MAP VIEW
This is what the user sees first when he navigates to the map view. This is map of the immediate user's immediate vicinity. This is the jumping of point for a number of functions such as posting a new message to M-pression, reading messages posted by M-pression users in the vicinity, getting an overview of users' activities in the region shown by the map, saving a location to your favorite locations list (more on that later) etc.
The Map
Initially, the map shows the vicinity of the user's current location as determined by the network. It takes a few seconds for the GPS lock to happen. To refine your position as per the GPS, click on the location button
You can also pan and zoom to a new location. The gestures you would use are the same as in Google Maps for Android.
View Messages
If you want to view messages posted by M-pression users in the region shown by the current view of the map, click on the "View messages" button, then you will be taken to the neighborhood messages screen, where, by default, you are shown ALL posted messages in that region (with a limit of 50). You are advised to keep the region manageable otherwise you are potentially asking the server to search through a much larger set of messages and since the server serves up only 50 messages at a time, you could be missing out on a lot of messages that might actually be of interest to you.
POST A NEW MESSAGE
The text box on top is where you type in your message and click send to post the message. Click Send when you are ready to send your message. Message posting requires your current location be known to the app since all posts must carry a location tag. You should have at least one of either the GPS or the network location enabled to be able to post messages.
Save a location
Suppose you love the vibe of Times Square in New York. You would like to follow the posts by the thousands of M-pression users who visit Times Square everyday. But you live in Hong Kong. You could fire up the app and once you get to the map view, pan and zoom to Times Square and then click on "View messages" to view the messages. Doable but to do it repeatedly would be annoying. You need to get to those messages quickly. This is how you do it.
Long click the locator button (press and hold it for a second or two). This takes you to the places editor.
Long click the locator button (press and hold it for a second or two). This takes you to the places editor.