# Sky Map on Fire



## RavenclawPrefect (May 4, 2009)

I was finally able to get Google Sky Map on my Fire but everything is switched around.  When I am facing west, it shows me that I am facing east.  I have tried putting in my lat/long manually but that doesn't seem to help.  Any suggestions on how to get it aligned correctly?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Googling this, it seems to be a problem on more than just the Fire. I just did a quick scan, but one report I read said that it correctly in portrait but not in landscape...or maybe the other way around?  I didn't read of any solutions, but you might try googling "Google sky map orientation problems" and see what you get.

Betsy


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## MicroBeta (Jun 9, 2009)

From what I've been reading it doesn't work very well on the Fire due to the lack of GPS.  The accelerometers on the Fire can only do so much and apps that have compass functions ore rely on GPS will have problems.  The Jorjin WG-7310 (see one of the many teardown web pages) has GPS capability but there is no antenna for it.  I get the impression it can't be activated and may not even be physically connected.  The one antenna it does have is for Wi-Fi which also happens to be a combined input for Bluetooth but doesn't seem to be enabled. 

RavenclawPrefect, how did you tell Sky Map where in the world it is so it knows what stars are visible to at the time?  I would think it could work if it had a ZIP code or latitude/longitude and it was told which way was north...then again I'm a mechanic and not an electronics guy, and I've been wrong before.  

Mike


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## RavenclawPrefect (May 4, 2009)

MicroBeta said:


> RavenclawPrefect, how did you tell Sky Map where in the world it is so it knows what stars are visible to at the time? I would think it could work if it had a ZIP code or latitude/longitude and it was told which way was north...then again I'm a mechanic and not an electronics guy, and I've been wrong before.
> 
> Mike


I went into settings and clicked

Location settings
Set Location manually
Latitude
Longitude

When I put in my local Lat/Long....all directions were switched. When I faced North, it told me South

Today, I put in Lat/Long for Washington DC and now it works


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

Is Sky Map the program that as you move the Fire, it shows the sky as you're facing it?  I think my sister showed me that on her Droid phone long ago.  I gotta get that...

I got the Star Chart app (currently 99 cents on Amazon, I got it free from GetJar) that I thought would do the same thing, but it doesn't appear to be doing so, although it's pretty and does have some decent info.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Google Sky Map is available in the Android Market -- it works great on my Xoom and Droid.  Haven't bothered to try to load it on the Fire -- for quick reference the phone works great and if I want a bigger image the Xoom is the right size.


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

I found Sky Map on 1mobile.com last night too...but I couldn't get it to take my location, either by place or by lat/long!  Very frustrating.   I remain located in its apparent default of Pisa (is that Italy? by view it seems to be in the Southern Hemisphere, though).


Not exactly related but sort of, I hope some of you got to see the beautiful view of the crescent Moon near Venus in the (real) sky early last evening!


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## RavenclawPrefect (May 4, 2009)

Steph H said:


> I found Sky Map on 1mobile.com last night too...but I couldn't get it to take my location, either by place or by lat/long! Very frustrating.  I remain located in its apparent default of Pisa (is that Italy? by view it seems to be in the Southern Hemisphere, though).
> 
> Not exactly related but sort of, I hope some of you got to see the beautiful view of the crescent Moon near Venus in the (real) sky early last evening!


Steph, that is what happened to me as well. When I input a large city near me (Washington DC), it switched and has worked fine.


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

I tried that too, after reading your posts, and somehow it doesn't like Dallas, Texas.    I always *thought* that was a major city, but maybe not so much!


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## Bob327 (Nov 17, 2011)

Without a Compass I do not know how in the world it could work..

Astronomy has been a life long hobby of mine..so I honestly know the night sky .. and can star hop from star to star to find those famous faint fuzzy DSOs (deep space objects) ...  I currently only use 4 telescopes (own more) and I have a slotted domed observatory in my back yard...

Anyhow ....  I have the following astro apps on my smart phone

1. SkySafari ..this one lets me control my scope from the phone 
2. Sky Week..just lets me know what is interesting to observe  this week 
3. Google sky of course...
4. Mobile observatory 
5. Moon Phase Pro
6. Moon Watch
7. Sky Chart

All work great on either an iPhone or on an Android phone..

I honestly have no reason at all to install one on my fire.. 

CLEAR SKIES  ya all

Bob G.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Well, if you can manually enter coordinates, it seems to me that that would do the work that the compass would do.  Problem is, that doesn't seem to work as one would expect.  

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I guess even with long/lat coordinates, it would still need to know which way is north -- which would require a compass or GPS or something. . . . .


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

Bob327 said:


> Astronomy has been a life long hobby of mine..so I honestly know the night sky .. and can star hop from star to star to find those famous faint fuzzy DSOs (deep space objects) ... I currently only use 4 telescopes (own more) and I have a slotted domed observatory in my back yard...


Cool...I have a roll-off roof in mine.


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## MartyS (Feb 3, 2011)

I've got some of these apps on my iPod touch that doesn't have a compass or GPS, but does have a good accelerometer. You need to manually tell it where it is pointing once, then uses the accelerometer to figure out where it's pointing from that initial point. I think Star Walk uses the camera, you point the camera at a bright object like the moon and it syncs the map to that.

The Fire doesn't have a camera and I doubt it's accelerometer is up to accurate pointing. But I would like to find a good star chart or planetarium app for the Fire. Might be cool to use during our public observing sessions.

About 7 years ago we got a new observatory at work that I maintain and run:

http://www.science.widener.edu/observatory/


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I guess even with long/lat coordinates, it would still need to know which way is north -- which would require a compass or GPS or something. . . . .


I haven't tried it, but it could display the night sky with a north is up orientation, and then if YOU know which way is north, it would work....I mean, paper star maps have worked for years....

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I haven't tried it, but it could display the night sky with a north is up orientation, and then if YOU know which way is north, it would work....I mean, paper star maps have worked for years....
> 
> Betsy


Yeah. . .you'd think. 

The cool thing about the Google one is that you can look up in the sky and say "what's that?" Pull up the app, point the thing at that part of the sky, and the various star/planet names comes up. Maybe the fact of having a camera is part of what makes it work?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Maybe so....since none of my devices have cameras, and I can't really see enough of the night sky where we live to make it interesting (too many trees), I've never bothered.  I don't even use the cool one that's on the iPad that I got when I first bought the iPad.  I just go out and look and go "oh, shiny, pretty." LOL!

Betsy


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## ellesu (Feb 19, 2009)

Thanks for this! I just downloaded it to my phone (Droid) and then to my Fire. I didn't have to enter any latitude or longitude info tho. It just _did_ it on its own.


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## Bob327 (Nov 17, 2011)

Steph H said:


> Cool...I have a roll-off roof in mine.


Nice to see another backyard astronomer on this forum...
So I guess you read a lot like I do on the all too frequent cloudy nights The fire helps cure my need for something to do on those kinds of nights ...

CLEAR SKIES

Bob G


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

RavenclawPrefect said:


> Steph, that is what happened to me as well. When I input a large city near me (Washington DC), it switched and has worked fine.


I was just trying this out as a result of a question from another member. It wouldn't take Washington, DC for me...  It wouldn't even take Pisa, which is what was in the location box when I tried to set it.

Betsy


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