Locus Map

Last updated
Developer(s) Asamm Software, s.r.o., Prague, CZ
Initial release2010
Operating system Android
Available inEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, and other 24 languages
Type Web mapping
License Proprietary
Website www.locusmap.app

Locus Map is a multi-functional Android navigation app. Primarily it is designed and used for leisure time outdoor activities like hiking, biking, or geocaching. The app is also used by professionals e.g. by S&R teams or for collecting geospatial data. [1]

Contents

The app was developed in 2010 by Czech developer Jiří Mlavec, founder of Asamm Software company, based in Prague, Czech Republic. Locus Map development is carried out in cooperation with the community of its users-contributors and as such is partially crowd-sourced.

The application has registered more than 5 000 000 installations and has been reviewed in professional media (e.g. Computer Bild. [2] [3] [4] or AndroidPIT [5] ). It received awards in several app competitions and polls. [6] [7]

Features

Track recording - creating statistics and charts, customizable recording profiles, TTS generated audio-coached workouts, support of external bluetooth and ANT+ sensors

Route planning - available either directly in the app or on the web planner

Points of interest (POI) - creating personal points, search and sorting of OSM based points of interest in an offline database, sound notifications of approaching points

Web library - cloud-based storage of users' routes, tracks and points, synchronized with all devices connected to a user's account

Search of places, addresses, coordinates (including W3W) or phone contacts

Geocaching - Locus Map is one of the official Geocaching.com API partners. [8] It enables downloading geocaches for offline use, navigation to geocaches with map and compass, online and offline logging, supports waypoints, PocketQuery, trackables and spoilers

Turn-by-turn navigation and guidance - navigation with voice commands, beeline guidance to a point on map or by compass

Live tracking - real time sharing user's position with other users publicly or in private groups

Cycling computer functions - speedometer, odometer, average speed, maximum speed, elevation profile, elevation gain, customizable dashboard, digits are displayed above a map, support of external sensors for monitoring heart rate and pedaling cadence

Import/export - importing/exporting points and routes from/to the Internet or from/to other software in a wide range of formats (KML, KMZ, GPX...), exporting workouts to services like Strava, Runkeeper, [9] Google Earth, etc.

GPS - skyplot displaying actual satellite network, GPS status notifications, support of external GPS units

Customization - the app offers a wide range of customization options - menus, screen panels, coordinate systems, or units

Maps

Locus Map displays maps of various providers in online and offline mode:

Online maps

Most of the online maps can be downloaded for offline use.

Offline maps

Licence

Locus Map is available in two versions, each with a different licensing:

Locus community

Locus Map has been developed in cooperation with its users who communicate with the app's developers via dedicated forum or general GPS or navigation discussions. The main source of users' contributions is the helpdesk with voting system - users themselves vote for changes and improvements in the app. Despite the app developers operate in the Czech republic, major part of the Locus community is located in Germany. [10] The application translations are crowd-sourced. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geocaching</span> Outdoor recreational activity

Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called geocaches or caches, at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world. The first geocache was placed in 2000, and by 2023 there were over 3 million active caches worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Maps</span> Googles web mapping service (launched 2005)

Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets, real-time traffic conditions, and route planning for traveling by foot, car, bike, air and public transportation. As of 2020, Google Maps was being used by over one billion people every month around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenStreetMap</span> Collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world

OpenStreetMap is a website that uses an open geographic database which is updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial photo imagery or satellite imagery, and also import from other freely licensed geodata sources. OpenStreetMap is freely licensed under the Open Database License and as a result commonly used to make electronic maps, inform turn-by-turn navigation, assist in humanitarian aid and data visualisation. OpenStreetMap uses its own topology to store geographical features which can then be exported into other GIS file formats. The OpenStreetMap website itself is an online map, geodata search engine and editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GPS for the visually impaired</span>

Since the Global Positioning System (GPS) was introduced in the late 1980s there have been many attempts to integrate it into a navigation-assistance system for blind and visually impaired people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point of interest</span> Useful location marked on maps

A point of interest (POI) is a specific point location that someone may find useful or interesting. An example is a point on the Earth representing the location of the Eiffel Tower, or a point on Mars representing the location of its highest mountain, Olympus Mons. Most consumers use the term when referring to hotels, campsites, fuel stations or any other categories used in modern automotive navigation systems.

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers, using the GPS, GLONASS, Galileo or BeiDou system, are used in many applications. The first systems were developed in the 20th century, mainly to help military personnel find their way, but location awareness soon found many civilian applications.

Satellite navigation software or GNSS navigation software usually falls into one of the following two categories:

  1. Navigation with route calculation and directions from the software to the user of the route to take, based on a vector-based map, normally for motorized vehicles with some motorized forms added on as an afterthought.
  2. Navigation tracking, often with a map "picture" in the background, but showing where you have been, and allowing "routes" to be preprogrammed, giving a line you can follow on the screen. This type can also be used for geocaching.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Here Technologies</span> Netherlands-based mapping data company

Here Technologies is a Dutch multinational group specialized in mapping technologies, location data, and related automotive services to individuals and companies. It is majority-owned by a consortium of German automotive companies and American semiconductor company Intel whilst other companies also own minority stakes. Its roots date back to U.S.-based Navteq in 1985, which was acquired by Finland-based Nokia in 2007. Here is currently based in The Netherlands.

Google Maps Navigation is a mobile application developed by Google for the Android and iOS operating systems that later integrated into the Google Maps mobile app. The application uses an Internet connection to a GPS navigation system to provide turn-by-turn voice-guided instructions on how to arrive at a given destination. The application requires a connection to Internet data and normally uses a GPS satellite connection to determine its location. A user can enter a destination into the application, which will plot a path to it. The app displays the user's progress along the route and issues instructions for each turn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sygic</span> Slovak automotive navigation technology company

Sygic is a Slovak company of global automotive navigation systems for mobile phones and tablets. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia. It became the first company to offer navigation for iPhone and second for Android. In 2015 Sygic reached milestone of 100 million downloads of its navigation app.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turn-by-turn navigation</span> Feature of GPS navigation devices

Turn-by-turn navigation is a feature of some satellite navigation devices where directions for a selected route are continually presented to the user in the form of spoken or visual instructions. The system keeps the user up-to-date about the best route to the destination, and is often updated according to changing factors such as traffic and road conditions. Turn-by-turn systems typically use an electronic voice to inform the user whether to turn left or right, the street name, and the distance to the next turn.

Telenav, Inc. is a wireless location-based services corporation that provides services including Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite navigation, local search, automotive navigation solutions, mobile advertising, enterprise mobility and workflow automation. The company’s headquarters are located in Santa Clara, California in the United States with additional offices in the U.S., Germany, Japan, Romania, China, and Brazil.

GeoReader is a landmark locating software application and website for mobile iPhone and Android based devices. Users travel into the vicinity of a "talking point", and the software enables the phone to read text aloud that is linked with a GPS location. In addition, users can create their own 200 character count text to add to the database, and choose to share these talking points publicly or privately. The system is hands free and requires no physical interaction. Once the app is installed in the mobile device, the user simply opens the app and starts their trip. The application automatically then starts to search for any GPS tagged talking points within range of the user.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OsmAnd</span> Offline maps & navigation Android and iOS app

OsmAnd is a free and open-source map and navigation app for Android and iOS. It uses the OpenStreetMap (OSM) map database for its primary displays, but is an independent app not endorsed by the OpenStreetMap Foundation. It is available in both free and paid versions; the latter unlocks the download limit for offline maps and provides access to Wikipedia points of interest (POIs) and their descriptions from within the app. Map data can be stored on the device for offline use. Using the device's GPS capabilities, OsmAnd offers routing, with visual and voice guidance, for car, bike, and pedestrian. All of the main functionalities work both online and offline.

Google APIs are application programming interfaces (APIs) developed by Google which allow communication with Google Services and their integration to other services. Examples of these include Search, Gmail, Translate or Google Maps. Third-party apps can use these APIs to take advantage of or extend the functionality of the existing services.

This article contains a list with gratis satellite navigation software for a range of devices. Some of the free software mentioned here does not have detailed maps or the ability to follow streets or type in street names. However, in many cases, it is also that which makes the program free, avoid the need of an Internet connection, and make it very lightweight. Very basic programs like this may not be suitable for road navigation in cars, but serve their purpose for navigation while walking or trekking, and for use at sea. To determine the GPS coordinates of a destination, one can use sites such as GPScoordinates.eu and GPS visualizer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Android Auto</span> Mobile app providing a vehicle-optimized user interface

Android Auto is a mobile app developed by Google to mirror features of a smartphone on a car's dashboard information and entertainment head unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Here WeGo</span> Web mapping and navigation service since 2012

Here WeGo is a web mapping and satellite navigation software, operated by HERE Technologies and available on the Web and mobile platforms. It is based on HERE's location data platform, providing its in-house data, which includes satellite views, traffic data, and other location services. Maps are updated every two or three months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karta GPS</span> Free satnav application for smartphones

Karta GPS is a mobile application developed by Karta Software Technologies Lda., a daughter company of NDrive, for the Android, iOS and iPadOS operating systems. It is distributed for free and pairs open-source map data from OpenStreetMap alongside curated content from Yelp and Foursquare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Android Pie</span> Ninth major version of the Android mobile operating system

Android Pie, also known as Android 9 is the ninth major release and the 16th version of the Android mobile operating system. It was first released as a developer preview on March 7, 2018, and was released publicly on August 6, 2018.

References

  1. ↑ "Navigation and Mapping with Locus Map". Fulcrum. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  2. ↑ "Locus Pro CBE". ComputerBild (4/2012).
  3. ↑ "Navi für Stadt, Land, Fluss und Meer". ComputerBild (4/2014).
  4. ↑ "Karten für Alle Fälle". ComputerBild (12/2015).
  5. ↑ "review at AndroidPIT.com". Archived from the original on 2017-04-09. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
  6. ↑ "Best Mobile App Awards nominations".
  7. ↑ "Aplikace roku 2015 (Czech App of the year 2015)". Archived from the original on 2020-12-03. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  8. ↑ "Geocaching.com API partner registration".
  9. ↑ "Runkeeper API partner registration".
  10. ↑ "Locusmap.de - German Locus community server".
  11. ↑ "Locus — Translation Project on Crowdin". Crowdin. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.