Turn by Turn alternative GPS app in Mobian

[Baggypants]

More Screenshots

We have a location!


A route is calculated and displayed. This causes navit to become almost completely unresponsive.



The same as above in portrait for the discerning driver. You have to quit navit and reload in portrait.

[newton688]

I have maps working on Navit. This issue is because the Debian packages don't contain the layout xml files needed to display the maps.

...

Edit2: Upstream packaging bug https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepor...bug=967960

We can downstream the layout fix in Mobian provided that it seems like a reasonable fix that can be adopted upstream someday.

[Baggypants]

I have maps working on Navit. This issue is because the Debian packages don't contain the layout xml files needed to display the maps.

...

Edit2: Upstream packaging bug https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepor...bug=967960

We can downstream the layout fix in Mobian provided that it seems like a reasonable fix that can be adopted upstream someday.

Wonderful, GeoClue support is being worked on right now too, could we downstream that as well?

[wibble]

I have maps working on Navit. This issue is because the Debian packages don't contain the layout xml files needed to display the maps.

...

Edit2: Upstream packaging bug https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepor...bug=967960

We can downstream the layout fix in Mobian provided that it seems like a reasonable fix that can be adopted upstream someday.

I'd suggest adding separate packages such as navit-layouts-pinephone, navit-layouts-pinetab etc. so we can have something optimised without causing packaging conflicts.

[newton688]

> Wonderful, GeoClue support is being worked on right now too, could we downstream that as well?

Yes, I can confirm that the new GeoClue support works for at least an initial position fix. I haven't taken a trip with it yet though. Here's the link to the enhancement request and the feature branch:

https://github.com/navit-gps/navit/issues/1032
https://github.com/navit-gps/navit/tree/vehicle_geoclue

Now to figure out what the correct packaging for Mobian on pinephone should be. The out of the box navit.xml from Debian needs alot of work. There's no answer from Debian upstream about the missing layout.xml files.

I wonder if BaggyPants can share their navit.xml with the layouts from the screenshots, which are looking great.

[bcnaz]

This seems to only function with internet access, ( cell data, or wifi seems to work )
is that only for the map(s) or is there a true GPS within the modem ?

The refresh periods will determine if you can use this for distance calculations such as speed.

Would it be possible to pre-load maps ? ( Like my old Garmin hand held GPS used to do )

So far when I attempt to use the app on my phone, it sometimes shows my exact location within my house
While it also sometimes shows me 5 miles away on the side of a mountain. ? Very Inconsistent !

[newton688]

This seems to only function with internet access, ( cell data, or wifi seems to work )
is that only for the map(s)  or is there a true GPS within the modem ?

The refresh periods will determine if you can use this for distance calculations such as speed.

Would it be possible to pre-load maps ?  ( Like my old Garmin hand held GPS used to do )

So far when I attempt to use the app on my phone, it sometimes shows my exact location within my house
While it also sometimes shows me 5 miles away on the side of a mountain. ?  Very Inconsistent  !

I haven't tried using it truly offline yet, but from what I can tell it operates on map data you download into your device from a few different sources, such as openstreetmaps. GeoClue will need internet to do any geolocation without GNSS/GPS. However, it should pass on through satellite location if it is able to get a fix on your position with a nice clear view of the sky.

I have added my working (mostly) configuration and more details to the mobian wiki here: https://wiki.mobian-project.org/doku.php?id=navit

[wibble]

This seems to only function with internet access, ( cell data, or wifi seems to work )
is that only for the map(s)  or is there a true GPS within the modem ?

The refresh periods will determine if you can use this for distance calculations such as speed.

Would it be possible to pre-load maps ?  ( Like my old Garmin hand held GPS used to do )

So far when I attempt to use the app on my phone, it sometimes shows my exact location within my house
While it also sometimes shows me 5 miles away on the side of a mountain. ?  Very Inconsistent  !

There is a true GPS in the modem, but without AGPS data it needs a very good sky view or lucky positioning of satellites in order to get a fix. Enhancement request with link to proof-of-concept AGPS loading script:
https://gitlab.com/mobian1/devices/pinep...-/issues/3
Note that to get the AGPS data you need an internet connection, but the necessary file is small.
You may also need to use mmcli to enable the location reporting - I haven't tried it with geoclue so not sure which reporting you need to enable, if any.

GPS reports speed and heading directly, not just location, and all are available to anything using gpsd. Not sure about with geoclue.

I've only ever used navit with pre-loaded maps - I don't think it does online maps. In theory they could be packaged, but so far they haven't been so far as I know. I think most people use the online map extractor for the openstreetmap data.

I'd guess you've rarely, or never, had a GPS fix, and that mostly it's geoclue giving a rough position estimate based on cell or wifi data. See the comment about AGPS vs. lucky satellite positioning earlier.

[Baggypants]

I wonder if BaggyPants can share their navit.xml with the layouts from the screenshots, which are looking great.

This is the layout

It's included in a simple line like

Code:

<xi:include href="/home/mobian/.navit/navitpine.xml"/>

with the references to the images updated to wherever the images are put.

[Baggypants]

gpsd support is merged in navit. I've had a few goes with it, gpsd does work but sometimes the gps never quite gets it's act together.

https://github.com/navit-gps/navit/pull/...4011111875