Time & Distance Calculator

Record your movement over time, then replay the track on a map with a scrubbing timeline.

The Time & Distance Calculator captures your GPS position while you move, building a named record of where you went, how long it took and how far you travelled. Any saved record can be reloaded later and replayed on a map using a timeline you can play, pause, scrub and speed up. It is useful for documenting a search pattern, measuring a route, and flagging favourite points you want to come back to.

Overview

Control	Purpose
Data tab	Summary figures, the Record / Select buttons and the recording panel
Map tab	The recorded points drawn on the map
Record	Opens the recording panel for a new track; its outline turns red while selected
Select	Opens a dropdown of saved record names to load one
Start	Begins recording and starts the timer
Favorite	Flags the next saved point as a favourite
Stop	Ends the recording and stamps the stop time
Save	Stores the record and clears the panel
Timeline ruler	Scrub through the recording; every tick is 10 seconds
Play / Pause	Runs the timeline automatically
Speed button	Playback speed from 1X to 30X
Three-dot button	Opens the timeline options popup

When a record is loaded, the summary shows four lines:

Line	Format	Example
Name	Name : <record name>	Name : North ridge sweep
Total Time	Total Time : HH:MM:SS	Total Time : 00:47:12
Distance	Distance: <meters or miles>	Distance: 940 meters
Favorites	Favorites : <count>	Favorites : 3

note

Distance is shown as whole meters while the total is under one mile, and as miles to two decimal places once it passes a mile. A record with fewer than two points reads 0 meters.

Getting Here

1. Open the Time & Distance Calculator from its launch point in the app.
2. The screen opens on the Data tab.
3. Grant location access when prompted so the tool can follow your position. If you have previously denied it, an alert titled Location Permission Denied appears with the message "Please enable location permission in settings to use this feature."

You can switch tabs by tapping Data or Map, or by swiping the content left and right. The active tab's title turns red and gains an underline.

Record a New Track

1. Tap Record. The recording panel appears, the Record outline turns red and the Select outline returns to blue. Any loaded record is cleared from the summary.
2. Type a Name for the track in the text field.
3. Tap Start.
   • If the name field is empty, an alert appears reading Enter name and nothing is recorded.
   • Otherwise the name locks, the Start Time is stamped, and the timer starts counting as Timer : 00:00:00.
4. Move. Your position is saved automatically as you go.
5. Tap Favorite at any point you want to mark. The next saved point is flagged, and the Favorite count updates.
6. Tap Stop to end the session. The Stop Time is stamped and the timer stops.
7. Tap Save to store the record. The panel clears and the labels reset to Start Time :, Stop Time :, Distance : and Favorite :.

What gets recorded

Detail	Behaviour
Accuracy	The best accuracy your device can provide
New point saved every	About 10 metres of movement
Stored with each point	Latitude, longitude, timestamp and whether it is a favourite
Timer	Counts up in HH:MM:SS once per second
Date and time format	Follows your Date Format choice in App Defaults
Where it is stored	On the device only, not uploaded

caution

If you close the recording panel while a session is still running, a confirmation asks "Are you sure you want to close this?" with Yes and No. Choosing Yes deletes the part-recorded track — it is not kept as a partial record.

tip

Standing still saves very few points, because a new point is only written after roughly 10 metres of movement. If you need a dense track, keep moving steadily rather than pausing.

Replay a Saved Track

1. Tap Select. A dropdown lists every saved record by name.
2. Choose a record. The summary fills in, the timeline appears, and the map jumps to the first recorded point at close zoom.
3. Drag the timeline left and right to move through the recording. Above it you will see:
   • the full date range of the record, as Thu 04/17/2025 - Thu 04/17/2025
   • the selected date for the tick you are on
   • the selected time as six digits, for example 141230 for 14:12:30
4. Tap Play / Pause to run the timeline by itself. Tap it again to pause.
5. Tap the speed button and pick a value from 1X through 30X. Changing speed while playing restarts the run at the new rate.

Reading the map

Marker	Meaning
Black dot	An ordinary recorded point
Red dot	A point you flagged with Favorite
Blue puck	Your live position now

The map uses your organisation's base map style and its default layers. Scrubbing back before the first recorded point clears every marker from the map.

Adjust Timeline Options

Tap the three-dot button to open the timeline options popup.

Option	What it does	Default
Base Map	Picks the map style drawn behind the track; single choice	Your organisation's map style, or None
Layers	Picks which map layers are drawn; multiple choice	Your organisation's default layers, or None
Location Type	Tick box that lets you tap a point to look up its location details	Off
Time Range	How wide a slice of time is shown around the playhead: 10 Seconds through 60 Seconds in 10-second steps	10 Seconds
Show at current point	Only the points inside the current tick are drawn	Selected by default
Until next	Points are cleared each time the playhead reaches a new tick with data
Show all previous	Every point from the start up to the playhead stays drawn
Show all future	Every point from the playhead to the end is drawn

1. Tap Base Map or Layers to open the picker, choose, and return.
2. Tap Time Range and choose a value from the dropdown.
3. Tap one of the four display choices to change how points appear.
4. Tap Done (or the close button) to apply everything and return to the map.

note

Layers needs a connection, because the layer list is fetched live. With no internet an alert tells you the internet is not available and the picker does not open. Base Map works offline.

tip

With Location Type ticked, tapping a dot on the map opens the location-details popup for that exact coordinate — handy for reading terrain or jurisdiction data at a specific point on your track. If the reference database is still downloading, a toast tells you so; wait and try again.

How This Connects

• Where the data comes from. Points come from your device's GPS while the recording is running, and are written to the app's local database. Nothing is sent to the server, so records stay on the device that made them.
• Location permission. The same location grant powers the Map and GPS modules. Turning it off in Settings stops recording here too — see Permission Required.
• Map appearance is shared. The Base Map and Layers choices are your organisation map settings, the same ones used by Map Style Options and the reference map. Changing them here changes them for those screens too, and the change is pushed to the server when you are online — or queued and synced later when you are not.
• Date and time formats. Start Time, Stop Time and the timeline labels follow Date Format in App Defaults.
• Screen sleep. The screen follows Keep Screen Awake in App Defaults — worth turning on before a long recording so the display does not lock.
• Offline and reconnect. Recording, saving and replaying all work with no signal. Only the Layers picker and the location-details lookup need a connection; they start working again as soon as you are back online.

Troubleshooting

If this happens	What to do
Start shows "Enter name"	Type a name in the field first — every record needs one
The timer runs but Distance stays at 0 meters	You have not moved far enough yet; points are only saved after about 10 metres
"Location Permission Denied" appears	Tap OK, turn on Location for REDENES in Settings, then reopen the screen
Select does nothing	There are no saved records yet — record and Save one first
The timeline appears but the map is empty	Scrub forward to the first tick that has data, or switch the display option to Show all previous
Playback stalls at the end	The timeline has reached the last tick; drag back to the start and tap Play / Pause again
Changing Layers shows an internet warning	The layer list needs a connection; reconnect and reopen the options popup
Tapping a point does nothing	Tick Location Type in the options popup first
A toast says the reference data is still downloading	Wait for the download to finish, then tap the point again
Your part-recorded track disappeared	Closing the panel mid-recording and choosing Yes deletes it; use Stop then Save instead

Related Pages

• Tools
• Set Weather Location
• Anomaly Detection

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