I highly doubt that, there must be some other factor involved.

Pausing just means that bbTracker is no longer the actively displayed program. It will still be recording, it just means it no longer displays (i.e. you switched to another program or the main menu).

Just keep logging turned on and when it happens again send me the debug.txt. If it is a reproducible bug then it will show up again.

working for me when I would stay stationary for around 10 minutes or so. I finally increased my free memory from around 9 or 10M to 14M and the problem has stopped. Just a thought, maybe you could try increasing your memory. Since then I have downloaded 5.2 and it seems to be working fine also. Thanks Saua.

Hmm definitely not a memory problem. I got over 20 mb free space.

I will try to leave it tracking and hope it stops.

try running BBMaps in the background. i was having the same problem. i now run sprint navigation's compass, ensure that it has acquired a gps signal, close the active window (red button), and then turn on bbtracker. i do not lose my tracks now. prior to this, tracks would seem to randomly stop and not restart. this problem was not unique to bbtracker - it occurred with gpsed and mobile tracker, as well. i have a feeling the problem is related to the implementation of gps in the 8830.

I've read a interesting bit about constant GPS updates in the BlackBerry developer handbook. Could those of you, who've got a problem with frequent disconnects set their update interval to anything less than ten seconds for some tests? 9 seconds should be ok and what value below 10 you choose shouldn't change anything.

Because according to the developers handbook the device will permanently try to aquire new data when the requested update interval is less than ten seconds ... maybe there's some bug in the BB OS there.

Mine was set to 5 second interval. It stopped after tracking 2 points only. I didn't do anything with phone between starting track and end, other than putting in phone and it auto-locked. ( Holster lock ). Last time it tracked 46 points while being in locked mode, so that shouldn't be the problem.

I checked the log and the story is same. The log ended with entries with Startapp and Pauseapp, with 9 seconds between those 2 entries.

I will test with 15 second interval now.

*edit*
It stopped after 6 points. Log entry, other than usual info, just shows "(time) a Starting locationLister with interval 15". When I return to main screen, the "Tracking" box at top right appears again, but after 15 seconds disappears with no new point at all. I waited quite a bit, but still no new points.

I seem to be "losing" tracks.

I have set my track directory to be SDCard/Blackberry/gps, and as far as I know this is where all my tracks have been saved to until now.

However, at least some of the tracks that I save now aren't found in there, and I can't work out where they are. If I try to use the app to load a saved track, I can see them all in the list, so they aren't gone, yet they aren't all in that directory. One I saved yesterday is in there.

I have the export directory set to be the same (i.e. I haven't changed it, so it defaults to be the same). When I export these tracks, the export files are where they should be.

What could be happening here? Where else could they be? And how does it know to display all the tracks found in the normal and this other mystery location?

This wouldn't normally be a problem, but I need to save one particular track in its native format, but I can find it.

Those tracks are stored in an internal memory area called RMS. In the first versions of bbTracker that was the only way to store tracks. Since the RMS has only limited storage (64kb, even on a BlackBerry), I've added the ability to store to a directory.

Normally tracks should only be stored in the RMS when storing to the file systems fails for one reason or another in current bbTracker versions.

Currently there is no way to get the those out into a .bbt file, only exporting works, at the moment.

OK, but that means sooner or later it's going to run out of room, doesn't it? So I need to fix this.

The RAM seems ok - I can view older tracks, and I can play music, etc, on there. Is it possible that it has decided that the RAM is faulty when it isn't? Could a fault during the saving of a track cause it to refuse to save to the directory after the fault is rectified?

One fault I can think of would be if I started a track while the phone was in mass storage mode, as that would prevent the program accessing it. But should the problem persist even after rebooting the phone?

Thats right ... but I don't know what causes tracks to still be stored in RMS, so I'm not sure you can fix it.

It should not usually prevent it from saving to the directory later on. It might be possible that the OS will still report the directory as unaccessible, but I doubt it and even if it did, it would surely go back to normal when you restarted bbTracker.

The problem should definitely not persist later on. Currently if saving to the directory fails, bbTracker just silently writes to the RMS. Maybe I should make it scream instead so that the user at least knows that something might be wrong ...

I'm releasing 0.5.3. It only contains some minor bugfixes with regard to trackpoint naming/marking.

Yes, a warning might be a good idea. It's good that it can continue to operate, but given that that storage space is small, the user ought to be warned that they have limited time to fix the problem.

As well as a warning, it might be nice to display the track file location on the Details view (this might also be useful to people who have changed the location over time and want to know where a particular old track is stored).

It could also be useful to flag RMS tracks in the list that's displayed when loading tracks.

I'm going to load v0.5.3 in the hope that it shakes some sense into it. If not then I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling. Unfortunately that will mean I have to try and check which tracks might be lost this way (will RMS tracks be lost if I uninstall the program?). I'm hoping it's just some recent ones, but for all I know this has been an intermittent problem for a long time.

I guess the lesson for me is to maintain my tracks better. I always accept the default names, so I have no idea which ones I want to keep. Most are rubbish but I'd have to display them in Google Maps to have any idea what any of them are.

While I prefer BBTracker's coordinate format (degrees, minutes, seconds) I occasionally have to enter decimal coordinates into other programs. I'd like to be able to swap between DMS and decimal format.

Rather than adding another configuration option, perhaps it would be simpler to just show both formats on the Details view.

I've loaded v0.5.3 but it didn't help.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled 0.5.3. This lost the tracks stored on RMS, no great loss, but didn't fix the problem.

I tried the same again, this time rebooting after uninstalling, same problem.

I discovered a simple way to work out which tracks are stored on RMS - just change the track file directory to an empty one, then only RMS tracks show in the list when you go to load them.

I had 9 out of 96 stored on RMS. These were all fairly recent, but interestingly 3 were stored on the memory card in the time after the problem began. I'm wondering if each of these were too big for RMS and it decided to use the card instead. It would be reassuring if that was the case.

I'm at a loss to know what to try next. The card still has 130MB free on it, so I can't see why it has decided not to use it anymore.

Incidentally, 96 tracks makes the program extremely slow to display a list of them, and even just to delete one. I advise other users not to allow this many to accumulate in one directory.

I've now uninstalled 0.5.3 and installed 0.4.2, which I had been using until I upgraded to 0.5.1 recently. A test track got stored on the card like it's supposed to.

I then reinstalled 0.5.3. A test track got stored in the RMS area.

Could some other 0.5.3 users please test where their tracks are being stored? I have a Blackberry 8800, and I'm storing tracks on a 2GB micro SD card, if the exact configuration is important.

If it does turn out to be the version that's doing it, then I'd suggest it may have been introduced in 0.5.0 or 0.5.1.

I seems that it will only matter if you uninstall the application, as the tracks in RMS appear to be retained through reboots, and tracks that are too large for that area seem to be stored on the memory card instead. Tracks might also be lost if you do an upgrade without uninstalling, but I'm not sure about that.

Exported tracks get stored in the right area, which is all one would normally worry about.

If the program does now operate as above, then there's not that much cause for alarm. I'm just worried that if it's not doing what it ought to and we don't know why then we should consider this behaviour erratic and possibly untrustworthy.

Only uninstalling bbTracker should clear out the RMS, updating should retain it.

Exported tracks are always stored to the file system, as storing them in the RMS would be useless (the user doesn't have direct access to the RMS).

I think I found the root problem: In my refactoring in 0.5.0 I accidentally switched the order of the two storage locations (RMSTrackStore and FileTrackStore for anyone interested in digging into the code).

Now bbTracker *first* tries to store to the RMS and if that fails (because the RMS is full or the track is too long), then it'll write to your directory.

Thats obviously sub-optimal, since the RMS is supposed to be a worst-case thing. And now, when you actually reach a point where bbTracker can't store to your filesystem it will also be unable to store to the RMS, since it already filled that up ... not a good idea.

I will fix this in the next version.

For now a workaround would be to fill up the RMS with "useless" tracks. Then new tracks will be stored to the file system.

Thats because bbTracker currently reads at least the first few bytes of every track to find out its name. I should really start keeping an index of known tracks to speed this stuff up, but have not done so, because this usually brings with itself its own set of problems (index being out-of-sync, index being corrupt, ...).

A useful thing, for sure. But I don't think I should overload the details view any more (on large font not even the number of satellites displays correctly on my 8800).

That being said: suggestions on how to streamline the UI or how to make it look nicer are always welcome

Excellent, no cause for alarm then.

I'd forgotten that not everyone uses a small font, so perhaps there does need to be an option to toggle the coordinates format. Another way would be to allow the details screen to scroll, then you could put any amount of information on it. There could be a second page of details instead.

I'd like to announce a little change in development/release planning. I've realized that my personal testing is no longer sufficient to find every bug that might sneak into the code while developing more features. Therefore I'll be making development builds available for testing, if anyone's interested.

The upside for testers is that they can play with new features earlier than those who wait for a release and help me produce good software. The downside is that those development builds will probably be more buggy and not as polished as a release should be.

I'll post more when the first development build is available, I'd just like to hear from you if you'd be interested in testing it (it won't be a "closed beta" or anything like that. The development builds will be publicly available, just as all other builds are).

I'll do it.

How about stable/unstable builds? Stable is feature-locked and bug-fixes only while unstable means anything goes. Downside is that stable bug fixes must be somehow integrated into unstable builds too, that is, if bugged code is same...

How about a setting that switches degrees and decimal display? Would that work?

Saua, nice job! Exactly what I've been looking for. I track motorbike rides so I can note down and go back to the best roads I find when I'm out riding with friends. My 8310 sits in a clear plastic map pocket on the top of a bag that sits on the petrol tank (gas tank for the colonials) and when I'm travelling at (ahem) mph the only items in the display that are relevant to me are current speed and compass heading. Can you please display these for me in big, bold characters that I can see without my reading glasses?

I tried again... this time with bbmaps tracking GPS at same time. bbtracker stopped after 16 points ( 15 second per point ) with same logging message as before.

While tracking I didn't use any other program and didn't switch out of bbtracker.

I guess this could be useful for lots of other people too. My suggestion would be to add another Details view for this, then the whole screen would be free to make them big. Either that or make the current Details view configurable.

Perhaps add a disclaimer at the bottom about the author not being responsible for injuries sustained when peering at the screen instead of the road?

I'm able to track continuously for hours even while checking email, etc. Even running Google Maps, which also uses the GPS, doesn't seem to upset it. I've tried it on intervals from 1 second to 1 minute.

Where are you storing your logs? Is there room for them?

One thing that upsets the program, if you have added a RAM card, is plugging the phone into a PC and going into mass storage mode.

Apologies if you've already been down this line of investigation.

Those are excellent lines of investigation. However, the space on my bb seems to be hardly being impacted by tracking program since after making this track I still has over 20 mb of space. I used to be able to track for almost an entire hour worth of 10 second per point tracks. I do keep tracks cleaned off in order to keep room reasonable high. So far in recent tries, I got 26, 2, 0, and finally 16 points of tracking. :( If this were a score for some kind of game, I would be losing bad. :P

I may grab a cheap 1 GB memory stick to store tracks on. Seems a little bit of a waste of money just to store tracks. :(

I'm definitely planning to add this one in one of the next few versions (either a configurable Details view or one or two specialized pre-configured views, I don't know which would be better, yet.

But currently all my time is put into some other features that I won't announce just yet ...

I'm not from the US, the rest of the world seems to take common sense for granted

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

20 mb should be plenty of rooms for the tracks, they don't take a whole lot of space.

Unfortunately I'm pretty much at loss at what the problem could be for you.

Did you try setting the interval to less than 10 seconds, as I mentioned before? Try running it with 5 and see if that helps.

While those are really cheap and useful, it should be by no means necessary to get one for using bbTracker.

Okay. I have tested both 15 seconds and 5 seconds last time, but I didn't test less than 10 seconds for long range trip. I will do so as soon as possible.

I still wonder what stopped it. I put bb in pocket in holster while I'm bicycling in a open sky.

I have a BlackBerry Curve 8330 that was just released through Verizon, along with a Globalsat BT-359 puck. I'm having some issues running the program, so I was wondering if I could get some assistance as I would love to use this for cycling.

When I start the application, it says Initializing with the various prompts and everything looks OK. However, it never leaves this screen. I can press my red "hang up" button and it'll take me back to my apps screen, and I can click on bbTracker again and it'll take me to the main track view. There is nothing being tracked, so I go into Options to set up my Bluetooth puck. I select Bluetooth API, then go down a box and click Select GPS from the menu.

bbTracker finds my puck no problem, so I select it, and it takes me back to the options screen with the puck shown in the device box. To leave the options screen, I click on the menu button and I select the OK option. It tells me because the settings have changed, I have to restart my device and it gives me the option to Continue or Quit/Cancel. I click on Continue but nothing happens, the window remains open. If I click Quit, it does in fact leave the app, but I'm back to square 1 as my Bluetooth puck isn't selected as the device it should be using.

I have tried using Location API as I have my puck set as the device default GPS in the options, but that doesn't provide me any coordinates or data.

My BB8330 is currently running on v4.3.0.127 OS.

Thanks, hopefully I can get some answers to this issue, this program is exactly what I have been looking for.

*EDIT*

I will update this post as I am trying various options.

I installed 0.5.2 and it made it past the first screen no problem. First thing I did was adjust to my puck in the options and change the track/export directories. I then was prompted with the warning to restart the app, and upon hitting Continue I was happy to see it let me hit the button! Unfortunately, when I then went to quit the application, the Quit button did not work on the prompt.

I will now remove .5.2 and reinstall, and this time attempt the Location API. When trying to adjust the options with the previous install it would not let me back out of the options and save, as it was doing in the initial .5.3 install.



*Edit 2*

Reinstalled .5.2. Selected Location API, nothing to plot. Adjusted the track directory, everything looks good. Changed to Bluetooth API, selected my device, it warned me to restart. I selected Continue, everything is fine, back to track view, nothing to plot. Go to menu->exit, asks me to Really Quit? I select Quit.

It actually quit this time!

Relaunched bbTracker, paused at initializing screen, got worried, kicked into track view, familiar bluetooth blue LED on phone lit up, WE HAVE SERVICE!

Now to go drive around to see what information I can grab out of this.

Sorry about the worthless post, but to anyone that might be having the same issue, .5.2 looks like the way to go for now.



* Edit 3 *

I went for a test drive and exported the track. However I hadn't changed the export folder, so I went into options and adjusted the folder. The blackberry showed the spinning loading circles after exiting options, and it didn't go away. I soft booted the phone, and was able to get back into bbTracker and noticed my export setting was saved successfully. I didn't have my GPS on though, so it warned me that it was off. After verifying the options, I turned the puck on hoping it would be picked up, but it wasn't. I went to restart the app and when I clicked on Quit, the same issue I had before happened..clicking Quit doesn't leave the app. I had to hard boot by taking out the battery.

Upon launching bbTracker again, I was prompted with coordinates so everything is fine so far. I can go to Quit and it works successfully, so here's to happy tracking!

[For clarity: I'm referring to my experience with GPS sensitivity of the BB8800/8820 units; I'm downloading this software today with great hope.]

Regarding BB unit GPS sensitivity, I'm wondering if I have the same devices now (smile). I've used Google Maps GPS on BB8800 and now replacement 8820 and have been UNimpressed with the GPS position reporting. Long periods of no updates when traveling in my car. I have to hold unit out window or in front of my steering wheel while driving to get updates, GPS tracking seems to go to sleep after initial fix and directions.

I'm glad others are having more success.
my $0.02

I have an 8800 and would agree that they're not that great. Outdoors I can almost always get a position fix eventually, but I would never assume I could get one quick enough for car navigation.

Sometimes in the car, with the unit in my pocket, it will track beautifully for hours (although it's usually hard to tell if it has skipped tracking for a minute or so). Other times it will have problems even outdoors. If it stalls during recording of a track with bbTracker, sometimes hitting the red phone button and starting another app that uses GPS can kick start it without having to end the track. You can get coordinates out of the GPS item in Options.

I've tried to use GoogleMaps for car navigation, but it's very common to have to stop to let it catch up with you. I believe dedicated car navigation GPSs have alternative means of navigating while the signal is lost, using accelerometers, etc. I think that's all that's lacking with the Blackberry. Apart from that, it works.

am i correct in assuming you still cannot access bbtracker on VZW's curve? even if you have VZ nav without external BT gps receiver?

If I understood correctly then this is still true and noone except VZ can do anything about it.

They lock the necessary API and don't allow any third-party applications to access it (maybe you could get a key if you paid them several thousand dollars, but I doubt it).

My experience is the opposite. The blackberry is the most sensitive GPS receiver I've ever had. It even receives a GPS signal in the glove compartment of my car. I always use it for in car navigation and never have it drop or have problems.

Some version of google maps have update problems, make sure you are on version 2 or greater. Google had issues where the GPS would go to sleep. They seem to have fixed it starting in version 2.01.

I had an earlier version of Google maps and have now updated to 2.1.0, thanks for that. Perhaps as well as preventing it going to sleep, the addition of the location by phone signal when GPS signal is weak is allowing it to keep tracking.

That's Google Maps fixed, but I'm still not convinced that BBTracker will never stall. Perhaps now running Google Maps and BBTracker simultaneously will solve any such problems.

I still think it ought to have an accelerometer, at least to detect when the unit isn't moving.

I wonder if Google Maps will ever do track recording. As good as BBTracker is, it would be nice to have maps simultaneously.

I didn't want to spoil the surprise, but that might not be as far of, as you'd think.

Your surprise or Google surprise??

My question exactly. And what do you call soon?

Since I can't influence Googles behaviour, it would have to be my surprise.

And I plan to release a development release in the comming week.

Is it possible for you to add "non GPS" capability to your bbTracker app? You know the sort of thing - when a GPS device is NOT located, then switch to using the IMEI, Phone number, CellId, LAC and BSIC from JSR-179 / RiL to "post" to my own server / port?