"Save a point now" button

[jidanni]

💡Idea! Have a button where the user could force saving the current spot's data point. For instance we are in a special kind of geography and we want to make a reading at this exact point, but it's not within the 25 meters or whatever of the previous point etc. however it is very important that we save this point. For instance, we have climbed to the exact top of Mount Everest. We sure wish the app would save a point right at this spot. However it has recently saved a nearby point so it refuses to save a point here at the top of Mount Everest.

[jidanni]

(No, no amount of stopping and starting the app etc. will force the app to save a point if a point was recently also saved nearby and we are connected to the same cell tower.

Yes, you might say "Well that's because you don't need to save a point again." But we are on top of Mount Everest...)

[Lee-Carre]

A workaround is to change the radio mode (2G, 3G, 4G).

This makes sense to do, anyway, if in a special location, to capture data for all the modes.

[Edit: addressed in #27] Perhaps, if the described widget is added, it could automate this (if Android permits such things); not just capture using the current mode, but cycle the radio through its various modes and capture a sample for each.

[jidanni]

Well that's a pretty fancy idea, cycling through all the modes, but I sure hope we aren't talking to somebody important on the telephone at the time.

[Lee-Carre]

[…] cycling through all the modes, but I sure hope we aren't talking to somebody important on the telephone at the time.

That was a point raised in #27.

However;

• if Android allows, then the GSM radio being actively used (voice call, SMS) could be detected and constitute a condition for not resetting the radio (changing modes)
• if the user is busy with a phone call, then he likely won't be tapping the ‘capture now’ widget, anyway
• phone calls are gonna get priority over resources, so Tower Collector is less likely to be gathering data during a call, too

[jidanni]

Well, we can't be playing Fun and Games with our phone, even when "on hook", when we might get a call from the president at anytime.

[Lee-Carre]

we can't be playing Fun and Games with our phone, even when "on hook", when we might get a call from the president at anytime.

Hence the consensus that auto-cycling should be disabled by default.

One also needs sufficient battery-power to receive a call from Mr. President (considering the implications of #86 😉 or excessive use of this ticket's requested feature).