Newest Android Tower App missing ability to cache offline maps

kelleysislander · Jan 12, 2016

Hi All,

I got a new Nexus 9 tablet and loaded Tower on it and immediately went to turn on the Offline Maps caching option. I went to the settings where I have enabled that in a previous version and is still enabled on another android device, and I found the choices all greyed out ;(

I then created the "Maps" directory and copied my tiles from the other device thinking that the absence of the correct dir was the problem... but NO!@@ It remained greyed out and unavailable.

Does anyone know about this or is having the same behavior in their tower app?

Has offline caching been disabled?

Thanks,

Bill

pyrate · Jan 12, 2016

I know googles API was being moved to non supported

pyrate · Jan 12, 2016

UPDATE: Affirming Google Maps Engine support will end on January 29, 2016, a Google provided the following statement:

Maps and location information are valuable tools for businesses -- whether it's helping people find your store locations or identifying sales opportunities across town. To help our Maps for Work customers continue to get the highest impact from our products, in 2015 we'll focus on helping customers deliver location information via our Maps APIs and shift away from selling any non-Maps API products. We'll support our Maps for Work customers through their contracts and work closely with them and our partners through this transition.

Cosber · Jan 12, 2016

So does this mean I'm going to have to get a device with cellular data so I can use either Tower, or maybe in the future, an IOS version? And with the new Cable cam multi point feature, it looks like to use it you need to have a satellite map to make your points. Useless to us non-data plan users?

Maddog · Jan 12, 2016

pyrate said:
UPDATE: Affirming Google Maps Engine support will end on January 29, 2016, a Google provided the following statement:

Maps and location information are valuable tools for businesses -- whether it's helping people find your store locations or identifying sales opportunities across town. To help our Maps for Work customers continue to get the highest impact from our products, in 2015 we'll focus on helping customers deliver location information via our Maps APIs and shift away from selling any non-Maps API products. We'll support our Maps for Work customers through their contracts and work closely with them and our partners through this transition.

Thanks, but what exactly does that mean to us? Will Google maps still be available on the Solo app? Will they still be available on the internet so I can see my neighbors backyard?

Maddog · Jan 12, 2016

Cosber said:
So does this mean I'm going to have to get a device with cellular data so I can use either Tower, or maybe in the future, an IOS version? And with the new Cable cam multi point feature, it looks like to use it you need to have a satellite map to make your points. Useless to us non-data plan users?

I'm not sure if I understand how all this works. I have a Nexus 7 (2013) that I got just to use Tower. It works fine and I can see satellite maps with no problem. I do not have a service plan through any cellular provider. Am I on the same page with you guys or am I talking about something different?

Troiano27 · Jan 13, 2016

You have to switch to map box as the map provider and you can cache maps in tower. I have the button and option on my nexus 7 (wifi only). Not there if you don't turn on map box. Have to go to map box web page and sign up for a free account. Then get the info you need to plug into tower. There's a great tutorial explaining how to do it.

pyrate · Jan 13, 2016

Same in the solo app, you cant cache maps from google now

EyeWingsuit · Jan 13, 2016

pyrate said:
Same in the solo app, you cant cache maps from google now

I'm unable to cache maps from Mapbox; it repeatedly tells me my token is invalid, although I've attempted to use both the default and newly generated tokens.

Any suggestions?

kelleysislander · Mar 24, 2016

EyeWingsuit said:
I'm unable to cache maps from Mapbox; it repeatedly tells me my token is invalid, although I've attempted to use both the default and newly generated tokens.

Any suggestions?

Do ensure that you have copied the comlete token, and that you have the correct mapbox id, the one that starts with the username you set for yourself.

Cheers,

Bill

Maddog · Mar 25, 2016

I'm a little confused- is map caching only necessary if you're going to be flying somewhere where you have no internet available?

I'm using an iPad mini 3 wifi+ cellular and have never needed to cache maps but I haven't been so far out of the city I didn't have internet access.

PdxSteve · Mar 25, 2016

Maddog said:
I'm a little confused- is map caching only necessary if you're going to be flying somewhere where you have no internet available?

I'm using an iPad mini 3 wifi+ cellular and have never needed to cache maps but I haven't been so far out of the city I didn't have internet access.

Yes, it's meant if you are going somewhere with no internet connection.

franknitty69 · Mar 27, 2016

@Maddog the map view will always show a map. if you have internet on your mobile device it will download the tiles to display a hybrid map. this map data will be all the 'trees' you see if you look at google maps or bing. none of this is necessary at all to fly.

if you have a mobile device that doesn't have internet if you look at the map you wou will still see streets, but no 'trees'. caching the maps will allow you to see the 'trees' even though you don't have internet.

John Githens · Apr 1, 2017

EyeWingsuit said:
I'm unable to cache maps from Mapbox; it repeatedly tells me my token is invalid, although I've attempted to use both the default and newly generated tokens.

Any suggestions?

I am experiencing the same problem. The current Mapbox user interface is very different from that shown in the YouTube videos I have found, and different from that shown on GitHub. For example, the concept of 'Project' has been removed from the latest version. While I will keep studying to find a way, perhaps someone has already found and will share a procedure that works with the new version of Mapbox. Some clues may be in this forum thread.

John Githens · Apr 2, 2017

John Githens said:
I am experiencing the same problem. The current Mapbox user interface is very different from that shown in the YouTube videos I have found, and different from that shown on GitHub. For example, the concept of 'Project' has been removed from the latest version. While I will keep studying to find a way, perhaps someone has already found and will share a procedure that works with the new version of Mapbox. Some clues may be in this forum thread.

Sometimes RTFM is sufficient. Sometimes there are other ways to learn. And sometimes assumptions get in the way of learning. I did some local exploring on this topic. Since I could not discover which file extensions were allowed in file uploads on this Forum, I have inserted text below. Feel free to use it and share it without attribution (positive or negative...)

.

The following was experienced on an ASUS Nexus 7 (2012) tablet running Android 6.0.1. You can follow the steps to maybe learn a few things about how Google Maps works, how Tower works with Google Maps, and how to work with Tower while offline (when there is no Internet connection). Apparently... there is no need to use any version of Mapbox.

You can also skip to the last section.

'Location' and 'Storage' Permissions were allowed for both Google Maps and Tower.
( Settings > Apps > ___ App > Permissions)

Your experiences may be different from mine, because you have a different Android tablet, a different version of Android, or different versions of Google Maps or Tower.

1. Turn off the tablet's WiFi connection to the Internet.
2. Delete the cache for the Google Maps app and the Tower app. ( Settings > Storage & USB > Apps > __App > tap 'Clear Data' to clear both Data and Cache )
3. Open Google Maps and Tower to confirm the lack of Satellite map data.
4. Turn on WiFi.
5. Open Google Maps. Your location should appear in the center of the map view. Without expanding the view, zoom in to the lowest level (most granular).
6. Close Google Maps.
7. Turn off WiFi.
8. Open Google Maps.
9. Press to move the map view around to see the scope/boundaries.
10. Close Google Maps.
11. Open Tower and switch to Editor view.
12. Press to move the map view around to see the scope/boundaries. (should be a smaller scope than the previous Google Map view in Step 9.)
13. Close Tower.
14. Turn on WiFi.
15. (with Google Maps closed) Open Tower and switch to Editor view.
16. Quickly expand the map by 25% and stop. This appears to indicate a live connection to Google Maps, even though you don't have the Google Maps app open on your tablet.
17. Without moving the map view around much, zoom all the way down on an area that is familiar to you, and wait for the map tiles to download to your tablet.
18. Close Tower.
19. Turn off WiFi.
20. Open Tower and switch to Editor view.
21. Move around the view to see how the view is fuzzier the farther you go from the area you zoomed down on in Step 17.

Conclusion, or
How to have maps to use with Tower when your tablet is not currently connected to the Internet.
1. Be at a location where your tablet can be connected to the Internet.
2. Turn on WiFi to connect to the Internet.
3. Open Tower.
4. Zoom completely down on each area where you intend to next operate your drone. Wait to be sure that all of the map tiles for that view have downloaded to your tablet. You may want to move the map view in Tower to ensure that all of the most detailed map tiles for nearby areas have been downloaded.
5. Close Tower and turn off your tablet.
6. Go to the location (as envisioned in Step 4) where you do not have a connection to the Internet.
7. Open and use Tower.