Firebird2

Does Streetdeck have support for any Australian Maps.

MP3Car.com

 

RedGTiVR6

Not currently.

Europe is next on the list.

__________________

HDTechnology

What maps can streetdeck support? maybe my business can make some australian maps supported for streetdeck. thats our main problem at the moment.

RedGTiVR6

StreetDeck uses Microsoft Map Point maps.

__________________

HDTechnology

Thanks for that, i'll have a squizz see if i can sort it out. I thought it supported more than that? thanks heaps

HDTechnology

Microsoft seem to have all the maps for australia, i've looked around but i cant find any maps to download. This is most likely because of it being a beta release but still streetdeck managed to get north american maps, i dont understand how i wouldnt be able to get the au maps. If anyone has any info about who i could contact or where i would find the maps, please let me know... Thanks heaps guys.... and girls! ;-P

RedGTiVR6

I'm not sure you would be able to just download the maps without purchasing Map Point for Australia. I know that you can't download the maps for North America, you have to purchase Map Point for North America to get the maps.

I have no idea if you would be able to just load the maps from Australia instead of North America. I'll see if I can get Chuck to chime in here.

__________________

HDTechnology

Thanks dude. If i bought Map Point for AU do you think id be infringing copyright by distributing the maps with my built streetdeck systems? because i dont mind buying it just as long as its a once off and not a cost to the consumer. bit unfair for us aussies.

HDTechnology

OK the web maps for australia are up, but apparently there is a difference between them and the map point maps. doubt there is, but there is no map point package i can buy for AU. only north america and europe. god microsoft is difficult.

RedGTiVR6

The maps you are finding, are they from Mappoint.net?

If so, they are not going to be compatable.

There are no Australian maps for Map Point currently.

This was the issue that I informed you of when I set-up your company to become dealers.

__________________

LiquidPT

You wouldn't just be able to buy a single copy of Mappoint AU (IF it existed) and redistibute the maps. That would completely violate copyright law and your license agreement with MS.

Streetdeck has a license agreement with MS to redistrubute the NA maps. I'm sure they had to pay big money for it. It certainly was more than a single Mappoint copy... From what I understand, the holdup on the European maps is legal (the license agreement), not technical.

It still amazes me that people don't realize that, even though you can use map sites for free, the map data that these sites use isn't free. They had to pay for it, and if you want to use it in your app, you have to pay for it...

HDTechnology

My theory was that the majority of maps throughout australia are provided by our government, i was just unaware that if an entity altered the maps that this would incur copyright. because they were originaly made by our own government. It's a fair call. I thought that only the software microsoft packaged would be violated if redist.
So basically even though the maps themselves arnt copyright, the extra crap microsoft adds to the maps is. is that what you mean? thats logical

Anyway if streetdeck have the rights with there software then i am covered under their contract anyway.

Ohh and i know i was told about this problem prior to our dealer agreement, just seeing around for alternatives.

Any idea when Map Point AU is looking to be coming out, rough?

Thanks heaps for your help

MX5PC

Had a chat to some people recently:

All road maps of Australia are owned by Sensis, which inherited them by virtue of its parent company, Telstra, and so are technically in the public domain - even if you mapped out Oz all by yourself it'd still belong to Sensis apparently. There's some pretty obscure stuff about mapping in Australia.

However whatever you do with the maps can be intellectually yours under Oz laws - it's just if it's for commercial purposes you have to pay Sensis a lot of money.

Hence why we don't have an awful lot of road databases - that said our coverage is really good: something like 99.9%.

So in brief:

Most if not all Navigation providers buy/bought their data off Sensis. Once it's been reformatted/integrated into whatever's using it belongs to the buyer.

edward57

So with all this talk about maps we cannont get...!
What is a workable software solution for maps and GPS software that does work for Australia?

Paid or Freeware.. (just want something reliable like my portable TomTom for my carPC)

Deadeye

Im working on a Destinator SD plugin.

MP3Car.com