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Tutorials

Here's a PDF Quick Start Guide for TPE for Desktop: tpe-quick-start-guide-r02.pdf (509.94 KB)

For a more thorough tour of the desktop app, a series of tutorials are available here:

These tutorials are also available auf Deutsch, courtesy of Robert Blasius: Deutsch

Also, be sure to check out Yellow Wood Guiding's excellent Video Tutorials, and more:

Support for TPE for iOS

If you have any issues with TPE for iOS, please e-mail support@photoephemeris.com with details. We'll get back to you as soon as possible.

We'll be building up a Troubleshooting guide as we find out what questions users have most frequently. In the meantime, here are a few hints and tips.

TPE will require iOS 4.2 or higher in the future

Please refer to the FAQ for more details.

Known issues

Intermittent crashes on iPad under iOS5

We've received some reports of crashes at startup or during use on iPads running iOS5. We have been able reproduce this under low memory conditions in certain scenarios and have submitted an update to Apple on Jan 9 2011 to fix this (2.1.2). It should be available in a few days from now, following review. In the meantime, if you're experiencing this problem, please do let us know by writing to support@photoephemeris.com. Our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

No azimuth lines in iOS4.2

Please ensure you update to the latest version of TPE for iOS (1.1.1 or later). This version contains an important fix for iOS4.2 - if you aren't seeing any azimuth lines on the map, you need to update to the latest version via iTunes or the App Store on your device.

Geodetic information in iOS4 and above in TPE 1.1.1 or later

In certain circumstance, moving the grey secondary map marker may not result in geodetic information being displayed. This only occurs if the default elevation web service (SRTM3) does not have elevation data available for the location of the pin (a relatively uncommon case). Please update to 2.0.2 for a fix for this issue.

Map refresh and azimuth lines in iOS4.1

iOS4.1 has introduced some unexpected issues for TPE for iPhone 1.1.0 and below: specifically, after dragging and dropping either of the map pins, the azimuth lines may not display properly after the map is scrolled and the map itself may not refresh properly. Please update to 1.1.1 or later for a fix for these issues.

Hints and tips

Current location information

By default, TPE for iOS will display your current location, if you give the app permission to use location data from your device. On iPod Touch, location will be established using your WiFi connection, if available. On iPhone, the built-in GPS chip is used. TPE tries to get a location accurate to within 100m/328ft. When using the "Go to current location" button, the button will remain depressed until a sufficiently accurate location is found and then it will auto-reset (unless you reset it first, or you move the map position manually). TPE isn't designed to calculate sun and moon position on the fly as you're driving along in a car - there's too much involved, plus the data would hardly change all the while it used up your battery power.

Can I drag the map marker?

Yes. Tap and hold the marker for a moment before dragging. The iOS needs a moment to work out if you're intending to drag the map underneath the map marker or the map itself. Remember, the cross-hairs at the base of the marker (which appear while dragging), show you precisely where the pin will drop when released.

No network connection

If you have no network connection, TPE will still work, but with some limitations. Most obviously, you likely won't have any map displayed, unless you're looking at a map area you had recently viewed (and at the same zoom levels). It's possible the map image tiles will still be in your devices local cache, but don't rely on it.

Secondly, TPE will look up the local time zone for wherever you are looking on the planet, so you don't have to second guess. However, it needs an internet connection to do that. If there isn't one available, you will be prompted to specify a time zone manually.

Finally, TPE also looks up elevation above sea level for both primary (red) and secondary (gray) map marker locations. Elevation above sea level affects the actual time of rise/set and apparent position of the sun/moon in the sky, due to atmospheric refraction. If there's no internet connection, TPE will assume that the location is at sea level (which is what very many sunrise/set calculators do all the time), and the data will be slightly less accurate as a result. For the secondary map marker, knowing the elevation above sea level is essential - this is how you determine the angle of elevation to a nearby mountain-top, for example. With no internet connection, the geodetics information cannot be determined.

If you find yourself seeing a spinning activity indicator when you have no internet connection, wait a few seconds for the time zone and elevation data requests to timeout. The rise/set time will be displayed after a short pause.

Support for TPE for Android

Missing azimuth lines in Android 4.0

If the azimuth lines on the map disappear when beyond a certain zoom level, when running under Android 4.0, please check that the "Force CPU rendering" setting, found under Settings/Developer options, is unchecked. Checking this option causes drawing issues with TPE's map overlays (as well with other apps).

Support for TPE for Desktop

If you have any issues with TPE for Desktop, please e-mail support@photoephemeris.com with details. We'll get back to you as soon as possible.

If you're having trouble with Adobe AIR in general, please visit Adobe's Support pages.

New Version: 1.1.1

TPE for Desktop 1.1.1 is now available. Details on new featured and fixes in this release are available here: TPE for Desktop Release Notes.

Blank window on start-up in 1.1.0

You may see a blank window entitled "Updating: TPE" on startup. This is due to a bug with the Adobe Application Updater that shipped with v1.1.0 of TPE. You can safely dismiss the window, however it will recur every time.

We recommend updating to the latest version of TPE (1.1.1 at the time of writing). You can download the latest version from the sidebar on this page.

No Map Displayed

If you're confronted by an empty map after upgrading to TPE for Desktop 1.0.6 or later, then grab the latest Adobe AIR: http://get.adobe.com/air/. This has resolved the issue every time, so far.

Transferring Locations

Please update to version 1.1.0 to transfer locations between desktop installations. 1.1.0 includes the ability to export your saved locations to KML and to import from KML. To transfer locations, simply export to a KML file on the source machine, transfer the KML file to the other machine and import it there.

You can use KML import/export to share your locations with other photographers, or with other applications, such as Google Earth.

We are working on the ability to synchronize locations with TPE running on smartphones.

Damaged AIR file

"Sorry, an error has occurred. The application could not be installed because the AIR file is damaged. Try obtaining a new AIR file from the application author."

We've only had reports of this error from users running Windows Vista, to date. It is not unique to TPE, but also affects other AIR-based applications. If you see this message on trying to install TPE for Desktop, try the following techniques:

  • Ensure you have Adobe AIR installed before trying to install TPE
  • Ensure you have administrator rights on the machine you're installing on
  • Save the AIR file to your local hard drive rather than a network drive
  • Ensure you have the complete file downloaded (the file size for version 1.0.4 should be 2.4MB (2,358,609 bytes)
  • Once downloaded, locate the .air file in in Windows Explorer/Finder and double-click to run.
  • If the above steps do not resolve the issue, try uninstalling and reinstalling the latest version of Adobe AIR
  • As an alternative, you can try selecting "Open..." rather than save when clicking on the download link
  • Try downloading TPE using a different Web Browser from your default, and then installing
  • If you're still stuck, try the following alternative source for the download: Alternative Download Link

If none of the above works, there are some other approaches to solving this available that you can try:

(Please note: we have not tested the methods documented on the 3rd party sites. Use them at your risk.)

Initialization failed

"Initialization failed: please check the API key, swf location, version and network availability."

If you see this message, it's likely that one of the following issues exists:

  • No internet connection - TPE for Desktop requires an internet connection to function
  • Firewall - do you need to grant TPE permission to reach the internet through your firewall
  • Proxy Server settings - do you have some proxy server configuration set that could be preventing TPE from reaching the internet
  • Internet Explorer - on Windows, ensure IE is not set to work offline

The usual explanation for this problem for WIndows users is that Internet Explorer, for one of the above reasons, cannot get online. Even if your default browser is something other than Internet Explorer, if IE won't let you browse the web, you'll get this error message in TPE. Check that IE is not set to work offline and that if it is configured to use a proxy, that the proxy is accessible.

Installer has been misconfigured

"Sorry, an error has occurred. This application cannot be installed because this installer has been misconfigured. Please contact the application author for assistance."

As is often the case, this doesn't quite mean what it says. There's nothing wrong with the installer, but there may be something wrong with the Adobe AIR installation.

This page has tips on how to resolve. Additionally, Adobe's official troubleshooting page for AIR installation issues is here: Troubleshoot AIR installation.

If this still doesn't sort out your problem, please let us know by e-mailing support@photoephemeris.com.

System does not support Adobe AIR 2.0

Some computers cannot install Adobe AIR 2.0, for example Apple Mac G5 machines. In this case, if you still have Adobe AIR 1.5 installed, you can continue to use TPE up to version 1.0.5. This older version is available here: TPE for Desktop 1.0.5.