Dougmeister

PC Mag Review

Is this supposed to be a competitor to Mapopolis? Or any of the MS products?

I'm so confused. There are so many GPS/Map programs out there. Most people seem to prefer Mapopolis or a few others. Is it really as simple as "these 2 or 3 are the best"? If so, what are they once and for all?

FrankK

HI
"Delorme XMAP Handheld?"
I gave Delorme a good honest try because I like their SA7 for
my laptop + gps BUT Xmap gets thumbs down! I am using
Mapopolis now its ok but not super, just used it on a trip from Tx to Mn it did a few strange things due to incomplete data?
Frank

BubbaJonBoy

Quote:

Originally posted by Dougmeister PC Mag Review Is this supposed to be a competitor to Mapopolis? Or any of the MS products?

Yes and no. Xmap comes with streets and routing and such but to me its big strength is the ability to download topo maps from Topo 4.0. Also you can download a less detailed map at say zoom 10 then at points of interest download maps at zoom level 13 and you have coverage over a large area but details in the spots you need. It uses vectors and the streets don't have a very "natural" curve - they're line segments, this does save on map size and drawing speed.
M$ Streets is actually pretty nice - it will even connect to the internet and find any road construction and put it on the trip directions! That's a first for GPS software to my knowledge. No voice prompting though which is very nice to have so you don't have to drive dangerous.
Ostia Navigator (Pharos) isn't too bad but I cannot figure out how to make it route between maps - a big failure IMHO - what's the point if you can only route on one map? Also you will "fall off" the map unless you actually have the map loaded as active. Thank goodness you can zoom all to see the mapped area loaded.
My big gripe with mapopolis is the requirement that you actually have a membership where you download the maps you need - you have to know the counties! You can now download a whole state (!!!!) but if you want to eliminate unecessary maps then you have to know the counties. Pretty stoopid IMHO - a computer should allow you to make a route and select what you need and NONE of the packages that I have reviewed do that. Matter of fact most don't even have enough "sense" to know when the gPS has "fallen off" the current map to switch to the next contiguous map! Pretty pathetic programming and a classic example of some geek programmer not taking the time to think how the software would be used by a non-geek. I can say this as I am in fact a software engineer.
All in all I'm pretty disappointed in the current batch of GPS software that I've used. Mostly lacking in features - they seem to think that showing you the map is the limit of their obligation - the voice prompting and routing are the only real features that most offer.

Dougmeister

Yeah, Bubba, I hear ya, man.

If they can route a trip (both statically and dynamically, I might add), then why the heck can't they figure out what counties you're gonna travel through?

I guess that they need a PC-based program in which you'd plot your trip then it would copy the necessary files to your PDA.

But Mapopolis will load contiguous maps, so I've heard. I wonder if it will route from one county to another....

AximTT

Mapopolis can route cross county maps.

I have planned a trip using Mapopolis form LA to Las Vegs before.

I copy LA county map, Las Vegas county map, and highway map for California and Nevada to my Axim.

Mapopolis routes the whole trip without a problem.

BubbaJonBoy

Quote:

Originally posted by AximTT Mapopolis can route cross county maps. I have planned a trip using Mapopolis form LA to Las Vegs before. I copy LA county map, Las Vegas county map, and highway map for California and Nevada to my Axim. Mapopolis routes the whole trip without a problem.

Like - how hard can it be?
It's a straight line!
Now try routing from Atlanta to Pueblo Colorado, with a few sight-seeing spots in between.

ahearn

I'm a confirmed Mapopolis user, but just started taking a look at Delorme XMap, primarily for use with Topo USA 4.0 maps, not for street maps or street navigation.

So far, I'm pretty impressed. You have to download and install a free plug-in for Topo from Delorme's web site, which allows you to export maps to your Axim. You can select one or more USGS quads to export, at various levels of detail. One quad map I exported to my Axim was 753KB.

The maps look great on the Axim's screen with smooth, fast map scrolling, 14 levels of zoom, and a good GUI. GPS support looks very good, with better features (such as route logging and waypoints) than I've seen in other programs, even Mapopolis.

I haven't had time to fully explore XMap and Topo yet. This has just been a quick look, so far. If anyone else has looked at them in more detail, I would appreciate comments and opinions.

__________________
Al
Axim X5 400MHz