HikeArizona.COM

If you are following a track that has been loaded into route scout, does anyone know how to change the orientation from always pointing north? I would like it to point in the direction that I am hiking. I used to be able to change it by tapping on a direction indicator the lower left hand corner, but that no longer seems to work.

Thanks.

Map rotation was removed on 5.4.0 because iOS 15.1 lowered available resources that map rotation depends on. The calculations involved and redrawing the screen canvas are more complex than landing the Apollo.

That said it might be back. The map dependency is open source. While their core development team isn't jumping through hoops to get it fixed you never know. IOS occasionally regresses too. I'm testing daily rebuilds on Android and iOS to find a solution for all but it might only be available on Android on the next release.

@joebartels
Thanks for the info. Hopefully map rotation can be included in the future; without map rotation, I can't really use RS for navigating. I use android btw.

DixieFlyer wrote:without map rotation, I can't really use

I find this so interesting. I know people that can't use a navigation app that doesn't face the direction of travel. Similarly I know others that can't follow a map that doesn't "face north". And both sides seem to be solidly unwilling/unable to work with the other option. There are probably scientific metastudies that explain why and correlate the results to all kinds of other life experiences and beliefs!

@chumley
Perhaps it is whatever you are used to, but my brain seems to be wired to have the directions pointing in the direction that I am going; but a friend that I hike with a lot always has his GPS facing north. Thankfully google maps and garmin give me a choice!

This would be a good poll question. I’m definitely a north up preference. I feel like it gives me more directional awareness.

@chumley I wonder if it could have something to do with how we first learn principles of navigation? Or maybe whether we first learned navigation using paper maps or GPS? In my experience, I first learned to read paper maps for the purpose of auto travel. When later I learned about using topo maps and cross-country navigation, I already had road map experience. Not sure it should really matter but I thought I'd put it out there.

Generally, I prefer my handheld route finding app always be oriented to the direction of my travel, but I've learned to roll with it either way. Since I seldom do off-trail hikes and usually always have a route loaded, maybe it's not an issue for me (it seems like, with RS, I just make sure I'm moving into the wide part of the cone; admittedly I can't wrap my head around whether this would be useful in off-trail situations. Now I'm going to have make a mental note of how I actually do this on the trail!).

And no matter if I'm hiking or driving, I always carry a paper map. This isn't so much about being concerned about tech fail as it is about appreciating a big picture overview of my surroundings, with alternate route scenarios always at the ready.

Thanks for asking the question, @DixieFlyer Now I can see if there's a setting to get my car's nav system to not be fixed to a north orientation! Cramps my brain whenever I'm southbound

Well cartography has been universally accepted to be discriminatory, probably a byproduct of colonial imperialism or whatnot. The various projections that are most commonly used favor a northern hemisphere / euro-american view of the planet. Can you imagine if from the beginning the arrow on the compass pointed to the south? If the default view of most maps focused on Africa? I bet people would still complain about losing the AZT in the Mazzies.

I prefer having the direction of travel up, more so when driving than walking, but it's still what I prefer. When looking at a paper map, I always spin in it around to match the landscape. It's too easy to be confused by similar features when doing it mentally. On the other hand, it's not that big a deal to me.

RS 5.4.02 was released last night. Map Rotation remains off by default but may be turned on in settings.
RS Home > Settings > Map Rotation > On

@joebartels
Thanks a million. I just updated to the new version, and turned map rotation on. I will try it out this weekend!