Map Font Size. Pull down to choose large 大, medium 中, or small 小 Top, Mapple 10 Index
Map Symbol Size. Pull down to choose medium 中, or small 小 Top, Mapple 10 Index
Geoid. Choose 日本測地. GPS assumes a perfectly spherical earth with a uniform sea level, so in our imperfect world, the real altitude usually differs from what GPS computes. Mapple uses a map of these differences (geoid) to correct for them. While in Japan, you'll get the best results with a difference map particular to Japan (日本測地【にほんそくち】); outside of Japan you'd choose a less detailed map that covers the entire world (世界測地【セカイそくち】; Mapple doesn't have maps for anywhere outside of Japan, but it'll still show your coordinates, speed, and altitude). Top, Mapple 10 Index
Zoom Bar Side. Put the Zoom Bar on the right （右) or left (左). A nice concession to lefties. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Create a Route. Simply tap a trail of breadcrumbs along the route you want to create (especially wherever there's a turn). At the end (or when you're about to run off the screen), double-tap the last point. At this point the trail will turn into a blue line. To continue on to the next screen, first tap the Move/Hand icon at the bottom, drag the map, then tap the Point/Arrow icon at the bottom, and start again where you left off. I often don't mark an entire route--just the points were I'm turning or it would be easy to get lost. When you're done, tap Save from the General Menu; if you don't, your route will be lost when you shut down the program. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Clear/New. Start a new custom overlay (routes and points). This clears any custom overlay or data you've got open--wipes the slate clean. If you've got any routes or points open that haven't been saved, you'll be asked if you want to save them. If you do, save them to wherever you like on the memory card, not to the main memory. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Move mode (hand icon). Mapple is always in either Move, Rotate, or Point modes, according to which of those icons at the bottom of the screen is selected. When the Move/Hand icon is selected, then dragging the stylus or a finger on the map moves the map (note that if the GPS is connected, the map will almost immediately snap back to your current position). When in Move mode, holding the stylus on a point of interest you've created brings up a pop-up menu offering the choice of viewing or editing the point and any comments, data, or images attached to it. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Rotate mode (spinning arrows icon).Mapple is always in either Move, Rotate, or Point modes, according to which of those icons at the bottom of the screen is selected. When the Rotate/Spinning Arrows icon is selected, dragging the stylus or a finger on the map rotates the map. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Point mode (arrow icon).Mapple is always in either Move, Rotate, or Point modes, according to which of those icons at the bottom of the screen is selected. When the Point (Arrow) icon is selected, you can add a point of interest to the map or create a route. With the Point icon selected, hold the stylus on the map to bring up a small pop-up menu offering you a choice of adding a point or leaving a trail of breadcrumbs you can convert to a route. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Connect GPS. If you've got the JLT system or any other with a separate bluetooth GPS receiver, first you have to turn on the GPS, then you have to turn on Bluetooth on your device so it can connect to the GPS. Now tap the Connect icon at the bottom of the screen or Connect GPS in the Function menu, and in a few seconds a map of where you are will appear, with a "you are here" circle in the center. If you're moving, the "you are here" marker will be a triangle showing which way you're going. If you want to change the GPS connection settings, choose the GPS Hardware Settings (GPS機器設定) from the Func Menu (操作). Top, Mapple 10 Index
Minimize. Unlike in regular Windows, when you tap the X at the top right of a Windows Mobile window, the program is simply minimized to the background, not shut down. Because it's still running in the background, you can start it up almost immediately the next time you want to use it (just tap the Swith icon in the middle of the top bar and tap Mapple to bring it to the foreground). If you want to fully shut Mapple down, tap Exit (終了) from the General Menu (基本). Top, Mapple 10 Index
Zoom bar. Drag up to zoom out, down to zoom in. If you're a lefty, you can move the Zoom Bar to the left side of the screen at General Menu (基本)/Map Settings (地図設定)/Display Settings (表示設定). Top, Mapple 10 Index
Open map sets. Generally, you'd leave this alone. You'd only do this if you replaced the maps I installed (all of Japan) with several smaller subsets (e.g., Kanto, Kyoto, etc.). And there's no reason to do that. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Add or Edit a point. This screen looks complicated, but you don't have to do ANYTHING. Just tap "OK" and it'll create your point with a default name. The only thing I usually do is enter a name for the point (in the box near the top where it says "Point"). The point will show up on the map as an apple logo where you created it, with the name you enter to the right of it. Everything else is optional--you can add comments or a phone number or web or email address or whatever else you like, and you can change the appearance of the point from the Point Settings tab at the bottom. But the only thing you really need to know here is to enter the name you want to give the point and then tap OK. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Raster Maps. Leave this alone unless you know what you're doing. I've set Mapple up to use vector maps in the JLT system; raster maps are much, much larger--the full map set wouldn't be able to fit on even a huge memory card, and performance would be much slower. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Display Comments. Tap a point you've previously created to display any comments attached to that point. If you haven't selected a point or if there are no comments on the point you've selected, you'll get a little pop-up telling you so. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Select Folder. Unless you have a reason to do otherwise, leave this set to 全で表示 (show all), the default. If you have Mapple custom data in several different folders, you can tell Mapple which one to look in when you try to open a previously saved custom data set. If you don't have Mapple custom data in more than one folder, the option to select a folder will be unavailable--grayed out. The "show all" default tells it to display and allow you to choose from Mapple data stored anywhere on the device. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Orientation. Shows which way is up. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Scale (i.e., if the white bar at the top is about 2 cm long on your screen and says "200m," then 2 cm on the map represents about 200 m in the real world). Sorry if you clicked this expecting some less obvious meaning, but, yes, people do ask me what "scale" is, so here you are. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Enlarge. This magnifies the screen image--unlike zoom, it makes the print, symbols, and all lines larger and bolder. Especially useful when driving. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Moving Map Mode. Must be selected! Do not deselect. Calls up the neighboring map as the current map moves. Otherwise, once you moved off the initial map, you'd just be on a blank white screen. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Moving Map. Must be selected! Do not deselect. Makes the map move to keep your position in the center when GPS is connected. If you deselect this, the map won't move--you will. In fact you'll soon move right off the screen into oblivion. Top, Mapple 10 Index
GPS Display Mode. If you select Heads Up mode (ヘッドウップ), the screen will rotate as you turn so that the direction of travel is always shown as up. You may love this--I hate it. I can't keep track of where anything is with the map spinning constantly. Plus, when you're not moving, the GPS can't tell which way you're facing, so the map just spins randomly. I don't know what GPS軌跡表示 (GPS Locus Display) does--can't see any difference between when it's selected and when it's deselected. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Connect GPS. Does exactly the same thing as the Connect (marshmallow-on-a-stick) icon does. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Open. Opens a previously saved Custom Data Set (route, points, etc.). Top, Mapple 10 Index
Datum. JLT customers and almost everybody else should choose WGS-84. If you buy a GPS receiver made for the Japanese market, though, and notice that your position is off by a hundred meters or more, then try the TOKYO datum. Has comething to do with calibrating the maps with the GPS data. Top, Mapple 10 Index
COM Port. On JLT systems, I set the GPS to use COM7. The automatic setting (自動設定) is painfully slow, so it's better to keep this set to the correct port rather than letting Mapple search for it. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Save. Saves changes to currently open Custom Data (routes, points). If you haven't saved this data before, it'll prompt you to enter a location, folder, and name for the saved data. It's best to save it to somewhere on a memory card, not to Device or Main Memory. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Save As ... function. Same as "Save as..." on every program ever made. Saves currently open Custom Data (routes, points) to a new custom data file, instead of overwriting any currently open custom data file. It'll prompt you to enter a location, folder, and name for the saved data. It's best to save it to somewhere on a memory card, not to Device or Main Memory. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Save Breadcrumbs. When the GPS is connected, you leave a trail of breadcrumbs behind you as you move. If the breadcrumbs box in GPS Hardware Settings from the Function Menu is not checked, those breadcrumbs disappear when they fall off the edge of the screen. If it is checked, they don't--they're saved in a buffer--and when you disconnect the GPS, you'll be asked if you want to convert the trail of breadcrumbs into a route. This is useful to find your way back home the way you came, when you'll be going the same way again, and when you want to save a route to give it to someone else. Once you've created a route, you should save it by using the Save command in the General menu. The downside of saving your breadcrumbs is that Mapple keeps them in some sort of inaccessible cache, which fills up after about 45 minutes at one breadcrumb per second. When it fills up, the GPS disconnects and you get a message asking if you want to convert to a route--then you have to connect the GPS again. Annoying. However, you can set Mapple to save breadcrumbs less often--every five seconds gets you 3:45, every 20 seconds gets you 15 hours, etc. If you don't need to save your route, you can avoid the problem entirely be leaving this unchecked. Top, Mapple 10 Index
Frequency. How often Mapple drops a breadcrumb. There are two opposing factors when deciding on a frequency. First, as mentioned in the Breadcrumbs discussion, if you're saving your breadcrumbs, the less often Mapple drops a breadcrumb, the longer you can go before the cache fills up and the GPS disconnects. Second, while dropping a crumb every 5 or 10 seconds is fine when you're walking, a car may go well over 200 meters in 10 seconds--a crumb every 200 meters will give you a only a crude approximation of your route. For driving, 5 seconds is about the longest practical interval, and 1 second is more satisfactory. Note that, e.g., "20" means one breadcrumb every 20 seconds, not 20 breadcrumbs per second. Top, Mapple 10 Index
NMEA Log. Saves a log of the raw data from the GPS. This can be uploaded to your computer, converted to other formats by various free programs (GPS Babel is the most well known), and shown in Google Earth or other programs, or used to geotag your digital photos. However, if your GPS receiver is also a datalogger (e.g., the RoyalTek RBT-2300 that comes with most JLT Navigation Packages), the receiver keeps a log of the same data internally--you don't need to bother doing it on your PDA or phone. Top, Mapple 10 Index
