map not load

[alisseo]

when selected "view map" on in italian "visualizza mappa" after the tap in find buttom only white screen and the floating notification whit number of waypoint finded.
i have a Zenfone5.
thanks

[fvasco]

Hi @alisseo,
unfortunately I don't have time now, sorry.

Take a look to the official guide, check your internet connection and await the map for 15 seconds.

Good luck

[fvasco]

Hi @alisseo,
do you need help, yet?

Are you tried the official tutorial?

[alisseo]

sorry for the delay, i go back at old version and work well!
thanks

[Lee-Carre]

Based on my experiences, I'm suspecting that this is related to how many nodes are in the set-to-be-displayed. I'm noticing a correlation between pin-count and failure-rate.

Failure seems to correlate with when the count of pins is high (more than a dozen or so).

Even when the count is low, that's still no guarantee of success.

---

I'm also starting to wonder if it may be related to the contents (i.e. character strings) in PoIs.
Sometimes I'll have a set of <10 consistently fail, while a different set of <10 consistently succeeds.

[Lee-Carre]

Further testing reveals

• map renders reliably when selecting a CSV dataset
• map fails consistently when selecting a (particular) KML dataset (but not other KML datasets)

[Lee-Carre]

@fvasco

A particularly weird case which I encountered during further tinkering:

I happened to select a dataset with few sparse PoIs.

When the (search) range-slider was set close (a few km), 0 PoIs matched, and a blank map was promptly displayed.

However, when I set the range slider closer to 200km, a match was found and the map failed to render.

Returning the range to <100km once again matched 0 PoIs, and a blank map appeared.

For you to conduct testing, set the search-centre coördinates to geo:49.2,-2.1. Combined with the dataset I cited above, this should hopefully be reproducible, now 🤞. Could you try to replicate, @alisseo, to confirm that we're experiencing the same glitch?

So, something weird is going on in the processing of matches to be displayed on the map. But, seemingly only with some datasets (KML formatted?).

[fvasco]

@Lee-Carre, thank you for your engagement.
Can you try to clear the app's cache, not the app's data?
To be safe, save a backup ;-)

[Lee-Carre]

My latest discovery is that this problem also happens when using GPX (same dataset which I normally fetch as KML, since I need the extra details).

Unless, of course, it's nothing to do with formats, but either

• something about the datasets (though, using the proximity-ordered list works as expected)
• specifically map-related, given that's when the problem occurs and using the same data in other ways appears problem-free

In all of my testing (to narrow down the source of the problem and yield a reliable & simple set of reproduction steps)

• CSV works (including the map) reliably as-expected, even with non-small datasets (>100 PoIs)
• the size of the dataset (fetched & stored, or matches-to-be-displayed on the map) seems to make no difference; when failure occurs, it can be with tiny datasets (14 PoIs, or (see above) even just 1 matching PoI (though, not with zero matches, oddly))

Does anyone have samples of the other formats for me to test?

---

thank you for your engagement.

Welcome.
It's a case of ‘challenge accepted’ determination (and my talent for finding & isolating (tricky) bugs), and wanting PinPoi to be fully functional (even if only for my own purposes 😋).

With the way I'm using PinPoi (or wanting to; I'll post a write-up, eventually), for OSM surveying, it's a great help; powerful & efficient (compared to using datasets via separate tools in a Web browser, which is impractical while out surveying).

Can you try to clear the app's cache, not the app's data? To be safe, save a backup 😉

I'll consider it, but I have some concerns, before I decide.

• what, exactly, is in the cache and/or what will clearing the app's cache do? — I would hope that it's only temporary data and/or map tiles, but want confirmation
• how likely is it that clearing the cache will cause loss of user-data (some of which I'm not sure I could replace at all, or definitely not easily or quickly) or a malfunction which renders PinPoi unusable?
• how likely is it, in your estimation, that I'll need to rely on using a backup to restore functionality & data?
• am I correct in thinking that the database (and whatever other user-data) is definitely all in the app's data?
• by backup, do you mean just PinPoi's DB (from the UI menu), or my entire phone?
• even with a backup, how would I restore it? I see no mechanism for doing so. Be aware that I don't have access to adb, and when using a file manager to browse to /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/io.github.fvasco.pinpoi I see no files (including in the files subdirectory). — D'oh; having actually checked (instead of relying on memory) I now see the restore from file option in the same menu
• I'm very much reliant on my device, for a variety of (actually important) reasons (e.g. not Fa[r]cebook)

In case it matters, for context, Android tells me that PinPoi's storage use is as follows:

• App: 10.33 MB
• Data: 138 MB
• Cache: 6.79 MB
• Total: 155 MB

[fvasco]

what, exactly, is in the cache and/or what will clearing the app's cache do? — I would hope that it's only temporary data and/or map tiles, but want confirmation

Cache contains only map tiles and some javascript.
Clearing app cache is safe.

how likely is it that clearing the cache will cause loss of user-data (some of which I'm not sure I could replace at all, or definitely not easily or quickly) or a malfunction which renders PinPoi unusable?

No, it should not.

how likely is it, in your estimation, that I'll need to rely on using a backup to restore functionality & data?

If you clear app data instead of app cache, all your data stored in PinPoi will be lost, so a restore is required.

am I correct in thinking that the database (and whatever other user-data) is definitely all in the app's data?

Yes, POI collections and notes are app's data.

by backup, do you mean just PinPoi's DB (from the UI menu), or my entire phone?

Just PinPoi backup, using the PinPoi app.

I'm very much reliant on my device, for a variety of (actually important) reasons

You don't have to clear system data, you don't have to perform a factory reset.
If you prefer, you can reinstall the app and then restore the backup.

I released a minor changes for this issue on release 1.8.1.

[Lee-Carre]

Thankyou for the reassurances.

Having cleared the cache, the results are (from quick & basic testing) identical to before:

• datasets from CSV sources render on the map as expected, promptly
• datasets from other sources (KML / GPX, even when only a small set) result in a mostly-white display; no map, even after waiting a while. Though, the app remains responsive, and will readily return to the main (searching) UI.
• the reproduction steps, mentioned earlier with the UK volcanoes dataset, yields identical results (0 matches = map, 1 match = failure).

Most puzzling, because I gather that PinPoi isn't searching & rendering from the sources directly; it imports into a DB and then queries the DB.
So, since I would do expect the post-importation entries in the DB to be standardised, it shouldn't make a difference where they came from (yet, it does).

More recently, I imported a large (904) dataset from a CSV source. PinPoi rendered all of them on a map just fine (with only slight delay). So, size of dataset really seems to make no difference (when a 14 PoI KML / GPX consistently fails).

I released a minor changes for this issue on release 1.8.1.

👍. I'll report back after installing & trying that version (awaiting F-Droid, again).

[fvasco]

@Lee-Carre
can you attach the dataset to this issue and your exact query (a screenshot)?
Maybe the issue is with those specific data.