App, which would show me a picture loaded from smartphone (or web)?

1906207 over 5 years ago

I tried almost all of the map/navigation applications and all of them are working quite well and doing what they are supposed to do, but honestly, none of them is smooth and easy to use enough. In all cases it is just much more easier to use your smartphone, using your watch is more geekiest, but not more comfortable. When I need to find my position or use outdoor navigation, I am fine with using smartphone, but most of the time, I just need quick check of the map area around me and for this I can imagine very simple app for the watch which would be able to show just a snapshot of the map. Unfortunatelly as far as I know, there isn't anything like this in Connect IQ store

device: vívoactive 4

0 Nikeow over 5 years ago

I'm not well versed w/ CIQ Apps that does maps. Most of them are Apps IIRC and not widget type I believe.

What are the drawbacks of using the ones already in the store? DWMap and LocusMap are two which comes to mind

0 1906207 over 5 years ago in reply to Nikeow

Both are good at navigating, but none of them is good at showing you actual map. DWmap shows you only prepared route on white background and your position on the route. Locus is able to show you real map, but your phone has to be connected and loading is catastrophicly slow - took 10 to 15 seconds to load one screen and when you want to move it or zoom it is loading again and took the same time

I think they are just trying to do too much, I am able to orientate at map I dont need my position and navigation I would like just quick look on the map like replacement of havig paper map in pocket

0 jim_m_58 over 5 years ago

Here's one that works if you have on board map (U R Here):

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/e5e38814-0a10-4151-b677-9c616a0c5f05

The issue without having on board maps it's it's really not just getting a snapshot. You'd want that centered on the screen, and different devices have different resolutions. And then the question is do you want to handle panning/zoom in/out. Plus, you need to be connected to a phone and have a data connection

In the case of U R Here, the most time consuming thing is starting up GPS to get your current location. And works fine without a phone. After that, things like panning/zooming takes as long as a button press.

It's a widget BTW. On devices like a va4, the widget timeout is fairly short so the widget goes away in something like 40 seconds if there's no interaction