Navteq was bought -was- Re: [Xastir] Feature idea for Xastir

[Gerry Creager]

Also said they intended to keep Navteq as a separate operating unit. 
This is a play to get first dibs on location-based services maps.  I 
anticipate they'll still sell those to competitors, but that the price 
may go up a bit.  If they go up too much someone else will fill the void.

gerry

Richard Polivka, N6NKO wrote:
> 
> Nokia bought Navteq for $6.8B US, either this week or last week.
> 
> Now the fun begins....
> 
> 73 from 807,
> 
> Richard, N6NKO
> Tom Russo wrote:
>> On Fri, Oct 05, 2007 at 10:53:12PM -0500, we recorded a 
>> bogon-computron collision of the <gerry.creager at tamu.edu> flavor, 
>> containing:
>>  
>>>  Google and Mapquest get their basemaps, if memory serves, from 
>>> Navtech.  No  one seriously uses Tiger anymore for "real" 
>>> applications.  After USGS  migrated to SDTS format Tiger was the only 
>>> decent alternative, for some low  value of decent.  It was based on 
>>> the original USGS maps, regardless of what  Census told you.  
>>> However, Census munges them for their purposes (census  work, 
>>> interestingly enough) and effectively renders them less than adequate 
>>>  for "real" mapping.
>>>
>>>  In other words, "These maps should come with a consumer product 
>>> safety  warning."
>>>     
>>
>> And this is the last year that TIGER/Line data will be released in 
>> that format.
>> According to their web site, they will start releasing the Census maps in
>> shapefile format --- but from the looks of it, these shapefiles will 
>> NOT be
>> very useful for the purpose of drawing road maps.  The dbf fields they 
>> plan
>> to include are very clearly designed solely for census purposes, and they
>> will be missing a lot of the data that we rely on for rendering.
>>
>>  
>>>  Lee Bengston wrote:
>>>    
>>>> On 10/5/07, Jason Winningham <jdw at eng.uah.edu> wrote:
>>>>      
>>>>> On Oct 5, 2007, at 8:48 AM, I wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>        
>>>>>>> http://roadnav.sourceforge.net/
>>>>>>>             
>>>>>> Ah, this is more like it.  At a glance: maps - so what? looks a lot
>>>>>> like xastir (maybe they do a bit better job rendering labels).
>>>>>> Keep looking: vector maps, rendered by the app, included routing,
>>>>>> vector maps based on TIGER data.
>>>>>>           
>>>>> Looks good, but I couldn't get enough data downloaded/converted to
>>>>> try anything interested - got tired of it continuously bombing on the
>>>>> mac.  Oh well, another one bites the dust.
>>>>>         
>>>> I wasn't able to get the roadnav deb package to install in andLinux, 
>>>> but I
>>>> was able to compile it from source after installing wxwidgets from the
>>>> ubuntu respository.  Not a bad program - with the Tiger maps, they are
>>>> labeling the highways better, and I like they way they display the 
>>>> minor
>>>> streets at high zoom levels.
>>>> However, it's the same old TigerMap problem at intermediate zoom 
>>>> levels -
>>>> either no street labels at all or labels in a very tiny hard to read 
>>>> font
>>>> depending on the exact zoom.  The same view in Google, Mapquest, 
>>>> etc. shows
>>>> the street names clearly.  I don't care about looking really slick like
>>>> Google does, but street labels that I can read are important.
>>>> But the above is in the context of XASTIR and seeing APRS stations in
>>>> certain views.  Using Roadnav on a trip should be fine - can zoom in 
>>>> or out
>>>> as needed - only need to track one vehicle.  Overall I would say it's a
>>>> pretty nice package.
>>>> Lee-K5DAT
>>>> Murphy, TX
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Xastir mailing list
>>>> Xastir at xastir.org
>>>> http://lists.xastir.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/xastir
>>>>       
>>>  --  Gerry Creager -- gerry.creager at tamu.edu
>>>  Texas Mesonet -- AATLT, Texas A&M University   
>>>  Cell: 979.229.5301 Office: 979.458.4020 FAX: 979.862.3983
>>>  Office: 1700 Research Parkway Ste 160, TAMU, College Station, TX 77843
>>>  _______________________________________________
>>>  Xastir mailing list
>>>  Xastir at xastir.org
>>>  http://lists.xastir.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/xastir
>>>     
>>
>>   

-- 
Gerry Creager -- gerry.creager at tamu.edu
Texas Mesonet -- AATLT, Texas A&M University	
Cell: 979.229.5301 Office: 979.458.4020 FAX: 979.862.3983
Office: 1700 Research Parkway Ste 160, TAMU, College Station, TX 77843