Next North American Map Update?

[Zeigh]

Hello,

When will the next update to the North American map be released? In fact, what is the average schedule for such updates?

Case in point, there is about 11 miles of freeway that has been completed in the East Valley Phoenix, Arizona area for over nine months now. Google Maps just updated their maps (but not Google Earth) last month. I know that it must be hectic to keep up on these details, but such information is vital to the users.


"Technological change is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal." (Albert Einstein, 1941),
Dr. Z.

[neil]

Hi,


We plan to release subscription maps this year.

Google can update maps pretty much on a daily basis as and when they receive the new data.


Neil

[marshy]

Hi,


We plan to release subscription maps this year.

Google can update maps pretty much on a daily basis as and when they receive the new data.


Neil

That doesn't really answer the original question.

Will all of us who have already bought the US and/or Canadian maps been entitled to these "subscription maps", or are they a totally separate entity (that will be purchased separately)?
i.e. are the updated versions of maps we've already purchased going to be made available for download/update (without us making additional payment)?

[neil]

Hi,

When we offer subscription maps we will be charged for that data and have to pass the costs on to any purchaser.

Subscription maps will not cost as much as the initial map purchase, indeed we should be able to offer very competitive rates compared to most PC map developers. We are able to do this for several reasons, partially because we have kept the maps separate to the application and also have more room to negotiate.

Unlike other developers we plan to offer regular updates from two or more times a year rather than annually. Road data changes quickly and if we can take the latest data available and get it out to you as soon as possible then we all benefit.


Neil

[marshy]

Hi,

When we offer subscription maps we will be charged for that data and have to pass the costs on to any purchaser.

Subscription maps will not cost as much as the initial map purchase, indeed we should be able to offer very competitive rates compared to most PC map developers. We are able to do this for several reasons, partially because we have kept the maps separate to the application and also have more room to negotiate.

Unlike other developers we plan to offer regular updates from two or more times a year rather than annually. Road data changes quickly and if we can take the latest data available and get it out to you as soon as possible then we all benefit.


Neil

Neil

Thanks for the speedy reply. I just re-read my post, and I hadn't intended it to sound so arguementative/negative...

So, as I understand it:
- we purchase the map data, which is a point in time snapshot (latest data at time of purchase)
- we can pay an additional (smaller) payment to receive regular updates to the map data

Is this correct?

[Dair Grant]

That's basically the plan, yes. What we can offer in terms of pricing does depend to a certain extent on the conditions set by our data suppliers, and so we are currently talking to them to try and reach a pricing structure that will be agreeable to them, us, and our users.

Until we have everything finalised, that does mean our answers are somewhat vague - but this is purely because we don't want to make a promise which we find we're unable to keep. However we do recognise that stale map data is a big problem with many mapping applications, and we want to try and avoid that situation with RouteBuddy if at all possible.

[SairyGamp]

What is the current status on the map update/upgrade program? The last posting here was in July.

Thanks

[neil]

Hi,

We'll be looking at map updates this fall.


Neil

[Taigin]

It being winter, and there being lots of new roads here in Hawaii, I find myself driving off-road according to RouteBuddy.

Was wondering if the update issues have been addressed yet.

Thank you for your time.

[neil]

Hi,

we've been working on RouteBuddy 1.5 (due out soon) and the RouteBuddy MWSF release (due out on Day 1 of the expo). Revised maps are next in line, once we receive the update tranche of data from Tele Atlas.


Neil

[Bruce]

Hi,

we've been working on RouteBuddy 1.5 (due out soon) and the RouteBuddy MWSF release (due out on Day 1 of the expo). Revised maps are next in line, once we receive the update tranche of data from Tele Atlas.


Neil

What is MWSF please? Looking forward to 1.5 ... thanks.

bruce

[neil]

Hi,

apologies for using the abbreviation MWSF, which stands for Macworld San Francisco 2008.

We'll be exhibiting again, and have more details here:
Visit us at Booth#4528 in the West Hall
PDF floorplan here: http://tinyurl.com/2estox


Neil

[George]

Revised maps are next in line, once we receive the update tranche of data from Tele Atlas.


Neil

I purchased my 'North America" maps recently.
I found myself driving 'off the map' on major highways that are over two years old in New Brunswick Canada.

I'll post a NB.kmz from Google Earth that you can import and see the deviations.

[neil]

Hi,

had a look at the file, thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will be releasing maps in the new year and are working on these after Macworld San Francisco 2008. We are talking to Tele Atlas about covering recent purchases of our maps, with the revisions, towards obtaining a reasonable extension of time out of them.

Neil

[Taigin]

Hi,

we've been working on RouteBuddy 1.5 (due out soon) and the RouteBuddy MWSF release (due out on Day 1 of the expo). Revised maps are next in line, once we receive the update tranche of data from Tele Atlas.


Neil

Today is the first day of the Expo......

*grin*