What's new in Nearby Explorer™ for Android

Version 2.4.1, March 2017

• Fixes a compatibility issue with the BrailleNote Touch which prevented the app from being installed on that device.

Version 2.4.0, March 2017

• Switches to using the Google Fused provider for location updates.
• Fixes a bug where locations reported from Google Places were slightly off from the actual position.
• Fixes a small battery drain caused by not freeing the text-to-speech engine when exiting the app.
• Fixes a problem where the text-to-speech engine did not change when changed in the Android text-to-speech settings.
• Adds a button to the About box which shows the APH privacy statement.

Version 2.3.1, October 2015

• Fixes spoken character navigation when moving in edit fields with TalkBack
• Fixes a crash in the Map View when moving to an area with no streets and using an address provider other than onboard maps
• If using metric measurements, the program now reports altitude as meters above sea level
• Plays a short sound when connecting to and disconnecting from a network

Version 2.3.0, June 2015

• Reports detailed transit stop information for supported cities as part of Nearby Places
• Adds the ability to choose how many nearby places to report for the current location
• Adds the ability to customize what gets reported in Nearby Places. Simply long-press the Nearby Places item to choose any combination of Nearby Places, Transit Information, and Favorites.
• Improves address accuracy for the current nearby place when that places address is provided by Google Places
• Works around an Android accessibility framework bug regarding screen refreshing on Android 4.3
• Fixes issues in Transit where next bus times and schedules were not available if the transit map had expired, or when using the feature very early in the morning

Version 2.2.2, April 2015

• Adds the Voice Input button to the Search screen
• Adds clock face directional capability to the nearby place designation
• Automatically expands the radius to provide at least one nearby place
• Adds OpenStreetMap as an address provider; onboard maps, Google maps, or OpenStreetMap may be used to determine the current street address
• Device stays awake while active, improving performance when the screen is locked
• Filters undesirable types from Google Places^TM business listings' results. This prevents the announcement of the current street name as a nearby place, as well as political boundaries, such as Americas.
• Indicates if the current nearby place is a transit stop
• Fixes compass and geo-beam sounds on the Motorola^® Moto G Android smartphone

Version 2.2.1, February 2015

• Allows maps to be downloaded over a cellular data network

Version 2.2.0, January 2015

• Removes some more unnecessary "rerouting" messages
• Fixes problems with Approaching Street reporting when using Google Places^TM business listings for street addresses
• Improves responsiveness when using Google Places^TM business listings for street addresses
• Fixes screen refreshing on Android Lollipop

Version 2.1.0, October 2014

• Adds support for external SD cards under Android 4.4 (Kitkat) and later
• Adds the Clear button to the Search Screen for quickly clearing previously entered text

Version 2.0.2, August 2014

• Corrects a problem in Show / Hide Items where hiding the nearby place without hiding the distance to the nearby place causes the app to crash on startup
• Adds support for more external SD cards

Version 2.0.1, August 2014

• Adds interactive virtual map exploration for use with the touch screen.
• Updates US and Canada NAVTEQ maps to the third quarter of 2013
• Adds a menu to the Map View
• Adds Country Search to the Map View menu (requires network access)
• Adds the ability to configure which items appear on the nearby screen
• Adds touch screen support for Navigation Mode
• Adds a setting to control whether Navigation Mode follows roads
• Adds a dialog while using geo-beam which allows easy adjustment of the radius
• Fixes geo-beam on Kitkat when the device's screen is off
• Makes geo-beam less jittery, making it easier to point at a specific place
• Expired transit maps are now indicated by "(expired)" in the Transit Stops title instead of in a dialog
• Adds the What's New option to the main menu
• The Self-voicing feature now ducks music while speaking
• Uninstalling the app now removes the maps
• Adds a Manage Space activity available from Apps in the Android Settings app where one can restore settings to the default, delete all favorites, or delete all transit maps
• Drops support for Android 2.2

Version 1.0.12, November 2013

• Changes TalkBack bug dodging code to work with Kitkat causing refreshes in the main screen to occur at most every 15 seconds
• Fixes an occasional crash which happened when a call came in, or a call was ended
• Fixes another routing bug that can cause unnecessary rerouting

Version 1.0.11, October 2013

• Corrects a problem that makes the app restart when the screen orientation changes.
• Fixes crashes that could occur when running without onboard maps.

Version 1.0.10, October 2013

• Uses the new-style More Options button for access to the menu, making all menu options available in one list. when running on Honeycomb and later.
• Corrects many issues with guidance and rerouting
• Runs routing for guidance in the background so the app does not appear to hang when generating long routes
• Disables unused options in the Route Options settings screen when Pedestrian Mode is active
• Improves display update handling to work around accessibility differences in Android 4.3
• Improves external address handling when using Nearby Explorer from another app to get directions
• Adds the "R" command to directly open Route Settings on devices with keyboards.
• Fixes an occasional crash when using Google Places^TM business listings for street addresses
• Fixes a crash when running with self voicing turned off.

Version 1.0.8, August 2013

• Works around a problem in TalkBack with Android 4.3 where list items get repeated. They now get repeated, at most, every 15 seconds.
• Adds Nearby Explorer to the choices you get when you pick an address from another app.
• Adds Clock Face and Degrees as additional ways of displaying the heading.
• Adds a setting to turn off Parking Lot mode.
• Adds the ability to obtain the street address from Google Places^TM business listings' services. Some users may find this address reporting more accurate than the reports from the onboard maps.
• Adds distance indication to the tone played when using Geobeam to point to a POI.
• Adds the ability to pick a different voice from the normal voice for use within Nearby Explorer. This helps prevent TalkBack from cutting off speech for important announcements.
• Adds the ability to use metric measurements.
• Adds additional information about the state of the compass after it becomes invalid.
• Adds a Radius menu option to make it easier to change the search radius in the Search screen.
• Saves the last 20 destinations to make returning to recent destinations easier.
• Adds Geobeam to the Map View screen. This makes it possible to virtually move to a position on the map and use Geobeam to get a perspective about what is around that point.
• Adds a "Set to Here" option to the Favorites context menu to help fine tune favorite points.
• Moves the Create Favorite from Lat/Long item from the context menu to the Favorites screen.
• Corrects a problem that prevented the Transit feature from notifying you about expired transit maps.
• Corrects a problem that caused Nearby Explorer to reroute during guidance on unknown streets.

Version 1.0.7, May 7, 2013

• Adds Route Settings to the Settings menu to help you customize the kinds of routes you wish to use.
• Exports and imports Favorites.
• Corrects unnecessary rerouting when traveling on long routes.
• Corrects the Transit screen so you may move from stop to stop without having to have arrow keys.
• Adds destination announcements with vibration, sound, and speech notifications.
• Adds a switch to use old style orientation sensors for phones that do not work with the new style for use with Geobeam.
• Corrects a bug that prevented the context menu radius settings from working.
• Adds announcements about on which side of the street the destination is located.
• Improves the tolerances Geobeam uses on some phones.
• Adds a sound when pointing to a location with Geobeam.

Version 1.0.5

• Improves external SD card support and detection.
• Adds Settings to the directions list.
• Adds support for changing Pedestrian mode during a route.
• Changes the maximum length of pedestrian routes from 10 miles to 25 miles.
• Changes Geobeam's flat mode to use the destination if there is one set.

Version 1.0.3

• Adds support for additional SD cards for map data.
• Adds audio notification when entering and exiting Geobeam mode.
• Sets the Provider item on the Nearby screen to Geobeam when in Geobeam mode.

Version 1.0.2, February 6, 2013

• Corrects feature set issues that prevented the app from showing up from the Nexus and other tablets in the Play Store.

Version 0.5.62, January 4, 2013

• Adds the name of the transit system in use to the Transit screen.
• When on the Guidance item, you may now get directions.
• Improves guidance, so you get instructions immediately.
• Corrects a problem that prevented nearby Explorer from using the default text-to-speech engine for self-voicing functions.
• Adds a menu when you select a city. The menu has Go To or Search.
• Adds a context menu to change radius when focused on the Nearby Distance item.
• Adds radius control with the Volume keys while using Geobeam.
• Changes Navigation Mode so that it uses real world distances.
• Adds a menu option while using Navigation Mode to change the distance moved with each arrow key press.
• Adds a transit system picker to select a specific transit system in areas served by more than one.
• Improves performance of onboard search results.
• Corrects a problem that prevented Explore to work outside municipalities.
• Shows the distance and direction to ambiguous cities in the city search.
• Adds a way to search in a different city and state.
• Changes the Save Favorite procedure so you may optionally name the favorite right when you save it.
• Uses the correct address as extracted from Google Places^TM business listings when reporting addresses of nearby places.
• Added additional choices to the nearby radius distance.
• Corrects long press on Nearby screen items.
• Adds a notification when the compass becomes invalid. The device says, "Shake." It says, "Compass OK" when the compass is valid again.
• Adds many fixes and small performance improvements.
• Fixes a bug that prevented Refresh from working on the directions screen.
• Prevents map search from refreshing the screen when focus returns to it.
• the places radius is now global. So, if you change it in the search results, it sticks in the nearby screen.
• in previous versions, the bus schedule screen showed the entire week. Now, it shows only the current day. To move to another day, use the right or left arrow.
• the bus schedules now use a.m. p.m. time format instead of 24 hour time format.
• added several cities to the transit support.
• adds a feature called geo-beam that lets the user point the device at nearby places and get a vibration and distance report about the place to which he points.
• adds the ability to hold the device flat then let geo-beam report the nearest place and it's distance.
• prompts to open the location settings if the GPS receiver is not found at start up.
• Adds the ability to clear the watch.
• Saves the nearby places radius automatically.
• Corrects a problem that let map downloads continue over the cell network if the user wandered away from a WiFi hot spot.
• Adds a feature that lets the user save the current location as a watch.
• Makes Navigation mode available on the context menu for all items. Previously, the user had to be pointing to the Latitude or Longitude items on the Nearby screen.

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