Mien

Mien is a simple app which uses the device screen as a viewfinder to take a bearing, just like a prismatic compass. The app then draws this bearing onto a map, so you can see what features you are looking at.

The app is useful when working out what a geographical or architectural feature is in the distance.

You can also import and visualise geographic data from GeoJSON files.

To use just tap the play button or the middle of the viewfinder. The app will then turn on the camera and begin to use the device GPS capability to determine your location. When you have your feature in your sights tap the stop button or the graticule in the centre of the viewfinder. Tap the little map in the viewfinder to show a map full screen.

You can start and stop the device from the full screen map by tapping the play button. You can also change the map type and switch back to the viewfinder from here.

There is a graded slider at the bottom of the screen which determines how far out the bearing is to be drawn and the app displays the point at which the drawn bearing ends in GPS decimal coordinates. The other slider controls the level of zoom in the viewfinder.

In the settings menu the distance to the projected point can be entered manually as centimetres. The projection distance can also be set in the full screen map view by tapping and holding, then moving your finger around, which manually sets the projection location and projection distance. The updated heading is displayed above. The newly set projection distance remains even when you hit play and use the viewfinder.

• Viewfinder to accurately aim compass
• Identify distant features with zoom
• A range of information available for display including estimated accuracy
• Full screen pannable map view with satellite and roads maps
• Manually adjustable the projection location for distance finding
• Import data from GeoJSON files
• Visualise GeoJSON data in relation to your position and heading