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CColtManM
USA
55 Posts |
 Posted - 29 juil. 2006 : 09:53:31
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There are fewer and less frequent builds provided, and a slow new year map release, not to mention the abandonment of key players in the game.
So what is the future of Mapopolis like?
I hope it turns around beacuse it is my fav gps guided program. |
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JakeRich
USA
584 Posts |
Posted - 29 juil. 2006 : 16:59:25
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It's a cycle. As they get close to a release, they intensify the releases and builds. Then when they have released it, they move to some other product in the line and the work picks up there. Eventually they return to the PPC version and activity picks up. Been that way for years...
Not sure what "abandonment of key players in the game" means...I've not seen them abandon anybody that's a key player (whatever that means). |
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gpspassion
93394 Posts |
Posted - 29 juil. 2006 : 21:50:11
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He was probably referring to OcN, that have closed shop it's true, but then you have new players coming in like Route 66 or Infogation, as you say, it's a cycle.
_________________________________________________________________________
Discounts and Assistance/Réductions et Assistance (Club GpsPasSion) / Où commencer? |
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lamar@mapopolis.com
USA
2508 Posts |
Posted - 30 juil. 2006 : 16:01:54
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The rumors of Mapopolis's demise are greatly exaggerated. I, too, bemoan the lateness of the US/Canada release, but later maps means they'll use later data. We also have a couple of projects going on that I may be able to tell you about in a month or two. I suspect that I may even have a news release that I can point you to involving a REAL "key player." We'll just have to see, won't we?
Lamar
“Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.” ~Mark Twain |
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TheBum
USA
80 Posts |
Posted - 31 juil. 2006 : 00:02:01
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Yes, but will the "key player" be something that benefits Palm as well as PPC? I guess I'll just wait and see.
Alan
Palm Tungsten T5
Globalsat BT-338 GPS
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. |
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CColtManM
USA
55 Posts |
Posted - 31 juil. 2006 : 02:34:04
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| Lamar, I am a bit confused as to the lateness of the releases. If they use data from July 06 for example, but don't release becasue of whatever reason til Dec 06, then the info is 5 months old, not current. |
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JakeRich
USA
584 Posts |
Posted - 31 juil. 2006 : 17:19:21
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| CColtManM, it is practically impossible to have "current" data. The Map companies release versions every quarter, but the expense of obtaining that data is very, very high. Software vendors buy the releases no more frequently than every 6 months, most only one per year. After the data is purchased, it has to be modified to put into the format the vendor chooses to, in regions, in states, in counties, in whatever format they need to support their application. Then the data has to be produced on CD/DVD, at least for vendors who use that delivery media. All of that takes time to accomplish. As a consequence, most application developers are running 12-18 months behind "current" in the real world. The reason that places like MapQuest can have more current data is that they are only buying ONE license for their server, as opposed to Mapopolis who has to buy many, many licences (One for each copy sold). As a result MapQuest can afford to update every quarter, while Mapopolis (and others) cannot. |
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cpatchett
USA
32 Posts |
Posted - 31 juil. 2006 : 18:50:17
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I'd love to see Mapopolis more agressively target the Palm platform. It was my navigation app of choice for several years before recently switching to TomTom Navigator.
Craig
"I'm not lost, I'm exploring." |
Edited by - cpatchett on 31 juil. 2006 18:50:39 |
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lamar@mapopolis.com
USA
2508 Posts |
Posted - 31 juil. 2006 : 22:28:19
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I see that there's some confusion here. Let's see if I can add to it. :)
We do get quarterly updates from NAVTEQ for the US/Canada maps. They don't come precisely on the date the quarter ends - they come several weeks later. Each time, our CEO takes the data (now on DVDs) and sits down and checks it to determine if it's worth basing a release on. In the past, especially when NAVTEQ was building Canada, he choose sometimes TWO releases per year based on the data. Now the US and Canada are filled out pretty well, and there's not the urgency involved anymore. We have committed to building 2006 maps - this from our CEO himself. That means that it WILL HAPPEN.
For the European maps, which are actively building, we have a continous update cycle. NAVTEQ sends us stuff as they package it, and he decides when it's time to stop and make a "snap-shot" of the data to base the release on. Our "lag time" in that case was about three months from decision to release.
Jake didn't spell it out above, but we went to a county based approach to solve a problem with big maps and the devices of the day. It sort of gave us an unintended flexibility - load a single map, a few maps, a cluster of maps like a metro area, or, jeepers, a state at a time - that we've capitalized on for a while. Folks fuss about the map handling, but it still does it all on the PDA without recourse to an attached PC.
Craig, I don't see a greater targeting of the Palm version happening soon. I've opined in some other posts here about why I think that's true, but an OEM has approached us, and if we do a custom for them, goodies will trickle down to rest of us Palm users. Negotiations with OEMs start out with a broad swipe of new features galore they'd like to have. Then it's a matter of "can do, could do, may do, won't do" and counter offers until an agreement is reached.
And so we reach a very interesting time in Mapopolis's history and identity. On one side, we have the sucessful Palm TripCard/NavCard product that emphasizes ease of use and simplicity and very much fits in with the "Zen" of "Palm." On the PPC/Windows Mobile platform, we have a very feature-rich program that is uniquely capable, but has become more and more complex to use.
The challenge, then, is to adopt both elements into the PPC/WM product. It should be both very easy for a neophyte to use AND not difficult to access advanced features. Folks, it's harder to achieve Zen on a Microsoft platform, but that's what we're going to try to do with a PPC NavCard.
Again, that's orders from on high, and it will happen one way or another.
I've always appreciated you folks who've come along for the ride and actively participated in our testing and our discussion. For you, I have one thing to say: the ride ain't over.
Lamar
“Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.” ~Mark Twain |
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tmuka
USA
63 Posts |
Posted - 31 juil. 2006 : 22:51:33
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Thanks Lamar, i'm ready to ride!
Dell Axim X50 (A05 rom), Garmin Geko 301, GlobalSat BT-338, Mapopolis PPC 2003 4.7 Final |
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tkim1
2 Posts |
Posted - 01 août 2006 : 07:28:09
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Lamar,
When do you expect a new version of the US navcard to be out? Within the next month or two? I am on the fence between tomtom and mapopolis right now. |
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pocket1
21 Posts |
Posted - 01 août 2006 : 15:39:58
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Hi tkim1,
If it's between tomtom and mapopolis for USA maps I would pick mapopolis anyday. There are many reviews out there but here are some points to consider:
-tomtom maps are very outdated. This is because they don't source from Navteq (tomtom is okay for Europe though). The current mapopolis (4Q2005) are still better than Navteq's current maps.
-tomtom does not tell you which side of the street a destination is on. This is a major problem for some people
-tomtom does not handle door-to-door across different states. This is because only one state can be loaded in at a time. There is a MRM (major road map) but this won't handle door-to-door. I did hear that tomto is planning to address this but not sure when this will be done.
-Tomtom does have 3D and route-stops-planning, but in my opinion mapopolis has a much better map viewing interface.
Hope this helps. |
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CColtManM
USA
55 Posts |
Posted - 01 août 2006 : 15:48:35
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| Thats true Pocket1, and tkim1, Mapopolis, even without a GPS connection is great to use. Think of it as a walking Mapquest, where you can pus addresses in anywhere on the go and get directions. |
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tkim1
2 Posts |
Posted - 01 août 2006 : 16:24:37
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| Thanks Pocket1 and CColtManM. I will probably lean towards Mapopolis but I didn't want to make a purchase today if a new version/release is coming out tomorrow. It would be nice to get a idea when it would come out. |
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Joel
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 01 août 2006 : 16:35:41
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| Someone had mentioned earlier that they were looking into the Emtac navigator for Palm. Has anyone had a chance to do a comparison with Mapopolis? |
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lamar@mapopolis.com
USA
2508 Posts |
Posted - 01 août 2006 : 19:26:05
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Hi, guys,
This is no sort of promise, but we're looking at a 2 GB card for a PPC NavCard. This will include the full coverage of the individual maps of North America. This is currently 1.6 GB of maps. If we're selling 2 GB cards for PPC, then 2 GB cards for Palms will likely follow.
Our programmers have been told to port code from the Palm NavCard version to the PPC/WM platform, and that means two things to me. One is that the long-desired switch to regional maps may come with this, and the other is that the core processing model of the PPC version may change from the current memory mapping model for file access to an internal caching model like the Palm NavCard. This makes sense because the regional maps are designed for rapid data retrieval instead of in geopolitical units. This may also mean that the already fast PPC version may get even faster. (The regional maps caused an astounding speedup on the Palms, even on the RAM-constrained NVFS models. Given the additional memory available on most PPCs, the results may be . . . amazing.)
Maybe not, too, but it'll still be an interesting ride.
Lamar
“Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.” ~Mark Twain |
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The Future of Mapopolis
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