radiacode_cyberspace

Map and tracks

Map settings

To open the map settings, tap

⁠

at the top left of the screen.

Maps API:

It is possible to choose the software platform that provides the maps and their rendering. The default is Google Maps. As an alternative map API you can choose the OpenStreetMap platform (

https://www.openstreetmap.org/⁠

). OpenStreetMap is an open source project with the ability for users to add their own objects to the map.

Google Maps provides an opportunity to choose between the type of map - scheme, satellite photo or hybrid version and works only in online mode, ie, when displayed sections of the map are downloaded by the application from the Google server.

OpenStreetMap displays the map only as a diagram. You can choose between the online mode, when the map is downloaded as raster images-tiles from the servers of OpenStreetMap partner companies, and the offline mode, when preloaded files with vector maps are used for display (see below for details). OpenStreetMap draws markers much faster than Google Maps, so for very large tracks it is more convenient to use it.

Google Maps and OpenStreetMap settings are slightly different. The different settings are listed at the end of the page.

Store location in the database:

Never: The coordinates of your smartphone's current location are not recorded in the database (log).

Only when recording a track: The coordinates of your smartphone's current location are only entered into the database during track recording. This allows you to partially recover a track from the base log as a

pseudo track⁠

Always: If enabled, the location is entered into the database along with the rest of the information. In the future, you can open on the map

pseudo track⁠

and see the change in the radiation situation associated with the selected location. You should not enable this option unnecessarily, because location determination makes the smartphone consume a lot of power.

Coordinates are stored in the database only if location detection in the smartphone is enabled by the user. Android apps do not have the ability to turn location detection on and off on their own.

Location:

Location resolution and distance between markers on the map: If the location of the smartphone changes by more than the specified number of meters from the previous one, then in

track⁠

a new point is recorded. Do not set too low values, since at the same time, the GPS module of the smartphone will work more intensively, while the number of track points will increase rapidly and the rendering of the track on the map will be slower.

Ignore a location if its measurement accuracy is worse than: If the accuracy of the position measurement is worse (greater than) the specified value, the application will ignore the system message about the position change. For example, if you specify to ignore locations with a measurement accuracy worse than 20 meters, and the system reports that the location has changed, but the measurement accuracy is ± 22 meters, then this location change will be ignored.

Ignore location if the distance to the previous point is less than: If the distance between the previous point and the current point is less than the specified value, the application will ignore the system message about the location change. The combination of the last two options allows you to eliminate situations where the system reports small changes in geolocation coordinates measured with poor accuracy.

In a group “Markers” you can choose how the circle markers will be displayed on the map:

- Minimum and maximum dose rate value for the marker defines the range of values of the measured dose rate level displayed on the map. Points with a dose rate level outside the specified range are not displayed.

- Automatically shift the minimum and maximum values: if the marker added to the track has a dose rate value that exceeds the boundaries of the levels displayed on the map ("Minimum and maximum dose rate value for the marker"), then change the corresponding boundary so that the marker is visible. For example, if the maximum limit is set to 120 R/h, and the dose rate of the next marker is 140 R/h, the maximum displayed value will become 140 R/h.

- Immediately put a marker on alarm: when an alarm occurs, immediately request a location from the system and put a marker when and if the system will provide this location. Marker is set on general grounds, all other settings and filters applicable to marker setting apply, except the option "Ignore location if the distance to the previous point is less than...", i.e. the option "Immediately set marker on alarm" only speeds up getting the current location from the system.

- Display markers where the dose rate value is out of bounds defined by color scale: If this option is disabled, then only those points with the dose rate level between the values defined by the sliders will be displayed on the map. Points with values below the purple slider (for example, less than 40.5 R/h) and above red (77.2 R/h) will not be displayed.

- Connect markers with a line: Draw a dashed line connecting the markers. This helps to display the intended trajectory of movement if the markers are far apart, but slows down rendering.

- Automatically set marker colors by min./max. dose rate values: Set (including during the track recording process) colors so that purple corresponds to the minimum dose rate in the track, and red - to the maximum value. The triangles on the color bar will be set to their respective positions. If you move one of the triangles, then this option is disabled. It should also be borne in mind that the automatic coloring of markers with a significant number of points slows down the application.

- Enable the auto-coloring option when loading a new track: If auto-coloring was disabled, for example, due to manual manipulations with the color scale, then auto-coloring will be automatically enabled when loading another track or starting recording a new one.

- Disable live data marker stroke: Do not stroke live markers (for which the dose rate value has not yet been transmitted by the device) with a thick gray line.

- Marker size: you can select the diameter of the circles.

- Markers stroke: Marker circles are outlined with a semi-transparent gray line, which allows you to visually perceive them as a set of circles, and not as a solid line if the markers partially overlap. At small map scales, the stroke masks the colors of the circles, so you can turn off the stroke or choose to turn it off automatically at small scales. The track is rendered slightly faster when the stroke is off.

- Decimation of markers: One can choose an additional criterion, taking into account which the markers are decimated when they are added to the map in order to speed up the rendering of large tracks. When adding a new marker, the application compares its parameters with the parameters of the previously added marker. The next marker is NOT added if the following conditions are simultaneously met: 1). The distance between this marker and the previous one is less than specified in the selected criterion (1/4 of the marker radius, 1/2 of the radius, or whole radius). 2). The difference in the dose rate of this marker and the previous one does not exceed 10% of the value of the dose rate of the previous marker.

Decimation of markers affects only their display on the map. This setting does not affect the process of recording a track; non-displayed markers are not deleted from the track.

- Marker palette: you can select the palette of colors that are used to draw the markers.

- Automatically display the current position in the center of the map: If in the process of recording a track you move the map to the side (for example, to view some other part of the map), then after the specified time the map will display in the center the position corresponding to the current location.

- Ignore a point if the accuracy of determining its location is worse than: When calculating the track length, ignore the points for which the positioning accuracy is worse than the specified one. This makes the calculation of the track length more accurate.

- Display location accuracy and track length: Display in the upper left corner of the map information about the accuracy with which the last location was determined, as well as the length of the track. This function works only if track recording is on. If the location was recorded in the track, then the color of the text in the window will be black, otherwise it will be red (the conditions for recording coordinates are not met).

- Keep smartphone screen on when map is active: The smartphone screen will not turn off if a map is displayed on the screen.

Some of the settings related to location are found in

the application settings⁠

You can import a track with the button

⁠

The system file picker opens.

Export settings (“Share”)

Application Radiacode can export a track in several formats:

in its own rctrk format, which is a text format and can be imported back into an application on another smartphone.

in gpx format (a free text format for storing and exchanging GPS data). gpx files can be opened in a browser with a variety of viewing tools. When exporting the gpx file, the application specifies the dose rate value in micro-roentgen as the altitude above sea level.

in kmz format (compressed .kml) for viewing in Google Earth (

https://earth.google.com/⁠

) and in other programs that support the .kml/.kmz format.

When exporting a track in the .kmz format, one can set the following settings:

- Marker size: By default, Google Earth draws markers of some automatically selected size. This setting allows controlling the marker size in Google Earth.

- Marker transparency: One can choose the degree of transparency of the markers: 0% - opaque, 75% - almost transparent.

- Decimation of markers: Do not add a marker to the file if the distance in meters between it and the previous marker is less than the specified one, and the difference in dose rate values is not too large. This allows reducing the number of markers on the map. For decimation, the same algorithms are used as when drawing a track in the application.

- HTML in point descriptions: Each point is assigned a text string that is displayed in Google Earth when the marker is clicked - date/time, dose rate, location accuracy. Google Earth allows using an HTML markup in descriptions, which makes the text more readable. However, not all programs that work with the .kmz format understand HTML correctly, and for such programs, you can turn off HTML in the text.

Settings specific to Google Maps:

In field “Map type” you can choose how the map will look - a diagram, a satellite photo or a hybrid version.

Theme for Diagramthe "Scheme" mode: you can select a map theme: light (the default), dark or let the app select the theme according to the smartphone's light sensor. In the latter case, the theme switches automatically if the light level has changed and remains stable for 10 seconds. Due to the use of the ambient light sensor, the power consumption of the application may increase slightly.

Do not add markers to the map outside of the displayed area: This option can optimize the map performance when there are a lot of points in the track. If the number of points is more than 500, then when moving and scaling the map, all markers are deleted and only those that are within the map area visible on the screen are re-added. This causes track markers to blink, but the map is drawn faster due to the limited number of markers added. The effectiveness of this technology depends on the ratio of visible markers and their total number in the track (if the entire track is displayed on the map, then the efficiency will even be negative), as well as the speed of the smartphone.

Settings specific to OpenStreetMap:

OpenStreetMap map source: by default (online), the variant when the map is loaded as ready raster images-tiles from the servers of companies-partners of OpenStreetMap is applied. The second option is to work with maps in offline mode, i.e., no Internet connection is required for this. The source of maps are vector map files, which you need to download yourself from one of the sites listed on the page

https://download.mapsforge.org/⁠

(it's more convenient to do it with a computer) and put it in the Radiacode app folder on your smartphone named /sdcard/Android/data/com.almacode.radiacode/files/Maps.

When downloading maps, it is better to choose the format of version 5, maps of this format are in the folder with the name v5:

⁠

At the moment Mapsforge library does not support work with files given the restrictions on access to files that impose the rules of Android system versions 11+, so the map files must be placed in the folder whose name is given above.

In offline mode, map rendering, i.e. the conversion of vector information into a picture, is performed by the Mapsforge library, which is built into the application. This operation requires some smartphone processor resources. When you move the map around the screen and zoom in, the app will consume more power than in online mode.

Map theme: In offline mode, you can choose between two display options, which differ mainly in color palette.

Image scaling: In online mode, the application obtains images of areas of the map with a low resolution. On high-resolution smartphone screens, the inscriptions on such a map look too small, so the images have to be scaled. After scaling, the final image may look a little blurry, but you have to choose between image quality and inscription size. You can find the optimal ratio by using manual scaling. Offline mode does not have this problem, but you can still experiment with the scale.

Marker rendering optimization: In offline mode, you can select the way that the OpenStreetMap library will use to optimize marker rendering. If large tracks take too long to render, you can try changing this setting.

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