Sorry if this is old news...just saw some deciding on the product and thought I'd share
Mapopolis is planning to pull out of the GPS market...too bad it was my frontrunner for purchase.
Quote:
A member of the GPSPassion forums recent posted an excerpt of an e-mail from Matt Kuenzel of Mapopolis stating that the company was going to discontinue sales of their "PDA Software products". A subsequent post (2nd in this thread) by "lamar" from Mapopolis confirmed this and added a considerable amount of additional information.
Mapopolis seems to have a very reasonable and sincere plan in place for gradually winding their business. They will continue selling new activations of their product until March 31st 2007. Their map server and customer service departments will continue to be operational for another year past this date so that all current customers' terms can be completed in full. Upon the conclusion of the final customers' 1-year term in March of 2008, Mapopolis will cease operations. Their software technology will be assimilated into the product line of another firm whose name is currently not being disclosed.
Mapopolis was one of the original stalwarts in PDA-based GPS navigation and mapping. The past two years have seen eroding profit margins in the personal GPS market as well as the entrance of a slew of new competitors for both handheld-based and dedicated GPS solutions. In addition, Palm themselves have been making a strong push with some high quality GPS hardware and software bundles as reviewed here.
Mapopolis is not the only handheld GPS solutions provider facing hard times: Garmin has phased out nearly all of their traditional Windows Mobile and Palm OS-based PDA/GPS hybrid units in favor of Bluetooth-based receivers and multi platform software solutions.
This is old news. This was the first post here about this decision. As for your decision, consider this: If you buy today, and then download all the maps, they will work with the current version of Mapopolis forever. So, if it suits your needs, it may be worth it to invest the purchase price. Most vendors update maps/software once a year, and most require you to purchase a new copy to get the new maps. They have to do that because of the way they have to pay royalties to the map database vendors (TeleAtlas and Navteq). So, next year, if the maps in your area are sufficiently out of date to cause you to want a replacement, you can look for what might suit you then. Maybe there will be a new vendor around, or one of the current offerings could have a new version that suits you as well as Mapopolis.
So, view the cost as a "rental" of the system for 1-2 years and maybe Mapopolis doesn't get eliminated so quickly.
This is new news to me. I use mapopolis a lot when traveling, only use demo maps.
But, i guess i better get out there and get all the maps i will need, and make sure i keep them backed up. I like mapopolis software, b/c i dont have gps and it still does a lot. It does directions, gives business/store names, locations, phone #s, and it all works on the demo maps. So, u dont have to purchase a map for an area your only staying in 4 a few days.
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Yep, that was one of the nice features of Mapopolis. The closest to that model now is OdysseyMobile, who sell maps at lower prices for shorter timeperiods. Their website is infogation.com. The software has a three-day demo period. Test before you buy, as there are some challenges with VGA machines.
Why couldnt they just leave their maps and software on there site all for free, and just have a notice that theres no customer support or updates.
If they arent selling it anymore, why not just put it up for free?
Note: I like FREE stuff....
'tain't free, that's why. They paid a royalty to Navteq for every copy of the database they made available. That's why no free updates, no free maps after the 9 day trial. And that's why they didn't leave it up after leaving the market. They'd still be paying Navteq for every download and not getting any revenue at all. Not a good business model. :rolling:
'tain't free, that's why. They paid a royalty to Navteq for every copy of the database they made available. That's why no free updates, no free maps after the 9 day trial. And that's why they didn't leave it up after leaving the market. They'd still be paying Navteq for every download and not getting any revenue at all. Not a good business model. :rolling:
Thanks for informing me. I would have even considered buying some maps.
Is there anything still in production thats similar to mapopolis.
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Windows Mobile 5
Think Outside IR Keyboard
8GB CF Card (Apps, Movies)
4GB SDHC Card (Music)
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