ELR Track Locator
Everything the app does, one part at a time. The same guide is in the app under Menu, Help & About.
The map shows where you are on the railway, and the card below it tells you the line (ELR) and your mileage. This is the core of the app.
The app is for information only. Verify your position against the physical mileposts and your Safe System of Work (SSOW) pack.
The banner at the top of the map shows the current mode (GPS Mode means it's showing where you are) and your GPS accuracy, for example ±8m. On the map, railway lines are red and the line you are currently matched to is orange. The small dots with numbers are mileposts.
In GPS Mode the Track ID is only named when you're far enough to one side of the tracks to be certain, or on a single line. Where tracks run side by side they are only a few metres apart, closer than a phone's GPS can reliably separate, so rather than guess, the app shows "N/A, adjacent tracks too close" (tap it for why). Explore Mode always shows it. Never rely on the app to tell you which track you are on.
On a few lines the underlying data is unclear, so you may see a red "mileage may be incorrect" warning. That's expected on those lines. Always trust the physical mileposts and your SSOW over the app.
The buttons sit in a fixed grid below the map.
GPS Mode is the normal mode. It shows where you are, live, and follows you as you move.
Explore Mode lets you look at a different spot without being there. The map fills the screen; drag it so the cursor in the centre sits over anything you want (an overbridge, a structure, a location down the line) and the banner reads the ELR, mileage and Track ID at the cursor. It also shows the distance from where you're standing to the cursor, so you know how far you'd have to walk to reach it.
As you zoom in, more detailed milepost locations and track layouts are shown. Zoom further in and individual tracks appear, where the data has them. In Explore Mode the cursor position is exact, so the Track ID always shows.
Tap GPS Mode to snap back to your real position.
Tap Camera, type a short label if you want (for example "Signal MP212"; labels are Pro), then tap Take Photo. The photo saves to your phone's gallery with the ELR and mileage stamped onto it, and with Pro the chainage and grid reference as well.
Photos can only be taken from the GPS Mode screen, with a current GPS fix.
In Explore Mode, put the cursor over a spot and tap Set Target. A card appears showing the direction and distance to that point from where you actually are. It updates as you move, counting down the distance until you reach your target. Tap Clear on the card to remove it.
While you're walking, the arrow uses your direction of travel rather than the phone's compass. Steel rails and overhead line equipment upset a compass, so this is the more reliable of the two on the railway. Stand still and it falls back to the compass.
Site Notes turns a walk of a site into a record you can share. As you go, drop a pin at anything that matters: a defect, an asset, an access point, a work area. Each pin is stamped with its ELR, mileage and grid reference. Add a name, notes and photos, measure between pins, then export the whole set as a .kmz to send to the office or open in Google Earth.
Tap Site Notes in the button grid (or Menu, Site Notes) to start. The map switches to Site Notes Mode.
When you drop or edit a pin you can attach photos. They're location-stamped just like the main Camera, and the full-resolution original goes to your phone's gallery while the app keeps a smaller copy in the set, so deleting a set never loses your original photos.
When you're done, open Manage Site Notes and choose Export. The set is packaged as a .kmz (pins, notes and photos together in one file) and handed to your phone's share sheet, so you can email it, save it, or send it however you like.
Open the file on a computer in Google Earth, or any software that reads KMZ, and every pin sits at its real position on the railway. Click one and its photos, name and notes open with it. Nobody has to match a folder of photos against a list of grid references, and nobody needs the app to read it.
Site Notes is a record-keeping tool, not a survey-grade tool. The accuracy of dropped pins depends on your phone's GNSS hardware and your current GNSS accuracy.
Overlays put your own drawings on top of the railway map. Import a KML or KMZ file (work areas, possession limits, access points, signal numbers, a mark-out, anything your office already produces) and it's drawn over the map in the right place, under your live mileage.
This is the other half of Site Notes. Plan the job at a desk, export a KMZ from Google Earth, and take it out onto the track: instead of matching a printed plan against what's in front of you, you see your own position moving against the drawing. Walk the site, record what you find with Site Notes, and export that back as a KMZ the office can open alongside the original.
Menu, Map Overlays. There are two slots, and you can use both at once.
Your file keeps its own colours, with one exception: the app already draws railway lines in red and your matched line in orange, so anything red in your file is shown in blue and anything orange in purple. Every other colour is left exactly as you drew it.
Overlays show your own data. The app doesn't check it, correct it or supply it. Make sure the file you carry is the current one, and never rely on it in place of your SSOW pack.
