Learning to use Quo Mapping on my phone

I installed the programme this morning, and now I’m learning how to use it on the mobile.

I made an immediate cockup, I think, by misreading a code that I needed in order to transfer my map of the Lakes across, and now the map won’t load on the mobile. I’ll find a way to uninstall it, though, and do it again properly.

I’ve transferred a map of where I live, though, and it seems to be working! Even though I’m sitting inside at the computer, the mobile has found me the map and is monitoring my position. I am a green dot. I had no idea! *g*

The little programme seems brilliant. One of the things I’ve rarely used a GPS for, but would love to be able to do, is to set a waypoint representing where I need to be and then use the GPS to walk to it. I think I’ve only used that once with my little Garmin, when I was walking in the dark across a very foggy moor and couldn’t see the path. In desperation I worked out the GR of the junction of the path and the road, told the GPS to take me there and basically followed the arrow (naturally avoiding cliffs and other dangerous things along the way. I mention this for those GPS sceptics who believe that all GPS users will blindly follow a straight line on the ground and drop to their deaths from the nearest cliff *g*). It worked perfectly, and here I still am to tell the tale!

It’s much easier with a little map, though, because I don’t have to faff around taking a GR off the map (easy to do accurately when warm and safe: easy to mess up when cold, lost, stressed and alone in the hills) and transferring it manually to the GPS: I can simply tap the place I want to go to with the stylus in order to create a waypoint, and then walk to it. For a not-very-good navigator like me, that’s a major asset to have in reserve for those rare occasions when I need it. Hurrah for GPS and digital mapping technology!

Finally getting somewhere with the blogging/phone/GPS issue!

Wow, this stuff is complicated!

Anyway… I’m currently with Vodafone, paying £10pm for 100 minutes and 500 texts. Turns out that if I pay £15pm I can have unlimited (well, 500MB) internet access too, so that’s what I’ve decided to do. I’m going to buy a phone separately.

The question now is: what phone? I’m very keen on the Blackberry Curve, but I’m also very tempted to just go for the HTC Touch Pro (or Touch Pro 2) which comes with a good keyboard *and* will allow me to use my existing Quo mapping, buy a couple of spare batteries and see how I get on. Over on the Quo forum the Glofiish X800 was recommended for GPS use, so that’s another possibility.

Ultimately I just can’t bring myself to buy digital mapping yet again, especially since I’ve only just got the Quo GB 1:50k and the Lakes and Dales at 1:25k. Viewranger looks very good, and if I hadn’t bought Quo I might have gone for that and bought a Nokia, but I just… can’t quite bring myself to do it! *g*

So now it’s just a matter of getting the phone.

Incidentally, I’ve just had an incredibly helpful telephone conversation with a bloke at Vodafone! He patiently answerered all my questions and even explained about the Blackberry ‘push email’ add-on (I hadn’t understood what it meant before, and I now realise I wouldn’t need it if I were to get a Blackberry). He checked my existing useage (I hadn’t previously known how to do it) and established that I’m doing fine on my 100 minutes/500 texts package, and as a result he’s saved me quite a lot of money as I’d prolly have gone for one of the £30 or £35pm deals otherwise, that go on for 2 years and come with a ‘free’ phone. (I might still have done that if they still had the HTC Touch Pro available, but they don’t.) Anyway, most of my previous telephone conversations with Vodafone, Orange and O2 have been painful, so it was a real joy to come across somebody so helpful and patient. Thank you, Alistair