Pocket Stars 5.8.0.0 Beta

Well it’s been a long time coming but I’m finally ready to start beta testing a new version of Pocket Stars for PC and PDA (but not SP).  While this is largely a “fit and finish” release, fixing a few longstanding bugs, and cleaning up the UI, I did add one major new feature: comets.

In 3D view, you can see the real-time Alt/Az of the comet, a section of the path, and the absolute (“M-abs”) and apparent (“M-app”) magnitudes.  Comet elements are downloaded dynamically from Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. 

To display comets follow these steps:

• Download and install the beta from a link below
• On the Objects page, press the Download button next to the Comets checkbox
• Select the minimum magnitude of comets to be displayed

I also added momentum to the chart when scrolling with a stylus and cleaned up the display somewhat.  If you do test this beta, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE send feedback (jaybo@nomadelectronics.com) on any problems or issues you encounter. Email that everything is AOK helps too.

Download PDA Version, Beta 5.8.0.0

PocketStars.ppc30_arm.CAB   (run this file directly on your PDA)
PocketStars.ppc30_arm.EXE   (run on PC with ActiveSync connection to PDA)
PocketStarsOTA.exe     (Over the Air, run this file directly on your PDA)

Download PC Version, Beta 5.8.0.0

PocketStars.msi 

Tested using the following systems:

PocketPC
iPaq 1910, WinCE 4.20
iPaq hx4700, WinCE 5.1
Sprint VX6800, WinCE 6.0

PC
Win2K
XP
Vista
Win7

Leap Second added 1 January 2009

The Earth Orientation Center of IERS has announced the addition of another leap second on January 1, 2009.

                                   UTC TIME STEP
                            on the 1st of January 2009
                      
 A positive leap second will be introduced at the end of December 2008.
 The sequence of dates of the UTC second markers will be:		
		
                          2008 December 31,     23h 59m 59s
                          2008 December 31,     23h 59m 60s
                          2009 January   1,      0h  0m  0s
              
 The difference between UTC and the International Atomic Time TAI is:

  from 2006 January 1, 0h UTC, to 2009 January 1  0h UTC  : UTC-TAI = - 33s
  from 2009 January 1, 0h UTC, until further notice       : UTC-TAI = - 34s 
  

Pocket Stars has an internal table which is used to set the number of leap seconds in effect as well as a table containing the values for deltaT.  Because of this change, Pocket Stars results will be off by one second until the next release is issued with the internal table updated.

A little used and mostly untested feature of Pocket Stars is that you can override the default, internal values of DeltaT and also of Leap Seconds.  To override the default values of deltaT, create a text file named “DeltaT”.  To override Leap Seconds, create a file named “LeapSeconds”.  Place either or both of these files in the Pocket Stars install directory in the format shown below.  Whatever you put in these files will override the default tables in Pocket Stars.    The first column is the Julian date, and the second column is either deltaT or is the value for leap seconds.  No commas or comments allowed.

Custom DeltaT file example

2415020.5000000 -2.7000
2416846.5000000  3.9200
2418672.5000000 10.3840
2420498.5000000 17.1870
2422324.5000000 21.4070
2424151.5000000 23.6340
2425977.5000000 24.0210
2427803.5000000 23.9070
2429629.5000000 24.3470
2431456.5000000 26.8100
2433282.5000000 29.0700
2435108.5000000 30.9640
2436934.5000000 33.1500
2438761.5000000 35.7380
2440587.5000000 40.1820
2442413.5000000 45.4770
2444239.5000000 50.5400
2446066.5000000 54.3430
2447892.5000000 56.8550
2449718.5000000 60.7850
2451544.5000000 63.83
2453371.5000000 64.63
2453736.5000000 64.8547
2455197.5000000 65.0  

Here’s the equivalent data structure within Pocket Stars showing the corresponding calendar dates:

double DeltaT[][2] = {
     // Julian           Year          DeltaT
     2415020.5000000, /*1900.0000,*/   -2.7000,
     2416846.5000000, /*1905.0000,*/    3.9200,
     2418672.5000000, /*1910.0000,*/   10.3840,
     2420498.5000000, /*1915.0000,*/   17.1870,
     2422324.5000000, /*1920.0000,*/   21.4070,
     2424151.5000000, /*1925.0000,*/   23.6340,
     2425977.5000000, /*1930.0000,*/   24.0210,
     2427803.5000000, /*1935.0000,*/   23.9070,
     2429629.5000000, /*1940.0000,*/   24.3470,
     2431456.5000000, /*1945.0000,*/   26.8100,
     2433282.5000000, /*1950.0000,*/   29.0700,
     2435108.5000000, /*1955.0000,*/   30.9640,
     2436934.5000000, /*1960.0000,*/   33.1500,
     2438761.5000000, /*1965.0000,*/   35.7380,
     2440587.5000000, /*1970.0000,*/   40.1820,
     2442413.5000000, /*1975.0000,*/   45.4770,
     2444239.5000000, /*1980.0000,*/   50.5400,
     2446066.5000000, /*1985.0000,*/   54.3430,
     2447892.5000000, /*1990.0000,*/   56.8550,
     2449718.5000000, /*1995.0000,*/   60.7850,
     2451544.5000000, /*2000.0000,*/   63.83,     
     2453371.5000000, /*2005.0000,*/   64.63,     
     2453736.5000000, /*2006.0000,*/   64.85478,  
     2455197.5000000, /*2010.0000,*/   65.0,      
};

Custom LeapSeconds file example

with the added change for Jan 1, 2009:

2441317.5 10.0
2441499.5 11.0
2441683.5 12.0
2442048.5 13.0
2442413.5 14.0
2442778.5 15.0
2443144.5 16.0
2443509.5 17.0
2443874.5 18.0
2444239.5 19.0
2444786.5 20.0
2445151.5 21.0
2445516.5 22.0
2446247.5 23.0
2447161.5 24.0
2447892.5 25.0
2448257.5 26.0
2448804.5 27.0
2449169.5 28.0
2449534.5 29.0
2450083.5 30.0
2450630.5 31.0
2451179.5 32.0
2453736.5 33.0
2454832.5 34.0

Here’s the equivalent internal table in Pocket Stars showing the dates:

// Leap Second table
double LeapSeconds [][2] = {
    // Date                     TAI-UTC
    /*1972 JAN  1 */ 2441317.5,  10.0, 
    /*1972 JUL  1 */ 2441499.5,  11.0,
    /*1973 JAN  1 */ 2441683.5,  12.0,
    /*1974 JAN  1 */ 2442048.5,  13.0,
    /*1975 JAN  1 */ 2442413.5,  14.0,
    /*1976 JAN  1 */ 2442778.5,  15.0,
    /*1977 JAN  1 */ 2443144.5,  16.0,
    /*1978 JAN  1 */ 2443509.5,  17.0,
    /*1979 JAN  1 */ 2443874.5,  18.0,
    /*1980 JAN  1 */ 2444239.5,  19.0,
    /*1981 JUL  1 */ 2444786.5,  20.0,
    /*1982 JUL  1 */ 2445151.5,  21.0,
    /*1983 JUL  1 */ 2445516.5,  22.0,
    /*1985 JUL  1 */ 2446247.5,  23.0,
    /*1988 JAN  1 */ 2447161.5,  24.0,
    /*1990 JAN  1 */ 2447892.5,  25.0,
    /*1991 JAN  1 */ 2448257.5,  26.0,
    /*1992 JUL  1 */ 2448804.5,  27.0,
    /*1993 JUL  1 */ 2449169.5,  28.0,
    /*1994 JUL  1 */ 2449534.5,  29.0,
    /*1996 JAN  1 */ 2450083.5,  30.0,
    /*1997 JUL  1 */ 2450630.5,  31.0,
    /*1999 JAN  1 */ 2451179.5,  32.0,
    /*2006 JAN  1 */ 2453736.5,  33.0,         
    /*2009 JAN  1 */ 2454832.5,  34.0,  // to be added in the next release        
};

320x320 Display Resolution Bug on Pocket Stars PDA Version 5.5.0.0

A number of customers have pointed out that the Pocket Stars PDA has a bug with the new 320x320 resolution devices.  The problem is caused by the introduction of a new DPI value for these displays.  An example is shown, below.  Notice that the toolbar at the bottom of the display is truncated on the right.

Prior to the introduction of 320x320 displays, all PDA devices were either 96DPI or 192DPI as shown by the following table.  I’m guessing that quite a few other released programs aren’t  to happy either, dealing with a new DPI value at this late stage in the evolution of the platform.

If you’re experiencing this problem, you can download a beta version with the problem fixed at: www.nomadelectronics.com/anonymous/PDAMenuFix/PocketStars.zip.  Let me know if it works and I’ll get this fix into the next official release.

DeepZoom.com

To learn about Microsoft's new Silverlight 2.0 technology, I've set up an experimental website at www.deepzoom.com. 

Silverlight 2.0 is a cross-browser (IE/Firefox/Safari), cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.  Learn more at http://silverlight.net/.

DeepZoom is part of Silverlight 2.0 which lets you create zoomable images of relatively huge dimension (check out this link for 16kx16k USGS Urban Area imagery of Denver: http://www.cadmaps.com/gisblog/?p=32).  

In the example below, I've created a set of nautical charts covering all of Puget Sound.  Scrolling, panning, and zooming give an experience similar to Google Earth or Microsoft Virtual Earth.  Even though you're accessing a huge dataset, the tiles are broken into small chunks, giving quite reasonable performance when zooming and panning.

To access the site, you'll need to install the beta of Silverlight 2.0 (4MB download), and then press F5 to refresh the browser.

Compass Correction and B-737s in the Arctic

I love getting notes from users containing unexpected uses for Pocket Stars.  Here are a couple of recent ones.

Compass Correction

Hi, just a note to say thanks for Pocket Stars.

I am a deck officer on ferries from Dover to Calais and we are still waiting for our 2008 nautical almanac, so I used Pocket Stars to calculate the azimuth of Venus this week. (We use the azimuth to do a daily check of the compass error).

My fellow officers were impressed.  I hope that you get some more sales.

Regards,  Martin

Here the capability of selecting ANY celestial object and then displaying the continuously updated altitude and azimuth is used for compass correction.

Astrocompass in the Arctic

On a separate note. I use your product for using with an astrocompass. We fly B-737s in the high arctic in the area of magnetic unreliability, the product is extremely helpful when attempting to identify a star/planet and then determining the LHA, declination for astrocompass input.

- Captain L.S.G.

Just when you're about to throw up your hands, convinced that your life is veering out of control, somebody comes along to say your product is helping to steer 737s!

GPS Configuration Utility for Smartphones

Up until now, Microsoft hasn't provided a means to use the the GPS Intermediate Driver on Windows Mobile Smartphones.  The utility has been included in most recent Pocket PCs, but for reasons unknown, a version hasn't been published for Smartphones.

Therefore, even though Pocket Stars SP was designed with the ability to use GPS input for setting the current user location, the capability hasn't really been usable without manual registry hacking.

The latest Mobile 6 Standard SDK now includes the necessary configuration utility, but I don't know if it is included with  any shipping devices.  But it sounds like you can download and install it on any device with a built-in GPS.  Download from here.

I don't currently have a Smartphone with a built-in GPS, so please let me know if install this utility and then use Pocket Stars SP correctly acquires the GPS location.

Google Maps vs. Windows Live Search on Pocket PC

Here's a short comparison of Google Maps and Windows Live Search running on a just purchased Sprint PPC-6800 (HTC Mogul). This may end up turning into a what's wrong with Microsoft rant, but I'll try and control myself.

When you start Google Maps, you get... a map:

It's immediately apparent how to search, zoom, and scroll. Ah, we're in business.

When you start Microsoft Live Search you get... an option to look at gas prices.

The whole focus in Live Search shifts from dealing with maps to looking for content and then mapping the results. Notice the "Speak" button down at the bottom left. This prominant placement gives some indication of Microsoft's presumed plans to make speech input central to the Windows Mobile experience. More on this crucial feature later.

It's unforutunate that Live's search textbox isn't a dropdown to provide a history of previous searches.

Just figuring out how to run Live Search is a bit of a challenge. On the Today screen (home screen) for the Mogul, there's a search window labeled "Live Search", which will let you get at maps, but these are web based static Virtual Earth images and has no interaction with the Pocket PC application "Windows Live Search". And make sure you don't run "Windows Live" which brings up Hotmail and Messenger. You need to select "Live Search" from Start.Programs. Ah, Microsoft branding at work!

Google Maps	Windows Live Search
Download Size
487KB	712KB
Version
Load time
3 seconds	2 seconds to Gas Price option, then 2 seconds to map.
Map Comparisons
		Overall, I find Google's color scheme is more pleasing but this is subject to the vagaries of display and backlighting.
		Google displays less content but gives freeway off-ramps and some bus routes. Live shows one way streets.
		Pretty darn close.
		Google's high contrast character highlighting makes the street names much easier to read.
		Live Search has better detail when fully zoomed in for this particular location.

Performance

Actual performance when scrolling and zooming is pretty comparable. Google generally seems a bit snappier at serving map tiles, but this slight prejudice could just be a carry over from other Google products.

While scrolling may be comparable, I find that the lack of dedicated on-screen Zoom buttons in Live Search to be a major drawback. Instead, to zoom in you need to click the center of the 4-way scroll button, and then switch to a different button to zoom in or out.

Although the Mogul has a thumbwheel, neither application makes use of this for zooming. Doh!

Searching

Down to the crux issue. How well can you search. A couple scenarios:

1. Great sushi place, Nishino's.

In Google Maps, on the front page, hit "Search", type in "Nishino's" and you get this sequence:

So the sequence is: Search >> Confirm Search results >> Tap for options giving address, reviews, phone, website.

In Live Search, press the "Speak" button and say "Nishino's" and (after two attempts at correct voice recognition) you get this sequence:

What? No web link? No reviews? Why are the directions, SMS, Save options at the bottom of the screen duplicated in the menu?

2. The Seattle institution Ivar's Restaurant.

In Google Maps, with Seattle in view, search for "Ivar's". You get:

So the current location isn't honored for some searches. Searching for "Ivar's Seattle", gives the much more reasonable result:

In "Live Search", with Seattle in view, press the Speak button and say "Ivar's" (or just type in "Ivar's"). You get:

Note that Live Search keeps track of your current location and gives both commercial and residential listings.

Conclusion

The lack of on-screen zoom buttons makes Live Search a non-starter for me. It's just too frustrating to use a multi-key sequence for zooming.

Google's use of tapping on the pushpins to give additional details is really nice. You don't lose context of where you are in the application, whereas Live Search brings up a series of cascading search result dialogs that loop back on one another.

I didn't test Google's "My Location" feature which uses cell towers to triangulate your position, since it doesn't seem to be working in my location. All attempts result in: "Your current location is currently unavailable."

Using speech input for search terms is only partly successful in Live Search. While I'm often surprised at the quality of the recognition, you still need to switch over to using the stylus or keyboard to accept the search results, make additional menu choices, and interact with the map. Speech input works great in an application like Voice Commander since you can select a contact and make a call while driving without needing to touch the keyboard or look at the display. In Live Search, speech input saves you from typing search terms, but this benefit isn't offset by the complexity of switching between speech, keyboard, and stylus input modes.

So, Google Maps is the winner for this round.