New Map Downloads

happyhotspur · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 16, 2008 Posts: 25

I have a Tomtom XL1 Europe which is about three years old, I did not realise that in order to get the latest maps you had to pay for them.

Is there any other way to get maps other than having to pay Tomtom their high prices?

DennisN · Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 5:35 pm Post subject:

Any other way is illegal as far as our site is concerned.
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Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

Andy_P · Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 5:43 pm Post subject:

Not just this forum....

You're actually only paying for a licence to use the maps, according to whatever conditions the manufacturer decides to impose (single user, on one device etc.)

All the major manufacturers have similar map prices for upgrades, although you can often find that a map "subscription" deal works out a lot cheaper then buying the same number of updates individually.

However, unless you are having SPECIFIC issues with map accuracy in areas you drive, then I would suggest that a brand-new map may not be THAT different from the three-year old one you have now.

happyhotspur · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 16, 2008 Posts: 25

Okay thanks for that. I wasn't asking about getting maps illegally for free but wasn't sure if other companies supplied maps that would work on the tomtom.

Andy_P · Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 8:12 pm Post subject:

'Fraid not. TomTom take the raw map data from TeleAtlas and then have to convert it into their own format in some secret way....

I think there are other brands that can use open-source maps now. Others will know more than me about those.

robertn · Frequent Visitor Joined: Feb 06, 2005 Posts: 564

My expriaence ist hat Open source maps are not yet as good as commercial - they do the job, provided you are in a reasonably populated area.
Software for Open Spurce maps is becoming avalible - GPS MID is a Java based open source app that I have used is not too bad and runs on phones as well as other devices.

If you want free maps and updates, best option is a phone and online mapping services. Some are free, but you need big and cheap data plans. All depends how much you use your sat nav - once a month, online, once a day- off line and buy map updates

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