AccuTerra mapping

[+user13371]

http://appshopper.com/navigation/accuterra

 

This looks interesting - one of the first to allow "in-app" purchasing of data bundles, which makes sense for off-line maps on the iPhone. I'll probably get a chance to look at it and offer some observations here this weekend...

[+user13371]

First impressions, not very technical: A very nice LOOKING product and a terrific delivery method for maps. I haven't had a chance to study the maps themselves, but believe this is how mapping products (any large data sets, really) will be sold for handheld devices in the future: Direct to the device instead of a download to computer first and then transfer to the device.

 

You download the AccuTerra viewer from the iTunes app store. The viewer only has a very high-altitude image of the US and a main road base map, and you can't zoom in very far. Think "Google Earth" from several miles up. Then you can buy more detailed maps from within the application. They d/l direct into the iPhone and it's billed to your iTunes account.

 

Conceptually, it's not much different from DeLorme's map subscription service - and if you were downloading huge amounts of maps, it'd be a lot more expensive. A DeLorme "All you can eat" subscription is $30/year. Just to play with it, I downloaded the northern half of Oregon from AccuTerra. It cost $5, so obviously on a square mile basis it's an awful lot more expensive. But I can afford a fiver to take a look. Was fast, too -- Northern Oregon took less than 15 minutes to download directly to the iPhone.

 

Tomorrow or Sunday I'll have a better review of the maps and the program features. Frankly, I'm a stickler on map quality and user interface design -- so I expect to find stuff to complain about. But the product "first impression" was a delight.

Edited September 5, 2009 by lee_rimar

[+user13371]

Ah well, it was too good to be true. Whaddya expect for $5?

 

The biggest complaint: The downloaded map/imagery is pretty but not very detailed. The demo coverage of Yosemite included for free is better than Northern Oregon coverage I paid for.

 

Example: El Capitan & Mount Hood at comparable zoom levels:

 

Also, the AccuTerra product doesn't give as much elevation detail as a USGS topo map.

 

USGS topo map of Mount Tabor, and the same area in Accurterra:

.

 

Apart from the vaguenss of the imagery, the program's user interface is a bit weird;

 

- Help menu? Buried two levels deep under the "Options Menu." Text descriptions of features only. Buttons described by names that don't appear in the program itself.

 

- Option to toggle between Google Maps (which requires a live data connection) or AccuTerra data (which is stored locally on the phone)? Instead of a simple switch on one option screen, they're on two separate pages of the options section.

 

- To go to a saved waypoint or track on the phone, the help says to use the "Show on Map" button. But this button isn't readily visible. It's an option button that shows only when you hit the little arrow most iPhone apps use to compose email or send/save links. Took me most of the morning to figure that one out

 

- Some of the waypoint and track profile pages have a "Share" button instead of the typical email button. But instead of actually offering to email the info or upload it to a service, the button only brings up an alert suggesting you take a screen shot and email it to whoever you want to share it with.

 

- Rotating the map view? Most iApps rotate the view when you tit/turn the phone. Not AccuTerra. You press the compass rose at the top of the screen, then twist the image with your fingers, then touch the compass rose again to lock it into that view. I'll have to see how well this works in actual hiking use.

 

Many of the gripes I've just listed are based on specific expectations of how an iPhone app is supposed to behave -- and AccuTerra doesn't. After I've used it for a while I may get used to them, maybe even see advantages for this kind of app to act as it does...

Edited September 5, 2009 by lee_rimar

[+geodarts]

I have not tried accuterra on my iPhone. I got their map for a Magellan because it promised a "unique collection" of trails - which in my area turned out to be a nonexistent collection. Once burned by a company is enough for me.

[+user13371]

I have not tried accuterra on my iPhone. I got their map for a Magellan because it promised a "unique collection" of trails - which in my area turned out to be a nonexistent collection.

Well, that's not unique. I have a few empty collections rattling around here, too.

 

Was the basic map - absent of the "unique collection of trails" -- any good?

 

FWIW, I have modest hopes for upgrades to the AccuTerra stuff. I did send an email with some comments to them (and a pointer to this thread), and got a pretty quick reply. And even if this particular product doesn't pan out, I'm only out a few bucks on it.