work in progress; last updated: 19th October 2008

Woophoo client user guide

WARNING: Before installing Woophoo Client make sure that you have mobile internet access from your device and the prices are acceptable! Daily intensive use of Woophoo can lead up to 1Gb monthly internet traffic. If your internet connection is restricted or expensive you can use the silent mode of the client to minimize internet usage. (In that case 15Mb/month (500Kb/day) is sufficient)

Installation

To install Woophoo client just open the download url (http://woophoo.com/d) from your device's browser, select the vendor and the type of your device and click the 'install' link. If you do not find the type of your device, try the 'Generic' client, and please write us a request in the forum. After asking some questions your device will download and install the Woophoo client.

Configuration

User Name and password

Before starting the online tracking you must set your user name and password in the client. Start the client and in the main menu select "Settings". Enter the same 'User Name' and 'Password' you entered at the signup. If you haven't signed up yet, you should do it at http://woophoo.com
Save the settings by pressing 'Save'.

Bluetooth GPS receivers

If your device has no internal GPS receiver you can use an external one and connect it via Bluetooth. Before the first usage of the receiver you need to pair your device with it to enable the Bluetooth communication between them. This can be done from your device's menu. (E.g. Settings/Bluetooth/New paired device. Please refer to your device's manual.) During the pairing you need to enter the passcode for the GPS receiver which is usually '0000' (four zero). After that the Woophoo client will be able to find and use the GPS receiver.

Usage

The main screen of the application is a map where you can track your position, your bunch, your destination etc.
You will see your location on the map as a green arrow if the GPS signal is available. The map view automatically follows you but if you want to see another area on the map you can use the arrow keys to navigate there.
You can enter the main menu using the left function button of your device, or you can use the keyboard to access the most important functions quickly.

Main Menu

Your Places: This menu item opens the list of your places to organize them or select your destinations from them.
Start Tracking / Stop Tracking: It marks the beginning and the end of your track. If you stop and restart the tracking, a new track will be generated. It is useful if you want to split your track at any given point.
Show/Hide My Bunch: Toggles your bunch. You can create bunches when signed in on Woophoo.com. If you want to be in a bunch get invited to an existing one or create one now!
Show/Hide Traffic: You can see how fast some routes are in average based on statistical traffic data. Green dotted streets are faster, red dotted streets are slower.
Settings: Application settings. See the "Settings" section below.
GPS Status: It shows some information about the GPS device in use and the GPS signal. 'No location available' means you have no clear GPS signal. Try to get to an open place to avoid this. High buildings might confuse GPS signals.
Go to Background: Put the application in the background so you can do something else with your phone while tracking continues.
Select Vehicle: You can select the vehicle you use. It is very important to select the correct vehicle because our tracking algorithm uses vehicle-specific error correction. If you select an invalid vehicle, the tracking will be less precise.
Mark This Place: You can mark places with specific meaning for you on the map. This menu item marks the center of the current map as a new place.
Chat: Enter a Woophoo user id to chat with then send your message.
Generate route plan: Select a destination and get route plan information there from your location.
Exit: It exits the application gracefully, saves the current state and sends the buffered tracking information, if any exists, to the server. Note that on some devices pressing the red hangup button does the same job but on another devices the red button kills the application immediately without giving it a chance to save its state.
Show logs: This is for debug purposes only. Use it if you want to report a bug.

Key mapping

The most used functions are accessible directly from the map. Just press the corresponding button. Don't be scared, you cannot kill anything and you will be notified of the action taken. So you can learn the keymap quickly. (Soft keys are usually right under the display. There is no writing on the keys since they have no hard-wired meaning. Functions are assigned to them dynamically, contextually, and these functions can be seen right above them on the display.)

Left Soft key: Opens the Main menu
Right Soft key: Displays this keymap help table
Arrow keys: move the map view
1: Zoom out
2: Switch between two predefined zoom level (Street level or Neighborhood view / City view or Outline view)
3: Zoom in
4: Toggles your bunch. Showing the bunch needs loading data from the server which can take a while
5: Select another map provider or satellite view (It opens up a list of possible maps to choose from)
6: Generate route plan / Hide route plan
7: Select the previous bunch member
8: Center the map around your location
9: Select the next bunch member
0: Start/stop tracking
*: Select vehicle
#: Show scale bar / Remove scale bar

Settings

the following settings are available:

Username - The name you entered at the registration. Can be 'guest' (without quotes).
Password - Your password. Leave it blank if you want to use the system as guest.
Silent mode - Enables / disables the Silent mode. (More under the "Silent Mode" section.)
Autostart tracking - If you enable this, the tracking will start automatically when you start the application.
Chat - Enables / disables possibility to chat. The application needs to be restarted after modifying this option.

Silent Mode (Tracking without map)

If silent mode is enabled on the settings page the tracking runs without mapping to save battery life and to generate less internet traffic. In this mode you can see only some basic information about the tracking.