ParkMark has been renamed to CarDar. It was posted in the marketplace last night. ParkMark Free will also be made available again for several days to correct a bug and make the neccessary name change.
As previously stated, the name change is due to a registered trademark conflict in the UK. I was happy to change the name to avoid any conflict, though they handled it like spoiled children and cause a bit of trouble for me. You can google them using the term “Park Mark”, but you’ll notice that Google lists the site as malicious and stops you from visiting the site. The British Parking Association may not be the most friendly bunch of people, nor employ anyone that has even a glimmer of humanity in them, but best of luck to them in their quest to make the world a darker place (except with possibly safer parking lots).
cardar
I received a notice today from the Google Android Market. ParkMark has been suspended due to the cries of http://www.securedcarparks.com They are claiming a trademark violation in the UK. I don’t know why Android Market support didn’t simply disable the app for that location. Instead, the app is now suspended and I’m completely unable to update it.
This is unfortunate and it would have been nice if the UK Park Mark guys would have simply sent me an email saying
“Hi, we exist and have that name already. Plus the UK has some screwed up trademark laws. Please change your app name. Bye!”
Perhaps that would have been too easy for them. Needless to say, ParkMark will be changing names soon as I would still like to offer it in the UK. I will post the update asap after Android Support un-suspends my app.
Are there any lawyers out there that would like to chime in on this? Trademark law is confusing to me and I somewhat feel that the dill weeds over at Secured Car Parks are merely exercising their lawyers. I’ve been led to believe that I can still use the name ParkMark as long as it is not used in the UK. Also, how closely related must a product or service be to be considered a trademark violation?
Since my ParkMark is software and helps people find their car, that is too similar to the UK ParkMark which operates parking lots? What about Delta Airlines and Delta Faucets? Are they dissimilar enough that they don’t violate each other? Of course, the last time I was on a Delta flight, I used a faucet in the bathroom. Perhaps they will read this post and start sueing each other.
Anyways, a special hats off to ParkMark UK. Thanks for playing nice and making the world a brighter place, except for the part where you did none of that.
cardar
Which file types would you like to see supported?
I’ve hit the file support item on my feature/todo list and would like to know what types of files/formats you would like to see. GPX and LOC files (mostly from geocaching.org) cover the majority of what everyone wants, but I suspect there are a number of other formats that it would be useful to support. I’ve recieved a few requests for various formats in the past, but need your input on what to do next. I’m going with majority rules on this, so if you see that someone else has requested the file type you want, make sure you leave a comment too. Please comment on this post with your format / file type request. Thanks. 
geodroid
Update today. Think of it as a celebration release in honor of that disastrous defacing of time called Daylight Saving Time. We get to celebrate our stupidity a little earlier this year, all for the sake of something that doesn’t help anyone with anything, except perhaps breaking lots of electronics and making many of us late for something. Happy DST everyone!
Updates
- Added notes.
- Removed confirmation when setting location in manual mode.
- Added preferences for setting auto close on mark or found.
- Fixed a bug when attempting to set an empty manual location.
- Fixed a reset ParkMark bug.
- Notifications now disappear after selecting them.
- Fixed bug causing the “expired” notification from appearing.
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IMPORTANT NOTICE
If you are experiencing a FORCE CLOSE when trying to OPEN Geodroid or ParkMark, the solution is to uninstall and reinstall the application.
You will NOT have to buy the application again. Please follow these steps:
- Uninstall the application.
- Open the Market app and click on My Downloads.
- Select the application and install it.
(See the Google Android Market help here for official information on re-installing paid apps.)
I apologize for this problem, but please know that I am not responsible. This problem is currently affecting many developers and their applications, often followed by a flurry of poor ratings and comments. Theoretically, once following this solution it will not be an issue for you again. Please email me if you have completed these steps and are unable to either download or open the application.
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Update to Geodroid tonight. The highlight in this update is improved importing. With very large files, the phone will still display a “Force close” message, but you can select “Wait” and the import will finish. The “Force Close” with the “Wait” option is the phone’s way of handling what appears to be a stalled application. It’s just a side effect of large files being imported. As always, please email me any files that cause problems. Support for other types of GPX files and more data from files will be available in the future.
New features
- Hugely improved import stability and support for larger files. (recommend not going over 4MB in size)
- Added FOUND option for geocaches/benchmarks
- Expanded options for displaying different types of waypoints on the map.
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Geodroid demo has expired and all users wanting to migrate to the full paid version should read the migration post on migrating waypoints. The full version now supports displaying nearby waypoints/geocaches on the map.
For non-US Geodroid users
The Android Market has not yet opened up outside of the US for priced applications. Until the Market opens up in your country, Geodroid demo will be available and will work outside of the US. The expire date has been pushed back to March 15th and will be extended as needed until support for priced applications is available outside the US.
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ParkMark is working great for about 98% of it’s users. The other 2% are having a Force Close issue when trying to Mark their position. This bug has me rather baffled at the moment as I’ve run testing in every configuration and environment I can think of, and I can’t make it crash.
The 0.3.2 update is a minor update which makes an attempt to resolve the problem. I’d greatly appreciate reports about any bugs with this version of ParkMark.
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