Information in this document is subject to change without notice. A limited license to reproduce this user guide is given for the purpose of providing copies to people with visual or reading disabilities (including individuals with motor or learning disabilities) for their individual use. With the permission of the copyright holders, Portions of this document are reproduced, and modified, from the Sendero GPS v4.2 manual, Copyright (c) 2002-2010 Sendero Group, LLC.
Mobile Geo is a product designed to convey most of the information displayed on commercial GPS receivers and location databases to people with visual disabilities. Mobile Geo therefore has limitations similar to commercial GPS products. These limitations include:
Additionally, the routes that you create may not be safe or possible to follow. The individual user is wholly responsible for all issues related to personal safety and mobility. Code Factory, Sendero Group, and their distributors advise all users that Mobile Geo is not a substitute for mobility skills with a cane or guide dog and recommends that users have good mobility skills before using GPS orientation information to travel. Code Factory, Sendero Group, and their distributors assume no liability for accidents or injuries that occur to users during use of any of our GPS products.
Congratulations on your purchase of the newest way to explore your world! GPS satellites and massive location databases combine to create the potential for every square meter on earth to have a label. Add your accessible mobile device and Mobile Geo to this equation and every location label can be accessible. The GPS satellites can be picked up anywhere in the world. Commercial maps and databases are being created with millions of marked and named points in most developed countries. Increasing consumer demand for these technologies is driving improvements for more accurate location information.
Here is how Mobile Geo brings this Location Information to you. Once you are tracking satellites with a GPS receiver, the latitude and longitude for your position is communicated to Mobile Geo by the receiver. That position can then be compared with the database of maps and points of Interest on Mobile Geo's memory card. There are various commands that will give you directions and distances to specific points, streets or Waypoints along an automatically created route. This communication between the receiver and Mobile Geo is transparent other than telling you how many satellites are being tracked. Further, unlike other GPS systems, Mobile Geo is optimized for users with visual impairments. Where other GPS systems are designed for users in vehicles, Mobile Geo offers all the power of a global positioning system, all the power of mainstream devices, and all the power of an optimized solution for pedestrians who are blind or visually impaired.
This documentation aims to provide a basic understanding of how to use Mobile Geo, its features, and its capabilities. It is not primarily intended to be a manual about the use of Mobile Speak or of any particular GPS receiver. As Mobile Geo is not a standalone product but an add-on to Code Factory's Windows Mobile screen readers, you will also have Mobile Speak Windows Mobile installed on your mobile device. Therefore, you may find it useful to review the Mobile Speak product manual.
This user guide assumes that you know the keyboard layout of your phone and know how to issue commands for your version of Mobile Speak. That is, that you are able to use either the keyboard commands or the touch gesture interface of MS. Information about issuing such commands can be found in the Mobile Speak documentation available at the page referenced above. This document also assumes that you are familiar with navigating through dialog boxes on the Windows Mobile operating system, and that you can perform basic tasks on a desktop computer.
If you have questions which are not answered in this user guide, the following resources may be of assistance:
Mobile Geo, to be installed and used successfully, requires:
Many mobile devices currently being released have, built into them, GPS receivers. These receivers are referred to as “internal GPS receivers”, as opposed to stand-alone, or ”external” GPS receivers which connect to your mobile device via a Bluetooth radio. Mobile Geo will work well with both internal and external GPS receivers.
It is undoubtedly more convenient to have a GPS receiver integrated into one’s mobile device. It is, however, worth noting that In Code Factory’s tests, internal GPS receivers have often proved far less accurate, particularly at slow speeds, than external receivers. The GPS receivers in mobile devices are often optimized for use in vehicles at fairly fast speeds. They may also be optimized to give only the amount of accuracy required by a driver, rather than a pedestrian. That is, for example, a driver can generally find his/her goal when brought within viewing distance of that goal, where a visually impaired pedestrian might require more accuracy and might require that he/she be brought very close to his/her destination. Therefore, if you require your GPS solution to be as accurate as possible, you may wish to consider an external receiver for Mobile Geo.
This section covers the installation of Mobile Geo, the transfer of its maps to the mobile device, and the configuration of Mobile Geo and the GPS receiver to work together.
The first step in getting Mobile Geo running is to install its application component on your device. Instructions provided in this document are for users of Windows PC. If you are using a different operating system on your computer, you will need to install Mobile Geo by running a CAB installer on your device. Mobile Speak will read the prompts that are displayed on your device's screen during installation. To obtain this CAB installer, please email support@codefactory.es to request a copy.
Before beginning to install Mobile Geo from a Windows PC:
Note: If you are upgrading your current version of Mobile Geo to a later version, please uninstall your current version of Mobile Geo from your phone before proceeding.
Since Mobile Geo can be installed on the mobile device remotely from a desktop PC, the process is fully accessible with a screen reader. The instructions given in this section seem lengthy only because all details about the installation process are provided, covering all possible scenarios, but in reality, the process is simple and straightforward. Please carefully follow the steps below:
CONGRATULATIONS!!! You have now installed the Mobile Geo application. Note, however, that before you launch this program, you need to refer to Section 2.3 for instructions on installing the map and POI files.
GPS software consists of two components: the application component, instructions for the installation of which were given in the sections above, and the map and point of interest (POI) files, instructions for the installation of which will be given in this section. Maps contain information on streets, cities, highways, and other features of the terrain. POI files contain the names and locations of points of interest like shops, churches, schools, and other public places. With map and POI information, Mobile Geo is able to tell you both where you are and what surrounds you.
If you are using Mobile Geo with a trial license (30 days only), login to the
Mobile Geo Sendero Maps & POIs Download page at:
http://mobilegeo.senderogroup.com/users. For the User ID enter [mgdemo2010] and for
the password enter [codefactory]. Once you have successfully logged into the
Maps download page, select your country. Finally, choose a map(s) to download.
Please note that when the trial period for Mobile Geo is over, the End
User License Agreement that you accepted when you installed Mobile Geo
states that you must delete all your copies of the map and POI files that
you used during the trial period."
Once you have purchased a full license for Mobile Geo through a Code Factory dealer, you are also entitled to use the maps for the country (or countries in case of map bundles) you specified. You will receive an Email, sent to the Email address you provided when your purchase order was being processed, with instructions about downloading map and POI information. These instructions will guide you to the Go Sendero Web Page for Mobile Geo.
On this page, you will be asked to enter a serial number and password which will be given to you in the Email you will receive. Apart from the mentioned email with full information about your user account in Sendero's website, you can also know your serial number going to the MS4 Control Panel > Options (left soft) > About Mobile Speak. Look for "Your registration key:" followed by a number which could see your phone number (in case of SIM based licenses) or your device Serial Number in case of device fixed licenses. This registration key is the serial number which you must use in Sendero's website to login (temporary password is provided in the previously mentioned email). If you have a SIM based license and your serial is a phone number, don't type the + sign when logging into Sendero's servers. Should you not receive the Email in question, or should you have trouble downloading the map or POI files, please contact your distributor, or contact the Sendero Group technical support department through this form.
Please note that for security reasons you should change your password when entering the page for the first time.
When you have successfully logged in, you will be taken to a page where you will find all the map downloads available for your user account. The downloads of additional points of interest POIs may be found by clicking “free POI downloads” on that same page. The map and POI downloads will, like the Mobile Geo download itself, be in ZIP files which will need to be extracted. Please download only the map and POI files which you will currently use. You can obtain more map and POI files for your country later should you need them. The files in these compressed ZIP files, and not the compressed ZIP files themselves, will need to be placed on your mobile device’ storage card or hard drive in a folder called “maps”. The name of the folder should not contain the quotation marks, but simply be: maps. Note that, unless your device is one of the rare devices which have more than 2 gigabytes of hard drive space in internal memory, Code Factory strongly recommends that map and POI information, as well as Mobile Geo itself, be installed to a storage card. Indeed, most maps will not fit into a device’s internal memory if that memory does not consist of at least 2 gigabytes.
It is best to decompress the compressed map files to a folder on your computer. Please consult the documentation for, or manufacturer of, your compression application to learn how to decompress zip files to a folder.
When you have extracted the map files using your compression application of choice, and the maps themselves are in a folder on your computer, please copy them to your Windows Clipboard, then:
Note that the pasting of maps may take quite a long time, during which you will be unable to view other file locations on your device or storage card from your computer. It may also be possible that the device and Mobile Speak would respond sluggishly during this time. Note that you can, if you wish and if you have a memory reader, use your memory card in that reader, create the folder called Maps on your memory card, and paste the maps into that folder. This may result in a faster transfer of the maps.
IMPORTANT: After the maps have been successfully copied to the
destination folder, the maps must be activated from within Mobile Geo. To do
this:
1. Launch Mobile Geo.
2. Select Functions.
3. Settings.
4. Select Enter Map Key.
5. Enter Your Map License Key.(Also available at Mobile Geo Sendero Maps & POIs Download page, http://mobilegeo.senderogroup.com/users)
Before any external GPS receiver will work with Mobile Geo, or any other GPS application, it must be paired with your Mobile Device. Internal receivers do not require this pairing procedure.
The exact method for pairing your receiver with your Bluetooth capable device depends entirely on your mobile device and GPS receiver. Different devices and receivers pair differently.
If you have an external GPS receiver, please make sure that you pair it with your mobile device before you start using Mobile Geo. You may need to know the Bluetooth passkey for your GPS receiver to successfully establish a Bluetooth partnership. The Bluetooth passkey (e.g., 0000 for Holux receivers or 1234 for some receivers from Royaltech and USGlobalsat) can be found in the GPS receiver's documentation.
Please note also that while pairing the GPS receiver with your device, you may be prompted to select the COM port that will be used by a GPS application to interface with the receiver. Remember the port number of whichever COM port you select. When you launch Mobile Geo and you are prompted to configure its GPS settings, press the left softkey for "Yes" on Smartphones or activate the Yes button on Pocket PCs, and then select that COM port. If you do not know which COM port is used by your external GPS receiver, Mobile Geo may say "Bluetooth" after the COM port's name. If so, select that COM port and check if Mobile Geo can get a GPS fix using that external receiver. If that does not work, open the GPS settings again by pressing Enter on the item displaying the name of your receiver in Mobile Geo's main screen, and select another COM port.
In other cases, you will not be prompted to select a COM port while pairing the receiver with your device, but you may need to select the COM port after pairing and before launching Mobile Geo somewhere in the device's Bluetooth settings.
Now that you have installed and activated Mobile Geo, loaded the maps and, if necessary, paired your receiver, you are ready to start Mobile Geo for the first time and configure its GPS settings. Mobile Geo is started like any other application on your Smartphone or Pocket PC. A shortcut to Mobile Geo has been placed in the start menu of your Smartphone or the programs menu, off the start menu, of your Pocket PC. Navigate to this shortcut and activate it by pressing enter.
IMPORTANT: When Mobile Geo is launched, it will check for device readiness. If any known problems are detected, such as its inability to locate installed maps, no valid map keys are found, or trial license limitations are in place, Mobile Geo will display a warning screen containing possible solutions.
You will hear the Mobile Geo startup sound, and Mobile Geo may say: “starting Sendero GPS Engine, please wait”. Since you are launching Mobile Geo for the first time, you will then be placed in a dialog which will ask whether you wish to configure your GPS receiver. Note that this is not the same as “pairing” your GPS receiver, if you have an external GPS receiver. To pair your GPS receiver, please refer to Section 2.4 As well as your GPS receiver’s manual for more information.
Configuring your GPS receiver in Mobile Geo informs Mobile Geo of how to communicate with the receiver, of the way you wish it to refer to the receiver, and of whether you wish to have Bluetooth disabled when the receiver is disconnected from your mobile device. Should your receiver already be present and connected to your device, and should you wish to configure your GPS receiver settings now, select yes. You will be taken into the GPS settings dialog. Press the left softkey when you are done configuring your GPS receiver and you will be taken to the Mobile Geo main screen.
Should you wish to configure your GPS receiver later, select no and you will be taken directly to the Mobile Geo main screen with no GPS receiver detected.
Inside the GPS configuration dialog, you will find two or three options, depending on your device.
The first setting is a list of communication, or com, ports on your device. Many peripherals that connect to your device, as well as most internal GPS receivers, use a communications port to communicate with the device itself. All such ports which are found on your device will be listed, so that you can choose the one on which your GPS receiver is listening. Mobile Geo will tell you, as you navigate through the list with your arrow keys, all the information it can glean about each port. Usually, this information will be enough to inform you as to which port the GPS receiver is on. If the receiver, for example, is an external Bluetooth device, Mobile Geo will say “Bluetooth” after each port which is connected to a Bluetooth device. Again, if the receiver is integrated into the device, Mobile Geo will speak the information about that receiver, whether the name the device gives it, its type, such as “NMEA”, or other information which will identify the port as that which the GPS receiver uses. Set this port by navigating to it in the list, then navigate to the next control in the dialog.
The next control in the GPS settings dialog is an edit field in which you can enter a name for your GPS receiver. This is a name that will only be used within Mobile Geo, and is excellent for distinguishing, for example, between an internal and an external receiver, as the name will be displayed on the program’s main screen. The default name is GPS and, if you are using only one receiver on your device, leaving this settings set at its default will work well. Should you wish to change the receiver name, enter the new name with your keyboard, number pad, or input method of choice, then navigate to the next control.
The next, and last, control in the GPS settings dialog box is a checkbox, available only on devices running the Microsoft Bluetooth stack, which allows Mobile Geo to automatically turn the Bluetooth connection on your mobile device off when the GPS receiver disconnects. Unchecked by default, you may wish to check this box if you have a Bluetooth GPS receiver and if you wish Bluetooth on your device to be turned off when that receiver is disconnected from your mobile device. This may be desirable because Bluetooth, even when it is not being used, consumes some battery power simply by being on. Checking this box may be undesirable if you routinely use other Bluetooth devices, such as a Bluetooth headset or braille display, with your mobile device and wish to have Bluetooth available at all times without the necessity to turn Bluetooth on manually when your GPS receiver is disconnected. Remember that this option is not available on devices using the WIDCOMM Bluetooth stack (such as those from Motorola and HP) or any other Bluetooth software.
Once these GPS settings are configured in the state you prefer, please press the left softkey to accept your settings and go to the main screen.
You can uninstall Mobile Geo using either Microsoft ActiveSync / Windows Mobile Device Center on your PC or the "Remove Programs" tool on your Windows Mobile device. Note that it is recommended that you first exit and unload Mobile Geo from your device's memory before uninstalling it. To do this, you can use the Quit Application command Home+Back of MSS or Control+DoubleTap4 of MSP when focus is in the Mobile Geo application. Alternatively, you can select Mobile Geo from the Switch App dialog opened by the MSS Home+2 and MSP Control+DoubleTap1 command in the Default layout, and then select "Stop" from the Options menu opened by the left softkey on Smartphones or Tab to the Stop button on Pocket PCs and hit Enter.
To uninstall Mobile Geo remotely using your PC:
Keep in mind that uninstalling Mobile Geo will not remove the map and POI files stored on your device or storage card. You will need to delete these files and folders manually. To do this, select the "Explore my device" option in the Tools menu of ActiveSync or "File Management" in Windows Mobile Device Center, press Enter on "My Windows Mobile-based device" to open the root directory of your mobile device, navigate to the Maps folder containing the map data and POI files, hit the Delete key and answer the confirmation prompt.
To uninstall Mobile Geo from your Windows Mobile Smartphone, that is, a device without a touch screen:
To uninstall Mobile Geo from your Windows Mobile Pocket PC, that is, a device with a touch screen:
This section covers some of the concepts, issues and background information about the Global Positioning System.You can find more information online from web pages such as:
This product is an excellent navigation aid, but it does not replace the need for careful orientation and good judgment. Never rely solely on GPS or any one device for navigating.
The U.S. Government operates the Global Positioning System (GPS) and is solely responsible for the accuracy and maintenance of GPS. Certain conditions can make the system less accurate.
There are 24 U.S. military satellites in the Global Positioning System, 12 in each hemisphere and they circuit the earth twice a day. Although your receiver may be able to pick up as many as 12 satellites, three or more signals are necessary to determine the GPS position. Some GPS receivers offer additional accuracy through the use of a fixed (geostationary) satellite called WAAS, Wide Area Augmentation System.
It is possible to get a reading of Good with 4 or more satellites or Poor with 5 or more satellites. A Good reading is better than a Poor reading no matter the number of satellites. The quality of the satellite signal determines the quality rating announced to you. The user has no control over the WAAS satellite detection, this feature will automatically turn on and report when it is available from the satellite.
A similar system in Europe called EGNOS is being implemented. Having WAAS or EGNOS just improves the accuracy which may result in an accuracy less than 5 meters or 16 feet, but if the Geometry of the satellites is bad you could have WAAS/EGNOS enabled and still have a poor reading.
In the past, the military distorted the GPS signals used by civilians for national security reasons, a process which is called Selective Availability. This was turned off in May 2000 but it may be reinstated if they wish. This has not happened as of the writing of this manual.
Since the GPS receiver detects information from satellites orbiting the earth, the antenna needs to have a relatively unobstructed view of the sky. Large obstructions such as buildings, cliffs and overhangs may interfere with signal reception, reducing accuracy or eliminating tracking altogether. This is called the "urban canyon effect." For example, if you were in a city with 50 story buildings on all sides, the satellite signals would be blocked completely.
However, if there is a tall building on one side only, you may still be able to receive enough signals from other satellites to determine a position. Changing your location by even a few feet can make a difference. For instance, walking on the outer edge of a sidewalk versus up against the building may help. Positioning yourself on a corner at an intersection may also help. There is a better view of satellites while in a car in the street versus up against a building.
The location of the receiver on your body may also make a difference to reception. If you are among tall buildings or near an overhang, you may begin tracking faster if you hold the receiver up and away from your body. Face away from the building. Once the receiver begins tracking, it should continue doing so even if subsequently placed in a less advantageous position. If you need to have it inside a backpack or enclosed because of rain or snow, the GPS signals should be picked up through clothing or vinyl materials.
GPS signals cannot usually be picked up in-doors; however you may be able to pick up signals inside a house with a wooden roof or inside a bus with a fiberglass roof. You may also be successful in picking up signals with the receiver in the window of a bus or train. The best location for the receiver is on the dash or window of a car. (Note: highly tinted and mirrored windows can block satellites.) It is best to secure the receiver as it may become a projectile if you were to stop suddenly.
Although you can often pick up a signal from a plane, you must get permission to use the GPS receiver on most commercial airlines. You may pick up signals from the window of an aircraft but you have a limited view of the sky because of the small window.
The GPS receiver needs to track at least 3 satellites to determine a position. Some receivers may provide an approximate position with less than 3 satellites. Once the receiver acquires a position, the information is sent to Mobile Geo through the Bluetooth connection or from the internal receiver on your Windows Mobile device. It can take anywhere from 1 second to 10 minutes before a position is tracked depending upon how long it has been since you last turned the receiver on and how clear a view of the sky you have.
During this acquisition period, you will have, on the top line of your main screen the message: "no fix, acquiring satellites." If your GPS receiver is not active, not on, or if your external GPS receiver is not properly connected to your mobile device you will see, on the first line of your main screen, the message: "No GPS Receiver Detected, press long zero to reconnect.". In this case, make sure your receiver is correctly paired if necessary, that Mobile Geo is using the correct Com Port, and that your external receiver is turned on.
Once you have acquired a GPS position fix and have started moving, the receiver calculates the change in your position approximately every second using the satellite signals. The average of your heading is calculated to minimize the variations in heading due to GPS fluctuations. After moving in a consistent direction for 15 to 20 seconds your direction of travel is determined and can be announced by Mobile Geo, either on the second line of your main screen or by use of the announce current position command, 1 or Home+1 on a Smartphone, tap 1 on a Pocket PC.
When you stop moving, your heading should be locked on your most recent direction of travel. So keep in mind which direction you were heading before you stopped walking. If you spin around in circles, you must begin walking for 10 to 15 seconds before your new direction of travel can be announced accurately. When you make a turn, walk for several seconds before trusting Mobile Geo's heading information.
To maximize the information and navigation benefits of Mobile Geo, it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the Global Positioning System. You can improve your use of the GPS location information by knowing how the system works.
The accuracy scale in Mobile Geo, available on the first line of your main screen or through the use of the GPS status command, 0 and Home+0 on a smartphone, tap 4 on a Pocket PC, is geared so you know how much to trust the information. If Mobile Geo says "1050 feet, 3 satellites", after announcing its quality reading, note the large accuracy distance of 1050 feet, this is the best indication how much to trust the GPS information. Move a little and try again to double check. Try to get in a more open area so you can get better accuracy. Bear in mind that you must be tracking satellites for 30 feet (10 meters) or more before your direction of travel can be determined. The GPS status command will also provide a quality rating of the GPS navigation available. The same information can be found on the first line of your main screen. The quality ratings are: No Fix, Poor, Fair, Good, Very Good, and WAAS.
Please refer to the GPS receiver manual for details and functions not addressed in this product manual.
To get started, once you have connected your receiver to your device if necessary:
Once you have selected Mobile Geo from your start menu, you should hear Mobile Geo's sound to indicate that it is processing. Soon afterwards, you should hear Mobile Geo say: "welcome to Mobile Geo, starting GPS Engine, Please wait". You will then be placed in the main screen, and given a message indicating the state of your GPS receiver's connection. If you hear information about your position or that Mobile Geo is "acquiring satellites", this indicates that your receiver is connected properly. If you hear, "GPS receiver not detected", make sure your receiver is on and properly paired or activated in Mobile Geo. Then press long zero on a Smartphone, or shift+tap 4 on a pocket PC, to try and reconnect to the receiver. Mobile Geo will attempt to connect again, and will report its result in attempting to make the connection. Should it succeed, you will hear information about your position or the acquiring of satellites. Should it fail, you will be told, through speech on a Pocket PC and speech and vibrations on a Smartphone, that the GPS receiver is not detected, and will be placed in virtual mode. Should you be using an external receiver, you should turn the receiver off when not using the GPS program in order to conserve the receiver's battery power.
First, check your accuracy a couple times by pressing the GPS status command.
If you are tracking satellites when you use the command, you will hear: the quality rating, Approximate accuracy distance, and Number of satellites being tracked".
For example, you might hear "good quality, 15 feet, tracking 8 satellites.". If you are tracking more than 3 satellites, the receiver will determine which satellites are more accurate and use those. It is not only the number of satellites that determines position quality but also the relative position of the satellites to each other.
Due to atmospheric anomalies, there are times when positions are inaccurate for no obvious reason. If you are tracking less than 3 satellites when you press GPS status, you will hear: "No Fix, Acquiring Satellites".
You can also check how well you are tracking with the heading function of the announce current position command, 1 or Home+1 on a Smartphone, tap 1 on a Pocket PC. Once you are heading in a given direction of travel, use this command and its heading function repeatedly to ensure that you are getting consistent compass heading information. This will not only impact your heading but all information relative to your heading such as points of Interest or your destination.
When you first come out of a building or subway, you have not yet established a GPS direction of travel and the receiver cannot determine which direction you are facing until you start moving. There are a couple of things you can do to get headed in the proper direction.
You can start walking and get a compass direction from Mobile Geo. If you do not intuitively know the cardinal compass directions, having a talking or tactile compass can assist you in heading directly to your destination as announced by Mobile Geo. Even if you do not start moving, the absolute position of your destination as announced on the main screen should be reliable. If you head in the wrong direction, you will be notified within 30 feet (or 10 meters), if you are traveling in a pedestrian route and 100 feet (or 30 meters), if you are traveling in a vehicular route.
If you do not have an active route, you can still work your way to your destination using the "getting warmer" method. Try to get the destination to be announced ahead of you at the 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock or 1 o'clock positions. Once you get close to the destination, the announcement starts to move away from the 12 o’clock heading. When it gets to your 3 o’clock (right) or 9 o’clock (left) position, it is time to make a 90-degree turn. This does not tell you if there is a through street, but it gets you in the vicinity.
This section gives you a basic overview of Mobile Geo’s interface and operation, commands, screens, and methods of getting help within the program.
As mentioned in section 2.5, Mobile Geo can be started like any other Windows Mobile application. A shortcut to the program will be placed in your start menu, in that menu itself when using a Smartphone, and in the programs submenu of the start menu when using a Pocket PC mobile device. To start Mobile Geo, activate this shortcut, whether by navigating to it with the arrow keys in the start menu and activating it with the enter key, by using a voice tagging or command application to speak a command to start Mobile Geo from anywhere on your mobile device, or by using a speed dial or shortcut key to start the Mobile Geo program. A Mobile Geo shortcut is also available in the Mobile Speak Control Panel, opened by activating the Mobile Speak shortcut in the Today screen or Start menu.
IMPORTANT: When Mobile Geo is launched, it will check for device readiness. If any known problems are detected, such as its inability to locate installed maps, no valid map keys are found, or trial license limitations are in place, Mobile Geo will display a warning screen containing possible solutions.
Once you successfully start Mobile Geo, you will hear the Mobile Geo startup sound, followed by “starting Sendero GPS engine, please wait”, which may, depending on the speed of your phone and an acquisition of a connection with your GPS receiver, be repeated. If this is the second or a subsequent time you have started the program, you will be taken directly to the program’s main screen.
Exiting Mobile Geo completely is just as simple. when at the main screen or in any other informational screen, all you need do is to press the right softkey for the Mobile Geo Right soft menu, menu, press the up arrow once to “exit and unload from memory”, and press enter. You will be presented with a dialog box asking whether you really wish to exit Mobile Geo. Answering yes will exit the program and remove it from memory. Mobile Geo can also be exited by using the standard exit keystrokes for all programs, Home+back on Windows Mobile Smartphones and control+doubletap4 for Pocket PCs. Using this command will skip the confirmation prompt about exiting Mobile Geo.
Note that you also can control Mobile Geo by voice using Microsoft Voice Command.
This is the full list of commands available in MS4's Mobile Geo specific command layouts:
NUMERIC HOTKEYS
The following commands are available when focus is on any Mobile Geo screen, except within dialogs and menus, including the list view of options opened by some menu items. Within dialogs, pressing any of these keys will send that key to the control in focus (e.g. enter the number if focus is in an edit field). Within menus opened by the softkeys or the list view of options displayed when a menu item is selected (e.g. Use current GPS position, Settings, Route Functions, create Route screen after setting a destination, etc.), the numeric hotkey of the menu option is activated instead (e.g., press left softkey for Functions menu, then press 2, 4 to save the current route).
The Mobile Geo main screen is where you are placed as soon as you enter the program. It contains all the key information you need to know where you are, where you are going, and the status of Mobile Geo. It is set out as a series of lines of text, and you can move around the main screen with your up and down arrow keys, with each press of the up or down arrow giving you another piece of information.
You will hear, before some of the lines on the main screen, the word “plus”. When you hear plus, you can hit enter on that item of information to get more details of the item or to act on that item in other ways.
IMPORTANT: You may choose to hide the “plus” indicator at any time by unchecking the "Mark interactive items" option located in the Advanced Settings screen which is located in the Settings menu.
For example, you can hit enter on the nearest point of interest, that is, the nearest business, school, shop, and so on, and be given its address, telephone number, and the type of establishment it is. Similarly, pressing enter on a waypoint in a route will bring up information about that waypoint such, for example, as whether you should turn when you reach it.
Lines which have no plus before them, and no help instructing you to hit enter if you wish to act on them, are simply informational and nothing will happen should you hit the enter key on them.
Each subsection in this section will describe one component of the main screen. Keep the following in mind as you browse this section of the user guide and the main screen itself:
First, most lines on the main screen can, besides being read through the use of up and down arrows, also be read through the use of numeric or touch screen commands. Further, it is worth noting that the main screen is not refreshed as soon as information changes. Therefore, the commands to read the information displayed on the main screen are often more accurate than that information as displayed on the main screen itself. If the numeric or touch screen commands report one thing while the main screen reports another, the commands are giving the later information and are generally more accurate. The main screen can be refreshed like any other screen, by pressing 5 or pressing long tap4. The main screen refreshes itself every minute.
Finally, some of these items will not appear on your main screen unless they are available. For example, the Destination item will not appear on your screen unless you have set a destination on the map. Many other items are similar.
The GPS status item is the first displayed on the main screen. It gives information as to whether a GPS receiver is active in Mobile Geo and, if so, the status of its tracking. If no receiver is active, This command will say so and ask you to long-press 0 to attempt to connect to your GPS receiver. If a receiver is active, the command will report the quality of the GPS signal, the accuracy scale, and the number of satellites being tracked.
The quality of a GPS signal ranges from having No Fix, which means the receiver is tracking less than 3 satellites,, through Poor, Fair, Good, Very Good, and WAAS, with WAAS being the best quality. See Section 3.2 for an explanation of GPS qualities and WAAS.
The accuracy scale, expressed as a number of feet or meters, tells you how much to trust the receiver’s output. The larger the number, the greater the margin of error.
Finally, the GPS Status command will report the number of satellites being tracked by the receiver. The receiver requires at least three satellites to obtain a fix on one’s position.
This line will give you the street address to which you are near, if available. You can hit enter on the item to access the where am I screen, which will give you more details about your position. See Section 4.5 for more information about the where am I screen. Note that the command, 1, Home+1, or tap1 will give you this information, but will also give you other position information, including your direction of travel, speed, and altitude.
If you have set a destination, whether you have or have not created a route, this line and command will announce that destination’s address, if available, its distance from you, and its heading from your current position. The heading does not indicate whether there is a directly navigable route, such as a road or path, between yourself and that destination at that heading. The heading and distance are from your current location to your destination as the crow flies, not necessarily the distance that must be traveled to reach your destination.
This item and command presents the upcoming intersection, while you are moving, or the nearest intersection, while you are stationary. That is, while moving, the intersection displayed or announced by the command is that in a 90 degree arc ahead of you i.e. if ahead is 12 o'clock, between 10:30 and 1:30 o'clock. However, while you are stationary, the intersection displayed and announced may be in any direction. The streets intersecting with your current street, as well as their direction relative to your current heading, are announced. You can press enter on this item to open the intersection details screen. See Section 4.6 for more information about the intersection details screen.
This line and command will inform you of the nearest point of interest (POI), that is, the nearest School, shop, office, or other establishment. It will also report that POI’s distance and heading from your current position. You can press enter on this item to open the POI details screen. See Section 4.7 for more information about the POI details screen.
When you perform this command, if you are following a vehicular or pedestrian route, Mobile Geo will announce several pieces of information.
You will first hear the percentage of the route you have currently completed. Next, you will receive an estimated time of arrival (ETA) to your destination. The ETA) is calculated by comparing your current speed of travel with the distance to the end of the route. Speed is not averaged. It is up to the user to interpret the ETA. It is recommended that you read or request the ETA information when you are traveling at what you believe to be the average speed for your trip. If you are not moving, an average speed of 2 MPH, 3.2 KM, will be used for a pedestrian route ETA. An average of 25 MPH, 40 KM, applies to vehicle routes when moving less than 5 MPH, (8 KMH). Once you approach the end of the route, the ETA will say less than a minute. Remember that this is a very rough estimate.
You will then hear the distance from your current position to the destination, followed by the distance from the starting point of the route to your current position. These distances are measured based on the sum of distances between route waypoints, not the linear distance between your current position and the starting or end points of the route. A third distance reading will be the full distance involved in traveling the route. Note that this is not the distance as the crow flies, but the distance you must actually travel. Moreover, unlike the distance given by the Destination item also shown in the main screen which is available whether or not there is an active route, the total route distance given by this item is not measured as a linear distance between the starting and end points of a route, but the sum of distances between route waypoints. Finally, the type of the active route (pedestrian or vehicle) is spoken.
On the other hand, the Route Information line of the main screen displays fewer details: total route distance, percent of the route that you have already completed based on your current position, and the ETA to your destination. Pressing enter on this item in the main screen will bring you to the full route screen which displays a list of waypoints in a route.
If you have created and chosen to follow a route with all its waypoints displayed, by setting “give route instructions” as “detailed waypoints” in the route functions menu, this line will display the waypoint on that route to which you are closest. If, however, you are following a route with the “give route instructions” item set as “turns only”, that is, displaying only those waypoints at which you turn, this line will display the waypoint at which you next need to make a turn.
Besides displaying the name of the waypoint in question, this line will also display the distance to that waypoint from your current position, its heading from your current position, the direction of the turn, if any, you need to make when you reach that waypoint, and the estimated time of arrival at that waypoint based upon your current speed.
This line gives you your speed, in miles or kilometers per hour, as well as your altitude as it relates to sea level. The information displayed on this line can be obtained through the current position command, but will be preceded by the street address if available when that command is used.
This line gives you your current city’s name, as shown on the map. If the city name is not found, the nearest township will be announced. If no township is found either, the county or district may be announced. If there is a body of water, college campus or other map feature in the database, this will appear after the city name. Should you wish to set your default city for entering addresses, you can press enter here to do so.
This line informs you as to the status of Mobile Geo’s modes. It will first inform you of whether you are in virtual or GPS navigation mode. GPS mode is the mode in which Mobile Geo is receiving data from a GPS receiver and in which your position on the map is solely determined by the data that receiver sends. In virtual mode, however, you can set your own position on the map and virtually explore that map, learning about the vicinity around which you virtually proceed. The modes line on the main screen, if enter is pressed on it, will toggle from one mode to another. Should you be switching from GPS to virtual mode, you will be warned, by a window and a tone, that you are now in virtual mode and will not be able to follow routes in real time. This window can be dismissed with the enter key. Using this main screen line to switch to GPS mode will result in a message indicating that GPS navigation is active. The modes line of the screen will also inform you of whether sequential route following is enabled. Finally, the modes item will inform you of whether LookAround announcements are enabled.
This line of the main screen informs you of what GPS receiver Mobile Geo is using and whether that receiver is connected. This is most valuable when you have set up two or more receivers such, for example, as an internal and external device. This line of the main screen, if enter is pressed on it, will take you to the GPS settings. See Section 2.6 for more information about the settings relating to your GPS receiver.
The last two lines of the main screen inform you of the date and time on your device as well as your mobile device’s battery status.
On the main screen of Mobile Geo, you will see a pedometer. Simply put, a pedometer is a tool that measures the distance walked. The default value for the pedometer is 0 feet. As you move in any direction, this value will be increased accordingly. To reset the value to 0 feet, with the pedometer selected, tap the Enter key. You will receive a message requesting that you confirm that you wish to reset the value to 0. Select Yes and the value will be reset.
Pressing the left or right softkey will bring you to the first option in the menu in question. From there, you can either arrow up and down to the option you wish to use or, if you know its position in the menu, press the number for that position to access the option more quickly. For example, you can enable or disable Bluetooth from the right soft menu. The item that toggles Bluetooth is the fifth option in the menu. Therefore, pressing the right softkey, then 5, will invoke this item more quickly than arrowing down to it and pressing enter.
Note that, should you wish to leave one of the menus without performing any function, you need only press the left arrow key. Alternatively, you may press the Back key on a Smartphone or the MSP Alt key on a Pocket PC.
The Functions menu, accessed with the left soft key, has within it functions to set one’s virtual position, destination, or origin, create, reverse, and cancel routes, search for points of interest, view a history of announcements, change settings, and much more. An overview of the items available in the Functions menu will be given in Section 5
The application menu, accessed with the right softkey, on the other hand, contains functions which are more generally applicable, and which you may wish to perform whatever you are doing in Mobile Geo. Note that some of the menu options in the application menu can also be executed through numeric and touch screen commands without entering the menu at all. If such a command exists for a particular item, that command will be listed beside that item’s title in this section.
This option, the first in the application menu, and its command, takes you back to the informational screen you were on before accessing the current screen. It does not take you back to a dialog box or wizard as, for example, the wizard you use when you set an address. Should you wish to return to such a dialog box or wizard, you can do so by accessing it through the menus or key commands you used to access it the first time.
This option and command does exactly what its name states by putting your cursor in the main screen immediately. Mobile Geo will automatically read the first two items of the main screen when it gains focus (that is, the GPS status and your current position)
Some screens in Mobile Geo, like the main screen itself, are refreshed at stated intervals. Through this menu item and command, a refresh of these screens, forcing them to display the most current information, can be initiated at any time. Keep in mind that the numeric and touch screen commands which announce information always announce the most updated information available. All that occurs when a screen is refreshed is the displaying of that updated information and its being made available to you as you move up and down the screen. Since the only way to hear information from Mobile Geo when you are performing other tasks on your Pocket PC or Smartphone is through commands, the refresh current screen menu item and command is only needed, and only available, inside Mobile Geo.
This menu item and command will attempt to communicate with your GPS receiver. When you invoke it, you will hear that the attempt is being made, and then will be notified whether communication with the receiver has been established. If communication with the receiver is established, you will also be told the quality of your GPS data, its accuracy, and the number of satellites you are tracking.
This menu item will, if Bluetooth is on, say “turn Bluetooth off” and, if Bluetooth is off, say “turn Bluetooth on”. It is provided to make turning your device’s Bluetooth radio on and off easier than through the use of the Com manager or any other device-specific application provided to enable or disable the Bluetooth radio. Simply invoke it to toggle Bluetooth. Note that this menu item is not available for all devices, as some devices use a different Bluetooth implementation which requires that you enable and disable Bluetooth using a specific application. It mainly supports devices with the Microsoft Bluetooth stack, but not those using the WIDCOMM Bluetooth stack like devices from Motorola and HP.
This menu item, when invoked, gives you version and copyright information about Mobile Geo and the products which it uses, including the Sendero SDK version number.
This option allows you to leave Mobile Geo’s screens and perform other tasks on your mobile device without exiting Mobile Geo and while still having access to Mobile Geo’s functions, announcements, and location information. See Section 4.8 for more information on performing other tasks while Mobile Geo is still running. Selecting this option is the same as pressing the Hang-up key on Windows Mobile Smartphones and Pocket PC phones. Use this option if you cannot press the Hang-up key; for example, there is an incoming call.
This menu item allows you to quit Mobile Geo completely. If you confirm that you wish to exit, no GPS information will be available, and no Mobile Geo commands can be used, until you restart Mobile Geo. Note that this menu item can only be accessed, and the exit commands can only be performed, when inside Mobile Geo itself, and not when Mobile Geo is running minimized to the background.
The where am I screen gives you detailed information about your current position. It can be accessed in several ways. Pressing enter on the street address information in the main screen will open the where am I screen, as will pressing long 1 or shift+tap1 inside Mobile Geo. When Mobile Geo is in the background, pressing Home+Long1, or shift+tap1, in the Mobile Geo command layout will also access the where am I screen.
The where am I screen includes the following items , which you can navigate through using your up and down arrow keys:
You can exit the where am I screen by pressing the number sign, which will take you back to the main screen. You can also use both the left and right soft menus from the where am I screen.
Finally, you can press enter anywhere in the where am I screen except on the intersection information, to be given the option to set the position detailed by the screen as a destination or a virtual position. The menu brought up by hitting enter from the main screen also gives you the option to return to the current waypoint screen if you have virtually explored the surrounding area of that waypoint.
The intersection details screen displays, in an easy-to-read format, full information about the nearest or upcoming intersection, depending on whether you are stationary or in motion.
The intersection details screen contains the following information, which you can navigate through using your up and down arrow keys:
As in the where am I screen, you can press enter in the intersection details screen to bring up a menu of options. These allow you to set the intersection described by the screen as a destination or a virtual position.
The POI details screen allows you to see the details of, and act on, POIs. It can be accessed by pressing enter whenever a POI is displayed. This can be your nearest POI, as displayed on the main screen, or a POI displayed while searching for POIs.
Please note that when in the POI Details screen, your device's Left-Soft Key is labeled "Options" and the Right-Soft Key is labeled "Back". Also, in the POI screen, you will find the following information, which you can either view or edit as you navigate through the POI Detail Dialog Box using your device's up and down arrow keys:
Pressing the Left-Soft Key, labeled "Options", while in the POI Details screen, in addition to providing the option to save any changes to the POI if any changes were made), will bring up a menu with several options including setting the POI as either route destination or a virtual position.
Please note that, should you accidentally modify any POI details, when you either close the POI or attempt to move focus from the POI details, you will be prompted to confirm that you wish to save any changes.
Navigating with GPS is just one of the things your Windows Mobile device can do. Mobile Geo does not prevent you from checking mail, making phone calls, editing a document, looking up a contact, or doing anything else your mobile device is capable of while Mobile Geo is running in the background. While you are performing these other tasks, you will be able to access Most of Mobile Geo’s functions without leaving the particular task you are performing, and will hear all GPS alerts, information about what you need to do with your route, and information about your surroundings. None of these announcements will interfere with any task you are performing.
To minimize Mobile Geo to the background, press the right softkey from any Mobile Geo informational screen. This will bring you to the application menu. Then press 7, or up arrow to “minimize to background” and press enter. Mobile Geo’s screens will disappear, Though Mobile Geo will still be running in the background.
If you ever find that you do not hear an announcement, that you have missed an announcement given some time back, or that you would like a piece of information that has been spoken to be spelled or read word by word, this is all possible in Mobile Geo.
If you miss an announcement and would like Mobile Geo to repeat the last announcement, press 9 or perform the MS4 MG equivalent command when outside it but using the Mobile Geo command layout of Mobile Speak. The announcement itself will be spoken, followed by the type of announcement it is, for example, that it is the changing of a street, a POI that has been identified in look around mode, etc.
If you would like to see the last few announcements made by Mobile Geo on one screen, press long 9 or its equivalent commands in MG layout for MS4. This will bring forward a screen with a configurable number of previously spoken announcements on it. Press the up and down arrow on this screen to move from one announcement to another. The announcement itself will be spoken, followed by the type of announcement it is, for example, that it is the changing of a street, a POI that has been identified in look around mode, etc.
When in Mobile Geo itself, you can capture the current item in focus, that is, the item on which your cursor is, to a window, which allows you to read that item letter by letter or word by word. To do this, press long 5. This will open a window with one line in it on which will be the currently focused item of information. This line can be read with the standard text reading commands available in Mobile Speak. Note that, for users of Pocket PCs, shift+left and right arrows will navigate by word in this window.
The left softkey in most screens of Mobile Geo, except in dialogs and pop-up menus, opens the Functions menu. This section will briefly discuss the different functions that you can perform in Mobile Geo to use it as a GPS navigation aid. Remember that you can press the number corresponding to the position index of the menu item to select it even if it is not yet in focus. Most of the items in the Functions screen will open a list of related functions that can again be activated using numbers corresponding to their index.
The first item in the Functions menu opens a list of three functions for defining user locations such as destination, virtual position or origin, and user POI.
"Select an address" allows you to select a map (that corresponds to a state, province, region or the whole country itself), city, address number and street of the address you wish to set as a user location. Each screen of the dialog that opens when you use this function will have help text instructing you on how to search or select for parts of the address.
After pressing Enter on the type of user location you wish to select the address for (destination, virtual position or user POI), the first screen of the dialog that opens asks you to choose the map. If you have map files for one region in the Maps folder, the first screen that opens will ask you to select the map to use. Otherwise, this screen is skipped. Use the arrow keys to select the map, and then press Enter or the left softkey to move to the "Next" screen. Note that you may also set a default map that will be automatically selected, thus skipping this screen, in Mobile Geo's Settings for preferred locations. Note that pressing the right softkey of this screen will "Cancel" this function and close the dialog
You are prompted next for the city. In this screen, the selected map is spoken, followed by a help message pertaining to the control in focus which is an edit field where you can type the city name. Type the entire city name a part of it in the edit field and press Enter or the left softkey to initiate a search. Mobile Geo will ask you to wait as it populates the list of search results. Focus will then be placed on the first item of the list of searched results, and you can use the arrow keys to navigate the list. You can also type a few letters in this list to jump to the city you wish to select, if you already know how the map presents its name. When you have located the city you wish to select, press Enter (or left softkey) to move to the next screen.
Note that the right softkey in the City Selection screen, as well as in the next two screens, opens a menu with options to clear the entry in the edit field, move back to the Map Seleciton screen, and to cancel the function and close the dialog.
In the following screen, the selected map and city will be spoken. Focus lands on an edit field where you can type the full name of the street you wish to select, or a part of the street name, and press Enter or the left softkey to initiate the search. You can press Enter on an empty edit field to get the list of all street addresses in the selected city. When the list of search results is available, focus is placed on the first item and you can use the arrow keys to navigate the list, or type in letters to jump to an item with a name starting with those letters. Either press the Enter key or the left softkey to select this street.
In the next screen, the selected map, city and street are spoken. Focus is again on an edit field and a help message is spoken. Enter the address number, and either press Enter or the left softkey to move to the "Next" screen.
After you have selected the address number, Mobile Geo will search for the exact address that you have entered. If it finds it on the map, then your address look-up is done, and what will happen next depends on whether you selected this address as destination, virtual position or user POI. It is possible, however, that if it is unable to find an exact match of your selected address, Mobile Geo will show you a set of address ranges available for that street. Navigate to your choice and press Enter or the left softkey.
Mobile Geo remembers the city and street you have selected, as well as the address number you entered, so that the next time you use the "Select an address" function, the last selected city, address number, and street are still entered in the edit fields. Similarly, if you have selected a city or entered an address number, but decide to go back to the selection screen for these parts of the address, your selected city or entered address number will be in the edit field.
The text in these edit fields will automatically be highlighted, and so if you do not move the cursor using the Left and Right arrow keys, then a single press of the Back or Backspace key on your built-in keyboard or in the MSP input method you are using will automatically clear the entry. The same action is performed by selecting the "Clear entry" option from the right softkey menu.
In addition, if you do not move the cursor when this edit field gains focus, typing into this control will overwrite the text that is already entered. On the other hand, if you want to edit only parts of the remembered text entry, then press the right arrow key to move to the end of the text and start editing from there.
"Use current GPS position" allows you to enter your actual GPS location as destination, as virtual position, or as user POI. Note that this function is not available if no receiver is connected or you are in Virtual Navigation mode.
"Set lat/lon coordinates" allows you to define the latitude and longitude coordinates for a user location. Note that the latitude, which you are asked to input first, should be entered in decimal notation, with the degree of latitude followed by a decimal point, which is in turn followed by the minutes and seconds of latitude, to the smallest available fraction of a second, noted without any separation. That is, 37 degrees, 49 minutes, 20.5 seconds, north latitude, is expressed as 37.492050. Southern latitudes are indicated by a minus sign being placed before the latitude information. Press the left softkey to continue to the next screen.
Similarly, the longitude that you must enter next should be in decimal notation, with the degree of longitude followed by a decimal point, which is in turn followed by the minutes and seconds of longitude, to the available fraction of a second, noted without any separation. That is, 122 degrees, 37 minutes, 20.5 seconds, west longitude, is expressed as -122.3720. Press the left softkey and what happens next depends on whether you defined these map coordinates as a destination, as a virtual position, or as a user POI, which is explained in the next section.
In order to input a decimal point, press the # key. A negative sign can be entered by pressing the * key. If this does not work on your device, then open the Symbols list (which is usually done on a Smartphone by long-pressing the # key), arrow to the symbols * or #, and press enter to insert a decimal point . or negative sign - respectively. Do not select the period or dash from the Symbols list.
Note that if you use the above functions to set a destination, you will be prompted to choose whether you want to create a pedestrian or vehicle route, to use the Getting Warmer function of Mobile Geo which gives you the heading and distance to your destination every 12 seconds but will not provide route instructions, or to not create a route at that time.
After setting a location as a virtual position, Virtual Navigation mode is activated and this location becomes your current position on the map from which point, you can virtually explore the surrounding area. Focus will be placed in the "Where am I" screen so that you can navigate through the list of details about that position.
If you set a location as a user POI, you will be asked to type in a name and description for the POI. In the description, you may enter a phone number so that the "Dial phone number" option accessed by pressing Enter in the details screen of a user POI will also be available. You can also include comments in the POI description, such as: "slight curve", "narrow stairs", "front door of establishment", or anything that will remind you of something important about this point of interest.
Please note that Mobile Geo will request that you enter an Author Name the first time you create a user POI.
If Mobile Geo is running, you can open the Contacts application and navigate to a contact for whom you have stored a detail in the "Home address", "Work address" or "Other address" field, then set that address as destination or virtual position. To do this, open the application menu with the right softkey when focus is on the contact and when Mobile Geo is running in the background, arrow to the Mobile Geo option, and select from its sub-menu whether you wish to set an address as destination or virtual position, and if so, from which of the three address fields that Mobile Geo checks should the address details be extracted. Mobile Geo will start searching for that address and place you in the Street Selection screen of the "Select an address" dialog, reading the map, city, address number and street that has already been selected.
In this screen, you may press Enter or the left softkey to finish the address selection process, choose from a list of interpolated addresses if Mobile Geo presents a list for you to choose from, or go to the previous screens to change the selected map, city or address number.
Remember, however, that addresses need to be entered in your contacts folloing the same format used in the map data, in order for this Mobile Geo option to work properly.
This will open a list of functions that you can use to create and manage routes. You can press the number corresponding to the position index of the listed item.
This opens a list of options for calculating a route based on known points of origin and destination, and to set a destination or a virtual position. Selecting to set the destination or virtual position will display the available options: select an address, select a POI, and set lat/lon coordinates.
This moves focus to the Full Route screen that lists either all the waypoints or only the turns in the active route, if any. Every time you create a route, the Full Route screen gains focus, allowing you to study the significant points in the route such as turns you need to make, intersections you would pass but not make a turn at, as well as the origin (starting point) and destination (end point) of the route. The number of the waypoint and a short description, followed by the heading and distance to the waypoint will also be displayed.
This lets you select a route from your Mobile Geo user favorites and immediately start following it. Refer to the next section to find out how to save routes. Using this function of loading saved routes is a time-saver in the sense that you no longer have to manually enter addresses as destination, particularly addresses that you often go to, just to create a route to it. Further, this lets you obtain a route file from another Mobile Geo user (for example, a friend in another city whom you plan to visit and have walks with in that area), and load that in Mobile Geo when you want to use it.
This stores the active route in a .gps file in the Maps folder so that you can load and follow it again in the future without having to define its destination or route type. You can also share route files with other Mobile Geo users. When you select this option, you are asked to type in the name for the route you want to save. IT is recommended that you enter a descriptive name that will remind you the important information about this route such as its destination, route type, or length.
This interchanges the starting point and destination of the current route, and then automatically recalculates the route, allowing you to follow a route back to where you started without having to manually create such a route. Focus will be placed in the Full Route screen where the waypoints of the reversed route are displayed.
This allows you to manually update the route points and maneuvers based on your current GPS position and the initially specified destination. Such a function is useful especially when you find that the vehicle you are in has detoured from the route that Mobile Geo calculated for you, or if you have deviated from the route while walking and find that you are not exactly approaching the waypoints that are listed in the Full Route screen. Mobile Geo, however, can also be set to recalculate routes automatically in some instances.
This is an option that can be toggled on/off. When turned on (default setting), Mobile Geo will warn you if you have wandered significantly off-route and either prompt you if you wish to recalculate the route based on your current GPS position, or just automatically recalculate. By default, it will prompt you about recalculating, but you can disable this prompt in Mobile Geo's Advanced Settings.
This is an option that can be set to "turns only" (default setting) or "detailed waypoints". This affects the waypoints displayed in the Full Route screen and the announcements of waypoints you are approaching while following a route, where the "turns only" setting serves as a sort of filter for you to learn only about the turning points in a route. "Turns only" will be spoken when the Full Route screen gains focus to indicate that this is the current setting. If "Detailed waypoints" is set for this option, however, there is no spoken message in the Full Route screen that indicates this setting.
This stops Mobile Geo from following a route and announcing upcoming maneuvers, even before you have reached your destination. It will also clear out the Full Route screen, and stop the Getting Warmer announcements, if any.
This allows you to create a route by entering the waypoints manually. Once you start creating a manual route, you can add waypoints to it, name the waypoints,specify whether or not there are turns and describe their details. Once created, manual routes can be saved just like any other route, so that they can later be used or shared.
To create a manual route you should follow these steps:
1.- Go to Functions (left softkey) > Route functions > Create route > Create manual route. MG will announce "Creating manual route". From this point you can use Mobile Geo normally.
2.- At this point you can add waypoints manually to the route by selecting Functions (left softkey) > Set positions and choose any of the available options. If you're creating the route while in the field you'll normally select "Use GPS position" and there you'll see a new option between the previously existing ones called "as manual waypoint". By selecting this, you're adding a manual waypoint to the route using your current GPS location. You'll then be asked to enter the waypoint name. If MG knows your heading and you're not entering the route’s first waypoint, then you'll also be asked about the turn information of this waypoint and you'll be able to describe the turn. Of course, "no turn" waypoints are allowed.
Note that you can also add a waypoint manually by entering its address (city or zip search) or its latitude and longitude. Every option in Mobile Geo which allows you to specify a place will allow you to make this place to be a new waypoint in your manual route. You can even set manual waypoints from POIs (user and commercial). For example, you can go to the User POI's list and press enter on any POI. A new menu item will appear which allows you to set it as a waypoint.
Waypoints are added sequentially.
You can go to the Full Route view and review the full list of waypoints of the route you're creating and their details.
3.- Once you have created your manual route, you can save it by going to Functions (left softkey) > Route functions > Save current route.
The third item in the Functions menu opens a list of two options that can be used to search for points of interest (POI). A POI refers to places such as business establishments, restaurants, parks and recreational areas, beaches, schools, churches, shops, airports, landmarks, and many more.
IMPORTANT: Lookaround announcements are temporarily disabled while in a POI search screen.
When either POI serch function presents the list of POIs found, the items are arranged based on geographical location, starting with the POI that is nearest your current GPS or virtual position. The POI name is displayed, as well as the distance and heading to it. You can press Enter on a POI to view its details. In the details screen of the POI, press Enter for the options of setting it as a destination or virtual position, and to call its phone number, if any.
This quick and easy-to-use search tool performs a POI search in all directions and in all categories. Please note that specific search string values are not permitted when using this tool.
Selecting this tool will automatically initiate a search for the nearest POIs found from your current GPS or virtual position.
Further, you can select the option to expand the search which will look for POIs within the next search radius increment.
To see detailed information about a specific POI listed on the search result screen, tap the [Enter] key while the POI is selected. Doing this will not only allow you to read more information about the POI, but you can also choose to set it as a destination. In addition, if you wish, you may edit any information about the POI.
5.3.2 Advanced POI Search
The Advanced POI search function allows you to specify detailed criteria by which a POI must meet in order to be displayed on the search results screen. You may specify such data as Start/End Distance, search direction (All, Ahead, Left, Right, Behind, North, South, East, or West), and/or Category, etc.
Please note that while in the Advanced POI Search screen, tapping the Right-Soft key will display two options (1) Back and (2) Reset Default Search Parameters.
Please note that the final item displayed in a list of advanced POI results will read Go Back to POI Search. Tap the Enter key on this item to be returned to the previous screen where you may once again define your search criteria.
The following is a detailed description of the Advanced POI
search form:
1. Search string: text to find on POI's name, description, etcetera (you can
select it).
2. Search by: POI field where you want to compare find the text introduced
on the search string.
3. Category: POI category to find.
4. Subcategory: POI subcategory to find.
5. Starting / Ending distance: define the distances from your position where
you want to find POIs. Unless you're doing directional searches there's no
need to define any distance here. It's recommended to set this values to 0
(default values), which will start searching from your position giving you
the ability to keep expanding the search. Searching POIs based on
starting/ending distances can be a slow process depending on the entered
values.
6. Get whole word: allows you to define if you are looking for exact matches
of the search string.
7. Search direction: allows you to define the direction of the POI search.
8. User private as well: allows you to exclude private POIs on this search.
The default value is Yes which will include private POIs.
Note that you may also search by State and Zip Code, where applicable.
Once you define your search conditions, then you can press the LeftSoft key
(Search) and MG will look for POIs following your instructions.
There are 2 possible scenarios:
1. Unnamed searches. When you don't define a search string you'll get a list
of POIs similar to what you get when you perform a Basic POI search (but
filtered using the rest of searching criteria).
2. Named searches: If you define a search string, MG will search for POIs
which match your search and show you a list with the 3 first occurrences
which match your search conditions. At the bottom of the list you have an
item named "Expand search", which will look for 3 more POIs and will add it
to the existing ones on the list, and so on.
Just like with the Nearest POI search, you will have options to expand the search as well as to view the next and previous set of POIs found. You can also press Enter on a POI to view its details screen where you can again press Enter to access available options.
Note that in the edit fields for starting and end searching distances, you can press the # key to enter a decimal point. If this does not work on your device, open the symbols list (which is usually done on a Smartphone by long-pressing the # key), navigate to the symbol #, and press Enter. DO not select the period from the symbols list.
Whether or not there is a GPS receiver connected, whether or not you have a GPS fix, and whether or not you are currently following a route, you can browse the map and explore the area surrounding your current GPS position or a different location that you have specified as a virtual position anytime you want.
To do this, you must first switch to Virtual Navigation mode. Your current GPS position will automatically be set as the virtual position if no location was specified as such beforehand. Also note that if you started Mobile Geo without a GPS receiver connected, then Virtual navigation mode is automatically activated. Similarly, if you set a virtual position using any of the functions in "Set user position" , you are also placed in Virtual navigation mode.
You can now start exploring the map. If Mobile Geo command layout is selected, press the MSS Command key which will remain active until you press it again to turn it off. Pressing Up arrow will virtually move you forward to the intersection ahead of your virtual position on the map. Pressing Down arrow will take you back to your last virtual position, but remember that this command cannot be repeated in order to trace back through all the virtual positions you have occupied on the map.
To turn left or right at an intersection, press the Left or Right arrow key while the Home or Control key is still active. If you are not at an intersection when you try to make a turn, you will jump to the intersection ahead before the turn is made. If a turn is not possible, you are turned around 180 degrees to face the opposite direction.
When you virtually move on the map, focus will be placed in the "Where am I" screen. Moving forward will make Mobile Geo announce the distance you have traveled, along with the information about your new location on the map. If you have started your virtual exploration from the details screen of a route waypoint, press enter in the "Where am I" screen that gains focus and select the option "Go back to current waypoint" in order to return to your place in the route.
At any time that you want to disable virtual exploration and use the default function of the arrow keys, just press the MSS Home key to toggle it off.
If you do not want to concern yourself as to which command layout is active, you can also perform commands for virtual exploration using either of two ways:
Selecting the fifth option in the Functions menu opens a pop-up sub-menu of the three modes that are currently available in Mobile Geo. Arrow to the mode you wish to configure, and press Enter to toggle between the settings for each. As this list functions as a pop-up menu, focus moves back to the screen where focus was previously in, after you have changed the setting for a mode.
Navigation mode has two options, GPS and Virtual, and you can toggle between these two settings by pressing Enter or pressing Key 1 in the list of Modes. In GPS navigation mode, GPS monitoring is enabled and your current position is updated as you move. The Full Route screen will also display the heading and distance to waypoints based on your current GPS position. In Virtual navigation mode, on the other hand, GPS monitoring will still be enabled as well as automatic announcements of upcoming turns and waypoints or nearby POIs and intersections, but you can virtually move to another location on the map without affecting the information given by these automatic announcements that will continue to be based on your current GPS position. In the Full Route screen, you can study the route waypoints relative to each other in terms of the distance between them, for example, rather than according to your current GPS position. GPS navigation is activated when a receiver is detected, while Virtual navigation is automatically selected when Mobile Geo is launched without connecting a GPS receiver.
Follow route sequentially can be toggled on or off, but is disabled by default. Before following a route that may wrap back around itself as in a circular route or one with hair pin turns, turn this mode on. This ensures that waypoints will be announced in numeric order. No points will be skipped or triggered even if they are closer to you than the next numeric point. This is particularly useful for manually created routes (that will be available in a future version of Mobile Geo) which are far more likely to meander – for example a route that goes North on the left side of the street for 3 blocks then back South on the opposite side of the same street. However, for automatically created routes, it is suggested that you leave this mode turned off for more accurate announcements.
LookAround announcements mode can be toggled on or off. When turned on (which is the default setting), Mobile Geo will give you an overview of what is around you such as points of interest (e.g., shops, schools, landmarks, etc.), intersections, and any address that you have specified as a user POI. It will also inform you when you moved from one street or city or state to another. However, if you want to mute such announcements (e.g., Mobile Geo is running in the bacgkround while you are listening to an audio book using Windows Media), then turn LookAround mode off.
This mode can be set to "Exhaustive", which makes Mobile Geo to look the whole street or city name for your search criteria in address matching processes, or "Starts with", which makes Mobile Geo to assume that you're always typing the first characters of the names of streets and cities. The second option gives better results in terms of speed during searches, since the first one is less restrictive and allows you to type any part of the name of tha place you're looking for.
Mobile Geo's user-configurable features are sorted into seven groups of options under "Settings" in the Functions menu. Press Enter or the left softkey to open a group of options which will be presented in a dialog. To save changes you have made to the options presented in a dialog, press the left softkey. TO exit the dialog without making any changes, press the right softkey. To close the Settings screen, press the right softkey.
Available options include:
Available options include:
Preferred locations include options to set a default map and a default city, to clear these defaults, and to clear the destination currently remembered and set by Mobile Geo when it is restarted. If a default map and a default city is set, they are automatically selected when you use the "Select an address" function and you are placed immediately in the screen where you enter the address number.
Available options include:
Sounds and vibrations provide a list of events to which spoken messages, sound notifications and vibratory alerts may be associated. At this time, the sound file and vibration sequence used are not user configurable. You can check and uncheck which type of notification (speech, sound or vibration) should Moble Geo use for an event. If you press the left softkey in this dialog, the Options menu lets you play the sound and vibration for an event, restore default settings, disable the vibration, and save your changes without exiting the dialog yet. The right softkey will close the dialog.
The vibration alert linked to an event is patterned after the Morse code of the first letter of word or words in the event name. This means that the vibration for a dash is three times longer than that representing a dot. Also consider that there is a unit between components of a Morse code letter, while there are three units between individual letters.
Here are the events and the Morse code on which the vibration sequence is based.
LookAround options allow you to customize which information should be announced by the LookAround mode, if it is enabled. Options include commercial POIs, intersections,street changes,city changes,map changes, user POIs, and the category of commercial POIs announced. These options (except for the commercial POI category which is a list) are presented as checkboxes that you uncheck in order to disable.
Advanced settings lets you configure the heading averaging mode which determines the frequency at which Mobile Geo updates the heading that it announces:
You will also find in the Advanced Settings dialog the option for "Prompt on route recalculation" which, if disabled (unchecked), will make Mobile Geo automatically recalculate the current route when you wander significantly off-route, without prompting you first.
This will open a history of Mobile Geo announcements. Note that if Mobile Speak read a message not related to Mobile Geo while the application is running (e.g., a low battery warning), the text of that message will not be included in this history list.
The last item in the Functions menu will offer two options that will each open a list of user-defined points of interest and of saved routes.
This opens a list showing all the points of interest that you have recorded using any of the functions in "Set user position". Press Enter on the user POI you wish to customize.
With the current version of MObile Geo, if you wish to select a user POI and set it as a destination or virtual position, you can do the following:
Note that user POIs are stored in a file called User.poi. You can share this file with other users of Mobile Geo as well as users of other Sendero GPS-based products.
This opens a list of all your saved routes. Press Enter on a route to access the options to "Rename" and "Delete" it. More options will be made available in future Mobile Geo versions.
Note that the data about routes are stored in .gps files that are saved in the Maps folder. You can share such files with other Mobile Geo users.
Mobile Geo can now be controlled by voice. Microsoft Voice Command is an application which lets you use your voice to look up contacts, make phone calls, get calendar information, etc. Now you can also use this application to activate Mobile Geo's commands such as announce current position, announce GPS Status, move forward/ backward or turn right/left while exploring the maps in virtual mode, and much more. To learn more about Microsoft Voice Command visit http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/microsoft/about-voice-command.mspx
In order to use your Braille device with Mobile Geo, please connect your Braille device first with your Smartphone or Pocket PC, enable Braille, and then launch Mobile Geo. Depending on the device combination, sometimes it is necessary to connect the Braille device and Bluetooth headset before an external GPS receiver to get stable connections between all devices.
When you start Mobile Geo with Braille already active, Braille output mode will automatically switch to Speech Emulation from the default setting of Braille format. This allows you to read in Braille even the Mobile Geo announcements that are not displayed visually on the screen. Speech Emulation will display in Braille exactly what Mobile Speak says, but without the Braille indicators for control information.
TO toggle Braille output mode between Braille Format and Speech Emulation:
Further, Braille input mode is automatically switched to 8-dot computer Braille to make it easier to perform commands using the numeric hotkeys of Mobile Geo. The Braille grade for input can be set independently of the Braille output.
TO change Braille input grade:
To simulate the long press of keys on the numeric keypad, turn on the Long Press Mode before pressing the Braille keys for the number. The same command will toggle off Long Press Mode:
At this time, there are no Braille commands for performing Mobile Geo functions when another application is in focus. Therefore, you must first bring Mobile Geo to the foreground:
This section contains the full text of the End User License Agreement that you need to accept before installing Mobile Geo.
This is a legal and enforceable contract between you (User) and Code Factory, S.L. By installing Mobile Geo and its accompanying GPS maps and database of points of interest (POIs), you accept all the terms and conditions of this license agreement:
Code Factory, S.L. (referred to hereafter as "Code Factory"), with its principal place of business at Rambla d'Egara, 148, 2-2, 08221 Terrassa, Spain, hereby grants to you a user-centered license to use Mobile Geo (referred to hereafter as "Software"), accompanying GPS map and POI files (referred to hereafter as "Maps"), as well as product documentation and built-in help files (referred to hereafter as "Documentation") according to the terms of this entire agreement.
Mobile Geo for Windows Mobile is not a standalone product, but an add-on to Code Factory's Mobile Speak Pocket and Mobile Speak Smartphone programs. Use of Mobile Speak Pocket and Mobile Speak Smartphone is subject to each program's own User License Agreement.
You may:
You may not:
Code Factory retains the title, ownership rights, intellectual property rights, and trade secrets in and to the Software and Documentation, including all subsequent copies and updates to the Software and Documentation, regardless of the form or media used. Sendero Group as well as GPS map providers Tele Atlas and Navteq retain the title, ownership rights, intellectual property rights, and trade secrets in and to the GPS technology and Maps used with the Software, according to their own User License Agreement.
Similarly, the title, ownership rights, and intellectual property rights in and to the content accessed through the Software is the property of the applicable content owner and may be protected by applicable copyright or other law. This license gives you no rights to such content.
Code Factory warrants that the Software will perform substantially on an officially supported Windows Mobile-based device interfacing with a supported GPS receiver with a demo version of the Maps in accordance with accompanying written materials for a period of thirty (30) days with a trial license, or with full versions of the Maps and no time limitations with a full license, providing that the version of the Software, the Maps accessed through the Software, and the operating system and firmware version of the device on which the Software runs do not change. Activation tokens linked with a license may be downloaded again and stored on the device if the previous activation token was corrupted or erased, provided that the trial license has not yet expired or the full license is valid for that device.
This limited warranty is void if failure of the Software has resulted from user error, accident, abuse, misapplication, inaccuracy of the Maps, factors affecting the precision of the GPS receiver in use, and defects in the Software and hardware of the device. Some states/countries/jurisdictions do not allow limitations on duration of an implied warranty, so this limitation may not apply to you.
Except as expressly provided in the limited warranty section above, the Software and Maps are provided to the end user "as is" without warranty of any kind, express or implied, and specifically disclaims any warranty of non-infringement of third parties' rights, warranties of merchantability and of fitness for a particular purpose. By accepting this User License Agreement, You explicitly acknowledge and agree that the quality and performance of the Software when in use is at your own risk.
Code Factory does not guarantee or warrant that:
No Code Factory dealer, reseller, agent, employee, or any other party is authorized to make warranties or conditions on Code Factory's behalf. You may have other legal rights that vary from state to state or by jurisdiction.
You accept all risks which may arise from the downloading, installation and use of the Software and Maps including, but not limited to, errors in transmission, corruption of existing data or Software in the device, and/or damage to the hardware of the device. Code Factory is not responsible for damage that might be caused by the software of other companies that can be installed and purchased separately.
Moreover, the user acknowledges and agrees that Code Factory has no responsibility over the accuracy and updating of GPS maps provided by the Sendero Group, Tele Atlas or Navteq, and that changes in the Maps may result in the inability of the Software to work properly. However, Code Factory will do its best to test the Software and Maps as well as fix bugs in the Software.
If a user wants to test the Software, he/she should ask for a trial license. Under no circumstances will the money of purchased licenses be returned, in part or whole. Likewise, under no circumstances will purchased licenses be exchanged for licenses of other Code Factory products, individual components (including but not limited to text-to-speech voices and plug-ins), and separately licensed add-ons.
Each license granted allows you installation and activation of the Software to only one device at a time. If you want to use a fully activated version of the Software on several devices at the same time, you must purchase as many licenses as devices you have.
Some of the functionality of the Software may be affected by differences in the firmware and hardware specifications of certain devices including, but not limited to, the Bluetooth stack, processor speed, battery performance, available internal memory and built-in GPS chip. Code Factory is not responsible for the failure of the Software due to these factors.
The user declares that he/she has read the content of the website www.codefactory.es and other websites it links to, and therefore, has knowledge of the features of the Software. He also declares that he/she has read the Documentation before using the Software and, consequently, knows how to use it.
Code Factory provides this Software only as a mobility aid to the blind and visually impaired. Like other GPS products, it is limited by:
The Software is not intended to take the place of a cane, dog guide, or sighted escort, nor does it serve as a substitute for good mobility skills. In no event will Code Factory and its dealers or resellers be liable for death, personal injury, or any special, indirect or consequential damages including, without limitation, damages for loss of goodwill, work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortuous action, arising out of or in connection with the use of the Software and Maps, or the performance or failure of the Software and Maps to provide expected information, even if Code Factory shall have been informed of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by any other party. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so this limitation and exclusion may not apply to you. Code Factory shall not be liable for any damages under this agreement.
Should the Software prove defective, or the Maps prove inaccurate, in any respect, the user and not the author will assume the costs of any service and repair. In addition, the calculations done by the Software have inherent limitations, and the user must determine if the Software meets his requirements. The user is wholly responsible for issues relating to personal safety and mobility. This limitation of liability constitutes an essential part of this agreement.
If the Software is acquired under the terms of a GSA contract, use, reproduction or disclosure is subject to the restrictions set forth in the applicable ADP Schedule contract. If the Software is acquired under the terms of a DOD or civilian agency contract, use, duplication or disclosure by the government is subject to the restrictions of this license in accordance with 48 C.F.R. 12.212 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations and its successors and 48 C.F.R. 227.7202-1 of the DOD FAR Supplement and its successors.
The Software operates using transmissions from satellites orbiting the earth, data from the current version of the GPS maps, possibly a Bluetooth connection to a GPS receiver, as well as user-programmed functions. Because of this, correct performance of the Software in all conditions cannot be guaranteed.
Therefore, you should never rely solely upon the Software for information on your current location, the route you are taking, and your intended destination. Satellite transmissions may not be accessible during cloudy weather or within buildings and other enclosed areas, the Maps may not include the latest changes in addresses and points of interest, the Software cannot provide information on obstructions and recent changes to the topography of certain locations (e.g., construction work and present traffic condition), and the Software and Maps cannot prevent the User from making errors in judgment with regards to safe traveling, interpretation of audio cues, and proper use of orientation and mobility skills.
According to the regulations in force referring to royalties, especially the revised text of “Ley Española de Propiedad Intelectual” approved by “Real Decreto Legislativo 1/1996” of 12th April, in Articles 1, 5.2, 8, 95 and further concurrent ones, and as per the international agreements on this matter, especially the Bern Agreement as well as the Geneva Convention and Council Management of European Communities of 14th May 1991 about legal protection of computer programs, Code Factory, S.L. is the sole owner of the patrimonial rights arising from Mobile Geo. It is strictly forbidden to modify, duplicate and/or distribute either totally or partially the Software or any of its components including the Maps without the authorization of Code Factory, S.L. Such a practice will constitute a legal crime and will be severely punished according to Spanish and international laws.
Code Factory, Mobile Geo names and logos are registered trademarks.
This agreement will terminate automatically if you fail to comply with the terms described above. On termination, you must (i) discontinue your use of the Software and Maps, and (ii) permanently erase or destroy all your copies of the Software, Maps and Documentation.
This agreement represents the complete agreement concerning this license between the parties and supersedes all prior agreements and representations between them.
In order to amend this agreement, a writing executed by both parties is required.
The acceptance of any purchase made by you is expressly made conditional on your assent to the terms set forth herein, and not those contained in your purchase.
If any provision of this agreement is held to be unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.