which means you could be 4.49 feet in any direction... so double the 4.49 feet and you get 8.98 feet from the end of radius to the end of radius (diameter). Since you set a way point with the bb you start out with a 8.98 error. If you double the 8.98 to have the possibility of two radii doubled for two circles you get 17.98 accuracy. As the accuracy jumps around to 7.8 feet you would have a 31.2 ft distance to a waypoint set with the bb. Of course with a higher number you would have a higher distance.

I have to try the MGRS trick. What do you get with your Garmin when you do the same thing?

[sam1ee]

Let's do some math with your 5.12 ft.

2 (5.12) = 10.24
2 (10.24) = 20.48

There must have been a little drift in accuracy for it to jump to 22 ft. If accuracy drifted to 5.5 or 6 it could easily jump to 22 - 24 feet.

[BruceRTL]

I totally agree about having to double the two radii (is it radii or radius's). English ain't my thing. But I definitely do agree with that. I keep it in mind every time I go geocaching. I may be showing 15 feet error to the west but if the person placing this cache had 15 feet error to the east. That's 30 feet. I just expected the accuracy readout on the BlackBerry to drift with the distance readout.

As far as my trusty Garmin Vista C. (have you seen the Garmin Oregon 400T. Man that is SWEET! - I got to have one) If it ever locates enough satellites, I'll try these same tests with it. Good idea. I've been waiting several minutes now. Hmmmm - Hey if it can't get a fix, it may be the excuse I need to get one of those 400T's. Maybe throwing it against the wall will help.

[sam1ee]

I let mine sit without closing B* and now I get 3.2 accuracy with < 2 ft distance... Hum maybe it gets more accurate with time... I don't know?

[sam1ee]

I totally agree about having to double the two radii (is it radii or radius's). English ain't my thing. But I definitely do agree with that. I keep it in mind every time I go geocaching. I may be showing 15 feet error to the west but if the person placing this cache had 15 feet error to the east. That's 30 feet. I just expected the accuracy readout on the BlackBerry to drift with the distance readout.

As far as my trusty Garmin Vista C. (have you seen the Garmin Oregon 400T. Man that is SWEET! - I got to have one) If it ever locates enough satellites, I'll try these same tests with it. Good idea. I've been waiting several minutes now. Hmmmm - Hey if it can't get a fix, it may be the excuse I need to get one of those 400T's. Maybe throwing it against the wall will help.

I've seen the Colorado (maybe I'm confusing it with a chevy truck). It's around $500-$600 at bestbuy. I found a 40% coupon while I was geocaching! Very tempting... I liked the topo maps and geocaching features.

[BruceRTL]

I let mine sit without closing B* and now I get 3.2 accuracy with < 2 ft distance... Hum maybe it gets more accurate with time... I don't know?

lol, you must be closer to the satellites.

[sam1ee]

lol, you must be closer to the satellites.

B* says I'm 564 feet below sea level (-564.46 feet)

[BruceRTL]

My garmin finally came up (the batteries were low - go figure). I walked outside where Mr. Garmin was giving me 16' accuracy. I set a waypoint and then told the Garmin to go to that waypoint. With the accuracy holding steady at 16' it told me I was 3' from my destination. Then I walked around and then back to that same point. It was consistently giving me 3' to destination even though the the accuracy reading was bouncing between 15' and 20'.

Next I re-tried this experiment setting the Garmin on MGRS and got similar results.

The bottom line is: Any GPS is a whole lot more accurate then my hand held compass (though my compass won't run out of batteries). Even if my GPS is 30' off I'm not going to complain.

FYI, holding B* and my Garmin side by side, I get:
B*: 12S UC 88256 e26978 N
Garmin: 12S UC 88245 e 26965 N

[sam1ee]

My garmin finally came up (the batteries were low - go figure). I walked outside where Mr. Garmin was giving me 16' accuracy. I set a waypoint and then told the Garmin to go to that waypoint. With the accuracy holding steady at 16' it told me I was 3' from my destination. Then I walked around and then back to that same point. It was consistently giving me 3' to destination even though the the accuracy reading was bouncing between 15' and 20'.

Next I re-tried this experiment setting the Garmin on MGRS and got similar results.

The bottom line is: Any GPS is a whole lot more accurate then my hand held compass (though my compass won't run out of batteries). Even if my GPS is 30' off I'm not going to complain.

FYI, holding B* and my Garmin side by side, I get:
B*: 12S UC 88256 e26978 N
Garmin: 12S UC 88245 e 26965 N

Your northing is 13 meters difference, easting is 11 meters difference. That is 42 feet for the northing and 36 feet for the easting. That's not terribly bad. Or 21 feet (42/2) off of a potential point (LOL, if you have to multiply to get the error you have to divide right?)

[Ranger Bob]

I just purchased the GlobalSat BT-338 Bluetooth GPS from the CrackBerry store last week and have been trying to get it to work with my Verizon Blackberry Curve 8330. My Blackberry seems to see the GPS and pairs but I am not sure it is working correctly.

I installed BlackStar to see if that would help by having a GPS type software but when I execute BlackStar I get the following error: "Uncaught exception: pushModalScreen called by a non-event thread".

I am a Geocacher so I would really like to get this software working. As far as I know I am running the most recent version of the software.

[BruceRTL]

I just purchased the GlobalSat BT-338 Bluetooth GPS from the CrackBerry store last week and have been trying to get it to work with my Verizon Blackberry Curve 8330. My Blackberry seems to see the GPS and pairs but I am not sure it is working correctly.

I installed BlackStar to see if that would help by having a GPS type software but when I execute BlackStar I get the following error: "Uncaught exception: pushModalScreen called by a non-event thread".

I am a Geocacher so I would really like to get this software working. As far as I know I am running the most recent version of the software.

Dave said he would have the new version out here before you read that note on the other thread. I guess he lied! lol..

Let us all know how geocaching works out using BlackStar. I really like the ability to upload the loc/gpx files directly into B*.

[cook46933]

Time for another release!! BlackStar 1.3.2

Changes included in this release are as follows:

1. Improved the layout to the main screen, options, list waypoints, mark waypoint, and waypoint details screens.

2. Added the ability to order waypoints in the list waypoints screen by distance or name, I am defaulting to distance.

3. Added the confirm exit option to the options page.

4. Bob G had made the comment that the icon disappeared on a black background and had offered a new icon with a grey outline.

5. There was a bug where if you changed the coordinate format, the mark waypoint page would not be updated with the proper format until you exited and went back it. That has been fixed.

6. BruceRTL and a friend fixed the compass images and they look awesome!!

Note: the Main page layout now had the actual gps coords in a very small font. That was to help fit everything and most comments I heard was that nobody was using the raw gps coords. But I did not want to get rid of them. If someone is using that and thinks it is too small, speak up and I can increase it in the next release.

Unfortunately we still do not have OTA installation. We are working towards it but just are not there yet.

As always, all feedback is welcome.

Ranger Bob, if this does not fix your error, let me know.

Bruce, I did not lie on purpose, you guys are just way too fast for me

Enjoy!

[BruceRTL]

Time for another release!! BlackStar 1.3.2

Bruce, I did not lie on purpose, you guys are just way too fast for me

Enjoy!

Just giving you a hard time! I have nothing better to do on a Monday morning at the office. Nice work on the latest version. It looks great!

[Ranger Bob]

Just a quick question before I screwup something, do I need to uninstall v1.3 before I install v1.3.2?