The new version of Locus Map adds support for Android Auto, a feature the community has long requested! From now on, you can use your favorite navigation app on the dashboard of a car or motorcycle that supports Google's Android Auto. And there are other exciting features as well.

What you can look forward to:

• Android Auto
• Photos and videos taken during the track recording
• New chart display system
• A more intuitive selection of routing profiles 

Android Auto

With Android Auto, you can launch a mobile app from your phone onto the dashboard of a supported vehicle or third-party device—whether it’s a car or a motorcycle. In this case, the app features a customized interface designed for easier and safer use by the driver.

With the new version of Locus Map, if you have Premium Gold, you can see your favorite map on the car's screen as soon as you start the app. 

What can it do?

Maps of your choice

You can now display any map you have in Locus Map on your car's dashboard. Whether it's our LoMaps in online or offline versions, road maps, hiking maps, satellite maps, or maps from your favorite publisher. 

The map is automatically selected based on your phone's settings, though you can override this setting directly in Android Auto. You can center the map, zoom in and out, and enable or disable rotation.  For best results, we recommend choosing the offline version of LoMap. Not only will this ensure that you can see the map while driving, even if you lose signal, but these maps also support rotating place names on the map to match the direction of travel. 

The map refresh rate is now determined by the location update frequency. In practice, this means one map refresh per second during active navigation. We are working on ways to make the display smoother. 

In navigation mode, Locus Map automatically applies the "Auto" preset and reverts the settings to their original state when navigation ends. So, if you want to customize the automatic map zoom settings based on speed, locate the corresponding "Auto" preset in Locus Map on your mobile phone. 

By default, the app automatically switches between light and dark modes based on the lighting conditions provided by the vehicle. If this behavior is undesirable for your use, you can configure it differently. In dark mode, the map is currently rendered as an inversion of the light mode. In some cases, the result may not be ideal. However, we plan to release a dedicated LoMap dark theme in the future. 

You can also display your custom waypoints on the map, a feature that geocaching enthusiasts—for whom Locus Map was originally created—will particularly appreciate. You can view caches, open a window with their basic information, and start turn-by-turn navigation to them. Hunting for “drive-ins” will now be a breeze. Similarly, you can also display your planned routes on the map. 

Another available layer over the map consists of auxiliary graphic elements that technically minded users will appreciate—these include time and distance circles, azimuth and direction lines, and dynamic elevation data that appears near the cursor. 

And if you really want to go all out, you can overlay a map on top of the base map on the car’s display—for example, using cadastral data from our WMS/WMTS library. There are no limits to our imagination—you know how it is ;). 

Search

Searching for a destination is an integral part of the basic features. Locus Map performs full-text searches for both points of interest (gas stations, restaurants, accommodation, campgrounds…) and mailing addresses. When stationary, you can use the keyboard or voice control via the vehicle’s audio system to enter your search; while driving, for safety reasons, only voice control is available.  The search history is identical to the history in the mobile app, so if you search for your destination on your phone in advance, all you need to do in the car is click on search and select the location from the autocomplete suggestions. You can then immediately start turn-by-turn navigation to the searched locations.

Navigation

The app can navigate to a selected destination, but also along a route that you plan in advance using the route planner in the mobile app or on the website. 

There are several ways to select a destination. As we mentioned earlier, you can choose a custom waypoint, such as a geocache. You can search for a location or address. And you can also simply tap directly on the map to create a destination. Locus Map will fill in the address automatically.

Locus Map offers two route calculation modes – fast and economy. The fast route connects the start and destination so that you spend as little time as possible on the journey. The fuel-efficient mode ensures that you save as much fuel as possible, thereby also helping the environment. The app remembers your last selection and automatically confirms the route after 5 seconds the next time you start navigation. 

Simultaneous use on your phone and Android Auto

Locus Map has one more trick up its sleeve. You can control it simultaneously on both the vehicle’s display and your smartphone. What’s the point of this? For example, you can use your smartphone to dynamically change the navigation content or destination and control certain features that aren’t available via the vehicle’s screen, for example, track recording. 

Summary

Locus Map was never developed exclusively as a road navigation app. And we don’t plan on changing that. But if its features suit your needs in this regard, why look for another app for car or motorcycle trips? Besides, we know how annoying it is to switch to a different navigation app once you’ve already found your location in LoMap. 

We’re curious to see how many of you will now use Locus Map for things like commuting to work by car. :) If something doesn’t work as expected or if you find that certain features are missing, we’d love to hear your feedback!

Browse photos and videos from your trip

Everyone takes lots of photos and videos on their trips. Locus Map has long been able to display them over the map, but this time we’ve added the option to keep them all neatly organized right next to a specific track. They appear directly below the map with the track.

You can click on the photos to view them in detail:

Photo display is turned off by default. You can turn it on in Settings > Points and Routes > Show Media. When you launch the app, don’t forget to grant Locus Map access to your media. And rest assured—your photos and videos are processed exclusively within the app and never leave your mobile device. 

Detailed charts

The track graphs have been thoroughly updated. You can now set two curves on either the distance or time axis directly in the route details panel. You can choose from elevation, slope, speed, pace, heart rate, and other parameters. 

Tap a point on the graph to display the corresponding location on the track. This allows you to scroll through the track smoothly. 

You can click on a button next to the main graph to view more detailed information, which displays all available route parameters in separate graphs. The graphs are linked. You can zoom in and out as desired and view real-time values at a selected point along the track.

Simpler router settings

Selecting profiles for route planning in the route planner was a bit of a design challenge for us, but with the latest update, we firmly believe we’ve simplified and streamlined the process while retaining all customization options. And there’s something extra on top of that, but more on that later.

The entire route or just the next section?

This decision is now much simpler—just check or uncheck the "Entire Route" option at the bottom of the route profile selection. Then select the appropriate profile by tapping its name, and you can continue planning:

Custom settings

It's located right below the button next to the profile name: 

If you're in the middle of planning a route and want to change your settings, you can use them to recalculate both the next section and the entire route.

Full compatibility with BRouter profiles

Geek alert! For many of our die-hard fans, the profile customization options offered by the app aren’t enough. That’s why we’ve fully integrated Locus Map with the capabilities of the specialized route-planning software BRouter. This allows for truly detailed configuration of routing profiles. 

You can import external profiles into Locus Maps as BRF files (currently only via the system file manager, but we’re working on direct import as well). In the profile list, create a new profile, select the appropriate external file, and start tweaking the settings:

The possibilities are truly endless, so tech-savvy people can really let their creativity run wild.

Spring is in full swing, so head outside and try out all those new features! We can't wait to hear what you think of them in the comments.

Článek Locus Map 4.33 introduces support for Android Auto and a host of other new features se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

After two months of intensive work, we bring you again the new version of your favorite outdoor navigation - Locus Map 4.24. In addition to a number of minor fixes and improvements, we of course have a few highlights for you. So let's briefly introduce them:

LoPoints - the most interesting places on the map

As you know, LoPoints are places on the map marked with icons. They are available online and offline and can be displayed on top of any map. LoPoints are clickable - if you click on them, you'll see lots of tourist information about the place, often including a description or photos from Wikipedia. Alternatively, there are photos from users who have visited the location and documented its current appearance. You can view the photos both in the app and on the web, including the user gallery. We continue to deepen this user interactivity with map data, as you can see in the following news:

Ratings and comments

You can now add a review to each LoPoint, consisting of a rating and a few words about what you liked or disliked about the place. The rating is similar to Google Play, that is, the highest praise is for 5 stars, the lowest for one star. You can comment on your rating, add recommendations, tips or warnings for others. Of course, all within the framework of civilized and polite attitude.

1 photo for LoPoint = 1 LoCoin to your account

Do you know what LoCoins are? Yes, that's right, our "virtual currency" with which you can buy maps in the Locus Store, and also purchase Premium features. Until now, LoCoins could only be obtained for money either directly in the Locus Store or on our website. Now, you can also earn them for photos of places you've visited.

The ability to add your own photos to LoPoints to document their current status for other members of the community of hikers and outdoor enthusiasts has been around since last year. From now on, we want to give back at least a little bit for your contributing to a good cause: 

For every approved photo you attach to LoPoint, we'll credit your Locus account with 1 LoCoin.

So for 30 photos of interesting paces you can get a LoMap of Croatia, for 225 photos you can get half of Germany, for 869 photos you can get Premium Silver for a year, and if you are creative enough, for 2099 photos you can get Premium Gold for a year! And that's worth it :).

Track recording just got a little bit better

Another topic for modification has become recording the tracks of your trips and training sessions, which we haven't touched on in a while. We've looked into it a bit more and made two major improvements based on your recommendations:

Lower battery consumption

We've optimized the recording process, cleaned up elements that were putting unnecessary strain on performance, and the result is significantly lower battery power consumption - you can save tens of percent if you use it all day. Even with the display on.

Attention, you are in motion, and you have a paused recording!

Many of you have expressed the wish that it would be good to have a notification in Locus|Map to alert you in the following situations:

• track recording is running, but you have interrupted the activity
• track recording is interrupted but you are moving

And because we're equipping the app according to your wishes, we've added the notifications. You can turn them on or off as needed in the settings of each track recording profile.

Share tracks with photos

Locus Map is bursting with ways to share your track with friends. With a link to the web, export to GPX, KMZ and other formats like HD JPEG with map and detailed stats... The only thing we were missing was a nice "Instagram" picture to share on your social networks.

So we added it, in three versions. You can share the track with the map in the background:

With an image based on the activity on the track:

Or with your own picture, taken during the ride:

Plus, something for geocachers and route planners

Log labs offline

Passionate geocaching players, specializing in lab caches, will also find something for themselves. We've taken Locus' capabilities up a notch again and added the ability for them to log their catches offline, i.e. without the need to be connected to the internet. 

And to save data, you can also set a maximum number of log downloads per cache.

More accurate time estimation on the route

Estimating time on the route is a pretty important factor for many people when planning hiking tours or cycling training trips. So far, time estimation has been very approximate based on general criteria and parameters. Now we introduce the possibility to adjust some factors according to one's own abilities, which makes the time estimation much more precise.

For the "walking" and "hiking" routing profiles, we have added the ability to adjust the default speed on the flat. This becomes the basis for calculating the time estimate, which incorporates other internal parameters such as elevation, gradient angle, and surface type. These are already taken by the application from routing and elevation data. The default speed can be set between 2 - 12 km/h, so even recreational runners can use it.

Road cyclists, on the other hand, measure their abilities mainly by power in watts, which they monitor with wattmeters on their bikes or trainers. When the personal power value is defined as the basis for calculating the time estimate on the route, we immediately get much more accurate results. There is a range from 60 to 240 W of average rider power:

Finally, something for geeks

It wouldn't be Locus Map if we didn't have something in reserve for the enjoyment of tech-savvy users. As you know, Locus Map can work with the BRouter offline router. This can be set up as an alternative to our LoRouter if you want to use your own routing profiles. We have now made it possible to set all supported parameters of these custom profiles in Locus Map. But how to work with them and how to get them into Locus is for another blog post, so another time.

Enjoy the summer!

Header photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash

Článek New Locus Map 4.24: review your favorite places and take photos for LoCoins! se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

We've taken our time with the new version of your favourite outdoor navigation app - we wanted to give it a proper polish and bring some major improvements before the start of the 2024 season. And we've done it - we've got a brand new route planner with an integrated dynamic itinerary linked to the route navigation, the ability to put the app directory in a freely accessible storage area, and lots of other nice touches.

Navigate with the planner

Sophisticated route planning is one of the cornerstones of Locus Map's features. That's why we've done a lot of work in recent months on the planner as well as routing, profiles and other setup parameters. However, the "Navigate to" function could not use this potential in its original design and defacto duplicated the planner function in a somewhat clumsy way. So we decided to combine these two functions into one. 

So how does it work now?

• Choose a destination - via "Navigate to", by direct selection on the map (point of interest, your own user point, long-tapping any place on the map...), in your library, from a search result...
• Tap on the navigation button - the route planner will start and a route will be generated in the last used profile from your current location to the selected destination. Now you can change the profile (activity, means of transport), add waypoints on the route, check the elevation graph, and surfaces, and just take full advantage of the comprehensive route planner. Or don't, and go straight to the next step:
• Start the route navigation - the button in the top bar starts the selection between navigation and guidance, and then you're ready to go.

What are the advantages?

• Removing a redundant route planning interface for navigation
• Simplification of the user interface
• Linking fast navigation from A to B with a comprehensive planner while maintaining the speed of its launch
• Quick possibility to edit the route, add waypoints, recalculate in another router or profile (large selection of profiles and their customization through many parameters) plus other benefits of the route planner (elevation graph, types and surfaces of roads...)

Plan routes with an itinerary

The itinerary has been part of the route planner for a few years now. However, until now it has been somewhat neglected, with extra input from the top bar. And since it is a live part of the UI in the web planner, we decided to make it more visible in the app as well. 

How is the itinerary in the planner used now?

• The bottom slide-up panel, the so-called "bottom sheet", now contains two tabs that are switched by a button on the top right: charts and itinerary. The default is to display the itinerary, even though there is nothing in the planner yet. This is because you can also select the start and finish directly in the itinerary.

• You can choose the start as before directly on the map or in the itinerary - tapping on start will display a menu of all options: 

• You can add additional waypoints (shaping or via) either directly on the map or in the itinerary:

• Use the itinerary to reorder, delete or reposition waypoints quickly.

• Tap between waypoints in the itinerary to see intermediate route segments that can be recalculated in another profile:

• Of course, on the map you have a fully editable route in addition to this.

So what are the advantages?

Route planning options are now more handy (they used to be hidden in menus), there are "more" options and something different suits everyone. You can plan on the map, in the itinerary, or combine both. The Itinerary is now an equal planning tool to the map.

Plus a little bonus - you can view a detailed route graph directly from the planner:

Photos from Locus Map in Google Photos? YES!

And not only there, and not only photos. Thanks to the new option to move the app's main directory to the Android/Media sector, the system gallery gets to them too. And you can easily access other app data, the geocaching folder, local exports of geocaching logs, and so on.

It's a refreshing breeze of freedom since the fateful moment in Android 4.4 when apps were forced into the impenetrable private Android/data sector. While Android's recommendation is still to use the Android/data sector, you can easily set your main directory to "Private folder in Android/Media" in Locus Settings > Backup & File System > File System Manager and forget about the nightmare of inaccessible app data.

You also have this option on an external SD card, but we don't recommend it due to data vulnerability and unreliability of the cards.

GPS auto-off is back

This feature, which made life easier and saved the battery for long-distance travelers and wanderers, had to go, as it didn't work properly on many phones - a lethal combination of battery optimization and a number of system permissions for location access made it impossible to exist.

Fortunately, we've managed to discover a way to restore the feature so that it's fully functional on Android 12+ phones. However, you still need to have Locus Map excluded from all battery optimization options (but Locus Map can't do without that now anyway). If you don't know how, this site will give you the details directly on your phone.

However, we've placed the option in the Expert settings section. Its use is really specific and has no justification for normal day trips.

More improvements for geocachers

In the previous version of the app, we've made a lot of geocaching features available that were originally only accessible through the Geocaching4Locus add-on. However, experienced cachers immediately threw a few things at us that we had forgotten in the rush. We hereby apologize and add the missing options to the app:

• the ability to update a cache directly in its details
• filtering of owners’ caches
• filtering of unpublished caches
• badge for downloaded caches

And don't worry, it'll get to the labs one day too, we're working on it!

So we wish you all a beautiful spring and a nice start to the new season with your favorite outdoor navigation!

Featured photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Článek New Locus Map 4.22 combines navigation with route planning and shares photos to the gallery se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

The day's hike is going great, you still have 10 kilometers to go, and the sun is shining, but so what? There's a rumble of thunder, a blackened wall looming over the horizon. An ominous spot with a purple center grows on the radar right in front of you, heading in your direction—a storm like a hell. You've got to take cover somewhere. There's a shelter on the Locus Map just a kilometer down the road from here. But can you fit your whole party in there? You wish you had a photo of it...

You've come on holiday and are planning a trip around the area with your friends. There are several attractions on the map that encourage you to visit. Some rocks, a ruin, a view... But is it really worth including them in the itinerary? What do they really look like?

It's terribly hot, you underestimated it on the hike with your water supply. The nearest pub is on the trail, but only in about an hour. You check the map, and look, there's a spring just down the road. Is it just a spring seeping out of the swamp, or is it covered, with a trough, and can you conveniently refill from it?

We’re sure you've experienced similar situations on your wanderings through nature. "If only I had a photo of that..., to know what it looks like..." - these and similar questions from our users inspired us to create the possibility to add our own photos to places on the map (so-called LoPoints). Having them available both on your mobile phone for a quick preview and above the map on the web for careful route planning is something that many outdoor enthusiasts will appreciate. No text can describe reality as well as a picture.

A lot of LoPoints already have photos from Wikipedia. However, Wikipedia does not contain every shelter or view tower, photos are usually only provided with the biggest attractions - tourist, historical and natural attractions - castles, chateaus, museums... Pubs, ruins, signposts, stops, shelters, wells... are still without photos. And now we want to help you change that.

Photos directly from your mobile

Adding a photo to a place of interest on the map is quick and easy:

• tap LoPoint on the map, and a panel with details will pop up

• tap the camera button
• select the option to either take the photo now or select a photo from the gallery that is already taken

• after confirming the photo or gallery selection you can add more snaps if you have them
• close the window, and the photos will start uploading in the background and you can continue to use the app normally

Not on the internet? No problem, everything works offline too. Photos will upload when you connect. By default, uploading is only enabled via wifi, but if you're not worried about your mobile data, turn wifi-only off in the app settings.

Which photos are the best?

Those that accurately depict the object or place in question. Best if you take several photos of the same place from different angles. And now some tips:

• If it's a view tower or a lookout point, include a view of the countryside from there.

• For more complex buildings or monuments, include the most interesting details

• Photograph information boards preferably in such a way that the text on them is legible in the photo - both in the app and on the website, the photo can be clicked through to the detail

• For restaurants, you can take a photo of the menu if it is legible

You can "like" each photo in the app and on the website.

Which photos are inappropriate?

Each photo is checked before it is attached to a place on the map. Images that in any way fit into the following categories will not be added to the locations:

• showing recognizable human faces
• depicting violence, racism, politics, memes, profanity or other obscenities
• photos of poor technical quality - blurry, too low resolution, too dark, too light…
• graphically modified photos - tilted photos, with labels, texts, frames, and other decorations
• images unrelated to the location or otherwise irrelevant

You will receive info about the acceptance or non-acceptance of photos within a few hours. 

If by chance an inappropriate photo slips through our careful filter, or for some other reason you find it unacceptable, you can report it to us:

We will check it again and possibly eliminate it.

What about privacy?

Adding photos to places on the map is seen as a voluntary service to the public. By submitting a photo, you agree that the image will be published on the map via Locus Map with the author's credit. We therefore strongly recommend that you only submit photos that are not in any way private, showing for example members of your family or your home.

In addition to the map, photos are also displayed in the public photo gallery that is part of your user profile. This is currently only accessible from the Locus Map application:

We also reserve the right to publish selected photos on our website or social media to promote the app or user competitions. 

So if you are on a vacation or just on a trip in the neighborhood, take photos and help others discover the world!

Článek Take photos and help others discover the world! se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

The smartphone age brings with it one major phenomenon - we all take pictures of everything, especially when we go on a trip or vacation. We bring back hundreds of photos from our holidays, and often we don't even know where we took them. Locus Map offers a helping hand in this case too - it displays our photos on a map. The smartphone camera "geotags" each photo - that is, it "stamps" it with GPS coordinates (unless you tell it not to). And displaying anything with GPS coordinates above the map is a breeze for Locus Map.

Where do I get those photos?

In order for Locus to display your travel photos above the map, you need to tell it where to find them. All this is controlled from the content panel on the left, the "Geotagged photos" item. The part with the label opens the selection of folders with photos, and the button with the eyelet turns on the display of photos above the map.

Let's start with the selection of folders with photos. Tap the camera icon to open a window with all available photo folders on your phone, sorted by apps:

Check the ones whose content you want to display on the map. This is usually the DCIM folder, which is located both in the internal storage and on the SD card. Locus can also display one level of subfolders.

On older Androids (version 10 and below), you can also add your own directory from anywhere in your phone's storage - tap the + button.

Quickly show, quickly hide

This is what the aforementioned, well-known eyelet is for:

Many of us have hundreds or thousands of photos on our mobile phones and Locus loads them gradually. Once there are too many on the map, the system can no longer catch up. We, therefore, recommend displaying photos in folders or turning them off when we no longer need them. Locus then responds much faster.

Show detail

The map with thumbnails looks cool, but what if you want to see the detail of the photo? Just click on a thumbnail and a panel pops up with distance, elevation, and other info and a larger preview of the photo:

Click on the preview to get to the detail, which you can enlarge with two fingers to the original size:

You can navigate, guide, and plan a route from your photos

The photos above the map behave exactly like normal points in Locus. You can start navigating to them, guiding to them with a beeline, or including them in the route when planning a trip:

It's up to your imagination now. So get on your bike and go!

Článek Where did you take this pic? Look on the map! se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

The OpenStreetMap.org data, which is the base for our LoMaps is not just about mapping roads, trails, forests, ponds, bike paths, and hiking trails. It also includes an extensive database of so-called points of interest, which we call LoPoints. They mark everything possible, from small natural objects such as springs, through mountain peaks and other natural attractions to the creations of human endeavor - castles, chateaux, museums, and other sights. However, unlike the databases of large commercial companies such as Google, OSM points still suffer from certain brevity of the information they carry - both descriptions and photos.

The newly released Locus Map 4.6 brings a completely unique solution to enrich LoPoints. Our team managed to connect the OSM database with another open information platform - Wikipedia. The thing is, in addition to texts and photographs, many records in this worldwide encyclopedia also contain information on the location of individual objects.

For Locus users, this creates another great way to enrich planning a route or the whole holiday.

It works online

Because Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia, you need to be connected to view it. Fortunately, museums, castles, and chateaux are mostly in well-covered areas, so the availability of information should not be a problem.

In the content panel at the bottom left, just activate online LoPoints and you can start browsing:

Click on the castle or museum icon and a panel with photos and a description will appear at the bottom:

For more details about the object, just slide the panel up.

Tap each photo to display it individually in full detail:

Wiki speaks your language

The language of the Wiki descriptions is the same as the language you use in the application. So for example, if you have the Locus menu in Czech, the labels will also be in Czech. This is an advantage mainly in the Czech Republic, where most Czech-language Wikipedia articles are located. Where Wikipedia does not offer a Czech equivalent, you will see a caption in English.

In addition to the Czech and English Wikipedia, Locus Map also loads from Slovak, German, Polish, Russian and Italian Wikipedia. And we’re working on adding more languages soon.

Display LoPoints above any map

LoPoints are not just the domain of our LoMaps. If you like another provider's map, just turn it on and activate online LoPoints in the content panel:

Navigate and plan trips

Of course, you can set online LoPoints as the destinations of your walks, or include them in the trip route.

In the first case, just tap on the point and select Navigate to from the bottom bar (if you want to start navigating straight away and not to edit the route more):

or Plan route to - if you need to further tune the route in Locus planner:

If you want to plan a trip around Vienna sights, for example, first start the route planner and add points one by one:

We believe that you will definitely appreciate the richer content above the maps in Locus, not only when planning your trips for the upcoming season!

Článek The new Locus Map uses information from Wikipedia on the map se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

Článek se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.