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	Current Version: Version 4.xx wass released in May 2003 Version 3.10 as of 12/15/02 (History is here) This is small download (834k) and Mapopolis have been adding enhancements regularly. The latest being dynamic map loading.
	General Mapopolis Navigator was released on October 15, 2002 and retails for $99. It builds on the previously available Mapopolis Platinum GPS program by adding navigation features, i.e. tracking, rerouting, voice guidance, etc... Initial Coverage was for the US and Canada and since 11/18/02, all of Europe is also available Contrary to other PocketPC navigation programs the actual program can be downloaded for free and you buy a yearly subscription for the maps that you can then download from the Mapopolis website, by county and since 11/02 by State. Mapopolis is compatible with all GPS receivers capable of outputting NMEA data This means that all current receivers should be compatible.
	Strengths: Map Display: This is an area where Mapopolis really shines. It has what I would call a "liquid" display. Now let me (try to) clarify ;-) Very fast "satellite view-like" zooming in and out with a nifty "zoom box" that "moves" map features around seamlessly (street names, roads, parks, streams, etc..) Very fast and seamless scrolling by simple dragging of the stylus around the screen and the street names "float" around in real time for best readability Level of map detail is automatic based on the zoom level but can also be controlled by the user by tapping an icon (the plus and minus boxes shown on the picture on the right above) Tap anywhere and it will give you the street name and number, the name of the map feature (hospital, park, shopping center) You can create "maplets" for each county. This will enable you to create your own POI's that are later fully searchable. Maybe one day there' ll be a place for users to share their maplets (Fry's store locations, Post Offices, etc...)   Routing: While the routes calculated by Mapopolis are on par with the competition (and will never be perfect) it does have a few features that make it stand out: Very fast route calculation. In my (unreleased) routing shoot-out, I found that Mapopolis was on average slightly faster than CoPilot, the current best and between 3 and 4 times faster than the others on average. Re-routing is also quite remarkable. If you miss a turn, it will provide you with a new route in less than 7 seconds on average, a performance only equaled by CoPilot. This is a combination of the fast routing discussed in a. and also of not waiting too long to start the recalculation. Other programs will generally take 15s to provide you with a new route which will not do in a city environment. Since 12/16/02, you can now download "grid" maps for all US States and Canadian Provinces at no extra charge to subscribers. On average these are about 200k and are very useful to plan long distance trips. You load your start county, your destination county and a (or several) State Grid Maps. You can go on a cross country trip. The limitation are  if you need detailed maps along your trip, you'll need to have them handy ETA information is at least off by 25% (possibly more on a long trip) No waypoint are (yet) available to "bend" a route to your liking   User Experience: Thanks to the points discussed in 1. and 2., Mapopolis has a head start in that area. In addition, you can map 6 (#6 is for PocketPCs with a jog shuttle it seems) hardware buttons to a variety of functions (zooming, rotating, level of detail, Active guidance toggling,  Route to favorite). This is quite convenient, especially the route to favorite that gives you one-touch + one-stylus tap routing to your destination (provided you have a GPS fix of course).   Navigation Information: Nothing fancy, but the Mapopolis design is quite effective and can be very helpful even on short trips in town to estimate your arrival time (especially if you're always running late like me ;-)) Navigation info is displayed below the directions pane and can be present at all times without using up too much screen real estate Provides Time to Go, Distance to Go to Final and Estimated Time of Arrival. It seems though that timings are a bit conservative on average and for long distance they're too high by at about 25% on average. Mapopolis is working on this   Map Data: Mapopolis have chosen to use NavTech maps and that's certainly a good thing for accuracy as these are considered to be the best maps around shortly ahead of TeleAtlas maps. You can read more about maps here. As a reminder most in-car navigation systems use NavTech maps while on the PocketPC platform, only Destinator and SmartST Pro use them too. However, at $100, Mapopolis has the lowest price of any NavTech based program.

 

	Weaknesses Map Management and Memory Use (starting with v3.10 this is no longer a major weakness): Maps must be downloaded (CD version is in the beta testing stage). Maps are divided by County (State Highway maps are in the beta testing stage) Starting with version 3.10, maps are now loaded "dynamically in memory", which is a big improvement as now RAM is no longer a limitation The number of maps that can be loaded on a memory card is limited to a population equivalent of 20 million in the US and 15 million in Europe If you plan a long trip, you can try putting a broad range of maps but if you exceed the population limit, you'll have to identify the maps you really need. by looking at county maps by state (available on the Mapopolis website)   Navigation Display: As good as the map display is, the navigation display has several aspects that could be improved on: Implement "Heading Up" display. Right now, the map rotates only at 90 degree angles. While this is ok in most situations, it can be confusing if you're in a difficult situation or you got distracted for some reason and are trying to find your bearings. I now leave this to "north up" but it's still not very satisfactory. I've learnt to look at the large "turn arrows" that actually an accurate representation of the next intersection (number of streets, angle of turn, etc...) Implement Auto-Zoom and/or use arrow on the map when reaching a turn. Combined with 1. above, it's sometimes hard to figure out what you need to do exactly when you reach an intersection. SmartST Pro is an example that could be followed for this. Implement "Snap to Road". There are pros and cons to this, but: it's more natural to be driving on a street or a road rather than 10 yards off of one in bad reception conditions it can help the program find its bearings, but also confuse it more so it goes both ways. Ideally it could be made it selectable like on Garmin receivers. Mapopolis have clarified that this was being done internally (street name display) and that they would probably add the option for on map "snap to road" at a later time. Replace the "Feet" measurement by "Yards". I've switched it to Metric to circumvent that problem Cycle between screens in navigation mode instead of having everything on the same screen. In some cases you are left with 2cm of map area at the top of the screen (this can now be adjusted by selecting "small navigation pane" in the options). In this case, toggling "Nav Pane Up/Down" helps as well as hitting the up and down arrows of the cursor pad.   User Experience: While I stand by my comments in S.3, there are a few aspects that could be improved on: Make voice guidance distance based rather than time based. Since version 3.05 the user can now configure the timing of these prompts and the prompting is now stopped when the vehicle is stationary. Provide the option (icon, hardware button) to re-center on the GPS position after having scrolled the map. By default, you'll have to wait 15 seconds if the vehicle isn't moving and less if it is but it generally seems too long.   No POI's with Navigator Maps: To get POIs, you need to purchase the $25 "Platinum Place Guide" subscription.
	Screenshots You can check those in the Pocket PC Life review in the meantime
	Future upgrades Mapopolis have communicated informally (phone, message boards) that they were working on the following enhancements in addition to those mentioned in the review (CD, Voice prompts, Snap to Road option): Highway maps for long distance traveling - 12/16/02 European maps - available since 11/18/02 Dynamic loading of maps (i.e. not loaded entirely in RAM) - done since 3.10 (12/14/02) Inclusion of waypoints in routes As you can see Mapopolis are making "promises" they live by, kudos guys!
	Tips   Make sure you map the "route to favorite" command to a hardware button. This can give you a route to one of your 7 stored favorites in a few seconds after starting the program. Very handy! "Heading Up" - Look at the turn arrows! Since the map rotates only at 90 degree angles, it can be confusing. I now leave this to "north up" but it's still not very satisfactory. I've learnt to look at the large "turn arrows" that actually an accurate representation of the next intersection (number of streets, angle of turn, etc...)
	Conclusion:   Pros: Excellent Map Display- Best Excellent Routing and rerouting speed- Best Best available map data (NavTech) - Best Useful navigation info Cons: Map management is basic and makes longer distance trips problematic or impossible Navigation display could be "spruced up" (adding "Heading Up" particularly) to improve overall guidance No  POIs (can be purchased separately)   Overall evaluation (compare) Short distance in town:  A- Medium (<200 miles) distance: C Long (>200 miles) distance:  C
	Want another opinion? Review on Pocket PC Life review Review by Portus on the PPCPassion MSG Board

Still have questions, try the Official Mapopolis Forums

 

Revisions 12/15/02: Addition of European Coverage Map Management description (Dynamic map loading, population limitation, etc...) Voice prompts Updated future features list 12/19/02 Fixed some typos and updates following comments posted by Portus, thanks! Added the "Heading Up " Tip Added release of Grid maps on 12/16/02 05/27/03 v4 release updated rating