Forum: General Topics

I've been using TMJ on my Blackberry Curve 8320 (T-mobile, no built-in GPS) for a few years now and just wanted to take a moment to comment how impressed I am with all it does. I've used it mostly to log tracks when driving, biking, hiking, running and most recently, geocaching, all of which TMJ also does well.

My daughter just bought a Garmin 60 CSX and has introduced me to geocaching. I was thrilled to learn how easy it is to use TMJ on my Blackberry to accomplish the same thing. I just download the .loc files from geocaching.com to create waypoints at the TMJ website, and then easily synch these with the Curve. (Is there a way to do this in the field, to import a saved .loc file - downloaded with a browser onto the media card - into TMJ directly on the handheld without using the website?)

Over time I've learned that the beauty of TMJ for me is the set of tools available at the website for track editing, storing, visualizing and so on. To me this strategy resembles the elegance of the iPod and iTunes - use the computer for the heavy lifting, interface-intensive tasks and leave the handheld for simpler tasks. As I continue to learn all the goodies available, I continue to be awed by what a powerful tool I have with my GPS puck and my Blackberry, paired with TMJ.

For me, the "perfect" program would be a hybrid of TMJ and Google Maps. TMJ isn't the best tool to find the nearest sushi counter and get route directions to get you there. Google Maps is perfect for that, but it doesn't do any of the goodies that TMJ does, not even a simple track recording.

My negative comments on TMJ are mostly about interface issues - leading to the the generally steep learning curve - and the handling of maps. Using the free Google Maps sets a pretty high expectation level for both the simple interface (is there even a manual?) and the maps, although with a seriously lower feature set when it comes to GPS. I haven't tried the new vector maps capabilities of TMJ and I'm optimistic that this will fill a hole.

In all, TMJ is a top-notch program for any Blackberry owner interested in GPS capabilities beyond the moving blue dot of Google Maps. I've looked at wide range of other options and nothing else has even come close. If I'd been able to figure out sooner what all TMJ can do, I wouldn't have bothered with the others. TMJ does it all, and very well. Well done, and keep up the good work!

I feel for the difficulty of simplifying an interface for any feature-rich program like TMJ. You'll note I didn't make any suggestions! I know better than to think it's just a quick fix here and there.

FWIW, the features-vs-simplicity balance is used in business school as an example of a "technology frontier". Miller Lite's "Tastes great, less filling" slogan is another example. The concept is that it's easy to trade off one desirable attribute for another - beer taste instead of low-calorie, software features instead of simplicity - but it's very difficult to add more of both, to move the frontier. Of course you clobber the competition when your product sets the new frontier.

My learning curve hurdle with TMJ was not so much the interface itself, it was realizing what features were there in the first place and how to best use them (ie. on handlheld versus online). To someone completely unfamiliar with TMJ, there's not a good thumbnail description that helps you understand the basic usefulness of the program. I can recall a lot of moments of "Wow, it can do that?", but these came along much later after I'd been using and learning it for a while. Giving TMJ a try for the first time was driven more by a lack of other options than by a solid understanding that it was the right tool for me. It didn't grab me right away. I guess it under-promises and over-delivers. That's better than the other way around, but we're used to seeing the big promises right up front.

So my humble advice for helping beginners, beyond the installation issues, would be to bullet-point the various tasks that TMJ might be used for and give a brief tutorial how these tasks are accomplished. I'll bet your users could do a very nice job of honing the tutorials. Theses forums probably already contain a vast how-to collection, but a beginner needs a simple list of steps to follow.

And if you want to actually start marketing TMJ, I'd hang around sites like geocaching.com, sports sites, the blackberry forums, and so on, where people are looking for solutions and completely unaware that TMJ may be the perfect fix.

Hi Wayne,

Interesting and insightful comments - thanks! I'm very concious that the website is particularly lacking in the introduction/home pages, which don't show very clearly what TMJ is all about. In fact I've just checked and the front page hasn't changed since 2007 - its definitely about time I updated it!

Regards,
Stephen