View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
Rattle Occasional Visitor
Joined: 12/08/2003 11:04:51 Posts: 44 Location: Munich, Germany
|
Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2004 9:31 am Post subject: CoPilot and Eastern Europe |
|
|
I know this is going to sound dumb, but if CoPilot and MS Autoroute are both using NAVTEQ as map provider, how come AR has Eastern Europe coverage and CoPilot does not? Where is the snitch, so to speak? Since I come from Latvia and still visit often this is really an issue - seems that nobody has eastern europe except Autoroute and AR is useless outdoors. Is anything going to change in this respect, after all, like it or not Eastern Europe is now also Europe? :D
Cheers,
Eriks |
|
Back to top |
|
|
lbendlin Pocket GPS Staff
Joined: 02/11/2002 22:41:59 Posts: 11878 Location: Massachusetts, USA
|
Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2004 2:24 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hi there,
I sincerely hope this will change over time. It's also a question of the market conditions - you need enough buyers to justify the added effort of surveying these streets. Remember, AR is only vectorizing the street shapes, but it does not have data on any of the other street attributes (speed limit, street type, turn restrictions etc.
Once the Navteq surveyors have driven all the roads it will take another year to cleanup and compile the maps.
There are already some maps available - Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, as well as pockets of maps around St. Petersburg and Moscow.
And - it doesn't have to be NAVTEQ - maps can be compiled by TeleAtlas or even by independent companies, too.
For outdoor use you can always use your own scanned maps - NAVTEQ will not help you there. _________________ Lutz
Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Dave Frequent Visitor
Joined: Sep 10, 2003 Posts: 6460 Location: UK
|
Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2004 9:39 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I can say for sure that it will change over time. GPS Companies are looking for leverage and the next big area is more coverage. NAVTEQ does have Eastern European maps available and it's just a matter of licensing costs and whether there's enough customers to support the costs.
I'm sure this will surface, not only for CoPilot but other applications in the next 6-18 months |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Rattle Occasional Visitor
Joined: 12/08/2003 11:04:51 Posts: 44 Location: Munich, Germany
|
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2004 8:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
I see, so they are basically just holding out waiting for the customers to get ready for power of the force But surely if they'd chosen to support the region and offered the maps to GPS companies they (the GPS companies) woulnd't have said no thanks we only want maps up to the German border and the city of Prague and you can stuff the rest because our customers aren't paying for that. I would imagine the cost of Eastern Europe would not leave a heavy impact on the licencing cost of the whole region (and it's usually the whole region that's being sold to the end user anyway, nobody asked me if I wanted Spain and Portugal for example, I just paid for maps of Europe) and as for me I'm ready to pay a few extra quid if only for the sake of completeness. No, it couldn't be the cost, I suspect the Navteq surveyors were simply afraid to go there for fear of being mugged :D |
|
Back to top |
|
|
ultravioletu Occasional Visitor
Joined: Aug 03, 2004 Posts: 20 Location: Heidelberg
|
Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 7:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Could be, but if I were TeleAtlas or NavTeq I wouldn't send an expensive western engineer to do the measurements. With the same money, I would hire and train a dozen of native ones, which should be better prepared for the "mugging" factor... |
|
Back to top |
|
|
ultravioletu Occasional Visitor
Joined: Aug 03, 2004 Posts: 20 Location: Heidelberg
|
Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 7:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I think it's the quality of road infrastructure and local particularities that matter.
I noticed recently that Falk.de computes driving directions in Eastern Europe as well. I asked the website to route me to my birthplace, somewhere in an ill-reputed country ;). I found the roads not that bad (I was surprised to see there some dirt roads which I hadn't expected). However, if I printed the instructions and tried to find my way as a foreigner, it wouldn't help too much. That's because the turns were pointing to the very next "nodes" which are labeled with the name of the corresponding neighbourhood/village, like "at <crossroad A> turn left towards <place B>", but on the street there is no traffic sign pointing to <place B>, but only to a longer destination, <place D> (in the most fortunate case where there IS a traffic sign).
So, there is a lot of work to bring the maps of this area to a decent standard. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
ultravioletu Occasional Visitor
Joined: Aug 03, 2004 Posts: 20 Location: Heidelberg
|
Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 7:21 pm Post subject: |
|
|
... and, not to forget, the roads must be also improved. There's no point in being routed through a certain road, if you need a Panzer to drive on it. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
|
Posted: Today Post subject: Pocket GPS Advertising |
|
|
We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?. Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
|