Table of contents

Main screen
View
GPX
- Search
Map
Tools
- Dashboard
- Trip computer
- Speed alert
- Stopwatch
- Satellite status
- Trackalyzer
- Trainer
- Locator
- Accurator
- TrackMe
- Geocoder
- Directions
Config
- GPS
- License
- Online Services
- Language
- Settings
Import/export
Limitations

Main screen

Tracky shows in its main screen the earth surface as a grid. On top of it, maps, tracks and Points Of Interest (POIs) are depicted.

icon description

your current position

latest known position

(if GPS is unable to determine position)
track (configurable color)

grid line

start of track

end of track

zoom bar
(the label shows the length of the zoom bar)
marker

distance and angle ruler

target

(other) Point Of Interest (POI) with configurable icon

Legend.

Main screen.

You can set a marker by tapping with your stylus on the screen. This marker is used a.o. as center point for zooming. By setting
the marker on a POIs or track, more information about this POI or track is given. Furthermore, the marker can be used to set
the ruler that shows the distance and angle between two points. The marker will be removed if you tap it again.
You can freely scroll through the area with your stylus by moving it over the screen. You can use the zoom bar to change the
size of the visible area. Tap the „+‟ or „-‟ buttons to zoom in or out by a factor 2, or move your stylus along the zoom bar for
finer zoom levels. You can also use the up/down/left/right hardware keys of your PDA to scroll through the area. If you have a
digit key-pad, then press „1‟ key to zoom-out and the „3‟ key to zoom-in. The scroll-wheel on your PDA can also be used to adapt
the zoom level.
Hyper zoom
By pressing the icon on the zoom bar, you activate the hyper zoom feature: the zoom level will change such that you see the
entire world:

Hyper zoom.
This overview picture shows your position and also the positions of your tracks and POIs. You can tell that hyper zooming is
activated if the icon is enlarged and shown with a red flashing border (see picture below). By pressing the icon again,
hyper zoom is deactivated and the selected position (or selected POI or track) is shown.
Overlays
Several overlays are projected on top of the main window. They show additional information which can also be requested via one
of the available tools. The purpose of overlays is to access this information (in brief format) without having to navigate to one of
these tools. By clicking on one of the overlays, an associated tool will show up. To hide/show each of these overlays, please read
Config settings tab Overlay and Configure settings tab PDA.

Overlays.
1) Basic info:
 a. Track length and time of current track recording (only visible when a track is being recorded). Click it to start the
Trackalyzer tool.
b. Distance to target and expected time to arrival:
 when no target is selected, these fields show a question mark („?‟)

 if a POI is selected as target, the icon is shown, and the distance and expected time to arrival to this
POI are shown

 if a track is selected as target, first the icon is shown, and the distance and expected time to arrival to
the nearest track point are shown

 once the start of the track is reached, the icon changes to , and the distance and expected time to
arrival to the finish of the track are shown
Click it to start the Trainer tool.
c. Connection status of GPS device and #satellites in view. Click it to start the Satellite status tool.
d. Speed. Click it to start the Speed alert tool.
2) Pressing this small button will show/hide the menu bar.
3) Speed alert which only shows up if a certain maximum or minimum speed is exceeded. Clicking it has no effect.
4) The compass shows the heading direction. If furthermore shows the relative position of the start of the recorded track
(if a track is being recorded), the relative position of the target with navigation hints (if a target is set). Click it to start
the Dashboard tool.
5) The „Locator‟ overlay shows the position with possibly a conversion to Grid, Datum, or Degrees/Minutes/Seconds
notation. Click it to start the Locator tool.
6) This button gives access to the „Big Button Menu‟, see below. This menu will also show up when you press the „select‟
key of your PDA.
7) The zoom bar (explained in the previous chapter).
8) The „Directions‟ overlay shows the first written direction hints in order to get to your target. Click the button on the left
to start the Directions tool.

Big Button Menu

Pressing button (6) gives access to the Big Button Menu. The main menu gives access to several submenus which will be
explained in the remainder of this document. You can leave the main menu or any of its submenus by pushing the button Back.
If you again press button (6) then the main or sub menu will show-up which has been accessed last time. All menus can also be
accessed via the menu bar at the bottom of the main screen, but you will find the Big Button Menu probably much more
convenient if you want to control the application by your fingers instead of the stylus. The menu items can also be selected by
using your up/down/left/right keys on your PDA.

The main menu.

View
The view submenu looks as follows:

The view submenu.

The top-most arrow buttons allow you to jump to the previous and next submenu (left and right arrow, respectively), and to go
back to the main menu (up arrow). It furthermore gives the following options:
1. Set target
The target will be set at the position of the marker (or at the current user position, if no marker is set).
2. Goto target
The screen will jump to the target position. This option can only be selected when a target has been set.
3. Delete target
The target will be deleted. This option can only be selected when a target has been set.
4. Reset user pos
The user position is reset at the position of the marker. This option can only be selected if no proper signal is being
received from your GPS device, or you disabled your GPS device (see Configure GPS).
5. Goto user
The screen will jump to the user position.
6. Follow current pos
Enables/disables the auto follow mode. When enabled, the screen will automatically follow the user position. The
orientation of the screen will be set according to the configuration done in Config - tab view. If the marker has been set,
then this auto following mode is temporarily overruled. Once you remove the marker (by tapping with your stylus on
the marker position), the auto follow mode is activated again.

GPX

Tracky can deal with GPX files. Such files contain so called POIs and/or tracks (or so-called routes). Tracky visualizes all POIs
and tracks. You can download GPX files from various sites, but you can also make GPX files yourself. You first need to import
them in Tracky as explained in import/export. The GPX menu looks as follows:
 The GPX submenu.

It gives the following options:

1. Select
Select a Points Of Interest (POIs) collection or a track from one of the available GPX files for further operation, see
below.
2. Details
Show details of the currently selected POIs collection or track, see below.
3. Add POI
Add a POI at the marker position (or at the current user position if no marker is set).
4. POI details
Shows the details of the currently selected POI, see GPX details dialogue.
5. Record track
Start and stop recording the track you are travelling. If a recording is stopped, the track is stored, and a new track is
created once the recording is started again. On creation, a pop-up shows up which allows you to choose to create the
track in a new GPX file or in an already existing GPX file.
6. Search
Search in several databases for POIs, see Search.

If you choose the option Select, you enter the GPX dialogue:
 GPX selection dialogue.
An overview is given of all available GPX files. The + and – buttons on the left can be used to expand the tree view and see the
POIs and/or tracks of each GPX file. The checkboxes indicate which POIs and/or tracks should be visible (checked) or hidden
(unchecked) in the main screen. Select a GPX file and press the new button to create a new track in this GPX file (only 1 POIs
collection is allowed per GPX file) and use the button rename to rename the file. Press the delete button to delete a track or to
empty a POIs collection, and press the details button to enter the GPX details dialogue.
GPX details
The GPX details dialogue has 2 tabs for POIs collections, and an additional tab for tracks.

GPX details dialogue - Info. GPX details dialogue - POIs. GPX details dialogue - Track.

The tab “GPX details dialogue – Info” gives some general information/notes of the POIs collection or track. The name field and
the text area allow you to write down some notes. For tracks, you can change the style of the track line by pressing the button
style. A Color wheel dialogue allows you to set the color and width of the track.
 Color wheel dialogue.
The tab “GPX details dialogue – POIs” gives a list of all POIs. This list is also shown for tracks, where each track element is listed.
You can change the relative order of the POIs by the arrow button on the left hand side. The following options are given:
1. Target
The selected POI is set as target. If the POI is part of a track, then the track is automatically set as target. This means
that that the navigation hints will guide you along the track. In Configure settings tab „Target‟, you can choose to
navigate along the track in reversed direction (from finish to start). By default, navigating a track will be done in the
recorded direction.
2. Delete
The selected POI is deleted.
3. Show
The selected POI is shown on the main screen.
4. Details
Details of the selected POI are shown, see the POI details dialogues below.
5. Back
Any edits on this POIs collection or track are stored and you return to the previous screen.
The tab “GPX details dialogue – Track” gives information of the track, it is only supported for tracks, not for POIs collections. It
gives information of the track distance and time, the max/min/average speed and altitude, and the total elevation and decline.
The checkbox „excl. stops‟ allows you to exclude (checked) or include (unchecked) possible stops/breaks during the track
recording. This affects the time and thus the average speed.

POI details
 POI details dialogue - Info. POI details dialogue - Data. Symbol picker dialogue.

The POI details dialogues show detailed information of a POI. Four tabs are supported. The buttons on the lower part of the
screen have a straightforward operation and need no further explanation.
The tab “POI details dialogue - Info” gives the name, a telephone number, and some text that you like to note down about this
POI. If you press the „Call‟ button, the phone number will be dialed, obviously only if you have a phone enabled PDA. In the tab
“POI details dialogue - Data”, you can set the GPX file and POIs/track object in which this POI is stored. You can see the date
and time when this POI is created (read only). The symbol of this POI can easily be changed by pressing the button by which you
enter the Symbol picker dialogue. The exact coordinates of the POI can be inspected/changed by pressing the button with the

icon .

POI details dialogue - Image. POI details dialogue - Web.

The tab “POI details dialogue - Image” allows you to associate a picture to the POI. Edit the path to the picture by editing the
text box or by clicking the button with “...”. The path can be either point to a locally stored picture, or it can be a reference to a
picture somewhere on the web (URL notation). The tab “POI details dialogue - Web” allows you to associate a web address to the
POI (URL). Edit the web address by clicking the button with “...”. Note that this window only shows up properly if you have a
valid internet connection on your PDA.

Search
The option „Search‟ in the GPX menu allows you to directly access and search in various internet databases with interesting POIs.
As an example, we show how to search for pizza restaurants around the Arc de Triomph. First make sure the main screen is
focused at the area you want to search in, see below where the Arc de Triomph is in the center of the screen (step 1). Next,
enter the Search dialogue via the GPX menu, search in „Google Local Search‟ (step 2), search for „pizza‟, and store the results in
„search.gpx‟. Next, choose a nice icon style, and press the button „Search‟. An hour glass will appear and some seconds later you
will be informed how many POIs are found, i.e., 10 in this case! (step 3). You will return to the main screen and see the exact
positions of all found POIs (step 4). The result is stored in „search.gpx‟ which you can further inspect via for example the GPX
details dialogue as explained before (step 5 and 6).

Step 1: focus main screen. Step 2: initiate search in the Google Step 3: 10 POIs are found!
database.

Step 4: main screen shows found POIs. Step 5: select one and go to POI details. Step 6: see the address and telephone
nr.

Currently, the following databases can be accessed:

1. Geocaching.com
This database is the most famous database for geo-caches. Maximum 500 (!) geo-caches which lie in the main screen
are found. You can choose to search for all geo-caches in the given region, or only for found, not-found, owned, and/or
not-owned geo-caches (you need to be logged in at www.geocaching.com first). Each found geo-cache will automatically
get an icon representing the type of geo-cache (earth, event, hybrid, in-out, mega, multi, mystery, traditional, virtual,
or webcam geo-cache). In the POI details dialogue, the tab „Web‟ shows details of the geo-cache. I was surprised by the
enormous amount of geo-caches around; one of them is almost in my backyard!
 2. Google Local Search
This database typically contains businesses (restaurants, tank stations, hotels, etc.). You can in the field „Search for‟
specify what to search for, as demonstrated in the example above. The 10 nearest POIs will be shown, these do not
necessarily lie in the area of the main screen but can be slight off as well. The found POIs have a description which
typically describe more details of the POI, for example the telephone number of the business. Just press the „Call‟
button in the POI details dialogue to make a phone to any of the found POIs.
3. Panoramio.com
This database contains millions of photos. Search in it and check the tab „Image‟ in the POI details dialogue to see these
photos.
4. Weather database
A search in this database will return the most nearby weather station. The tab „Info‟ in the POI details dialogue show the
actual weather condition at the found weather station.
5. Wikipedia
The famous Wikipedia database at www.wikipedia.org also contains location based information. Search in it and check
the tabs „Image‟ and „Web‟ in the POI details dialogue to get detailed information.
6. Yahoo Local Search
This database is comparable to the one of Google and it also contains all kinds of businesses. It only works in America
though, I hope Yahoo will expand its scope to other regions as well. You can in the field „Search for‟ specify which
business to search for. The 10 nearest POIs will be shown, these do not necessarily lie in the area of the main screen
but can be slight off as well. The found POIs have a description which typically describe more details of the POI, for
example the telephone number of the business. Just press the „Call‟ button in the POI details dialogue to make a phone
to any of the found POIs.

Map

Maps are pictures of for example street maps or satellite photos. For novice users, it is strongly recommended to use the online
Google maps or the free maps as are available at the TrackMe section. Expert users can import their own maps and calibrate
them so that they show-up at the correct positions and at the correct scale. The Map menu looks as follows:

The Map submenu.

It gives the following options:
1. GoogleMaps
Gives access to the GoogleMaps dialogue, see below.
2. Select
Select a Map of the available Own maps.
3. Details
Show details of the currently selected own map.
4. Calibrate
Start or stops calibration of the currently selected own map.
 5. Set ref 1
Sets 1st reference point of currently selected own map.
6. Details
Sets 2nd reference point of currently selected own map.

Online GoogleMaps
GoogleMaps is a service of Google. They provide world-wide satellite maps, street maps, hybrid maps (a combination of satellite
and street maps), and terrain maps. GoogleMaps is fully integrated in Tracky so that you can use all these maps very easily. To
enable this service, press the Enable button. Next, simply select the map type you like to use. When you press Back, you will
return to the main window. The maps of your choice will then be downloaded from Google, see the screenshots below. Enabling
„high resolution maps‟ will give more detailed maps. More data needs to be downloaded, so the download time will increase if
you enable this. By deselecting checkbox „download if not in cache‟, you can choose not to download any more maps, but only
use the maps which have been downloaded before and are stored in the cache folder.
Obviously, you need internet access on your PDA to download maps:
1. via GSM, GPRS, EDGE, or UMTS: you need to have agreed on an internet service with a mobile operator, or
2. via WiFi to your own wireless router, or
3. via a connection to your internet enabled PC (with USB, serial cable, or BlueTooth)
Once maps have been downloaded, they are stored in a cache folder on your PDA. These maps will still be available if your PDA
no longer has internet access, even if you restart Tracky or your PDA. Since not many people have contract with mobile
operators yet, the typical usage of this service is as follows:
1. connect your PDA to your PC (see option 3 above)
2. enable GoogleMaps by choosing your preferred map type
3. move and scale the screen to those areas for which you like to see the maps, wait until these maps are properly shown
(this sometimes takes a couple of seconds since your download connection can be slow)
4. repeat steps (2) and (3) for a different map type if you like
5. now disconnect your PDA and turn it off
Now get to the place where you like to use Tracky, and start it. You will see that all downloaded maps are still available!
Still, I can believe that you find the above steps too difficult and/or time consuming to do. There is an easier way to get your
cache filled with the maps you need. Check out the PC tools mentioned under issue (8) at the Q&A section. With these (free!)
tools, you can download maps for any given region and zoom level on your PC. Afterwards, you can simply copy the generated
maps to Tracky‟s cache folder.

Online GoogleMaps dialogue. Satellite maps. Street maps.

 Hybrid maps. Terrain maps.
Own maps
If you don‟t like the GoogleMaps or if you have better maps yourself, you can use these as well! Examples can be exported at
the TrackMe section. This service is not very useful anymore since the integrated GoogleMaps feature is far more convenient.
You may have other maps yourself which you may prefer above GoogleMaps. You first need to import them in Tracky as
explained in import/export. The maps from the TrackMe section are already calibrated which means that you do not have to
study the possible calibration methods as explained below. However, you must calibrate your own maps yourself. This is a fairly
complex topic, so be sure you want this!

Maps dialogue.

Choose Select in the map menu to enter the maps dialogue. This dialogue shows the available maps. The checkbox in front of
each map allows you to show (checked) or hide (unchecked) each map. The list also shows which maps have not yet been
calibrated ( ) and if a map has load problems ( ). A map needs to be calibrated before Tracky can properly show it, i.e.,
Tracky needs information about the position on the earth surface that is represented by the map. Two calibration methods are
supported:
- 1-point: the latitude and longitude of 1 reference point of the map is required, as well as the actual width of the region
that is represented by the map
- 2-point: the latitude and longitude of 2 reference points of the map are required
Push Details to enter the map details dialogue.
 Map details dialogue, info. Map details dialogue, 1-point calibration. Map details dialogue, 2-point calibration.

The tabs in the Map details dialogue show information about the map, and its calibration info according to the two calibration
methods. You can set your preferred calibration method in the first tab. Besides this, you should specify the grid to which the
map is aligned. If you are not sure about the grid, then choose Default, which assumes that your map if aligned to the
geographical north. You can calibrate the map by the second or third tab, depending on the chosen calibration method. Fill in the
details of the reference point(s), their position, and (only for 1-point calibration) the width of the region that is represented by

the map. The position of the reference points can be set by clicking the icon . The Locator tool is popped-up which enables
you to set or convert the latitude and longitude via various approaches. When pressing Ok, the map will show up in the main
screen at the specified position.
The reference points can also be set from the main window. First select the map you like to calibrate. In the main menu the

reference point(s) will now be shown as icons and . You can reposition these reference points by placing your marker at
the desired spot, and selecting set reference 1 or set reference 2 from the map submenu.
You can also calibrate the map without the above mentioned information about reference points. First make sure you recorded or
are recording a track that at least partially covers the area that is represented by the map. Now press the Calibrate button in the
map details dialogue. You can now choose whether to want to calibrate by moving/zooming the map (grid is fixed) or the grid
(map is fixed). After making your choice, you will return to the main window where you will see the selected map. Scroll and/or
zoom the map or grid (depending on your previous choice) until it is positioned properly. Once done, deselect the Calibrate
option in the map submenu. You can select this option in the menu again to fine-tune the calibration if needed. Do not forget to
deselect it when you finished calibrating.
Calibrated maps can be de-calibrated either by pressing the Decalibrate button in the map details dialogue or by removing the
map calibration file.
If you press the Show button in the map details dialogue, you will return to the main window where the map will be centered in
the screen. The button is only enabled for calibrated maps.
Note that calibration settings are stored in a map calibration file, see import/export. You can open this text file and edit it (on
your PC, or even on your PDA.

Tools

Tracky features several tools which can be accessed via one of the two tools submenus:
 Tools 1 submenu. Tools 2 submenu.

Trip computer

Select Trip computer in the tools menu to go to the Trip computer tool.

Trip computer tool.

The Trip computer shows on tab „Trip‟ some basic information of your „trip‟. The information is reset each time you restart
Tracky. The tab „Total‟ shows the same information, but then accumulated. This information is therefore not reset when you
restart Tracky. You can – on both tabs – manually reset the values by pressing the button Reset. The following information is
shown:
- distance
- time
- maximum/minimum/average speed
- maximum/minimum/average altitude
- elevation/decline
The checkbox „excl. stops‟ determines whether any stops should be excluded or not from these figures. When stops are excluded
(„excl stops‟ is checked), the time will not proceed when you are standing still, and the average speed will not change. If stops
are not excluded, the time will also proceed when you are standing still, and the average speed will gradually drop.
Dashboard

Select Dashboard in the tools menu to go to the dashboard tool.

Dashboard tool.
The dashboard shows the following figures:
- the current speed,
- the time per distance (used by runners to show how much time it takes at the current speed to traverse a certain
(configurable) distance),
- the current G-force (in G),
- the current altitude,
- the current slope (in %, a positive number means you are ascending, a negative number means you are descending),
- track length and time (if a track is being recorded), and
- (over the air) distance to target and expected time to arrival (if a target has been set)
A compass shows the relative position of the (geographic) north/east/west/south. The orientation of the compass, as well as
most icons/labels/etc. can be configured in Settings tab Compass.
The big red navigation arrow shows the direction you are travelling. This is also depicted in the label with the „U:‟ prefix (User
direction). The label with the „T:‟ prefix tells you the absolute angle to the Target (if a target is set). Furthermore, the home and
the target icon show which direction to travel to get back home (the start of the track recording), or to get to the target (if a
target is set), respectively. When the proximity to home/target is less then 100m, the respective icon will further approach the
center of the compass, and thereby enabling you to precisely navigate where you want to be. Centrally positioned in the
compass, a blue navigation arrow will appear when a target is set. This arrow shows which direction to go in order to reach the
target. Moreover, navigation hints are given by spoken voice (!) to enable you to navigate to the target without having to look
down to your PDA all the time.
The dashboard tool also features a G-force meter. This unique feature gives insight in the G-force that you are currently
experiencing. The G-force is not only quantified in size, also the direction if visualized! You are accelerating when the „bomb‟ icon
is shown in the upper part, and you are decelerating when the bomb is in the lower part. When it is on the left hand side or the
right hand side, you are sharply turning left or right, respectively. The maximum G force it can show is 0.5G… it takes extreme
muscles or a fast car to reach that!
Tap anywhere on the screen to return to the main window.

Speed alert

Select Speed alert in the tools menu to go to the Speed alert tool. The speed alert tool is a straightforward tool which alerts if
you exceed a certain minimum or maximum speed.
 Speed alert – max speed. Speed alert – min speed.
Enable/disable it by pushing the button enable/disable, respectively. Toggle between a maximum speed or a minimum speed
alert by pushing the button max/min. Choose the threshold speed by pressing one of the three speed input boxes. You can
simply edit each of these entries by typing a different speed value in it. If enabled, the tool will remain enabled once you return
to the main screen. If the chosen speed threshold is exceeded, you will get visual and audible (“speed alert!”) feedback.

Stopwatch

Select Stopwatch in the tools menu to go to the Stopwatch tool. The stopwatch tool is comparable to a normal stopwatch, except
that this one (also) triggers on speed and distance.

Stopwatch tool.
Start criterion. Whereas a normal stopwatch starts when pushing some button, this stopwatch starts at a certain speed. You
can set this speed in the text box „start (kmh):‟. If you for example set this to „0‟, then the stopwatch will start as soon as you
start moving after you have been standing still. If you set this for example to „80‟, then the stopwatch will start when you either
accelerate from below 80kmh to above 80kmh, or if you decelerate from above 80kmh to below 80kmh. Until the stopwatch
starts, you will see a red box around the speed indicator to tell you that your speed still did not trigger the stopwatch. Once
started, you will hear some audible feedback, and the big clock will start running.
Stop criteria. A normal stopwatch stops when pushing some button. This stopwatch stops on other criteria, i.e., speed, time, or
distance. Select the stop criterion by pressing the arrow keys next to the „stop (...):‟ input box and edit the value in the input
box to a desired value.
1. speed
 The stopwatch will stop running as soon as the specified stop speed is crossed. Once stopped, you can read the elapsed
time and the distance that was traversed. Use it to for example to measure how much time it takes for your car to
accelerate from 0 to 100kmh or from 80 to 120kmh.
2. time
The stopwatch will stop running as soon as the specified time has elapsed. Once stopped, you can read the distance that
was traversed and the end speed that was reached. Use it for example to see the distance you can sprint in 10 seconds.
Or use it for example to measure which speed you can reach in 10s time when accelerating full throttle.
3. distance
The stopwatch will stop running as soon as the specified distance is traversed. Once stopped, you can read the time it
took, and the end speed that was reached. Use it for example to see the time you need for a 100m sprint. Or use it for
example to see which speed you can reach in 100m when accelerating full throttle.
The stopwatch time is depicted in thousands of seconds. This suggests an extremely high precision. This is not completely valid
of course, since your GPS devices provides position samples only once per second. The actual precision furthermore heavily
depends on the precision of your GPS device and the current quality of the received satellite signals. However, Tracky does some
fairly advanced interpolations on the position samples, which results in a higher precision then you would probably expect.
A hidden feature is that both starting and stopping the stopwatch can be forced by pressing the boxed speed, time, or distance
indicator. I used this for testing purposes, but left it in for convenience. I use it myself for boiling my eggs: set the stop criterion
to 240 seconds (4 minutes), and press the speed input box to start the stopwatch once the water starts boiling:)
Press the button Back to return to the main screen. The Stopwatch tool will automatically be disabled.

Satellite status

Select Satellite status in the tools menu to go to the satellite status tool.

Satellite status tool.

In the upper left corner, the connection status with the GPS device is shown. An increasing bar shows that data is being received
from your GPS device. The bar colors green if the data is valid, or red if the data is not valid (probably a wrong baud rate setting
is configured). The figure in the satellite icon corresponds with the number of satellites in view from which reliable information is
being received.
The large compass is explained before. Furthermore, it shows the actual positions of all satellites that are in view. The numbers
correspond with the numbers below the bars at the bottom of the screen. These bars show whether reliable or unreliable data is
received from the satellite (green or red bar), and its signal strength. Tracky should receive from at least 3 satellites reliable
data to determine your position. Reliable data from more satellites will in general lead to more precise position information.
At the bottom of the screen, the current GPS quality, and the PDOP, HDOP, and VDOP values are given. Use this tool to optimize
the position of your GPS receiver. Since the satellite status is updated each second, you will quickly find out what influences the
position of the GPS receiver.
Tap anywhere on the screen to return to the main window.

Trackalyzer
Select Trackalyzer in the tools menu to go to the Trackalyzer tool.

Trackalyzer tool.
You can use the Trackalyzer tool to analyze your tracks in a graph. Select a GPX file and track, and select the data you want to
analyze:
- altitude,
- G-force (in G),
- forward oriented G-force (in G), positive values indicate acceleration, negative values indicate deceleration),
- sideward oriented G-force (in G, positive values indicate left turn, negative values indicate right turn),
- slope (in %)
- speed
You make independent choices for the left and the right vertical axis. You can choose to plot that data on a distance scale or on a
time scale (horizontal axis). Besides the plot, the minimum and maximum values are depicted. By tapping or moving your stylus
in the graph area, a measurement line appears that gives detailed information of the selected data at that point.
Use the button Refresh to include the latest information in the graph (only useful if the track you are analyzing is currently being
recorded).
Use the button Export to export the plotted information to a file. It will be formatted in a so called Tab Separated File (.tsf) which
can for instance easily be imported in spreadsheet programs such as MS Excel. Such programs allow you to further analyze the
track data, e.g., to compare it with former track recordings.
Warning. Tracks that you download from the internet sometimes show extreme values for speed and/or G-force. Typically,
these tracks have not been live recorded, but they have been „drawn‟ from behind a PC and the time stamps in these files has
been ignored.

Trainer

Select Trainer in the tools menu to go to the Trainer tool.

 Trainer tool.
If you have set a track as target, Tracky will navigate you along the track. As add-on, the Trainer tool can be used to show how
you are performing relative to a virtual „trainer‟. The trainer can be configured, see Configure settings – Tab target, so that it
moves at a configurable constant speed, or at a speed which is relative to the speed when the track was being recorded. So
when you have recorded your favorite tracks, you can next time try to beat your previous time! The trainer is visualized in this
tool, but also in the main screen. While the trainer is progressing, you will hear audible feedback that warns you that the trainer
is head of you (“faster!”), behind you (“slow down”), or within reach (“hang on”). If the trainer finishes earlier then you, then
you will hear “you loose!”, but that will of course not happen for you and you will hear “you win” instead!
At the top of the screen, you constantly see the delta between you and the trainer in distance and time. The large graph shows
the altitude profile of the track and your progress and the progress of the trainer. It furthermore shows in text your relative
performance compared to the trainer.
The compass in the top-right corner, and the recording and target distance/times at the bottom of the screen are the same as
the ones shown in the main screen and the dashboard tool.
The buttons have the following meaning:
- Back : returns to the main screen
- Disable : disables/enables the trainer
- Reset : sets the progress of the trainer equal to your progress

Locator

Select Locator in the tools menu to start the Locator tool. The tool enables you to convert any location to several grids, zones,
and datums, and vice versa. The tool is also embedded in the map details dialogue and the POI details dialogue and can be

started by clicking on the icon.

The tool contains five tabs, so called D, DM, DMS, Grid, and Earth. Each tab shows – in some format – a position. When the
Locator tool is started from the main window, this position represents your actual position, or the position of the marker (if set).
Each tab shows the position in a different format. If you confirm these changes by pressing the button Ok, you will return to the
main window and the marker will be set at the changed position. If you press the button Cancel, the changes will be lost and the
marker will remain at its previous location. The button Export will copy the position in the selected format to the clipboard, so
that you can paste it in for example an SMS or email message to send to your friends.
 Locator tool, tab D. Locator tool, tab DM. Locator tool, tab DMS.

Tabs D, DM, and DMS show the position in latitude and longitude in degrees, possibly split-up in minutes and seconds. The
altitude is given in the configured altitude unit. All positions are given in the currently configured Datum, see configure settings.
Check the box „follow current pos‟ to have the position continuously updated to follow your current position.

Locator, tab Grid. Locator tool, tab Earth.

Tab Grid is used to convert a position to the currently configured grid (in Northing and Easting values), see configure settings.
Dependent on the configured grid (see supported grids), a zone will be shown. The following zones are supported:
- Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)
- State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS) - write only
- Ordnance Survey Great Britain (OSGB) - read only
- Deutsches Haupt Dreiecks Netz (Gauss-Krüger) (DHDN) - write only

Tab Earth show a map of the Earth. The pointer represents the defined position. By tapping or moving with your styles on the
map, you can change the position of the pointer. The corresponding latitude and longitude values are immediately updated.
Accurator

Select Accurator in the tools menu to go to the Accurator tool.

Accurator tool.
The accurator tool is an advanced tool to gain more accurate position then given by your GPS device. It uses advanced forward
reckoning and averaging techniques. Averaging means that multiple samples of the position as given by your GPS device are
taken and averaged to filter out small distortions in the position information. By averaging alone, the averaged position would
always lack behind your current position. Only if your speed is zero, averaging would not have this undesired effect. To
overcome this, the forward reckoning technique is used: for each sample, the speed as well as the acceleration is used to
compute the predicted position of the sample at the current time. By this, moving at constant speed, but even moving at
constant acceleration will still give a very accurate and valid indication of your position! The data which is used for these
techniques is depicted in the dialogue:

- as basis, the compass is shown as introduced before

- each sample is represented by the icon with a label which indicates the „age‟ of the sample: the current sample is 0
seconds old, and older samples have age -1 second, -2 seconds, etc.
- the green line starting from each sample represents the predicted speed of that sample at the current time
- the (often very small) red line starting from the end-point of each green line represents the predicted acceleration of
the sample at the current time
- the green circle visualizes the spread and accuracy (see below). If these values are very large, and your position
information is thus very imprecise, this circle is colored red.

Furthermore, the following information is given:

- Your exact position in latitude, longitude, and altitude
- The direction to the target, the distance to the target, and your relative speed towards the target (VMG: „Velocity Made
Good‟)
- The Spread is the maximum distance between the predicted positions of all samples. It represents the reliability of the
accuracy, i.e., a high spread (one or 2 meters is already considered high) is for example the result of many
environmental distortions (trees, high buildings), or unpredicted movements of the user.
- The Accuracy is the estimated deviation of the computed position with your actual position.
The number of samples can be configured by the buttons – and +. It is advised to use around 2 to 10 samples. Only when you
want to have a very accuracy, and realize that you should not move then too unpredictably, increase the number of samples.

TrackMe

The TrackMe tool allows you to follow others live and others can follow you. You can follow others live on internet as well as on
your PDA! For this tool to work, you need to have an internet connection on your device by for example GPRS or WiFi. Please
refer to your telecom service provider about details how to obtain this and how to configure your device. Test if you have
internet connection (e.g., by running the internet explorer) before you proceed with the TrackMe tool.
Select TrackMe in the tools menu to go to the TrackMe tool.
 TrackMe tool, tab Config. TrackMe tool, tab Buddies.
In the tab Config, you should specify a unique nickname and a PIN code to use the TrackMe service. You should give this
nickname and PIN code to those who like to follow your position on internet. You (and/or your friends) can open an internet
explorer on your PC and go to the TrackMe section. Fill-in the nickname and PIN code, press the button Follow, and see where
you are, beautifully projected on a map of GoogleMaps! The checkbox can be used to enable a pop-up when a buddy chats with
you. More information about chatting with your buddies is given below.
You can also track others on your PDA. Therefore, go to the tab Buddies. A list of all your buddies is show (which is empty
initially). If you know the nickname and PIN code of your buddy, then add your buddy to the list by pressing the button Add. You
can add me if you like, my nickname is Harro and my pincode is 0000. If you add a buddy to your list, then you are
automatically added to the list of your buddy. So if you add me, then I will always know where you are hanging out! You can
select one of the listed buddies and press Show to return to the main screen where the focus will be set to the selected buddy!
You will see that the positions of your buddies are continuously updated, i.e., you follow then live! If the buddy icon is marker
with a , then he is not online at the moment. Press Target to set the selected buddy as target.

TrackMe tool, tab Chat. TrackMe tool, tab Status.

Go to the tab Chat to chat with your buddies. Simply type the message, select the buddy you want to address, and press the
Send button. The text area in the lower part of the screen gives a historic overview of all sent and received messages. The Clear
button will clear this area. If a buddy is not online, you can still send messages to him. He will read these messages once he gets
online. If you receive a message, then you can configure Tracky to show a pop-up, so that you are immediately notified that a
message has been received (see tab Config).
The tab Status shows the status of the TrackMe components and allows you to change the update intervals:
- upload position : shows when your position has been uploaded and made available to those who
follow you
 - download buddy positions : shows when the positions of your buddies have been received
- poll chat messages : shows when the server has been contacted to collect the messages that have been
addressed to you
The button Refresh enforces that your position is uploaded and that buddy positions are downloaded and messages are collected.

Geocoder

The Geocoder tool allows you to find an address. Given a country/state, city/POBox, a street name and a house number, you can
search for its exact position. Just fill in this information, or part of this information, and press the Find button. The Geocoder tool
is an online service which requires an internet connection in order to process your request. The result is shown in the text area.
It furthermore shows the exact position in latitude/longitude and its distance from your current position.
The button Clear just clears the input fields. Press the button Target to set the found location as target. Press the button Show to

jump to the found location. In the main screen (see picture below), the found location is marked with the icon . Simple and
powerful!

Geocoder tool dialogue. Found location.

Directions

Select Directions in the tools menu to go to the Directions tool.

 Directions tool dialogue. Directions tool – store track.
The Directions tool shows in written text the directions to get from your current position to the position of the target. The
information is retrieved from Google, see http://maps.google.com, and you thus require an internet connection to use this
feature. The directions are refreshed when you press the button Refresh. The dialogue shows a complete list of direction to get
to your target, whereas the Directions overlay as explained in Overlay and Config settings tab Overlay only shows the first two
entries.
By pressing the button Store you can store the directions as a track. A dialogue appears (not depicted) where you can select the
GPX file in which to store the track. Next, a GPX details dialogue is shown with the track details. You can for example press Show
to see the track in the main screen. You can typically press Target to select the track as target: you will return to the main
screen where you will get visual and audible feedback how to get to the selected target, see pictures below. In combination with
the Directions overlay, this will for sure bring you where you want to be! Note that the track is stored locally so it does no longer
require an internet connection to use. The direction hints do however require an internet connection to be refreshed.

The directions stored as track. Track set as target.

To be honest, it is not as fancy as in TomTom and/or Garmin, but ok, Tracky is much cheaper and offers a lot of other features
these systems are lacking. Moreover, you do not need to buy those expensive country specific maps but you can profit from the
regularly updated road databases from Google for free!
You can use the Directions tool in your car (take care not to loose attention since the text messages are a bit small!), but it
really works fine when you are walking in a city. In combination
- with the Search tool you can easily get to interesting POIs (restaurants found via Google Local Search, places found via
Wikipedia, etc.),
- with the Geocoder tool you can easily get to a certain address, and
- with manually added POIs you can for example easily find back your car after a long day of shopping.
Config

The Config submenu looks as follows and gives access to several configuration dialogues:

The Config submenu.

GPS

The menu config gives access to the GPS configuration dialogue.

GPS configuration dialogue.

Use the GPS configuration dialogue to configure the connection to your GPS receiver. On Windows Mobile 5 and 6, the proper
GPS configuration is probably automatically determined. The colored icon shows the connection status with the GPS device. An
increasing bar (green or red) shows that data is being received from your GPS device. The bar is colored green if the data is
valid, or red if the data is not valid (probably a wrong baud rate setting is chosen). The figure in the satellite icon corresponds
with the number of satellites in view from which reliable information is being received. Most GPS devices work fine with the
„default‟ baud rate, or at 4800baud, but you can choose other values, inspect the documentation of your GPS device which baud
rate to choose.
If the option „Configure GPS‟ is checked, Tracky will try to configure the GPS each time it connects to it. For most GPS devices,
this is not required, and for some GPS devices this is even not desirable. Only use this option if no proper GPS connection can be
configured with the given COM ports and baud rates.
The option „log to file‟ can be selected to log all data from you GPS receiver to a file. All data will be appended to the specified
file. Also when you quite Tracky and start it next time, the logging will continue. Be careful with this option, since the log file will
grow and may clutter your file system.
The checkboxes „use heading from GPS‟ and „use speed from GPS‟ allow you to choose whether to use these values from the GPS
device, or to let Tracky compute these values based on your movements. Your GPS is often more capable to determine these
values, so it is advised to check both checkboxes. However, if you experience this is not working fine for you, e.g., the indicated
heading is nervous (changing all the time) or the speed refuses to drop to zero if you are standing still, then you could try to
uncheck these checkboxes and let Tracky compute them.

License

The menu config gives access to the License configuration dialogue.

License configuration dialogue.

The License configuration dialogue shows detailed information about which license is active. Tracky includes a free TrackyTry
license that allows you to experiment with all features. To get rid of the limitations, you can buy a TrackyPro license which is
based on your User name. The user name can be configured in your PDA settings, see
http://www.trackthisout.com/UsernameHelp.html. You can fill-in the license key that you will receive after buying a license, and
activate it by pressing Register.

Online Services

The menu config gives access to the Online Services dialogue.

 Online Services dialogue.
Online services are services that require internet connectivity. Tracky currently supports the following online services:
GoogleMaps download, TrackMe, Geocoder, Directions, and (POIs) Search. In order to use these services, you must be
registered so that the server can properly provide the required online services for your device. Registration for online services is
FREE. It even works in combination with the free TrackyTry license.
To register for online services, just specify your email address and a password, and press the button Enable.
Once enabled, you can press the Disable button to disable online services. If disabled, no attempt will be made by Tracky to
connect to the internet.

Language

The menu config gives access to the Language configuration dialogue.

Language configuration dialogue.

You can choose your preferred language. All texts, buttons, and pop-ups will appear in the selected language.

Settings

The menu Config gives access to the settings dialogues.

 Config settings, tab View. Config settings, tab Compass. Config settings, tab Overlay.
Tab view allows you to control the orientation of the main screen:
- Orientation:
The orientation determines how the main screen should be rotated. The main screen will only rotate according to the
chosen option, if the current user position is being followed (see View). If following the current user position is disabled
or temporarily overruled because you moved the main screen, then the orientation is not being adapted.
- north
The screen will rotate such that the top of the screen points north. Not the geographical north is taken as reference,
but the north direction of the currently selected grid, see Settings tab Grid.
- cur dir (no maps)
The screen will rotate such that it points towards the direction you are currently heading. Maps will not be
depicted.
- target (no maps)
The screen will rotate such that it points towards the configured target. Maps will not be depicted.
- Follow marker : If selected, the screen automatically centers the screen to the marker (if set). If deselected, you can
only move the screen by moving your stylus over the screen as explained above.
Tab compass allows you to control the orientation of the main screen:
- Compass : show/hide compass overlay
- Orientation:
- north
The compass will point north (the north direction of the currently selected grid, see Settings tab Grid).
- cur dir
The compass will point to the direction you are currently moving.
- target
The compass will point to the direction of the target, if a target is set (otherwise it will point north).
- Heading : show/hide triangular shape indicating your current direction, and set its style and size
- Labels : show/hide the label with your current direction (prefixed with „U:‟) and the target (prefixed with „T:‟)
Tab Overlay allows you to control the visualization of the overlays (see Overlay):
- User : show/hide user, and set icon
- Heading : show/hide triangular shape indicating your current direction, and set its style and size
- Labels : show/hide labels, and set label style
- Zoom : show/hide zoom bar
- Basic info : show/hide basic info (distance home-user-target, GPS status , speed)
- Locator : show/hide the position information
- Directions : show/hide the Directions information, if shown, the information will regularly be refreshed.
 - Small icons : when checked, the icons for POIs will be depicted at half of the normal size (useful if you have a high-
resolution screen)

Config settings, tab Units. Config settings, tab PDA.

Tab Units allows you to configure the units. Different units can be selected for speed, distance, and altitude. Furthermore, an
offset can be configured. The altitude offset corrects the altitude indication. A northing/easting offset corrects the placement of
GoogleMaps. Use this if the GoogleMaps show-up at a consistently wrong position. Finally, the basis for the „time per distance‟
can be given, see the Dashboard tool.
Tab PDA allows you to configure/overrule some PDA settings:
- enable audio : enable/disable the audio samples which warn you about the GPS lock found/lost, and the
spoken navigation hints
- never turn off device : when checked, the device will never turn off (or hybernate, or go to standby), even if you
specified some timeout in your general PDA settings
- never turn off backlight : when checked, the backlight will never turn off, even if you specified some timeout in your
general PDA settings
- hide title bar : when checked, the title bar in the main screen (not in the dialogues!) will be hidden
- hide menu : when checked, the menu bar in the main screen (not in the dialogues!) will be hidden

Config settings, tab Data. Config settings, tab Internet. Config settings, tab Track.
Tab Data allows you to set the primary and secondary data folders. These folders are used at start-up to read all maps and GPX
files. The primary folder is used to store newly created GPX files. When you change these data folders, you should press the
button „Refresh‟ to re-read all data in the newly chosen folders. The checkbox tells the application if files should be saved in
UNICODE format (otherwise ASCII is used). The UNICODE character set is much bigger which allows you to use „strange
characters‟ in the tracks and POI names and descriptions. The drawback of saving files in UNICODE format is that UNICODE files
consume twice as much storage space compared to ASCII files.
Tab Internet shows how much data has been uploaded and downloaded over your internet connection since Tracky has been
started up. By this you can keep an eye on your mobile operator expenses. The cache size determines how much data can be
stored locally before it will be deleted. Locally stored data is reused as much as possible to save on download capacity. For now,
the cache is used for downloaded GoogleMaps, but the cache may be used for other purposes in the future. The cache utilization
shows how much cache space has already been used. If the cache utilization reaches the cache size, then downloaded files
(GoogleMaps) will be deleted so that they must be downloaded again once you want to access them. Deletion of such files is
„smart‟: the least recently used files will always be deleted first. The cache folder allows you to set the location of the cache.
Typically, you should use your external memory SD-card for this since it requires quite some memory.
Tab Track allows you to configure how tracks are being recorded and how stored tracks are being loaded. GPS devices usually
output samples with position information each second. Tracky can be configured such that all these samples are being recorded.
This however costs considerable storage size. Therefore, more advanced options are supported to allow you to compress tracks
by only storing samples of interest:
- max time : if enabled (checked), samples are at least stored each x seconds.
- max distance : if enabled (checked), samples are at least stored each x meters.
- max deviation : if enabled (checked), samples are at least stored when the track deviates more then x meters from
what can be extrapolated from already stored samples.
The above strategies can be combined by checking multiple options. It is strongly recommended to use the settings as shown
in the screenshot above, because these give the best results in general: hi-precession tracks with acceptable file size.

Config settings, tab Target. Config settings, tab Grid. Config settings, tab Datum.

Tab Target allows you to configure the target to which navigation should take place.
- Target : Show/hide target, and set icon.
- Trainer : Show/hide trainer, and set icon.
 constant speed: the trainer will move along the targeted track at the given constant speed
 relative performance: the trainer will move along the targeted track at a speed relative to the speed when the
track was being recorded. 110% means that the trainer will be moving 10% faster then recorded. 90% means
that the trainer will move 10% slower then recorded.
- reverse track : Normally if a track is selected as target, the navigation hints will lead you from start to finish of this
track. Check this checkbox if you want to navigate along the track in reversed direction, i.e., from finish to start of the
track.
- ETA x : A configurable factor which is used in the expected time to arrival computation. The expected time to
arrival is computed by dividing the expected distance to the target by the average speed. The expected distance to the
target is the over-the-air distance multiplied by this factor „ETA x‟. If you are by foot, ride a bike, or drive a car, a factor
of 1.41 could be taken since you will probably never be able to get to your target in a straight line. If you are flying a
 plane or using a boat over water, a factor of around 1 could be optimal since you are able to reach the target in a
straight line.

Tab Grid allows you to configure the grid to be used, see supported grids. Grids and their associated zones are widely used in
cartography, i.e., (paper) maps. If you have such maps, then you can use this feature to find e.g. your current position on these
maps. First configure the required grid in this settings dialogue, and then use the grid tab in the locator tool to inspect and/or set
the position based on this grid. The checkbox „Set grid to visible map‟ will automatically select the grid which is associated with a
map once this maps is visible. Maps will only be shown when its grid corresponds with the configured grid. So by checking this
box it is ensured that your maps are visible.
You can also enable/disable visualization of the grid, and set its style (the value for step represents the distance between the
grid lines). The grid will automatically fade away if zoomed out too far and the grid lines would have cluttered the screen. The
background color of the main screen can also be set, by default it is white.
Tab Datum allows you to configure the datum to be used, see supported datums. By default, GPS positions are given in the so
called WGS_84 datum. Other datums do however exist, which all try to better model the earth shape by means of different
shaped ellipsoids. All coordinates that show up in Tracky are given in the selected datum.

Import/export

Data for tracks/POIs and maps is stored in one of the two configurable data folders on your PDA. You can use the files in these
folders to exchange tracks/POIs and maps with others. The data folders will only be processed when (re)starting Tracky or if you
use the refresh option in Settings tab Data.
To import/export files, first connect your PDA with you PC with a serial/USB cable or via Infra Red or WiFi. Now start Microsoft®
ActiveSync® and select Explore in the menu bar to browse to the mentioned folder on your PDA. Now you can either import files
in Tracky, i.e., copy files from your PC to one of the data folders, or export files by copying them from your PDA to your PC.
The table below gives an overview of the supported file formats.

extension type format

.gpx POIs/track file GPS Exchange Format

.gif map picture Graphics Interchange Format
.bmp map picture Windows® Bitmap
.jpg map picture Joint Photographic Experts Group
.ico map picture Windows® Icon

.png map picture Portable Network Graphics

.txt map calibration file Tracky map calibration format.
A map calibration file <map>.txt stores calibration info
for map picture <map>.gif or <map>.bmp. The file has
the following contents (given numbers are examples):
width = 1024
height = 768
grid = 1
ref1x = 358
ref1y = 118
lat1 = 48.19955271
lon1 = 6.85414643
widthM = 17705.64
Width and height specify the size of the map picture (in
pixels). Grid specifies the grid to which this map is
aligned, see supported grids. Ref1x and ref1y specify the
position of the first reference point (in pixels, relative
from the top-left corner of the map). Lat1 and lon1 store
the absolute position of that reference point (in degrees
using the WGS_84 datum). The attribute widthM specifies
the area width of the map picture.
Instead of the attribute widthM, also a second reference
point can be given. The file then has the following
contents:
width = 1024
height = 768
grid = 1
ref1x = 358
ref1y = 118
lat1 = 48.19955271
lon1 = 6.85414643
ref2x = 1024
ref2y = 768
lat2 = 48.09837385
lon2 = 7.00968051
 Note that you can also omit this file and use Tracky to
calibrate your maps, as explained in the section map
feature.
.tsf track export file Tab Separated File with track data
.pgl GPS log file NMEA-0183 standard

Limitations

We adopt the try before your buy model. Tracky includes a free TrackyTry license which limits usage to 15 minutes, i.e., the
application will abort. In these 15 minutes, you can freely discover all features and determine any possible compatibility
problems with your PDA and/or GPS receiver. If you have become interested in Tracky, you are encouraged to buy a TrackyPro
license and you can use Tracky without any limitations.