I have created a mission for use offline and have opened DD to check all is well before departure to find the area of interest is masked with a black layer. If I zoom in or out on iPad then the underlying map details are temporarily visible, but when I remove my fingers from the screen, the area goes black.
Can anyone help with this one, please?
I’m sorry to see this. Satellite maps in some areas of the world are not as high resolution to allow zoom ins in some areas. That may be the issue here.
Another thing you might do is clear you cache on the browser and restart your computer to see if it works better.
I just logged in to post this issue too. I get it on the iOS app on iPad Mini, iPhone 6 and iPad Mini 4. The zoom level is definitely available as you can see either side of the mission. You can also see a higher zoom level on desktop, and as you mention, it’s temporarily visible when you pinch to zoom in or out.
@Gary this is an iOS app issue as @desertoak stated in the post, so clearing browser cache and restarting computer isn’t really relevant in this case.
Edited to add images.
Desktop zoom level:
iPad App zoom level:
It’s like the iOS app and desktop apps are using entirely different maps. I don’t even see the black and white basemap seen on iOS when I zoom out on desktop. So as you can see, the zoom levels are there but not available on the iOS app.
Any other ideas please @Gary @Christina as this is a pain out on job sites with no connectivity. It’s why we download the basemap after all.
You probably have this map toggle as “available offline” within one of your plans. This will download some additional tiles which are overlayed on your map which is likely what you are seeing.
@chasemgray yes as the OP states and my screenshot shows we are using the offline mode setting. I need to use this as I frequently fly in areas with limited or no connectivity.
What doesn’t make sense is why the offline map doesn’t have the same zoom layers available as the online one - or why aren’t they showing correctly (if you see in the post/comments they sometimes show up when pinching to zoom)? It makes the offline functionality absolutely useless.
I suspect there is a bug here as the tiles seem to be there around the flight plans. Just not displayed where they are needed.
One trick you can try is if you are able to go into your “google maps” app on your phone and cache an area that you are going to be mapping in, then go back to dronedeploy, turn off internet, and see if you can map in the area that you cached within the google maps app. This has worked for us and provides better offline tiles.
Thanks for the tip @chasemgray. Unfortunately this doesn’t make any difference. I already have these specific areas cached on my iOS GMaps as there is no connectivity out there.
There is completely different imagery showing for the closer zoom levels between GMaps and DD for the areas I’m interested in. When I pinch to zoom in DD, I can see the tiles display temporarily before they are blacked out.
Could this be a licensing issue for the imagery concerned? Can DD not display certain imagery?
DD Zoom (as close as I can get before it goes black):
Gmaps Zoom:
Like I mentioned before, this is likely due to the fact that you have these saved as “available offline” in the DD app. If you remove that toggle, then uninstall and reinstall DD, it should clear out the old saved tiles.
Ok, thanks @chasemgray I will try this to see if it fixes this particular problem. I hope this isn’t going to be a frequent occurrence given 95% of the Australian land mass doesn’t have internet.
If unloading and reloading the app is the solution, perhaps a button for “clear cached tiles” might be the go?
Thanks @chasemgray , but if that’s the fix then what is the appropriate use-case for the “available offline” switch at all? I need to use that to save remote areas with no connectivity, and this hasn’t been an issue in the past.
Is this not a bug that needs addressing so that available offline works as intended, without needing GMaps and re-installation of the app?
There aren’t currently any better tiles that we can cache for offline use. If those tiles are bad then I’d turn off the available offline toggle, reinstall, and see if the offline cache you have enabled within the google maps app transfers over to the DD app( it should)
OK, so I reinstalled DD on the iPad and yes, the black mask disappeared. I toggled to use offline, waited for the map to download and then drove out into the bush, well away from any phone/internet coverage - the map was still there and all was looking good.
Got back to the office this morning to find the black mask was back. The only variables here are time, GPS location of the iPad and the fact I opened DD to check the map twice. The iPad is a dedicated screen for UAV flight only, so doesn’t get any other use. Puzzled.
