Bad Elf GPS Pro: App and Firmware Updates Available! November 20 2012

The latest version (2.0.14) of the Bad Elf GPS utility app is now available on iTunes. This update includes a number of new features and bug fixes, mostly for the Bad Elf GPS Pro.

New & Noteworthy

Trip transfers
After using the GPS Pro to log hundreds of hours of activities around the world, we quickly identified some areas that needed improvement for getting the trip files transferred from the accessory into our app. Included in this release:

  • 6-10X faster transfers!
  • Transfers can be canceled while in progress
  • Transfers can finish while app is in background

Using the trip files
Of course, once the trip files have been transferred to our app, you want to do something with them. Previously you could send them off-board via email, but for large trips this was a pain. We added 2 new options:

  • iTunes File Transfer:Now you can move trip files from your Apple device to your PC or Mac using iTunes. Just connect your device to your computer, find your device in iTunes, and then select the Apps tab. Scroll to the bottom and you'll see Bad Elf GPS listed in the File Sharing section. From there you can save log files to your computer for safe keeping or uploading to other services. KML and GPX file formats are supported, and can be configured via the Settings tab in our app.

     

  • Open with... other apps: Now you can open the Trip files directly in any app that supports the GPX or KML file formats... for example, MotionX GPS, Google Earth, or GPS Kit. We'll be adding a section to our compatible apps page to indicate which third party apps support this feature. We're also working with a handful of app developers who will be adding support for these file types to their apps in the near future.

     

Datalogging improvements
The datalogger feature of the GPS Pro is proving to be a big hit with our users, especially with the 32-hour battery life in standalone (no Bluetooth) mode. We've added some features that make it even better:

  • SmartFilter: You can now set a threshold to ignore points below a minimum speed for common activities such as walking, running, driving, and flying. This is perfect for users that care more about the overall journey and don't want a bunch of points recorded while stopped at a light or waiting for the plane to take off.
  • 1-10Hz Logging: A much-requested feature from our racing enthusiasts, you can now enable higher recording rates of 2, 4, 5 or 10Hz. Log files will be much larger, of course, but when coupled with the SmartFilter threshold you can selectively capture high-speed movement and ignore the rest.

Other firmware updates
In additional to a handful of bug fixes, we made some improvements to the LCD screens:

  • Configurable time zone offset for GPS time shown in bottom menu bar
  • DDMMSS now supported for displaying latitude/longitude values
  • Added indicator to clearly show that GPS heading value is relative to true north as opposed to magnetic north
  • Enhanced warning dialogs when data logging memory is low/full

A firmware update is required to take advantage of all of these new features, so after updating the app, be sure to launch it with your GPS Pro connected and click the "Firmware" button in the first tab to install the updates.

Questions or issues? Any other features you'd like to see in a future release? Please visit our support page.