Making a Maprika Map on a Smart Phone

I find it is a lot easier to create a map on a PC but there are times when it makes sense to do it on your smart phone such as when the map originator would not want you to share it on  the internet or you do not have a PC handy.  It should be noted that you can not edit a map of yours on your smart phone after you have downloaded it from Marpika or I believe, after you have uploaded it to Maprika from your smart phone.  You can edit it on your PC after uploading it from your PC. These notes are for an iPhone.  I do not know if the Android Phone program is the same or not.  The version number for the Android phone is much higher.  As of 3/4/17 the iPhone version number was 2.7 updated 3/2/17 (the previous release was 12/3/13,  the Android latest version number is 3.24 updated 10/25/15.

Note:  These instructions are for an iPhone.  I suspect the program on Android phones work similarly but since the version numbers are so different, that may not be the case.

Q: How do I make a map myself?  (To see Maprika's version of these instructions click HERE.)

A:  (Note, this is the hard way to do it, if you have access to a PC that method is much easier but read on if you want to use your smart phone to build the map.)  The first step is to get a copy of the map on your cell phone. Pictures taken with the cell phone camera will automatically be in  the right format, a .JPG file.

Q: I took a picture of a map but it is distorted because I could not get a straight on shot at the map.

A:  Maprika will work fine with a distorted picture but if you want to straiten it up, I am aware of two methods.  Some photo editing programs can do this but I am not aware of any for smart phones (although there must be).  The method I use is to take the picture of the map with a program on your cell phone designed to "Scan" in documents.  I use Evernote Scannable.  It looks for the edges of the image and makes the edges a rectangle.  It takes a little getting used to it so practice with a sheet of paper to figure it out.

Q: I have a .JPG copy on my computer, how do I get it to my cell phone.

A:  E-mail it to yourself then open the e-mail on your cell phone.  On an iPhone rest your finger on the map and a list of options will open up including "Save Image".  It is one of the options along the bottom.  It is probably similar on an Android Phone.

Q:  How do I know if my picture is a .JPG file at all?

A:  If you do not know just assume it is and charge ahead.  Most pictures are unless they come from Adobe Acrobat, a .PDF file.  If it is not the correct format, you will run into a wall shortly.  If you can get the map into your photo library on your phone, it is bound to be in the right format.

Q:  I have the map on my cell phone in with my photo library. what do I do next?

A: Now open the Mapreaka app, tap the "Select map" icon in the upper left corner, then select "more maps" then "Create new map" Then select the map you want. 
Then "Edit GPS anchors"
Select a point on the target map (the one you read in). A good point is something that can be easily found on each map such as the intersection of two roads or a lake. Then using the menu at the top of the screen, select "Base" (i.e. iOS street map) and find the corresponding point. You will need to go back and forth a few times until you are satisfied that you have the same point. Feel free to magnify the maps to better define the point. When you are satisfied, from the base (Google) map select "+Anchor" along the bottom. You can choose a of Base map map by tapping "Select Map" when you are looking at the base map.  You map prefer a satellite map for example.  You may find the satellite map and the street map do not agree.  I found a city in central China where they were of by a block.
Repeat this step for more points. The minimum is two, more is better but stick with points you can easily match up. The desktop version lets you easily find the bad points but the smart phone version does not.

Q: Why does the program crash when I try to read in a new map?

A: It takes a lot of memory to process a new map. I had one that was 5978 x 5124 but only 1.28 MB (90% compression) and it would not process even with 2 GB of smart phone memory available. A 3000 x 2500 map that was 3.2 MB (20% compression) worked fine with only 560 MB free. If the file is fairly large and the amount of free memory on your smart phone is minimal, try temporarily deleting some files from your smart phone. I would consider less than one of two Gigs as being too small. Another way to avoid the crash is to do the ,JPG to Maprika conversion on the PC. See: http://www.maprika.com/make-a-map.html for details. The program is called "Maprika Map Designer" To get the map back on your smart phone, you have to upload it to the server (where it is available to everyone probably then download it to your device. You will also probably not be able to make any more additions to it.

Q. Some maps are .PDF files. How do I convert a .PDF file to a JPG file

A: GIMP, currently GIMP 2.8 at http://www.gimp.org/ Is a free and very good at converting between various graphics formats including from .PDF to .JPG. It is a full featured image editor program but I only use the file conversion feature. I have no knowledge of the other features.
It is not as strait forward as it might be. Click HERE for my page on how to use it.
I now use the graphics program on my PC, Paint Shop Pro to convert .PDF files to .JPG.  Play around with the graphics programs you have on your PC or Mac and it they can read .PDF files, they will probably be able to write them out as .JPG files.

Q: What is the optimum file size?

A: I have found that the .JPG file needs to be at least .5 Meg (500 Kb) I typically save .JPG files with a compression factor of 20%, a fairly low compression rate. If you do not understand this just go with the default. Some images such as ones that are only 640 by 480 are only about 0.07 Meg. These sort of files do not have sufficient detail. The big problem with these small files is that Maprika cannot zoom in very far. The fix to this problem is to read the file in to some picture manipulation program. On the program I use, IMMAGE > RESIZE > Then put in something like 3000 pixels for the width and let the high float.  If the files get really big, then Maprika cannot process them. It will just quit without an error message. Making the file smaller with more compression will not help. It seems to max out on the number of pixels. If you really need a large file, then process it on a PC. That is now my preferred method for all files anyway as long as it is a file I can make public as you have to upload the file to Maprika to get it on to your smart phone.  Try to keep the file size under 2 Megs but you can get away with 3+ if you really need it.

A good scale is something like 600 pixels/Mi or 400 pixels/KM if you are covering a moderate sized area like a ski area or city center.  However I did get away with  only 150 pixels/Mi for a bicycle map that covered about 40 miles by 50 miles.  If I had used 600 pixels/Mi the file would have been 13 Megabytes.

There are some examples of much bigger maps on their web site. The Mt Rainier Topag map is 27 MB so if you really need the size, you may be able to get away with it.  You would definitely need to build the GPS enabled map on a PC.

Q: What is an “anchor” in Maprika?

A: It is a point that ties a point on your map to GPS data. It is generated by working back and forth in Maprika between the map you are working with and Google Maps or between the place you are at and the map you are working with. By the way, it is usually better to use the hybrid Google view rather than the default street view because information that shows up on the satellite view can often make useful anchor points.

Q: How do I add additional anchors to a map?

A: If it is a map you downloaded or uploaded you are out of luck but if that is not the case then: Go to the screen where you pick the map you want, tap on the arrow head to the right of the map's name. After that just follow the directions to add more anchors the way you did originally. You can also change the file name and see the file size. Also see the next question for an additional way to add an anchor point.

Q: How do I place an anchor where I am (particularly when the map is off and I want to correct it by adding an anchor where I really am on the map)?

A: You tap blue dot that shows your location and a label box will pop up (saying "Current Location") and then tap on blue arrow in the callout. You should see a menu with two options: "I am not here, let me correct" and "new meeting here". Select "I am not here, let me correct" then slide the map around until the bull's-eye is over the correct position then tape "I am here in the lower left of the screen. If when you tap on the blue dot and the label box says "Dropped Pin" than you held your finger on the screen too long and are getting the wrong menu. Click the blue arrow and select "Remove Pin" and start over.

Q: What does "Autolocate" mean?  How do I use it?
The word appears when I am editing GPS anchors.
 
A: Autolocate function can help you to check the accuracy of map navigation. It can also help you to add GPS anchors quicker. When you activate Autolocate it shows location on the picture map that corresponds to current location on Google/apple map.  To use this you must be in the mode where you can display both the map you are creating and the base map such as the Google map, start out on the Base Map (Google/apple map) that you are interested in by moving the bull’s eye over the point, a road crossing for example. Then select Target map (Picture Map) and tap “Autolocate”. The bull’s eye will be on the place that the program thinks is the corresponding point.   If you want to place a new anchor, go back and forth till you are happy the bull’s eyes match up then on the Base Map, tap “+Anchor”.
Note: Do not tap “Autolocate” a second time after you have switched to the Target Map. If you do, it will move to its previous location. If you have forgotten how many times you have typed it, just move the map a ways and tap “Autolocate” again. It will move to the desired location,   

Q: How to check your anchors

A: Select the map you want by tapping the arrow on the right of the map name. This gets you to the point where you can edit anchors. Select “Edit Map Data” t hen “Edit GPS Anchors”. Go back between the Target Map and base map looking for points you want to check. Tap on the selected point in either map. Go to the other map. The selected point will be in red. If you wish to delete the point, Go to the Base Map and tap “delete” in the lower left. If you want to select a different base rather than the default, use the "Select Map” button in the lower left. There is a wide variety. You can even scroll down for more. Try “My Topo” for example. You may be introducing some added errors if you do not use one of the satellite maps but sometimes the other ones are much easier to use.

Q: How do I delete an anchor?

A: Go to the screen where you pick the map you want, tap on the arrow head to the right of the map's name. This brings up the system you originally used to place anchors on your Target map (The one you are creating) and correlate them with the Base map (Google/apple map). Next, on the target map, tap on the anchor you want to remove. It will turn red. Now switch to the base map and tap "delete" at the bottom of the screen.

Q: How do I select a different base map (Google/Apple map)?

A: Sometimes the default map (iOS map on iPhones) leaves something to be desired. You can not select a different base map but you can select a different set of map data and navigate directly from that. The easiest way to do that is starting at the initial menu of maps, select the top map (iOS Map) on the iPhone). Then at the bottom of the screen you can select "More".
You will see a list of 8 others including Bing road or satellite, MyTopo or MapQuest but not Google maps (on the iPhone, I suspect Google maps is the default on Android phones).
A portion of the map will be downloaded to your device. I do not know how to control the size. You also can delete the map although I cannot currently remember how.

 
Q: When I am working with a map that is to scale and I put in more than 2 anchors, I would like the program to tell me how much each point is out of line from the average. Is there any way to do that?
 
A: Showing an anchor error is a good idea, I will add it in the future versions. This option is already available on the Windows version and works fantastic.
 
Q: Is there any way to share a map that is not ready to publish yet with a friend?
 
A: It is not possible to share a map with just a friend. Map sharing is only available through our server and a map will be available to everybody.

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