GMDE Lite

About this app

GMDE Lite has been designed from the ground up with small phone-sized screens in mind although it also works very well on iPads and spectacularly on iPads with an Apple Pencil. We borrow the best from both GMDE Mobile and Stereonet Mobile and present that functionality in a clean, simple, map-centric interface. Data can be exchanged between GMDE Lite and Desktop, and imported from Stereonet Mobile, GIS programs, as well as uploaded or downloaded to/from StraboSpot. Some things GMDE Lite can do: • Set a point of interest (POI) at your current location or anywhere on the map which is immediately tagged with location time and date and to which you can attach a photo and an extended description. You can email a POI, complete with photo, to a field partner, Advisor, etc. • Annotate photos or make digital sketches attached to points of interest. • Enter an orientation by any of six methods: (1) using the device orientation, (2) tapping 3 points on the map and having the device calculate the orientation, (3) sighting along the contact plane either in the strike or dip direction, (4) best fit plane to selected vertices on a path, or (5) type typing in the orientation at the location that you specify. You can project a contact temporarily as a check on the validity of the orientation; the projected contact can be converted to a regular contact. • Read in and display POIs, orientations, and contacts on the map data from Stereonet Mobile or GMDE Desktop. Use copy and paste between devices registered to the same Apple ID using Apple HandOff technology. • Enter contacts by tapping and dragging a path, by recording a GPS track, or by projecting a planar orientation across the landscape. Edit contacts by lassoing and deleting vertices or tapping and dragging individual vertices (works way better on an iPad with Apple Pencil than it does with your finger on a relatively tiny iPhone screen). • Use the device camera/orientation as a rangefinder and plot a point of interest at the sighted location. Rapidly use the rangefinder to determine azimuth, inclination, slope, horizontal, and vertical distance to the sighted location. • Display orientation data on an equal area, lower hemisphere projection which can be filtered by data type. Mean vectors, cylindrical best fits, poles to planes, and rose diagrams can be displayed. • If you have a data connection, GMDE Lite can display your data on Apple Maps within the program as well as get point elevations from an online server. • Use a variety of icons and colors to represent different types of data. • Access all of your data on your device from, and upload to and download from, the Files app on the device. Upload to and download from StraboSpot. Copy and paste between GMDE Lite and Stereonet Mobile. Skills you need to take full advantage of GMDE Lite: GMDE Lite can be used "right out of the box" with a cellular data connection using an online satellite or road base map, and online elevation server, in 2D to measure and collect strikes and dips, plot contacts, do 3-pt problems, etc. To experience the full power of GMDE Lite, and for complete offline operation (essential in remote field areas), you will need to know how to do the following: • Produce base maps from whatever source you want in MBTiles format. Because you are producing your own base maps you can use whatever you want (existing geologic maps, USGS Topo Maps, LiDAR hill shade images, etc.) and not just the few option available from online mapping companies. Maps can be produced with my free desktop program MBTileMakerViewer. • Download and format digital elevation models (DEMs) in GridFloat or BIL format. Having a DEM on the device is what allows GMDE Lite to perform its magic such as calculating an orientation from three points. DEMs can be produced with my free program DEM Masher (requires GDAL). • Know enough about your digital devices to understand how to move files onto or off the device from/to your desktop computer.

v. 8.0.0 -- 6 August 2026 (Finally...) • NEW -- GMDE can now download (when you have an internet connection) and cache permanently on your device map tiles from the USGS and from the Open Topo Map project. The app will automatically store the tiles in an MBTiles database. USGS Topo and Imagery map tiles are only available in the United States but Open Topo Map tiles (with 10 m contours based on the 30 m SRTM DEM) can be downloaded for anywhere in the world. To download map tiles go to the Settings Screen and toggle on "Download Map Tiles". A message box will appear asking you the source you want to use for map tiles. When you tap the source, you will be taken to the Map or the Online Satellite screen. Adjust the view by pinching and dragging until the area for which you want to download tiles fills the screen. I suggest zooming out no more than level 12 to avoid downloading a huge number of tiles all at once (please do not abuse these free sources of map tiles!). Then, tap the name of the data source in the Map Button menu (e.g., for USGS Topo Map tiles tap "USGS Topo Cache") and your download will start automatically. All zoom levels between your starting zoom level (e.g., 12) and zoom level 16 (2 m/pixel, the highest zoom for which USGS tiles are available) will be downloaded to your device. You can pan the map once tiles have been downloaded to start new downloads of adjacent areas. When you are finished downloading, eith tap the "Stop Download" button that appears during downloading, go to the Settings Screen and toggle off "Download Map Tiles" or switch to any other map using the Map Button menu. • NEW -- GMDE Lite will not allow you to zoom in one level higher than the maximum level in your map tiles database. For example, If you have downloaded USGS Imagery Tiles to the maximum of level 16 (2 m/pixel), when viewing those times, you will be able to zoom to level 17 (1 m/pixel). This may help to separate closely spaced measurements. • NEW -- When you export your data as a KMZ file, that file will now include any photos. Thumbnails of the photos will be displayed automatically in Google earth. v. 7.3.0 -- 26 June 2026 • NEW -- All of the toolbar buttons now have popup menus rather than message boxes for making your selection. These menus are faster and more elegant than the previous way of doing things. • NEW -- Pause and resume an activity such as collecting a GPS track or sketching on a map. The functionality has been enabled by the new menu interface: e.g., tap the measure tool and choose Record GPS track from the menu. The toolbar measure button starts flashing. when you need to pause a track, tap the flashing toolbar button. The resulting menu now shows Pause and End. Tap pause. When you're ready to resume tap the toolbar button and the menu will now say Resume and End. Tap resume to continue collecting your track. To end the track, tap the button and choose End from the menu. • NEW -- From the Add Orientation menu (accessed from the Orientation button on the toolbar), you can now go directly to collecting and orientation by Device Orientation (when you want to put your phone on the plane to be measured) or directly to the sighting an orientation screen. When you go to the sighting screen, as soon as you tap the display when there is a valid measurement the screen will close and you will see the orientation in the Orientation Details screen. Both device orientation and sighting were, and still are, available from buttons in the toolbar for the Orientation Details screen. The just gives you a little fast way of collecting those measurements. • NEW -- You can now enter an orientation in the orientation details screen by tapping and dragging in the stereonet at the bottom of the screen. • NEW -- The Rangefinder can now be used to measure the azimuth and inclination by sighting through your device camera.

Momentum comes from crawler snapshots for the tracked storefront. “Viral growth signal” means unusually fast recent rating gains; it is an indicator, not download data.

1. First observed Aug 21, 2026 · 1:42 PM Free