SatMap have quietly released a new firmware, v1.4, for their SatMap Active 10 devices. As well as addressing a range of bugs, the full Changelog is included in this article. Highlights include better Geocaching.com support, better power management, including hibernation support. For the full changelog, read the rest of the article…
The full changelog for v1.4:
General Update
- New Splash Screen
Status Bar
- The Battery indicator has been reduced in size and set vertically, and has been improved to show more accurate power metering for Lithium batteries as well as showing when it is fully charged. Additionally there is now a Run and Stop icon beside the battery which shows the user if the Trip Log is running or is stopped.
- Small Battery Icon
- Improved Power Metering Optimised for Lithium Primaries and LiPol Rechargeables
- Run / Stop Icon for Statistics Log
- Toggle Icon When alternate mapping is available.
- WAAS/EGNOS Enabled GPS Icon turns blue Selective availability : WAAS (USA) EGNOS (Europe)
GPS Map Page
- Track Up (Low Centre Spot) Blue spot lowered option to allow more mapping to be seen ahead. Only 2 data boxes allowable to show max mapping.
- Toggle Function (Top Left Button). New concept of toggle maps. Satmap now has the ability to issue different map types. For example Aerial coverage can toggle to A-Z mapping, that then toggles to CAA mapping, and then toggles back to Base mapping (typically 1:50k or 1:25k). When an alternate map is available the status bar icon will show. On switchover, the name or type of the new map will briefly show (i.e. Aerial, A-Z or Base Maps)
- Satmap has always been able to display multiple map scales. On previous versions of software, these maps were viewed by zooming in and out. Now Satmap has introduced the ‘Map Toggle’ feature: this allows users to ‘toggle’ between different maps available at the point with a click of a button without zooming. It is accessed from the GPS Map screen and is the top left button (showing three layers of mapping stacked on top of each other). This feature requires specific map packs: at launch this will only be the custom map series, with National Parks available in Spring.
- Better handling of co-incident points i.e. a waypoint on a POI (list box now appears) allowing the POSITION INFO screen to be always accessed.
Large Map Areas / Aerial
- Better supported: Map packs treated in handy bite size to effectively allow unlimited mapping to be used (limited currently by 32GB SD card size)
- JPG tile format now supported leading to better handling of very large / hi res aerial imagery.
Planning Screen
- Distance measurement tools improved. Using the Set Marker function (joystick press whilst in Planning Map) it is now possible to measure distance and bearing (either Mag. or Grid) between any 2 points. Previously users could only measure from their own location.
Position Info Screen
- Lat/Long (DD MM.DDD) and any other supported Grid Ref system can be display simultaneously (E.G UTM or MRGS)
Hibernate (on the latest Platforms (09.02.15 and higher))
- Effectively a Stand By mode – default set at 2 hours (during which time the satellite data is saved (ephemeris and almanac) so unit does NOT take 20 seconds to load Windows, and does NOT take 1:30 to get satellite lock. Typical lock time out of hibernate : 3-10 seconds. Essentially this means that the useful battery life can be extended by switching on for a quick lock and then switch off. Note: logging and snail trail does NOT occur during hibernate.
- Hibernate timeout added to Advanced Power Control (0-8 hours)
Screen Capture
- On backlight boost button now saves a jpg of the screen display (with date time stamp to a. SD card, or b. Flash if no SD card available). Press the Back Light button for 2 seconds and a camera icon appears on the status bar to indicate that a screen shot has been captured.
Settings
- More options to set target speed
- Memory Status : More detailed and clearer information about memory usage (SD Card, Flash and RAM). Low memory exclamation mark added in Memory Status area.
- Backlight many more low settings (1,2,4,6,8.10,20,30% etc) to protect night vision.
- Red Backlight; also to protect night vision.
Data
- Moon Phases added for Data boxes.
Datum Support
- Enhanced: New maps and datums now self-contained on SD cards, so they will plug and play without the need for fresh software updates for new countries.
Routes
- Routes Menu tidied up functions now on buttons list is for actual routes only.
- Folder concept now supported
- Better handling of very large routes and high numbers of waypoints. More strict filtering to restrict on required waypoints to be displayed.
- Invisible / Inactive routes now do not load in memory at all.
- Inactive routes can be set to show only start point allowing many more routes to be loaded.
- Better track to trail convert; better filtering to retain fewest WPs but best shape.
- Better visibility of active routes; the current leg contains blue arrows and has a blue border.
POIs
- Warning radius increased to 3km (i.e. total diameter 6km) and red hatched for warning purposes.
- POI-Set by Postcode now available (for the UK units with Postcode data).
- POI-Set by Co-ordinate added.
- Enhanced support for Geocaching.com data (i.e. full hints and geocache log are supported)
- Folder concept supported.
- POI Icon selection extending to spots, geocaching and other common symbols
SatSYNC 1.4
- Folder manipulation on both the Internal Storage and SD Card available on units with platform 09.02.21 or higher.
- Imported Routes and POIs now available immediately in their respective menus without the need to restart the unit (platform 09.02.15 or higher)
World Map
- Routes and POIs display more accurately now.
TRIP LOG Screen
- Buttons rearranged for more function and clarity.
- Clearing the ‘snail trail’ (or ‘crumb trail’) is now done from the Trip Log screen. In place of the reset function is now a Menu button that gives access to all the features needed to set the Trail info and the Trip Log.
Power
- During Critical Battery shut down unit will now be revived if connected to external power; previously it would always shut down.
- Battery fully charged Icon now supported (previously not available)
Google Earth
- Google Earth is a great resource and now the Active 10 can interact with it more effectively, allowing routes to be created, downloaded and uploaded between Google Earth and the Active 10.
This is an impressive list of new features, and we are especially pleased to see SatMap continuing to innovate and provide feature updates to their existing customers. A small note though; to benefit from the Hibernation features, you need to apply the update via SD card, and not via download; the SD card can be purchased from SatMap directly.
If you want to read how all these new features fit into the working of the device, head to the SatMap website and read the full (updated) user manual here.