Cool idea (I've done 100% on a few Zeldas, Metroids etc... I know this will appeal.)
I have to say the prose copy is a bit clunky though.
Fog of World
91–100 of 160 posts
Re: Fog of World
#92I bought the app and like it. Perhaps I have not discovered it yet but I would like to enter the places that I have been in the past. This would be for my own enjoyment and could be a different mode from the "game mode" which is based on actual GPS data.
Re: Fog of World
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is purely speculative, but I think there are a couple of reasons why apps like this runs better on Android. I think it mainly boils down to the fact that app developers on Android have much more freedom than on iOS, for example - instead of having to run the whole app in the background they can just run a small daemon. Android apps don't resort to weird workarounds, like in regular intervals doing something that…
Foursquare's experience developing apps that use background location has been the exact opposite. The iOS background location APIs are so restrictive precisely so that you can't drain the battery. The OS, which is running anyway, can listen for major changes in location and start your app only if the location change is relevant to your application. On Android, your app has to be running in the background always, to c…
> On Android, your app has to be running in the background always, to constantly check for such changes itself, which significantly drains the battery. If several such apps are running...
Strictly false. Your app may still have a daemon in the "running" state in the background, but Android supports the exact same "sleep until significant changes are detected by the OS" method that iOS uses. I have multiple applications that can take action of some form or another based on changes to my location, and unless I have my phone screen turned on and actively running the UI for those apps, they never even appear in the list of applications using the most battery.
Re: Fog of World
#94When I used to live in SF, I would always go on walks and explore the city. I found that it would take several visits before I could fully remember the details of a new route or area, but once I knew that place I would move onto a new area. This was enjoyable and I got to see the innards of a beautiful city. Now this? Congratulations, you have turned a peaceful and enjoyable experience into a slot machine. Now rather…
Not to pick a fight, but is there something specific about this product that you feel crosses the line? To me your complaint has a similar ring to Plato's on writing ( http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wordscape/museum/plato.html ). My point is that technologies such as this app have a long lineage, have faced similar complaints, and eventually the complaints disappear as we incorporate the technologies and move on. You mig…
Thats why I made the 'get off my lawn' comment, because I know I was coming off as a bit of a crank :)
In response to evan_'s comment, I give an explanation that describes in a bit more detail why I feel gamification is bad in general. So the first paragraph I wrote was a 'the magic is lost' rant, and the second is an angry rant at gamification. I think it is bad and you can see in my other comment for a partial reason why.
I have nothing against this particular product other than the progress bars. If the magic is lost, its lost. But the addictive mechanics that are springing up in more and more web/mobile applications are a disturbing trend. We, the business class, have found out how to make slot machines cool and we're all slapping each other on the back as we make money hand over fist while turning countless customers into addicts.
(I dont believe this product will turn anyone into an addict and I may be making comments that seem extreme when taken out of context. This may be a deeper issue than can be discussed on a internet forum)
Re: Fog of World
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
The official Google maps app has an offline mode that works great for me at least. http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/06/go-offline-with-g...
Awesome! Thanks for the tip.
In addition to that, if you're traveling a route, you can (at least as of a few Android versions ago) cache the list-view directions as well (though obviously not the turn-by-turn as no signal means it might not know where you are).
It's a life saver if you're traveling through middles of nowhere.
Re: Fog of World
#96This is a demystification of the world I don’t like!
Re: Fog of World
#97Correction — "Know the Area You Have Explored Around the World, Around A Continent, Or Even Around A Country, Where Your Phone Had A Full Battery, GPS Was Available, And There Was Reliable Electricity For Recharging!" This is dumb. Any given user is going to have massive holes in their map, which, at least according to my experience, will be the best parts of their trips — the parts where they didn't have their phone…
People turn their phones off? We must know different people because everyone I know has their phone switched on all the time.
Not all travel has to be to wilderness, there's just as much enjoyment to be had in visiting regular places, not just middle if nowhere kind of places. They might be boring to you, but that's a very narrow kind of thinking to assume that of others.
And unless you're spelunking, there's a very good chance that GPS is available. It's designed for the military, so reliability and accessibility are important. There are very few places on the earth that cannot see enough satellites to get a decent fix.
Not all developed countries are boring! It's just as much of a jungle in NYC as it is in any South American rain forest.
Re: Fog of World
#98I would never use this because I'm an old luddite now, but damn this is a great idea!
Re: Fog of World
#99Here's my suggestion - make the app free and sell users their data back in city map/country map/world map form, and link it to their vacation photos. That would be really awesome, and is totally possible with GPS in cameras now or with phone cameras.
Re: Fog of World
#100Here's my suggestion - make the app free and sell users their data back in city map/country map/world map form, and link it to their vacation photos. That would be really awesome, and is totally possible with GPS in cameras now or with phone cameras.
don't know if it was just me but, with a name like fog of war, i thought this app was going to be "warcraft" in real-life. that would've been really cool.