asked 2017-12-29 10:46:01 +0300
Reading that Poormaps is quite ready for prime time i wanted to ask what keeps it from appearing in the official store? Are there plans for it to be submited in the future?
answered 2017-12-29 13:48:12 +0300
That. (it has wrongly been marked as "released", but QtLocation, the Qt mapping solution, is still not allowed in the Store...). And seeing how Jolla is busy, I fear we'll have to wait for another x years :(
That's why you don't have any apps relying on Maps in the Store (except some webviews and some customs implementations like ModRana), which is not acceptable for a mobile OS.
PS: Never used dev mode with the Jolla 1? You're really lucky to have never had issues with your BTRFS then, I regularly had to balance it, even without being a heavy app user and putting all I could on the SD card.
@ApB,
The only thing i really miss is a way of transferring files/directories to the phone wirelessly.
searching TJC, you may find:
answered 2017-12-29 15:40:54 +0300
Jolla Store induces lots of restrictions that result in either crippled functionality or take time to code around. In some cases, such as Poor Maps, APIs are used which are not allowed in Jolla Store. QtLocation has been the case where SFOS native Maps app was able to use it while other open-sourced solutions not. QtLocation/QtPositioning is also one of few components that has not been updated to 5.6 level as a part of the transition to 5.6 API in recent SFOS versions. It is hoped that this component will be updated in future, but I am not aware of anyone working on it.
As for mapping applications, there is also a new widget that I wrote/ported on the basis of QtLocation 5.9 Mapbox GL plugin (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=1536584). It brings OpenGL accelerated maps to SFOS with forks of Poor Maps, modRana, and some other applications expected to be developed on the basis of it. There is a preview version of Poor Maps with it available at OpenRepos already. As you can imagine, it shouldn't be expected to get any apps based on that widget at Jolla Store, unless the policy will change. [Note that this widget seems to hit hardware limitations of J1, so its not usable on J1, but on newer devices].
Now Jolla Store policy could also be subject of interpretation. The last time I submitted OSM Scout Server update, it was declined due to its interaction with systemd sockets. This is after several versions with this feature passed the review. Only after asking to reconsider, the Store workers accepted the application with the "exception". There is some compromise possible through notification of the user on what does this feature mean which I will implement for the next submission. However, please note that if crippled functionality of the application will be required to pass the Store verification process, I am going to pull it out from there to avoid double packaging and needless work on maintaining different versions.
So, from application writer perspective, I would highly recommend to use OpenRepos and just keep sane approach to what you do. Poor Maps is a very good application, well written, extendable, and joy to use. And it as well as several applications at OpenStore are going to get better and grow out of the Store.
Let's consider non-fiddling alternative. You end up using Android application for navigation and not using / helping with the development through constructive feedback of the native applications. In my eyes, using Android apps in this case is more fiddling than installing using native applications.
One more note: the more people are using Jolla Store-incompatible application, the larger the pressure to change the store rules.
Yep. And now that I've made the switch from Jolla 1 to Sailfish X and done some testing, I can say that the higher DPI and pixel count means that we're at a point where scaling-wise we really need vector maps and performance-wise we really need GPU rendering, so getting QtLocation 5.2 or 5.6 allowed in the store is of fast diminishing value for any non-trivial apps.
otsaloma ( 2017-12-29 18:02:08 +0300 )edit@ApB, no, such merge is not planned. And there is a very good reason for it. As it is, OSM Scout Server provides an offline stack which can be used by many applications. Poor Maps is one of them, but so is modRana. In addition, other applications consider or develop to use it. For example, sports tracking application Laufhelden author is working on adding offline support for it. By having such universal backend, you need just to get one set of maps and can use it on several applications.
To make such offline stack user friendly, I recommend to run it with automatic start support. On startup wizard, you were presented with the choice to enable it. Alternatively, you can enable it in Settings, under "Automatic activation". This feature has been suggested by several users and works very well. For users using this feature, when you don't need to download or change settings, you never start OSM Scout Server manually. You just fire Poor Maps, modRana, or any other client, and, when it accesses the port designated for OSM Scout Server, the server is started by systemd. After some time of inactivity, its shut down. Thus, you get this offline stack invisible to you and you just interact with map application. It can even be used by many applications simultaneously, if you wish.
I think that this design allows us to focus on making the parts better and the result is available as a shared infrastructure on your device. You do have to install multiple things (and due to Jolla Store limitations, even modules of OSM Scout Server), but, when you use it, you are expected to get of advantage through such sharing. In OpenRepos, we can actually provide some meta package that will install all OSM Scout Server modules together with the server and Poor Maps in one go. Its just uninstalling will be more difficult in this case.
rinigus ( 2017-12-29 19:53:20 +0300 )editAsked: 2017-12-29 10:46:01 +0300
Seen: 819 times
Last updated: Dec 29 '17
Why reading about it and not using it? :)
rinigus ( 2017-12-29 11:34:58 +0300 )editIn my case - because it can't install QtPositioning 5.2.1
ElderOrb ( 2017-12-29 12:46:42 +0300 )edit@rinigus since i got my jolla i promised to myself to not fiddle with it at all. Meaning only apps in the store, no dev mode etc. I wanted to have an average mom experience using it so my critique about it would be that of a normal user.
ApB ( 2017-12-29 13:03:37 +0300 )edit@ElderOrb, what is the error when you try to install qtpositioning? Which version of SFOS do you have? Have you tried to run pkcon refresh?
@ApB, I'll reply to you a bit later...
rinigus ( 2017-12-29 14:26:23 +0300 )edit