Data storage

This article describes where modRana stores data.

Map data

Map data are by default stored in the modRana directory in ~/.modrana/maps in per layer folders. When using the sqlite database for storing map data, each layer has its own database files (lookup database and 1+ storage databases) stored in its own folder.

Maemo5@N900

The default path for the map data folder on Maemo is /home/user/MyDocs/.maps, bacause MyDocs resides on a 27GB FAT32 partition, which is the largest continuous partition in default Maemo 5 install on the N900.

NOTE: Because of the FAT32 file-system used in MyDocs, you should consider enabling sqlite tile storage (in options->map->tile storage). FAT32 uses very large per-file clusters, which together with map data that consists of thousands of individual tiles causes huge waste of space. Sqlite can store thousands of tiles in a single file and thus avoids this issue.

sqlite tile storage

Sqlite tile storage is available since V0.16-1. It saves space on devices with FAT32 and related filesystems by storing tiles in database instead of thousands of files and folders.

For more information, check out the detailed SQLite tile storage description & specification page.

How to enable Sqlite tile storage in modRana

Tiles are stored as files by default. To switch to sqlite tile storage, go to the options->Map->Tile storage menu and switch the Tiles storage option from files to sqlite.

Batch-importing tiles to the SQLite database

User Beermad from talk.maemo.org made a Perl script for batch importing tiles to the SQLite database. Thanks a lot ! :)

Use case: Quickly download and import tiles to the SQLite database on a powerful Notebook/Desktop and then transfer the database to you mobile device.

Size

During a testing download, 96000 OSM tiles created sqlite storage database about 360 MB big, while the GUI was showing about 260 MB transfered (sum of the size variables from http headers). The additional data was probably spent on metadata (tile coordinates, type, timestamp, etc.).

POI

Points Of Interest are stored in a SQLite database file in ~/.modrana/POI/modrana_poi.db

Maemo 5@N900: POI are stored in /home/user/MyDocs/.maps and the file is called:

• modrana_poi.db if POI sharing with Mappero is disabled (default)
• poi.db if POI sharing with Mappero is enabled

Tracklogs

Tracklogs are stored in ~/.modrana/tracklogs in folders representing tracklog categories (by default logs, online, misc).

Maemo 5@N900: The main tracklog folder is: /home/user/MyDocs/tracklogs

Configuration files

Configuration files are in ~/.modrana/

Persistent setting database

The persistent settings database is stored using the Python Marshal module inside ~/.modrana/options.bin

Main configuration file

The main configuration file is in: ~/.modrana/user_config.conf

Map layers configuration file

The map layers can be configured in: ~/.modrana/map_config.conf