Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 8

Recently, I downloaded the free MobileView software from GeoDiscovery.com. This is the mapping program that comes with the Geode. Unfortunately, I discovered that this program does not meet my expectations.

To summarize:

1. The program requries that you tap on the street to find out it's name. This is a big no-no in mapping programs. Not to mention that it's annoying to have to type on every street to find that one you want.

2. The maps are huge. UbiGo, makers of another mapping software, has a pretty complete map of Cook County, IL that takes up 1.1megs. GeoDiscovery splits the same area to 10 sections, with some sections taking up to 900k. I'm not sure what GeoDiscovery puts in their maps, but they are very large.

3. MobileView is slow. Zooming in and out and scrolling requires very slow screen redraws. Compared with UbiGo and Quo Vadis, this program is glacial.

I didn't mean this to be a complete review of MobileView. The best map program for the PalmOS right now is Quo Vadis from Marcosoft. However, I've not heard many good things about the Magellan GPS hardware they sell it with.

After all that, my question is: Has anyone tried to use Quo Vadis with the Geode hardware? I believe this is the best combo to get for GPS use on the PalmOS.

Thomas

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Atlanta, GA USA
Posts: 33

Some comments on your comments (c:

> 1. The program requries that you tap on the street to find out it's name. This is a big no-no in mapping programs.

But what if I don't want all the street names cluttering up my map. I only need to know where I am. (A find function DOES need to be implemented though).


> 2. The maps are huge.

I think the maps are huge because they need to be accurate for your mapped position to correspond to your GPS coordinates. The map can not map streets as a combination of vectors (straight line segments) but rather as they are truely laid out on the USGS maps. This probably represents the greatest increase in map content. (But I'm just guessing)

> 3. MobileView is slow.

Zooming in and out is slow. And less controllable than I'd like too. Perhaps this is due to the high precision mentioned above. Maybe it's better with a real Geode in there too!? Hopefully I'll find out soon (c:

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Posts: 57

I hear that there will be an update to the Geoview software that allows you to find a specific street, so you won't have to tap on the specific street to find it. (check out the bulletin boards at http://www.geodiscovery.com)

As for the speed of the software, you should turn off the areas you are not going to be using. If you are in Chicago, turn off the southside and suburbs if you are going to be using it downtown only. I did that and noticed a big difference.

As for memory, don't forget that the Geode will allow for 128 mb of MMC card storage. The Geoview maps will have restaurants, points of interest, shopping, etc. on the map, thus the huge size.

I ordered a Geode the other day and should get it next month. I have been doing a lot of reading up on this sucker and was a beta tester. From what I hear, the Geoview software is far from finished, and they will be coming out with several updates in the very near future.

The Geode, in my opinion, will be fantastic, once the software is finished. Remember, this thing is brand new, there are going to be a few minor bugs.

Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 70

quote:
As for memory, don't forget that the Geode will allow for 128 mb of MMC card storage.

True the geode has 2 mmc slots, but in the product literature, I thought geodiscovery said that 1 of the cards is read only. Does anyone have a rough estimate on how many areas you could get to fit into 64mb?

__________________
tuffy

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Posts: 57

From the Geodiscovery website:

"The Geode GPS Module ships ready with two Multi Media Card (MMC) slots. Currently GeoData Manager, the program that works with the MMC and allows you to store both GeoView map and guide packs and any other Palm files on the MMCs...."

I really doubt that one of the MMC slots will be "read only", that makes no sense. Anyway, couldn't you write maps using the read/write slot and switch it over to the read only slot and still use both cards to store maps?

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Alive and well on VisorCentral.com
Posts: 861

quote:

---

Originally posted by tuffy
quote:
As for memory, don't forget that the Geode will allow for 128 mb of MMC card storage.

True the geode has 2 mmc slots, but in the product literature, I thought geodiscovery said that 1 of the cards is read only. Does anyone have a rough estimate on how many areas you could get to fit into 64mb?

---

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 8

First I would like to thank everyone for their replies to this topic.

But I'd like to make some comments about the other posts.

1) Names on the street do not clutter the map. I would suggest everyone buying a Geode download the trial version of Quo Vadis from Marcosoft to see how a map program should be written. You will notice the names follow the streets even when you are scrolling and that the scrolling is in real-time. Not the move to edge of screen and then update stuff.

2) "I only need to know where I am." That's the point of street names. How do you know where you are if the streets names don't display? All you have is a round dot (or X or marker) on top of a bunch of lines on your screen. If I'm driving down a street, I want to know the names of all the streets I'm passing by and/or coming up without having to tap on each one to make the names show up. This is especially important with GPS, since I'll probably be moving past streets faster than I can tap on them.

3) I don't think the map size/speed has to do with precision or GPS data. Quo Vadis also works with GPS units (comes bundled with a Magellan GPS unit) and their maps are smaller and faster than GeoView. Perhaps GeoDiscovery's attempt to allow people to add all that points-of-interest data to their maps is slowing it down? Plus, from what I remember, all these map programs get their map data from the same government source. These companies don't have the resources to go out and make their own maps.

4) JJR suggested turning off maps that I don't use. Well, I couldn't do this because I only had 1 map installed (Chicago-10)

5) I'm sure the MMC cards slots will work fine with map data and other files. However, the GeoView is slow with 1 map installed. I can't imagine how it'll run with hundreds of maps installed.

6) Minor Point: Will we be able to run programs directly from the MMC cards? This is an issue that has come up with the current Compact Flash card adapters. The MMC slots will be a lot less useful if you can't run programs from them.

7) One final minor point: Quo Vadis is in color. Since I'm a Prism owner, this is important to me.

Still would like an answer to my question: Can/Does Quo Vadis work with the Geode.

Thomas

P.S. I agree with everyone here that hardware-wise, the Geode is the best. I just don't like GeoView Mobile.