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Alanh · 10-10-2003, 10:09 PM

I think another problem with the Census Bureau maps may be the age. I don't know for sure, but I've seen a lot of posts on other forums that said the government data thats readily available was pretty old. That info may have been about the version before updates for the last census. If they haven't updated since the 2000 census, the data is already 3 years old and could be pretty obsolete already if there has been much new development or road work in an area. How useful they are to you may depend on how many roads have been added in the last few years and will be added in the future where you want to go.

I saw something recently about Navtech (think I got the name right), which is one of the biggest names in map data. I think a number of the navigation packages use them. They have people who spend most of their time driving around looking for new roads and addresses and checking for road changes so they can update their databases. I don't know how many, but you can imagine that it would take a fair number to cover even the large population centers around the country, so its going to cost. If you need current data, I think there isn't any free lunch.

10-10-2003, 10:09 PM	#6
Alanh Constant Bitrate Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 124	I think another problem with the Census Bureau maps may be the age. I don't know for sure, but I've seen a lot of posts on other forums that said the government data thats readily available was pretty old. That info may have been about the version before updates for the last census. If they haven't updated since the 2000 census, the data is already 3 years old and could be pretty obsolete already if there has been much new development or road work in an area. How useful they are to you may depend on how many roads have been added in the last few years and will be added in the future where you want to go. I saw something recently about Navtech (think I got the name right), which is one of the biggest names in map data. I think a number of the navigation packages use them. They have people who spend most of their time driving around looking for new roads and addresses and checking for road changes so they can update their databases. I don't know how many, but you can imagine that it would take a fair number to cover even the large population centers around the country, so its going to cost. If you need current data, I think there isn't any free lunch.