Warning about Digital Map Shop maps

[AllyCat]

Hi,

This subject was inspired by Mike's thread on a similar topic here. With the concept of iTunes, etc. well-established now and other mapping companies offering (only) downloadable maps, it's not surprising that Memory Map have introduced a similar facility.

Of course the convenience of being able to download perhaps quite small (and thus low cost) sections of mapping has considerable appeal and also some of the maps (eventually all, probably) are only available in the DMS format. However, if you are a serious user of the 1:25k (Explorer) or 1:50k (Landranger) Ordnance Survey maps then you should still consider the "Selections" or "Regional" versions which are still available on CD or DVD. The following details are largely gleaned from the re-incarnated Memory Map forum:

Firstly, whilst the license for the software and maps on the optical discs is for two PCs and two Mobile Devices, the license for DMS maps is for only one PC and one Mobile Device. Note that in MM's terms a Mobile Device is a handheld device such as a PPC or phone, it does NOT include a Laptop or Netbook.

The price of the DMS maps is said to be less than the discs (excluding the restricted number of licenses, of course) which is probably true for the prices from MM and most high-street shops, but you may be able to buy cheaper . A few weeks ago Amazon.co.uk had the Selections product about 25% cheaper, but currently there's not much saving.

The DMS maps are organised in "tiles" so you may have to buy a larger area than you really want, whereas you can define the Selections areas exactly. You can define up to three separate Selections areas with each product, but I believe you can contrive further regions using a very narrow "isthmus", if essential.

The "find place" facility in MM has always been (arguably) rather unsatisfactory in that it automatically forces you into the largest scale "map" (even if it happens to be an Aerial Photo ), but the DMS maps appear to have completely "broken" this facility. All disc-based maps have a defined "boundary" so at least MM knows which areas have the largest scale. But the DMS maps seem to be organised as one large "white sheet" with map detail "pasted" only where it's been purchased. So if you have installed any 1:25k DMS mapping there is a high probablity that a name search will drop you into a large area of "nothing" (white).

The disc and DMS map files are not compatible, so if you already have (or buy) any disc-based maps, these cannot be merged with the DMS (however they can be used as separate maps and MM should auto-switch between them). But to be fair, the Merge Map facility in MM has always been somewhat flaky and the (automatic) merging of DMS maps might be more satisfactory.

Also on a positive note, multiple downloads of the same mapping appear to be possible if the data is "lost", and MM seem to have "refunded" a few cases where users have made mistakes (but NOT those that misunderstood the License conditions). However, it will be interesting to see what happens when maps are updated (i.e. will a free upgrade be possible?) or if the maps can still be used if/when a "version 6" of MM is introduced.

Finally, for Mobile Devices, if you don't want the hassle of having to "cut" your maps into files of smaller than 400 MBytes (or I've heard much less for WM6.1 onwards), then the good news is that the DMS files can be used up to 4GB even on Mobile Devices.

Cheers, Alan.
_________________
Garmin GPS72H/76/60/45, Etrex H, Mapsource v6.5.
Acer N50,HP114,Loox N560,Dell x50,CF/SD cards to 4/32GB.
RoyalTek,Holux236,Navman B10 & Copilot(Globalsat) BT GPS,TomTom5/6.
Memory Map (v5.4.2 & v5.1.3 OS & Euro), GPS gate,OSGPSconverter.

[mikealder]

My original post one the MM license shift was around 15 months ago and since then I haven't found a real need to use the MM product and neither have I purchased any maps from them due to the restrictions they have imposed.
These days for the PDA AND PC I use Quo and for the mountain bike/ walking my active10, I guess if people stop spending their cash with MM the message might get through (somehow I doubt it) - Mike

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