bbTracker

The Bente and Buffy tracker (bbTracker) is an easy to use application for recording positions on your Android device. Recording is started by simply pressing the record button, and the recorded positions will be stored in a track. Multiple tracks can be recorded and shown on the same map, and various functionality may be performed on them including labelling, hiding and deleting

Google Play link: http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=no.daeco.bbtracker

Note: bbTracker uses the internal GPS to get positions, and stores the data on the Android device external storage. The app will fail to run if it is unable to access the Android location service or have no write access to the external storage. Also without internet access it will not be able to download maps.

The app has a multitude of usages, for example


Maps and satellite images provided by Google Play Services.

Support

For support please email androidapp@daeco.no.

Functionality

Requirements

The app will use the network position if GPS is not available, but this position will be inaccurate.

Usage

At startup the app will connect to the internet, download the map for the current location and zoom in to it. All previously recorded tracks will be loaded and displayed on the map. It is possible to set a "hide" flag on the track to avoid it being displayed.

Main window

The main window shows a map containing all previously recorded tracks, the current user position and the current track as it is being recorded.

Standard Google Map functionality for zooming and panning is available by dragging, pinching and pressing the +/- buttons. Focus map on current user location by pressing the icon in the top-right of the window.

The current location will at any time be marked. By default the bbTracker logo is used, but this can be changed in the app settings (see below).

Change map mode

bbTracker supports several map modes which are selected from the options menu.

Recording a track

To start recording a track, press the recording button in the top-left corner . When the recording starts, the button will change to .

To stop the recording and end the track, press again. Note that tracks with less than 2 points will not be stored.

As soon as the recording starts, a new track icon will appear at current location, and a track will start building up. Positions are recorded as often as specified by the "Position Interval" setting (see below). The track icon will always be placed at the first position on the track.

Continue recording after app is closed
If positions are being recorded ( is on), the recording will continue to run even if the app is closed (for example if Home button pressed). This allows the user to use the Android device even if bbTracker is working.

Note that Android may decide to (temporarily) stop the background recording task if the device is under heavy load, for example while running games. It is therefore recommended not to use the device for very heavy tasks while recording is running.

A notification will be put into the Android notification list, and an icon will be visible in the notification bar. The notification will read "bbTracker running. Positions are being recorded". Tapping on the text in the notification list or on the bbTracker app icon will open the app back up and show the progress of the recording.

Stopping the recording will remove the notification and allow the app to terminate.

Note that the track recording will continue until it is cancelled by the user! If left running it may fill the storage and drain the battery.

The app will use the network position if GPS is not available, but this position will be inaccurate.

Change name of track

It may be useful to give a track a name. By default the track will be labelled with just the time and date of creation.

Changing a track name can be done in several ways:

Performing any of the tasks above will bring up a dialog where a new name can be specified.

App settings

The app settings window is opened by selecting "Settings..." from the options menu in the main bbTracker window.

The following settings can be adjusted:

Tap on the Android Back button or the bbTracker icon on the top of the window to go back to the map.

Track list window

Selecting "List tracks..." from the options menu in the main bbTracker window will bring up the Track list window. This window displays a scrollable list of all tracks currently stored in bbTracker. The window provides the following functionality:

Each row shows one track, including its name, time of recording, color of track and number of positions on the track. An H is shown in the track color box if the track is hidden (and "Show hidden tracks" is selected).

A checkbox is found to the right for each track to allow the user to select it and perform tasks on the selected tracks.

Tap on the track name to open a dialog and type in a new name. <NO NAME> will be shown if the track has not yet been given a name.

The following functionality is available in the Track list window options menu:

Tap on the Android Back button or the bbTracker icon on the top of the window to go back to the map.

Fault finding and error recovery

Recording tracks will write data to the Android device storage, which may eventually fill it up. The amount of storage varies a lot from device to device, but it may become necessary to delete some tracks if it runs full.

Slow, unresponsive or crashing app

If the app becomes slow or start crashing due to lack of resources, you can try the following:

As a preventive measure, if you know your device is not very fast or has little storage space available, you can try the following:

Tracks are gone after installing or changing memory card

bbTracker uses the Android external storage for storing its track data. If the memory SD card they were stored on, or Android moves its external storage to a new SD card, the tracks will be lost to the app. It may then be necessary to manually copy the tracks from the old data directory to the new.

Locate the old data directory, it is named Android\data\no.daeco.bbtracker\files\tracks on one of your Android storage devices. Use for example Windows Explore to access it.

Copy all files in the tracks folder to your new external storage. This may include installing your old SD card, copying the files to your PC, installing the new SD card and copying the files back onto that.

Keep the track data after uninstall of bbTracker

Uninstalling the app will remove all track data as well.

If you want to store the tracks you can manually copy them out by accessing the Android\data\no.daeco.bbtracker\files\tracks directory by using for example Windows Explorer, copy the files to a different location, and moving the files back after reinstalling the app.

The file format is an internal format, so the files can not be used by other applications directly. For export/import functionality you need the bbTracker Pro version (pay app).

Feedback

We are always trying to improve our products. For feedback on bbTracker (bug reports, requests for improvements and new functionality, complaints and praise) please send an email to androidapp@daeco.no.