More details about CaveMeter

To get good results the Compass must be calibrated.

Just hold the smartphone in your Hand, start the app and perform two or three times a rolling lying eight.

 

An earlier version of cavemeter must eventually be deinstalled before.

And "Allow installation of apps from unknown sources" in the configuration of your smartphone.

 

The version in Google Play Store (1.0.12) 2. June 2014 is obsolete.

I'm sorry, but I can no longer update it since Google Play Developer Program Policy demands of me to subdue to American Export Administration Regulation, which I can not do.

These are so many files, I am unable to read them all. Not to mention understand them.

Unfortunately Google refuses to delete my account and hassles with many pointless "policy updates".

Frequently Asked Questions:

Clinometer

  • Why is there -90 in "Adj. Vertical"?
    Cavers use two different ways to note declination. Some (e.g. Sunto) define horizontal as 0 degrees. Upwards they count positive till plus 90, downwards they use negative numbers. (This is the default in CaveMeter and the reason for the "-90".) The others are afraid of getting confused with writing plus and minus and define horizontal as 90 degrees. Upwards they increase the numbers till 180, downwards they decrease. So a vertical pit has 0 degrees. (If you want that just change the -90 in "Adj. Vertical" to 0.)
  • How to adjust the declination?
    Take a bearing over a point A to B and afterward vice versa from B to A. Add the two declinations and divide the result by minus two, e.g:
    +8.0 plus -6.4 = +1.6
    +1.6 / -2 = -0.8
    "Menue" > "Adj. Vertical" and type in the right field (Additional) -0.8
  • How precise ist the clinometer?
    Results should be clearly better then +/- 1 degree.

Compass

  • How to calibrate the compass?
    The compass ist calibrated continuously during use. Before starting a measure you should in addition make the movement of a lying eight link in the video.
  • How to adjust the compass?
    If you find out that the compass systematically shows e.g. 2.5 degrees too much, then start "Menue" < "Declination-GPS" and type the correction -2.5 in the appropriate field. There you can also compute magnetic declination on the basis of GPS.
  • What is magnetic declination?
    The Compass does not point to North but to the magnetic north pole, which is at the time (2013) about 500 km away from geographic north pole. Depending on your present position on earth the difference between geographic and magnetic direction to north is different. In many parts of Canada it is more than 20 degrees. This difference is called magnetic declination.
    According to geologic standards it is changing rapidly. For example: 1983 magnetic declination near Berchtesgaden in Germany was zero degrees and could simply be ignored. 2012 it was +2.7 degrees. That means, when the compass showed 90.0 degrees, geographic direction was 92.7 degrees.
    Declination at your present position is determined with menu item Declination in CaveMeter (GPS must be activated): Wait until present position is displayed. Then press Compute. Declination is displayed in the left upper corner. If now you press Save, the value is stored and will be used for further calculation of direction.
  • How precise ist the compass?
    Results should be about +/- 2 degrees. But spikes may happen. The shorter the red bar, the more precise is the compass.
  • Are there any reference points even without map?
    Menu -> Direction, and wait until GPS button can be used. Click it and wait until Accuracy shows values as low as possible. Click Save button to save your present position and move away as far as possible. From one kilometer or more reasonable values can be expected.The value below "Save" shows the geographic direction to the saved point. Calibrate the compass like in the video and correct deviation in Menu -> Declination.

Results

  • Where are the results of the measures?
    The results are saved on the SD card in the folder "cavemeter". If you did not enter a cavename the files name is "cave.txt", otherwise it is the name you entered. If no extension .txt was stated it will be added automatically by the program. So it is easier to copy and paste survey data to a program for drawing the map.
  • How to draw a map of the cave?
    The results are saved in pure text and can be used without any changes by copy&paste in programs for drawing cave maps like Therion or copycave.

Last Changes:

  • In Profile the direction of the track can be switched and changes can be saved in Direction.
  • In Profile slide fom minus to plus to show real altitude length relation.
  • Profil shows the current difference in altitude to the highest and the lowest point of the track. From now on the version nummber is the date of the last changes YYYY-MM-DD.
  • Now switching speed, average speed and maximum mean speed. Version info moved from Help to Menu.
  • Added button in Direction to switch from speed to average speed.
  • Changed colours and contrast.
  • Share improved and added to help menue.
  • Menu item CaveName renamed to Settings.
  • Barometer level line in profile view and profile in startscreen.
  • Adaption for small displays.
  • Direction Share copies displayed position as geo-coordinate (geo:12.345678,34.567890) to clipboard and as a link into the namefield. Long pressed imports geo-coordinates from clipboard.
  • Draft in menue.
  • More infos in Satellites screen.
  • Direction Share long pressed tries to get position from clipboard. Works with Osmand App, google.de/maps (map center) and openstreetmap.org (map center).
  • At Direction inserted button to copy displayed position to clipboard.
  • Use of geoid files.
  • Map remembers "search name".
  • CLR Button in Direction.
  • Toggle Track, Route or both in Map.
  • At Direction inserted button directly to altitude profile.
  • If SRTM Data are zipped in set folder (e.g: N47E013.zip), then tey will be automatilally unzipped by the program to "cavemeter/srtm" when they are needed.
  • Directories for tracks and SRTM data can be set in menue option "CaveName". Tracks in subfolders are shown as well.
  • All survey data and drawings are now saved in subfolder "cavemeter/caves".
  • Strokewidth adjusted.
  • Missing altitude data are created automatically if the program finds SRTM data files in cavemeter/srtm/. You find download links e.g. at Wikipedia.
  • Round icon for newer OS.
  • Track can be displayed as altitude profile.
  • Special characters are displayed correctly now.
  • Track added at Direction. GPX-Tracks in folder cavemeter/tracks/ can be shown in Map. Can also be called by pointing on scale in Map.
  • GPS altitude inserted at Direction. Set time by GPS works on rooted Marshmallow devices with "date" in toybox.
  • GPS altitude more precise. Timedifference System-GPS with three decimal places. Illuminance in lux added at "CaveName" and light changed.
  • setTime improved.
  • Barometer and altimeter with recording option.
  • Map added showing GPX points.
  • GPS accuracy increased to seven positions after decimal point.
  • Confirmation when deleting waypoints or saving existing names.
  • Waypoints are now saved in favourites.gpx and can be deleted from there again.
  • Function Direction can now load waypoints from a GPX-File (cavemeter/favourites.gpx) and thereby use e.g. data from navigation software like OsmAnd.
  • Menu button added.
  • Removed a bug.
  • Overview map of GPS satellites.
  • "Pointing" renamed to "Direction".
  • Drafts numbering revised.
  • Value for signal to noise ratio of GPS satellites is displayed.
  • Option to select a startscreen.
  • Menue revised.
  • Added menue item "Help".
  • "Set Time" available in "Position".
  • Function Pointing simplified and look and feel of newer Android versions activated.
  • At each part of the survey any number of drafts can be created and saved.
  • On rooted devices time can be set from GPS signal in pointing menue.
  • Improved keyboard function.
  • A non-dazzling torch function that displays battery voltage, level and temperature.
  • A red bar indicates the quality of compass measuring. Inclination calculated from GPS position is compared to the inclination from the measure. The closer the two values are, the better the compass works.
  • Touch a measuring value to hold it. Border areas do not cause unintended measuring any more.
  • Improved energy saving.
  • Added browser for cave files. File extension .txt is now mandatory. Please rename older files you want to use furthermore. Use of umlauts in comments improved.
  • Help can now be achieved by pressing the magnifier button.
  • Functions "Pointing" and "Declination GPS" are now more clearly arranged.
  • Added correction value for tilting.
  • The direction from present position to any point in the world can now be computed, assisted by GPS. This can be very helpful to check compass accuracy. (Pointing) Besides that you can read distance, speed, bearing, accuracy, GMT and the difference to system time.
  • Compass declination can now be computed on the basis of GPS. And the coordinates can be saved in the caves file. (Declination GPS)
  • A measurement is now calculated from more samples (600).
  • Touching the upper third of the screen does no longer result in a measurement. So you can easier keep the smartphone from sleep mode.
  • Included function to save energy.
  • Improved horizontal measuring in the range of -75 to -45 and +45 to +75 degrees vertical declination.
  • Option Compass calibration switched off as it was in contradiction to automatic continuous calibration.