feature request / suggestions

[geo-knot]

I've been caching with an iphone ever since you could.  I started out with Geo-sphere and made the move to Looking4Cache when the Geo-sphere developers seemed to disappear.  I tried Cachly when it was new, but it was an early version and was missing some features I liked.  Recently I noticed that all my friends use Cachly, so I decided to give it a serious workout.  I've decided I like it, but I do have some suggestions that I hope will make cachly even better.  I realize that there is a major version coming out soon, and I don't know if some of these things will be addressed in that version, but if not, it would be nice if they were eventually included.  ( I heard you will be able to see other caches while navigating to a cache, that's great! )

1. Map rotation/orientation - The default map is north up.  I have two problems with the current system. First, I generally like my map to be oriented.  If I click the arrow button twice to orient my map, it automatically centers on me.  As soon as I scroll the map, it stops orienting. Second, every-time I navigate to a cache, I have to re-ask that the map is oriented. A persistent toggle switch that does not require the map to be centered on me that is available from the map scree would be very nice.

2. Number of Finds in Logs - When viewing logs, it would be great if each username had their number of finds next to it.  This is particularly useful when looking at a cache with a few DNFs.  If the users with the DNFs only have 2 finds, well it's probably still there!  Both the other apps I used before had this feature.

3. Scrolling Description - Every time I open the cache description, it scrolls back to the top.  This was particularly frustrating when working on a couple of earth caches with lots of questions recently.  I would carefully scroll down to find the questions I needed to answer.  Once I found the answer to the first question, I went to the cache note and entered a few words that I could use to elaborate later.  Back to the description I go, but now I've got to find the questions again.  Seems like if I have not changed my target cache, it should just stay where I left it.

4. satellite view. I don't know how google's licensing works , but it would be nice to have them as a satellite map option.  In an urban environment where the satellite view is king, I found myself frequently changing apps so that I could see the google version of the satellite view.

apple vs. google:

   

You can see that not only does google's satellite view have better color balance and more detail, but they have tried to minimize buildings from getting in the way. Also in the satellite view from apple seems to restrict how much you can zoom in. In the example above, the apple map is basically zoomed in all the way.  The google map zoomed in all the way is below.  Granted some of this is just enlarging pixels, but it is still helpful when your phone is in bright sun, and you are trying to see details.

Thanks for all the work you do for this great app!  I hope you find this feedback useful.

[Nic Hubbard]

20 hours ago, geo-knot said:

1. Map rotation/orientation - The default map is north up.  I have two problems with the current system. First, I generally like my map to be oriented.  If I click the arrow button twice to orient my map, it automatically centers on me.  As soon as I scroll the map, it stops orienting. Second, every-time I navigate to a cache, I have to re-ask that the map is oriented. A persistent toggle switch that does not require the map to be centered on me that is available from the map scree would be very nice.

Are you meaning a way to lock the map rotation so no matter which screen you view the map on, it will always be the same?

20 hours ago, geo-knot said:

2. Number of Finds in Logs - When viewing logs, it would be great if each username had their number of finds next to it.  This is particularly useful when looking at a cache with a few DNFs.  If the users with the DNFs only have 2 finds, well it's probably still there!  Both the other apps I used before had this feature.

This does sound like a good feature. Will add it to our list for 5.0.1.

20 hours ago, geo-knot said:

3. Scrolling Description - Every time I open the cache description, it scrolls back to the top.  This was particularly frustrating when working on a couple of earth caches with lots of questions recently.  I would carefully scroll down to find the questions I needed to answer.  Once I found the answer to the first question, I went to the cache note and entered a few words that I could use to elaborate later.  Back to the description I go, but now I've got to find the questions again.  Seems like if I have not changed my target cache, it should just stay where I left it.

Will add to 5.0.

20 hours ago, geo-knot said:

4. satellite view. I don't know how google's licensing works , but it would be nice to have them as a satellite map option.  In an urban environment where the satellite view is king, I found myself frequently changing apps so that I could see the google version of the satellite view.

Google Maps will return in our 5.0 version.

 

Thanks!

[geo-knot]

That all sounds terrific on the other items!  Thank you for being so attentive!

1 hour ago, Nic Hubbard said:

22 hours ago, geo-knot said:

1. Map rotation/orientation - The default map is north up.  I have two problems with the current system. First, I generally like my map to be oriented.  If I click the arrow button twice to orient my map, it automatically centers on me.  As soon as I scroll the map, it stops orienting. Second, every-time I navigate to a cache, I have to re-ask that the map is oriented. A persistent toggle switch that does not require the map to be centered on me that is available from the map scree would be very nice.

Are you meaning a way to lock the map rotation so no matter which screen you view the map on, it will always be the same?

That would be a fine solution, but I'm primarily thinking about the map you see when you are navigating to a cache. It would be better not to have to adjust the orientation of the map every time I go to a cache. 

If the two maps (the one that shows all the caches, and the one you see when you are navigating) each had their own persistent setting for this, I think this might be ideal.  For some reason, when I'm trying to figure out what cache to go for next, north up makes sense, but when I'm navigating to a cache, an oriented map seems best.

OR, if that seems like it might confuse some users, a single setting that would work for both maps, but is easy to access so it could be easily switched.

[Nic Hubbard]

10 minutes ago, geo-knot said:

If the two maps (the one that shows all the caches, and the one you see when you are navigating) each had their own persistent setting for this, I think this might be ideal.  For some reason, when I'm trying to figure out what cache to go for next, north up makes sense, but when I'm navigating to a cache, an oriented map seems best.

OR, if that seems like it might confuse some users, a single setting that would work for both maps, but is easy to access so it could be easily switched.

Yes, I am worried about other users that might be confused as to why this is happening. I will have to think about this one and talk with my beta testers. Thanks!

[geo-knot]

3 minutes ago, Nic Hubbard said:

Yes, I am worried about other users that might be confused as to why this is happening. I will have to think about this one and talk with my beta testers. Thanks!

Yeah, now that I think about it again, that makes sense.  A single setting that works for both maps might work well.  Thanks Nic!