TERRAiNAV Release Notes

This release brings TERRAiNAV to Android, fixes the iPhone location-permission crash, stops background GPS from draining the battery, and adds elevation to GPX files and a basemap at your current location.

Highlights

• Now available on Android (Google Play) as well as iPhone, with background track recording, camera/QR scanning and native sharing.
• Fixed the iPhone crash when the location permission prompt was left unanswered, and stopped background GPS from draining the battery after recording ends.
• New: Basemap at current location – an OpenStreetMap (or selected layer) view covering a 100 km square centred on you, accurate across the whole area.
• GPX files now include elevation, for both recorded tracks and imported tracks.
• Faster, more reliable start-up on slow or poor connections.
• Corrected the Android direction pointer, which could fluctuate on recent Android versions.

New features

• Basemap at current location (Load new…): starts without a map file. The view is centred on your position and covers 100 km × 100 km. Needs a data connection for map tiles.
• Elevation in GPX: recorded tracks capture elevation where the device provides it, and GPX exports include it. Tracks imported from other GPX files keep their elevation when exported again. On Android 14 and later, elevation is above mean sea level.
• Android app: background recording using a foreground service, QR-code scanning with the camera, native Share and Save for GPX, GeoJSON and map ZIP files, and App Links so scanned map links open in the app.
• Kilometre markers: larger, with an outline for readability, a setting to show or hide them and direction arrows. Your choices are remembered between sessions.
• Point & Track Recording setting: the record and drop-pin buttons are now off by default and are switched on in Settings.

Improvements

• Start-up on slow connections: the map libraries are now bundled with the app instead of downloaded each time. The page loads from its cache if the network is slow, fonts no longer hold up the first screen, and the iPhone app times out sooner and falls back to its stored copy.
• Background recording on iPhone: tracks recorded with the screen off or the app in the background are now saved reliably and appear when you return to the app. Positions are recorded every 2 m.
• Battery: location services now stop completely when you stop recording, when the app goes to the background without recording, or when the app is closed. On Android, the recording notification is removed when you stop or swipe the app away.
• Higher map detail: base map tiles load at greater zoom levels.
• Direction pointer: appears as soon as you use Go to location where the device allows it.
• Simplified Android start: removed the PWA install prompts, the ‘screen on’ message and wake-lock notice, and the repeated background-location prompt.
• Settings and Delete/Add GPX buttons were rearranged so the most-used controls are easier to reach.

Fixes

• iPhone: fixed a crash on first use when the location permission prompt was left unanswered for a while. The motion-sensor prompt no longer appears at the same time as the location prompt.
• iPhone: fixed GPX and GeoJSON export showing a confirmation but no save dialog.
• iPhone: background points are now added to the track when the app returns to the foreground.
• Android: fixed the direction pointer being up to about 100° out (it could point west while the phone faced north). Direction now comes from the phone’s rotation sensor, corrected for tilt, screen rotation and magnetic declination so it matches true north.
• Android: fixed the camera failing to start for QR scanning, and sharing and saving files.
• Large maps: fixed ‘not within map area’ errors and position errors of up to about 1.4 km on maps that cover several degrees, including maps of Australia. The accuracy of tiles and markers on large maps is greatly improved, though very large maps may still show small differences.
• Deleting a map now also removes its saved waypoints and tracks.
• Map ZIP files that include a route now load the route.
• Deleted tracks no longer come back after restarting the app.
• Fixed duplicate or misplaced entries in the Settings screen.

Things you may notice

• The record and drop-pin buttons are hidden until you enable Point & Track Recording in Settings.
• On phones the web version is no longer available: opening TERRAiNAV in a phone browser shows a page pointing to the iPhone and Android apps. Desktop browsers and tablets still work.
• On iPhone, the compass permission is requested the second time you use Go to location, not the first, to avoid two prompts at once. This is a one-off.
• Swiping the Android app away while recording ends the recording and removes the notification. Points already recorded are kept.

Known limitations

• In a desktop or tablet browser, the direction pointer follows magnetic north and may be about 10° out in some regions. The apps correct this.
• The basemap and the base map layer need a data connection for tiles that have not been stored on the device.
• Maps and tracks are stored on the device, are not backed up and are not shared between the web version, the iPhone app and the Android app.
• GPS accuracy and elevation depend on the device, the sky view and weather. TERRAiNAV is a navigation aid, not a substitute for a compass, paper map or good judgement.