Offline maps are now broken

[oliverlockwood]

Seemingly, at least - from this review:

Version 3.7/1567 Had to uninstall and reinstall to make it work. Also had to uninstall map pack. Now no offline map and no obvious way to get it. Pity, I used this a lot before.

I'm not sure what's broken this - maybe the osmdroid / mapsforge updates; maybe something else. I never set up offline maps myself. @jezhiggins does this issue reproduce for you?

Looks like we should either try to patch this, or expedite the full rework of the offline maps integration.

[jezhiggins]

Offline maps all seem ok to me, so it's not immediately apparent no.

[oliverlockwood]

Another review:

Nice routing, but realtime navigation absolutely missing. Complains about incompatibility of map pack installed from Play Store.

I've responded about the "missing" realtime navigation (though I have occasionally wondered if we could make this more obvious to new users). But it's another data point about map pack issues 😑

[jezhiggins]

(I've been thinking about making liveride more prominent too ...)

I'll see if I can investigate further.

[oliverlockwood]

Another one

Why can't I use offline maps anymore? The new app fails in this regard. It'll be of limited use until this is fixed

Maybe the osmdroid & maps forge upgrade is at the bottom of this?

[oliverlockwood]

Or.... maybe it's this:

if it works for you because you've got the beta release of the map pack, maybe we need to promote the beta release to production?

[mvl22]

Another request:

"Can you please update the UK map pack do that it can be used as I use the offline map more and this is no longer readable since the update?"

[oliverlockwood]

Alright, I've gone executive and promoted the beta release of the map pack to production.

I think this should fix things. I'll notify when it's up in the Play store and then we can start responding to the feedback.

[oliverlockwood]

@mvl22 if you've had direct feedback / questions from people about this, would you please ask them to try downloading the latest map pack (now available in the Play store)?

[oliverlockwood]

I've now responded to all the Play Store reviews which had raised this. Let's see if any of them download the new version; if so whether it fixes the issue; and if so whether they tell us 😄

[jezhiggins]

I've just got a new phone and guess what? The map pack is broken.

[oliverlockwood]

On the plus side we have a repro scenario, now...

[jezhiggins]

Dog walk diagnostic - obb file is missing, although the directory structure exists. Tried reinstalling. It downloads the obb, and then the installation fails right the end. Consequently this may not be the same problem as other people are seeing, although it is still a problem.

Some clues possibly here https://stackoverflow.com/questions/60147351/cannot-reach-obb-expansion-file-on-android-10-device-if-apk-and-obb-is-downloade

[oliverlockwood]

@jezhiggins do you think there's anything you can do about this for now (in 3.8) or do we just need to prioritise a fuller rework of this stuff (via in-app downloads, as discussed on other tickets)?

[jezhiggins]

I was coming back to this afresh today starting get things building and running again, when I chanced upon this https://developer.android.com/guide/app-bundle/asset-delivery, which replaces the existing obb file mechanism we've been using.

The relevant quote is

Play Asset Delivery uses asset packs, which are composed of assets (such as textures, shaders, and sounds), but no executable code. Through Dynamic Delivery, you can customize how and when each asset pack is downloaded onto a device according to three delivery modes: install-time, fast-follow, and on-demand.

I need to investigate some more, but it looks like this gives us a fresh path out.

[mvl22]

Another report, which helpfully provides an Android version and phone type, in case that's useful:

Hi, I installed "CycleStreets UK Map Pack" and "CycleStreets Journey Planner" from the Android "Play Store" on a Samsung S9 running Android 10, but when I put the phone into flight mode, CycleStreets can't see the UK map pack (it just gets stuck trying to download the map from the Internet).

Is this a known problem with Android 10?

[ssb22]

Thanks. I wondered if it was something to do with Android 10's "scoped storage" change which seems to have changed most things about "one app accessing the data of another", although I'm not sure I 100% understand what's going on (if I did I'd be submitting patches instead of reports☺)

[mvl22]

Just to say that we’re still getting some (very negative) feedback about non-working offline maps.

Jez, do you think your partially-complete work will resolve this issue? Be good to make a final push if possible on this.

[mvl22]

User e-mail - I presume this is related? :

I downloaded the CycleStreets map pack onto my Android phone. Your guidance note on Google's Play Store says "Note that this application itself will not start, it just saves map data to your device which can then be picked up by the CycleStreets app itself (go to settings, and switch to Offline Vector Maps)."

However, on the latest CycleStreets app itself, there's no option to choose "Offline Vector Maps" - see the screenshot below.

Am I looking in the wrong place or does the map pack no longer work with the app?

[colcord]

I'm happy to help debug this issue. I'm not a programmer, but have some experience testing and debugging.

I love this app. I live in London, and use the quiet streets feature, and have discovered a side of London which is wonderful. I feel like it is a great metaphor of life: many feel they have to go with the main flow, but with this app, I have my own quiet flow that just costs a little extra time, but gives me tremendous benefits, the first of which is safety, but many others including beauty.

I have a Pixel 4a. I'm in your beta programme. I can't see maps on my phone. I've just downloaded the UK map pack (a week after trying to use the app but getting a green marker on grey background). I've just restarted my phone and have the same behaviour. I've logged into my app. I've tried different settings: a) Map Style=Ordnance Survey OpenData and b) Map style = OpenCycleMap (shows hills) and c) default. I always have ticked "Confirm start new route". Route type default = Quietest

Let me know what I can do to help you debug.

Phone: Pixel 4a Android version = 11 Build: RQ3A.210805.001.A1

[EricDru]

Is this still open or is there a fix documented elsewhere? I'm only seeing 'open street maps' 'opencyclemap' and 'OS maps' as options, not 'offline vector'. I'm puzzled as having downloaded the map pack from play store it says the app is using 714 MB of storage but when I run it, the map pack app, it immediately tries to download something.