Ok, got it back. Here's what I had to do:

1. Delete the app and then reboot the device.
2. Reinstall the app.
3. Open the app. Error pops up. Click ok and quickly go to the menu. The error will continue to pop up. In between errors (and you have to do this fast) continue going through the menus and change the font back to 20. Then, in between errors still, save the settings and exit the app.
4. When you go back into the app the error will be gone.

Yeah, there's smething bizarre going on inside the font APIs when they get to a certain size. I've got it figured out and will release a fix later today.

The problem occurrs when the background thread that monitors the radio tries to update the screen. If you just turn off the radio, you'll be able to get back in and change the font setting to something < 20 and exit. Then turn the radio back on and you should be good to go.

No need.

Looks like John's proceedure worked but I really had to fight with it to reduce the font size. I set the font size to 17 as it seem to be ok for me. Seem like that error is gone but something is going on when the font is big.
Not to rain on the existing problem but I did get another error now too. From the main screen I go to GPS details and that screen comes up fine but when I hit the back key I get this error
worker Location Java.lang.Arrayindex outofbounds Exception: 1>= 1

I can ok out of that new error the application still functions.

It'll really help me if when you get an exception you copy the relevent error log entries and paste them here. Especially the stack trace.

Actually with a fresh boot I am not getting the error now.
I see that maps are disabled. I have Google selected.

Ok, let me know if it happens again.

I'm not sure what "I see that maps are disabled. I have Google selected." means.

Wirelessly posted

I got the error again
This from log
1 >= 1
net_rim_cldc
Vector
elementAt
0xC82D
signalloc
Worker
notifyLocationListeners
0x4F6D
signalloc
Worker
locationUpdated
0x50D6
net_rim_locationapi
LocationProvider$ListenerThread
run
0x41E7

Perfect, I'll look into it now.

When I click on show current location on map I get a pop up saying maps are disabled. And I have Google maps on my phone and that works.

In Options do you have Google Maps set as the mapping application?

Strange it defaulted back to Blackberry maps. I reselected Google maps and your application is now going to google maps. It's good for now.

I have it automatically saving new cell sites. I believe that when it saves the sites while my phone's GPS is Off, it saves them anyway as 0,0. I also noticed that some cell towers simply don't give their coordinates (Loc: is blank) for some reason while my GPS is on and it gets saved in my list as 0,0! Can you correct this by having it check the values before saving so that the 0,0 ones don't get saved?
I also noticed that if I save a cell tower while GPS is on, it will save with coordinates as expected. If I turn off the GPS, then accidentally hit save cell site, it will overwrite the previous coordinates with 0,0!
Somehow, cell sites should not be saved if they are 0,0.

How about an option to not save cell sites that don't have a location?

Haha, exactly. That would be great.

Once you export your saved cell sites to *.kml, how do you open that in Google Maps?

Although Google maps will open a KML file, it has to be on a server and accessible with a http:// url.

If you transfer the file to your desktop, you can open it with Google Earth directly.

So if I uploaded the KML file to a personal website, how would I make Google Maps load that url?

Just enter the full url as a google maps search. It's smart enough to go get the file and load it.

Sweet! That works great. Thanks!

I am getting a strange problem with Google Maps. When I open Google Maps (without using SignalLoc), everything is fine. I can switch between MAP VIEW and SATELLITE VIEW and the screen repaints correctly - zoom in/zoom out, no problems.

But when I open SignalLoc and try to view the Google Maps from there, I get the red 'pin' marking the location of the tower, but the map screen refused to paint - in either MAP VIEW or SATELLITE VIEW. I have let it sit for upwards of 5 minutes and it will not pain the map/satellite view.

If I quit Google Maps, quit SignalLoc and return to Google Maps, all is well again.

Thoughts? Comments?

If I want to drive around and keep a log of all the towers, does the application need to be active on the screen, or can it be running in the background and still save the cell sites?

It can be running the background. Just make sure to use the "hang up" key and not the back key, as the back key will completely exit the app.

4.5 is pretty flakey on my 8820 in general. I'm still goofing with it.

Yes, I tend to get a GPS fix within 2m 90% of the time the rest being within 1700m (i.e. the latter being cell tower triangulation)

Normally, there is no mapping software open in the background.

IF I start Google Maps & get a pinpoint GPS fix and then move it to the background and then start SigLoc I tend to get the same result.

"Not yet valid" appears after a long period of time.

The "MyLoc-" saved locations are shown correctly for me on Google Maps.

Yes, everytime.

FYI : I am using 4.5.0.55.

I just upgraded my 8130 to OS 4.5.0.66 and now there isn't a space for cell tower location. It looks like this right now:

...
Id/Ch:
<Separator>
Current
Location
...

GPS is enabled and I tried saving cell site and looking at its details. Sure enough, the coordinates were 0,0.

EDIT: Nevermind! I forgot that upgrading the OS resets the settings of some 3rd party Apps. I just re-enabled "carrier provides cell site location" and it works again.

How do I get the cell location to show up? I have the "Carrier provides cell site location" turned on and the Cell Site line has a distance and bearing but the Loc line is empty and the saved cell site has a lat,lon of 0,0.

I don't have an 8703 to test with but it may be because it doesn't have a GPS, even though the GPS isn't needed to get the cell site location. Let me see if I can scrounge a non-verizon 8703 to test with.

Anyone else have a non-verizon 8703 that they can test this with?

Oops. Need to update my profile. I've got an 8310 now.

I reread the first post and it said that GSM towers don't provide their location. Can you calculate it from the distance and bearing information?

Ah, that explains it. Nope, no way to do it. I calculate distance and bearing from the location so that won't help either. Sorry.

--- SignalLocBB - Build 0.1.754 - Released August 5 2008

* Fixed: [ 2036326 ] Fonts aren't refreshing when changed in options
* Fixed: [ 2036286 ] Need to recapture GPS when leaving maps app
* Fixed: [ 2036117 ] ArrayIndexOutOfBounds exception when leaving GPS details
* Fixed: [ 2036296 ] Timeout for capturing cell site location may be too low
* Added: [ 2036285 ] Add option to ignore cell sites with invalid locations
* Refactor: [ 2037697 ] Refactor GPS code
* Refactor: [ 2037696 ] Refactor radio code

***WARNING***
The mechanism that saves cell sites and locations changed. Before upgrading to
this release you should export your saved cell sites and locations or they
will be lost. You should DELETE the app from the device before loading the
new version.

Don't forget to clear the cache on your browser before downloading.

Can you clarify that process for me?

Thanks!

Go to Google Maps
In the search box where you would normally put an address, copy and paste the url of the kml file you downloaded.
For example, mine is at http://netfiles.uiuc.edu/tbhuang2/shared/towers.kml and if you just copy and paste that address into the search box and press enter, it will load the kml file!

I just uninstalled the old version and downloaded build 0.1.754. The first thing I noticed was that the program won't start unless GPS is already enabled. If GPS is disabled, the screen flashes white as if it tries to start, but then it closes. I checked my application switcher to see if it was running in the background and it wasn't. It works great with GPS enabled though.

OK, I'll fix that.

I tried that with my exported file and it tells me:

could not be displayed because it contains errors.

I didn't investigate too much but at first I tried using an https: URL and I got the same error.

Ah, so the distance and bearing are just using some garbage coordinates when that option is on for GSM.

Here's an idea for a future version when you're feeling bored: Once per second log the current position, current tower ID and signal strength. That way an external program could eventually build a map of the tower locations.

You already have the option to log cell sites as they change, and your location when you've travelled a specified distance. Not enough?

The exporting doesnt seem to work for me. Google Earth keeps giving me errors.
[quote]
Parse error at line 7, column 11:
not well formed (invalid token)


Using 1754

[quote=Sith_Apprentice;1048698]The exporting doesnt seem to work for me. Google Earth keeps giving me errors.
Can you post (or pm) me the file?

[QUOTE=RemyJ;1048714]two files.

[quote=Sith_Apprentice;1048758]Rats. It's the "&" in AT&T. I'll fix the code but in the mean time, you can just do a global replace "AT&T" to "AT&amp;T".

Thank you for the quick response :)


Update: It puts me at 0,0 lat/lon on all my locations lol

OK, thanks for the tip on the AT&T/AT&amp;T fix. I got the file to load in Google Maps (desktop browser version), but there is something wrong with the GPS coordinates... it's sticking my cell towers in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Africa (south of Ghana and west of Gabon), instead of in the Phoenix AZ metro area...

I have also verified that this explains the issue that I mentioned above with regard to getting nothing on my Google Maps app on the my 8310. If I zoom out on the 8310 Google Maps, I eventually see the same thing - a cell tower in the middle of the Atlantic off the coast of Africa.

I have one other request. Could you either rearrange the menu for exporting the cell towers to move the EXPORT ALL TO FILE away from DELETE ALL and/or add a confirmation prior to deleting all? More than one time I have wiped out my list of cell towers by being 'too quick' on the menu.

I was only looking at the saved cell site data which didn't have what I wanted (no location). Just looked at the saved location data and you did include the cell tower and signal strength in each location. Perfect!

A nice to have would be an option to save the location every X amount of minutes in addition to the existing distance. If you haven't moved the specified distance in that time it would take another location snapshot and reset the timer. If you have moved the distance then the timer would reset to 0 again.

This way you could average out the signal strength at a location and remove any anomalous readings.

Not reading the Readme I guess. :)
Only CDMA networks provide cell site location.

Will do.

That makes sense. I'll add the option.

I was talking about the GPS export data when imported to Google Earth puts me off the coast of Africa at 0,0

Sorry. You're exporting LOCATIONS and it's 0,0? I thought you were talking about cell sites.

Checking...

In addition to when the program won't start unless GPS is on:
If the program is running in the background and I disable GPS, attempting to return to SignalLoc results in an almost frozen BB. This happens whether or not the "...except when it has an invalid location" option is checked.

One request--allow the option for a prefix when exporting all to a file. For example, an option for [current date]-[current time]-[user input].kml Oh and that includes adding the .kml for us, if it isn't too much trouble!

Sith, I can't reproduce this for locations. Again, can you post the file? The 2 you posted earlier were cell site exports.

Yep, there's a deadlock somewhere. I'm looking at it. Question, why do you turn location services off? Paranoia? It doesn't save battery since the GPS itself is only active when there's a program using it.

I'll add current date and time and a dialog for user specified data. And yes, I'll start adding the ".kml" extension for the typing challenged. :)

Orly... I guess it just my wrong intuition. Thanks for the info!

Hey now, it's just standard file saving protocol! Personally, I would hate having to add ".doc" to every word document I write. Thanks for this addition ;-)

Guilty :oops:

But that sort of renders this app useless for GSM folks, eh? Too bad, this had a lot of potential... :?

That's what you get for being on inferior technology. :razz:

Still you can use it to record YOUR location and the signal strength and base station encountered.

Thanks RemyJ. Very handy app for gathering info.

I installed it on my 8703e... I try to execute it, the screen goes white and then back to my Homescreen.

Here's the error log:

Name: NullPointerException
Severity: Sever Error

No detail message
signalloc
Worker
setGpsLocationListener
0x50BE
signalloc
Worker
<init>
0x546F
signalloc
Worker
startup
0x5510
signalloc
SignalLocScreen
run
0x4328
net_rim_cldc-4
Application
dispatchInvokeLater
0x7E3
net_rim_cldc-4
Application
processNextMessage
0xEF7
net_rim_cldc-4
Application
enterEventDispatcher
0x788
signalloc
SignalLoc
startup0x3E33
signalloc
SignalLoc
main
0x3E83

it looks like a cool app... would love it work. or maybe i've done something wrong?

altitude604, that's exactly what happens to me if I try opening the program without having GPS enabled. If your GPS is in fact enabled, then sorry, but I have no advice for you.

I'll have a new release out in the morning that should fix that.

my LBS is enabled... unless there's some other setting I have to toggle?

but afaik everything should be ready to go...

Yeah, it's so inferior that 99+ percent of the world outside of the US has settled on it as the technology of choice.

Try the release that'll be out in a few hours. That should fix it.

It was a joke.

--- SignalLocBB - Build 0.1.776 - Released August 11 2008

* Fixed: [ 2041090 ] Exception and deadlock on leaving app with GPS disabled
* Fixed: [ 2041088 ] Exception when starting app with location services disabled
* Fixed: [ 2040515 ] Need to escape names in KML file
* Added: [ 2041086 ] Allow user defined text to be added at export time
* Added: [ 2041084 ] Automatically add file suffix on export if not already there
* Added: [ 2041083 ] Add confirmation to Delete All.
* Refactor: [ 2045843 ] Refactor Options UI

Don't forget to clear your browser cache before downloading.

It's also a good idea to export your saved cell sites and locations, just in case.

I'm still working on the ability to edit saved cell site and location names and the ability to save a location on a time interval.

still shows Build 0.1.754 on the OTA download after clearing my cache etc.

i downloaded it via the website. works this time!

still shows GPS not avaliable... I wonder if Bell is blocking it maybe?

I didn't notice you had an 8703e. I think it's GPS doesn't conform to the JSR 179 standard. At least according to RIM it doesn't. That means I can't get location information from it. Sorry.

Do Google Maps and BlackBerry Maps give you good location info?

The new Options UI looks nice! Thanks for that. I'm very satisfied with the app the way it is; I have run out of suggestions. Good work!

This is a great application!

One issue I've noticed with version 0.1.776:

If "View all on map" is selected in "List saved locations", the Mapping application setting isn't used. When I select Google Maps, this option still uses BlackBerry Maps.

Cool, thanks!

Yep, that's still a limitation because I haven't figured out how to pass a list of locations to Google Maps.

So far no. BB Maps lets me select "Start GPS" but i never see anything appear... Google Maps only has the option for a Bluetooth GPS.

hmmmm....

RemyJ,

I notice that when running this app on a Bold, the Net, Svc, and Id/Ch fields don't populate.

Would you be willing to get the app working on the Bold?

Jeremy

I'm working on it in the simulator but if you have an extra real one you'd care to donate to the cause, I wouldn't refuse. :)

I wish I had an extra. I'd be willing to offer feedback to you from testing. I may also be willing to give bounty for 3G info on the Bold. PM me if you're interested.

Jeremy

Do you just have to launch VZ Nav or do you have to select a specific option like "Where Am I" to make this work with Verizon?

Thanks,

Jon

OK, here's the deal. It actually works fine on the Bold if you use a microscope to read the text. :)

The default font size is coming up as "1" which makes the text pretty much invisible. Go into Options and change the font size to something a little closer to normal (say 16) and everything should be fine. I'll correct the default size issue shortly.

Let me know how it works when on 3G.

Verizon 8830
 

Love the application (y) but it seems to report the cell site information inconsistantly. I am getting 7-9 GPS satellites but only sometimes can I get the lat/lon of the cell towers. I originally thought it mught be the way some towerrs are configured but the same route will sometimes give me the data and other times it wont.

I am using an 8830 attached to the Verizon network. Is there anything special I need to do?

I think Verizon cripples the GPS. I'm surprised you get anything.

Do you have VZ Navigator running in the background?

I have a external puck (Keychain 2000) - works pretty well. I do not have VZ Navigator running in the background. Any ideas?

Yeah, exactly. I was never able to get consistent results on my Verizon 8830.

Ah. In this configuration, you shouldn't be getting Cell Site at all. If you are, it's bogus info.

Any ideas on how to get it working?

I actually changed the font size a while ago. Prior to that, all I saw was a blank, white screen. Once I changed the font size, I could see the app normally but the Net, Svc and Id/Ch field still never populate for me--whether the phone is on EDGE or 3G.

Jeremy

OK, I'm kinda stuck because all I have is the simulator and it's working as it should there. I'll monkey around a little more but until I get a real device it's a little hard to troubleshoot.

One thing you can check... If you go to "Network Details" do you get all the info on both 3G and Edge?

When I select Network Details in the menu, nothing happens, other than the Location updates stop for about 2 seconds.

Source Code?
 

Where is the source code? I don't see it on the sourceforge site.

I tried to read the whole thread, but I don't know if this has been touched on yet. Some people were mentioning that they were on a cell cite in the middle of the atlantic.

I'm on Alltel and it does provide tower coordinates, which is great. The only thing is that the longitude displays as 80....., Whereas it should be -80...... The Negtive puts us in the correct hemisphere. So when I get the coordinates, I can plug them into google maps with the (-) and I get the correct location. However when I am trying to use the Signal Loc utility, it tells me I am 8,000 miles way from the cell site.

So here is the question. Are the towers broadcasting a longitude of (+)80....... or is the Signal Loc software displaying the coordinates as (+)80....... I ask because I wonder if there is a way to make the longitude coordinates negative (for those of us in North America) so that they will map correctly, etc...

Go to Download, Browse All packages, then clock on the packages (signallocbb). You'll see signalloc-src-0.1.776.zip

I display exactly what the RIM API returns. Sprint had a tower close by me that was broadcasting an inverted sign which put the site in Mongolia. :) I called them and complained and they fixed it.

Is it only 1 site or are all Alltel sites broadcasting inverted signs?

Any other Alltel users out there?

Sounds like a great app... Just have to get a GPS puck, or pay even more to Verizon.

Thanks. Beware with Verizon though. It's hit or miss as to whether SignalLoc will work with VZnavigator running. It never worked for me.

:/ that stinks. Appreciate the info. (y)

I downloaded 0.1.776 and installed it on my BlackBerry Curve 8310 (v4.2.2.170). The app starts up fine, but if I choose anything on the menu (even "About"), I get prompted to grant access to the GPS and when I select yes, the whole device hangs and I have to power cycle it. This happens every time.

I love this program, looks really good.

Ok, i've got it set up, GPS works fine, network is detected and i've got it set to save cell when location isn't invalid.

But it doesn't save to my list. Is it because i added this cell manually before then deleted it?

RemyJ,

Yeah I figured it was just a display of what the tower was broadcasting. It is all of Alltel's towers. They show the longitude as a (+) instead of a (-). It's not a big deal, I can still map the coordinates manually, but it would be cool to see how far away I actuall was from the tower.

How about an "Invert Longitude Sign" option?
Give me a week.

FYI, it would appear software version 4.5 and above breaks the program. I had it running successfully on a Curve 8310, 8800 and pearl 8100. I upgraded all to 4.5 and now no signal information. My Bold will not return signal info either, although the GPS function works fine. Let me know if I can try anything to assist.

I'm running 4.5 on my 8130 and it's working fine. Maybe after upgrading, you forgot to enable "Carrier provides cell site location" or something. But I'm confused by your situation because this program is supposed to be only supported when using CDMA carriers (the 8310, 8100, and Bold all use GSM, not CDMA). The 8800 would work only if it's in CDMA mode.

I've got it running on 4.5 just fine but one of my devices had the symptoms you describe and a simple battery pull fixed it. Give it a shot and let me know.

There's a problem with the Bold that happens on real devices but not in the simulator so it's kind of hard for me to troubleshoot. At least until AT&T gets off their collective butts and releases it in the US.

Everything except the cell site location works on GSM devices.

Any idea why that is? This program is interesting, but having cell location data would make it even better.

CDMA networks use the GPS system as an integral part of their network. It provides critical synchronization timing and E911 location capability. CDMA cell sites therefore make their latitude and longitude available to handsets. GSM networks don't use the GPS system the same way and don't provide their location.