Mapopolis

** Updated Review **

There were no significant updates to Mapopolis during the year of me using TomTom. I believe they came out with a small update for the T|5, but I was already using that on my T|C, so I was able use this same version on my T|X (which is basically the same thing as a T|5). Mapopolis seems to be primarily focused on the WindowsMobile platform now, which I have to admit looks like a lot better product than the Palm version.

I have added a few updates to the review for running Mapopolis on a T|X, but to be blatantly honest, I had a hard time switching back to Mapopolis after using TomTom Nav 5 for a year, even just for updating this review. Running Mapopolis on a newer, bigger screened Palm did not change my decision for using TomTom, and instead just further reinforced it. I have added some updated screenshots, and a few other tidbits. Updated sections are (obviously) marked with "UPDATED!".

What's in the Box?

Depending on what you buy from Mapopolis depends on whether or not you get a box. I purchased the download version of the maps, so I simply downloaded the latest version of the map viewing application, and then I had a year after my purchase to download as many maps as many times as I wanted. If you have a dial-up connection to the internet, the map download option may not be the best choice for you.

Installation

Installation is very simple -- you just Hotsync the application over to your Palm using the Quick Install feature of Hotsync. Maps are easy to install as well -- you can either Hotsync them over to your Palm's internal memory or a SD card (slow process) or use a card reading to copy the map files over to a SD card from your desktop PC.

UPDATED! Initial Impressions

My initial impression with Mapopolis goes back to almost two years ago. At that time, I was very impressed. The only other application I had tried (or could find) for Palm GPS/Navigation was the lacking Rand McNally StreetFinder application that came with my Magellan GPS Companion for the Palm M500. Comparatively speaking, just about anything that worked would have been impressive.

Routing is very fast on Mapopolis, but the maps are primitive compared to even the older Rand McNally application. I thought that even back then, and I especially think that now when comparing the Mapopolis maps to the DeLorme and TomTom maps.

I have to include this initial impression here, as there is no real place for it anywhere else: The Mapopolis website is very confusing to a new user or a potential customer shopping the product. I had to ask on a 3rd-party forum to figure out what Mapopolis would give me, because I could not figure out what they were selling. They are definitely in need of a website upgrade, as it looks like more of a hobby site than a professional, point-of-sales website.

UPDATED!
Revisiting Mapopolis on the Palm T|X, I have to say that I was a little shocked how bad Mapopolis looked after getting used to TomTom Nav 5 over the last year. The larger T|X screen just makes Mapopolis look even more jagged and pixelated when compared to the TomTom map display.

Screen Shots


Default map view	Default map view in night color mode

	Menu, Maps Option, list of maps on SD card

Menu, Find option (Note: Did not find popular local landmark)	Menu, Navigation option

After tapping Generate Route button, the above screen is displayed.	Menu, Geomark option

Menu, GPS option.	Menu, Settings, General Settings option

Menu, Settings, Display Settings option	Menu, Settings, GPS Settings option

Menu, Settings, Nav Settings option	This is the custom color and font selection I preferred

Settings, Help option (a brief text only guide)

UPDATED! Screen Shots on the Palm T|X


Note: I honestly cannot remember why I do not have snapshots in landscape mode. It is either because Mapopolis does not support it (?), because it did not look good at all, or because I just wanted to get Mapopolis off my Palm T\|X and start using TomTom again.

UPDATED! Road Test

The road tests went very well with Mapopolis. Like I previously stated, speedy routing is one of Mapopolis' strong points. I do not like how a stylus is basically required. You cannot get very far into the menu system using shortcuts or the Tungsten|C keyboard. Mapopolis uses the D-pad appropriately for scrolling the map around on the screen. Other buttons are set for zooming. The Palm Contacts application is full integrated into Mapopolis, so it is very easy to look up a friend's address and then route to their house. One thing I did find annoying about the Palm Contacts integration is that it really wants you to abbreviate whenever possible (ie, Rd for Road, N for North, etc.). That is well and fine for using the Palm Contacts with Mapopolis, but when you are using your synchronized contacts with Microsoft Outlook to mail merge professional business letters, it is considered bad business form to abbreviate any part of an address. Mapopolis does not offer a nearest road snap type feature, so the you-are-here icon does not always stay on a road, especially if there is new construction in the area. I did encounter a couple of bad address issues in the "ND" map version, and encountered exponentially more address issues (and land/water inversion problems) in the latest "NE" map version.

The map scrolling and rotation is very jerky and steppish on Mapopolis, even on a very fast Palm like the Tungsten|C. This can be a problem when routing through a congested area requiring frequent turns because the scroll/rotate will not be able to keep up with you even at speeds as slow as 25mph. You will find yourself slowing down, waiting for the next instruction to show up on the screen, and the voice prompts are even more behind and erratic. I also found the instructions and voice prompts were frequently wrong or exhibited strange behavior, like when I am on a straight road with no access, the voice prompt and instruction will state, "Continue right" or something similar.

UPDATED!
Mapopolis suffered the same jerky scrolling and rotation issues on the T|X as on my T|C. This did not surprise me, as the T|C is actually faster than the T|X. Again, like I stated in the "Impressions" section update above, the T|X's larger screen did not improve my experience with Mapopolis. The maps were more jagged and pixelated than ever.

Customer Support

Mapopolis customer support has always been very helpful and friendly...UNTIL...I requested a refund for NE map version upgrade that I purchased. For those not following Mapopolis closely, you probably will not know that their latest NE map version seems to have major problems that were not reported with previous map version releases. They do not seem to be doing much about it in the way of releasing a corrected version, as it has almost been a year since the NE version was released and no correction release thus far. I had originally purchased a "Platinum + GPS" NC map version of the maps over a year ago, and then upgraded to the ND version of the maps several months later. When the NE map version came out, I upgraded again for a prorated amount because I had three months left on my ND map subscription, but something was then wrong with my account where I could not see zip files of entire states for downloading. After some investigation, Mapopolis support told me that I had somehow upgraded to the NE version of the maps, but was still using the Platinum + GPS type maps, which have since been replaced with Navigator. They told me that Platinum + GPS maps had been discontinued a while ago. I had done nothing except what their own web store allowed me to do, as I purchased the upgrade(s) directly off their website. I was then given three options: (1) Upgrade to NE map version Navigator maps, (2) Keep my current Platinum + GPS NE map subscription, but I would have to download each county map one at a time instead of an entire state at a time, or (3) Get a refund for the Platinum + GPS NE map subscription upgrade, but my account would be closed (even though I had three more months of the ND map subscription left). Since Mapopolis was really the only thing going at the time, I decided to just go with the (much more expensive) Navigator NE map upgrade. Unfortunately, I quickly wished I had not because the NE maps had so many problems. So I contacted customer support, reported my problems, and asked for a timeline for these issues being fixed in the NE map version, especially since I noticed on the GPS Passion forums that others were reporting the same problems. I received several evasive/vague answers, and long story made short, I requested a refund for the upgrade. They were very reluctant to do that, even though I could easily prove the problems with the NE map version, but they eventually did give me a refund. Unfortunately, that also included closing my account, which again had three more months of access to the ND map version files, so I literally paid for a 12-month subscription and ended up with only a 9-month subscription for the same price. I informed them of my disappointment in losing three months of my paid subscription as part of the refund (I told them I felt "abandoned" simply for legitimately buying an older Mapopolis upgrade via their own website), but the emails I received back were rather terse and defensive, as this quote shows:

"Call if "abandoned" if you like -- our competition lets you buy the maps and the viewer and any updates to either. You got a lot when you got the 2.3 viewer. FYI - this is not an easy business to make a go of. We are all working twice the hours we worked in our other jobs for 1/2 the pay or less so don't think we are rolling in it at your expense!"

"Coincidentally," when I received this response from them was the same time that I started looking for a different GPS Navigation application for my Palm. I was shocked to get such a response from Mapopolis (even more so than encountering problems with the NE map version), when they had previously been so helpful and professional. My emails to them (even when reporting NE map problems and requesting a refund) have always been courteous, respectful, and appreciative, and this type of response to a customer is completely inappropriate.

UPDATED! Conclusion

Just a couple of years ago, if you wanted a GPS Navigation application for your Palm device, Mapopolis was virtually a monopoly (at least in North America). There may have been applications available with prettier maps, but the functionality and feature set could not compare to Mapopolis. I think Mapopolis did not realize that its competition was rapidly sneaking up on them, and they have blinders on now if they do not see that their competition has clearly surpassed them. In many ways, even the $40 DeLorme product is superior to Mapopolis, when Mapopolis is 3x the price and does not and/or cannot provide the support that DeLorme can and does.

There are serious, widespread problems in the NE map version. These include many more address and physical location issues than previous versions, as well as land/water inversions. In researching the land/water inversion issue, I was quite surprised to discover that land/water inversions is something that has been plaguing Mapopolis "all along." The NE map version was simply the first time that land/water inversions had affected me.

In the end, Mapopolis for PalmOS is simply outdated and feature stale. It is in strong need of an overhaul, that will require adding many features just to get it up to the standard feature set of its competition. They are losing a lot of long-time customers with their lack of an appropriate response to the NE map version issues, and they really should have put out a fix release of the NE map version.

UPDATED!
It is almost a year later, and the Mapopolis website is still the same outdated, confusing, and poorly designed site that it was. They also still do not have their own forum (outside of the 3rd-party GPS Passion forums). On the GPS Passion forums, people are still complaining about the horrible NE map release, and to date Mapopolis has not released a fixed version of the NE maps and is not addressing the numerous questions/complaints about when the NF version will be coming out.

It also significantly bothers me that a Mapopolis employee has admitted on the GPS Passion forums that only one Mapopolis employee (the company owner) knows how to convert raw NavTeq data to Mapopolis maps. This statement was made in answer to why Mapopolis does not just correct the water/land inversion problems plaguing their latest map versions. This (as well as my experience outlined above with Mapopolis support) makes the company seem like it is struggling and running on a shoestring budget. At the risk of sounding morbid or uncaring, what happens to Mapopolis customers if the owner of the company were to meet an untimely death? Would that be the end of Mapopolis?

THE GOOD:

Very fast routing
Not pretty, but accurate maps (until the NE version was released)
Palm Contacts in completely integrated into the Mapopolis application
Extensive color options/customizations for the maps
3-D option in navigation mode
Good use of the Palm D-pad and other buttons.

THE BAD:

Customer support has taken a turn for the worse
3rd-Party website forum
Confusing, outdated website
Primitive looking maps (almost have a hand-drawn look)
Plagued by land/water inversions
No interstate/highway symbols
No icons for POI's (just a simple square block)
Maps are categorized in counties rather than regions or even states (irrelevant for the SD card version)
Very limited routing features -- no Via's/Stops, no "Avoids", no way to force an alternate route, etc.
No snap-to-nearest-rode, so you are frequently shown as being off the road.
Map scrolling and rotation is very jerky and steppish
Basically impossible to navigate menu system without a stylus

THE UGLY:

The NE (latest) map version
Verbal and written instructions cannot keep up with you in a congested area
UPDATED! The future of Mapopolis, which is obviously been run on a shoestring budget with barebones staff, is not looking too good.
UPDATED! Mapopolis seems to be primarily focused on the WindowsMobile platform, which looks like a much better product than what is available to Palm users.

Comments?

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