Florent THIERY wrote:
Yes, but consider it differently:
You are at home and you're going to go soon somewhere. Before going,
your handset is connected to Internet using usblan or bluetooth, and you
plan your trip; the app asks you where you want to go, fetches gps info
for the starting point, and caches all the needed maps for the way. When
you travel, it gives you directions. It's more travel planning than real
GPS mapping.
That seems to be the way smart2go works. But you can also pre-load
maps via a PC.
My understanding is that at least Google maps doesn't offer to
pre-load maps. It just caches the route you're asking for, not a
whole area. So if you need to change your route along the way and
have no wireless you're lost.
If you're lost, you bring up the gprs line and do the same thing; one
can imagine a lighter version (text-only?) Do you really need maps ALL
the time? Well, more when you plan to travel or when you're lost /
looking for something. That's why i thing it can be interesting to adpot
a ponctual point of view.
But what if you are in a remote area without wireless access, i.e.
when you
need the maps most?
I don't know for the entire world, but in my country i can get a gprs
connection averywhere...
There are still quite a few places even in densely populated areas
that have no wireless coverage. Plus, if you're in a foreign country
you pay outrageous data roaming charges. Finally, large parts of the
rural USA, for example, have no digital coverage at all (only analogue).
I'd rather be safe and have 1 GB of map data on my mobile, ready
when I need it.
Yup, but 1 GB of maps is quite a big part of the storage cake... What
area would 1 GB of map device cover in your opinion (in a dense area)?
I have a 2 GB smc card in my phone. 1 GB supposedly gives you street-level
coverage of almost all of Western Europe, according to the TomTom product
specs.
That leaves me with another GB for all my other storage needs.
-- Terrence
begin:vcard
fn:Terrence Barr
n:Barr;Terrence
org:Sun Microsystems
adr:;;Zettachring 10 A;Stuttgart;;70587;Germany
email;internet:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
title:Evangelist, Java Mobile & Embedded Community
tel;work:+49 711 720 98185
url:http://www.mobileandembedded.com
version:2.1
end:vcard
_______________________________________________
OpenMoko community mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
