Viewing Your Maps

This section is divided into several topics: The Map View: More Than A Pretty Picture Map View Controls: “Captain, I’ve got no control!” Map Zooming: A Close Look Map Scrolling: Keep Your Eyes On The Road Grayscale: How To Clear Things Up Map Symbols: Not Just A Legend Map View Menus: The Choice Is Yours The Map View: More Than A Pretty Picture Quo Vadis can display multiple maps simultaneously, unlike other PDA mapping applications which force you to select or “link” to only one specific map for viewing at any given time. This is a benefit of the map modularity discussed in Managing Your Maps. Maps fit together like puzzle pieces to make larger maps. For example, if you installed maps of two cities which are actually adjoining cities, you would be able to view and scroll transparently between them as one single map. Roads and other features connect at their junctions between cities 1. Thus, you could follow a highway through multiple cities, and not notice that they’re stored as different maps. After you choose to view a map from the Map Directory, you will be taken to the Map View which is where all map drawing actually takes place. The first time you view a map, Quo Vadis attempts to zoom out so that you may see as much as possible of the map. You may then browse the map. Quo Vadis is designed to be free of any map boundaries or limits, and will make no effort to contain you inside any map. The entire world is your playground. You could scroll non-stop from Hawaii to London, for example. Thus, novice users will sometimes accidentally scroll too far off the maps, and into a void where no map was installed. If this happens, you can get back to a map by: Finding something in a map (see Finding Stuff) Going to the Map Directory and re-viewing a map Selecting a destination in a map and navigating to it (see Navigating Maps) Map View Controls: “Captain, I’ve got no control!” These Map View controls are available via the buttons on your PDA. Desired Action How to do it Zoom in (go lower) Page down button, or Graffiti letter ‘i’ Zoom out (go higher) Page up button, or Graffiti letter ‘o’ Find something Select the Find menu command See the Menu Controls Tap the Menu button Additional controls are available via the Tap-And-Hold popup menu. To invoke this menu, Tap and hold the pen against a desired location for 1 second, and a menu will appear, as shown here. Zooming will occur right at the location where you were holding the pen if you choose one of the zoom options. The Set Destination command is discussed later in Navigating Maps. The Set In Center command simply centers the map on the location you tapped. Map Zooming: A Close Look The examples below show the effect of zooming in on the city of Buffalo, NY, and the change in visible details. All the way out Closer... Closer again... Still closer... Really close... Now I get it... When you’re close enough, Quo Vadis utilizes StreeTrak™ technology to draw road names in real-time. Map Scrolling: Keep Your Eyes On The Road Scrolling is accomplished either by tapping where you wish to center the map, or by dragging a line on the screen in the direction you wish to travel, NOT the direction you would like the map to move, as in other mapping applications. Most users will have an initial tendency to try to “pull” the map in one direction, like they would a static image. This kind of traditional scrolling has the disadvantage that you have to let go, lift the pen back to the starting point, and “pull” again. With Quo Vadis, you simply decide which direction you wish to “drive”, then drag a line in that direction, and the map will scroll continuously until you lift the pen. This allows you to pick a road, and visually follow it until a desired intersection, for example. Because the road name follows the road as you make the map scroll, the resulting visual effect is that the name of the road you’re tracking doesn’t go out of sight (unless the road ends, of course).The example shown here would make us follow highway 384 and Franklin St. A short drag would scroll slowly, while a long drag will scroll faster. Grayscale: How To Clear Things Up Maps are drawn in 2-bit grayscale. Adjusting your PDA’s screen contrast can help make it easier to read road labels and symbols even when they are overlapping other road lines. It also allows for nicer looking anti-aliased map symbols. Map Symbols: Not Just A Legend When viewing maps, you will sometimes see different symbols representing map features. Some features occur far more frequently than others, and vary on an individual map basis because currently Quo Vadis maps are primarily focused on road data content, not landmarks. Shown below is a table with the various symbol meanings: Interstate Highway U.S. Highway State Highway Office Center / Industrial Park Golf Course Shopping Center Airport or Airfield Bus Terminal Train Station School / University Hospital Lodging Map View Menus: The Choice Is Yours There are two menus in the Map View menu bar, as shown here: Map Directory takes you back to the Map Directory. Find is discussed in the next section: Finding Stuff Find Again is discussed in the next section: Finding Stuff Hide Find Target is discussed in the next section: Finding Stuff Road Labels On/Off lets you turn on or off the display of road names and highway symbols. It does not affect other map features. Road Darkening On/Off toggles the road color between gray and black. About Quo Vadis displays the startup screen with helpful tips and info This menu is discussed in detail in Navigating Maps. (1) In some rare cases, some roads will exists on both sides of two neighboring cities, and thus result in duplicate, overlapping road labeling.