Settings

Configures all global settings in a single place.

The configuration is organized into sections. Tap on the setting to change it. Most of the settings have a list so that you can choose the desired value. If the setting is a simple yes/no choice, you can toggle a switch.

GPS Readout

• GPS Update Interval: how often GPS Essentials asks for a new location. Faster updates increase readability but consume more battery. If you use the dashboard, it is recommended to use “Fastest”.
• Tracking Update Interval: how often a location is added to a track while you record it. Use bigger intervals to preserve space.
• Drop stationary locations: leaves out locations from a track while you are not moving, to save storage.
• Track only GPS locations: records only GPS locations in tracks. When it is off, Wi-Fi and cell tower locations fill in while GPS has had no fix for half a minute or longer, indoors or in a tunnel, for example.
• Use Fused Provider: uses the fused location provider from Google Play services.
• Altitude Mode: where the altitude comes from: the GPS data (GPGGA) or Android's Location Manager (the default).

Presentation

• Theme: Dark, Light or the system default.
• Widget Size, Widget Theme and Widget Font: the size, look and font of the widgets on the dashboard and below the maps and the compass. The themes are Classic, Plain, Modern and Glass. The font is System, which keeps the theme's own, or one of the display fonts Bitcount Grid, Doto, B612 Mono, Audiowide, Orbitron and Michroma.
• Track Color, Route Color and Running Route Color: the colors of track lines, route lines and the route you are navigating.
• Location Icon and Location Icon Color: the icon and color that mark your location in Portable Maps.
• Utility Color: the color of utilities such as the scale or cursors.
• Units: the unit system for values, such as kilometers and meters, or miles and feet.
• Position Datum: the datum of locations.
• Position Format: how coordinates are shown. You can choose between Degrees, Minutes, Seconds; Degrees, Minutes, Fractions of minutes; Decimal; UTM; MGRS; and OSGB36.
• Angular Unit: degrees or mils.
• Bearing: whether bearings refer to true north or magnetic north.
• Clamp Heading: uses your direction of travel as the heading instead of the compass, always, when moving, or never. This helps in vehicles.
• Temperature: Celsius or Fahrenheit.

Routes

• Auto Skip Target: moves on to the next target automatically when you pass one.
• Auto Skip Distance: how close to a target automatic skipping starts. Only used while Auto Skip Target is on.
• Speak Route Info: speaks information about your route.
• Proximity Alert: the sound to play when you approach a target.
• Announcement Proximity: how close you must be to a target before it is announced.
• Waypoint Overwrite Distance: when you create a new waypoint closer than this to an existing one, the existing one is overwritten.

Saved Image Meta Data

Two switches control what GPS Essentials writes into the pictures you take with its camera: Device ID writes an ID of your device, and Location writes the location where you took the picture. Anyone you share the picture with can read this information.

Maps

• Map Scale: the scale of the map background in Portable Maps. Larger values make map text smaller.
• Default Map Type: Portable Maps or Google Maps, the map that opens for example when you select Show on Map.

Miscellaneous

• Storage Setup: shows how much space the data takes, sets the limit for purgeable data such as cached map tiles, clears it, and repairs the database. Elements that no longer belong to any stream are moved to the Lost & Found stream.
• Storage Location: where data is stored on the device.
• Edit Scripts: edits script files and reloads them; see the Scripting chapter.
• Keep Screen On: keeps the screen on while the app is open: Always, When plugged (the default) or Never.
• Geocoder: the service that looks up addresses, used to search on the maps and to name new waypoints and pictures after their address. Built-in (Google) uses the service built into Android. None turns address lookups off.
• Usage Statistics: lets GPS Essentials collect usage statistics to improve the app. Switch it off to stop this. See the privacy policy.

Labs

• Try New Features: gets features before they are released. With it on, the Portable Maps button opens the new map, drawn by the new renderer with the Mapfinity vector map, and the Camera button opens the camera with the map and your data in the picture. Switch it off to go back to the classic map and camera.

Debug

• Error Reporting: what happens with a report after the app crashes; see Appendix B.
• Map Debugging: shows debug information on the map.
• Profile Database: writes database profiling data to a log file.
• Write Log File: writes app events to a log file.

Saving Battery

The GPS, the processor and the display use the most power. GPS Essentials switches off the GPS whenever it can. A few settings help, too:

• Keep Keep Screen On at When plugged, or choose Never. The display quickly drains your battery.
• Choose a longer GPS Update Interval. Faster updates use more battery.
• Use Portable Maps with Labs on. The new map draws only when something on it visibly changes, so it is easier on the battery than the classic map.

Close the Compass and Camera screens when you don't need them, and stop recording and navigation when you no longer need them. When Android reports that the battery is low, GPS Essentials stops recording and navigation; a notification tells you so and offers to resume, for example after you have plugged in a charger.