Version 1.2.1 of the Trailer app for iOS available

A new version of the Trailer iOS application is now available in the iOS App Store.  The link for the application (using Apple's new URL scheme for iOS applications) is http://appstore.com/tltrailer.

This version is a bugfix release to v1.2 (which was not announced here because of the bugs
which were discovered shortly after release and are fixed in v1.2.1).

The main changes in v1.2 were largely as a result of user feedback:

• The application user interface has been rearranged so that the user starts in the list of trails instead of starting in the welcome/help web page.  The web page is still available from the 'About' button at the top right of the trail list page, and was rewritten.
• Changes have been made to the way background location tracking works to address reported problems with the application draining the battery.   The application is now very aggressive about only using background location tracking periodically for long enough to get a good fix, then turning location tracking off for a variable period which is calculated using the nearest notifiable zone border and a presumed walking speed.

The application also has a settings page which allows following configuration parameters to be set:

• Parameter 'background location tracking time limit' allows the user to control the maximum length of time for background location tracking to be kept on if no new zone border is reached.  By default this is set to  30 minutes.
• Parameter 'Diagnostic logging enabled' controls whether the application sends diagnostic events via the Flurry analytics library which relate to the operation of background location tracking and include exact location fix details.  This option is set to 'Disabled' by default, in this state the application still sends some analytics events, but none which include GPS-level location data. 

I am very happy to receive user feedback.  The offer I made some month ago to send an App Store redemption code to allow a free copy of the app anyone who sends me an email request still stands.

Google code scripts for creating .tqz files now also generate .gpx files

A short while ago I checked in a change to the google code project which provides example Python code for building files in the .tqz file format required by the Trailer iOS program.

This change enhances the example code so that as well as generating the .tqz (as used by the Trailer iOS application), it generates a .gpx file, which which can be used during Xcode debugging sessions to provide a feed of synthetic location events which simulate moving between the zones covered in the generated .tqz file at a speed which can be adjusted in the source code.

In theory, these scripts could be used or adapted for generation of .gpx files for use in development/debugging/testing of other iOS apps.

I'd welcome comments on whether anyone would be interested in having a similar feature added to the tl-trailer web application.