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Gaia GPS

iBurn 2011 very unlikely to be available for Burning Man

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

Update, August 18: iBurn 2011 is going to happen. We’ll post the update to Apple next week.

Update, August 11: We are making some progress on getting some camp and map data together. Still no promises, but we’re trying.

I have been getting a lot of emails asking if there will be an iBurn app this year, and the answer is I don’t know, but at this point I am pessimistic. I’d like to ship (at least) the same iPhone and Android apps as last year, with the new data, but I just don’t think the data exists.


Map of Black Rock City on the iPhone

My buddies Jeff and Tom helped set up the Burning Man API and map last year, and they roped in their wives and girlfriends to help too. Most of them didn’t actually go to Burning Man in 2010, but they loved it enough to do the work anyways. The API for 2009-10 is hosted here.

At the tail end of last year’s work, I heard Burning Man brought in contractors to replace the volunteers. If that’s the case, then I guess there are some things you just can’t pay for, because the API isn’t working this year. Here is the API this year. If you paste most of the URLs into the browser, you will see they return bunk data. There is also no map.

Anyways, because of last minute circumstances, my wife and I are not going to Burning Man this year, but we’d be happy to publish the app if the data and map existed. If someone stands up an OSM-style map of Burning Man or provides us with any sort of geo-referenced event/art/camp data in the next week or so, we will produce iBurn again.

Otherwise, sorry! Not sure why the API is so bereft of data this late in the game – maybe I’m doing it wrong?

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Gaia GPS

Gaia GPS for Android – 3.0

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

We launched Gaia GPS for Android last summer, and with the release of v3.0 today, I must say – I think the app has arrived.

I wish I could claim more of a role in building the Android app, but it’s our friend Abhishek who leads Android development, and he works tirelessly and relentlessly. More and more, I see Gaia on Android surpass Gaia on iPhone, which is really quite motivating for us on the iOS side of things 🙂


Gaia GPS for Android, map screen.

For posterity, here’s a recap of Gaia’s updates since we launched on May 15, 2010, including the new stuff in v3.0. It’s amazing what you can do in a year – thanks to all the users for telling us how to make the app good, and Abhishek for making it happen:

August 3, 2011 (v3.0)

  • faster map scrolling
  • map scale
  • tool to measure distance between two points
  • ability to import waypoints from gpx files.
  • fixed track imports. Now each track segment is imported as separate track – will later allow segments in single track
  • added in-app file browser to import tracks from filesystem.
  • other bug fixes.

July 27, 2011 (v2.2.1)

  • fixed pinch-zoom crash affecting android 2.1 and 2.2
  • fixed crash on startup for some users
  • other bug fixes

July 9, 2011 (v2.2)

  • continuous pinch zoom on map
  • tap POIs on map to see details and do actions now
  • TrailBehind.com waypoint overlays on the map (trails, parks, and more)
  • added ability to open POIs in Google Maps and get Driving Directions
  • optimizations for use on tablets
  • fixed start-up crash affecting some users
  • other bug fixes

May 6, 2011 (v2.1)

  • added the ability to import/export track files
  • fixed issues with map downloading on various devices
  • set up for full screen display on tablet devices (still work-in-progress)
  • added long press to drop a pin on the map
  • faster map tiles download when viewing maps
  • other important memory optimizations

February 27, 2011 (v2.01)

  • v2.01 includes bug fixes based on logs we received from users
  • there are no functional changes from v2.0

February 23, 2011 (v2.0)

  • v2.0 is a major overhaul to the app
  • now includes the capability to record tracks
  • view statistics, altitude, and speed graphs
  • new version also includes a main iconic menu and new navigation scheme
  • fixed numerous bugs and did extensive beta-testing

September 17, 2010 (v1.41)

  • fixed bug in Guide to Waypoint

September 17, 2010 (v1.4)

  • added a “guide to waypoint” menu option, on screens for saved waypoints
  • CloudMade cycle/topo maps can now be cached offline
  • added nautical units setting
  • max zoom for map downloads now defaults to better values
  • fixed a bug that could cause map downloads to stall
  • updated the user manual

August 13, 2010

  • added a compass overlay to map screen
  • added the ability to edit waypoint and map names
  • app will now remember last map position, even within a saved map
  • improved map download infrastructure (moved out of database to make it more stable)
  • changed “tracking enabled” message to “location enabled”
  • added a button to switch map type or to a saved map on the map screen

June 14, 2010

  • added the ability to mark waypoints
  • added map source button to map controls

May 26, 2010

  • different coordinate types (Decimal, DMS, UTM, MGRS, DDM)
  • pinch zoom
  • autolocalize units to metric or imperial based on phone locale

May 17, 2010

  • Fixed download notification not displaying on Android 2.1 devices.
  • Fixed memory problems that could cause crashes when downloading maps and elsewhere.

May 15, 2010

  • Initial release.
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Gaia GPS

Faster OpenCycleMap in Gaia GPS

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

Recently, the OpenCycleMap server in our app has been slow. This is the map source labeled as CloudMade Topo or CloudMade Cycle in the app*, depending on which version you have. To address this, we now have an alternate OpenCycleMap provider in the app that is working better.

The new tiles are provided by Andy Allan, the creator of the OpenCycleMap, via a bulk service more appropriate to our needs. We plan to integrate this more directly soon, but for now you can access it as follows.

Get Faster OpenCycleMap in Gaia

  • within Gaia GPS, go to Settings->Map Store
  • add the “OpenCycleMap” source (it’s free)
  • restart the app
  • there should now be a sixth source under Map Sources, which you can switch to

If you are used to using the USGS topos, these maps are a good alternative abroad, and they even provide better detail than the USGS maps in some parts of the US. For my hikes, I like to download both types of maps and take them both along.

* I want to note, in case any other software developers are reading, that us switching providers was not CloudMade’s fault, and it was in fact CloudMade who suggested we use Andy’s server instead. CloudMade continues to provide Gaia and our other apps with awesome maps and services, and I can’t recommend them enough to other map developers. In fact, CloudMade stood up the original OpenCycleMap proxy in large part because Gaia needed it, and it was always one of those temporary solutions that lasted forever.

So, thanks to CloudMade and Andy Allan for helping us get these maps back to fast again, and making it possible for us to be in business at all.

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Gaia GPS

Gaia GPS 5.0 is Live

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

We are excited to announce the next major version of Gaia – 5.0. You can get it on iTunes now.

This release includes many improvements, including NEXRAD weather radar, new controls for displaying map layers, larger map buttons and popovers on iPad, and many other great changes. In addition, you can now import KML into Gaia, though this was a server side change and not really part of the 5.0 release 🙂

If you are a current Gaia user, check it out and give us a nice review if you like it! If you aren’t a Gaia user, now’s a good time to start! We also released similar updates to our free apps, Gaia GPS Lite and Offline Topo Maps, but we are still waiting on Apple’s approval for those.

I’d also like to give a shout-out to our long-time partner EarthNC, who set up and maintains the radar server we are now using in the app. If you are a boater, make sure to check out EarthNC Marine Charts, which is much better on the high seas than Gaia!

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Gaia GPS

MyTopo Map Server in Gaia Currently Down

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

We wanted to let everyone know that the MyTopo maps in your Gaia app might not be working well today. Amazon made Gaia GPS for Android “free app of the day,” and this hit the server pretty hard.

Please switch to a different map source via Settings, for now, and the topo source should be back to normal by tomorrow.

We made note in the wiki manuals as well.

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Gaia GPS

Gaia GPS for Android is Amazon’s “Free App of the Day”

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

For the next 24 hours, you can get Gaia GPS for Android free on Amazon.com. We’re excited to be the featured app, particular over the Memorial Day weekend!

Gaia even made it on to the Amazon home page, in small print of course: www.amazon.com

This happened very mysteriously. Amazon contacted us to be featured, and requested art for the page. And then, a week or so later I got a Google Alert and saw the post.

If you don’t have the store version, now’s a good time to get it for free.

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Gaia GPS

Gaia GPS Ratings are Groovy

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

I apologize if this sounds overly prideful, but I think our App Store ratings really demonstrate the extent to which we listen to our users, and have steadily worked to make Gaia GPS better over time.

If I remember right, Gaia GPS v1.0 was rated at 2.5 stars after launch subsided. Over time, as you can see in the screen capture from iTunes, our average ratings has become 3.5 stars. And our latest release averages 4.5 stars – spanning 10% of our total reviews.

When you have criticism and bad reviews from users, it makes you feel bad, and if you get too much, your software might really suck. But sure enough, if you just listen a little bit, and work on what they want, instead of what you fee like, then users will like your software better.

Get rid of what bugs them, and they will start to appreciate what you were trying to build in the first place.

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Gaia GPS

(Technical Post) How Memory Works on iOS

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

When you are programming iPhone/iPad apps, the thing that tricks everyone up the most is memory management. If you are a beginner, you are likely to just not know what is going on. If you are experienced, then you find yourself battling obscure memory bugs in errant threads.

It has taken me some time to master, but I have gotten the hang of it, and it boils down to knowing just a few things. Here’s what I know about memory management on iPhone/iPad. Hopefully, this will help someone out, and if I have any errors in my thinking, someone will let me know.

Memory in Objective C

  1. Every time you type “retain” you also need to type “release.”
  2. When you type “alloc” there is an implied retain.
  3. When you type self.foo = bar, there is an implied retain. If you set a class variable without the “self,” there is no implied retain. EDIT: Someone on Hacker News corrected me – there is only an implied retain if you declare the property as retained in the header, with @property(retain).
  4. If you use a convenience method to make an object, then there is an implied “autorelease” and you don’t need a release.

Correct Examples

Each of these examples is correct. The object is properly instantiated, and then later released.

Ex. 1

NSString *foo = [[NSString alloc]init];


...


[foo release];




Ex. 2


NSString *foo = [[[NSString alloc]init]autorelease];


...




Ex. 3


self.foo = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"bar"];


...


self.foo = nil;




Incorrect Examples

All of these examples are wrong.

This example will crash, because foo is over-released:

NSString *foo = [[[NSString alloc]init]autorelease];


...


[foo release];

This will also crash and is over-released:


NSString *foo = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"bar"];


...


[foo release];




A Note on @synthesize

If you declare a class variable as a property in the header, and then synthesize it in the implementation, that will auto-generate getters and setters.

That means when you type:

self.foo = @"bar";

The following is actually happening, and you could even override this method:


- (void) setFoo:(NSString*) bar {


  if(bar == foo) {


    return;


  }


  [foo release];


  foo = [bar retain];


}

EDIT: Corrected the above function based on comment on HN… shows what I know!

So, whenever you call self.foo = bar, there is both a release and then a retain.

Typing self.foo = nil releases and nils the variables.

Just typing foo = nil is a memory leak.

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Gaia GPS

Gaia Devs Married

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

The blog has been quiet for a few weeks, and we’ve been slow to answer people’s emails, because Anna and I just got married and honeymooned a bit. And since I don’t have anything interesting to blog this week with regards to our apps, that’s my news!

I guess I can also note that just before all the wedding festivities began, we sent out a new release to our awesome beta test group. With their feedback in hand, we’re now working on new Gaia, to be shipped soon.

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Gaia GPS

Gaia wins in the Alps, on all platforms

by Staff Reports
written by Staff Reports

Looks like the big news in the UK this week, besides that wedding of course, is that Gaia GPS is great in the Alps 🙂

According to Wired UK, “Gaia GPS proved the best app for both platforms…”

It’s always fun to get some nice press! At some point, I need to put a web page on this site that collects all the various articles about our apps and company. We’ve had quite a few at this point.

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