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High-tech hitchhiking

5,442 bytes removed, 11:33, 11 March 2014
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They are available from about 100 EUR on ebay.
 
'''Nokia N900 offline hitchwiki navigator'''
 
As the [http://wiki.maemo.org/Nokia_N900 Nokia N900] internet tablet reaches dumbphone price levels, it can also make for an offline Hitchwiki spot browser within Openstreetmap. The only difference with the website is that Hw's spot ratings and descriptions are missing for now.
 
http://i.imgur.com/OYBnkRT.png
 
INSTALLATION<br>
1.
a. Open App Manager and install Marble - Virtual Globe. (install help here http://userbase.kde.org/Marble/Maemo/Installation)<br>
b. Install Monav, you need this app to enable offline routing.<br>
c. While you're in App Manager, consider installing Conky. This utility comes in handy to check network activity and it's a useful monitor in general.
 
2. Load the maps<br>
Quit App manager and open Marble, Top menu > Marble Virtual Globe Menu > Map View > Select Mercator and OpenStreetMap. This map is identical to the desktop version, including hitchhikers' launchpads, also known as petrol stations and highway resting areas.
 
Install a country for offline use - manually<br>
Open Marble > Top Menu > uncheck Work Offline to allow internet access<br>
Tap on the map and move around the areas you will travel through. Zoom in and out for a more detailed map. Marble downloads and saves the area permanently on the phone. Alternatively, do a search: Menu > Go to... > press Return on the hardware keyboard.
<br>
To cancel a route, Top Menu > Routing > Clear
 
Install a country for offline use - automatically<br>
Marble > Top menu > Routing > wrench icon on the lower right > select Monav > Configure > Install New > select country and Install. The download and installation will start.
NOTE: Auto-install seems to be botched here. For some reason the tiles do not show up and I end up saving tiles the manual way by scrolling and zooming. Manual download is probably also the way to get more up to date maps.<br>
To download a car, bicycle or pedestrian map of a route, follow the directions at the paragraph 'Downloading Map Data' at http://userbase.kde.org/Marble/Maemo/OfflineRouting
 
3. On a PC, download Hitchwiki markers from [maps http://hitchwiki.org/maps]. Select Download at the bottom of the window and select a country. The file is named country-XX.kml. Download should start by itself, though sometimes it doesn't (e.g. in OSX). Try a different browser or OS in that case. <br>
Copy the file(s) country-XX.kml file to the N900 to the MyDocs folder.
 
In Marble > Top menu > Tracking > uncheck Show Track > select the small file icon (upper right between Clear track and the save icon) > MyDocs opens by default > select country-XX.kml file. Disable Kinetic scrolling for better performance.<br>
Marble adds kml files incremently, so more than one country could be loaded. To disable the kml layer, restart marble.
 
If Marble gives a parsing error when opening the kml file, it should still open in Google Earth. Open and click the file in the Places window once > Save as a kml file with a relevant file name. Copy the file to the N900 and try to open in Marble again. This worked for me, only accents are messed up.
 
The dots on Hitchwiki are replaced by the letter ''''a'''' in ''''a Hitchhiking spot in [place, country]' and are placed on the same spot as the dots'''.
 
4. Good hh spots such as petrol stations and rest areas only appear at lower zoom levels. You might want to bookmark these spots in the area you are heading beforehand. This will make lookups quicker.<br>
To do so, place the crosshair on the spot > press screen > Add bookmark > give a name. The bookmark now shows at all zoom levels.
 
5. ON THE ROAD<br>
- When travelling make sure Marble is set to Work Offline in the main menu! This stops Marble from automatically downloading missing tiles from an area that is opened.
 
- To save battery power, turn off wifi, gps and bluetooth. Select 2G instead of Dual/3G. Bring spare batteries and/or a mini usb-cigarette lighter charger in case there is an opportunity to charge during a ride. A standalone charger (Nokia DT-33 Battery Charging Stand) helps to charge 2 batteries at once if time is limited.
<br>
- To toggle the gps, press screen > Info Boxes > Routing > globe icon. Note: this will also toggle the default internet connection. Set to wifi to prevent the phone connecting to expensive such as roaming 3G internet while on the road. Go to Settings > Internet Connections > Connect automatically > select WLAN. Search interval > select Never
<br>
- The kml file clutters the map at higher zoom levels. Load the kml file when preparing a route and use it to bookmark hh spots.
<br>
- To toggle fullscreen, press screen > Full screen
 
IN SHORT<br>
Advantages:<br>
+ Lightweight hitchhike atlas<br>
+ Offline Hitchwiki spots and offline access to Openstreetmap including petrol stations, parkings, street names and many objects.<br>
+ Current spot information from Hitchwiki<br>
+ Easy to add maps for offline use<br>
+ Forked from Debian, Maemo is the most open source OS on a mobile phone, and still actively supported by the Maemo community
 
Disadvantages:<br>
- Max. 1400 Mah battery available. Spare batteries are recommended for longer trips<br>
- Slower lookup compared to paper due to its 3,5" screen<br>
- Ratings and specifics of Hitchwiki spots are not included. This can be solved by converting the daily xml dump files to .aar, as explained here and open them in Aard dictionary. I'm still looking at this.
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