Vote for new Map Data!!!

[nounours]

Hi there,

The PocketEarth map has not been updated from the OSM-data set for quite a while. I know there is a technical issue on which the Geomagik-Team is working.

Thus I would like to invite users to vote for giving higher priority to this!!

The reason:

I was last week-end in Geneva, and found out the map was very bad – wrong public transport, very basic infos missing (I was looking for a money machine, and according to PE, there was only one 10km away – if you know Geneva, you know how wrong that is. There is a bank every 200m). Back home, I check the data on OSM – and all was there. So, the Geneva map seems not have been updated for quite a time.

PE is the best off-line map app. It has a lot of nice features. But the most important feature is having good map data. Not having the lasted OSM-data is the absolut death for a map-app.

So, cool people from Geomagik: I kindley ask you to ignore all my other ideas and requests, and focus on this one. Correcting the data update and do it at least once a week is – at least for me – the absolut priority.

I would ask other PE-users to vote for this post if they agree!!!

nounours

[in2mnts]

I agree.  The OSM data seems to be better than what I see in Pocket Earth.  I’ve been watching for a particular update that is in the OSM data to make it into Pocket Earth for months.  (Colorado USA)

Stale map data is very troubling – it drives me away from using Pocket Earth – but I understand this is a business.  Does a subscription model make sense?  Free updates for a year and then some nominal fee for the next year??

[BuckyE]

Looks like poor old GeoMagik has its hands full with the robot invaders at the moment, eh? But I heartily agree a small subscription fee would be acceptable for more frequent updates.

[nounours]

Paying a (resonable) subscription-fee to cover
the cost of downloads is also no problem for me!

[GeoMagik]

We are still working on this, it is purely due to (some serious) technical issues that came up as the OSM data has increased past a certain size.  We hope to have the latest map data available in the next week or so, and will be providing monthly updates again from that point.

Thanks for the feedback!  Though we plan to provide monthly updates for free, we will consider a small subscription fee for the future in order to provide weekly updates or so that we can lower the base cost of the app.

[BuckyE]

Perhaps one thing to consider is –if it’s not more trouble than it’s worth– making some kind of Packages available? If getting all the available data isn’t necessary for my purposes, allow me to download certain categories of data? Roads, types of POI, topo layers, etc.

I’d be happy to do without all the POIs: most of them are irrelevant to our traveling.

Then, I could do In-App purchases of only what I wanted, as I felt the need. Pocket Earth is already by far the largest app on my iPad. I could stand to slim it down!

Just a thought. Maybe that’s too complicated.

[GeoMagik]

The latest map data from the OSM project is now available for download! Just goto ‘Settings > Data Cache > Check for Updates’ to get it.

[in2mnts]

Yes indeed!  Everything is up to date now (Colorado USA).   The more I use Pocket Earth the more I love it.  Nice work!

[Ortrav]

I agree with the above. I would not mind paying small extra fees for more detailed updates and maps. I got this app and maps2 go before a long holiday to the Rockies and during the planning stage I already decided that PE is the only option. While traveling me and my wife realized that it is by far the best option. We have not used all the options available but it was just perfect for us. Even when we were hiking… I can understand that it is hard to get all the info in the maps but it is not impossible and I have an idea that may help…

Would it be possible if a user enters data like ATM, names of restaurants, etc., and the team of PE will enter it for future updates? I know this may be time consuming since you need to avoid add junk or misleading info but I doubt most users will take advantage if this to play pranks… Just a thought.

Good work! Keep it up!

[nounours]

Hi Ortrav,

Would it be possible if a user enters data like ATM, names of restaurants, etc.,

I think you missunderstand how the whole OpenStreetMap (OSM) works. it’s like wikipedia, everybody can edit the map. => so it is exactly the idea that you enter your favorite restaurant or correct an inaccurate bus stop. That’s the idea of open source that we share our knowledge. Your care about abuse: it’s not very common in OSM and in any case OSM is moderates much the same as Wikipedia is. If your intersted in OSM read wiki.openstreetmap.org how to get started and how to edit. (You can do some simple editing right on the homepage http://www.openstreetmap.org)

What we are talking here is: everybody can use OSM data, and use it in his app – thats what Geomagik is doing in PocketEarth.

The thing is, for several months , PE did not update it’s data from Central OSM server. So, when I entered my favorite restaurant on OSM – there it has to be done, only there it makes sense – it did not show up in PE.
Now, this is corrected, and we are all happy!!!! 

We also discussed that it would be nice if PE included a small POI editor … it would be cool, but there also other apps for this!!!! (see http://www.geomagik.com/forum/discussion/162#Item_12    and   maybe also  http://www.geomagik.com/forum/discussion/comment/271#Comment_271)

 hope this clears things up for you!!!

Greetings , Nounours!!!!

[Ortrav]

Hi Nounours,

Many thanks for the simple explanations. It is kind of you and make things much clearer. I guess I have a lot to learn and will check the link to OSM and see if and how I can make a contribution to the information.

Thanks again!

Ortrav

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