MyLoc - personal
From SharemailWiki
Contents |
MyLoc allows you to:
- Send your location to your friends and contacts by email on demand or on a regular schedule using your Gmail account
- Attach a map and an approximate address to emails
- Display a map of your current location on your phone
Is requires access to GPS and/or Network location sensors on your phone. It also need access to the Internet to access mapping data and send emails.
Possible uses include:
- As a reminder of where they’ve been
- To let other people know progress on a trip, or in a sporting event (marathon, triathon etc)
- As a safety net where I’m resposible for a group of people, sending out location to a trusted third party on a regular basis
The app is free as it is ad-supported.
You location is detected using GPS and/or network location services when a location update is due. The GPS radio is switched off between updates to save battery.
Welcome/Help screen
When you open the app for the first time you will be shown the welcome/help screen. This is an abbreviated version of this document, covering all the functionality of the app. You can get back to this screen through the menu button on your phone when you are on the mail screen.
Settings screen
When you close the Welcome/Help screen you will be presented with the application settings screen. You must complete this before the app can send emails. The options are:
- Start updates when phine is turned on. This determines whether the application will start as a service in the background on boot and start sending updates. If this is unticked, updates will be disbaled until you have opened the app. After you have opened the app updates will contibue to be sent.
- Show notifications in the notification bar. If turned on notifications will be displayed as updates are sent. If tunrned off then no notifications will be displayed, and the application will run with no visual indication that it is doing so. Turning this off while turning on Start updates when phopne is tunrned is a useful way of running the app in "stealth" mode - useful if your phone is stolen.
- Enable Network location. The determines whether the app can use the Netrowkr location sensor. A signal is required for this to work, and it is generally less accurate than GPS. However, in built up areas it can be more accurate.
- Enable GPS location. This determines whether the app can use the GPS location sensor. A clear view of the sky is required for this to work.
Your Gmail username and password are required in order to send email updates through your Gmail account. They are sent to the Google SMTP email servers over a secure connection. They are required as SMTP authentication does not support web-based authentication methods.
- Gmail username. The username of a Google account
- Gmail password. The password for the Google account
When you save settings your Gmail login details will be verified. Once they have been verified the settings screen will close.
Main screen
The main screen displays a list of recipients you you have setup to receive you location updates (this will be empty until you add a recipient). A long press on a contact will display a menu that enables you to send you location now (regardless of the schedule that's been set) or delete the recipients from the list.
At the bottom of the screen there are 2 buttons:
- A green Emails enabled - turn off button. This is a toggle button, if you press it email updates will be temporarily disables and the button will turn Red. Emails will remain off until the button is pressed again.
- Where am I now? Press this to open up a map view that will centre on yor current location when a fix is available
Press the menu button on your Phone to display additional options:
- Add recipient. Press this to add a new contact to the list of people who can be sent location updates. This opens the Add Recipient screen.
- Settings. Press this to open the Settings screen
- Help. Press this to open the Welcome/Help screen
Add Recipient screen
This screen contains a form which needs to be filled in to send email updates to an email address:
- Email Address. The address to which emails will be sent. As you type possible matches from your contact list will be displayed for you to choose from. You can also type an email address that is not in your contacts.
- Personal Message. An optional personal message which is added to the top of email location updates sent to this address.
- Send location every. The interval at which email location updates will be sent. Please note that these times are approximate as exact timings depend on how long it takes to get location fixes, retrieve mapping data and send emails. On demand means that a recipient will appear in the list, but only receive an update following a long press on the name on the main screen and choosing "Send location now".
- Of type. This sets the content of the email that will be sent.
- Add address is available. If ticked the location will be reverse-geolocated to find a rough address. This address will then be added to the email.
